Who Owns the Moon? : Extraterrestrial Aspects of Land and Mineral Resources Ownership
Investigates the permissibility and viability of property rights on the celestial bodies, particularly the extraterrestrial aspects of land and mineral resources ownership. In lay terms, it aims to find an answer to the question "Who owns the Moon?" After critically analyzing and dismantling with legal arguments the trivial issue of sale of extraterrestrial real estate, the book addresses the apparent silence of the law in the field of landed property in outer space, scrutinizing whether the factual situation on the extraterrestrial realms calls for legal regulations. The legal status of asteroids and the relationship between appropriation under international law and civil law appropriation are duly examined, as well as different property patterns – such as the commons regime, the Common Heritage of the Mankind, and the Frontier paradigm.
Whiteness and Class in Education
Considers the practices of whiteness and how practitioners might consider critical whiteness studies in anti-racist practice. It is concerned with not only identifying how ‘white supremacy’ continues to dominate educational discourse and practice but how it can be resisted.
Weak Links : The Universal Key to the Stability of Networks and Complex Systems
How can our societies be stabilized in a crisis? Why can we enjoy and understand Shakespeare? Why are fruitflies uniform? How do omnivorous eating habits aid our survival? What makes the Mona Lisa’s smile beautiful? How do women keep our social structures intact? – Could there possibly be a single answer to all these questions? This book shows that the statement: "weak links stabilize complex systems" provides the key to understanding each of these intriguing puzzles, and many others too. The author (recipient of several distinguished science communication prizes) uses weak (low affinity, low probability) interactions as a thread to introduce a vast variety of networks from proteins to economics and ecosystems.
Water and the Search for Life on Mars
This highly absorbing book relates how NASA and ESA have sought evidence of life on Mars. ‘Follow the water’ with noted science writer David Harland as he assembles and weighs the evidence in this timely and compelling book. It contains what you need to know behind today’s, and possibly tomorrow’s, headlines, including details of the Mariner, Viking, and Pathfinder missions and evolving theories of Martian geology and climate. It explains how the search accelerates with the Mars Orbiter and Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. Harland sets this within the broader perspective of the likely nature of life on Mars as compared to primitive life on Earth. Finally, he analyzes the implications of there being life on both planets.
Volunteering and Social Inclusion : Interrelations between Unemployment and Civic Engagement in Germany and Great Britain
Conceptualising employment and volunteering as two distinct forms of social inclusion, Susanne Strauß analyses their interrelations in Germany and Great Britain. On the basis of household panel data, she answers questions such as: Does job loss lead people to give up their volunteer work? Or do people who have lost their job keep up their volunteering activities to use them as an alternative source of social recognition? Does volunteering help with finding a new job? By comparing the situation in two different countries, the author stresses that differences in labour market institutions lead to distinct answers. Moreover, the study points to variations with respect to gender, education and the type of volunteering organisations.
Vocationalisation of Secondary Education Revisited
The book is a cutting-edge contribution to the debate which has occurred for some time on the pros and cons of secondary education becoming more closely and explicitly related to preparing young people for the world of work. The book provides concrete examples of the vocationalisation of secondary education, with particular reference to the situation in Africa. The target audience for the book includes policy-makers, practitioners, administrators, education planners, researchers, teachers and teacher educators with a concern about the relationship between secondary education and education for the world of work (with particular reference to technical and vocational education and training - TVET.)
Vite matematiche : Protagonisti del’ 900 da Hilbert a Wiles = Mathematical Lives : Twentieth-century protagonists from Hilbert to Wiles
Presenting famous mathematicians alongside others less known to the general public - from Hilbert to Gödel, from Turing to Nash, from De Giorgi to Wiles - the portraits collected in this volume show us characters with a strong personal charisma, with vast cultural interests, passionate about defending the importance of their research, sensitive to beauty, attentive to the social and political problems of their time. The result is a fresco that documents the centrality of mathematics in the culture, not only scientific but also philosophical, artistic and literary, of our time, in a continuous game of exchanges and references, correspondences and suggestions.
Visualization in Science Education
Addresses key issues concerning visualization in the teaching and learning of science at any level in educational systems.It unites these with the practice of science education, particularly the ever-increasing use of computer-managed modelling packages, especially in chemistry. The first section explores the significance and intellectual standing of visualization. The second section shows how the skills of visualization have been developed practically in science education. This is followed by accounts of how the educational value of visualization has been integrated into university courses in physics, genomics, and geology. The fourth section documents experimental work on the classroom assessment of visualization. An endpiece summarises some of the research and development needed if the contribution of this set of universal skills is to be fully exploited at all levels and in all science subjects.
Visualization : Theory and Practice in Science Education
External representations (pictures, diagrams, graphs, concrete models) have always been valuable tools for the science teacher. The formation of personal, internal, representations – visualizations – from them plays a key role in all learning, especially in that of science. The use of personal computers and sophisticated software has expanded into the areas of simulation, virtual reality, and animation, and students now engage in the creation of models, a key aspect of scientific methodology. Several academic disciplines underlie these developments, yet act independently of each other, to the detriment of an attainment of what is possible. This book brings together the insights of practicing scientists, science education researchers, computer specialists, and cognitive scientists, to produce a coherent overview. It links presentations about the cognitive theory of representation and visualization, its implications for science curriculum design, and for learning and teaching in classrooms and laboratories.
Visual Astronomy Under Dark Skies: A New Approach to Observing Deep Space
Modern astronomical telescopes, along with other advances in technology, have brought the deep sky – star clusters, nebulae and the galaxies – within visual reach of amateur astronomers. It isn’t necessary to image deep-sky objects in order to see them; you look at them in real-time by using modern observing techniques and enhancement technology. The first requirement is a truly dark observing site. Given a location with clear, dark night skies everything else follows… this book contains all you need to know about what to observe, how to get superb views of faint and distant astronomical objects, and how to use the best of today’s commercial equipment for visual observing.
Visa Policy within the European Union Structure
The book focuses on the common visa policy as a case study on the constitutional structure of the European Union. After introducing the nature of visas, the book concentrates on the difficulties in forging a common visa policy at European level. Cooperation on visas has been characterized by a continuous reformulation of the framework for cooperation. The book describes cooperation before the Treaty on European Union adopted at Maastricht, under the Maastricht Treaty, and under the Treaty of Amsterdam. Furthermore, the book traces the essential characteristics of the common visa policy.
Virtues and Passions in Literature : Excellence, Courage, Engagements, Wisdom, Fulfilment
The Human Condition prompts our creative strivings beyond the natural round of life toward outstanding achievements. It shows how natural forces and promptings of life transmute through creative Human Condition subliminal passions of the soul into innumerable streaks of spiritual significance.
Virtue, Liberty, and Toleration : Political Ideas of European Women, 1400–1800
This volume challenges the view that women have not contributed to the historical development of political ideas, and highlights the depth and complexity of women’s political thought in the centuries prior to the French Revolution.
Violence in Europe : Historical and Contemporary Perspectives
Taking the sociocultural long view, Violence in Europe analyzes the prevalence and role of violence—from street crime to terrorist attacks, homicide to genocide—in the evolution of human and national behavior. The editors and 14 colleagues in history, anthropology, sociology, and psychology focus on Northern and Western Europe, examining centuries of violent phenomena, from the cultural logic of the Middle Ages to today’s soccer riots and security alerts. The contributors’ examination of social constructions (honor codes, class and gender roles) and public ambivalence (acceptance, abhorrence, fascination) regarding violence sheds needed light on current dynamics in law enforcement, political systems, and what many have termed "the civilization of violence."
Violence Against Women : An International Perspective
Presents the comparative results for nine of these countries, testing current theories about male violence against women, and offering both global context and implications for other areas of the world. Included are findings on: Prevalence and severity / Risk factors and correlates / Physical and psychological consequences / Percentage of violent incidents reported to police and other agencies / Criminal justice system response and women’s assessment of these / Plus charts, tables, and the IVAWS questionnaire.
Vienna : A Doctor´s Guide : 15 walking tours through Vienna’s medical history
Describes a total of 15 walking tours through old medical Vienna. Naturally, these tours are concentrated on the inner city and the ninth district. This book allows the experiences to be digested in an appropriately Viennese way.
Victim-Offender Mediation with Youth Offenders in Europe: An Overview and Comparison of 15 Countries
This book documents the state of the art on Victim-Offender Mediation with youth offenders in 15 European nations.It provides an up-do date review of current theory and practice and presents a critical discussion of problems and benefits which may help guide future policy decisions and applications. The book informs both those who are interested in evaluating the current state of affairs of Victim-Offender Mediation with youth offenders in Europe, and those who would like to promote Victim-Offender Mediation in their own countries. The common format used in each chapter facilitates comparison across countries. Per country, five areas of investigation are explored and discussed: norms and legislation allowing for the implementation of victim-offender mediation programmes; values and theoretical frameworks of victim-offender mediation; organizational structure of victim-offender mediation services; professional characteristics of mediators; benefits, potential problems, and criticisms of current practice.
Verifying Treaty Compliance ; Limiting Weapons of Mass Destruction and Monitoring Kyoto Protocol Provisions
International treaties requiring binding commitments on the part of the member states and appropriate compliance verification by an international authority constitute a primary assurance against risks posed by the spread of sensitive technologies that can be used to produce weapons of mass destruction or risks posed by climate changes due to global human activities. This book presents in an interdisciplinary manner experts' analyses.and views of existing verification systems: It gives guidelines and advice for the improvement of those systems as well as for new challenges in the field.
Venus and Mercury, and How to Observe Them
Mercury and Venus - known as the "inferior planets" because they are closer to the Sun than the Earth is - have always been regarded as difficult and even dangerous targets for amateur astronomers. Recent advances in commercially-made instruments have, however, brought them within range of only moderately experienced observers, and certainly Mercury and Venus are by no means inferior in terms of visual delights, observing challenges...and mystery. Venus and Mercury and How to Observe Them offers a wealth of detailed practical information on every aspect of observing, from safely targeting the two planets, through visual observing, to sketching and electronic imaging.
Venezuela : A Petro-State Using Renewable Energies : A Contribution to the Global Debate about New Renewable Energies for Electricity Generation
In spite of the economic role of oil, Venezuela has started developing hydroelectricity since the 1950s. At present, the country is trying to introduce additional renewable energy sources (RES) but still has to overcome a series of hurdles in order to deploy them. Unlike other developing countries, oil countries such as Venezuela do not lack financial means and sometimes show a tendency to solve problems by using money when other approaches could be more helpful. The main goal of this qualitative, comparative policy analysis is to find out whether the availability of oil revenues restraints or favors the adoption of RES. Based on the rentier state theory, Germán Massabié examines the reasons why Petro states try to dispose of their natural wealth to take advantage of non-conventional energy sources. He analyses and interprets primary and secondary data collected in Germany and in Venezuela and draws on interviews with Venezuelan experts, policy makers, and key actors. The study allows a look beyond laws, development programs, and official statements.



















