Communicating science and technology in society
Addresses the engagement between science and society from multiple viewpoints. At a time when trust in experts is being questioned, misinformation is rife and scientific and technological development show growing social impact, the volume examines the challenges in involving the public in scientific debates and decisions. It takes into account societal needs and concerns in research, and analyses the interface between the roles of institutions and individuals. From environmental challenges to science communication, participatory technological design to animal experimentation, and transdisciplinarity to norms and values in science, the volume brings together research on areas in which scientists and citizens interact, across diverse, often understudied, socio-cultural contexts in Europe.
Climate risk in Africa : Adaptation and resilience
This book highlights the complexities around making adaptation decisions and building resilience in the face of climate risk. It is based on experiences in sub-Saharan Africa through the Future Climate For Africa (FCFA) applied research programme. It begins by dealing with underlying principles and structures designed to facilitate effective engagement about climate risk, including the robustness of information and the construction of knowledge through co-production
Climate prediction and agriculture : Advances and challenges
Improved adaptation of food production, particularly in areas where climate variability is large, holds the key to improving food security for human populations. Increasing climate knowledge and improved prediction capabilities facilitate the development of relevant climate information and prediction products for applications in agriculture to reduce the negative impacts due to climate variations and to enhance planning activities based on the developing capacity of climate science. This book, based on an International Workshop held in Geneva in 2005, reviews the advances made so far in seasonal climate predictions and their applications for management and decision-making in agriculture and identifies the challenges to be addressed in the next 5 to 10 years to further enhance operational applications of climate predictions in agriculture, especially in the developing countries.
Climate Adaptation Modelling
This book focuses on an issue only marginally tackled by this literature: the still existing gap between adaptation science and modelling and the possibility to effectively access and exploit the information produced by policy making at different levels, international, national and local.
Citizenship Curriculum in Asia and the Pacific
Based on case studies of 11 societies in the world’s most dynamic region, this book signals a new direction of study at the intersection of citizenship education and the curriculum. This impressive collection of case studies of a diverse group of societies informs and enriches understanding of the complex relationship between citizenship education and the curriculum both regionally and globally.
Circuiti : Fondamenti di Circuiti per l’Ingegneria = Circuits: Fundamentals of Circuits for Engineering
This book is an introductory text to the circuits for the courses of the Faculty of Engineering, at the first level. The text aims to tackle the circuit model in a rigorous and at the same time modern way.
Chronic Pain and Family : A Clinical Perspective
Chronic pain affects every facet of a patient’s life, and nowhere is this more evident than in the complex arena of family life. Chronic Pain and Family: a Clinical Perspective examines typical family issues associated with prolonged illness, offering realistic ways to approach them in therapy. Informed by current practice and his own experience, noted author/clinician Ranjan Roy brings fresh insights to common pain scenarios and therapeutic impasses, and provides a framework for assessing marital and family relationships when chronic pain is a defining factor. Clinicians will get not only a clearer understanding of sensitive issues, but also effective strategies for engaging clients without turning them off.
Chemoinformatics : Theory, Practice, & Products
Chemoinformatics: Theory, Practice & Products covers theory, commercially available packages and applications of Chemoinformatics. Chemoinformatics is broadly defined as the use of information technology to assist in the acquisition, analysis and management of data and information relating to chemical compounds and their properties.The book also provides a summary of currently available, state-of-the-art, commercial Chemoinformatics products, with a specific focus on databases, toolkits, and modelling technologies designed for drug discovery.
Characterization of Corrosion Products on Steel Surfaces
It is well known that corrosion products, i.e. rust, on iron and steel surfaces cannot be assigned a typical crystallographic structure with long-range order. In fact, the structure of rust is considered to be very complicated, and some forms of rust are assigned to the amorphous state for this reason. Accurate information about the atomic-scale structure of rust is important to shed light on corrosion mechanisms of metallic materials. And, since life of steel structures is often dominated by environmental degradation or corrosion of the surface, the structure of the rust formed on iron and steel surfaces during prolonged exposure to air is of great interest. This book describes the fundamental aspects of materials characterization for the ferric oxyhydroxides formed on steel surfaces.
Chaos : A Program Collection for the PC
This new edition strives yet again to provide readers with a working knowledge of chaos theory and dynamical systems through parallel introductory explanations in the book and interaction with carefully-selected programs supplied on the accompanying diskette. The programs enable readers, especially advanced-undergraduate students in physics, engineering, and math, to tackle relevant physical systems quickly on their PCs, without distraction from algorithmic details. For the third edition of Chaos: A Program Collection for the PC, each of the previous twelve programs is polished and rewritten in C++ (both Windows and Linux versions are included). A new program treats kicked systems, an important class of two-dimensional problems, which is introduced in Chapter 13. Each chapter follows the structure: theoretical background; numerical techniques; interaction with the program; computer experiments; real experiments and empirical evidence; reference.
Chance Rules : An informal guide to probability, risk and statistics
This second edition of Chance Rules again recounts the story of chance through history and the various ways it impacts on our lives. Here you can read about the earliest gamblers who thought that the fall of the dice was controlled by the gods, as well as the modern geneticist and quantum theory researcher trying to integrate aspects of probability into their chosen speciality. Example included in the first addition such as the infamous Monty Hall problem, tossing coins, coincidences, horse racing, birthdays and babies remain, often with an expanded discussion, in this edition. Additional material in the second edition includes, a probabilistic explanation of why things were better when you were younger, consideration of whether you can use probability to prove the existence of God, how long you may have to wait to win the lottery, some court room dramas, predicting the future, and how evolution scores over creationism. Chance Rules lets you learn about probability without complex mathematics.
Chance : The life of games and the game of life
With its many easy-to-follow mathematical examples, this book takes the reader on an almost chronological trip through the fascinating and amazing laws of chance, omnipresent in the natural world and in our daily lives. Along the route many fascinating topics are discussed, such as: challenging probability paradoxes; "paranormal" coincidences; game odds; causes and effects; interpretation of opinion polls; winning chances as a game proceeds; the nature of randomness; entropy and randomness; randomness in life; algorithmic complexity and the undecidability of randomness; possibilities and limitations of learning the laws of a Universe immersed in chance events. This charming book will inform and entertain the scientist and non-scientist alike.
Cell Motility
Cell motility is a fascinating example of cell behavior which is fundamentally important to a number of biological and pathological processes. It is based on a complex self-organized mechano-chemical machine consisting of cytoskeletal filaments and molecular motors. In general, the cytoskeleton is responsible for the movement of the entire cell and for movements within the cell. The main challenge in the field of cell motility is to develop a complete physical description on how and why cells move. For this purpose new ways of modeling the properties of biological cells have to be found. This long term goal can only be achieved if new experimental techniques are developed to extract physical information from these living systems and if theoretical models are found which bridge the gap between molecular and mesoscopic length scales. Cell Motility gives an authoritative overview of the fundamental biological facts, theoretical models, and current experimental developments in this fascinating area.
Cartographies of the Mind : Philosophy and Psychology in Intersection
The present book is a collection of essays exploring some classical dimensions of mind both from the perspective of an empirically-informed philosophy and from the point of view of a philosophically-informed psychology. In the last three decades, the level of interaction between philosophy and psychology has increased dramatically. As a contribution to this trend, this book explores some areas in which this interaction has been very productive – or, at least, highly provocative.
Care of Astronomical Telescopes and Accessories : A Manual for the Astronomical Observer and Amateur Telescope Maker
guide for anyone who wants to understand more than just the basics of astronomical telescopes and accessories, and how to maintain them in the peak of condition. The latest on safely adjusting, cleaning, and maintaining your equipment is combined with thoroughly updated methods from the old masters. Here, too, are details of choosing new and used optics and accessories, along with enhancements you can make to extend their versatility and useful lifetime. This book is for you. Really. Looking after an astronomical telescope isn’t only for the experts - although there are some things that only an expert should attempt - and every serious amateur astronomer will find invaluable information here, gleaned from Barlow Pepin's many years’ experience working with optical instruments.
Calixarenes in the Nanoworld
Calixarenes have been widely exploited in all areas of supramolecular chemistry over the past three decades and many recent developments have concerned their applications in the production of chemical entities with the dimensions of nanometres, as in "nanochemistry".Calixarenes in the Nanoworld Relates calixarenes to nanochemistry – key information for industries engaged in the production of high-tech materials. Provides a timely review of both what is known and the exciting prospects provided by calixarenes, Contains several review articles which define the importance of calixarenes as reagents in nanochemistry.
Buried Waste in the Seabed – Acoustic Imaging and Bio-Toxicity : Results from the European SITAR Project
Buried waste on the seabed is a major source of pollution. But, very often, waste sites are not known until a serious problem occurs, or are not adequately mapped. Recent examples around Europe include WWI and WWII ammunition dump sites (e.g. Beufort Dyke in the UK), dumped nuclear submarines in the Arctic Seas, clandestine or hidden toxic-waste in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.. Even if properly documented, waste sites evolve with time (dumped material can move with currents and tides, especially on a scale of decades; toxic-material barrels can corrode and leak). This book shows the results of a concerted EU-funded effort to tackle this problem and find innovative ways to identify and map toxic waste sites ona the seabed, whether they have been covered with sediments or not. These results are applicable to any region on the seabed in the entire world.
Building the Inclusive City : Governance, Access, and the Urban Transformation of Dubai
This book is an anthropological urban study of the Emirate of Dubai, its institutions, and their evolution. It provides a contemporary history of disability in city planning from a non-Western perspective and explores the cultural context for its positioning. Three insights inform the author’s approach. First, disability research, much like other urban or social issues, must be situated in a particular place
Buchi neri nel mio bagno di schiuma : L’enigma di Einstein = Black holes in my bubble bath : Einstein's riddle
Einstein's Enigma, or black holes in my foam bath, tells the story of the theory of gravitation, from its beginnings to the latest developments in astrophysics, focusing on Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity and the physics of black holes. Through engaging conversations and diagrams scribbled on paper napkins, the rudiments of relativity, space-time and many aspects of modern physics follow one another. In skits narrated with pedagogical skill and remarkable literary talent, the reader will come across the informal lessons that a cosmopolitan astrophysicist gives to his friend Alfie, a free lance organizer of research projects. Join in the intellectual fun and get excited with sparkling ideas, while with your imagination you enjoy a relaxing soak in this magical tub!
Brute Force : Cracking the data encryption standard
In the 1960s, it became increasingly clear that more and more information was going to be stored on computers, not on pieces of paper. With these changes in technology and the ways it was used came a need to protect both the systems and the information. For the next ten years, encryption systems of varying strengths were developed, but none proved to be rigorous enough. In 1973, the NBS put out an open call for a new, stronger encryption system that would become the new federal standard. Several years later, IBM responded with a system called Lucifer that came to simply be known as DES (data encryption standard).



















