This work aims to provide a possible specification of the problems involved in greening the built environment and an articulation of the solutions. It begins with a discussion of sustainability as a concept and its applicability to contemporary towns and cities. The following chapters take up particular aspects of the built environment and sustainability in greater depth and include the construction industry, transport, health, planning, community and equity issues, employment and the economy. The links between environmental damage, poverty and the economy are all themes in this book which also focuses on interconnections and on solutions to these three problems. The final chapter explains how the achievement of sustainable development is, in the authors' opinion, dependent on detailed solutions to everyday problems of modern society.
The human brain has some capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities that our species owes its dominant position. Other animals have stronger muscles or sharper claws, but we have cleverer brains. If machine brains one day come to surpass human brains in general intelligence, then this new superintelligence could become very powerful. As the fate of the gorillas now depends more on us humans than on the gorillas themselves, so the fate of our species then would come to depend on the actions of the machine superintelligence. But we have one advantage: we get to make the first move. Will it be possible to construct a seed AI or otherwise to engineer initial conditions so as to make an intelligence explosion survivable? How could one achieve a controlled detonation? To get closer to an answer to this question, we must make our way through a fascinating landscape of topics and considerations. Read the book and learn about oracles, genies, singletons; about boxing methods, tripwires, and mind crime; about humanity's cosmic endowment and differential technological development; indirect normativity, instrumental convergence, whole brain emulation and technology couplings; Malthusian economics and dystopian evolution; artificial intelligence, and biological cognitive enhancement, and collective intelligence. This profoundly ambitious and original book picks its way carefully through a vast tract of forbiddingly difficult intellectual terrain. Yet the writing is so lucid that it somehow makes it all seem easy. After an utterly engrossing journey that takes us to the frontiers of thinking about the human condition and the future of intelligent life, we find in Nick Bostrom's work nothing less than a reconceptualization of the essential task of our time.
The new edition of this landmark international work builds on the previous two volumes, offering a window onto occupational therapy practice, theory and ideas in different cultures and geographies. It emphasizes the importance of critically deconstructing and engaging with the broader context of occupation, particularly around how occupational injustices are shaped through political, economic and historical factors. Centering on the wider social and political aspects of occupation and occupation-based practices, this textbook aims to inspire occupational therapy students and practitioners to include transformational elements into their practice. It also illustrates how occupational therapists from all over the world can affect positive changes by engaging with political and historical contexts. Divided into six sections, the new edition begins by analyzing the key concepts outlined throughout, along with an overview on the importance and practicalities of monitoring and evaluation in community projects. Section Two explores occupation and justice emphasizing that issues of occupational injustice are present everywhere, in different forms: from clinical settings to community-based rehabilitation. Section Three covers the enactment of different Occupational Therapies with a focus on the multiplicity of occupational therapy from the intimately personal to the broadly political. Section Four engages with the broader context of occupational therapy from the political to the financial. The chapters in this section highlight the recent financial crisis and the impact it has had on people’s everyday life. Section Five collects a range of different approaches to working to enable a notion of occupational justice. Featuring chapters from across the globe, Section Six concludes by highlighting the importance and diversity of educational practices. Comprehensively covers occupational therapy theory, methodology and practice examples related to working with underserved and neglected populations Gives a truly global overview with contributions from over 100 international leading experts in the field and across a range of geographical, political and linguistic contexts Demonstrates how occupational injustices are shaped through political, economic and historical factors Advocates participatory approaches which work for those who experience inequalities Includes a complete set of new chapters Explores neoliberalism and financial contexts, and their impact on occupation Examines the concept of disability Discusses theoretical and practical approaches to occupational justice
This is a good text to accompany a core text on Public Relations. It is also very useful for marketing and business students. Valuable for post grads new to PR also." - Robbie Smyth, Griffith College Dublin "Offers the reader a concise and very readable tour through the many facets of PR... Providing a detailed reference of just under 200 alphabetically listed entries, covering a range of topics, from account management to wikis, destination branding and Hong Bo (that one you′ll have to look up yourselves), each entry takes up roughly a page, sometimes less, is colloquial in tone and offers several recommendations for further reading, making it an excellent jumping-off point for further exploration." - Communication Director The SAGE Key Concepts series provides students with accessible and authoritative knowledge of the essential topics in a variety of disciplines. Cross-referenced throughout, the format encourages critical evaluation through understanding. Written by experienced and respected academics, the books are indispensable study aids and guides to comprehension. Key Concepts in Public Relations: Provides a comprehensive, easy-to-use overview to the field. "Covers over 150 central concepts in PR. Paves the way for students to tackle primary texts. Grounds students in both practice and theory. Takes it further with recommended reading. Bob Franklin, Mike Hogan, Quentin Langley, Nick Mosdell and Elliot Pill all teach at the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies.
Policy reforms to children's services are increasingly driven by outcomes that focus on child well-being. Until now, however, this concept has been dimly defined. Seeking a better understanding of what child well-being is and how services can improve it, Nick Axford's pivotal book provides groundbreaking pathways into understanding the true success of child services. After investigating the main approaches to thinking about child well-being, he goes on to apply them to the actual child population by examining household surveys and agency audit data. Finally, he considers the overall implications for children's services, providing a must-read for anyone interested in these critical programs.
Rethinking the Region argues that regions are not simply bounded spaces on a map. This book uses unique research of England during the 1980s to show how regions are made and unmade by social processes. The book examines how new lines of division both social and geographical were laid down as free-market growth and reconstructed this are as a `neo-liberal' region. The authors argue that a more balanced form of growth is possible - within and between regions as well as between social groups. This book shows that to grasp the complexities of growth we must rethink `the region' in time as well as in space.
This volume provides a broad overview of the principal theoretical techniques applied to non-equilibrium and finite temperature quantum gases. Covering Bose-Einstein condensates, degenerate Fermi gases, and the more recently realised exciton-polariton condensates, it fills a gap by linking between different methods with origins in condensed matter physics, quantum field theory, quantum optics, atomic physics, and statistical mechanics.
A Critical Introduction to Social Research is the new, updated and improved edition of A Short Introduction to Social Research. This book introduces students and researchers to the key ideas and issues that inform research practice. In it, Henn, Weinstein and Foard provide a clear and easy-to-understand route-map to help the reader plan their research project from beginning to end. A Critical Introduction is perfect for use on introductory methods courses and is also an invaluable guide for the first time researcher embarking on their own small-scale research project. This new second edition now features updated chapters which reflect recent debates and developments in the field, including: - New coverage of emancipatory and feminist approaches; - Comparative research methods, evaluation research, and action research; - Online research; - Glossary of key terms; - Revised further reading sections at the end of each chapter which include peer-reviewed research articles. This book aims to prepare students and new researchers for their research project. Brilliantly written throughout, this is your essential guide to the theory of research, the practice of research and the best ways to plan and manage your research.
Building on his extensive research, the author explores the key social movements and organisations who have contested psychiatry and mental health in the UK between 1950 and 2000.
This book is an exploration of energy and its unique role to date as one of the fundamental enabling and controlling factors in human development and progress at the scale of global civilization, and how it will be fundamental to the type of future that collective humanity is likely to experience. The first section provides a contextual overview of energy and human civilization through a chronological description of how human energy use has evolved over time and led to the current ‘energy bind’. The second section explores what this energy bind might mean for our future energy choices when trying to meet the various challenges of dwindling resources, costs, and climate change, through exploration of three broad systems-based scenarios for the human ‘energy future’. The final section draws conclusions as to which scenario is most achievable and desirable, and what this might mean for longer-term human prospects.
Risk Assessment: The Human Dimension begins by looking at quantified risk assessment and considers, by using case studies, how accident causation can be considered from the three main perspectives of hardware failures, human error and failures of systems and cultures. The book then goes on to place risk assessment firmly within the broader context of the current, controversial debate concerning risk issues and the nature of risk. It addresses these issues mainly from the perspective of the chemical and process industries by looking at the process of risk assessment, its strengths and weaknesses and attempts to reconcile the human dimensions of risk assessment with the need for science and objectivity in risk-based decision making. Designed to be accessible to a wide range of disciplines, and enjoyable to the reader, Risk Assessment: The Human Dimension is broadly based and rooted in the author's practical experience of both risk assessment and organizations and how they function. With diagrams, summary and discussion sections in each chapter, this book will prove invaluable for the insights given in this increasingly important area.
This book provides a systematic and interdisciplinary analysis of the published literature and practical initiatives on the sports-Christianity interface from both Protestant and Catholic perspectives. Within the context of this relatively new and rapidly expanding area of inquiry, this text offers an original contribution to the current literature for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and serves as a point of reference for academics from a wide range of related fields including theology and religious studies, psychology, history, sociology, philosophy, psychology, health-religion studies, and sports studies. The book will also be of interest to sports chaplains, those involved in sports ministry organizations, physical educators and sports coaches who wish to adopt a more critical and ‘holistic’ approach to their work. As modern-day sports are often entwined with commercial and political agendas, the book also provides an important response to the ‘win-at-all-costs’ and business orientated philosophy, which characterises much of contemporary sport practice, yet which cannot always be fully understood through secular inquiry.
The Conservatives and Industrial Efficiency, 1951-1964 responds to the need for a full assessment of the Conservatives performance in this crucial period. Drawing upon a wide range of archival sources, Nick Tiratsoo and Jim Tomlinson explore the different aspects of the efficiency question. Beginning with the major issue of attempts in the 1950s to americanize British industry, the authors also discuss the Conservatives policy on ompetition, education and training, investment and research and development. This new survey reveals that the Conservatives were informed about each of these issues, yet shrank from effective reform. They were, rather, reduced to inertia by ideological dilemmas, internal party antagonisms and conflicting strategic objectives. Tiratsoo and Tomlinson conclude that 1951 - 1964 were indeed 'thirteen wasted years'. This book will be of interest to all those concerned with the post-1945 economic and political history of Britain.
Exercise Physiology for Health and Sports Performance brings together all the essential human anatomy and applied physiology that students of exercise science, physical education and sports coaching need to know. Written in a friendly, accessible style and containing a wide range of features to help develop understanding, this book provides a complete one-stop-shop for exercise physiology. The book is split into two key parts. Part One introduces the fundamental principles of nutrition, biochemistry, cell biology and the energy systems. Part Two builds on this foundation by applying the theory to exercise and sports performance in practice. With this innovative approach, the text enables you to become confident in your knowledge and understanding of energy generation and training principles for all sports. Including coverage of exercise in extreme environments and applications of physical activity for health, this will be the only exercise physiology textbook you will need!
Health services globally are changing, strategically, structurally and clinically. Research and Development (R&D) plays a key role, because only good research can elucidate and challenge the status quo or future possibilities for effective health care. Researchers and managers have a duty to collaborate with clinicians, to understand and make the most of each others' skills. This necessitates a new paradigm of health service research which is part of a change management culture and change promotion. A clear philosophical and practical distinction is required between R&D and fundamental biomedical science. This book has been written for people who make decisions and bring about change, at all sorts of levels, and in a wide range of disciplines. They include clinicians in many specialities, as well as administrative staff, and general managers of healthcare organizations. It is also for people doing, or wanting to do, research and development in this fascinating area.
During the 1990s, Naples’ left-wing administration sought to tackle the city’s infamous reputation of being poor, crime-ridden, chaotic and dirty by reclaiming the city’s cultural and architectural heritage. This book examines the conflicts surrounding the reimaging and reordering of the city’s historic centre through detailed case studies of two piazzas and a centro sociale, focusing on a series of issues that include heritage, decorum, security, pedestrianization, tourism, immigration and new forms of urban protest. This monograph is the first in-depth study of the complex transformations of one of Europe’s most fascinating and misunderstood cities. It represents a new critical approach to the questions of public space, citizenship and urban regeneration as well as a broader methodological critique of how we write about contemporary cities.
Amphibians are one of the world’s most rapidly declining fauna groups. In an era of devastating climate change, habitat destruction and irreplaceable loss of biological diversity, it has never been more important to have effective resources for identifying and managing wildlife. Tapping into the deep knowledge of the best frog experts in south-eastern Australia, Frogs of Victoria not only provides the tools to identify Victorian frogs – including keys, photographs and comparative information on similar species – it also presents detailed information on their biology, habitats, status and threats. Importantly, the authors also detail the urgent actions required to prevent further loss of amphibian diversity in Victoria. Including stunning images from some of Australia’s finest wildlife photographers, Frogs of Victoria is an authoritative resource for ecologists, land managers, conservationists and all who are fascinated by frogs.
This book is concerned with the contexts, nature and quality of the participation of young people in European democratic life. The authors understand democracy broadly as both institutional politics and civic cultures, and a wide range of methods are used to analyse and assess youth participation and attitudes.
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