› › Nano Meets Macro

Nano Meets Macro

Author : Kamilla Kjolberg

Publisher : CRC Press

Page : 415 pages

File Size : 44,72 MB

Release : 2019-10-10

Category : Science

ISBN : 0429533756

Get eBook

Book Description

This book explores the enormous diversity in social perspectives on the emergence of nanoscale sciences and technologies. It points to four nodes of interest where nano meets macro: in the making, in the public eye, in the big questions, and in the tough decisions. Each node draws attention to important lines of research and pertinent issues. The book is designed for interdisciplinary teaching, but the richness of issues and perspectives makes it of interest to all researchers, practitioners, and non-academics wanting an introduction to social perspectives on nanoscale sciences and technologies.



Nano Meets Macro

Author : Kamilla Lein Kjølberg

Publisher : Pan Stanford Publishing

Page : 595 pages

File Size : 11,78 MB

Release : 2010

Category : Science

ISBN : 9814267058

Get eBook

Book Description

Explores the enormous diversity in social perspectives on the emergence of nanotechnologies under five broad categories: Philosophy, governance, science, representations and arts, and attention is drawn to important research lines and pertinent questions within and across these categories. To stimulate a thorough discussion the book includes pieces of science fiction and visual arts, as well as questions for reflection after each chapter.



Synthetic Biology

Author : Bernd Giese

Publisher : Springer

Page : 282 pages

File Size : 16,77 MB

Release : 2014-09-27

Category : Technology & Engineering

ISBN : 3319027832

Get eBook

Book Description

Synthetic Biology is already an object of intensive debate. However, to a great extent the discussion to date has been concerned with fundamental ethical, religious and philosophical questions. By contrast, based on an investigation of the field’s scientific and technological character, this book focuses on new functionalities provided by synthetic biology and explores the associated opportunities and risks. Following an introduction to the subject and a discussion of the most central paradigms and methodologies, the book provides an overview of the structure of this field of science and technology. It informs the reader about the current stage of development, as well as topical problems and potential opportunities in important fields of application. But not only the science itself is in focus. In order to investigate its broader impact, ecological as well as ethical implications will be considered, paving the way for a discussion of responsibilities in the context of a field at a transitional crossroads between basic and applied science. In closing, the requirements for a suitable regulatory framework are discussed. The book is intended as a source of information and orientation for researchers, students and practitioners in the natural sciences and technology assessment; for members of scientific and technological, governmental and funding institutions; and for members of the general public interested in essential information on the current status, prospects and implications of synthetic biology.



Innovation for Sustainable Development

Author : Jean-Yves Grosclaude

Publisher : The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)

Page : 306 pages

File Size : 44,69 MB

Release : 2014-02-20

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 8179935566

Get eBook

Book Description

Innovation has become the new buzzword across the globe. International organisations, governments, corporates, academia and society see it as the answer to the major economic, social and environmental transformations challenging the models of the 20th century. Innovations are occurring worldwide and alternative solutions to the existing problems are emerging in all sectors: electric cars, organic farming, renewable energy and e-learning are good examples. These alternatives can be ascribed with qualities such as decentralized frugal, flexible, smart and democratic, virtues that are lacking in conventional models. They are attributed with the potential to meet the overall global challenges such as climate change and the growing inequalities between and within countries. What is the real potential of innovation? Does the rapid deployment of innovations lead towards a more sustainable and inclusive society? Can innovations and the emerging alternatives replace conventional models? Beyond technologies, what institutional innovations are required to support sustainable development? A Planet for Life 2014 aims to answer these questions and explore innovation in all its aspects, through a series of texts written by international experts. The objective of this book is to analyse experiences from across the world and the role of innovation in a variety of areas of development such as urbanization, agriculture and food, the mobility of people and freight, education and the provision of water and energy to all.



Engineering a Better Future

Author : Eswaran Subrahmanian

Publisher : Springer

Page : 222 pages

File Size : 11,20 MB

Release : 2018-11-12

Category : Education

ISBN : 3319911341

Get eBook

Book Description

This open access book examines how the social sciences can be integrated into the praxis of engineering and science, presenting unique perspectives on the interplay between engineering and social science. Motivated by the report by the Commission on Humanities and Social Sciences of the American Association of Arts and Sciences, which emphasizes the importance of social sciences and Humanities in technical fields, the essays and papers collected in this book were presented at the NSF-funded workshop ‘Engineering a Better Future: Interplay between Engineering, Social Sciences and Innovation’, which brought together a singular collection of people, topics and disciplines. The book is split into three parts: A. Meeting at the Middle: Challenges to educating at the boundaries covers experiments in combining engineering education and the social sciences; B. Engineers Shaping Human Affairs: Investigating the interaction between social sciences and engineering, including the cult of innovation, politics of engineering, engineering design and future of societies; and C. Engineering the Engineers: Investigates thinking about design with papers on the art and science of science and engineering practice.



Inquiring into Animal Enhancement

Author : Simone Bateman

Publisher : Springer

Page : 196 pages

File Size : 14,6 MB

Release : 2015-08-30

Category : Social Science

ISBN : 1137542470

Get eBook

Book Description

This book explores issues raised by past and present practices of animal enhancement in terms of their means and their goals, clarifies conceptual issues and identifies lessons that can be learned about enhancement practices, as they concern both animals and humans.



Advances in Food Science and Technology, Volume 1

Author : Visakh P. M.

Publisher : John Wiley & Sons

Page : 336 pages

File Size : 31,64 MB

Release : 2013-03-04

Category : Technology & Engineering

ISBN : 1118121023

Get eBook

Book Description

Written in a systematic and comprehensive manner, the book reports recent advances in the development of food science and technology areas. Advances in Food Science and Technology discusses many of the recent technical research accomplishments in the areas of food science and technology, such as food security as a global issue, food chemistry, frozen food and technology, as well as state-of-the-art developments concerning food production, properties, quality, trace element speciation, nanotechnology, and bionanocomposites for food packing applications. Specifically, this important book details: New innovative methods for food formulations and novel nanotechnology applications such as food packaging, enhanced barrier, active packaging, and intelligent packaging Freezing methods and equipment such as freezing by contact with cold air, cold liquid, and cold surfaces, cryogenic freezing, and a combination of freezing methods Chemical and functional properties of food components Bionanocomposites for natural food packing and natural biopolymer-based films such as polysaccharide films and protein films Regulatory aspects of food ingredients in the United States with the focus on the safety of enzyme preparations used in food



Hermeneutics, History, and Technology

Author : Armin Grunwald

Publisher : Taylor & Francis

Page : 155 pages

File Size : 39,72 MB

Release : 2023-06-01

Category : History

ISBN : 1000887413

Get eBook

Book Description

For better and worse, the future is often conceived in technological terms. Technology is supposed to meet the challenge of climate change or resource depletion. And when one asks about the world in 20 or 100 years, answers typically revolve around AI, genome editing, or geoengineering. There is great demand to speculate about the future of work, the future of mobility, Industry 4.0, and Humanity 2.0. The humanities and social sciences, science studies, and technology assessment respond to this demand but need to seek out a responsible way of taking the future into account. This collection of papers, interviews, debates grew out of disagreements about technological futures, speculative ethics, plausible scenarios, anticipatory governance, and proactionary and precautionary approaches. It proposes Hermeneutic Technology Assessment as a way of understanding ourselves through our ways of envisioning the future. At the same time, a hermeneutic understanding of technological projects and prototypes allows for normative assessments of their promises. Is the future an object of design? This question can bring together and divide policy makers, STS scholars, social theorists, and philosophers of history, and it will interest also the scientists and engineers who labor under the demand to deliver that future.



Early engagement and new technologies: Opening up the laboratory

Author : Neelke Doorn

Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media

Page : 257 pages

File Size : 46,49 MB

Release : 2014-02-06

Category : Philosophy

ISBN : 9400778449

Get eBook

Book Description

Despite the topic’s urgency and centrality, this is the first edited volume to offer a comprehensive assessment of the varying approaches to early engagement with new technologies, including nanotechnology, synthetic biology, biotechnology and ICT. Covering five main approaches to early engagement—constructive technology assessment (CTA), value-sensitive design (VSD), midstream modulation (MM), the network approach for moral evaluation, and political technology assessment—the book will be a pivotal text in the rapidly developing research field of ELSI, which explores the ethical, legal, and social implications of new technologies. Featuring leading scholars who discuss each early engagement approach in turn, the chapters cover both theory and applications, and include evaluative assessments of specific instances of early adoption of technologies. Further contributions focus on theoretical issues relevant to all approaches, including interdisciplinary cooperation, normativity and intervention, and political and public relevance. The publication has added profile due to the requirement of multi-billion-dollar research programs in the US and Europe to engage in ELSI research alongside that of the technical development itself, even in the early stages. Its comprehensive scrutiny of the core factors in early engagement will ensure a readership of policy makers as well as scientists and engineers.



Philosophy of Nature

Author : Svein Anders Noer Lie

Publisher : Routledge

Page : 283 pages

File Size : 44,21 MB

Release : 2016-01-22

Category : Business & Economics

ISBN : 1317645944

Get eBook

Book Description

The concept of naturalness has largely disappeared from the academic discourse in general but also the particular field of environmental studies. This book is about naturalness in general – about why the idea of naturalness has been abandoned in modern academic discourse, why it is important to explicitly re-establish some meaning for the concept and what that meaning ought to be. Arguing that naturalness can and should be understood in light of a dispositional ontology, the book offers a point of view where the gap between instrumental and ethical perspectives can be bridged. Reaching a new foundation for the concept of ‘naturalness’ and its viability will help raise and inform further discussions within environmental philosophy and issues occurring in the crossroads between science, technology and society. This topical book will be of great interest to researchers and students in Environmental Studies, Environmental Philosophy, Science and Technology Studies, Conservation Studies as well as all those generally engaged in debates about the place of ‘man in nature’.