Science & Nature - Books

Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells

Science & Nature

A Detailed, Up-to-Date Treatment of Key Developments in PEMFC MaterialsThe potential to revolutionize the way we power our worldBecause of its lower temperature and special polymer electrolyte membrane, the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is well-suited for transportation, portable, and micro fuel cell applications. But the performance o

Biogas in the Circular Economy

Science & Nature

Biogas in the Circular Economy: Technology, Production and Applications explains biogas technology in the context of a circular economy, allowing for zero waste by valorizing digestate (residue) in a sustainable way. The book begins by discussing anaerobic digestion for biomethane production, including feedstocks, pre-treatments, innovative technologies, and the use of artificial intelligence in anaerobic digestion. Subsequent chapters present the latest technologies in biogas separation, purification, in-situ upgrading, and valorization of digestates in a circular economy context, namely as biofertilizers and energy recovery by thermochemical conversions. Carbon neutrality and challenges in biogas are discussed with the support of case studies.This new volume in the Woodhead Series in Bioenergy enables the reader to understand how biogas technology can be utilized to reach circular economy objectives. It will be valuable to all those with an interest in biogas technology, bioenergy, and bioeconomy, including researchers, advanced students, faculty, engineers, scientists, R&D, industry practitioners, and policymakers. - Presents advanced and sustainable approaches to digestate management for biogas production - Describes the latest technologies in biogas separation and purification as part of the circular economy - Explores biomethane and biohydrogen in the context of transport, power production, and the water-energy-food nexus - Addresses carbon neutrality challenges, lifecycle assessment, and cost-benefit analysis

Proceedings of the International Conference on Cybersecurity, Situational Awareness and Social Media

Science & Nature

This book highlights advances in cyber security, cyber situational awareness (CyberSA), artificial intelligence (AI) and social media. It brings together original discussions, ideas, concepts and outcomes from research and innovation from multidisciplinary experts. It offers topical, timely and emerging original innovations and research results in cyber situational awareness, security analytics, cyber physical systems, blockchain technologies, machine learning, social media and wearables, protection of online digital service, cyber incident response, containment, control and countermeasures (CIRC3). The theme of Cyber Science 2023 is multidisciplinary and multidimensional cyber security. And through call for papers, we solicit original contributions advancing research in artificial intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, cyber security, social media, cyber incident response and cyber insurance.

What Science Says About Astrology

Science & Nature

For thousands of years, people have believed that the configuration of stars and planets in the sky influences earthly events. Today, astrology is a lucrative global market, with newspaper columns, mobile apps, and professional counselors weighing in on everything from love life to health to the stock market. Yet scientific evidence shows indisputably that it is simply superstition. Why does astrology appeal to so many people? What makes its prognostications seem persuasive? Is there any harm to believing in astrology anyway?This book aims a scientific lens at astrology, from its colorful history to experimental tests of its predictions through the social and psychological factors that explain its enduring popularity. Carlos Orsi explores the importance of astrology to the history of science and the reasons it has been categorized as a pseudoscience. He investigates its tenets, recounting how scientists debunked common claims. With both empathy and skepticism, Orsi illuminates the psychological, rhetorical, and emotional mechanisms that cause people to find astrological predictions convincing. He also addresses the dangers of irrational beliefs and the risks of applying astrology to serious decisions. Wide-ranging and entertaining, this book offers a critical look at the modern appeal of an ancient superstition.

Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics for Energy Exploration and Production

Science & Nature

ARTIFICAL INTELLIGENCE AND DATA ANALYTICS FOR ENERGY EXPLORATION AND PRODUCTION This groundbreaking new book is written by some of the foremost authorities on the application of data science and artificial intelligence techniques in exploration and production in the energy industry, covering the most comprehensive and updated new processes, concepts, and practical applications in the field. The book provides an in-depth treatment of the foundations of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Machine Learning, and Data Analytics (DA). It also includes many of AI-DA applications in oil and gas reservoirs exploration, development, and production. The book covers the basic technical details on many tools used in “smart oil fields”. This includes topics such as pattern recognition, neural networks, fuzzy logic, evolutionary computing, expert systems, artificial intelligence machine learning, human-computer interface, natural language processing, data analytics and next-generation visualization. While theoretical details will be kept to the minimum, these topics are introduced from oil and gas applications viewpoints. In this volume, many case histories from the recent applications of intelligent data to a number of different oil and gas problems are highlighted. The applications cover a wide spectrum of practical problems from exploration to drilling and field development to production optimization, artificial lift, and secondary recovery. Also, the authors demonstrate the effectiveness of intelligent data analysis methods in dealing with many oil and gas problems requiring combining machine and human intelligence as well as dealing with linguistic and imprecise data and rules.

Technology and Desire

Science & Nature

The spectral realm at the boundaries of images incessantly reveals a desire to see beyond the visible and its medium: screens, frames, public displays, and projection sites in an art context. The impact of new media on art and film has influenced the material histories and performances (be they in theory or practice) of images across the disciplines. Digital technologies have not only shaped post-cinematic media cultures and visual epistemologies, but they are behind a growing shift towards a new realism in theory, art, film, and in the art of the moving image in particular. Technology and Desire examines the performative ontologies of moving images across the genealogies of media and their aesthetic agency in contemporary media and video art, CGI, painting, video games, and installations. Drawing on cultural studies, media and film theory as well as art history to provide exemplary evidence of this shift, this book has as its central theme the question of whether images are predicated upon transgressing the boundaries of their framing ñ and whether in the course of their existence they develop a life of their own.

Security within CONASENSE Paragon

Science & Nature

Security within CONASENSE Paragon describes in particular the cyber security issues in the field of Communication, Navigation, Sensing and Services within the broad platform of CTIF Global Capsule (CGC). This covers future technologies and its enablers, smart cities, crowd computing, reliable and secure communication interface, satellite unnamed air vehicles, wireless sensor networks, data analytics and deep learning, remotely piloted aircraft system and public safety, network neutrality, business ecosystem innovation and so on.

¿Nos sobrepasará la inteligencia artificial?

Science & Nature

Las grandes preguntas del universo respondidas brevemente por Stephen Hawking, una de las mentes más brillantes de nuestro tiempo.Tras su éxito en el Reino Unido, llegan a España cuatro volúmenes que reúnen los capítulos esenciales del famoso libro Breves respuestas a las grandes preguntas de Stephen Hawking: ¿Cómo empezó todo?, ¿Qué hay dentro de un agujero negro?, ¿Sobreviviremos en la Tierra?, ¿Nos sobrepasará la inteligencia artificial?En ¿Nos sobrepasará la inteligencia artificial?, el prestigioso y reconocido cosmólogonos advierte sobre las ventajas y los riesgos de crear una inteligencia artificial que sobrepase las competencias humanas y explora la posibilidad de que existan otras formas de vida inteligente más allá de la Tierra.Cada libro presenta un prólogo elaborado por reconocidos científicos nacionales, cuyo propósito es acercar el pensamiento de Stephen Hawking a los lectores interesados en comprender el origen de los agujeros negros y del tiempo, la inteligencia artificial, la posibilidad de vida más allá de la Tierra, la figura de Dios como creador y las reflexiones en torno al futuro de la existencia humana como especie.Una oportunidad única para descubrir, con la claridad, la sencillez, el humor y la profundidad del propio Hawking, cómo la ciencia desentraña los misterios del cosmos y del propio ser humano.

Handbook of Systems Thinking Methods

Science & Nature

The systems thinking philosophy has become popular in human factors and ergonomics and safety science. These methods are being used to understand and resolve complex societal problems in areas such as transport safety, workplace safety, medication error, disaster management, child abuse, financial crises, terrorism, climate change and public health and wellbeing. This handbook presents practical step-by-step guidance for practitioners and researchers wishing to use these methods to tackle complex problems. Each method includes an example case study which demonstrates how the method can be applied and how the results can be interpreted and translated into practical recommendations.The book presents practical guidance on state-of-the-art systems thinking methods and offers case study applications describing systems thinking methods in novel areas. It explains how to translate the outputs of systems thinking methods in practice and introduces systems thinking with an overview of Human Factors and Ergonomics applications.This book will serve as a great reference for students and engineers in the field of systems engineering, complex systems and the design and development of systems, including ergonomics/human factors and systems engineers, designers, architects, industrial engineers, project management engineers, reliability engineers, risk engineers, software engineers and computer engineers.

How Many Moons Does the Earth Have?

Science & Nature

Why did Uuq become Fl? Why is the sky blue? Why is the sky black? What is spaghettification? There's a problem with the typical quiz. It always features far too much sport, 1980s pop and celebrity gossip – and not nearly enough science. How Many Moons Does the Earth Have? is the ultimate solution. Test your knowledge to the limit with a sizzling collection of brain-stretching, science-based questions in two eight-round quizzes. Turn the page to get the answer immediately – and as each answer page explores the subject in more depth, this the only quiz that's just as entertaining to read from beginning to end as it is to play competitively. Where was the Big Bang? What links the elephant Tusko and Timothy Leary? What is the significance of 6EQUJ5? Science explainer extraordinaire Brian Clegg tells all…

Building the H Bomb

Science & Nature

In this engaging scientific memoir, Kenneth Ford recounts the time when, in his mid-twenties, he was a member of the team that designed and built the first hydrogen bomb. He worked with - and relaxed with - scientific giants of that time such as Edward Teller, Enrico Fermi, Stan Ulam, John von Neumann, and John Wheeler, and here offers illuminating insights into the personalities, the strengths, and the quirks of these men. Well known for his ability to explain physics to nonspecialists, Ford also brings to life the physics of fission and fusion and provides a brief history of nuclear science from the discovery of radioactivity in 1896 to the ten-megaton explosion of “Mike” that obliterated a Pacific Island in 1952.Ford worked at both Los Alamos and Princeton's Project Matterhorn, and brings out Matterhorn's major, but previously unheralded contribution to the development of the H bomb. Outside the lab, he drove a battered Chevrolet around New Mexico, a bantam motorcycle across the country, and a British roadster around New Jersey. Part of the charm of Ford's book is the way in which he leavens his well-researched descriptions of the scientific work with brief tales of his life away from weapons.Contents: The Big Idea The Protagonists The Choice The Scientists, the Officials, and the President Nuclear Energy Some Physics Going West A New World The Classical Super Calculating and Testing Constructing Matterhorn Academia Cowers New Mexico, New York, and New Jersey The Garwin Design Climbing Matterhorn It's More Than a BoyReadership: A memoir for general readership in the history of science.Key Features: It contains real physics, clearly presented for non-specialists Combining historical scholarship and his own recollections, the author offers important insights into the people and the work that led to the first H bomb Personal anecdotes enliven the book

Exceptional Creativity In Science and Technology

Science & Nature

In the evolution of science and technology, laws governing exceptional creativity and innovation have yet to be discovered. The historian Thomas Kuhn, in his influential study The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, noted that the final stage in a scientific breakthrough such as Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity—that is, the most crucial stage—was “inscrutable.” The same is still true half a century later. Yet, there has been considerable progress in understanding many of the stages and facets of exceptional creativity and innovation. In Exceptional Creativity in Science and Technology editor Andrew Robinson gathers together a diverse group of contributors to explore this progress. This new collection arises from a symposium with the same title held at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), in Princeton. Organized by the John Templeton Foundation, the symposium had as its chair the late distinguished doctor and geneticist Baruch S. Blumberg, while its IAS host was the well-known physicist Freeman J. Dyson—both of whom have contributed chapters to the book. In addition to scientists, engineers, and an inventor, the book’s fifteen contributors include an economist, entrepreneurs, historians, and sociologists, all working at leading institutions, including Bell Laboratories, Microsoft Research, Oxford University, Princeton University, and Stanford University. Each contributor brings a unique perspective to the relationships between exceptional scientific creativity and innovation by individuals and institutions. The diverse list of disciplines covered, the high-profile contributors (including two Nobel laureates), and their fascinating insights into this overarching question—how exactly do we make breakthroughs?—will make this collection of interest to anyone involved with the creative process in any context, but it will be especially appealing to readers in scientific and technological fields.

Analiza systemów - światów

Science & Nature

Zwolennicy analizy systemów-światów, której poświęcona jest niniejsza książka, mówili o globalizacji na długo, zanim powstał ten termin – ale nie jako o czymś nowym, lecz jako o czymś, co stanowi podstawę nowoczesnego systemu-świata od chwili jego powstania w szesnastym wieku. System ten ma swoją historię i jest wytworem społecznym, którego pochodzenie trzeba wyjaśnić, trwałe mechanizmy trzeba określić, a nieunikniony ostateczny kryzys – dostrzec.Jednocześnie jednak Autor wierzy, że wyłonienie się tego modelu analizy jest wyrazem rzeczywistego protestu wobec głębokich nierówności systemu-świata, które stanowią charakterystyczną cechę polityczną naszych czasów.

Energy Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

Science & Nature

As one of the eighteen field-specific reports comprising the comprehensive scope of the strategic general report of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, this sub-report addresses long-range planning for developing science and technology in the field of energy science. They each craft a roadmap for their sphere of development to 2050. In their entirety, the general and sub-group reports analyze the evolution and laws governing the development of science and technology, describe the decisive impact of science and technology on the modernization process, predict that the world is on the eve of an impending S&T revolution, and call for China to be fully prepared for this new round of S&T advancement. Based on the detailed study of the demands on S&T innovation in China's modernization, the reports draw a framework for eight basic and strategic systems of socio-economic development with the support of science and technology, work out China's S&T roadmaps for the relevant eight basic and strategic systems in line with China's reality, further detail S&T initiatives of strategic importance to China's modernization, and provide S&T decision-makers with comprehensive consultations for the development of S&T innovation consistent with China's reality. Supported by illustrations and tables of data, the reports provide researchers, government officials and entrepreneurs with guidance concerning research directions, the planning process, and investment. Founded in 1949, the Chinese Academy of Sciences is the nation's highest academic institution in natural sciences. Its major responsibilities are to conduct research in basic and technological sciences, to undertake nationwide integrated surveys on natural resources and ecological environment, to provide the country with scientific data and consultations for government's decision-making, to undertake government-assigned projects with regard to key S&T problems in the process of socio-economic development, to initiate personnel training, and to promote China's high-tech enterprises through its active engagement in these areas.

Dr Karl's Little Book of Climate Change Science

Science & Nature

Australia's favourite science guru explains the facts about climate change -- and how we can fix itHow do Greenhouse Gas molecules shimmy and shake to trap 400,000 Hiroshima atom bombs' worth of the Sun's heat each day?Who did the early research into Climate Change and then spent billions trying to cover it up?What's the Hockey Stick Graph and why is it so important?How did Climate Change tip the Earth off its axis?Why was Sydney the hottest place on Earth on 4 January 2020?How can we move to zero and even negative emissions?How can kelp help?When it comes to long-haul transport, why is hydrogen the way to go?And much more!Now, in this never dull, easy-to-understand guide Dr Karl explains the science of climate change and how we can fix it. (We can!)

Global Bestseller Written By Donella H. Meadows

Science & Nature

The classic book on systems thinking—with more than half a million copies sold worldwide! "This is a fabulous book… This book opened my mind and reshaped the way I think about investing."—Forbes "Thinking in Systems is required reading for anyone hoping to run a successful company, community, or country. Learning how to think in systems is now part of change-agent literacy. And this is the best book of its kind."—Hunter Lovins. In the years following her role as the lead author of the international bestseller, Limits to Growth—the first book to show the consequences of unchecked growth on a finite planet—Donella Meadows remained a pioneer of environmental and social analysis until her untimely death in 2001. Thinking in Systems is a concise and crucial book offering insight for problem solving on scales ranging from the personal to the global. Edited by the Sustainability Institute’s Diana Wright, this essential primer brings systems thinking out of the realm of computers and equations and into the tangible world, showing readers how to develop the systems-thinking skills that thought leaders across the globe consider critical for 21st-century life. Some of the biggest problems facing the world—war, hunger, poverty, and environmental degradation—are essentially system failures. They cannot be solved by fixing one piece in isolation from the others, because even seemingly minor details have enormous power to undermine the best efforts of too-narrow thinking. While readers will learn the conceptual tools and methods of systems thinking, the heart of the book is grander than methodology. Donella Meadows was known as much for nurturing positive outcomes as she was for delving into the science behind global dilemmas. She reminds readers to pay attention to what is important, not just what is quantifiable, to stay humble, and to stay a learner. In a world growing ever more complicated, crowded, and interdependent, Thinking in Systems helps readers avoid confusion and helplessness, the first step toward finding proactive and effective solutions. # ThinkinginSystems

The Future of the Brain

Science & Nature

The world's top experts take readers to the very frontiers of brain scienceIncludes a chapter by 2014 Nobel laureates May-Britt Moser and Edvard MoserAn unprecedented look at the quest to unravel the mysteries of the human brain, The Future of the Brain takes readers to the absolute frontiers of science. Original essays by leading researchers such as Christof Koch, George Church, Olaf Sporns, and May-Britt and Edvard Moser describe the spectacular technological advances that will enable us to map the more than eighty-five billion neurons in the brain, as well as the challenges that lie ahead in understanding the anticipated deluge of data and the prospects for building working simulations of the human brain. A must-read for anyone trying to understand ambitious new research programs such as the Obama administration's BRAIN Initiative and the European Union's Human Brain Project, The Future of the Brain sheds light on the breathtaking implications of brain science for medicine, psychiatry, and even human consciousness itself.Contributors include: Misha Ahrens, Ned Block, Matteo Carandini, George Church, John Donoghue, Chris Eliasmith, Simon Fisher, Mike Hawrylycz, Sean Hill, Christof Koch, Leah Krubitzer, Michel Maharbiz, Kevin Mitchell, Edvard Moser, May-Britt Moser, David Poeppel, Krishna Shenoy, Olaf Sporns, Anthony Zador.

Re/Formation and Identity

Science & Nature

This innovative book applies contemporary and emergent theories of identity formation to timely questions of identity re/formation and development in immigrant families across diverse ethnicities and age groups. Researchers from across the globe examine the ways in which immigrants from Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America dynamically adjust, adapt, and resist aspects of their identities in their host countries as a form of resilience. The book provides a multidisciplinary approach to studying the multidimensional complexities of identity development and immigration and offers critical insights on the experiences of immigrant families.Key areas of coverage include:Factors that affect identity formation, readjustment, and maintenance, including individual differences and social environments.Influences of intersecting immigrant ecologies such as family, community, and complex multidimensions of culture on identity development.Current identity theories and their effectiveness at addressing issues of ethnicity, culture, and immigration.Research challenges to studying various forms of identity.Re/Formation and Identity: The Intersectionality of Development, Culture, and Immigration is an essential resource for researchers, professors, and graduate students as well as clinicians, professionals, and policymakers in the fields of developmental, social, and cross-cultural psychology, parenting and family studies, social work, and all interrelated disciplines.

Breve historia de la Tierra (con nosotros dentro)

Science & Nature

Un apasionante recorrido por la historia de la biosfera para concienciar a nuestra sociedad sobre la importancia de respetar el entorno.La Tierra es un planeta con una larga historia al que hace miles de millones le nació la vida. Desde entonces, la actividad de los distintos organismos ha ido creando las condiciones ambientales en las que nosotros, la especie Homo sapiens, vinimos al mundo. Unos recién llegados que, como el resto de los seres vivos, dejamos nuestra huella. Desde hace muy poco tiempo, unos diez mil años, empezamos a comportarnos de una manera extremadamente peculiar: en vez de adaptarnos al entorno, empezamos a modificarlo en nuestro beneficio. A partir de entonces se puede decir que nuestra huella se ha ido convirtiendo más bien en un pisotón.El paleontólogo Juan Luis Arsuaga y la historiadora Milagros Algaba realizan un apasionante recorrido por la historia de la biosfera desde sus orígenes hasta nuestros días y hacen un especial hincapié en la relación del hombre con la Tierra. Una invitación a reflexionar sobre el futuro incierto de nuestro planeta.

Applications of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence in Smart Energy Systems

Science & Nature

In the era of propelling traditional energy systems to evolve towards smart energy systems, including power generation, energy storage systems, and electricity consumption have become more dynamic. The quality and reliability of power supply are impacted by the sporadic and rising use of electric vehicles, domestic loads, and industrial loads. Similarly, with the integration of solid state devices, renewable sources, and distributed generation, power generation processes are evolving in a variety of ways. Several cutting-edge technologies are necessary for the safe and secure operation of power systems in such a dynamic setting, including load distribution, automation, energy regulation & control, and energy trading. This book covers the applications of various big data analytics,artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies in smart grids for demand prediction, decision-making processes, policy, and energy management. The book delves into the new technologies for modern power systems such as the Internet of Things, Blockchain for smart home and smart city solutions in depth.Technical topics discussed in the book include:• Hybrid smart energy system technologies• Smart meters• Energy demand forecasting• Use of different protocols and communication in smart energysystems• Power quality and allied issues and mitigation using AI• Intelligent transportation• Virtual power plants• AI based smart energy business models• Smart home solutions• Blockchain solutions for smart grids.

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