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Forensic Science Laboratory Benchmarking: The FORESIGHT Manual
By Max M. Houck, Paul J. Speaker. 2024
Forensic Science Laboratory Benchmarking: The FORESIGHT Manual takes a step-by-step instructional approach to utilizing FORESIGHT data, detailing how labs can…
participate in the process to improve efficiencies. The FORESIGHT Project—a business benchmarking process for forensic service providers—was created in 2008 to collect and report data while offering improvement to processes through analysis, comparisons, and best practice evaluations. The program has grown to include more than 200 participating forensic laboratories worldwide.FORESIGHT offers the capability for labs to improve core functions, provide and benefit from metrics, and thus, improve the labs capabilities and functioning for the public good, while maintaining their often limited, fixed budgets. Due to ever-increasing caseloads, forensic laboratories are constantly plagued by backlogged casework—cases submitted to the laboratory but not yet worked. This leads to inefficiencies, delays, and unhappy agencies expecting timely results. Unfortunately, even if a lab’s slates were wiped clean and the backlog were erased, many of the inefficient processes—that created the backlog—would still be in place. Eventually, and inevitably, the lab would develop a new backlog.Unique coverage and features: Presents critical and proven cutting-edge measures to utilize FORESIGHT data improve laboratory testing, operational efficiency, and policies without added additional costs. Synthesizes the data input from more than 200 labs and a decade’s worth of analytics to illustrate process improvements and the advantages of participating. Outlines how to develop data-driven responses to solve current and future problems. Forensic Science Laboratory Benchmarking will be of interest to quality assurance specialists, economists, supervisors in the parent agencies of the labs, managers at all levels of any of the hundreds of public laboratories around the world, and anyone concerned about the effectiveness and efficiency of laboratory testing. As an operational guide, the book provides a helpful roadmap to help public science agencies and forensic labs analyze how they operate, improve on what works, and change what doesn’t to better meet their mission and serve their community’s goals.Advances in Electrical Systems and Innovative Renewable Energy Techniques: The Proceedings of the International Conference on Electrical Systems and Automation (Volume 1) (Advances in Science, Technology & Innovation)
By Mohamed Bendaoud, Amine El Fathi, Farhad Ilahi Bakhsh, Siano Pierluigi. 2024
This edited book on “Advances in Electrical Systems and Innovative Renewable Energy Techniques” is an outcome of the selected papers…
presented at the International Conference on Electrical Systems & Automation, (ICESA 2023) held from 29 to 30, May 2023 at the Faculty of Sciences and technologies, Al Hoceïma, Morocco.This edited book is divided into 2 volumes. This volume will be divided into 3 parts, each devoted to distinct yet interconnected aspects of the subject matter.The first part focuses on various advancements in renewable energy techniques. It explores topics ranging from biomass combustion characteristics and hydrogen production using photovoltaics to the assessment of wave energy potential and the performance evaluation of solar collectors. These research papers not only shed light on the current state-of-the-art technologies but also offer valuable insights into their implementation, efficiency, and potential impact on the energy landscape.The second part focuses on interdisciplinary approaches between electrical and renewable energy systems and includes research chapters on photovoltaic (PV) energy, wind energy, and microgrid systems.For PV systems, several topics and issues are addressed such as modeling of PV systems using single diode model and double diode model; analytical and numerical methods for extraction of PV parameters; extraction of maximum power from PV system using integral SMC strategy, sun-pointing orientation, SuDoKu, and ANN algorithms; and fault detection and classification based on metaheuristic technique, and feedforward neural network.For the wind system, its modeling is first discussed, and then the control of the wind system using direct power, PI, fuzzy logic, sliding mode, and time delay strategies is analyzed.In the third part, the chapters focus on efficient energy management, optimization of microgrids, and the use of advancedtechnologies to improve energy performance. Researchers present innovative solutions to address the challenges of energy efficiency, grid responsiveness, and the integration of new energy sources.Digitale Plattformen im industriellen Mittelstand: Strategien, Methoden, Umsetzungsbeispiele (Intelligente Technische Systeme – Lösungen aus dem Spitzencluster it’s OWL)
By Daniel Beverungen, Roman Dumitrescu, Arno Kühn, Christoph Plass. 2024
Dieses Buch stellt neue Strategien, Methoden und Umsetzungsbeispiele vor, mit denen digitale Plattformen zur Realisierung erfolgreicher Geschäftsstrategien im industriellen Mittelstand…
eingesetzt werden. Digitale Plattformen sind Erfolgsgaranten für viele Weltmarktführer im Konsumgüterbereich. Aber auch der industrielle Mittelstand kann mit ihrer Hilfe neue Geschäftsfelder erschließen und Wettbewerbsvorteile realisieren. In diesem Band zeigen wir auf, warum sich produzierende Unternehmen schon heute in diesem Wettbewerbsumfeld positionieren müssen und welche strategischen Handlungsoptionen existieren. Ein strukturierter Transformationspfad zeigt, wie der industrielle Mittelstand über die Etablierung digitaler Dienstleistungen den Sprung in die Plattformökonomie schaffen kann. Innovative Methoden und Werkzeuge bieten konkrete Hilfestellung, um diesen Transformationsprozess strategisch zu planen und umzusetzen. Zwei ausgewählte Praxisbeispiele zeigen schließlich auf, wie der Einstieg in die Plattformökonomie erfolgreich gelingt.Human Minds and Cultures
By Sanjit Chakraborty. 2024
This book puts forward a harmonious analysis of similarities and differences between two concepts—human minds and cultures—and strives for a…
multicultural spectrum of philosophical explorations that could assist them in pondering the striking pursuit of envisaging human minds and cultures as an essential appraisal of philosophy and the social sciences. The book hinges on a theoretical understanding of the indispensable liaison between the dichotomy of minds and objectivity residing in semantic-ontological conjectures. The ethnographic sense of cultures confines the scope of cultural scientism, an evolutionary paradigm on the functionalist turn, where one could enthral the cultural phenomenon from the contentment of the conflict of scientific quandaries. Hence, cultural relativism concedes that cultures have some descriptive contents, like customs, beliefs, moral codes, other minds, etc., that are followed by an individual or a group of people. However, the notion of societalsemiotics embarks on the ‘semiotic conception of culture’ that deploys modernity and values centred on ethical conjectures. Human Minds and Cultures conspicuously attune the cultural edifice of moral minds and cope with the enduring prospects of ethics, genders, laws, and socio-political affairs. Essential reading for anyone with a sparkling interest in human minds and cultures.Advances in Design, Simulation and Manufacturing: Proceedings of the International Conference on Design, Simulation, Manufacturing: The Innovation Exchange, DSMIE-2018, June 12-15, 2018, Sumy, Ukraine (Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering)
By Vitalii Ivanov, Yiming Rong, Justyna Trojanowska, Joachim Venus, Oleksandr Liaposhchenko, Jozef Zajac, Ivan Pavlenko, Milan Edl, Dragan Perakovic. 2019
This book reports on topics at the interface between manufacturing, mechanical and chemical engineering. It gives a special emphasis to…
CAD/CAE systems, information management systems, advanced numerical simulation methods and computational modeling techniques, and their use in product design, industrial process optimization and in the study of the properties of solids, structures and fluids. Control theory, ICT for engineering education as well as ecological design and food technologies are also among the topics discussed in the book. Based on the International Conference on Design, Simulation, Manufacturing: The Innovation Exchange (DSMIE-2018), held on June 12-15, 2018, in Sumy, Ukraine, the book provides academics and professionals with a timely overview and extensive information on trends and technologies behind current and future developments of Industry 4.0, innovative design and renewable energy generation.This volume comprises selected contributions by the participants of the second "Functor Categories, Model Theory, Algebraic Analysis and Constructive Methods"…
conference, which took place at the University of Almería, Spain, in July 2022.The conference was devoted to several seemingly unrelated fields: functor categories, model theory of modules, algebraic analysis (including linear control systems), and constructive category theory, to mention just a few. The fact that these fields are actually related is a very recent realization. The connections between these disciplines are changing in real time, and the goal of this volume is to provide an initial reference point for this emerging interdisciplinary field.Besides research articles, the volume includes two extended lectures: one on constructive methods in algebraic analysis and the other on the functorial approach to algebraic systems theory. Hence, in addition to its interestfor researchers, the volume will also be an invaluable resource for newcomers.Ending Aging: The Rejuvenation Breakthroughs That Could Reverse Human Aging in Our Lifetime
By Aubrey De Grey, Michael Rae. 2007
MUST WE AGE? A long life in a healthy, vigorous, youthful body has always been one of humanity's greatest dreams.…
Recent progress in genetic manipulations and calorie-restricted diets in laboratory animals hold forth the promise that someday science will enable us to exert total control over our own biological aging. Nearly all scientists who study the biology of aging agree that we will someday be able to substantially slow down the aging process, extending our productive, youthful lives. Dr. Aubrey de Grey is perhaps the most bullish of all such researchers. As has been reported in media outlets ranging from 60 Minutes to The New York Times, Dr. de Grey believes that the key biomedical technology required to eliminate aging-derived debilitation and death entirely—technology that would not only slow but periodically reverse age-related physiological decay, leaving us biologically young into an indefinite future—is now within reach.In Ending Aging, Dr. de Grey and his research assistant Michael Rae describe the details of this biotechnology. They explain that the aging of the human body, just like the aging of man-made machines, results from an accumulation of various types of damage. As with man-made machines, this damage can periodically be repaired, leading to indefinite extension of the machine's fully functional lifetime, just as is routinely done with classic cars. We already know what types of damage accumulate in the human body, and we are moving rapidly toward the comprehensive development of technologies to remove that damage. By demystifying aging and its postponement for the nonspecialist reader, de Grey and Rae systematically dismantle the fatalist presumption that aging will forever defeat the efforts of medical science.Transforming Public Services—Combining Data and Algorithms to Fulfil Citizen’s Expectations (Intelligent Systems Reference Library #252)
By Christophe Gaie, Mayuri Mehta. 2024
This book provides a precise portrayal of the current trends and future perspectives of e-Government. It outlines new approaches that…
optimize public services across diverse sectors. Going beyond traditional boundaries, it offers mathematical models for public services supported by convincing case studies. This book significantly enhances various government services, such as education, healthcare, safety, security, and culture. It also strongly emphasizes safeguarding citizens' personal data, ensuring privacy, and obtaining explicit consent. Tailored for students and academics, the book is an invaluable reference for teaching graduate courses in e-Government, Process Modelling, or Artificial Intelligence. Its impact extends beyond the classroom; civil servants from all domains can find practical insights to navigate the ongoing modernization of public services. Even citizens curious about the transformation in their public services can find this book enlightening. Researchers working in the area of e-Governance can use this book to discover the recent developments in e-Government.Climate Change and Socio-political Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene: Perspectives from Peace Ecology and Sustainable Development (The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science #37)
By Jean Chrysostome K. Kiyala, Norman Chivasa. 2024
This book explores the theoretical contribution of peace ecology to the understanding and practice of environmental and conventional peacebuilding. It…
integrates environmental questions and factors that drive socio-political violence and climate change-induced violence in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Anthropocene.· It demonstrates how international peace and global security are no longer solely grounded in conventional peacebuilding that has evolved from liberal to democratic peace theories, but rather in the complex, critical and synergic relations between peace studies and environmental studies.· It provides a pluridisciplinary body of knowledge that emphasises the need for food security, social climate, social good, social capital and sustainable development at the age of climate change and climate wars.· It underscores the potential of peace ecology to reduce the Earth systems' vulnerability, to mitigate anthropogenic global warming's consequences on humanity, the ecosystem and biodiversity.· It yields various models of peacebuilding, conflict-sensitive and climate-sensitive adaptation strategies to enhance the African Region’s security and stability.Finally, this volume argues that planetary boundaries framework remains the safer space within which human and sustainable development can be pursued and attained, and future generations to thrive. A comprehensive and international response to socio-political violence and climate-change induced violence should take into account the vulnerability of individual countries, regions and the global world in order to achieve the dreams of a better future; that makes this book a cutting-edge scholarly work.Geomorphic Risk Reduction Using Geospatial Methods and Tools (Disaster Risk Reduction)
By Raju Sarkar, Sunil Saha, Basanta Raj Adhikari, Rajib Shaw. 2024
This book explores the use of advanced geospatial techniques in geomorphic hazards modelling and risk reduction. It also compares the…
accuracy of traditional statistical methods and advanced machine learning methods and addresses the different ways to reduce the impact of geomorphic hazards.In recent years with the development of human infrastructures, geomorphic hazards are gradually increasing, which include landslides, flood and soil erosion, among others. They cause huge loss of human property and lives. Especially in mountainous, coastal, arid and semi-arid regions, these natural hazards are the main barriers for economic development. Furthermore, human pressure and specific human actions such as deforestation, inappropriate land use and farming have increased the danger of natural disasters and degraded the natural environment, making it more difficult for environmental planners and policymakers to develop appropriate long-term sustainability plans. The most challenging task is to develop a sophisticated approach for continuous inspection and resolution of environmental problems for researchers and scientists. However, in the past several decades, geospatial technology has undergone dramatic advances, opening up new opportunities for handling environmental challenges in a more comprehensive manner.With the help of geographic information system (GIS) tools, high and moderate resolution remote sensing information, such as visible imaging, synthetic aperture radar, global navigation satellite systems, light detection and ranging, Quickbird, Worldview 3, LiDAR, SPOT 5, Google Earth Engine and others deliver state-of-the-art investigations in the identification of multiple natural hazards. For a thorough examination, advanced computer approaches focusing on cutting-edge data processing, machine learning and deep learning may be employed. To detect and manage various geomorphic hazards and their impact, several models with a specific emphasis on natural resources and the environment may be created.Forecast: The Surprising—and Immediate—Consequences of Climate Change
By Stephan Faris. 2009
A vivid and illuminating portrayal of the surprising ways that climate change will affect the world in the near future—politically,…
economically, and culturallyWhile reporting just outside of Darfur, Stephan Faris discovered that climate change was at the root of that conflict, and began to wonder what current and impending—and largely unanticipated—crises such changes have in store for the world. Forecast provides the answers.Global warming will spur the spread of many diseases. Italy has already experienced its first climate-change epidemic of a tropical disease, and malaria is gaining ground in Africa. The warming world will shift huge populations and potentially redraw political alliances around the globe, driving environmentalists into the hands of anti-immigrant groups. America's coasts are already more difficult places to live as increasing insurance rates make the Gulf Coast and other gorgeous spots prohibitively expensive. Crops will fail in previously lush places and thrive in some formerly barren zones, altering huge industries and remaking traditions. Water scarcity in India and Pakistan have the potential to inflame the conflict in Kashmir to unprecedented levels and draw the United States into the troubles there, and elsewhere.Told through the narratives of current, past, and future events, the result of astonishingly wide travel and reporting, Forecast is a powerful, gracefully written, eye-opening account of this most urgent issue and how it has altered and will alter our world.Head Cases: Stories of Brain Injury and Its Aftermath
By Michael Paul Mason. 2008
Head Cases takes us into the dark side of the brain in an astonishing sequence of stories, at once true…
and strange, from the world of brain damage. Michael Paul Mason is one of an elite group of experts who coordinate care in the complicated aftermath of tragic injuries that can last a lifetime. On the road with Mason, we encounter survivors of brain injuries as they struggle to map and make sense of the new worlds they inhabit.Underlying each of these survivors' stories is an exploration of the brain and its mysteries. When injured, the brain must figure out how to heal itself, reorganizing its physiology in order to do the job. Mason gives us a series of vivid glimpses into brain science, the last frontier of medicine, and we come away in awe of the miracles of the brain's workings and astonished at the fragility of the brain and the sense of self, life, and order that resides there. Head Cases "[achieves] through sympathy and curiosity insight like that which pulses through genuine literature" (The New York Sun); it is at once illuminating and deeply affecting.Time and Space (PHI)
By Maria do Rosário Monteiro, Mário S. Ming Kong. 2024
The texts presented in Proportion Harmonies and Identities (PHI) Time and Space were compiled to establish a multidisciplinary platform for…
presenting, interacting, and disseminating research. It also aims to foster awareness and discussion on Time and Space, focusing on different visions relevant to Architecture, Arts and Humanities, Design and Social Sciences, and its importance and benefits for the sense of identity, both individual and communal. The idea of Time and Space has been a powerful motor for development since the Western Early Modern Age. Its theoretical and practical foundations have become the working tools of scientists, philosophers, and artists, who seek strategies and policies to accelerate the development process in different contexts.The Civilized Engineer
By Samuel C. Florman. 1987
Civil engineer Samuel C. Florman's The Civilized Engineer is aimed at both those observing and commenting externally on engineering, and…
the practicing engineer—to reveal something of the art behind great engineering achievements, and to stimulate debate upon the author's hypothesis that "in its moment of ascendance, engineering is faced with the trivialization of its purpose and the debasement of its practice."Dolphin Diaries: My Twenty-Five Years With Spotted Dolphins in the Bahamas
By Denise L. Herzing. 2011
Dr. Denise Herzing began her research with a pod of spotted dolphins in the 1980s. Now, almost three decades later,…
she has forged strong ties with many of these individuals, has witnessed and recorded them feeding, playing, fighting, mating, giving birth and communicating. Dolphin Diaries is an account of Herzing's research and her surprising findings on wild dolphin behavior, interaction, and communication. Readers will be drawn into the highs and lows—the births and deaths, the discovery of unique and personalized behaviors, the threats dolphins face from environmental changes, and the many funny and wonderful encounters Denise painstakingly documented over many years. This is the perfect book for anyone who loves these incredibly versatile and intelligent creatures and wants to find out more than the dolphin show at the zoo can offer. Herzing is a true pioneer in her field and deserves a place in the pantheon of naturalists and scientists next to Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall.Population Wars: A New Perspective on Competition and Coexistence
By Greg Graffin. 2016
From the very beginning, life on Earth has been defined by war. Today, those first wars continue to be fought…
around and literally inside us, influencing our individual behavior and that of civilization as a whole. War between populations - whether between different species or between rival groups of humans - is seen as an inevitable part of the evolutionary process. The popular concept of "the survival of the fittest" explains and often excuses these actions.In Population Wars, Greg Graffin points to where the mainstream view of evolutionary theory has led us astray. That misunderstanding has allowed us to justify wars on every level, whether against bacterial colonies or human societies, even when other, less violent solutions may be available. Through tales of mass extinctions, developing immune systems, human warfare, the American industrial heartland, and our degrading modern environment, Graffin demonstrates how an over-simplified idea of war, with its victorious winners and vanquished losers, prevents us from responding to the real problems we face. Along the way, Graffin reveals a paradox: when we challenge conventional definitions of war, we are left with a new problem, how to define ourselves. Populations Wars is a paradigm-shifting book about why humans behave the way they do and the ancient history that explains that behavior. In reading it, you'll see why we need to rethink the reasons for war, not only the human military kind but also Darwin's "war of nature," and find hope for a less violent future for mankind.An overdue indictment of government, industry, and faith groups that twist science for their own gain.During the next thirty years,…
the American public will suffer from a rampage against reason by special interests in government, commerce, and the faith industry, and the rampage has already begun. In Junk Science, Dan Agin offers a response—a stinging condemnation of the egregious and constant warping of science for ideological gain.In this provocative, wide-ranging, and hard-hitting book, Agin argues from the center that we will pay a heavy price for the follies of people who consciously twist the public's understanding of the real world.In an entertaining but frank tone, Agin separates fact from conveniently "scientific" fiction and exposes the data faking, reality ignoring, fear mongering, and outright lying that contribute to intentionally manufactured public ignorance. Many factions twist scientific data to maintain riches and power, and Agin outs them all in sections like these:--"Buyer Beware" (genetically modified foods, aging, and tobacco companies)--"Medical Follies" (chiropractics, health care, talk therapy)--"Poison and Bombs in the Greenhouse" (pollution, warfare, global warming)--"Religion, Embryos, and Cloning"--"Genes, Behavior, and Race"We already pay a heavy price for many groups' conscious manipulation of the public's understanding of science, and Junk Science arms us with understanding, cutting through the fabric of lies and setting the record straight.Telling Our Way to the Sea: A Voyage of Discovery in the Sea of Cortez
By Aaron Hirsh. 2013
A luminous and revelatory journey into the science of life and the depths of the human experienceBy turns epic and…
intimate, Telling Our Way to the Sea is both a staggering revelation of unraveling ecosystems and a profound meditation on our changing relationships with nature—and with one another.When the biologists Aaron Hirsh and Veronica Volny, along with their friend Graham Burnett, a historian of science, lead twelve college students to a remote fishing village on the Sea of Cortez, they come upon a bay of dazzling beauty and richness. But as the group pursues various threads of investigation—ecological and evolutionary studies of the sea, the desert, and their various species of animals and plants; the stories of local villagers; the journals of conquistadors and explorers—they recognize that the bay, spectacular and pristine though it seems, is but a ghost of what it once was. Life in the Sea of Cortez, they realize, has been reshaped by complex human ideas and decisions—the laws and economics of fishing, property, and water; the dreams of developers and the fantasies of tourists seeking the wild; even efforts to retrieve species from the brink of extinction—all of which have caused dramatic upheavals in the ecosystem. It is a painful realization, but the students discover a way forward. After weathering a hurricane and encountering a rare whale in its wake, they come to see that the bay's best chance of recovery may in fact reside in our own human stories, which can weave a compelling memory of the place. Glimpsing the intricate and ever-shifting web of human connections with the Sea of Cortez, the students comprehend anew their own place in the natural world—suspended between past and future, teetering between abundance and loss. The redemption in their difficult realization is that as they find their places in a profoundly altered environment, they also recognize their roles in the path ahead, and ultimately come to see one another, and themselves, in a new light.In Telling Our Way to the Sea, Hirsh's voice resounds with compassionate humanity, capturing the complex beauty of both the marine world he explores and the people he explores it with. Vibrantly alive with sensitivity and nuance, Telling Our Way to the Sea transcends its genre to become literature.Bustle's "17 Best Nonfiction Books Coming Out In September 2018""With This is the Way the World Ends Jeff Nesbit has…
delivered an enlightening - and alarming - explanation of the climate challenge as it exists today. Climate change is no far-off threat. It's impacting communities all over the world at this very moment, and we ignore the scientific reality at our own peril. The good news? As Nesbit underscores, disaster is not preordained. The global community can meet this moment — and we must." —Senator John KerryA unique view of climate change glimpsed through the world's resources that are disappearing.The world itself won’t end, of course. Only ours will: our livelihoods, our homes, our cultures. And we’re squarely at the tipping point.Longer droughts in the Middle East. Growing desertification in China and Africa. The monsoon season shrinking in India. Amped-up heat waves in Australia. More intense hurricanes reaching America. Water wars in the Horn of Africa. Rebellions, refugees and starving children across the globe. These are not disconnected events. These are the pieces of a larger puzzle that environmental expert Jeff Nesbit puts together Unless we start addressing the causes of climate change and stop simply navigating its effects, we will be facing a series of unstoppable catastrophes by the time our preschoolers graduate from college. Our world is in trouble – right now. This Is the Way the World Ends tells the real stories of the substantial impacts to Earth’s systems unfolding across each continent. The bad news? Within two decades or so, our carbon budget will reach a point of no return. But there’s good news. Like every significant challenge we’ve faced—from creating civilization in the shadow of the last ice age to the Industrial Revolution—we can get out of this box canyon by understanding the realities and changing the worn-out climate conversation to one that’s relevant to every person. Nesbit provides a clear blueprint for real-time, workable solutions we can tackle together.Why Michael Couldn't Hit: And Other Tales of the Neurology of Sports
By Harold L. Klawans. 1996
The author who told us why Toscanini fumbled and why Newton raved takes us on a tour of the great…
brains of great athletes in --baseball players and basketball players, track stars and golfers--to show how both accomplishment and tragedy may be the result of some unusual neurons.In Why Michael Couldn't Hit, Dr. Harold L. Klawans joins his two lifelong passions for neurological discovery and sports. And his arguments about the way the two are linked will give every sports fan a new outlook on what happens on the track, the baseball diamond, or in the arena. A deft and fascinating exploration, the book reveals that the twists and turns of athletes' brains have at least as much to do with their stardom as the strength and coordination of their muscles. It's an entirely original perspective on a topic that has always captured the American imagination: the breathtaking sight of athletic grace, force, and skill.