This volume brings together research on development in three major areas of contemporary global relevance: agriculture and food security, energy, and the institutions of national innovation. Covering six of the largest emerging and developing economies (EDEs) in the world, three Asian (China, India and Malaysia), two Latin American (Brazil and Mexico), and one African (South Africa), the book offers insights on how the major EDEs have addressed the complex and increasingly interrelated issues of agricultural growth, food security and access to energy as part of their growth and development experience over the last three decades. Underscoring the broader view of institutions of national innovation capacities, the volume presents the role of domestic policy and macroeconomic fluctuations in shaping the innovation capacities and development policy in these countries. The book is divided into three main parts. Part I addresses agriculture and food security, while Part II focuses on the energy sector, including the importance of clean energy and energy efficiency in improving access. Parts I and II also cover the role of the major sector-specific innovations for increasing productivity and growth. Subsequently, Part III examines the importance of economy-wide institutions of innovation in the context of supporting growth and development.

This bestselling book -- now in its Fourth Edition - has become the gold standard for Sales Engineers, who engage on the technical side of the sales and buying process and are the people who know how everything works. It helps you navigate a complex and ever-changing technical sales environment and become an effective bridge-builder between the business/commercial interests and the technical details that support the sale. Written by one of the foremost experts in this field, the handbook presents everything you need to improve your skills and increase your value to the sales team. Chapters are written in a modular fashion so that you can choose topics most relevant to you at the moment - or follow them in order as they build upon each other and give you the complete A to Z on your role. Each chapter is short enough so that you can read through it in 10-15 minutes and apply the learning the next day. You'll find actionable hints, case studies, and anecdotes illustrating the topics with lessons learned, both positive and negative. The book helps you: understand the unique role of the Sales Engineer, from the broad picture to the nuances of the job; develop skills needed to become a valuable consultant to your team and the customer team; utilize best practices for creating and completing winning RFPs; effectively integrate global practices into your day-to-day activities; increase your ability think on a more strategic level; become a trusted advisor to executive customers. With this completely updated and expanded edition of Mastering Technical Sales in hand, you will achieve a better win rate, experience higher customer satisfaction, hit revenue targets, and feel greater job satisfaction. Newly added and revised chapters guide you through today's challenges, including the impact of the cloud and everything-as-a-service, new sales models (monthly vs. annual revenue commits), and the virtualization and automation that is now part of the Sales Engineer's world. This book is a must-have resource for both new and seasoned Sales Engineers within tech software, hardware, mechanical, and civil engineering vendors, along with management and leadership in those organizations, and anyone who must present, demonstrate or sell hi-tech items for a living.

Humanities Computing provides a rationale for a computing practice that is of and for as well as in the humanities and the interpretative social sciences. It engages philosophical, historical, ethnographic and critical perspectives to show how computing helps us fulfil the basic mandate of the humane sciences to ask ever better questions of the most challenging kind. It strengthens current practice by stimulating debate on the role of the computer in our intellectual life, and outlines an agenda for the field to which individual scholars across the humanities can contribute.

In order to achieve a truly democratic world, any tensions or confusions between human beings, their environment, and their technologies must be resolved: the need is growing for everyone, particularly young people, to be more critically involved in the discourse surrounding technology. Only then will people become empowered to improve their world in a creative, sensitive, informed and above all, sustainable fashion. This collection provides a solid basis for defining technological literacy. Completely revised and updated in its second edition, it shows how philosophy, design, and pedagogy come together to shape our interactions with and understanding of the technology that mediates our everyday lives.

Keep an eye out for MAKE Volume 14, which has a special section on optics. You'll learn how to make an inexpensive but powerful digital microscope that allows you to display bacteria colonies on a video monitor, a vintage-looking opaque projector that can display artwork from books onto a wall, a model of a crazy-angled room that makes things appear to change size, and a cool kaleidoscope. Also in the issue, we'll show you how to build a mesmerizing taffy pulling machine, a remote control dune buggy with a built-in video camera, a smoke ring cannon, a dollar-store parabolic microphone, and many more fun and fascinating projects.

An Introduction to Science and Technology Studies, Second Edition reflects the latest advances in the field while continuing to provide students with a road map to the complex interdisciplinary terrain of science and technology studies. * Distinctive in its attention to both the underlying philosophical and sociological aspects of science and technology* Explores core topics such as realism and social construction, discourse and rhetoric, objectivity, and the public understanding of science * Includes numerous empirical studies and illustrative examples to elucidate the topics discussed* Now includes new material on political economies of scientific and technological knowledge, and democratizing technical decisions* Other features of the new edition include improved readability, updated references, chapter reorganization, and more material on medicine and technology

Part One contains details of how to make and maintain a small hydraulic ram on a suitable site, whilst Part Two takes a more technical look at ram performances and design considerations and also contains a useful bibliography.

Making Media Theory is about the study, practice, and hands-on design of media theory. It looks at experimental research methods and engages in media analysis, inviting readers to respond to and shape the materiality of media while carefully considering the implications of living in a technoculture. The author walks readers through the creation of digital objects to think with, where critical design practices serve as tools for exploring social and philosophical issues related to technological being and becoming.

Sometime in the future the intelligence of machines will exceed that of human brain power. So are we on the edge of an AI-pocalypse, with superintelligent devices superseding humanity, as predicted by Stephen Hawking? Or will this herald a kind of Utopia, with machines doing a far better job at complex tasks than us? You might not realise it, but you interact with AIs every day. They route your phone calls, approve your credit card transactions and help your doctor interpret results. Driverless cars will soon be on the roads with a decision-making computer in charge. But how do machines actually think and learn? In Machines That Think, AI experts and New Scientist explore how artificial intelligence helps us understand human intelligence, machines that compose music and write stories - and ask if AI is really a threat. ABOUT THE SERIES New Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Engineering genius, technical innovator and one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, Isambard Kingdom Brunel changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions. L. T. C. Rolt's masterly biography is the definitive work on Brunel, tracing the life, times and monumental achivements of the man who helped to build modern Britain.

Written in a clear language, for use by scholars, managers and decisionmakers, this practical guide to the hot topic is unique in treating the security aspects of hazmat transportation from both uni-modal and multi-modal perspectives. To begin with, each transport mode and its relation to security vulnerability, analyses, figures, and approaches is discussed separately. Secondly, the optimization process of a hazmat supply chain is examined from a holistic, integrated viewpoint. Finally, the book discusses and compares the various hazmat transport security policies and strategies adopted in various regions around the world. The result is a must-have source of high-quality information including many case studies.

The Europaische Akademie zur Erforschung von Folgen wissenschaftlich-techni scher Entwicklungen Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler GmbH (european academy) is con cerned with the scientific study of the consequences of scientific and technological advance for the individual and social life and for the natural environment. The main focus is to examine foreseeable mid-and long-term processes that are especially influenced by natural-and engineering sciences and the medical disciplines. The academy fulfills this task by organizing interdisciplinary expert discussions. Another important issue of the work of the Europaische Akademie concerns the methodology of Technology Assessment as a general issue. This is the main reason that the european academy organized during the past two years a project funded by the European Commission on Technology Assessment. Methods and Impact (TAMI). Together with partners from all over Europe a common understanding of what Tech nology Assessment (TA) is supposed to do was developed. Most importantly it was acknowledged that the core of any TA activity has to be a sound scientific under standing of the relevant phenomena. Communication then is of cordial importance to reach the relevant decision makers as well as the general public. It is true that this phase of the TA process has been treated with too little attention for many years. The communication processes between scientific advisers and policy makers have hence to be further scrutinized."

'Entertaining and insightful' -- Evening Standard 'One of the most important books of the year... Compelling' Jamie Bartlett, Literary Review 'Timely' -- New Statesman As the world becomes better connected and we grow ever more dependent on technology, the risks to our infrastructure are multiplying. Whether it's a hostile state striking the national grid (like Russia did with Ukraine in 2016) or a freak solar storm, our systems have become so interlinked that if one part goes down the rest topple like dominoes. In this groundbreaking book, former government minister Oliver Letwin looks ten years into the future and imagines a UK in which the national grid has collapsed. Reliant on the internet, automated electric cars, voice-over IP, GPS, and the internet of things, law and order would disintegrate. Taking us from high-level government meetings to elderly citizens waiting in vain for their carers, this book is a wake up call for why we should question our unshakeable faith in technology. But it's much more than that: Letwin uses his vast experience in government to outline how businesses and government should respond to catastrophic black swan events that seem distant and implausible - until they occur.

A FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK TO READ IN 2022 'One of the foremost thinkers on the transformative impact of the technology revolution' TONY BLAIR 'Original and hopeful, The Digital Republic provides a unique guide to the great challenges of the digital age' ANNE APPLEBAUM 'Lucid and persuasive' NIALL FERGUSON The Digital Republic is the definitive guide to the great political question of our time: how can freedom and democracy survive in a world of powerful digital technologies? Not long ago, the tech industry was widely admired and the internet was regarded as a tonic for freedom and democracy. Not anymore. Every day, the headlines blaze with reports of racist algorithms, data leaks, and social media platforms festering with falsehood and hate. In The Digital Republic, acclaimed author Jamie Susskind argues that these problems are not the fault of a few bad apples at the top of the industry. They are the result of our failure to govern technology properly, a failure derived from decades of muddled ideas and wishful thinking. The Digital Republic charts a new course, with new legal standards, new public bodies and institutions, new duties on platforms, new rights and regulators, and new codes of conduct for people in the tech industry. Inspired by the great political essays of the past, and steeped in the traditions of republican thought, it offers a vision of a different type of society: a digital republic in which human and technological flourishing go hand in hand.