The book gives an overview of the current state-of-the-art concerning the activation and dissolution of cellulose in a broad variety of solvents. Research on this topic can lead to new pathways for the utilization of the most abundant terrestrial biomolecule and may therefore be the basis for new green strategies towards advanced materials. Leading scientists in the field show different conceptions for the solubilization of cellulose. The long history and groundbreaking developments in the field of polymer chemistry, which are related to this subject, have lead to timely alternatives to already established methods. In addition to discussing attempts for the optimization of known dissolving procedures, this book also details new solvent systems. New solvents include inorganic and organic salt melts (ionic liquids), new aqueous media, multi-component organic solvents and the dissolution under partial derivatization of the polysaccharide. The opportunities and the limitations of the solvents are demonstrated, with a particular emphasis on the stability of the solutions and a possible recycling of the solvent components.
This book illustrates that the new procedures for cellulose dissolution can lead to a huge number of unconventional superstructures of regenerated cellulose material, such as fibers and polymer layers with a thickness in the nanometer range or aerogels, i.e. regenerates with a highly porous character and a large surface. Moreover, cellulose blends can be generated via solutions. The book also contains chapters that show the amazing potential of solvents for defined modification reactions on the cellulose backbone. On one hand, it is possible to synthesize known cellulose derivatives with new substitution patterns both on the basis of the repeating unit and along the polymer chain. On the other hand, completely new derivatives are presented which are hardly accessible via heterogeneous reactions. Consequently, the book is intended to give a comprehensive overview of procedures for dissolution of cellulose. It is of interest for scientists new in the field but is also a timely summary of trends for experts who are looking for new approaches for problems related to cellulose shaping or chemical modification.

Breakthroughs in science and technology increasingly happen outside of firms in informal interorganizational communities of innovators. The effort of a group on a specific topic across firms, expertise, and geography can function as an emergent organizational form, capable of great productivity. Using data from computer science, basic research, and management strategy to identify and study these intense clusters of innovators, or 'knowledge communities,' this book illuminates the new organizational logics that govern such collective success. The interplay between organizational boundaries and interorganizational collaboration reveals interesting and counterintuitive lessons about how science and technology work in practice. These insights fundamentally challenge the centrality of both firm boundaries and geographic clusters for innovation in favor of a decentralized network perspective. Academics seeking to understand innovation in science and technology, allocators of grants and research support, corporate R&D departments, policy makers and NGOs, venture capitalists, and management consultants will all benefit from this original and challenging work.

When Oliver Sacks was twelve years old, a perceptive schoolmaster wrote in his report: 'Sacks will go far, if he does not go too far'. It is now abundantly clear that Sacks has never stopped going . . . From its opening pages on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy. As he recounts his experiences as a young neurologist in the early 1960s, first in California and then in New York, where he discovered a long-forgotten illness in the back wards of a chronic hospital, as well as with a group of patients who would define his life, it becomes clear that Sacks's earnest desire for engagement has occasioned unexpected encounters and travels - sending him through bars and alleys, over oceans, and across continents. With unbridled honesty and humour, Sacks shows us that the same energy that drives his physical passions -bodybuilding, weightlifting, and swimming - also drives his cerebral passions. He writes about his love affairs, both romantic and intellectual, his guilt over leaving his family to come to America, his bond with his schizophrenic brother, and the writers and scientists - Thom Gunn, A. R. Luria, W. H. Auden, Gerald M. Edelman, Francis Crick - who influenced him. On the Move is the story of a brilliantly unconventional physician and writer - and of the man who has illuminated the many ways that the brain makes us human.

In this insightful book, Peter Edlund takes a status-based approach to theorizing the development of the European Research Council (ERC). Drawing upon rich empirical material, the author vividly details how the ERC was transformed from a funding organization into an authoritative status intermediary in European science. Edlund's innovative approach illustrates the ERC's path toward pre-eminence, building on a theoretical framework that the author uses to analyze evidence from Swedish and European contexts in an intriguing exploration of research funding allocated under the flagship Starting Grant scheme. Offering a field perspective on the multi-layered interactions between candidates and audiences within which the ERC was constructed as a status intermediary, this book redirects attention toward key antecedents that allow us to understand many of the extensive consequences generated by the ERC's funding. Blending theoretical models and empirical findings, Edlund's book will appeal to academics seeking advances in status theory. Practitioners and policymakers working with research funding will also benefit from its account of the historic development of the ERC and the consequences of its funding across Europe.

This innovative book explores the foundations of the smart city and, through a critique of its challenges and concerns, showcases how to redefine the concept for increased sustainability, liveability and resilience in urban areas. It undertakes a review of the smart city concept, providing a new perspective on how technology-based urban solutions must be centred around human dimensions to render more liveable urban fabrics. Chapters highlight how existing digital infrastructures can be coupled with emerging ones, so that they can provide increased efficiency and performance, with an ultimate objective of rendering safer, more sustainable, resilient and inclusive cities, aligning with the needs of the SDGs. The book also covers emerging technologies and concepts, such as 6G and the '15-minute city', underlining how these can develop within smart city frameworks. This is an invigorating look into the concept of the smart city and how it can be improved and rethought, making it useful for urban studies and human geography academics and researchers. It also offers helpful insights for policy makers and planners on how to increase the quality of life in modern cities.

Providing an insightful analysis of the key issues and significant trends relating to labour within the platform economy, this Modern Guide considers the existing comparative evidence covering all world regions. It also provides an in-depth look at digital labour platforms in their historical, economic and geographical contexts. Highlighting the diversity of experience of platform work, case studies illustrate how general trends play out, both in online and location-based labour platforms, across the globe. Chapters illustrate a need for a post-pandemic regulatory requirement of digital labour platforms at different policy levels, whilst providing a general overview of key topics. Interlinking contributions with a global scope and coverage identify the challenges faced and offer thoughtful regulatory solutions. This engaging book will be an invaluable resource for academics of labour economics, legal and business studies and sociology. It will also benefit policy makers in social and political geography and political science looking for a deeper understanding of the topic.

Data Ethics of Power takes a reflective and fresh look at the ethical implications of transforming everyday life and the world through the effortless, costless, and seamless accumulation of extra layers of data. By shedding light on the constant tensions that exist between ethical principles and the interests invested in this socio-technical transformation, the book bridges the theory and practice divide in the study of the power dynamics that underpin these processes of the digitalization of the world. Gry Hasselbalch expertly draws on nearly two decades of experience in the field, and key literature, to advance a better understanding of the challenges faced by big data and AI developers. She provides an innovative ethical framework for studying and governing Big-Data and Artificial Intelligence. Offering both a historical account and a theoretical analysis of power dynamics and their ethical implications, as well as incisive ideas to guide future research and governance practices, the book makes a significant contribution to the establishment of an emerging data and AI ethics discipline. This timely book is a must-read for scholars studying AI, data, and technology ethics. Policymakers in the regulatory, governance, public administration, and management sectors will find the practical proposals for a human-centric approach to big data and AI to be a valuable resource for revising and developing future policies.

In Women After All, anthropologist Melvin Konner traces the arc of evolution to explain the relationships between women and men. Drawing on colorful examples from the natural world the octopus, the black widow spider, and coral reef fish, which can switch from male to female in a single reproductive career he sheds light on our biologically different human identities and the poignant exceptions that challenge the male/female divide. We meet hunter-gatherers in Botswana whose culture gave women a prominent place, inventing the working mother and respecting women s voices around the fire. History upset this balance as a dense world of war fostered extreme male dominance. But our species has been recovering over the past two centuries, and an unstoppable move toward equality is afoot. It will not be the end of men, but it will be the end of male supremacy and a better, wiser world for women and men alike."

This book covers thirty years of the Leningrad Mathematical Olympiad, which was, ostensibly, the very first formally organized, open, official city-level mathematical contest in the world. Founded in 1934 by a group of dedicated Soviet mathematicians, it played an outstanding (and often underappreciated) role in creating the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) school of mathematics of the 20th century.The book begins with the extensive introduction containing two prefaces (one of them written specifically for this edition), a large historical survey of the Leningrad Mathematical Olympiad, a section describing the logistical side of the contest, and a small chapter dedicated to the very first Mathematical Olympiad held in 1934, whose problems were recently found in the Soviet-era library archives.The main text contains approximately 1,100 highly original questions for students of grades 5 through 10 (ages 11-12 through 17-18) offered at the two concluding rounds of the Leningrad City Mathematics Olympiads in the years of 1961-1991. Full solutions, hints and answers are provided for all questions with very rare exceptions.It also includes 120 additional questions, offered at the various mathematical contests held in Leningrad over the same thirty-year period — on average, their difficulty is somewhat higher than that of the regular Mathematical Olympiad problems.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This collection sheds new light on the nature, role and practice of philosophy and science in the renewed Berlin Academy from the mid-1740s to the 1770s, and in so doing provides a robust new instalment of materials for the broader task of constructing a historiography of philosophy at this important Enlightenment institution. The collection ranges from discussions of the roles of philosophy and natural philosophy in the formation of the reinvigorated Academy in the mid-1740s, to conceptions of the correct philosophical methodology to be deployed by the Academy. It provides the first ever study of the nature and arrangement of the new classes of the Academy, and a fresh appraisal of the Academy's methodological eclecticism. One recurring theme is the status of metaphysics: there are studies of both special metaphysics, including the study of the soul; general metaphysics, that is, the study of being in general; and foundational metaphysical principles and concepts, such as Maupertuis's Principle of least action, Euler's concept of space and Lambert's notion of an experimental metaphysics. The collection also takes the study of the Academy in new directions through focused studies of important figures whose writings deserve to be better understood, such as Jean Bernard Merian, Louis de Beausobre, Jean Henri Samuel Formey and Johann Georg Sulzer.

This book is about inventions and innovation in U.S. Federal Laboratories. The inventions discussed are defined by the technology transfer mechanism known by the term invention disclosures, and the innovations that follow are outputs from the technology transfer process. The demonstrated positive relationships in the book's model are the groundwork for suggesting not only a rethinking of the extant empirical research, within the context of a knowledge production function, but also a refocusing of U.S. technology policy in support of technology transfer from Federal Laboratories. Invention, Innovation and U.S. Federal Laboratories brings a comprehensive and accessible discussion of technology transfer to academic researchers in economics, public policy, and public administration, as well as to policy makers and Federal Laboratory directors.

In this landmark new book, Iain McGilchrist addresses some of the oldest and hardest questions humanity faces – ones that, however, have a practical urgency for all of us today. Who are we? What is the world? How can we understand consciousness, matter, space and time? Is the cosmos without purpose or value? Can we really neglect the sacred and divine?

In doing so, he argues that we have become enslaved to an account of things dominated by the brain’s left hemisphere, one that blinds us to an awe-inspiring reality that is all around us, had we but eyes to see it. He suggests that in order to understand ourselves and the world we need science and intuition, reason and imagination, not just one or two; that they are in any case far from being in conflict; and that the brain’s right hemisphere plays the most important part in each. And he shows us how to recognise the ‘signature’ of the left hemisphere in our thinking, so as to avoid making decisions that bring disaster in their wake.

Following the paths of cutting-edge neurology, philosophy and physics, he reveals how each leads us to a similar vision of the world, one that is both profound and beautiful – and happens to be in line with the deepest traditions of human wisdom. It is a vision that returns the world to life, and us to a better way of living in it: one we must embrace if we are to survive.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Qiu Guangming, the author of this book, has been a researcher on the measuring and weighing systems in China for more thirty years. He has been collecting historical data and examining actual objects, which has resulted in numerous research papers and books. This book examines the systems she has researched.

A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Dr. Bill Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition--three acres on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research has revolutionized forensic science, but during a career that has spanned half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond the gates of the "Body Farm."

In this riveting book, the renowned bone sleuth explores the rise of modern forensic science and takes readers deep into the real world of crime scene investigation. Beyond the Body Farm is an extraordinary journey through some of the most fascinating investigations of Dr. Bass's career--and a remarkable look at the high-tech science used to crack the most perplexing cases.

This timely book is an innovative look at how blockchain technology will transform the structure of social and economic life. The security of blockchain supports the provision and maintenance of reliable databases and the creation of rule-based governance protocols. Leading contributors expertly review the impact of blockchain on existing structures of law, monetary systems, supply chains and business organizations. Using economic and institutional theory, the book presents a vision for understanding the future development of blockchain technology and outlines the likely path of transformation that blockchain will drive in industry, supply chains and firms. Furthermore, it answers key questions such as: will Bitcoin or another cryptocurrency become the money of the future? How has blockchain already begun transforming economic activity? How can we evaluate the likely trajectory of technological development and application? This informative book is an excellent resource for academics or professionals interested in a theoretically sound perspective on blockchain. Written in an accessible prose, it provides an introduction for non-experts looking to learn more about the wide-ranging implications of blockchain and cryptocurrency.