On Their Own Terms

On Their Own Terms
Author: Benjamin A. Elman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 606
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674036476

In On Their Own Terms, Benjamin A. Elman offers a much-needed synthesis of early Chinese science during the Jesuit period (1600-1800) and the modern sciences as they evolved in China under Protestant influence (1840s-1900). By 1600 Europe was ahead of Asia in producing basic machines, such as clocks, levers, and pulleys, that would be necessary for the mechanization of agriculture and industry. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Elman shows, Europeans still sought from the Chinese their secrets of producing silk, fine textiles, and porcelain, as well as large-scale tea cultivation. Chinese literati borrowed in turn new algebraic notations of Hindu-Arabic origin, Tychonic cosmology, Euclidian geometry, and various computational advances. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, imperial reformers, early Republicans, Guomindang party cadres, and Chinese Communists have all prioritized science and technology. In this book, Elman gives a nuanced account of the ways in which native Chinese science evolved over four centuries, under the influence of both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. In the end, he argues, the Chinese produced modern science on their own terms.

International Standard Classification of Occupations

International Standard Classification of Occupations
Author: International Labour Office
Publisher: International Labor Office
Total Pages: 440
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

The International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO-08) is a four-level hierarchically structured classification that covers all jobs in the world. Developed with the benefit of accumulated national and international experience as well as the help of experts from many countries and agencies, ISCO-08 is fully supported by the international community as an accepted standard for international labour statistics. ISCO-08 classifies jobs into 436 unit groups. These unit groups are aggregated into 130 minor groups, 43 sub-major groups and 10 major groups, based on their similarity in terms of the skill level and skill specialisation required for the jobs. This allows the production of relatively detailed internationally comparable data as well as summary information for only 10 groups at the highest level of aggregation. Each group in the classification is designated by a title and code number and is associated with a definition that specifies the scope of the group. The classification is divided into two volumes: Volume I presents the structure and definitions of all groups in ISCO-08 and their correspondence with ISCO-88, which it supersedes, while Volume II provides an updated and expanded index of occupational titles and associated ISCO-08 and ISCO-88 codes.

Climate Impacts on Energy Systems

Climate Impacts on Energy Systems
Author: Jane O. Ebinger
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2011
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0821386980

"While the energy sector is a primary target of efforts to arrest and reverse the growth of greenhouse gas emissions and lower the carbon footprint of development, it is also expected to be increasingly affected by unavoidable climate consequences from the damage already induced in the biosphere. Energy services and resources, as well as seasonal demand, will be increasingly affected by changing trends, increasing variability, greater extremes and large inter-annual variations in climate parameters in some regions. All evidence suggests that adaptation is not an optional add-on but an essential reckoning on par with other business risks. Existing energy infrastructure, new infrastructure and future planning need to consider emerging climate conditions and impacts on design, construction, operation, and maintenance. Integrated risk-based planning processes will be critical to address the climate change impacts and harmonize actions within and across sectors. Also, awareness, knowledge, and capacity impede mainstreaming of climate adaptation into the energy sector. However, the formal knowledge base is still nascent?information needs are complex and to a certain extent regionally and sector specific. This report provides an up-to-date compendium of what is known about weather variability and projected climate trends and their impacts on energy service provision and demand. It discusses emerging practices and tools for managing these impacts and integrating climate considerations into planning processes and operational practices in an environment of uncertainty. It focuses on energy sector adaptation, rather than mitigation which is not discussed in this report. This report draws largely on available scientific and peer-reviewed literature in the public domain and takes the perspective of the developing world to the extent possible."

The Circle

The Circle
Author: Dave Eggers
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 404
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0385351402

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER • A bestselling dystopian novel that tackles surveillance, privacy and the frightening intrusions of technology in our lives—a “compulsively readable parable for the 21st century” (Vanity Fair). When Mae Holland is hired to work for the Circle, the world’s most powerful internet company, she feels she’s been given the opportunity of a lifetime. The Circle, run out of a sprawling California campus, links users’ personal emails, social media, banking, and purchasing with their universal operating system, resulting in one online identity and a new age of civility and transparency. As Mae tours the open-plan office spaces, the towering glass dining facilities, the cozy dorms for those who spend nights at work, she is thrilled with the company’s modernity and activity. There are parties that last through the night, there are famous musicians playing on the lawn, there are athletic activities and clubs and brunches, and even an aquarium of rare fish retrieved from the Marianas Trench by the CEO. Mae can’t believe her luck, her great fortune to work for the most influential company in the world—even as life beyond the campus grows distant, even as a strange encounter with a colleague leaves her shaken, even as her role at the Circle becomes increasingly public. What begins as the captivating story of one woman’s ambition and idealism soon becomes a heart-racing novel of suspense, raising questions about memory, history, privacy, democracy, and the limits of human knowledge.

A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology

A Glossary of Archival and Records Terminology
Author: Richard Pearce-Moses
Publisher: Society of American Archivists (SAA)
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2005
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN:

Intended to provide the basic foundation for modern archival practice and theory.