What is meaning in life? Does anything really matter? How can a life achieve lasting significance? How can we explain the human propensity to struggle for ideals? How is meaning related to contentment
In the early 1990s, trade and labor economists, noting the fall in wages for low-skilled workers relative to high-skilled workers, began to debate the impact of trade on wages. This debate—whic
Wireless networks are the fastest growing communications technology in history. Are mobile phones expressions of identity, fashionable gadgets, tools for life—or all of the above? Mobile Commun
A wave of business innovation is driving the productivity resurgence in the U.S.economy. In Wired for Innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson and Adam Saunders describe how informationtechnology directly or ind
Water is the chemical matrix required for life, the molecular chain that connects all organisms on the planet. But in the twenty-first century, water may replace oil as the most prized of resources. J
Online decision making under uncertainty and time constraints represents one of the most challenging problems for robust intelligent agents. In an increasingly dynamic, interconnected, and real-time
The ubiquity of combinatorial optimization problems in our society is illustrated by the novel application areas for optimization technology, which range from supply chain management to sports tourna
Activity theory holds that the human mind is the product of our interaction with people and artifacts in the context of everyday activity. Acting with Technology makes the case for activity theory as
This text is the first comprehensive presentation of reduction semantics in one volume; it also introduces the first reliable and easy-to-use tool set for such forms of semantics. Software engineers
Shifting the conversation about the "digital divide" from questions of technological access to questions about opportunities for being involved in participatory culture and acquiring the ne
Our intuition tells us that we, our conscious selves, cause our own voluntary acts. Yet scientists have long questioned this; Thomas Huxley, for example, in 1874 compared mental events to a steam whi
Eastern Europe's historically unprecedented and accelerated transition from late communism to late capitalism, coupled with media globalization, set in motion a scramble for cultural identity and a s
In the nineteenth century, horse transportation consumed vast amounts of land for hay production, and the intense traffic and ankle-deep manure created miserable living conditions in urban centers. T
The conceptual history of cognitive science remains for the most part unwritten. In this groundbreaking book, Jean-Pierre Dupuy—one of the principal architects of cognitive science in France&md
In the nineteenth century, horse transportation consumed vast amounts of land for hay production, and the intense traffic and ankle-deep manure created miserable living conditions in urban centers. Th
The field of forest economics has expanded rapidly in the last two decades, and yet there exists no up-to-date textbook for advanced undergraduate-graduate level use or rigorous reference work for pr
In this highly original reanalysis of minimalist syntax, Thomas Stroik considers theoptimal design properties for human language. Taking as his starting point Chomsky's minimalistassumption that the s
In this highly original reanalysis of minimalist syntax, Thomas Stroik considers theoptimal design properties for human language. Taking as his starting point Chomsky's minimalistassumption that the s
How to manage the unemployment that occurs in the process of the continuous job destruction and creation responsible for growth in today's economies: what recent economic research tells us about wage
Stephen Axilrod is the ultimate Federal Reserve insider. He worked at the Fed's Board of Governors for over thirty years and after that in private markets and as a consultant on monetary policy. With
For over half a century, the biologist Barry Commoner has been one of the most prominent and charismatic defenders of the American environment, appearing on the cover of Time magazine in 1970 as the
Insurance companies routinely use an individual's medical history and family medical history in determining eligibility for life insurance; this is part of the process of medical underwriting. Insure
High inequality in incomes and assets and persistent poverty continue to plague Latin America and remain a central economic policy challenge for Latin American policymakers. At the same time, dramati
Public-private partnerships in education exist in various forms around the world, in both developed and developing countries. Despite this, and despite the importance of human capital for economic gr
Computer-generated effects are often blamed for bad Hollywood movies. Yet when acritic complains that "technology swamps storytelling" (in a review of Van Helsing, calling it "anexample of everything
Architectural Graphic Standards by Charles George Ramsey and Harold Reeve Sleeper, first published in 1932 (and now in its eleventh edition), is a definitive technical reference for architects - the o
For more than two decades, in such landmark studies as The Second Self and Life on the Screen, Sherry Turkle has challenged our collective imagination with her insights about how technology enters our
Studies show that institutions play a role both in causing and in addressing problemsarising from human-environment interactions. But the nature of this role is complex and not easilydescribed. This b
Studies show that institutions play a role both in causing and in addressing problemsarising from human-environment interactions. But the nature of this role is complex and not easilydescribed. This b
An agument for the importance of equity as a criterion in evaluating water policy, with examples in wide-ranging case studies from North and South America and Europe.Many predict that by the end of th
For much of the first half of the twentieth century, meteorology was more art thanscience, dependent on an individual forecaster's lifetime of local experience. In Weatherby the Numbers, Kristine Harp
In 1931 distinguished economist John Maynard Keynes published a short essay,"Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren," in his collection Essays in Persuasion. Inthe essay, he expressed optimism f
This book develops a theory that radically reconceptualizes the economic forces producing regional change and tests it empirically for a set of fifteen sectors in the U.S. It offers a pioneering appro
Artist Mel Bochner became a writer, he says, almost by accident. In 1965, as a youngartist in New York, he was out of a job; Arts Magazine paid him $2.50 for every review he turnedin, whether they pub
The marginal cost of public funds (MCF) measures the loss incurred by society in raising additional revenues to finance government spending. The MCF has emerged as one of the most important concepts
As Apollo 11's Lunar Module descended toward the moon under automatic control, aprogram alarm in the guidance computer's software nearly caused a mission abort. Neil Armstrongresponded by switching of
"This is a book about science, technology, and love," writes Sherry Turkle. In it, we learn how a love for science can start with a love for an object - a microscope, a modem, a mud pie, a pair of dic
In 2002 Dr. Hans Blix, then chief United Nations weapons inspector, led his team on a search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. By March 2003, when the United States invaded, he had found no ev
This book is a call for universal human rights and secular democracy in the Muslim world. It lays out why democratic change in Iran must be nonviolent, why womens' rights trump some interpretations o
