Key Issues In the Department of Defense for the Obama Administration
These five security specialists seem dubious about major Defense Department reforms as the Obama administration winds into action.
Cindy Williams first unloads these basics: the U.S. FY 2009 Department of Defense non-war budget is over half a trillion dollars – “about as much money as the rest of the
The Great Climategate Debate
The hacking of emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit in November rocked the world of climate change science, energized global warming skeptics, and threatened to derail policy negotiations at Copenhagen. These panelists, who differ on the scientific implications of the released emails, generally ag
Contemplative Dimensions of Human Experience
In a mind-stretching talk covering the history of the planet, development of higher-order consciousness, and East-West religious practices, Trappist monk Thomas Keating claims that humanity is poised to take its next evolutionary step, to the “furthest levels of human understanding.”
While
7 Aquifers
Water is arguably the most important physical resource as it is the one that is essential to human survival. Understanding the global water cycle and how we use water is essential to planning a sustainable source of water for the future. In the UK there are areas where water supplies are limited, showin by recent droughts. Globally, there are many reas that do ot have enough water to support the current population adequately. Decisions will have to be made on the best way to use water in a world
Beyond the Bench: Preparing MIT Students for the Challenges of Global Leadership
MIT produces students who are “deep, entrepreneurial, passionate, diverse and active,” says Phillip Clay, the kind of talented individuals who should play major parts on the world stage. MIT has begun a drive to ensure that its students fulfill their promise. Central to this mission, Richard Samuels says, is
Computers with Commonsense: Artificial Intelligence at the MIT Round Table
Visiting the San Diego Zoo’s orangutans and chimpanzees inspires Patrick Henry Winston to ponder what makes humans different from our primate cousins. His field of artificial intelligence extends that question to thinking about how humans differ from computers. Winston’s goal is to “develop a computational theo
Acknowledgements
Water is arguably the most important physical resource as it is the one that is essential to human survival. Understanding the global water cycle and how we use water is essential to planning a sustainable source of water for the future. In the UK there are areas where water supplies are limited, showin by recent droughts. Globally, there are many reas that do ot have enough water to support the current population adequately. Decisions will have to be made on the best way to use water in a world
Creativity and Collaboration in the Digital Age
In a panel moderated by James Paradis, five former Comparative Media Studies (CMS) students discuss their personal experiences within the CMS program and the impact it has had on their understanding, interpretation, and implementation of creativity in the digital age.
Creativity may be perceived, traditionally, as
The Future of Government-Citizen Engagement
As the U.S. moves toward universal broadband access, look for increased government openness, new opportunities for civic engagement, and some dangers along the way, say these panelists.
While Chris Csikszentmihalyi acknowledges the civic potential of broadband, he does not believe it will be a simple matter for geog
Portuguese studies review
The PSR is a peer reviewed journal devoted to promoting interdisciplinary scholarly study of the countries, regions, and communities that share, build on, or are transforming a Portuguese or Brazilian legacy. The PSR promotes a critical understanding of the historical and current evolution of political, economic, social and cultural networks incorporating Portugal, Brazil, and other lusophone countries. The journal, launched in 1991 by Trent University (Ontario, Canada) is published biannually,
Reith Lectures 2008 - Chinese Vistas
The online companion to BBC Radio 4's 2008 Reith Lecture series allows users to listen to and read transcripts of talks and discussion from China expert Jonathan Spence. The Reith lectures were inaugurated in order to increase public understanding of important issues of the day, and in 2008 (Beijing Olympic year), Spence delivered lectures on: Chinese ideas of sport and athleticism; the relationship between China and the United States; China and the United Kingdom in the post-Mao era; and Confuc
Iridescent : Icograda journal of design research
Iridescent is a new full-text design theory journal, which aims to... "establish a benchmark for innovative design research", published under the auspices of Icograda (aka the International Council of Graphic Design Associations). There does not seem to be a traditional issue format, and papers are presented in a rolling blog-like stream. At April 2010 the freely-available papers include: 'Trans-modern consciousness: Mapping value systems and models for graphic design education'; 'Issue-Based D
Towards A Global BioPolicy?
Proceedings of a symposium held in March 2007 looking at aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by UNESCO in October 2005. Hosted by Biocentre: the Centre for Bioethics and Public Policy, the symposium was the first event of the 'Global Perspectives on Biopolicy' series. The proceedings cover the keynote speech on the Universal Declaration by Professor Jan Helge Solbakk Director of Bioethics at UNESCO. Following papers were given on the UK perspective on the Declaration, fo
PaDIL - Pests and diseases image library
PaDIL is an Australian Commonwealth Government initiative providing high quality information and images of plant pests and diseases of concern to Australia. Since most of these are exotic to Australia, the library has wide global appeal. Each pest or disease entry in the library provides extensive illustrations with a full description and relevant scientific citations.
Extreme ultraviolet variability experiment (EUVE)
The Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment (EVE), part of the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission, was launched on 11 February 2010. EVE is one of three instrument suites on the SDO and will measure "Solar extreme ultraviolet (EUV) irradiance with unprecedented spectral resolution, temporal cadence, accuracy, and precision". The EVE program "will incorporate physics-based models of the Solar EUV irradiance to advance the understanding of Solar EUV irradiance variations based on the
World Resources 2008 : Roots of resilience : growing the wealth of the poor
This website provides access to "Roots of resilience : growing the wealth of the poor", the World Resources Report 2008, which examines the potential to scale up environmental income to assist the global, rural poor. The report was prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Bank, and the World Resources Institute. The report can be downloaded in its entirety or as individual chapters and is available as PDF files.
UNICEF : statistics and monitoring
As part of its work, UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, collects and analyses data on women and children worldwide. It conducts the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). It is also responsible for the global monitoring of the child-related Millennium Development Goals (MDG). This website provides country statistics, a tool for generating customised statistical tables, core indicators and details of MDG monitoring. The website is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Chi
Microeconomic theory III
The website for this course (14.123 Microeconomic Theory III, Spring 2009) has been made available by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Department of Economics as part of the MIT OpenCourseWare project. This course discusses decision theory and topics in game theory including models of individual decision-making under certainty and uncertainty. Topics covered include preference orderings, expected utility, risk, stochastic dominance, supermodularity, monotone comparative statics, b
World Social Science Report 2010
Produced by the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and co-published with UNESCO, this Report is the first comprehensive overview of the field in over a decade. Hundreds of social scientists from around the world contributed their expertise to the publication. Key findings include social science research from Western countries continues to have the greatest global influence, but the field is expanding rapidly in Asia and Latin America, particularly in China and Brazil. In sub-Saharan Afr
Militariam : political economy, security, theory
Organised by Centre for Global Economy, University of Sussex, to be held at University of Sussex Brighton United Kingdom from 2009-05-14 to 2009-05-15
