Engaging the fourth industrial revolution

The reality of a radically changing world is beyond dispute. The notion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a heuristic key for the world of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, big data, the internet of things, and biotechnology. The discussion of emerging technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution highlights urgent questions about issues like intention, function, risk, and responsibility. This publication stimulates further reflection, ongoing conversation, and eventually the production of more textured thinking. The conversation with technology and with thinkers on technology, holds the promise of a certain fecundity, the possibility to see deeper into human evolution, but also, may be, into the future of humankind

Architectural visualisation toolkit for 3D Studio Max users

Architectural Visualisation has become a vital part of the design process for architects and engineers. The process of modelling and rendering an architectural visualisation can be complex and time consuming with only a few tools available to assist novice modellers. This paper looks at available solutions for visualisation specialists including AutoCAD, 3D Studio Max and Google SketchUp as well as available solutions which attempt to automate the process including Batzal Roof Designer. This thesis details a new program which has been developed to automate the modelling and rendering of the architectural visualisation process. The tool created for this thesis is written in MAXScript and runs along side 3D Studio Max. N.B.: Audio files were attached to this thesis at the time of its submission. Please refer to the author for further details

Engaging the fourth industrial revolution

The reality of a radically changing world is beyond dispute. The notion of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is a heuristic key for the world of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, big data, the internet of things, and biotechnology. The discussion of emerging technologies and the Fourth Industrial Revolution highlights urgent questions about issues like intention, function, risk, and responsibility. This publication stimulates further reflection, ongoing conversation, and eventually the production of more textured thinking. The conversation with technology and with thinkers on technology, holds the promise of a certain fecundity, the possibility to see deeper into human evolution, but also, may be, into the future of humankind

A Relational Hermeneutic Toward Connective Ecclesial Leadership

The modern western church is experiencing a crisis of hermeneutic. The pervasive hermeneutic or interpretive lens employed by modern Christ-followers has engendered a largely static view of church structure and leadership. Simply put, the Western church fails to see relationally. This problem of visual impairment will be addressed by crafting a relational hermeneutic composed of three distinct and overlapping lenses: a theological/biblical (God) lens, a sociological/ontological (humanity) lens and a scientific/network (the cosmos) lens. Lens 1: God is social. For orthodox Christ-followers a relational hermeneutic begins with a God who is social; a Tri-unity of Divine persons, each lovingly serving the others in an interanimating, interpenetrating perichoretic dance. This relational God empties self in the loving act of creation through which human beings are created bearing God\u27s relational image. The image of God in humanity may best be seen in the purposed oneness of diverse peoples and communities. The self-revelation of God to humanity through creation, the sacred text of the Christian Scriptures, Christ\u27s incarnation and the ongoing presence of the Holy Spirit all reflect the relational mission of God which is to reconcile all unto Godself. Lens 2: As image bearers of Divine interconnectivity the sociological lens of our relational hermeneutic is an extension of God\u27s life given to creation. The beauty and complexity of human interrelatedness and social construction reflects the being of God. By focusing on the us of the I-thou, we will see all interpersonal relations as I-us-thou; thus all interpersonal relations reflect the Tri-unity of God. The us of I-thou is a living, dynamic spirit, both inseparable and distinct from both I and thou. Lens 3: All that God created is interconnected. Human beings are part of God\u27s created order; to be part of connotes relationship. We will explore this relationship through recent discoveries within the network sciences to aid us in seeing how all that is, is interconnected. We will present scale-free networks as a key for seeing life, structures and institutions relationally. After a brief explanation of network theory, scale-free network theory will be employed to bring the relationship between the Kingdom of God and Christ\u27s church into focus; thus presenting a relational ecclesial structure. Together, these three lenses compose a relational hermeneutic. As a vision test we will apply this relational hermeneutic to leadership within a connective structure; examining the \u27being\u27 and \u27act\u27 of hub bing-leadership. Characterized by keno tic service which is called forth by the faith-community, the hubbing-leader seeks to connect others to whatever is required, (God, one another, creation, etc.) in such a way that the oneness of God is manifest in human experience. This relational hermeneutic begins in the Tri-unity of God, is extended to image humanity through the imago Dei and lived into by joining in the missio Dei of reconciling all unto Godself

Cartography

The terrestrial space is the place of interaction of natural and social systems. The cartography is an essential tool to understand the complexity of these systems, their interaction and evolution. This brings the cartography to an important place in the modern world. The book presents several contributions at different areas and activities showing the importance of the cartography to the perception and organization of the territory. Learning with the past or understanding the present the use of cartography is presented as a way of looking to almost all themes of the knowledge

ICE-B 2010:proceedings of the International Conference on e-Business

The International Conference on e-Business, ICE-B 2010, aims at bringing together researchers and practitioners who are interested in e-Business technology and its current applications. The mentioned technology relates not only to more low-level technological issues, such as technology platforms and web services, but also to some higher-level issues, such as context awareness and enterprise models, and also the peculiarities of different possible applications of such technology. These are all areas of theoretical and practical importance within the broad scope of e-Business, whose growing importance can be seen from the increasing interest of the IT research community. The areas of the current conference are: (i) e-Business applications; (ii) Enterprise engineering; (iii) Mobility; (iv) Business collaboration and e-Services; (v) Technology platforms. Contributions vary from research-driven to being more practical oriented, reflecting innovative results in the mentioned areas. ICE-B 2010 received 66 submissions, of which 9% were accepted as full papers. Additionally, 27% were presented as short papers and 17% as posters. All papers presented at the conference venue were included in the SciTePress Digital Library. Revised best papers are published by Springer-Verlag in a CCIS Series book

Paradigmatic Tendencies in Cartography: A Synthesis of the Scientific-Empirical, Critical and Post-Representational Perspectives

Maps have been important elements of visual representation in the development of different societies, and for this reason they have mainly been considered from a practical and utilitarian point of view. This means that cartographers or mapmakers have largely focused on the technical aspects of the cartographic products, and cartography has given little attention to both its theoretical component and to its philosophical and epistemological aspects. The current study is dedicated to consider these views. In this study the main trends, thoughts and different directions in cartography during positivism/empiricism, neo-positivism and post-structuralism are reviewed; and cartography is analysed under the modernism and post-modernism periods. Some of the arguments proposed by philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper are examined as important contributions in our understanding of the development of cartography and mapping. This study also incorporates the idea or concept of paradigm, which has been taken from the field of the epistemology of sciences. The aforementioned opens a space to analyse cartography in terms of a paradigm shift. In the analysis of each trend within contemporary cartography – from the second half of the twentieth century until today – it is necessary to keep in mind the theoretical scheme of a scientific discipline (object of study, research aims, methods and approaches, and results). This helps to determine the body of knowledge in cartography. It is also important to consider the epistemological context in which the tendencies are developed: positivism/empiricism, realism/structuralism and idealism/hermeneutic. In this way, by considering three epistemological levels - essentialist/ontical (scientific), deconstructive (sociological), and ontological (emergent) - some paradigmatic tendencies are postulated. The first level results in tendencies such as cartographic communication, cartographic semiotics, analytical cartography and cartographic visualisation - all of these belong to the scientific-empirical perspective. In the second level, we have critical cartography, belonging to the critical perspective and that confronts the scientific stances. Finally, in the third level the so-called post-representational cartography arises in open opposition to the traditional representational cartography.Im Entwicklungsprozess verschiedener Gesellschaften sind Karten immer wichtige Elemente visueller Darstellung gewesen. Karten wurden meist aus einer praktischen und utilitaristischen Sicht betrachtet. Das heißt, dass sich Kartographen oder Kartenmacher gezielt auf die technischen Aspekte kartographischer Produkte fokussiert haben, und Kartographie sich nur wenig mit den theoretischen Komponenten und philosophischen oder epistemologischen Aspekten auseinandergesetzt hat. Diese Arbeit verfolgt das Ziel, diese Sichten zu analysieren. Diese Studie untersucht die verschiedenen kartographischen Denkrichtungen, die während des Positivismus/Empirismus, des Neo-Positivismus und der Post-Strukturalismusperioden entstanden sind und analysiert Kartographie der Moderne und post-moderner Perioden. Argumente von Philosophen wie Ludwig Wittgenstein und Karl Popper werden untersucht als wichtige Beiträge zu unserem Verständnis der Entwicklung der Kartographie. Diese Arbeit berücksichtigt auch das Konzept des Paradigmas, welches aus dem Gebiet der wissenschaftlichen Epistemologie adaptiert wurde. Dies eröffnet die Möglichkeit, Kartographie hinsichtlich eines Paradigmenwechsels analysieren zu können. Wenn man die Tendenzen der zeitgenössischen Kartographie – von der zweiten Hälfte des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts bis heute – studiert, muss der theoretische Rahmen einer wissenschaftlichen Disziplin (Forschungsobjekt, Forschungsziel, Arbeitsmethodik und Ergebnisse) berücksichtigt werden. Dies erlaubt es, das gesammelte Wissen der Kartographie zu ermitteln. Ebenfalls wichtig ist die Berücksichtigung des epistemologischen Kontexts, in dem diese Tendenzen entstanden: Positivismus/Empirismus, Realismus/Strukturalismus und Idealismus/Hermeneutik. Unter Berücksichtigung dreier epistemologischer Ebenen – Essenzialisten/ontisch (wissenschaftlich), dekonstructiv (soziologisch) und ontologisch (emergent) – werden ausgewählte paradigmatische Tendenzen postuliert. Die erste Ebene ergibt Tendenzen wie die kartographische Kommunikation, die kartographische Semiotik, die analytische Kartographie und die kartographische Visualisierung, die alle zu der wissenschaftlich-empirischen Perspektive gehören. Zur zweiten Ebene gehört die kritische Kartographie, welche der kritischen Perspektive zugeordnet ist und die wissenschaftliche Standpunkte konfrontiert. Die so genannte post-repräsentative Kartographie entsteht aus der dritten Ebene im offenen Widerstand zur traditionellen repräsentativen Kartographie