Aerospace medicine and biology: A continuing bibliography with indexes (supplement 287)

This bibliography lists 346 reports, articles and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in July 1986

Visually Guided Control of Movement

The papers given at an intensive, three-week workshop on visually guided control of movement are presented. The participants were researchers from academia, industry, and government, with backgrounds in visual perception, control theory, and rotorcraft operations. The papers included invited lectures and preliminary reports of research initiated during the workshop. Three major topics are addressed: extraction of environmental structure from motion; perception and control of self motion; and spatial orientation. Each topic is considered from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Implications for control and display are suggested

Integrated Applications of Geo-Information in Environmental Monitoring

This book focuses on fundamental and applied research on geo-information technology, notably optical and radar remote sensing and algorithm improvements, and their applications in environmental monitoring. This Special Issue presents ten high-quality research papers covering up-to-date research in land cover change and desertification analyses, geo-disaster risk and damage evaluation, mining area restoration assessments, the improvement and development of algorithms, and coastal environmental monitoring and object targeting. The purpose of this Special Issue is to promote exchanges, communications and share the research outcomes of scientists worldwide and to bridge the gap between scientific research and its applications for advancing and improving society

Recent Developments in Smart Healthcare

Medicine is undergoing a sector-wide transformation thanks to the advances in computing and networking technologies. Healthcare is changing from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive and personalized, from disease focused to well-being centered. In essence, the healthcare systems, as well as fundamental medicine research, are becoming smarter. We anticipate significant improvements in areas ranging from molecular genomics and proteomics to decision support for healthcare professionals through big data analytics, to support behavior changes through technology-enabled self-management, and social and motivational support. Furthermore, with smart technologies, healthcare delivery could also be made more efficient, higher quality, and lower cost. In this special issue, we received a total 45 submissions and accepted 19 outstanding papers that roughly span across several interesting topics on smart healthcare, including public health, health information technology (Health IT), and smart medicine

A query into the social construction of (un)natural disasters: teaching (about) the biopolitics of disposability

This dissertation represents a theoretical and pragmatic interrogation of global disasters as natural in a comparative and historical context. Specifically the sixty year environmental degradation and contamination of Vieques, Puerto Rico by the U.S. Navy, The Boxer Day Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, and the Haiti Earthquake are examined to expose fault lines involved in shaping vulnerability and resiliency pre- and post- disaster environments. Research reveals that in post-disaster environments, social institutions operationalize a biopolitics of disposability that is deeply rooted in histories of colonization. Colonial histories, as elaborated upon, reinforce racio-economics or commonsense justifications of racial hierarchy that articulate and define protocols of disaster mitigation, preparation, and response in different global contexts. The framework for exploring the polemics of disasters as discussed here consists of critical discourse analysis through the lens of critical race theory (CRT), critical pedagogy, and womanist theory to problematize questions pertaining to which government agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are best equipped to mobilize resources during times of disaster or crises. By focusing on the significance of racio-economics in exposing these (un)natural disaster's impact on human lives imbued with complex race and class histories, the case for K-12 environmental science curriculum framework is made to increase society's preparation against future disasters

Disruption in the Arts

The volume examines aesthetic disruptions within the various arts in contemporary culture. It assumes that the political potential of art is not solely derived from presenting its audiences with openly political content. Rather, it creates a space of perception and interaction using formal means, thus problematizing the self-evidence of hegemonic structures of communication

Reading Mutant Narratives : The Bodily Experientiality of Contemporary Ecological Science Fiction

Reading Mutant Narratives explores how narratives of environmental and personal transformation in contemporary ecological science fiction can develop more-than-human modes of embodied experience. More specifically, it attends to the conflicted yet potentially transformative experientiality of "mutant narratives". Mutant narratives are viewed as uneasy hybrids of human-centered and posthumanist science fiction that contain potential for ecological understanding. Drawing on narrative studies and empirical reading studies, the dissertation begins from the premise that in suitable conditions, reading fiction may give rise to experiential change. The study traces and describes experiential changes that take place while reading works of science fiction. The bodily, subjective and historical conditions of reading are considered alongside the generic contexts and narrative features of the fictional works studied. As exemplary cases of mutant narratives, the study foregrounds the work of three American science fiction authors known for their critiques of anthropocentrism and for their articulations of more-than-human ecologies: Greg Bear, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Jeff VanderMeer. While much of contemporary fiction naturalizes embodied experience and hides their own narrative strategies, mutant narratives have the potential to defamiliarize readers’ notions of bodies and environments while also estranging their embodied experience of reading fiction. As a theoretical contribution to science fiction studies, the study considers such a readerly dynamic in terms of "embodied estrangement". Building on theoretical and practical work done in both embodied cognitive and posthumanist approaches to literature, the study shows how engagements with fictional narratives can, for their part, shape readers’ habitual patterns of feeling and perception. These approaches are synthesized into a method of close reading, "performative enactivism", that helps to articulate bodily, environmental, and more-than-human aspects of readerly engagement. Attending to such experiential aspects integrates ecological science fiction more deeply into the contemporary experiential situation of living with radical environmental transformation.Reading Mutant Narratives keskittyy ekologista kriisiä käsitteleviin "mutanttikertomuksiin" ja niille tyypilliseen kokemuksellisuuteen. Mutanttikertomukset ovat tieteisfiktiivisiä kertomuksia, joissa ihmiskeskeiset ja posthumanistiset piirteet yhdistyvät ja antavat lukijalle mahdollisuuksia ekologiseen ymmärrykseen. Esimerkkeinä mutanttikertomuksista tutkimus nostaa esiin kolmen yhdysvaltalaisen tieteiskirjailijan, Greg Bearin, Paolo Bacigalupin ja Jeff VanderMeerin, teoksia. Nämä teokset asettavat ihmisen osaksi ekologisia, evolutiivisia ja teknologisia vuorovaikutussuhteita, joissa myös ihmisruumiit ja ruumiillinen kokemus muuttavat muotoaan. Väitöskirja tutkii siis, kuinka tieteisfiktiiviset kertomukset ympäristöllisestä ja kokemuksellisesta muutoksesta voivat kehittää ruumiillista kokemusta. Kertomuksentutkimukseen ja empiiriseen lukijatutkimukseen tukeutuen tutkimus lähtee oletuksesta, että sopivissa olosuhteissa kirjallisuuden lukeminen voi edesauttaa kokemuksellisia muutoksia. Tutkimus tarkastelee tieteisfiktion lukemista eletyn ruumiillisen kokemuksen tasolla. Lukukokemuksen analyysissa otetaan huomioon sekä lukijan ruumiillinen, subjektiivinen ja historiallinen tilanne että luettujen teosten kytkeytyminen romaanikerronnan ja tieteisfiktion lajityypin perinteisiin. Suuri osa nykykirjallisuudesta esittää ruumiillisen kokemuksen luonnollisena ja kätkee oman kerronnallisen vaikutusvaltansa, mutta mutanttikertomusten kerronnalliset keinot saattavat outouttaa lukijoiden ruumiillista kokemusta suhteessa sekä elettyyn ympäristöön että kirjallisuuteen itseensä. Tieteisfiktion tutkimuksen käsitteistöä uudistaen väitöskirja kutsuu tällaista lukemisen dynamiikkaa "ruumiilliseksi vieraannuttamiseksi". Lukukokemuksen analyysien avulla tutkimus esittää, kuinka kirjallisuuden lukeminen ohjaa osaltaan lukijoiden tunne- ja havaintotottumusten muotoutumista. Se tuo yhteen ruumiillis-kognitiivisia ja posthumanistisia lähestymistapoja kirjallisuudentutkimukseen ja muotoilee "performatiivis-enaktiivisen" lähilukemisen metodin, joka auttaa sanallistamaan lukukokemuksen ruumiillisia, ympäristöllisiä ja ei-inhimilliseen kurovia puolia. Ruumiillisen kokemuksellisuuden syventäminen tämän metodin avulla tuo ekologisen tieteisfiktion tiiviimmin osaksi globaalin ympäristömuutoksen kokemuksellista tilannetta

How does the implementation of counter terrorism measures impact on human rights in Kenya and Uganda?

Includes bibliographical references.This thesis explores the impact of counter terrorism measures on human rights in Kenya and Uganda. It identifies terrorism as a global problem and reviews its common features. It recognises that the human cost of terrorism has been felt in virtually every corner of the world. It analyses the nature and scope of trends of terrorist activities in Kenya and Uganda, offers possible reasons for the increase of incidents of terror and considers the challenges in combating terrorism in these countries. The thesis outlines the fundamental freedoms that are most commonly engaged in the fight against terrorism and describes states’ obligations in respect of those rights. It recognises that a significant effect of terrorist activity is the tendency to pit security against human rights. It demonstrates that legislation intended to strengthen anti terrorism efforts raise serious concerns in relation to international and domestic human rights law. The thesis investigated one central concern: How does the implementation of counter terrorism measures impact on human rights in Kenya and Uganda? To answer this question, the study sought to investigate several related questions: In the enforcement of counter terrorism measures, is it possible for governments to play by the constraints of the rule of law? Is freedom during times of emergency as important as during peacetime? Is it possible and practical to observe art 4 of the ICCPR in the war against terrorism or should a lower threshold be established

Disruption in the Arts

The volume examines aesthetic disruptions within the various arts in contemporary culture. It assumes that the political potential of art is not solely derived from presenting its audiences with openly political content. Rather, it creates a space of perception and interaction using formal means, thus problematizing the self-evidence of hegemonic structures of communication