Potential values of maas impacts in future scenarios

The paper discusses and critiques the concept of the single engineering paradigm. This concepts allude to a future in which the control of matter and life, and life as matter, will be achieved by applying engineering principles; through nanotechnology, synthetic biology and, as some suggest, geo-engineering, cognitive engineering and neuro-engineering. We outline some issues in the short history of the field labelled as Synthetic Biology. Furthermore; we examine the way engineers, scientists, designers and artists are positioned and articulating the use of the tools of Synthetic Biology to expose some of the philosophical, ethical and political forces and considerations of today as well as some future scenarios. We suggest that one way to enable the possibilities of alternative frames of thought is to open up the know-how and the access to these technologies to other disciplines, including artistic.

Download Full-text

The future of the Russian intervention in the Syrian crisis

Tikrit Journal For Political Science ◽

10.25130/poltic.v0i21.233 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 57

Author(s):

Alaa Taleb Khalaf

Keyword(s):

Future Scenarios ◽

Syrian Crisis ◽

The Third ◽

The Future

The present research aims at arriving the motives of the Russian intervention in the Syrian crisis, in the first section, As well as the positions of regional and international countries in favor of this intervention and opposition to it, in the second section, And the out looking of the future of this intervention and keeping an open crisis in Syria by posing future scenarios and the likelihood of one of them, and the jungle in the third section.

Download Full-text

Nano-Neurotherapeutics (NNTs): An Emergent and Multifaceted Tool for CNS Disorders

Current Drug Metabolism ◽

10.2174/1389200221666201124123939 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 ◽

Author(s):

Aashish Sharma ◽

Romila Manchanda ◽

Faheem Hyder Pottoo ◽

Ghulam Md. Ashraf

Keyword(s):

Central Nervous System ◽

Neurological Disorders ◽

Driving Force ◽

Treatment Options ◽

Clinical Aspects ◽

Future Scenarios ◽

Cns Disorders ◽

Drug Conjugates ◽

Novel Treatment ◽

Pharmacological Targets

: Impressive research steps have been taken for the treatment of neurological disorders in the last few decades. Still effective treatments of brain related disorders are very less due to problems associated with crossing the blood brain barrier (BBB), non-specific therapies, and delay in functional recovery of central nervous system (CNS) after treatment. Striving for novel treatment options for neurological disorders, nanotechnology-derived materials, and devices have gained the ground due to inherent features of derivatization/encapsulation with drugs as per the neurological ailments and pharmacological targets. Facile developments/syntheses of the nanomaterials-drug conjugates have also been the driving force for researchers to get into this field. Moreover, the tunable size and hydro/lipophilicity of these nanomaterials are the added advantages that make these materials more acceptable for CNS disorders. These nano-neurotherapeutics (NNTs) systems provide the platform for diagnosis, theranostics, treatments, restoration of CNS disorders, and encourage the translation of NNTs from “bench to bedside”. Still, these techniques are in primary stages of medical development. This review describes the latest advancements and future scenarios of developmental and clinical aspects of polymeric NNTs.

Download Full-text

Evaluating and planning sustainable urban development: The use of future scenarios between facts and values

IOP Conference Series Earth and Environmental Science ◽

10.1088/1755-1307/6/57/572055 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 6 (57) ◽

pp. 572055

Author(s):

Nicola Tollin ◽

X Alvarez del Castillo

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Sustainable Urban Development ◽

Future Scenarios

Download Full-text

Migrants’ Narratives on Urban Governance: A Case from Kolkata, a City of the Global South

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13021009 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 1009

Author(s):

Anuradha Chakrabarti ◽

Reena Tiwari ◽

Haimanti Banerji

Keyword(s):

Oral History ◽

Urban Governance ◽

Governance Structure ◽

Narrative Approach ◽

Future Scenarios ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Sustainable Development Goal ◽

Development Goal ◽

Ethnographic Methodology ◽

Thematic Network Analysis

The paper aims to reveal the politics of urban governance and the associated impact on the lives of disenfranchised migrants. It critically explores the urban governance structure and the nature of practices involved in the cycle of settlement, eviction, resistance and resettlement. The case of Nonadanga, located at the urban margin of Kolkata, India, was explored for this purpose. An ethnographic methodology comprising observation, semi-structured interviews and oral history was adopted for the research. Twelve squatter dwellers and four experts working in Nonadanga and Kolkata were interviewed for this purpose. A three-step data analysis comprising a narrative approach, thematic network analysis and validation was adopted. A critical review of inclusive practices, together with ethnographic survey findings, demonstrates that migrants live in a condition the paper calls “partial rights”, which is a manifestation of the dialectics of inclusiveness practiced by the urban governance structure and derived from the interaction between urban governance structure and migrants’ agency. By analyzing past development trends, the paper outlines possible future scenarios for migrants’ living conditions and discusses their impact on achieving the targeted Sustainable Development Goal 11 for inclusive cities by 2030.

Download Full-text

Future Changes in Tropical Cyclone and Easterly Wave Characteristics over Tropical North America

Oceans ◽

10.3390/oceans2020024 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (2) ◽

pp. 429-447

Author(s):

Christian Dominguez ◽

James M. Done ◽

Cindy L. Bruyère

Keyword(s):

North America ◽

North Atlantic Ocean ◽

Mitigation Strategies ◽

Track Density ◽

Caribbean Region ◽

Tropical Cyclogenesis ◽

Future Scenarios ◽

Southern Mexico ◽

The North ◽

The Future

Tropical Cyclones (TCs) and Easterly Waves (EWs) are the most important phenomena in Tropical North America. Thus, examining their future changes is crucial for adaptation and mitigation strategies. The Community Earth System Model drove a three-member regional model multi-physics ensemble under the Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 emission scenario for creating four future scenarios (2020–2030, 2030–2040, 2050–2060, 2080–2090). These future climate runs were analyzed to determine changes in EW and TC features: rainfall, track density, contribution to seasonal rainfall, and tropical cyclogenesis. Our study reveals that a mean increase of at least 40% in the mean annual TC precipitation is projected over northern Mexico and southwestern USA. Slight positive changes in EW track density are projected southwards 10° N over the North Atlantic Ocean for the 2050–2060 and 2080–2090 periods. Over the Eastern Pacific Ocean, a mean increment in the EW activity is projected westwards across the future decades. Furthermore, a mean reduction by up to 60% of EW rainfall, mainly over the Caribbean region, Gulf of Mexico, and central-southern Mexico, is projected for the future decades. Tropical cyclogenesis over both basins slightly changes in future scenarios (not significant). We concluded that these variations could have significant impacts on regional precipitation.

Download Full-text

Future scenarios for the development of the desalination industry in contexts of water scarcity: A Brazilian case study

Technological Forecasting and Social Change ◽

10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120727 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 167 ◽

pp. 120727

Author(s):

Fabrícia de Souza Moreira ◽

Mariana Padilha Campos Lopes ◽

Marcos Aurélio Vasconcelos de Freitas ◽

Adelaide Maria de Souza Antunes

Keyword(s):

Water Scarcity ◽

Future Scenarios ◽

Brazilian Case

Download Full-text

The face of future: Face expressions during future thinking

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021821992991 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174702182199299

Author(s):

Mohamad El Haj ◽

Emin Altintas ◽

Ahmed A Moustafa ◽

Abdel Halim Boudoukha

Keyword(s):

Facial Expression ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Emotional Experience ◽

Future Scenarios ◽

Future Thinking ◽

Analysis Software ◽

Emotional Facial Expressions ◽

Facial Analysis ◽

The Face ◽

Face Expressions

Future thinking, which is the ability to project oneself forward in time to pre-experience an event, is intimately associated with emotions. We investigated whether emotional future thinking can activate emotional facial expressions. We invited 43 participants to imagine future scenarios, cued by the words “happy,” “sad,” and “city.” Future thinking was video recorded and analysed with a facial analysis software to classify whether facial expressions (i.e., happy, sad, angry, surprised, scared, disgusted, and neutral facial expression) of participants were neutral or emotional. Analysis demonstrated higher levels of happy facial expressions during future thinking cued by the word “happy” than “sad” or “city.” In contrast, higher levels of sad facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word “sad” than “happy” or “city.” Higher levels of neutral facial expressions were observed during future thinking cued by the word “city” than “happy” or “sad.” In the three conditions, the neutral facial expressions were high compared with happy and sad facial expressions. Together, emotional future thinking, at least for future scenarios cued by “happy” and “sad,” seems to trigger the corresponding facial expression. Our study provides an original physiological window into the subjective emotional experience during future thinking.

Download Full-text