scholarly journals The Future of Aging as Reflected in José Saramago's Novel "Death with Interruptions" – Israel as a Case Study

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Avi Bitzur
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Older People ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Current Data ◽  
Older Age ◽  
Israeli Society ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Dramatic Rise

Humanity has won one of the most challenging battles ever presented to it – the struggle to extend human life and increasing life expectancy. Current data and the figures predicted for future generations forecast significant longevity, and humanity has ostensibly marked a monumental achievement: containing death.This achievement, however, is not without its challenges. This essay argues that humanity is not ready to deal with the challenges posed by aging and the dramatic increase in longevity. As the number of older people increases, so will social, political, human, economic, and health issues that are naturally associated with older age. Society will face a so-called "human tsunami," or, alternatively, a "demographic revolution" in which man will find himself preoccupied with his elders in a world that has not prepared for such a revolution.This essay will review José Saramago's masterpiece "Death with Interruptions," which sarcastically describes a world free of death that, in turn, must contend with a myriad of problems. Faced with the issues plaguing Saramago's "deathless" world, authorities attempt to exercise a series of macabre and preposterous solutions vis-à-vis an issue that has all but upturned the "human pyramid" in the book.The novel will serve as the backdrop for presenting the case study at the heart of this essay, aging in Israel. I will present the existing situation in terms of aging-oriented services in Israel and the issues, obstacles and shortcomings of the system currently in place.This essay strives to illustrate the fact that global and Israeli society alike, fall short of rising to the challenges presented by this revolution, as the communities, families and the formal and informal state systems are not ready for the dramatic rise in longevity and its implications.Only nations that prepare themselves from social, religious, healthcare, economic, and organizational standpoints ahead of time will be able to properly deal with this phenomenon.

scholarly journals Discovery of New Theory Analysis of Equilibrium Point Population Versus Food on Theory of Thomas Robert Malthus and Its Development (Case Study of Indonesia)

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 49-54
Author(s):  
Matius Irsan Kasau ◽  
ST. Aminah Dinayati Ghani
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Equilibrium Point ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Theory Analysis ◽  
Cross Point ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
The Third

The future of humans on this tiny planet earth has entered a grim beginning in the midst of rapidly growing technological progress. How not, human life whose population is growing fast is not comparable to food as a source of life that grows slowly. This study aims to calculate the cross point or equilibrium point between population and food using the population series and food series of Thomas Robert Malthus original and the results of its development by Matius Irsan Kasau. The data and methods used are types of secondary data sourced from the Indonesian Central Statistics Agency (BPS), which is processed by a mathematical method that compares the population with food in each series. The results of research with Indonesian data in 2010 showed that for the original Malthus theory with the number of children on average per couple of 4 people, the distance between generations 25 years, 75 years of life expectancy, population 237 million, food 66.5 million tons obtained equilibrium point occurred in 2085, namely in the third generation. As for Malthus's theory of development results with an average number of children of 2.6 people, a distance between 23 years generation, and 69 years of life expectancy, the equilibrium point was obtained in 2171, namely the seventh generation of the current generation.

Issues and challenges for urban development in Indian cities post pandemic: A case of Jaipur

2021 ◽  
pp. 48-56
Author(s):  
Shipra Goswami ◽  
Ashwani Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Urban Planning And Development ◽  
Urban Problems ◽  
Indian Cities

The greatest challenge the whole world is facing currently is how urban development can be processed based on COVID -19 pandemic can be addressed. A country like India which has low healthcare resources, large population of poor people, many of whom are already burdened with other health issues, pose challenges on every dimension. Numerous problems like overcrowding, pollution, housing shortage, proliferation of slums, inefficient infrastructure, increased instances of disasters, unhealthy living conditions, shortage of open spaces, etc. are the major cause of concern in most of the Indian cities. As a result, severe outbreaks of major epidemics have been observed in the past, which led to a huge loss of resources and human life. Thus, it is important to understand the appropriateness of present trends of urban planning and development. “COVID-19” has spread ruthlessly in major Indian cities due to the high population densities and shared sanitation facilities, thus affecting millions of people. Considering “Jaipur” as a case study, the 10th largest city of India, known for its trade and commerce has been affected tremendously due to pandemic and has experienced enormous loss of human life and economic resources. Thus, it is imperative to understand the various urban problems faced by cities, which has increased the vulnerability to the pandemic and has facilitated its spread. This paper investigates various urban problems faced by Indian cities in general and specific to the context of Jaipur, which facilitates the spread of Pandemic. Hence, proposing various urban planning measures in order to cope up with the challenges arising in urban development of Indian cities to be able to cater to such situation.

Jobs for older people: Case study of a legislative triumph.

1983 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 319-322
Author(s):  
Edward F. Howard
Keyword(s):  
Older People

SEISMIC RISK AND RESILIENCE ASSESSMENT OF INDUSTRIAL FACILITIES: CASE STUDY ON A BLACK CARBON PLANT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Karagiannakis
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Risk ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Fragility Curves ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Risk And Resilience ◽  
Industrial Plants ◽  
Plant Equipment

This paper deals with state of the art risk and resilience calculations for industrial plants. Resilience is a top priority issue on the agenda of societies due to climate change and the all-time demand for human life safety and financial robustness. Industrial plants are highly complex systems containing a considerable number of equipment such as steel storage tanks, pipe rack-piping systems, and other installations. Loss Of Containment (LOC) scenarios triggered by past earthquakes due to failure on critical components were followed by severe repercussions on the community, long recovery times and great economic losses. Hence, facility planners and emergency managers should be aware of possible seismic damages and should have already established recovery plans to maximize the resilience and minimize the losses. Seismic risk assessment is the first step of resilience calculations, as it establishes possible damage scenarios. In order to have an accurate risk analysis, the plant equipment vulnerability must be assessed; this is made feasible either from fragility databases in the literature that refer to customized equipment or through numerical calculations. Two different approaches to fragility assessment will be discussed in this paper: (i) code-based Fragility Curves (FCs); and (ii) fragility curves based on numerical models. A carbon black process plant is used as a case study in order to display the influence of various fragility curve realizations taking their effects on risk and resilience calculations into account. Additionally, a new way of representing the total resilience of industrial installations is proposed. More precisely, all possible scenarios will be endowed with their weighted recovery curves (according to their probability of occurrence) and summed together. The result is a concise graph that can help stakeholders to identify critical plant equipment and make decisions on seismic mitigation strategies for plant safety and efficiency. Finally, possible mitigation strategies, like structural health monitoring and metamaterial-based seismic shields are addressed, in order to show how future developments may enhance plant resilience. The work presented hereafter represents a highly condensed application of the research done during the XP-RESILIENCE project, while more detailed information is available on the project website https://r.unitn.it/en/dicam/xp-resilience.

Effective Altruism

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Global Community ◽  
Helping Others ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Effective Altruism

The effective altruism movement consists of a growing global community of people who organize significant parts of their lives around two key ideas, represented in its name. Altruism: If we use a significant portion of the resources in our possession—whether money, time, or talents—with a view to helping others, we can improve the world considerably. Effectiveness: When we do put such resources to altruistic use, it is crucial to focus on how much good this or that intervention is reasonably expected to do per unit of resource expended (for example, per dollar donated). While global poverty is a widely used case study in introducing and motivating effective altruism, if the ultimate aim is to do the most good one can with the resources expended, it is far from obvious that global poverty alleviation is highest priority cause area. In addition to ranking possible poverty-alleviation interventions against one another, we can also try to rank interventions aimed at very different types of outcome against one another. This includes, for example, interventions focusing on animal welfare or future generations. The scale and organization of the effective altruism movement encourage careful dialogue on questions that have perhaps long been there, throwing them into new and sharper relief, and giving rise to previously unnoticed questions. In the present volume, the first of its kind, a group of internationally recognized philosophers, economists, and political theorists contribute in-depth explorations of issues that arise once one takes seriously the twin ideas of altruistic commitment and effectiveness.

scholarly journals Linking Conservation, Community Knowledge, and Adaptation to Extreme Climatic Events: A Case Study in Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6478
Author(s):  
Amemarlita Matos ◽  
Laura Barraza ◽  
Isabel Ruiz-Mallén
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Animal Species ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Forest Products ◽  
Buffer Zone ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Extreme Climatic Events ◽  
Water Provision

This study is based on ethnographic research that analyzes how traditional knowledge and local beliefs on biodiversity conservation relates to the local ability to adapt and be resilient to climatic changes in two communities around Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique: Nhanfisse in the buffer zone and Muanandimae in the core area. A total of 78 semi-structured interviews with heads of households were conducted. We found that both communities carried out practices and held beliefs associated with conservation, such as protecting trees and animal species considered sacred or perceived as beneficial for human life in terms of water provision and agricultural production. In addition to traditional ceremonies that respond to extreme climatic events such as drought and flood, other adaptation strategies used by the communities include moving to neighboring areas in search of better living conditions and using forest products in times of scarcity. We discuss that the management of the park should be agreed on, in a shared way, between local communities and conservation agents to ensure that these areas continue to perform the ecological, subsistence, and spiritual functions required. Our research results contribute to a better understanding of local adaptation dynamics towards extreme climatic events and improvement of management strategies.

scholarly journals Water Quality and Life Expectancy: Parallel Courses in Time

Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 752
Author(s):  
Andreas N. Angelakis ◽  
Heikki S. Vuorinen ◽  
Christos Nikolaidis ◽  
Petri S. Juuti ◽  
Tapio S. Katko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Life Quality ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Personal Hygiene ◽  
Water Supply Systems ◽  
Improved Sanitation ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Concomitant Factors

Since ancient times, the need for healthy water has resulted in the development of various kinds of water supply systems. From early history, civilizations have developed water purification devices and treatment methods. The necessity for fresh water has influenced individual lives as well as communities and societies. During the last two hundred years, intensive and effective efforts have been made internationally for sufficient water quantity and quality. At the same time, human life expectancy has increased all over the globe at unprecedented rates. The present work represents an effort to sketch out how water purity and life expectancy have entangled, thus influencing one another. Water properties and characteristics have directly affected life quality and longevity. The dramatic increase in life expectancy has been, indisputably, affected by the improvement in water quality, but also in other concomitant factors, varying temporally and spatially in different parts of the world throughout the centuries. Water technologies and engineering have an unequivocal role on life expectancy. In some cases, they appear to have taken place earlier than the progress of modern medicine. Among these, improved sanitation, personal hygiene, progress in medicine, and better standards of economic living have played the greatest roles.

scholarly journals A Methodology for Harmonizing Safety and Health Scales in Occupational Risk Assessment

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4849
Author(s):  
Zuzhen Ji ◽  
Dirk Pons ◽  
John Pearse
Keyword(s):  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Assessment Method ◽  
Assessment Process ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Chronic Health ◽  
Risk Assessment Method

Successful implementation of Health and Safety (H&S) systems requires an effective mechanism to assess risk. Existing methods focus primarily on measuring the safety aspect; the risk of an accident is determined based on the product of severity of consequence and likelihood of the incident arising. The health component, i.e., chronic harm, is more difficult to assess. Partially, this is due to both consequences and the likelihood of health issues, which may be indeterminate. There is a need to develop a quantitative risk measurement for H&S risk management and with better representation for chronic health issues. The present paper has approached this from a different direction, by adopting a public health perspective of quality of life. We have then changed the risk assessment process to accommodate this. This was then applied to a case study. The case study showed that merely including the chronic harm scales appeared to be sufficient to elicit a more detailed consideration of hazards for chronic harm. This suggests that people are not insensitive to chronic harm hazards, but benefit from having a framework in which to communicate them. A method has been devised to harmonize safety and harm risk assessments. The result was a comprehensive risk assessment method with consideration of safety accidents and chronic health issues. This has the potential to benefit industry by making chronic harm more visible and hence more preventable.

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