scholarly journals Futures of sustainability: Trajectories and conflicts

2021 ◽  
pp. 053901842199626
Author(s):  
Frank Adloff ◽  
Sighard Neckel
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Socioeconomic Change ◽  
Ecological Consequences ◽  
State Of Emergency ◽  
Normative Model ◽  
Sustainable Future ◽  
And Control

The increased awareness of the exploitation of resources, as well as the negative ecological consequences of the modern way of life, has made sustainability a central guiding concept of social change in the 21st century. Sustainability has taken the form of a largely undisputed normative model of development, behind which, however, very different conceptions of the future are concealed: from the attempt to initiate a major socio-ecological transformation, through modernization processes, to control practices in a state of emergency. This special issue aims at these practices but is not primarily concerned with sustainability as a normative guiding idea that can just be pursued. However, a sociology of sustainability has to ask which conflictual spaces of possibility for socioeconomic change open up when very different ideas of a sustainable future are in conflict with each other. Three ideal-typical trajectories or futures of sustainability emerge, which can be theoretically grasped with the terms modernization, transformation and control. These three concepts of a sustainable future can also be found in the ambivalent imaginations, practices and structures of various constellations of actors.

Special Issue on Assistive Device Technologies

1999 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 237-237
Author(s):  
Toshiro Noritsugu ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Motion Control ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Legged Locomotion ◽  
Fluid Power ◽  
Robot Kinematics ◽  
Control Technology ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Collaboration Technology ◽  
Advanced Robotics ◽  
And Control

Mechatronics is one of the most powerful technologies to overcome various industrial and social problems arising in the 21st century, for example, realization of the recycle manufacturing system, global consideration on the environment, development of human-oriented technology. The 3rd International Conference on Advanced Mechatronics (ICAM’98)-Innovative Mechatronics for the 21st Century hass been held in Okayama August 3-6, 1998, following the 1st and 2nd held in Tokyo in 1988 and 1993, sponsored by the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. The purpose of the conference is to promote the creation of new technologies and industries such as advanced robotics and human-oriented technology for the coming 21st century. Two plenary talks and 35 technical sessions including 11 specially organized sessions were opened. In technical sessions, a total of 149 papers was presented, of which 61 papers were in organized sessions and 88 papers in general sessions. Some 47 papers came from 17 countries abroad and 102 papers from Japan. A number of registered participants excluding invited guests was 40 from other countries and 163 from Japan. After the technical program, the Advanced Robotics and Mechatronics symposium was held for tutorial reviews of future robotics and mechatronics, mainly focusing on ""human collaboration"" technology. More than 100 persons attended the symposium. Organized sessions included Analysis and Control of Robot Manipulators, Modeling and Control of Nonholonomic Underactuated Systems, Human Perspective Characteristics and Virtual Reality, Robotic Hand Design Grasping and Dexterous Manipulation, Healthcare Robotics, Advanced Fluid Power Control Technology, Advanced Robot Kinematics, Human Directed Robotics, Computer Support for Mechatronics System Design, Robotic Control, and Motion Control of Special Motors. Robotics was a main subject, but fluid power technology, fundamental motion control technology, and so on were also discussed. “Human collaboration” technology dealing with interaction between humans and robots attracted great attention from many participants. General sessions included Manufacturing, Vision, Micro Machine, Electric Actuator, Human-Robot Interface, Processing Technology, Fluid Actuator, Legged Locomotion, Control Strategy, Soft-Computing, Vehicle, Automation for Agriculture, Robot Force Control, Vibration, and Robot Application. Many studies have been presented over comprehensive subjects. This special issue has been organized by editing the papers presented at ICAM’98 for widely distributing the significant results of the conference. I would like to thank the authors in this special issue who have contributed their updated papers. Also, I would like to thank to Prof. Makoto Kaneko (Hiroshima University), whose work has been indispensable in organizing this special issue.

scholarly journals Editorial on Special Issue “Modern Applications in Optics and Photonics: From Sensing and Analytics to Communication”

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1589
Author(s):  
Lourdes S. M. Alwis ◽  
Kort Bremer ◽  
Bernhard Roth
Keyword(s):  
Communication Technology ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Optical Communication ◽  
Biomedical Imaging ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Key Technologies ◽  
Novel Applications

Optics and photonics are among the key technologies of the 21st century and offer the potential for novel applications in areas as diverse as sensing and spectroscopy, analytics, monitoring, biomedical imaging and diagnostics, as well as optical communication technology, among others [...]

Exploring ‘digital placemaking’

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 573-578
Author(s):  
Germaine Halegoua ◽  
Erika Polson
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Sense Of Place ◽  
Media Use ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Social Actors ◽  
Broad Framework ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Control ◽  
Connected Spaces

This brief essay introduces the special issue on the topic of ‘digital placemaking’ – a concept describing the use of digital media to create a sense of place for oneself and/or others. As a broad framework that encompasses a variety of practices used to create emotional attachments to place through digital media use, digital placemaking can be examined across a variety of domains. The concept acknowledges that, at its core, a drive to create and control a sense of place is understood as primary to how social actors identify with each other and express their identities and how communities organize to build more meaningful and connected spaces. This idea runs through the articles in the issue, exploring the many ways people use digital media, under varied conditions, to negotiate differential mobilities and become placemakers – practices that may expose or amplify preexisting inequities, exclusions, or erasures in the ways that certain populations experience digital media in place and placemaking.

The Problem of Energy

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Urry
Keyword(s):  
Social Theory ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Fossil Fuel ◽  
Energy Systems ◽  
Social Thought ◽  
Human Intervention ◽  
The West ◽  
The Past ◽  
And Control ◽  
Global Growth

Energy forms and their extensive scale are remarkably significant for the ways that societies are organized. This article shows the importance of how societies are ‘energized’ and especially the global growth of ‘fossil fuel societies’. Much social thought remains oblivious to the energy revolution realized over the past two to three centuries which set the ‘West’ onto a distinct trajectory. Energy is troubling for social thought because different energy systems with their ‘lock-ins’ are not subject to simple human intervention and control. Analyses are provided here of different fossil fuel societies, of coal and oil, with the latter enabling the liquid, mobilized 20th century. Consideration is paid to the possibilities of reducing fossil fuel dependence but it is shown how unlikely such a ‘powering down’ will be. The author demonstrates how energy is a massive problem for social theory and for 21st-century societies. Developing post-carbon theory and especially practice is far away but is especially urgent.

scholarly journals WHY MILITARY INSTITUTIONS MATTER FOR CHINESE HISTORY CIRCA 600–1800

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-242
Author(s):  
David Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Military History ◽  
Political Control ◽  
Chinese History ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Socioeconomic Change ◽  
Broad Audience ◽  
Military Institutions ◽  
Dynamic Interplay

This special issue ofJournal of Chinese Historymakes the case that military institutions are essential for understanding Chinese history. Our goal is to engage a broad audience instead of talking exclusively to specialists in military history. Thus, rather than an institutional account of, say, the imperial guard, or detailed campaign narratives, readers will find here exploration of the dynamic interplay between military institutions and political control, socioeconomic change, dynastic finances, and cultural values.

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