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This collection explores the evolution of the commercial space industry from the beginning of the space age through the early twenty-first century. Today, the space industry is taking on an increased leadership and innovation role in both space access and exploration. The growth of commercial space over the past decades offers a potential new paradigm for space exploration – one in which industry transitions from supplier to partner. However, many questions remain. This book seeks to bring to light these questions, which span from the most seemingly consequential: how will humanity explore the Moon and Mars? - to the most basic: what is commercial space? To further develop the historical context of commercial space, and thereby better inform decision-making at NASA in the future, this volume examines a broad range of questions related to the history of commercial space operations, including but not limited to: how has the concept of ‘commercial space'evolved in different fields and disciplines? What have been the major events and milestones in the emergence and evolution of commercial space activities in the USA and internationally? How has the US Government assisted or impeded the emergence and evolution of commercial space activities? Providing contributions from a range of different disciplines and backgrounds, the authors of this volume offer valuable insights for scholars researching the history of space and space policy, as well as decision-makers working at NASA or within the wider space industry.

This book explores the global technological transformations that have shaped development of society for eons, from the emergence of Homo sapiens to the modern day. Looking at a potential future for all of this century and the beginning of the next, the book explores how society is changing as a result of the two most powerful trends: technological advances and global aging. It studies the forthcoming technological wave – the Cybernetic Revolution, which will encompass AI, medical technology and biotechnology, robotics, cognitive, nanotechnology etc. In turn, it shows why and how global aging will become one of the most powerful factors, influencing the evolution of society and the World System as a whole. Lastly, the book demonstrates how technological innovations can change the way people live and the society of the future, assessing both the new opportunities and threats posed by uncontrolled technological progress. Accordingly, it will appeal to social scientists, political scientists, economists and historians who are interested in technological transformations and their social and economic impacts.

This book is based on an institutional evolutionary theoretical view to the Göta kanal. Canals were the major transport infrastructure system besides roads and maritime transport until railroads were introduced. The canal studied is the Swedish Göta kanal project during the preparation and construction phase from 1800–1832. Thus, the Göta kanal, and the canal-era, is seen from a technological, an economic and a political perspective. Comparisons are made with two contemporary major canal-projects; the Erie Canal in the USA (1817–1825) and the Caledonian Canal in Britain (1804–1822). It is argued that the Göta kanal project, as Sweden's Mega Project of its time, represented an important development step in Sweden as regards learning and innovation and became a starting point for Swedish transport infrastructure projects in the time to come, primarily the railways.

This book discusses the legacy of the conference series The International Conferences of Women Engineers and Scientists (ICWES), which spans the second half of the Twentieth Century and the beginning of the twenty-first. The book first discusses how, at a time when there were few women engineers and scientists, a group of women organized a conference, in June 1964 in New York, which attracted 486 women. They presented their scientific achievements and discussed how to attract more women in STEM. This effort was carried out by volunteers, continuing the ICWES conferences over a period of 59 years. The authors discuss the organizers, the hosting societies, the scientific content, the changes in issues over time, and how the continuity has endured. The authors also discuss the importance of global involvement, shown through past conferences inlocations such as USA, UK, Italy, Poland, France, India, Ivory Coast, Hungary, Japan, Canada, and Korea. The authors also outline how the efforts were aided by the development of a not for profit Canadian corporation, the International Conference of Women in Sciences and engineering (INWES), which ensures the continuation of the conference series. Claire Deschênes and Monique Frize ensured that the conference database was digitalized and is now available at the Canadian Archive of Women in STEM, University of Ottawa Library, with the hope that researchers will continue to explore this rich database. As an important part of the Women in Science and Engineering book series, the work hopes to inspire women and men, girls and boys to study and work in STEM fields. This book is important historically because it documents a unique adventure created by women in STEM through vision and leadership. Their efforts established modes of networking and sharing their contributions in science, technology, and on gender issues.

This volume is a collection of essays of a philosophical nature on the subject of technology, introducing authors from the Portuguese-speaking community, namely from Portugal itself, Africa and Brazil. Their contributions detail a unique perspective on technology, placing this important topic within the historical, ideological and social contexts of their countries, all of which share a common language. The shared history of these countries and the cultural and economic specificities of each one have stimulated singular insights into these thinkers'reflections.The essays are thematically diverse. Among the topics covered are technogenic knowledge, visions of technology, risks and uncertainties, mediatization, digitalization, and datafication, engineering practice and ethics, alternative technoscientific strategies, ontotechnologies of the body, virtual and archive. The contributions also explore other themes that are more closely related to the semi-peripheral world, such as technological dependence and the incorporation of Western technology into the social structure of ancestral communities.This book appeals to students and researchers and provides a voice to authors whose work are not usually available in English-language publications. It serves as an ideal guide for all those who seek rigorous and geographically widespread knowledge regarding thinking on technology in several Portuguese-speaking countries.

This book introduces recent global advances and innovations in industry integrated engineering and computing education to academics, program managers, department heads, and deans, and shares with readers a critical perspective on future potentials in industry integrated engineering education. It covers topics and issues such as integrated engineering and computing education, part-time engineering masters programs, secure BIM learning, ethics, and IT workforce development. The book concludes with detail information on summarizing and extracting different frameworks, cases, and models into a practitioner toolkit, along with pragmatic recommendations for engineering education academics to quickly utilize, adopt, and adapt the toolkits for their own curricular development activities.

This book provides science and technology ethos to a literate person. It starts with a rather detailed treatment of basic concepts in human values, educational status and domains of education, development of science and technology and their contributions to the welfare of society. It describes ways and means of scientific progresses and technological advancements with their historical perspectives including scientific viewpoints of contributing scientists and technologists. The technical, social, and cultural dimensions are surveyed in relation to acquisition and application of science, and advantages and hindrances of technological developments. Science and Technology is currently taught as a college course in many universities with the intention to introduce topics from a global historical perspective so that the reader shall stretch his/her vision by mapping the past to the future. The book can also serve as a primary reference for such courses.