In Search Of An Integrative Vision For Technology

This book provides a fascinating reading experience for anyone interested in an inquiring relationship between technical progress and the quality of the human condition. It manages to keep a healthier balance between these two complex topics than is found in most publications of the genre. The book also manages to build accessible bridges over the gulf that tends to separate the philosophical language from the 'real' concerns of technologists.

The idea for this book has been born in a dialogue between the authors of In Search of an Integrative Vision for Technology (2006) and a group of scholars and practitioners from South Africa whose research and development activities focuses on problems of traditional African society and culture. Although there existed awareness in the writing of the earlier book that the search for normativity for our technological society should encompass the different cultural spheres of the world, no attention has been paid to the problem of interculturality. Focussing on the development of technology in the ?developed societies? the emphasis was laid on finding a basis for ?interdisciplinarity?, bridging the gaps between the sciences and humanities as well as between theory and practice. According to the vision that has been elaborated on in the above book, not the autonomous dynamics of technology as a free-flying projectile should determine the future of our global world, but guidance has to be provided by a normative perspective on technology for the ?common good? of all people and cultures. Following further this line of research the current book aims to address explicitly the ?intercultural? dimension of technology in our globalising world.

"This book traces the emergence of the new interdisciplinary field of technoethics by exploring its conceptual development, important issues, and key areas of current research. Compiling 50 authoritative articles from leading researchers on the ethical dimensions of new technologies"--Provided by publisher.

This book examines computer vision and IoT-integrated technologies used by medical professionals in decision-making, for sustainable development in a healthcare ecosystem, and to better serve patients and stakeholders. It looks at the methodologies, technologies, models, frameworks, and practices necessary to resolve the challenging issues associated with leveraging the emerging technologies driving the medical field. The chapters discuss machine vision, AI-driven computer vision, machine learning, deep learning, AI-integrated IoT technology, data science, blockchain, AR/VR technology, cloud data, and cybersecurity techniques in designing and implementing a smart healthcare infrastructure in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. Techniques are applied to the detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of a wide range of health issues. Computer Vision and AI-Integrated IoT Technologies in the Medical Ecosystem targets a mixed audience of students, engineers, researchers, academics, and professionals who are researching and working in the field of medical and healthcare industries from different environments and countries.

This volume contains the papers presented at IALCCE2018, the Sixth International Symposium on Life-Cycle Civil Engineering (IALCCE2018), held in Ghent, Belgium, October 28-31, 2018. It consists of a book of extended abstracts and a USB device with full papers including the Fazlur R. Khan lecture, 8 keynote lectures, and 390 technical papers from all over the world. Contributions relate to design, inspection, assessment, maintenance or optimization in the framework of life-cycle analysis of civil engineering structures and infrastructure systems. Life-cycle aspects that are developed and discussed range from structural safety and durability to sustainability, serviceability, robustness and resilience. Applications relate to buildings, bridges and viaducts, highways and runways, tunnels and underground structures, off-shore and marine structures, dams and hydraulic structures, prefabricated design, infrastructure systems, etc. During the IALCCE2018 conference a particular focus is put on the cross-fertilization between different sub-areas of expertise and the development of an overall vision for life-cycle analysis in civil engineering. The aim of the editors is to provide a valuable source of cutting edge information for anyone interested in life-cycle analysis and assessment in civil engineering, including researchers, practising engineers, consultants, contractors, decision makers and representatives from local authorities.

Computer vision is one of the most complex and computationally intensive problem. Like any other computationally intensive problems, parallel pro cessing has been suggested as an approach to solving the problems in com puter vision. Computer vision employs algorithms from a wide range of areas such as image and signal processing, advanced mathematics, graph theory, databases and artificial intelligence. Hence, not only are the comput ing requirements for solving vision problems tremendous but they also demand computers that are efficient to solve problems exhibiting vastly dif ferent characteristics. With recent advances in VLSI design technology, Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) massively parallel computers have been proposed and built. However, such architectures have been shown to be useful for solving a very limited subset of the problems in vision. Specifically, algorithms from low level vision that involve computations closely mimicking the architec ture and require simple control and computations are suitable for massively parallel SIMD computers. An Integrated Vision System (IVS) involves com putations from low to high level vision to be executed in a systematic fashion and repeatedly. The interaction between computations and information dependent nature of the computations suggests that architectural require ments for computer vision systems can not be satisfied by massively parallel SIMD computers.

The current division between industrialised and developing countries/societies is based on relatively recent paradigms of mankind's growth which have occurred within the so-called industrial revolution. This book explores alternative paradigms and looks at different pathways to growth in the future.