Proxima

Hailed as “one of the most inventive writers that science fiction has ever produced" (SF Site), Stephen Baxter builds on the massive success of Proxima with a career-defining novel of big ideas.... On the planet of Per Ardua, alien artifacts were discovered—hatches that allowed humans to step across light-years of space as if they were stepping into another room. But this newfound freedom has consequences.... As humanity discovers the real nature of the universe, a terrifying truth comes to light. We all have countless pasts converging in this present—and our future is terrifyingly finite. There are minds in the universe that are billions of years old and now we are vulnerable to their plans for us.... It’s time to fight back and take control.

A new conceptual framework for explaining and evaluating EU security assistance operations, supported by extensive interviews with high-level policy-makers.

Medical informatics and electronic healthcare have many benefits to offer in terms of quality of life for patients, healthcare personnel, citizens and society in general. But evidence-based medicine needs quality information if it is to lead to quality of health and thus to quality of life. This book presents the full papers accepted for presentation at the MIE2012 conference, held in Pisa, Italy, in August 2012. The theme of the 2012 conference is ‘Quality of Life through Quality of Information’. As always, the conference provides a unique platform for the exchange of ideas and experiences among the actors and stakeholders of ICT supported healthcare. The book incorporates contributions related to the latest achievements in biomedical and health informatics in terms of major challenges such as interoperability, collaboration, coordination and patient-oriented healthcare at the most appropriate level of care. It also offers new perspectives for the future of biomedical and health Informatics, critical appraisal of strategies for user involvement, insights for design, deployment and the sustainable use of electronic health records, standards, social software, citizen centred e-health, and new challenges in rehabilitation and social care informatics. The topics presented are interdisciplinary in nature and will be of interest to a variety of professionals; physicians, nurses and other allied health providers, health informaticians, engineers, academics and representatives from industry and consultancy in the various fields.

An in-depth view of the panspermia hypothesis examined against the latest knowledge of planetary formation and related processes. Panspermia is the concept that life can be passively transported through space on various bodies and seed, habitable planets and moons, which we are beginning to learn may exist in large numbers. It is an old idea, but not popular with those who prefer that life on Earth started on Earth, an alternative, also unproven hypothesis. This book updates the concept of panspermia in the light of new evidence on planet formation, molecular clouds, solar system motions, supernovae ejection mechanisms, etc. Thus, it is to be a book about newly understood prospects for the movement of life through space. The novel approach presented in this book gives new insights into the panspermia theory and its connection with planetary formation and the evolution of galaxies. This offers a good starting point for future research proposals about exolife and a better perspective for empirical scrutiny of panspermia theory. Also, the key to understanding life in the universe is to understand that the planetary formation process is convolved with the evolution of stellar systems in their galactic environment. The book provides the synthesis of all these elements and gives the readers an up-to-date insight on how panspermia might fit into the big picture. Audience Given the intrinsic interdisciplinary nature of the panspermia hypothesis the book will have a wide audience across various scientific disciplines covering astronomy, biology, physics and chemistry. Apart from scientists, the book will appeal to engineers who are involved in planning and realization of future space missions.