Towards A New Alchemy

The world needs new ideas, now products, new kinds of associations and institutions, new initiatives, new art and new designs. But these new things seldom come from established organisations. They come from individuals - the New Alchemists. What drives people to create something from nothing? Is it ambition, the need for self-fulfilment? Is it to do with money, power, or even genes? Is there a mood of the time that encourages people? Can anyone do it? Charles Handy has talked to a range of extraordinary characters - from Trevor Baylis and Richard Branson to Jane Tewson and Terence Conran. And Elizabeth Handy has used her new style of composite portraits to highlight aspects of all the different alchemists in their particular environments. The New Alchemists is a fascinating and inspirational investigation into the creative and entrepreneurial process.

This is the clear guide for non-specialists to electromagnetic compatability (EMC), the effects of electromagnetic radiation and the European EMC Directive which is now in force. This book helps by explaining the basic principles of EMC, how it may be controlled in practice through filtering, shielding, appropriate printed circuit board design, and other means. Electrostatic discharge (ESD) and surge protection are discussed. The growing concern about the effects of electromagnetic waves and fields on health are examined in detail. This introduction provides beginners, technical and non-technical alike with a basic guide to the principles of EMC. This will prove essential reading for the thousands of people close to despair, giving them the underlying insight, in clear words, that is needed to comply with the EMC Directive, and therefore opens the door to continued trading in Europe and the World. Beginner's guide to EMC ideal for non-technical staff Vital for all businesses who export to either Europe or the rest of the world

Subject Scope: Condensed Matter. This book presents a review of an original Hierarchic theory of condensed matter, general for liquids and solids and its numerous applications. Computer programs based on a new theory were used for comprehensive simulations of water and ice physical properties and validation of the theory. Condensed matter is considered as a system of 3D standing waves (collective excitations) of different nature: thermal de Broglie waves, IR photons and thermal phonons. Quantitative interrelation between microscopic, mesoscopic (as intermediate) and macroscopic properties of condensed matter were found. New theories of total internal energy, including contributions of kinetic and potential energies, heat capacity, surface tension, vapour pressure, thermal conductivity, viscosity and self-diffusion are described.

For thousands of years before men had any accurate and exact knowledge of the changes of material things, they had thought about these changes, regarded them as revelations of spiritual truths, built on them theories of things in heaven and earth (and a good many things in neither), and used them in manufactures, arts, and handicrafts, especially in one very curious manufacture wherein not the thousandth fragment of a grain of the finished article was ever produced. The accurate and systematic study of the changes which material things undergo is called chemistry; we may, perhaps, describe alchemy as the superficial, and what may be called subjective, examination of these changes, and the speculative systems, and imaginary arts and manufactures, founded on that examination. We are assured by many old writers that Adam was the first alchemist, and we are told by one of the initiated that Adam was created on the sixth day, being the 15th of March, of the first year of the world; certainly alchemy had a long life, for chemistry did not begin until about the middle of the 18th century.

From 2008, for the first time in human history, half of the world’s population now live in cities. Yet despite a wealth of literature on green architecture and planning, there is to date no single book which draws together theory from the full range of disciplines - from architecture, planning and ecology - which we must come to grips with if we are to design future cities which are genuinely sustainable. Paul Downton’s Ecopolis takes a major step along this path. It highlights the urgent need to understand the role of cities as both agents of change and means of survival, at a time when climate change has finally grabbed world attention, and it provides a framework for designing cities that integrates knowledge - both academic and practical - from a range of relevant disciplines. Identifying key theorists, practitioners, places and philosophies, the book provides a solid theoretical context which introduces the concept of urban fractals, and goes on to present a series of design and planning tools for achieving Sustainable Human Ecological Development (SHED). Combining knowledge from diverse fields to present a synthesis of urban ecology, the book will provide a valuable resource for students, researchers and practitioners in architecture, construction, planning, geography and the traditional life sciences.

Considers the contributions and contemporary significance of Alan Watts.