[PDF] Our Oldest Task eBook

Author : Eric T. Freyfogle
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 237 pages
File Size : 20,15 MB
Release : 2017-08-28
Category : Science
ISBN : 022632642X

GET BOOK

“This is a book about nature and culture,” Eric T. Freyfogle writes, “about our place and plight on earth, and the nagging challenges we face in living on it in ways that might endure.” Challenges, he says, we are clearly failing to meet. Harking back to a key phrase from the essays of eminent American conservationist Aldo Leopold, Our Oldest Task spins together lessons from history and philosophy, the life sciences and politics, economics and cultural studies in a personal, erudite quest to understand how we might live on—and in accord with—the land. Passionate and pragmatic, extraordinarily well read and eloquent, Freyfogle details a host of forces that have produced our self-defeating ethos of human exceptionalism. It is this outlook, he argues, not a lack of scientific knowledge or inadequate technology, that is the primary cause of our ecological predicament. Seeking to comprehend both the multifaceted complexity of contemporary environmental problems and the zeitgeist as it unfolds, Freyfogle explores such diverse topics as morality, the nature of reality (and the reality of nature), animal welfare, social justice movements, and market politics. The result is a learned and inspiring rallying cry to achieve balance, a call to use our knowledge to more accurately identify the dividing line between living in and on the world and destruction. “To use nature,” Freyfogle writes, “but not to abuse it.”

Author : David Badre
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 21,76 MB
Release : 2022-02-22
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0691234701

GET BOOK

A look at the extraordinary ways the brain turns thoughts into actions—and how this shapes our everyday lives Why is it hard to text and drive at the same time? How do you resist eating that extra piece of cake? Why does staring at a tax form feel mentally exhausting? Why can your child expertly fix the computer and yet still forget to put on a coat? From making a cup of coffee to buying a house to changing the world around them, humans are uniquely able to execute necessary actions. How do we do it? Or in other words, how do our brains get things done? In On Task, cognitive neuroscientist David Badre presents the first authoritative introduction to the neuroscience of cognitive control—the remarkable ways that our brains devise sophisticated actions to achieve our goals. We barely notice this routine part of our lives. Yet, cognitive control, also known as executive function, is an astonishing phenomenon that has a profound impact on our well-being. Drawing on cutting-edge research, vivid clinical case studies, and examples from daily life, Badre sheds light on the evolution and inner workings of cognitive control. He examines issues from multitasking and willpower to habitual errors and bad decision making, as well as what happens as our brains develop in childhood and change as we age—and what happens when cognitive control breaks down. Ultimately, Badre shows that cognitive control affects just about everything we do. A revelatory look at how billions of neurons collectively translate abstract ideas into concrete plans, On Task offers an eye-opening investigation into the brain’s critical role in human behavior.

Author : Vicki Hearne
Publisher : Skyhorse
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 47,55 MB
Release : 2016-10-25
Category : Pets
ISBN : 1510704221

GET BOOK

A groundbreaking meditation on our human-animal relationships and the moral code that binds it. Adam's Task, Vicki Hearne’s innovative masterpiece on animal training, brings our perennial discussion of the human-animal bond to a whole new metaphysical level. Based on studies of literary criticism, philosophy, and extensive hands-on experience in training, Hearne asserts, in boldly anthropomorphic terms, that animals (at least those that interact more with humans) are far more intelligent than we assume. In fact, they are capable of developing an understanding of "the good," a moral code that influences their motives and actions. Drawing on an eclectic range of influences—Nietzsche, T. S. Eliot, Disney animal trainer William Koehler, and Genesis from the Bible, among others—Hearne writes in contemplative, exploratory, and brilliant prose as she interweaves personal anecdotes with philosophy. Hearne develops an entirely new system of animal training that contradicts modern animal behavioral research and that, as her examples show, is astonishingly effective. Widely praised, highly influential, and now with a new foreword by New York Times bestselling author Karen Joy Fowler, Adam’s Task will make every trainer, animal psychologist, and animal-lover stop, think, and question.

Author : Ilana Mushin
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 194 pages
File Size : 36,37 MB
Release : 2021-11-29
Category : Education
ISBN : 1000474771

GET BOOK

It is well recognised that classroom teaching is highly complex and that teachers must navigate and negotiate myriad interactions just within a lesson in order to manage the learning opportunities of their students. What is less well recognised is precisely how these interactions are managed in real time during actual classroom interactions. This book is designed as an original, close-up account of processes by which children learn to become school learners in their first year of school, unpacking some of the recognised complexity of busy classrooms to hone in on what teachers and children do and how learning takes place. Using the tools of conversation analysis, the authors unpack a range of pedagogical interactions between teachers and children during normal class, focusing on procedural instructions and the outcomes of instructed activities. By including transcripts of recordings of classes in schools located in diverse communities, it is possible to see which aspects of classroom interaction may be impacted by external factors, such as children’s language or cultural background, and which aspects are applicable regardless of such factors. The chapters examine teacher instructions and children’s behaviour during instructions and during task performance in whole-class and small-group interactions. Effective Task Instruction in the First Year of School brings forward a much-needed wealth of knowledge into how to teach children in the first year of schooling and beyond in a way that is accessible for practising teachers, student teachers as well as education researchers.

Author : Peter Marsh
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 13,46 MB
Release : 2005
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780415334556

GET BOOK

Peter Marsh and Mark Doel's new book is a radical departure from traditional literature on social work methods. The main reference point is the voice of practitioners, service users and carers, as researched and developed by the authors over twenty years.

Author : EDWARD. TAYLOR-KALE ALDEN (LAURA.)
Publisher : Council on Foreign Relations Press
Page : 160 pages
File Size : 13,91 MB
Release : 2018-04-10
Category :
ISBN : 9780876097441

GET BOOK

The world is in the midst of a transformation in the nature of work, as smart machines, artificial intelligence, new technologies, and global competition remake how people do their jobs and pursue their careers. The Work Ahead focuses on how to rebuild the links among work, opportunity, and economic security for all Americans.

Author : Carmen Santoro
Publisher : Presses univ. de Louvain
Page : 218 pages
File Size : 30,24 MB
Release : 2005
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9782930344867

GET BOOK

Nowadays, the advent of the wireless Internet and the rapid expanding of novel technologies on the mass market have represented a tremendous stimulus for pushing the development of interactive systems able to encompass support for a larger and larger variety of users, tasks, devices and contexts. In this thesis we present the benefits of using task models in the various steps of the lifecycle of an interactive application. Indeed, we show how they can play an important role in the requirements elicitation phase for example, by requiring precise definition of temporal relationships between the different activities that should be performed, so avoiding any ambiguities. Furthermore, we describe how task models may be exploited in software development beyond early analysis as they can provide valuable information for the design of interactive applications through a number of criteria specifying how to use the data contained in task models to drive the design of the user interface. Additionally, we analyse how they can be used for verification purposes, in order to check some properties of the modelled system (in combination with other models), so improving the level of confidence towards the system, which can be relevant especially in safety-critical contexts. Lastly, we show the benefits that can be gained from using task models in the usability evaluation phase, through a systematic analysis of the impact that the deviations from an expected task plan could have on the quality of the overall system.

Author : Edward H. Thompson (Jr.)
Publisher : SAGE
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 41,58 MB
Release : 1994-06-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 0803950810

GET BOOK

The first comprehensive exploration on the subject of older men, Older Men's Lives offers a multidisciplinary portrait of men and their concerns in later life. Using both a life-course and gendered perspective, the contributors to this collection of original articles point out that the image and self-image of men are continuously reconstructed over the life cycle. They examine older men's position in society and the changes wrought in their status and roles over time. Their relationship with their spouses, children, grandchildren, and friends are also explored, as are policy implications of a gendered, life-cycle view of masculinity. This volume also discusses faith development in older men, masculinity identity from work to retirement, older men's sexuality, and older men's friendship patterns. Older Men's Lives will be of interest to professionals and students interested in gender, men's studies, gerontology, and sociology. "This book begins to remedy the lack of information and provides data and research on aging men. . . .The strength of this book is the specificity of its focus. By focusing solely on male concerns the book is able to identify issues in the male aging process and discuss them on their own terms rather than simply as a contrast to females." --Clinical Gerontologist

Author : Julia Cook
Publisher : Boys Town Press
Page : 35 pages
File Size : 24,72 MB
Release : 2018-01-23
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 1545721491

GET BOOK

RJ is struggling in math class and many of his assignments are missing or incomplet. With help he discovers how to stay organized so he doesn't have to do things over and over again.

Author : Tilo Strobach
Publisher : Frontiers Media SA
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 44,61 MB
Release : 2018-03-27
Category :
ISBN : 2889454533

GET BOOK

Multitasking refers to performance of multiple tasks. The most prominent types of multitasking are situations including either temporal overlap of the execution of multiple tasks (i.e., dual tasking) or executing multiple tasks in varying sequences (i.e., task switching). In the literature, numerous attempts have aimed at theorizing about the specific characteristics of executive functions that control interference between simultaneously and/or sequentially active component of task-sets in these situations. However, these approaches have been rather vague regarding explanatory concepts (e.g., task-set inhibition, preparation, shielding, capacity limitation), widely lacking theories on detailed mechanisms and/ or empirical evidence for specific subcomponents. The present research topic aims at providing a selection of contributions on the details of executive functioning in dual-task and task switching situations. The contributions specify these executive functions by focusing on (1) fractionating assumed mechanisms into constituent subcomponents, (2) their variations by age or in clinical subpopulations, and/ or (3) their plasticity as a response to practice and training.