Modern society

The utilities in our modern society are so much a part of our lives that it is hard to imagine how we survived without them. An electric power plant generates electricity to heat and light our homes in addition to providing power for the television, refrigerator, and electric toothbrush. When our homes were heated with wood fires, home-made candles were used... 

Cramer, H. E., Improved techniques for modeling the dispersion of tall stack plumes. "Proceedings of the Seventh International Technical Meeting on Air Pollution Modeling and Its Application." North Atlantic Treaty Organization Committee on Challenges of Modern Society. Pub. No. 51. Brussels, 1976. (National Technical Information Service PB-270 799.)... 

The plastics industry was launched nearly 150 years ago with the production of certain derivatives of cellulose. However, its real emergence as a growth industry of immense proportions and importance has occurred since World War II with the sustained strong growth of thermoplastics and specialty elastomers. The importance of the polymers industry in modern society is underscored by the myriad of uses already developed for these materials, with more being developed almost daily. Although there are a multitude of polymers that are derived from hydrocarbons, we will only briefly discuss the more common thermoplastics that are made from relatively simple monomers from petroleum. 

The basis of the Diels-Alder reaction developed in the twenties, and the contribution by Woodward and Hoffmann in the sixties, are two very important milestones in chemistry. Both discoveries were met with widespread interest the applications made are fundamental to modern society the tests which it has survived and the corollary predictions which have been verified are impressive. 

Reliability of electric energy supply is an important requirement in modern society, and consumers in developed countries have grown to expect electricity to be available on demand. The electric utility industry in North America and throughout the rest of the developed world is undergoing considerable change as open transmission access and consumer choice are... 

Crude oil is by far the most important resource for modern society. Approximately 450 refineries in the world convert crude oil into transportation fuels (gasoline, diesel, kerosene), lubricants and feed stocks for all sorts of chemicals. Catalysts play a key role in these processes [J.A. Moulijn, M. Makkee and A. van Diepen, Chemical Process Technology (2001), Wiley, Chichester],... 

Cancer is a major cause of premature death in modern society. In vitro and animal research indicates that tea, mainly green tea, may be effective against a wide variety of cancers. Activity has been observed in vitro at all three levels of cancer progression, namely initiation, promotion and transformation (Mitscher et al, 1997). 

The prudent disposal of large quantities of agricultural and domestic wastewaters is a major concern in our modern society. Raw wastewaters most often contain significant amounts of bioavailable organic substances such as phenols, endocrine... 

Leaded gasoline was one of the country s top ten industrial chemicals during the 1960s it accounted for 90 percent of all automobile fuel sold in the United States. As Esso ads proclaimed, there was a tiger in the tank of almost every American car. Between 1926 and 1985, more than seven million tons of lead were burned as fuel additives. In terms of sheer volume, leaded gasoline was one of the most important organic chemicals that modern society has produced. 

Sulfur Dioxide. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which are produced in modern society when coal, gas, and oil are burned in cars, power plants, and factories, react with water vapor in the air to form acids that negatively affect organic materials and even metals and stone when dissolved in airborne rainwater, the oxides of sulfur and nitrogen are the main cause of the formation of acid rain (see below). 

Kumar, K., 2004. From Post-industrial to Post-modern Society New Theories of the Contemporary World, 2nd ed. Hoboken Wiley-Blackwell. 

A further characteristic feature of the evolutionary psychology argument is to point to the relatively short period, in geological and evolutionary terms, over which Homo sapiens - and, in particular, modern society - has appeared. Forms of behaviour or social organisation which evolved adaptively over many generations in human hunter-gatherer society may or may not be adaptive in modern industrial society, but have, it is claimed, become to a degree fixed by humanity s evolutionary experience in the palaeolithic EEA. Hence, they are now relatively unmodifiable, even if dysfunctional. 

Measurements affect the daily lives of every citizen. Sound, accurate and reliable measurements, be they physical, chemical or biological, are essential to the functioning of modern society. For these reasons, advanced nations spend up to 6% of their Gross National Product (GNP) on measurements and measurement-related operations. 

In a modern society, the investment in fire safety depends on the informed risk. Reliable risk must be based on complete statistics. An important motivator of the US government s interest to address the large losses due to fire in the early 1970s was articulated in the report of the National Commission on Fire Prevention and Control (.America Burning [1]). It stated that the US annually sustained over 11 billion in lost... 

Crude oil, also referred to as petroleum, is a resource that is drilled for throughout the world. When refined and processed, crude oil provides the energy resources we have come to depend on in modern society. Crude oil provides the foundation for many products including plastics and petrochemicals in addition to the fuel for our cars and heating oil for our homes. Each day, the United States uses billions of gallons of crude oil to support our daily lives. While many forms of transportation are used to move this product to marketplaces, pipelines remain the safest, most efficient and economical way to move this natural resource. 

NATO/CCMS (North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Committee on Challenges to Modern Society) (1997). Introduction to the Themes of the Workshop. In Integration of Risk Assessment and Health Impact Assessment. Report of the Twelfth Workshop on Methodology, Focalisation, Evaluation and Scope of Environmental Impact Assessment in Reykjavik, Iceland, May 14-18, 1997. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, Committee on Challenges to Modem Society (NATO/CCMS) Pilot Study, co-ordinated by E, F. Verheyen, K. Nagels, and M. Coenen, Antwerpen University of Antwerpen, pp. 49-53... 

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