Business professionals and consumers will learn about the challenges and opportunities facing the manufacturing world in this highly readable perspective on materials and environmental sustainability. Finalist in the 2019 San Francisco Writers Contest.

Humankind’s progress has always been driven by two momentums: the pursuit of truth and the creation of value. But our understanding of value, and our ability to reflect on its complexity, has long lagged behind our constant search for truth. This has, in turn limited our grasp of the essence of truth. This book takes philosophical contemplations on value to a new level, while also explicating some contemporary Chinese styles of philosophical thought. Over the past 25 years, this book has been having an increasing impact on Chinese readers and researchers, and it also provides a good platform for international dialogue on several key issues of philosophical studies.

Max Scheler and Nicolai Hartmann developed ethics upon a phenomenological basis. This volume demonstrates that their contributions to a material ethics of value are complementary: by supplementing the work of one with that of the other, we obtain a comprehensive and defensible axiological and moral theory. By “phenomenology,” we refer to an intuitive procedure that attempts to describe thematically the insights into essences, or the meaning-elements of judgments, that underlie and make possible our conscious awareness of a world and the evaluative judgments we make of the objects and persons we encounter in the world.

Composed of a series of essays, this book deals with the broad issues affecting the nature of architectural materials and provides a focused review of the state of the art materials. It also provides designers with the tools they need to evaluate and select from the thousands of different materials that are available to them. The book is organized into three sections; 'Time' looks at how the materials used in architectural design have changed over the years showing how we have come to use the materials we do in contemporary design. 'Materials' covers all five material families; metals, polymers, ceramics, composites and natural materials giving in depth information on their properties, behavior, origins and uses in design. It also introduces a review of the cutting edge research for each family. 'Systems' outlines the technical design-orientated research that uncovers how new architectural assemblies can be designed and engineered. All of this practical advice is given along with many real case examples illustrating how this knowledge and information has been, and can be, used in architectural design.

Our planet is a closed system with limited material resources, yet our current economic model is designed in a one-way direction from resource extraction to disposal, leading to resource depletion. This book proposes a new economic model, offering an alternative to this linear ‘take-make-waste’ economy. Material Matters shows a way of creating a circular economy by using the unlimited resources we have: renewable energy, data and intelligence. It describes a system based on circular business models centred on selling performance rather than ownership, designing products and buildings as resource banks and equipping products with a ‘material passport’ to ensure their usability for future generations. Businesses thereby become custodians of materials, rather than consumers of materials and sellers of products. The book evokes the vision of a radically new economic model based on a compelling narrative, supported with cases that have been developed in conjunction with major companies, for example, convincing Philips to sell light instead of lamps, saving energy and materials by creating a whole new business model, a case which has become iconic for the circular economy. Material Matters is not a somber analysis of the state of the planet but a concrete and comprehensive agenda for change, offering perspectives for taking action for business and individual consumers alike.

Biomass as Renewable Raw Material to Obtain Bioproducts of High-tech Value examines the use of biomass as a raw material, including terrestrial and aquatic sources to obtain extracts (e.g. polyphenols), biofuels, and/or intermediates (furfural, levulinates) through chemical and biochemical processes. The book also covers the production of natural polymers using biomass and the biosynthetic process, cellulose modified by biochemical and chemical methods, and other biochemicals that can be used in the synthesis of various pharmaceuticals. Featuring case studies, discussions of sustainability, and nanomedical, biomedical, and pharmaceutical applications, Biomass as Renewable Raw Material to Obtain Bioproducts of High-tech Value is a crucial resource for biotechnologists, biochemical engineers, biochemists, microbiologists, and research students in these areas, as well as entrepreneurs, policy makers, stakeholders, and politicians. - Reviews biomass resources and compounds with bioactive properties - Describes chemical and biochemical processes for creating biofuels from biomass - Outlines production of polysaccharides and cellulose derivatives - Features applications in the fields of medicine and pharmacy