Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative Study of Work in Living Systems

ISBN 10: 0262014122 / ISBN 13: 9780262014120

Published by Mit Pr, 2010

About this Item

A well-loved companion. Corners and cover might show a little wear, and you could find some notes or highlights. The dust jacket might be MIA, it might have been a library book and extras aren't guaranteedâ but the story's all there!

Seller Inventory # PKV.0262014122.G

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Work Meets Life: Exploring the Integrative Study of Work in Living Systems
• Publisher: Mit Pr
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0262014122
• ISBN 13: 9780262014120
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: good

About this title

Synopsis

Work as fundamental to life, explored at different levels of organization from the perspectives of a variety of biological and nonbiological disciplines.

The work performed by living systems ranges from photosynthesis to prodigious feats of computation and organization. This multidisciplinary volume explores the relationships between work and the study of work across many different levels of organization. By addressing how work gets done, and why, from the perspectives of a range of disciplines, including cell and evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychology, electrical and computer engineering, and design, the volume sets out to establish an integrative approach to the study of work.Chapters introduce the biological work of producing energy in the cell; establish inherent tradeoffs between energy and information in neural systems; relate principles of integrated circuit manufacture to work in biological systems; explore the work of photosynthesis; investigate how work shapes organisms' evolutionary niches; consider the human work of design; describe the effects of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction on work-life balance; and address the effects of environmental challenges (stress) on how humans and animals do work. Finally, editors and contributors draw these studies together and point to future developments.

Contributors
Alan Blackwell, Gillian Brown, Christina De La Rocha, Kevin Laland, Simon Laughlin, Robert Levin, Michael Lightner, Steven Maier, Joseph Rosse, Stacy Saturay

About the Author

Robert Levin is Director and Fellow of the Center for the Integrative Study of Work at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Simon Laughlin is Professor of Neurology in the Department of Zoology and a Fellow of Churchill College, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society. Christina De La Rocha is Professor in the Marine Environmental Sciences Laboratory of the European Institute for Marine Research at the Université de Bretagne Occidentale. Alan Blackwell is Reader in Interdisciplinary Design in the Computer Laboratory and a Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge.