Crowdsourced backend of the Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential
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Impropriety
Debates about public (and even private) morality are curiously selective. This is often not...
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Gallstones
The presence of stones in the gall bladder is recognized by sharp pains in the abdomen that are...
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Intimidation by children
Bullying among children takes many forms: beatings, verbal abuse, teasing, damage to property,...
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Bribery
Bribery includes the offering, demanding, giving and receiving of any payments or gifts to a person... -
Erosion of journalistic immunity
Pressure to make journalists reveal their sources of information may take the form of arrest,...
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Ethnocide
A culture may be suppressed by the prohibition of the use of its language, and the destruction...
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Bank failure
Bank failures are common during severe depressions. Bank liquidity disappears, depositors who wish... -
Electronic interference
Clear reception of radio signals depends upon the ability to exclude unwanted radio frequency... -
Bad weather
Bad weather is of considerable economic significance. The construction industry (road building...
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Human-caused climate change
Anthropogenic change means human-induced change to nature of a natural system. Human activity is...
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Emotional strain
Emotional stress is indicated under conditions of anger, fear, frustration, sadness, betrayal and... -
Fatty liver syndrome
Alcohol abuse can lead to the accumulation of fat within hepatocytes, the predominant cell type in... -
Divisive effects of official cultural pluralism
Official cultural pluralism exists in countries where there are two or more indigenous cultural...
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Desecration of cemeteries
The desecration of cemeteries, as a result of intended destruction or as a casualty of war,... -
Road rage
Road rage, a term coined by the media, describes explosive outbursts of anger by frustrated...
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Cutaneous larva migrans
Migrating larvae of ascaroid nematodes (especially Ancylostoma brasiliense and A...
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Simple goitre
The causes for simple goitres are: (1) Enlargement of thyroid gland is common during puberty and 2... -
Stratospheric ozone depletion
The ozone layer is a thin layer of oxygen-related gases in the part of the atmosphere known as...
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Loss of civility
When the members of a society lose consideration for each other it may be exhibited by...
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Dutch elm disease
Dutch elm disease is a fungal plant disease. The fungus is most frequently carried from tree to... -
Pulmonary fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis means that the tissue of the lung scars and restricts the inflation of the lungs... -
Neurological rage
Rage is anger that has lost its purpose and gone out of control. It has less direction and focus... -
Risk of capital investment
The risk involved in new economic development at any level, particularly in small rural...
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Environmental pollution
Human activities inevitably and increasingly introduce material and energy into the environment...
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Candidosis
Candida albicans is a yeast that is is part of the normal flora of the vagina, lower...
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Uncontrolled dogs
Uncontrolled dogs, those with or without proper owners, may pose great threat to the bodily well...
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Blame avoidance
Benefits and shortcomings of a project do not accrue until possibly years later, well after the... -
Arterial hypertension
Arterial hypertension happens when the blood pressure in the arteries is excessive causing arterial... -
Bruxism
Bruxism is a disease thought to be mainly psychological in origin although some pathology of the... -
Memory defects
Defects of the memory can be divided into two broad types, organic and psychogenic amnesia.... -
Workers uninterested in production
Often those least interested in participation in production unit decision-making are the workers... -
Old Believers
It is a tenet of the Old Believer sect that televisions, telephones, computers and any other forms... -
Clothing waste
The fashion industry has nurtured people's desire for new clothes to the point that trends shift...
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Unreported births
Being without a certificate of birth often results in legally not existing, unable to have access... -
Excessive consumption of sugar
Sugar consumption may be a public health danger, particularly for infants and children who...
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Cardiovascular disorders
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the main causes of invalidism and premature death in...
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Viral hepatitis
Hepatitis, also known as viral or virus hepatitis, is defined as an acute inflammation of the...
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Gangrene
Gangrene means the death of tissues due to lack of blood supply. Gas gangrene is caused when...
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Polypharmacy
A new medical diagnosis is "polypharmacy." The diagnosis sometimes appears on medical charts of... -
Erysipelas
Erysipelas is a disease characterized by diffuse inflammation of the skin (redness, pain, heat...
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Incest
Incest involves sexual relations between parents and children or between siblings. Other relatives... -
Peripheral vascular disease
A narrowing or clogging of arteries in the arms or legs. -
Bronchial asthma
Bronchial asthma, named after the Greek word for breathlessness and panting, is an inflammatory... -
Threatened coral reef ecosystems
Coral reefs are under attack by enormous numbers of starfish of the variety called 'crown-of-...
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Hay fever
Rhinitis caused by an allergic reaction. This often has a seasonal component or specific inciting... -
Goitre
Any dramatic enlargement of the thyroid gland is called a goitre. Goitres are often removed because... -
Ocular allergy
A hypersensitivity of the conjunctiva (the membrane covering the white of the eyes and the inner... -
Unsustainable exploitation of fish resources
Overfishing is taking out of the sea more than natural population growth can sustain....
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Urinary tract infections
Urinary tract infections are common disorders resulting from microbial invasion of the urinary...
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Frost
Frost includes the direct crystallization of water on exposed objects and, of more importance, the... -
Global warming
A fairly small increase in average global temperature can lead to changes in rainfall patterns,...
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Ebola haemorrhagic fever
The Ebola virus spreads through close contact with blood or bodily fluids, even those of corpses...
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Forest fires
Throughout most of the world the worst enemy of the forest is considered to be fire. It has...
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Violation of rights of transsexuals
Transsexuals reject the gender assigned to them, of which they have the complete morphology and...
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Depravity
Total depravity is not only that every part of a human being is affected by sin, but that every... -
Unstable shifting agriculture
Shifting cultivation is a traditional method of cultivating tropical upland soils, used mainly for... -
Eclampsia
A hypertensive disease of pregnancy which affects one in ten women and is a major cause of maternal... -
Manufacture of substandard products
Competition for markets has led to a great increase in the rate of introduction of new designs...
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Congenital nevi
Most giant nevi are brown in color, and have an increased tendency for hair growth. The texture of... -
Abortion-related deaths of mothers
As a growing number of non-communist countries outlaw abortion, the services available for women... -
Strikebreaking
The use of intentional use of force or the threat of force to interfere with peaceful picketing by... -
Malignant neoplasm of mouth and throat
Oral cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer - half of those diagnosed die from it. It is...
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Leishmaniasis
The leishmaniases are infections involving primarily the skin, mucous membranes, and certain...
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Gonorrhoea
Gonorrhoea is an inflammatory disease affecting the mucous membrane. The infecting agent is the...
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Inappropriate tree plantations
A forest as an entity is a complex integrated, self-regulated system, very different from stands...
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Generic drugs
Generic drugs are laboratory-developed products engineered to be recreational drugs or discount... -
Abuse of banking secrecy
Banking secrecy is proverbial, especially in Switzerland, and has been the model for more recent... -
Corporal punishment in schools
Schools may condone or even encourage the physical punishment of students. Hitting a child,...
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Hostile architecture
Hostile architecture is an ostensibly new feature of the securitised urban landscape. It is used...
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Peripheral nerve injury
Nerves in any part of the body may be injured, and the injury may be accompanied by an open wound. -
Cultural fragmentation
Lack of cultural integration is the disharmony between cultural heritage and national identity. It... -
Inaccessibility of justice
Wealthy litigants are in a position to hire expensive lawyers whose experience, skill and gravitas... -
Racism
Racism and racial discrimination are in practice used in a range of overlapping ways. The...
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Lack of human organs for transplantation
The demand for transplants has outstripped the supply of hearts, livers and kidneys by so much that... -
Terrorism
Terrorism can be defined as (a) indiscriminate military violence or as (b) indiscriminate...
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Arson
Arson is the intentional burning of property, namely the dwelling house or business premises of... -
Paraphrenia
Obsolete term. -
Natural environment degradation
Natural environment degradation refers to the destruction and loss of native species and natural...
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Cruel treatment of animals for research
Biomedical research makes use of considerable numbers of animals in experiments, the majority of...
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Ineffectiveness of foreign aid
In many aid-giving countries there is a persistent suspicion that aid objectives are ill-chosen...
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Maltreatment of animals
Inhumane treatment of animals takes on various forms. Domestic and captive animals often live in...
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Ghosts
Some supernatural presence which frequents a place or attaches or periodically manifests to a... -
Fragile X syndrome
An X-linked dominant inherited disease expressing in males with the females as carriers. -
Heart disorders
Many general diseases affect the heart and can be classified according to the part of the heart...
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Urban heat islands
Heat islands in urban areas have been shown to affect weather and local climate (Hewehy 1993). -
Abuse of state immunity
There are two different legal approaches to the state immunity: restrictive, which grants immunity... -
Protein-energy malnutrition
Protein malnutrition is the result of many factors, including: a deficiency of calories in...
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Wernicke's encephalopathy
This syndrome is characterized by impaired memory, confusion and lack of coordination, caused by... -
Inefficient public administration
In the developed market countries, where the driving force of society is the private economic... -
Seasonal unemployment
A seasonal worker generally works in one to four month periods, most often in the building,... -
Disruptive migration of trained personnel
The migration of highly trained persons has caused concern among nations in recent years. This...
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Corruption and mismanagement of foreign aid
The effectiveness of foreign aid and international grants and assistance programmes is hindered...
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Gout
Gout is a type of arthritis in which uric acid crystals deposit in joints, causing sudden pain and... -
Reynaud's phenomenon
Raynaud's phenomenon is a condition that causes a loss of blood flow to the fingers, toes, nose or... -
Thysanura as insect pests
Thysanura is an order of wingless insects. A major family of this order - lepismatidae - are common... -
Unsustainable harvesting rates
Biological resources include wild organisms harvested for subsistence, commerce, or recreation (... -
Biased recall
Memories are distorted by the peak experience of any episode -- whether good or bad -- and what...
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Slashburning
Fire is used extensively in the tropics for the destruction of forests. The objectives of...
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Pulmonary embolism
Pulmonary thromboembolism (PE) is a blood clot (thrombus) in the lung. It is not a disease in and...
The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential was initiated in 1972 following a collaboration between two international non-profits, the Union of International Associations (UIA) and Mankind 2000. It is the result of an ambitious effort to collect and present information on the problems humanity is confronted with, as well as the challenges such problems pose to societies' values, development strategies and concept formation.
The online version of the resource is currently undergoing significant transformation, and the publishing model is changing in exciting new ways. The main points are:
- Whilst the above NGOs remain equal copyright holders of the data, it is becoming possible for partners to re-publish any content on presentation sites under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA)
- Content of the database is being made centrally editable at edit.ewphp.org — to allow content changes on this site to propagate to any and all presentation sites
Please feel free to get in touch if you want to know more about the project, the ongoing transformation, or if you aspire to join the volunteer team as a database editor, presentation site developer or any other skill you feel might benefit the project!
News
- March 2016: An initial version of an API that allows retrieval and licensed re-use of the data is ready at demo.ewphp.org. We are currently working with selected developers, and a first public implementation of the API is taking shape as well. News about launch of both will follow soon!
- June 2015: Read the paper and presentation "Loop Mining in the Encyclopedia of World Problems" prepared for the 17th International Futures Conference "Futures Studies Tackling Wicked Problems" in Turku, Finland, 11-12. June 2015 — www.futuresconference.fi/2015