Search results for ""author sam"

Robo Sacer engages the digital humanities, critical race theory, border studies, biopolitical theory, and necropolitical theory to interrogate how technology has been used to oppress people of Mexican descent—both within Mexico and in the United States—since the advent of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994. As the book argues, robo-sacer identity emerges as transnational flows of bodies, capital, and technology become an institutionalized state of exception that relegates people from marginalized communities to the periphery. And yet, the same technology can be utilized by the oppressed in the service of resistance. The texts studied here represent speculative stories about this technological empowerment. These texts theorize different means of techno-resistance to key realities that have emerged within Mexican and Chicano/a/x communities under the rise and reign of neoliberalism. The first three chapters deal with dehumanization, the trafficking of death, and unbalanced access to technology. The final two chapters deal with the major forms of violence—feminicide and drug-related violence—that have grown exponentially in Mexico with the rise of neoliberalism. These stories theorize the role of technology both in oppressing and in providing the subaltern with necessary tools for resistance.Robo Sacer builds on the previous studies of Sayak Valencia, Irmgard Emmelhainz, Guy Emerson, Achille Mbembe, and of course Giorgio Agamben, but it differentiates itself from them through its theorization on how technology—and particularly cyborg subjectivity—can amend the reigning biopolitical and necropolitical structures of power in potentially liberatory ways. Robo Sacer shows how the cyborg can denaturalize constructs of zoē by providing an outlet through which the oppressed can tell their stories, thus imbuing the oppressed with the power to combat imperialist forces.

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The drug discovery and development process is getting longer, more expensive, and no better. The industry suffers from the same clinical attrition and safety-related market withdrawal rates today as it did 20 years ago. Industrialization of Drug Discovery: From Target Selection Through Lead Optimization scrutinizes these problems in detail, contrasting the promise of technology and industrialization with the challenges of using the tools available to their best advantage. The book explores early successes, examines the current state of the art, and provides a strategic analysis of the issues currently facing drug discovery.Introducing the historical background and current status of the industry, the book delineates the basic tenets underlying modern drug discovery, how they have evolved, and their use in various approaches and strategies. It examines, in detail, the regulations, requirements, guidelines, and draft documents that guide so many FDA actions. The editor devotes the remainder of the discussion to industrialization, compound and knowledge management functions, the drug screening process, collaboration, and finally, ethical issues. Drawing on real-life, from-the-trenches examples, the book elucidates a new approach to drug discovery and development. This modern-day, back-to-basics approach includes three steps: understand the science, unravel the story, and then intelligently apply the technology, bringing to bear the entire armamentarium of industrialization techniques, not just automation, to the discovery process. Using these steps, you can meet the goals of more specific targets, more selective compounds, and decreased cycle times. In effect, you can look for a bigger needle in a smaller haystack. Daniel E. Levy, editor of the Drug Discovery Series, is the founder of DEL BioPharma, a consulting service for drug discovery programs. He also maintains a blog that explores organic chemistry.

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The End of the World and Other Teachable Moments follows the remarkable itinerary of Jacques Derrida’s final seminar, “The Beast and the Sovereign” (2001–3), as the explicit themes of the seminar—namely, sovereignty and the question of the animal—come to be supplemented and interrupted by questions of death, mourning, survival, the archive, and, especially, the end of the world. The book begins with Derrida’s analyses, in the first year of the seminar, of the question of the animal in the context of his other published works on the same subject. It then follows Derrida through the second year of the seminar, presented in Paris from December 2002 to March 2003, as a very different tone begins to make itself heard, one that wavers between melancholy and an extraordinary lucidity with regard to the end. Focusing the entire year on just two works, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Martin Heidegger’s seminar of 1929–30, “The Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics,” the seminar comes to be dominated by questions of the end of the world and of an originary violence that at once gives rise to and effaces all things. The End of the World and Other Teachable Moments follows Derrida as he responds from week to week to these emerging questions, as well as to important events unfolding around him, both world events—the aftermath of 9/11, the American invasion of Iraq—and more personal ones, from the death of Maurice Blanchot to intimations of his own death less than two years away. All this, the book concludes, makes this final seminar an absolutely unique work in Derrida’s corpus, one that both speaks of death as the end of the world and itself now testifies to that end—just one, though hardly the least, of its many teachable moments.

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What might the cinema tell us about how and why the prospect of cloning disturbs our most profound ideas about gender, sexuality, difference, and the body? In The Cinematic Life of the Gene, the pioneering feminist film theorist Jackie Stacey argues that as a cultural technology of imitation, cinema is uniquely situated to help us theorize “the genetic imaginary,” the constellation of fantasies that genetic engineering provokes. Since the mid-1990s there has been remarkable innovation in genetic engineering and a proliferation of films structured by anxieties about the changing meanings of biological and cultural reproduction. Bringing analyses of several of these films into dialogue with contemporary cultural theory, Stacey demonstrates how the cinema animates the tropes and enacts the fears at the heart of our genetic imaginary. She engages with film theory; queer theories of desire, embodiment, and kinship; psychoanalytic theories of subject formation; and debates about the reproducibility of the image and the shift from analog to digital technologies.Stacey examines the body-horror movies Alien: Resurrection and Species in light of Jean Baudrillard’s apocalyptic proclamations about cloning and “the hell of the same,” and she considers the art-house thrillers Gattaca and Code 46 in relation to ideas about imitation, including feminist theories of masquerade, postcolonial conceptualizations of mimicry, and queer notions of impersonation. Turning to Teknolust and Genetic Admiration, independent films by feminist directors, she extends Walter Benjamin’s theory of aura to draw an analogy between the replication of biological information and the reproducibility of the art object. Stacey suggests new ways to think about those who are not what they appear to be, the problem of determining identity in a world of artificiality, and the loss of singularity amid unchecked replication.

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The originators of classical political economy—Adam Smith, David Ricardo, James Steuart, and others—created a discourse that explained the logic, the origin, and, in many respects, the essential rightness of capitalism. But, in the great texts of that discourse, these writers downplayed a crucial requirement for capitalism’s creation: For it to succeed, peasants would have to abandon their self-sufficient lifestyle and go to work for wages in a factory. Why would they willingly do this?Clearly, they did not go willingly. As Michael Perelman shows, they were forced into the factories with the active support of the same economists who were making theoretical claims for capitalism as a self-correcting mechanism that thrived without needing government intervention. Directly contradicting the laissez-faire principles they claimed to espouse, these men advocated government policies that deprived the peasantry of the means for self-provision in order to coerce these small farmers into wage labor. To show how Adam Smith and the other classical economists appear to have deliberately obscured the nature of the control of labor and how policies attacking the economic independence of the rural peasantry were essentially conceived to foster primitive accumulation, Perelman examines diaries, letters, and the more practical writings of the classical economists. He argues that these private and practical writings reveal the real intentions and goals of classical political economy—to separate a rural peasantry from their access to land.This rereading of the history of classical political economy sheds important light on the rise of capitalism to its present state of world dominance. Historians of political economy and Marxist thought will find that this book broadens their understanding of how capitalism took hold in the industrial age.

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Judith Stacey, 2012 winner of the Simon and Gagnon Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the American Sociological Association. A leading expert on the family explores varieties of love and counters the one-size-fits-all vision of family values A leading expert on the family, Judith Stacey is known for her provocative research on mainstream issues. Finding herself impatient with increasingly calcified positions taken in the interminable wars over same-sex marriage, divorce, fatherlessness, marital fidelity, and the like, she struck out to profile unfamiliar cultures of contemporary love, marriage, and family values from around the world. Built on bracing original research that spans gay men’s intimacies and parenting in America to plural and non-marital forms of family in South Africa and China, Unhitched decouples the taken for granted relationships between love, marriage, and parenthood. Countering the one-size-fits-all vision of family values, Stacey offers readers a lively, in-person introduction to these less familiar varieties of intimacy and family and to the social, political, and economic conditions that buttress and batter them. Through compelling stories of real families navigating inescapable personal and political trade-offs between desire and domesticity, the book undermines popular convictions about family, gender, and sexuality held on the left, right, and center. Taking on prejudices of both conservatives and feminists, Unhitched poses a powerful empirical challenge to the belief that the nuclear family—whether straight or gay—is the single, best way to meet our needs for intimacy and care. Stacey calls on citizens and policy-makers to make their peace with the fact that family diversity is here to stay.

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Despite many Americans’ triumphant proclamations that Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 elections signified a post-partisan, post-racial society, it seems that the United States is more divided than ever. From the rise of the Tea Party, to strident anti-immigration and anti-welfare movements, to the so-called “war on women”, the United States on its surface appears to be caught in the turmoil of a culture war that has not relented since the Reagan era. But, as John Dombrink writes in The Twilight of Social Conservatism, the conservative backlash seen during Obama’s presidency is indicative not of a rising social conservative force in society, but of a waning one. Drawing on demographic research, political polls, contemporary media, and internet commentary, Dombrink demonstrates that the vitality of major social conservative ideas from the culture war era has faded. Support for once-divisive wedge issues, like same-sex marriage and reproductive rights, has increased dramatically, and Americans, particularly young Americans, are less religious and more libertarian than ever before. As he traces the end of the culture wars and the “unwedging” of American politics over the last eight years, Dombrink is quick to caution that social conservatism has not disappeared entirely from view. Nevertheless, the once-prominent “Moral Majority” pushing for dominance in American culture is now reconsidering itself as a minority, and Dombrink argues that it is unlikely that social conservative forces will ever regain the power and potency they once held in American politics. A comprehensive and insightful work, The Twilight of Social Conservatism deftly analyzes the liberalizing trends that created the social and political culture America has today and that portend to the culture America will have in years to come.

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What does it mean to speak for nature? Contemporary environmental critics warn that giving a voice to nonhuman nature reduces it to a mere echo of our own needs and desires; they caution that it is a perverse form of anthropocentrism. And yet nature's voice proved a powerful and durable ethical tool for premodern writers, many of whom used it to explore what it meant to be an embodied creature or to ask whether human experience is independent of the natural world in which it is forged. The history of the late medieval period can be retold as the story of how nature gained an authoritative voice only to lose it again at the onset of modernity. This distinctive voice, Kellie Robertson argues, emerged from a novel historical confluence of physics and fiction-writing. Natural philosophers and poets shared a language for talking about physical inclination, the inherent desire to pursue the good that was found in all things living and nonliving. Moreover, both natural philosophers and poets believed that representing the visible world was a problem of morality rather than mere description. Based on readings of academic commentaries and scientific treatises as well as popular allegorical poetry, Nature Speaks contends that controversy over Aristotle's natural philosophy gave birth to a philosophical poetics that sought to understand the extent to which the human will was necessarily determined by the same forces that shaped the rest of the material world. Modern disciplinary divisions have largely discouraged shared imaginative responses to this problem among the contemporary sciences and humanities. Robertson demonstrates that this earlier worldview can offer an alternative model of human-nonhuman complementarity, one premised neither on compulsory human exceptionalism nor on the simple reduction of one category to the other. Most important, Nature Speaks assesses what is gained and what is lost when nature's voice goes silent.

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Nations are made and unmade at their borders, and the forty-ninth parallel separating Montana and Alberta in the late nineteenth century was a pivotal Western site for both the United States and Canada. Blackfoot country was a key site of Canadian and American efforts to shape their nations and national identities. The region’s landscape, aboriginal people, newcomers, railroads, and ongoing cross-border ties all challenged the governments’ efforts to create, colonize, and nationalize the Alberta-Montana borderlands. The Line Which Separates makes an important and useful comparison between American and Canadian government policies and attitudes regarding race, gender, and homesteading. Federal visions of the West in general and the borderlands in particular rested on overlapping sets of assumptions about space, race, and gender; those same assumptions would be used to craft the policies that were supposed to turn national visions into local realities. The growth of a white female population in the region, which should have “whitened” and “easternized” the region, merely served to complicate emerging categories. Both governments worked hard to enforce the lines that were supposed to separate "good" land from "bad," whites from aboriginals, different groups of newcomers from each other, and women's roles from men's roles. The lines and categories they depended on were used to distinguish each West, and thus each nation, from the other. Drawing on a range of sources, from government maps and reports to oral testimony and personal papers, The Line Which Separates explores the uneven way in which the borderlands were superimposed on Blackfoot country in order to divide a previously cohesive region in the late nineteenth century.

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Who are the real campers? Through-hiking backpackers traversing the Appalachian Trail? The family in an SUV making a tour of national parks and sleeping in tents at campgrounds? People committed to the RV lifestyle who move their homes from state to state as season and whim dictate? Terence Young would say: all of the above. Camping is one of the country's most popular pastimes—tens of millions of Americans go camping every year. Whether on foot, on horseback, or in RVs, campers have been enjoying themselves for well more than a century, during which time camping’s appeal has shifted and evolved. In Heading Out, Young takes readers into nature and explores with them the history of camping in the United States.Young shows how camping progressed from an impulse among city-dwellers to seek temporary retreat from their exhausting everyday surroundings to a form of recreation so popular that an industry grew up around it to provide an endless supply of ever-lighter and more convenient gear. Young humanizes camping’s history by spotlighting key figures in its development and a sampling of the campers and the variety of their excursions. Readers will meet William H. H. Murray, who launched a craze for camping in 1869; Mary Bedell, who car camped around America for 12,000 miles in 1922; William Trent Jr., who struggled to end racial segregation in national park campgrounds before World War II; and Carolyn Patterson, who worked with the U.S. Department of State in the 1960s and 1970s to introduce foreign service personnel to the "real" America through trailer camping. These and many additional characters give readers a reason to don a headlamp, pull up a chair beside the campfire, and discover the invigorating and refreshing history of sleeping under the stars.

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Even before its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union was engaged in an ambivalent struggle to come to terms with its violent and repressive history. Following the death of Stalin in 1953, entrenched officials attempted to distance themselves from the late dictator without questioning the underlying legitimacy of the Soviet system. At the same time, the Gulag victims to society opened questions about the nature, reality, and mentality of the system that remain contentious to this day.The Gulag Survivor is the first book to examine at length and in-depth the post-camp experience of Stalin's victims and their fate in post-Soviet Russia. As such, it is an essential companion to the classic work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. Based on extensive interviews, memoirs, official records, and recently opened archives, The Gulag Survivor describes what survivors experienced when they returned to society, how officials helped or hindered them, and how issues surrounding the existence of the returnees evolved from the fifties up to the present.Adler establishes the social and historical context of the first wave of returnees who were "liberated" into exile in Stalin's time. She reviews diverse aspects of return including camp culture, family reunion, and the psychological consequences of the Gulag. Adler then focuses on the enduring belief in the Communist Party among some survivors and the association between returnees and the growing dissident movement. She concludes by examining how issues surrounding the survivors reemerged in the eighties and nineties and the impact they had on the failing Soviet system. Written and researched while Russian archives were most available and while there were still survivors to tell their stories, The Gulag Survivor is a groundbreaking and essential work in modern Russian history. It will be read by historians, political scientists, Slavic scholars, and sociologists.

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Do you suffer through the same old salads because you want to eat more veggies? Are you trying to use less processed junk when you cook but find yourself thinking, "I don't have time for that"? If you're hungry for good food and a good time in the kitchen, chef Roberto Martin has the answers,and he's here to demonstrate that cooking delicious meals with whole foods doesn't have to take a whole day.When he was personal chef to Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Roberto created basic meals that turned their favourite meaty dishes into tasty vegan feasts. Roberto's cooking continues to evolve, using fewer faux meats and more healthful, plant-based ingredients. Not only does he make seriously amazing food for others, he has a hungry family at home,so whether he's whipping up a Sunday brunch, after-school snacks, or a cozy dinner for two, the food's got to be easy, satisfying, and delicious.Based on both Roberto's Mexican-American family favourites (check out the recipes for albondigas soup and jackfruit tacos) and his classical French culinary training (cassoulet? Every day), these new recipes use simple basics (think beans, beets, and avocado) while also introducing less common but easy-to-use ingredients (celeriac? It has an amazing meaty texture). The result? Finger-licking dishes that'll please everyone from your fussy kid to your need-to-impress in-laws. With tips for outfitting your kitchen and techniques to save you time, as well as a chapter devoted to homemade staples that will truly make your cooking life easier and tastier, you'll be able to make fresh, healthy meals in a snap,big flavors, no fussin'.

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Now thoroughly revised to reflect state-of-the-art advances in the field, Botulinum Toxin in Facial Rejuvenation, 2nd Edition, covers the entire range of the use of botulinum toxin for cosmetic purposes. Dr. Kate Coleman offers practical guidance for safe handling, selection and assessment of patients, potential complications and pitfalls, and aesthetic techniques, as well as comparative modalities and long-term management. This is an ideal resource for anyone who offers this sought-after procedure, including cosmetic surgeons, oculoplastic surgeons, dermatologists, physician's assistants, and registered nurses. Features new, unique coverage of long-term management, picturing the same original patients 15 years later, as well as observations on how treatments should be adjusted as the patient gets older in order to respond to natural changes in bone density and underlying support structures. Presents new knowledge on neuromodulation and how treatment can be used to 'retrain' expressions to provide fewer frowns lines and better facial symmetry. Offers comparative information on other modalities such as laser and hyaluronic acid, as well as potential risk factors, so you can choose the best procedure for each patient. Discusses the various forms of botulinum toxin currently available on the market, with an emphasis on Botox, Xeomin, and Dysport. Uses full-color clinical photos of pre-, peri-, and post-operative results to illustrate nuances of techniques as well as the effectiveness of botulinum toxin on wrinkles and scars for the major facial areas. Provides current guidelines on treatment methods and best practices for reconstitution and storage. Discusses which patients may be at risk for adverse effects?or "worsening results"?and offers suitable alternatives. Enhanced eBook version included with purchase. Your enhanced eBook allows you to access all of the text, figures, and references from the book on a variety of devices.

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A colorful history of utilitarianism told through the lives and ideas of Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and its other founders In The Happiness Philosophers, Bart Schultz tells the colorful story of the lives and legacies of the founders of utilitarianism--one of the most influential yet misunderstood and maligned philosophies of the past two centuries. Best known for arguing that "it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong," utilitarianism was developed by the radical philosophers, critics, and social reformers William Godwin (the husband of Mary Wollstonecraft and father of Mary Shelley), Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart and Harriet Taylor Mill, and Henry Sidgwick. Together, they had a profound influence on nineteenth-century reforms, in areas ranging from law, politics, and economics to morals, education, and women's rights. Their work transformed life in ways we take for granted today. Bentham even advocated the decriminalization of same-sex acts, decades before the cause was taken up by other activists. As Bertrand Russell wrote about Bentham in the late 1920s, "There can be no doubt that nine-tenths of the people living in England in the latter part of last century were happier than they would have been if he had never lived." Yet in part because of its misleading name and the caricatures popularized by figures as varied as Dickens, Marx, and Foucault, utilitarianism is sometimes still dismissed as cold, calculating, inhuman, and simplistic. By revealing the fascinating human sides of the remarkable pioneers of utilitarianism, The Happiness Philosophers provides a richer understanding and appreciation of their philosophical and political perspectives--one that also helps explain why utilitarianism is experiencing a renaissance today and is again being used to tackle some of the world's most serious problems.

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The remarkable story of seven contemporary Russian-language poets whose experimental work anchors a thriving dissident artistic movement opposed to both Putin’s regime and Western liberalism.What does leftist art look like in the wake of state socialism? In recent years, Russian-language avant-garde poetry has been seeking the answers to this question. Marijeta Bozovic follows a constellation of poets at the center of a contemporary literary movement that is bringing radical art out of the Soviet shadow: Kirill Medvedev, Pavel Arseniev, Aleksandr Skidan, Dmitry Golynko, Roman Osminkin, Keti Chukhrov, and Galina Rymbu. While their formal experiments range widely, all share a commitment to explicitly political poetry. Each one, in turn, has become a hub in a growing new-left network across the former Second World.Joined together by their work with the Saint Petersburg–based journal [Translit], this circle has staunchly resisted the Putin regime and its mobilization of Soviet nostalgia. At the same time, the poets of Avant-Garde Post– reject Western discourse about the false promises of leftist utopianism and the superiority of the liberal world. In opposing both narratives, they draw on the legacies of historical Russian and Soviet avant-gardes as well as on an international canon of Marxist art and theory. They are also intimately connected with other artists, intellectuals, and activists around the world, collectively restoring leftist political poetry to global prominence.The avant-garde, Bozovic shows, is not a relic of the Soviet past. It is a recurrent pulse in Russophone—as well as global—literature and art. Charged by that pulse, today’s new left is reimagining class-based critique. Theirs is an ongoing, defiant effort to imagine a socialist future that is at once global and egalitarian.

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The forgotten story of a surprising anti-imperial, nationalist project at the turn of the twentieth century: a grassroots movement of Russian Jews to racialize themselves.In the rapidly nationalizing Russian Empire of the late nineteenth century, Russian Jews grew increasingly concerned about their future. Jews spoke different languages and practiced different traditions. They had complex identities and no territorial homeland. Their inability to easily conform to new standards of nationality meant a future of inevitable assimilation or second-class minority citizenship. The solution proposed by Russian Jewish intellectuals was to ground Jewish nationhood in a structure deeper than culture or territory—biology.Marina Mogilner examines three leading Russian Jewish race scientists— Samuel Weissenberg, Alexander El’kind, and Lev Shternberg—and the movement they inspired. Through networks of race scientists and political activists, Jewish medical societies, and imperial organizations like the Society for the Protection of the Health of the Jewish Population, they aimed to produce “authentic” knowledge about the Jewish body, which would motivate an empowering sense of racially grounded identity and guide national biopolitics. Activists vigorously debated eugenic and medical practices, Jews’ status as Semites, Europeans, and moderns, and whether the Jews of the Caucasus and Central Asia were inferior. The national science, and the biopolitics it generated, became a form of anticolonial resistance, and survived into the early Soviet period, influencing population policies in the new state.Comprehensive and meticulously researched, A Race for the Future reminds us of the need to historically contextualize racial ideology and politics and makes clear that we cannot fully grasp the biopolitics of the twentieth century without accounting for the imperial breakdown in which those politics thrived.

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A comprehensive account of the rise and fall of the mortgage-securitization industry, which explains the complex roots of the 2008 financial crisis.More than a decade after the 2008 financial crisis plunged the world economy into recession, we still lack an adequate explanation for why it happened. Existing accounts identify a number of culprits—financial instruments, traders, regulators, capital flows—yet fail to grasp how the various puzzle pieces came together. The key, Neil Fligstein argues, is the convergence of major US banks on an identical business model: extracting money from the securitization of mortgages. But how, and why, did this convergence come about?The Banks Did It carefully takes the reader through the development of a banking industry dependent on mortgage securitization. Fligstein documents how banks, with help from the government, created the market for mortgage securities. The largest banks—Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns, Citibank, and Washington Mutual—soon came to participate in every aspect of this market. Each firm originated mortgages, issued mortgage-backed securities, sold those securities, and, in many cases, acted as their own best customers by purchasing the same securities. Entirely reliant on the throughput of mortgages, these firms were unable to alter course even when it became clear that the market had turned on them in the mid-2000s.With the structural features of the banking industry in view, the rest of the story falls into place. Fligstein explains how the crisis was produced, where it spread, why regulators missed the warning signs, and how banks’ dependence on mortgage securitization resulted in predatory lending and securities fraud. An illuminating account of the transformation of the American financial system, The Banks Did It offers important lessons for anyone with a stake in avoiding the next crisis.

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For too long, developers have worked on disorganized application projects, where every part seemed to have its own build system, and no common repository existed for information about the state of the project. Now there's help. The long-awaited official documentation to Maven is here. Written by Maven creator Jason Van Zyl and his team at Sonatype, Maven: The Definitive Guide clearly explains how this tool can bring order to your software development projects. Maven is largely replacing Ant as the build tool of choice for large open source Java projects because, unlike Ant, Maven is also a project management tool that can run reports, generate a project website, and facilitate communication among members of a working team. To use Maven, everything you need to know is in this guide. The first part demonstrates the tool's capabilities through the development, from ideation to deployment, of several sample applications -- a simple software development project, a simple web application, a multi-module project, and a multi-module enterprise project. The second part offers a complete reference guide that includes: * The POM and Project Relationships * The Build Lifecycle * Plugins * Project website generation * Advanced site generation * Reporting * Properties * Build Profiles * The Maven Repository * Team Collaboration * Writing Plugins * IDEs such as Eclipse, IntelliJ, ands NetBeans * Using and creating assemblies * Developing with Maven Archetypes Several sources for Maven have appeared online for some time, but nothing served as an introduction and comprehensive reference guide to this tool -- until now. Maven: The Definitive Guide is the ideal book to help you manage development projects for software, web applications, and enterprise applications. And it comes straight from the source.

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Today, interpreting data is a critical decision-making factor for businesses and organizations. If your job requires you to manage and analyze all kinds of data, turn to "Head First Data Analysis", where you'll quickly learn how to collect and organize data, sort the distractions from the truth, find meaningful patterns, draw conclusions, predict the future, and present your findings to others. Whether you're a product developer researching the market viability of a new product or service, a marketing manager gauging or predicting the effectiveness of a campaign, a salesperson who needs data to support product presentations, or a lone entrepreneur responsible for all of these data-intensive functions and more, the unique approach in "Head First Data Analysis" is by far the most efficient way to learn what you need to know to convert raw data into a vital business tool. You'll learn how to: determine which data sources to use for collecting information; assess data quality and distinguish signal from noise; build basic data models to illuminate patterns, and assimilate new information into the models; cope with ambiguous information; design experiments to test hypotheses and draw conclusions; use segmentation to organize your data within discrete market groups; visualize data distributions to reveal new relationships and persuade others; predict the future with sampling and probability models; clean your data to make it useful; and, communicate the results of your analysis to your audience. Using the latest research in cognitive science and learning theory to craft a multi-sensory learning experience, "Head First Data Analysis" uses a visually rich format designed for the way your brain works, not a text-heavy approach that puts you to sleep.

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This is the second part of a major theoretical work by Patrik Schumacher, which outlines how the discipline of architecture should be understood as its own distinct system of communication. Autopoeisis comes from the Greek and means literally self-production; it was first adopted in biology in the 1970s to describe the essential characteristics of life as a circular self-organizing system and has since been transposed into a theory of social systems. This new approach offers architecture an arsenal of general comparative concepts. It allows architecture to be understood as a distinct discipline, which can be analyzed in elaborate detail while at the same time offering insightful comparisons with other subject areas, such as art, science and political discourse. On the basis of such comparisons the book insists on the necessity of disciplinary autonomy and argues for a sharp demarcation of design from both art and engineering. Schumacher accordingly argues controversially that design as a discipline has its own sui generis intelligence – with its own internal logic, reach and limitations. Whereas the first volume provides the theoretical groundwork for Schumacher’s ideas – focusing on architecture as an autopoeitic system, with its own theory, history, medium and its unique societal function – the second volume addresses the specific, contemporary challenges and tasks that architecture faces. It formulates these tasks, looking specifically at how architecture is seeking to organize and articulate the complexity of post-fordist network society. The volume explicitly addresses how current architecture can upgrade its design methodology in the face of an increasingly demanding task environment, characterized by both complexity and novelty. Architecture’s specific role within contemporary society is explained and its relationship to politics is clarified. Finally, the new, global style of Parametricism is introduced and theoretically grounded.

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Through six highly regarded editions, students and instructors alike have come to appreciate Dr. Linda Costanzo's clear, helpful writing style, logical organization, and easy-to-follow presentation of a challenging and complex topic in medical education. Costanzo Physiology, 7th Edition, retains the step-by-step, to-the-point approach that makes this text ideal for coursework and USMLE preparation. Complex concepts are presented in a simple, easy-to-digest manner, and are accompanied by well-designed figures and tables that provide handy visuals for procedures or physiologic equations. Fully updated throughout, this edition remains the students' choice for concise, clear instruction and a strong foundation in human physiology. Offers a comprehensive and consistent overview of core physiologic concepts at the organ system and cellular levels, making complex principles easy to understand. Presents information in a short, simple, and focused manner - the perfect presentation for success in coursework and on exams. Provides step-by-step explanations and easy-to-follow diagrams clearly depicting physiologic principles. Contains new coverage of SARS CoV-2 physiology, renal handling of uric acid, delta/delta analysis is acid-base physiology, endolymph physiology, respiratory distress syndrome, compensatory bronchiolar constriction, and more. Includes high-yield online features such as student FAQs with thorough explanations, animations, and video tutorials from Dr. Costanzo. Integrates equations and sample problems throughout the text. Features chapter summaries for quick overviews of important points, boxed Clinical Physiology Cases for a more thorough understanding of application, and end-of-chapter questions to reinforce understanding and retention. Enhanced eBook version included with purchase. Your enhanced eBook allows you to access all of the text, figures, and references from the book on a variety of devices.

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In this brilliant study, Thomas Pfau argues that the loss of foundational concepts in classical and medieval Aristotelian philosophy caused a fateful separation between reason and will in European thought. Pfau traces the evolution and eventual deterioration of key concepts of human agency—will, person, judgment, action—from antiquity through Scholasticism and on to eighteenth-century moral theory and its critical revision in the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Featuring extended critical discussions of Aristotle, Gnosticism, Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham, Hobbes, Shaftesbury, Mandeville, Hutcheson, Hume, Adam Smith, and Coleridge, this study contends that the humanistic concepts these writers seek to elucidate acquire meaning and significance only inasmuch as we are prepared positively to engage (rather than historicize) their previous usages. Beginning with the rise of theological (and, eventually, secular) voluntarism, modern thought appears increasingly reluctant and, in time, unable to engage the deep history of its own underlying conceptions, thus leaving our understanding of the nature and function of humanistic inquiry increasingly frayed and incoherent. One consequence of this shift is to leave the moral self-expression of intellectual elites and ordinary citizens alike stunted, which in turn has fueled the widespread notion that moral and ethical concerns are but a special branch of inquiry largely determined by opinion rather than dialogical reasoning, judgment, and practice. A clear sign of this regression is the present crisis in the study of the humanities, whose role is overwhelmingly conceived (and negatively appraised) in terms of scientific theories, methods, and objectives. The ultimate casualty of this reductionism has been the very idea of personhood and the disappearance of an adequate ethical language. Minding the Modern is not merely a chapter in the history of ideas; it is a thorough phenomenological and metaphysical study of the roots of today's predicaments.

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In this brilliant study, Thomas Pfau argues that the loss of foundational concepts in classical and medieval Aristotelian philosophy caused a fateful separation between reason and will in European thought. Pfau traces the evolution and eventual deterioration of key concepts of human agency—will, person, judgment, action—from antiquity through Scholasticism and on to eighteenth-century moral theory and its critical revision in the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Featuring extended critical discussions of Aristotle, Gnosticism, Augustine, Aquinas, Ockham, Hobbes, Shaftesbury, Mandeville, Hutcheson, Hume, Adam Smith, and Coleridge, this study contends that the humanistic concepts these writers seek to elucidate acquire meaning and significance only inasmuch as we are prepared positively to engage (rather than historicize) their previous usages. Beginning with the rise of theological (and, eventually, secular) voluntarism, modern thought appears increasingly reluctant and, in time, unable to engage the deep history of its own underlying conceptions, thus leaving our understanding of the nature and function of humanistic inquiry increasingly frayed and incoherent. One consequence of this shift is to leave the moral self-expression of intellectual elites and ordinary citizens alike stunted, which in turn has fueled the widespread notion that moral and ethical concerns are but a special branch of inquiry largely determined by opinion rather than dialogical reasoning, judgment, and practice. A clear sign of this regression is the present crisis in the study of the humanities, whose role is overwhelmingly conceived (and negatively appraised) in terms of scientific theories, methods, and objectives. The ultimate casualty of this reductionism has been the very idea of personhood and the disappearance of an adequate ethical language. Minding the Modern is not merely a chapter in the history of ideas; it is a thorough phenomenological and metaphysical study of the roots of today's predicaments.

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Beginning in the late eighteenth century, Europeans embarked on a new way of classifying the world, devising genealogies that determined degrees of relatedness by tracing heritage through common ancestry. This methodology organized historical systems into family trees, transforming the closest contemporaneous terms on trees of languages, religions, races, nations, species, or individuals into siblings. Encompassing political fraternity, sister languages, racial discourse on brotherhood, evolutionary sibling species, and intense, often incestuously inclined brother-sister bonds in literature, siblinghood stands out as a ubiquitous-yet unacknowledged-conceptual touchstone across the European long nineteenth century. In all such systems the sibling term, not-quite-same and not-quite-other, serves as an active fault line, necessary for and yet continuously destabilizing definition and classification. In her provocative book, Stefani Engelstein explores the pervasive significance of sibling structures and their essential role in the modern organization of knowledge and identity. Sibling Action argues that this relational paradigm came to structure the modern subject, life sciences, human sciences, and collective identities such as race, religion, and gender. Engelstein considers theoretical constructions of subjectivity through Sophocles' Antigone; fraternal equality and its exclusion of sisters in political rhetoric; the intertwining of economic and kinship theory by Friedrich Engels and Claude Levi-Strauss; Darwin and his contemporaries' accounts of speciation; anthropological and philological depictions of Muslims and Jews at the margins of Europe; and evolutionary psychology's theorizing around the incest taboo. Integrating close readings across the disciplines with panoramic intellectual history and arresting literary interpretations, Sibling Action presents a compelling new understanding of systems of knowledge and provides the foundation for less confrontational formulations of belonging, identity, and agency.

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Channeling the emotional intensity of Susan Minot and Amy Bloom-and infused with a witty, dream-like surrealism reminiscent of Margaret Atwood-this mesmerizing debut takes us inside the unsettling world of Margaret Lydia Benning, which turns upside down when she falls in love...and then unravels before our eyes. "What I have to tell Ben is just this. At last I am certain. All the signs, all the dreams are in. And I know now I have made a terrible mistake. I was wrong, it turns out, about us." Margaret Lydia Benning lives adrift in the same Midwest town where she went to college. By day, she works at a low-level job for the Project, a university-sponsored educational publisher housed in a former sanatorium. There she shares the fourth floor with a squadron of eccentric editors and a resident ghost from the screamers' wing. At night, Margaret returns to her small house on Mott Street, resigned to the disturbing overtures of her strange neighbor, Mrs. Eberline. Emotionally sleepwalking through the days is no way to lead a life. But then Margaret meets Ben Adams, a visiting professor of art at the university. Despite the odds-and their best intentions-Margaret and her professor become lovers, and she glimpses a future she had never before imagined. For the first time, she has hope...until Ben inexplicably vanishes. In the wake of his disappearance, Margaret sets out to find him. Her journey will force her to question everything she believes to be true. Told through intertwined perspectives, by turns incandescent and haunting, Some Other Town is an unforgettable tale, with a heart-breaking twist, of one woman's awakening to her own possibility-and her ability to love, and love well.

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‘An unimaginably suspenseful thriller, with twist after twist’ Heat ‘A gripping thriller . . . Highly recommended’ C.S. Green Don’t miss R.M. Ward’s latest thriller, THE GIRL WHO VANISHED She should have been safe…But she never came home. Kath has lived on the same London estate for decades. Lately she’s become friendly with the little girl next door, who is often left alone for hours at a time while her mum is at work. They have a system. When Mina gets home from school to the empty flat, she knocks on the wall three times. Knock, knock, knock. I’m home safe and sound. But one day Mina’s knock doesn’t come. Kath raises the alarm and the police begin the search. Kath was the only person looking out for Mina – now she might be the only one who can bring her home. Unputdownable psychological suspense for fans of K.L. Slater, Shalini Boland and Louise Jensen. Readers are GRIPPED by Safe With You ‘I thought I knew what the outcome was going to be I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is an exceptional thriller’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘I could not put it down until I finished the last page!!! Original storyline, lots of intrigue, twists, and turns (I could not guess the ending). I devoured this.‘ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Twisty and unpredictable this book was gripping and let me on the edge of my seat. I couldn't put it down.’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A gripping, unputdownable read that I devoured in a single afternoon’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘Totally gripping suspense with lots of twists and turns truly enjoyed totally recommend’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘So many unexpected and explosive twists and stunning cliff hangers kept me glued to these pages. I sped through it unable to put it down’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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The City of London was always going to be an obvious target for German bombers during the Second World War. What better way for Nazi Germany to spread fear and panic amongst the British people than by attacking their capital city?Although not vastly populated in the same way that a bigger city or larger town would be, there were still enough people working there during the day for attacks on it to take their toll. The city's ancient and iconic buildings also bore the brunt of the German bombs, including churches designed by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire in 1666. The book looks at the effects of war on the City of London, including the damage caused by the 8 months of the Blitz between September 1940 and May 1941. The most devastating of the raids took place on 29 December 1940, with both incendiary and explosive bombs causing a firestorm so intense it was known as the Second Great Fire of London. It also looks at the bravery of the staff at St Bart's Hospital, which was one of the medical facilities that remained open during the course of the war. Other stories include the sterling work carried out by the City's civilian population and the different voluntary roles that they performed to help keep the city safe, including the Home Guard and the Fire Watchers, who spent their nights on the city's rooftops looking out for incendiary devices dropped by the German Luftwaffe. Despite the damage to its buildings and its population, by the end of the war the City of London was able to rise, like a phoenix, from the flames of destruction, ready to become the vibrant and flourishing borough that it is today.

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Poole is the second largest natural harbour in the world and the largest in Europe, resulting in a trading history which dates back to Roman times. In the Middle Ages, commodities for export, particularly wool, were funnelled into Poole and it became a place where merchants could dock, store their goods and display their wares. The port grew in importance during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the boom years of trade with Newfoundland, but suffered from an economic slump throughout most of the nineteenth century and into the 1920s and ’30s. However, in the decades after the Second World War, many major national companies were attracted to the town, resulting in 10,000 more homes being built in Poole between 1946 and 1966. A major slum clearance scheme also took place during the same period, as over 1,000 condemned homes were demolished, many in the labyrinth of narrow backstreets and alleyways leading from the Eastern Quay into the Old Town. Poole is still a working port, particularly on the Hamworthy side, where Sunseeker yachts off the production line can be seen adjacent to industrial cargo ships moored nearby and the ferry terminal. On the Poole side, the Fishermen’s Dock nestles incongruously adjacent to a yachting marina. The Quay and Old Town has preserved many cobbled streets and alleyways containing historic buildings, some dating back to the fourteenth century, once a haunt of Newfoundland merchants, pirates, smugglers and press gangs. This fascinating A–Z tour of Poole, its interesting people, places and historic events, is fully illustrated with photography and will appeal to all those with an interest in this Dorset coastal town.

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Mark Twain's great American masterpiece, in a gorgeous new clothbound edition designed by the award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These delectable and collectible Penguin editions are bound in high-quality colourful, tactile cloth with foil stamped into the designMark Twain's tale of a boy's picaresque journey down the Mississippi on a raft conveyed the voice and experience of the American frontier as no other work had done before. When Huck escapes from his drunken father and the 'sivilizing' Widow Douglas with the runaway slave Jim, he embarks on a series of adventures that draw him to feuding families and the trickery of the unscrupulous 'Duke' and 'Dauphin'. Beneath the exploits, however, are more serious undercurrents - of slavery, adult control and, above all, of Huck's struggle between his instinctive goodness and the corrupt values of society, which threaten his deep and enduring friendship with Jim.Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens on 30th November 1835, in Florida, Missouri. In 1853 he left home, earning a living as an itinerant type-setter, and four years later became an apprentice pilot on the Mississippi, a career cut short by the outbreak of the Civil War. For five years, as a prospector and a journalist, Clemens lived in Nevada and California. In February 1863 he first used the pseudonym 'Mark Twain' as the signature to a humorous travel letter. A trip to Europe and the Holy Land in 1867 became the basis of his first major book, The Innocents Abroad (1869). His numerous subsequent books include The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), A Tramp Aborad (1880), The Prince and the Pauper (1882), and his masterpiece, The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin (1885). Twain died on 21st April 1910.'The best book we've had' - Ernest Hemingway

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The Great Houses of the prehistoric and early medieval periods were enormous structures whose forms were modelled on those of domestic dwellings. Most were built of wood rather than stone; they were used over comparatively short periods; they were frequently replaced in the same positions; and some were associated with exceptional groups of artefacts. Their construction made considerable demands on human labour and approached the limits of what was possible at the time. They seem to have played specialised roles in ancient society, but they have been difficult to interpret. Were they public buildings or the dwellings of important people? Were they temples or military bases, and why were they erected during times of crisis or change? How were their sites selected, and how were they related to the remains of a more ancient past? Although their currency extended from the time of the first farmers to the Viking Age, the similarities between the Great Houses are as striking as the differences.This study focuses on the monumental buildings of northern and northwestern Europe, but draws on structures over a wide area, extending from Anatolia as far as Brittany and Norway. It employs ethnography as a source of ideas and discusses the concept of the House Society and its usefulness in archaeology. The main examples are taken from the Neolithic and Iron Age periods, but this account also draws on the archaeology of the first millennium AD. The book emphasises the importance of comparing archaeological sequences with one another rather than identifying ideal social types. In doing so, it features a range of famous and less famous sites, from Stonehenge to the Hill of Tara, and from Old Uppsala to Yeavering.

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A no-nonsense study guide helping seafarers to pass their MCA or Flag State oral exams for Deck Officer qualifications. This handy revision guide is the one book that Deck Officer Cadets, Master and Deck Officers will want by their side when studying for the much-feared oral exams. Expert marine training director Simon Jinks strips back the masses of information to the core essential points that are easy to absorb and quick to remember when it comes to the oral assessment. The MCA Deck Officer (Officer of the Watch, Chief Mate and Master) syllabi cover a vast amount of information that candidates are required to understand and use in their oral exam, which for many presents a major stumbling block to qualification. While it inevitably takes a long time for candidates to build up this wealth of knowledge, this study aid is the perfect refresher, listing the key points and including helpful sample questions and worked examples on tidal working, radar plotting and more. Written in simple terms, this trusted crammer covers all the principal areas of the MCA’s exam syllabus, including sections on business and law conventions, pollution prevention, responses to emergencies and distress signals. Clearly presented, it is packed with straightforward diagrams and flow charts, making it ideal for revising. This is an invaluable reference for all international STCW Deck Officer candidates, and covers both MCA and Flag State oral exams. It is also suitable for Near Coastal and Boatmaster apprentices, Workboat crew apprentices, Yachtmaster Offshores, Yachtmaster instructors, and fishermen going for their fishing licences on larger vessels, and for shore workers such as vessel superintendents, maritime managers and trainers. There is specific information for all vessels, with sections on smaller, code and domestic vessels.

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Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time'Incredibly enjoyable and will deliver its kicks again and again' 5***** Reader Review'You can always depend on Dick Francis for an engrossing adventure' 5***** Reader Review'Edge-of-seat stuff, a real page turner' 5***** Reader Review______Daniel Roke owns a stud farm in Australia. He's young, smart, hard-working and desperate for some excitement - all of which makes him the ideal candidate for the Earl of October, who has come visiting. The Earl is concerned about a horse-doping scandal that is destroying English racing. He wants to pay Daniel to come back with him, pose as a highly corruptible stable lad and discover who is behind it. But when Daniel agrees, he doesn't realise just how close he'll have to get to find the truth.Nor how determined the criminals will be to prevent him living long enough to tell anyone . . .Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, For Kicks is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.Praise for Dick Francis:'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard'Still the master' Racing Post

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'There are few problems that are insurmountable. If something is broken more often than not it can be repaired. A can-do attitude is essential, or at least a willingness to have a go.' So writes award-winning silversmith and BBC television personality Brenton West in his introduction to this, his first book. Brimming with in-depth technical information on tools, techniques and metals, Brenton explains how to diagnose the problem, apply the repair, and make good almost any precious items. Aimed at anyone who wants to learn the skills necessary to fix, repair or improve household items – whether for sentimental reasons or to turn a profit – the book covers more than a dozen common case studies for you to follow. Ranging from simple to more complex repairs, Brenton tackles re-plating silver, correctly securing metal to glass, polishing, soldering, re-finishing and more on a variety of antique items including table lamps, inkwells, cocktail shakers and hand mirrors. The case studies are fully illustrated so you can see what's happening at each stage, while handy boxes expand on the specific example, giving Brenton's expert advice on how to apply the skills learned to your own particular repairs. After all, no two objects break in quite the same way: the book will teach you how to adapt. Dotted throughout are Brenton's own hard-won secret tips and techniques, so you can share and benefit from his experience. Brenton talks you through how different metals and materials can be properly identified and safely repaired. The book also includes information on hallmarking, allowing you to assess those second-hand finds accurately. Finally, an extensive tool directory and techniques section give no-nonsense and in-depth advice on the best tools for the job.

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“A delicious and mouthwatering book about food and family, the complicated love for both, and how that shapes us into who we are . . . I absolutely loved it!” —Valerie BertinelliRabia Chaudry—known from the podcast Serial and her bestselling book, Adnan’s Story, as well as her own wildly popular podcast, Undisclosed—serves up a candid and intimate memoir about food, body image, and growing up in a tight knit but sometimes overly concerned Pakistani immigrant family. “My entire life I have been less fat and more fat, but never not fat.” Rabia Chaudry was raised with a lot of love—and that love looked like food. Delicious Pakistani dishes—fresh roti, chaat, pakoras, and shorba—and also Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen, and an abundance of American processed foods, as her family discovered its adopted country through its (fast) food. At the same time, her family was becoming increasingly alarmed about their chubby daughter’s future. Most important, how would she ever get married? In Fatty Fatty Boom Boom, Chaudry chronicles the dozens of times she tried and failed to achieve what she was told was her ideal weight. The truth is, though, she always loved food too much to hold a grudge against it. At once an ode to Pakistani cuisine, including Chaudry’s favorite recipes; a love letter to her Muslim family both here and in Lahore; and a courageously honest portrait of a woman grappling with a body that gets the job done but refuses to meet the expectations of others. For anyone who has ever been weighed down by their weight— whatever it is—Chaudry shows us how freeing it is to finally make peace with body we have.

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Finalist, ABA Silver Gavel Award for BooksThe New York Times bestseller that has cemented Elie Mystal’s reputation as one of our sharpest and most acerbic legal minds“After reading Allow Me to Retort, I want Elie Mystal to explain everything I don’t understand—quantum astrophysics, the infield fly rule, why people think Bob Dylan is a good singer . . .” —Michael Harriot, The RootAllow Me to Retort is an easily digestible argument about what rights we have, what rights Republicans are trying to take away, and how to stop them. Mystal explains how to protect the rights of women and people of color instead of cowering to the absolutism of gun owners and bigots. He explains the legal way to stop everything from police brutality to political gerrymandering, just by changing a few judges and justices. He strips out all of the fancy jargon conservatives like to hide behind and lays bare the truth of their project to keep America forever tethered to its slaveholding past.Mystal brings his trademark humor, expertise, and rhetorical flair to explain concepts like substantive due process and the right for the LGBTQ community to buy a cake, and to arm readers with the knowledge to defend themselves against conservatives who want everybody to live under the yoke of eighteenth-century white men. The same tactics Mystal uses to defend the idea of a fair and equal society on MSNBC and CNN are in this book, for anybody who wants to deploy them on social media. You don’t need to be a legal scholar to understand your own rights. You don’t need to accept the “whites only” theory of equality pushed by conservative judges. You can read this book to understand that the Constitution is trash, but doesn’t have to be.

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In nature, green polymers (natural polymers) in plants and animals always coexist with water. The characteristic features of polymers organized in nature are difficult to understand without water. Specific features of green polymers are characterised via interaction with water molecules which strongly interact with the hydrophilic group of polymers. Molecular motion of the main chain of polysaccharides, whether extracted from wood, fungi, seaweed, or bacteria, is considerably enhanced in the presence of water. Not only in crystalline polysaccharides but also amorphous lignin, the effect of water on molecular motion is clearly observed by various experimental techniques. When the molecular motion of green polymers is investigated in the presence of water, molecular rearrangement occurs by the introduction of water into the system, and the higher-order structure is rearranged during molecular movement by heating conditions. Phase transition behaviour of water molecules is also affected in the presence of hydrophilic polymers, such as polysaccharides. Molecular enhancement of water molecules and hydrophilic polymers cooperate with each other and phase transition behaviour of the above system also corresponds to the above motion. Even the first-order phase transition of water is affected in the presence of polysaccharides. When glass transition behaviour of the natural polymer-water system is investigated, it is important to take into consideration the fact that the structural change of both components has necessarily taken place. In this book, the molecular relaxation of green polymers, especially the thermodynamic concept of green polymers and the bound water, will be described in Chapter 2. Various techniques to measure the glass transition of green polymers in dry and wet conditions are explained in Chapter 3. Special attention is paid to sample handling for controlling water content. Glass transition behaviour of various polysaccharides and model compounds is described in Chapter 4. An explanation of lignin and its synthetic model polymers is also given in Chapter 5.

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The Internet of Things (IoT) opens the door for new business opportunities and helps companies benefit from new revenue streams developed by advanced business models and services. IoT-driven innovations build strong business cases, reduce marketing times and increase returns on investments. IoT has the potential to transform the way consumers and businesses approach the world by leveraging the scope of IoT beyond connectivity. Economies are constantly "falling out" in every industry, but to be truly disruptive, an economy must entirely transform a product or solution that was so complicated historically that only a few affluent people who carry certain skills had access to it. A disruptive economy is often a much simpler, low-grade solution that's more affordable and accessible to a large percentage of the population, thus opening it to an entirely fresh market. This often upturns established industries and overthrows existing market leaders. Internet of Things and Businesses in a Disruptive Economy provides insight on how the newly emerging IoT will provide unprecedented opportunities to permeate technology and automation into everything we do, while at the same time providing a huge playing field for businesses to develop state-of-the-art business models to capture market shares. This book covers business domains like human resource management, health care, agriculture, smart cities projects, smart manufacturing, smart education, cloud computing, and IoT securities issues. Readers will gain a broad understanding of IoT wherever IoT is applicable, as well as the role IoT plays in transforming business processes and ensuring sustainable growth in the disruptive economic environment. Readers will be able to use IoT to tackle real-world problems ranging from those in the manufacturing sector, human resource management, health care, agriculture, surveillances systems, cloud computing and smart cities and various other domains of business.

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Douglas Glover's collection of stories mezmerizes like no other. A sheer tour-de-force, the collection features eleven new stories that demonstrate that Glover is capable of writing like no other writer. Like a good Beatles album, the collection includes Glover's best new stories, linked only by the quality of the writing. The stories are wide ranging examples of fine, often comic, writing."The Left Ladies Club" is about a man who leaves teaching to become a writer, giving himself licence to live the bohemian life. In Glover's merciless portrayal, the Ragged Point literary scene consists of the sorriest bunch of excuse-mongering losers you'll ever encounter.In "La Corriveau" (ref: the Siren of Quebec who murdered her husband and was later hanged in an iron cage above a crossroads), an Anglo woman awakens to find a dead man (presumably a francophone) in her bed. In a hilarious turn-of-events, the female narrator, who cannot at first even remember the man's name nor how they happened to share the same bed, conceives of ways to hide the body in plain sight, while narrating the political implications of her circumstances interplayed with details from popular culture and Quebec history. In "Lunar Sensitivities," a mathematician and a scientist compete for the attention of a beautiful woman; in "Abrupt Extinctions at the End of the Cretaceous," dinosaurs compete for love and life. In both stories, love does everything but triumph. Ranging over time from pre-history to the present, from the American South to the Canadian North, Douglas Glover maps the heart in all its passion, valour, ineptitude, and vulnerability. Occasionally scabrous, horrifically funny, intermittently appalling, and wildly erotic, the stories in this collection bring to life a world in time, irony and desire prevail.

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This is the story of the Reeves Collection of botanical paintings, the result of one man's single-minded dedication to commissioning pictures and gathering plants for the Horticultural Society of London. Reeves went to China in 1812 and immediately on arrival started sending back snippets of information about manufactures, plants and poetry, goods, gods and tea to Sir Joseph Banks. Slightly later, he also started collecting for the Society but despite years of work collecting, labelling and packing plants and organising a team of Chinese artists until he left China in 1831, Reeves never enjoyed the same degree of recognition as other naturalists in China. This was possibly because he had a demanding job as a tea inspector. Reeves himself never claimed to be a professional naturalist and the plant collecting and painting supervision were undertaken in his own time. Furthermore, fan qui (foreign devils) were restricted to the port area of Canton and to Macau, so that plant-hunting expeditions further afield were impossible. Furthermore, Reeves never published an account of his life in the country, unlike Clarke Abel and Robert Fortune, but he left us some letters, notebooks, drawings and maps. The Collection is held at the Royal Horticultural Society's Lindley Library in Vincent Square, London. It is a magnificent achievement. Not only are the pictures accurate and richly coloured plant portraits of plants then unknown in the West, but they stand as a record of plants being cultivated in nineteenth-century Canton and Macau. In John Reeves: Pioneering Collector of Chinese Plants and Botanical Art, Kate Bailey reveals John Reeves' life as an East India Company tea inspector in nineteenth-century China and shows how he managed to collect and document thousands of Chinese natural history drawings, far more than anyone else at the time.

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THRILLERS THAT RACE FROM THE VERY FIRST PAGE . . .'Felix Francis' novels gallop along splendidly' Jilly Cooper‘From winning post to top of the bestseller lists’ Sunday Times An old friend in need, a dangerous conspiracy – a new case for Sid Halley… Sid Halley, former British jump racing champion and private detective, is not having a good time. His wife Marina has decided she needs some time out of their marriage to think about the future and Sid is devastated. But then Gary Bremner, an ex-jockey trainer, calls him to ask for his help – he is being threatened by someone in the racing world and he needs a friend he can trust. However, the very next morning, Gary’s stable yard is torched, horses killed, and Gary has disappeared. Determined to uncover the truth and to help his friend, Sid starts to investigate. He soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that cuts to the very heart of the integrity of British horse racing, and then danger comes closer to home than ever. Can Sid get to the bottom of what’s going on before he too becomes a victim, while, at the same time, saving his marriage? Praise for Felix Francis's novels‘As usual with a Francis, once I opened the book, I didn’t want to put it down… Felix’s resolution is darker and more shocking than his father would ever have contemplated, but reflects grittier times and changing tastes in fiction’ Country Life‘He has become his own man as a purveyor of murder mysteries' The Racing Post'The Francis flair is clear for all to see' Daily Mail'From winning post to top of the bestseller list, time after time' Sunday Times'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life'A tremendous read' Woman's Own

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The third installment of Scott Westerfeld's New York Times bestselling and award-winning Uglies series - a global phenomenon that started the dystopian trend. Tally thought they were a rumor, but now she's one of them. A Special. A super-amped fighting machine, engineered to keep the uglies down and the pretties stupid. But maybe being perfectly programmed with strength and focus isn't better than anything she's ever known. Tally still has memories of something else. Still, it's easy to tune that out - until she's offered a chance to stamp out the rebels of the New Smoke permanently. It all comes down to one last choice: listen to that tiny, faint heartbeat, or carry out the mission she's programmed to complete. Either way, Tally's world will never be the same.Praise for Uglies‘Fast paced, exciting and thought-provoking.’ The Bookseller's Choice ‘Superb sci-fi.’ Amanda Craig, The Times Supplement ‘Westerfeld introduces thought-provoking issues’ Publishers Weekly‘The longing for fairy-tale beauty has never looked so sinister’ Amanda Craig, The Times ‘With a beginning and ending that pack hefty punches, this introduction to a dystopic future promises an exciting series.’ Kirkus *starred review* ‘This exciting story makes you realise how important it is not to judge people by appearances.’ Newcastle Upon Tyne Journal ‘This book is a real thrill-ride and the world utterly convincing.’ Trashionista.com 'Fun, and the many by-the-skin-of-your-teeth escapes and hoverboard chases, plus the non-stop action plotting were enough to catch my attention and have me eagerly wanting more.’ The Book Smugglers Also by Scott Westerfeld:Uglies Pretties Extras

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Rodney Stark's provocative new book argues that, whether we like it or not, people acting for the glory of God have formed our modern culture. Continuing his project of identifying the widespread consequences of monotheism, Stark shows that the Christian conception of God resulted--almost inevitably and for the same reasons--in the Protestant Reformation, the rise of modern science, the European witch-hunts, and the Western abolition of slavery. In the process, he explains why Christian and Islamic images of God yielded such different cultural results, leading Christians but not Muslims to foster science, burn "witches," and denounce slavery. With his usual clarity and skepticism toward the received wisdom, Stark finds the origins of these disparate phenomena within monotheistic religious organizations. Endemic in such organizations are pressures to maintain religious intensity, which lead to intense conflicts and schisms that have far-reaching social results. Along the way, Stark debunks many commonly accepted ideas. He interprets the sixteenth-century flowering of science not as a sudden revolution that burst religious barriers, but as the normal, gradual, and direct outgrowth of medieval theology. He also shows that the very ideas about God that sustained the rise of science led also to intense witch-hunting by otherwise clear-headed Europeans, including some celebrated scientists. This conception of God likewise yielded the Christian denunciation of slavery as an abomination--and some of the fiercest witch-hunters were devoted participants in successful abolitionist movements on both sides of the Atlantic. For the Glory of God is an engrossing narrative that accounts for the very different histories of the Christian and Muslim worlds. It fundamentally changes our understanding of religion's role in history and the forces behind much of what we point to as secular progress.

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THE SUNDAY TIMES NO.1 BESTSELLEREscape into a world of magic and danger with THE DARK STAR TRILOGY. Drawing on a rich tradition of African mythology, fantasy and history, this is the story of a lost child, an extraordinary hunter, and a mystery with many answers . . .*Perfect for fans of Pratchett, George R. R. Martin and Octavia Butler*'The kind of novel I never realized I was missing until I read it. A dangerous, hallucinatory, ancient Africa, which becomes a fantasy world as well-realized as anything Tolkien made' Neil Gaiman*****Tracker is a hunter. Known throughout the thirteen kingdoms as one who has a nose, he always works alone. But he breaks his own rule when, hired to find a lost child, he finds himself part of a group of hunters, each stranger and more dangerous than the last.As the mismatched gang follow the boy's scent from perfumed citadels to enchanted darklands, Tracker starts to wonder:Who really is this mysterious boy? Why do so many people want to stop him from being found? And, most important of all, who is telling the truth and who is lying?Marlon James weaves a breathtaking tapestry - at once ancient and startlingly modern - exploring the fundamentals of truth, limits of power, excesses of ambition, and our need to understand them all.Chronicling the same events but telling a very different story - who will you believe? Read THE DARK STAR TRILOGY in any order! Book two, MOON WITCH, SPIDER KING, is available now.*****'Complex, lyrical, moving and furiously gripping . . . This new book will propel James into a new galaxy of literary stardom' Observer'A game-changing modern fantasy classic' Financial Times'James has thrown African cultures, mythologies, religions, histories, world-views and topographies into the mighty cauldron of his imagination to create a work of literary magic' New Statesman

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On the afternoon of August 15, 1969, Richie Havens took the stage at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, welcoming a crowd of several hundred thousand to the green fields of Max Yasgur's farm. Havens was the first act - the legendary festival, years in the making, was finally beginning. Nothing would be the same after. But the story of the legendary festival begins with Michael Lang, a kid out of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, who liked to smoke a joint and listen to jazz and who eventually found his way to Florida, where he opened a head shop and produced his first festival - Miami Pop, featuring Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and others. In the late '60s, after settling in Woodstock, he began to envision a music and arts festival where folks could come and stay for a few days amid the rural beauty of upstate New York. The idea crystallized when Lang talked it over with Artie Kornfeld, a songwriter and A and R man, and with two other young men they formed Woodstock Ventures. They booked talent, from Janis Joplin and the Who to the virtually unknown Santana and Crosby, Stills and Nash; won over agents and promoters; brought in the Hog Farm commune to set up campgrounds; hired a peacekeeping force; took on fleets of volunteers; appeased the Yippies; and, were run out of one town and found another site weeks before the festival. On the ground with the talent, the townspeople, and his handpicked crew, Lang had a unique and panoramic perspective of the festival. Enhanced by interviews with others who were central to the making of the festival, "The Road to Woodstock" tells the story from inspiration to celebration, capturing all the magic, mayhem, and mud in between.

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'Inspiring and very moving. A hero on so many levels' Bear Grylls'The astonishing journey ... and the service dog that helped him recover ... A tale that will inspire and amaze' Waterstones.comWhen special forces soldier Jason Morgan awoke from a months-long coma, he was told he'd never walk again. Discovered face-down in a Central American swamp after a jungle mission gone wrong, he had a smashed spine,collapsed lungs and countless broken bones. It was a miracle he'd even survived.Months of painful surgery followed, with Jason's life balanced on a knife-edge. Released from hospital in a wheelchair and plagued by memory loss, Jason's life fell apart. Left alone to raise his three infant sons, all hope seemed gone,until Jason met Napal, a handsome-as-hell black Labrador provided by a very special charity. With this one incredible dog at their side, Jason's life and that of his family would never be the same again. With Napal's help Jason was able to conquer his paralysis, eventually completing a marathon and winning numerous medals in the Wounded Warrior Games. More than that, this amazing service dog helped heal a family and taught Jason to be the father his kids needed him to be. A Dog Called Hope is the moving and heart-warming story of how Jason rediscovered his life's mission, his strength as a father and, through his beloved dog, his hope. It's the story of the closeness between one man and one dog like no other, and how this mesmerizing duo changed countless lives. Inspirational, tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud uplifting, this is a story that will brighten any day and warm every heart.

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*THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER*'I gobbled it in one weekend and encourage everyone - mother, or otherwise - to do the same' - Pandora Sykes'Remarkable' - Lorraine Kelly'Searing' - Dolly Alderton'I absolutely loved I Am Not Your Baby Mother' - Giovanna Fletcher'This book is needed for the voiceless' - Nadiya Hussain'Brilliant' - Sophie Ellis-Bextor'A brilliantly observed look at life as a black mother' - Closer'Urgent part-memoir, part-manifesto about black motherhood' - Red'[An] original and much-needed guide to navigating black motherhood' - Cosmopolitan'The woman bringing a fresh perspective to the mumfluencer world' - Grazia'Every mother, everywhere, should read this book' - OK Magazine___________It's about time we made motherhood more diverse...When Candice fell pregnant and stepped into the motherhood playing field, she found her experience bore little resemblance to the glossy magazine photos of women in horizontal stripe tops and the pinned discussions on mumsnet about what pushchair to buy. Leafing through the piles of prenatal paraphernalia, she found herself wondering: "Where are all the black mothers?".Candice started blogging about motherhood in 2016 after making the simple but powerful observation that the way motherhood is portrayed in the British media is wholly unrepresentative of our society at large. The result is this thought-provoking, urgent and inspirational guide to life as a black mother. It explores the various stages in between pregnancy and waving your child off at the gates of primary school, while facing hurdles such as white privilege, racial micro-aggression and unconscious bias at every point. Candice does so with her trademark sense of humour and refreshing straight-talking, and the result is a call-to-arms that will allow mums like her to take control, scrapping the parenting rulebook to mother their own way.

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** Shortlisted for the @CrimeFest H.R.F. Keating Award **'A smart and highly entertaining portrait of a literary powerhouse'- THE TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR'A riveting portrait' - GUARDIAN BOOKS OF THE YEAR***'Christie lovers should read this biography for the same reason they read her novels.' - The Times'A model of how to combine biographical information, analysis and literary criticism into a propulsive narrative' - Daily Telegraph'Worsley's book excels in bringing a broader historical perspective to Christie's life and work, and her enthusiasm is infectious.' - ObserverMs Worsley herself writes engagingly... She combines an almost militant support for her subject with a considered analysis of her books and plays.' - Economist'Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.'Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness. So why - despite all the evidence to the contrary - did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure? She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn't do. Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman. With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was - truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.

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DISCOVER THE UNFORGETTABLE TIKTOK SENSATION THAT HAS CAPTURED MILLIONS OF HEARTS'This book is breathtakingly, heartbreakingly beautiful. You will cry ugly tears' 5***** READER REVIEW'So moving that it left me sobbing but at the same time filled my heart. Beautiful, tragic, heartbreakingly wonderful' 5***** READER REVIEW'It is without a doubt the biggest ugly cry I have ever had from a book' 5***** READER REVIEW________Two hearts. One love story. An ending you will never forget . . .Rune Kristiansen and Poppy Litchfield met as children and swore to be friends forever.As teenagers, their friendship grew into a love that promised to last a lifetime. But their worlds were shattered when Rune was sent home to his native Norway.Two years later, Rune is back, and Poppy is ready for their happy ever after to begin. But the boy who returns is not the Rune she remembers.What happened to turn her sweet, thoughtful Rune into this brooding stranger?And will the secret Poppy is carrying bring them closer together or separate them forever?Discover the story that will break your heart and make you believe true love really does last for eternity . . .________'I have read books that have had me ugly crying in the past but I honestly don't think I've read a book before this one where tears flowed in every single chapter' 5***** READER REVIEW'The most heartbreaking, soul-shattering yet beautiful book I have ever read . . . I sobbed. I mean ugly crying' 5***** READER REVIEW'One of the most beautiful and most heartbreaking books I have ever read' 5***** READER REVIEW 'Rune couldn't have been more perfect, nor Poppy more perfect for him' 5***** READER REVIEW

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