Search results for ""Diffusion""

From the earliest scratches on stone and bone to the languages of computers and the internet, "A History of Writing" offers an investigation into the origin and development of writing throughout the world. Commencing with the first stages of information storage knot records, tally sticks, pictographic storytelling the book then focuses on the emergence of complete writing systems in Mesopotamia in the fourth millennium BC, and their diffusion to Egypt, the Indus Valley and points east, with special attention given to Semitic writing systems and their eventual spread to the Indian subcontinent. Also documented is the rise of Phoenician and its effect on the Greek alphabet, generating the many alphabetic scripts of the West. Chinese, Korean and Japanese writing systems and scripts are dealt with in depth, as is writing in pre-Colombian America. Also explored are Western Europe's medieval manuscripts and the history of printing, leading to the innovations in technology and spelling rules of the 19th and 20th centuries. Illustrated with numerous examples, this book offers a global overview in a form that everyone can follow.The author also reveals his own discoveries made since the early 1980s, making it a useful reference for both students and specialists as well as the general reader.

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Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital presents a novel interpretation of the good and bad times in the economy, taking a long-term perspective and linking technology and finance in an original and convincing way.Carlota Perez draws upon Schumpeter's theories of the clustering of innovations to explain why each technological revolution gives rise to a paradigm shift and a 'New Economy' and how these 'opportunity explosions', focused on specific industries, also lead to the recurrence of financial bubbles and crises. These findings are illustrated with examples from the past two centuries: the industrial revolution, the age of steam and railways, the age of steel and electricity, the emergence of mass production and automobiles, and the current information revolution/knowledge society.By analyzing the changing relationship between finance capital and production capital during the emergence, diffusion and assimilation of new technologies throughout the global economic system, this seminal book sheds new light on some of the most pressing economic problems of today.A bold interpretation of how the changing relationship between technological advances and financial capital shapes the patterns of economic cycles, this path-breaking book will provide essential insights for business leaders, policymakers, academics and others concerned with managing change in the world economy.

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Do you often lash out at people? Do you let your emotions rule your interactions with others? Do you find it difficult to see things from others' point of view? You are not alone. Despite the fact that we all have to deal with other people our daily lives, many of us have difficulties with interpersonal relationships.Written by psychologist and bestselling author Matthew McKay, The Interpersonal Problems Workbook combines research and evidence-based techniques for strengthening relationships in all areas in life-whether it's at home, at work, with a significant other, a parent, or a child. The skills in this workbook are based in both schema therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and are designed to help you connect and communicate effectively with those around them.ACT has been proven effective in helping people improve their relationships with others. The ACT skills detailed in this book include present moment awareness, diffusion, and flexibility-all of which will help you to improve your relationships with others. In this book you will learn what your schema is, and how to act on your values to communicate and get along with others.If you are ready to stop building walls and start connecting with those around you, this book presents powerful, effective tools for change.

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L'objectif de cette rencontre internationale, dont les actes sont ici publiés dans le volume 22 des Mémoires de la Société de Linguistique de Paris, est de mettre en valeur le grand potentiel empirique - mais aussi théorique - que représentent les dialectes du vaste continuum roman pour les modélisations en morphologie flexionnelle, dans une perspective qui articule universaux et types. Les contributions réunies dans ce volume offrent d'une part des modélisations de données dialectales à la lumière des modèles contemporains en morphologie flexionnelle (ou «nouvelles morphologies», telles que Paradigm Function Morphology, la Morphologie Exemplariste ou la Grammaire de Graphes), avec notamment, un retour critique sur les classes flexionnelles proposées d'ordinaire par les grammaires structurales des langues romanes de grande diffusion; d'autre part, elles tentent un retour réflexif sur des modèles «canoniques» ou des descriptions monographiques originales, mais encore peu connues ou insuffisamment revisités, comme celle de Jacques Allières sur le verbe gascon (ALG V). Elles explorent le grain fin des types, pour des variétés aussi bien centrales que périphériques de la Romania, au bénéfice de la linguistique générale aussi bien que de ce qu'on peut appeler la dialectologie générale, entendue comme une typologie à haut degré de résolution et de complexité systémique des langues du monde.

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This collective work identifies the latest developments in the field of the automatic processing and analysis of digital color images. For researchers and students, it represents a critical state of the art on the scientific issues raised by the various steps constituting the chain of color image processing. It covers a wide range of topics related to computational color imaging, including color filtering and segmentation, color texture characterization, color invariant for object recognition, color and motion analysis, as well as color image and video indexing and retrieval. Contents 1. Color Representation and Processing in Polar Color Spaces, Jesús Angulo, Sébastien Lefèvre and Olivier Lezoray. 2. Adaptive Median Color Filtering, Frédérique Robert-Inacio and Eric Dinet. 3. Anisotropic Diffusion PDEs for Regularization of Multichannel Images: Formalisms and Applications, David Tschumperlé. 4. Linear Prediction in Spaces with Separate Achromatic and Chromatic Information,Olivier Alata, Imtnan Qazi, Jean-Christophe Burie and Christine Fernandez-Maloigne. 5. Region Segmentation, Alain Clément, Laurent Busin, Olivier Lezoray and Ludovic Macaire. 6. Color Texture Attributes, Nicolas Vandenbroucke, Olivier Alata, Christèle Lecomte, Alice Porebski and Imtnan Qazi. 7. Photometric Color Invariants for Object Recognition, Damien Muselet. 8. Color Key Point Detectors and Local Color Descriptors, Damien Muselet and Xiaohu Song. 9. Motion Estimation in Color Image Sequences, Bertrand Augereau and Jenny Benois-Pineau.

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From Mine to User: Production and Procurement Systems of Siliceous Rocks in the European Neolithic and Bronze Age presents the papers from Session XXXIII of the 18th UISPP World Congress (Paris, June 2018). 23 authors contribute nine papers from Parts 1 and 2 of the Session. The first session ‘Siliceous rocks: procurement and distribution systems’ was aimed at analysing one of the central research issues related to mining, i.e. the production systems and the diffusion of mining products. The impact of extraction on the environment, group mobility and the numbers involved in the exploitation phase were considered; mining products were also examined with a view to identifying local and imported/exported products and the underlying social organization relating to the different fields of activity. The second session ‘Flint mines and chipping floors from prehistory to the beginning of the nineteenth century’ focused on knapping activities. The significance of the identification of knapping workshops in the immediate vicinity of mine shafts and of their presence in villages as well as in intermediary places between the two was considered in the analysis of chaîne opératoire sequences. The potential of product quality and artefact distribution to contribute to the understanding of the social organisation of the communities being studied was also examined.

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How will the industrial changes implicit within new biotechnologies affect modern agriculture? This book investigates these changes and provides an economic analysis of the industrial and distributional impacts of new biotechnologies, addressing in detail the significant consequences for developing countries.One of the most important facets of biotechnological change is the development of new technologies for appropriating the value of innovations in related industries. In agriculture these new appropriation technologies are known as 'genetic use restriction technologies', which enable the innovator to capture the value of innovative plant varieties by preventing their reproduction after purchase. This book analyses the implications of such technologies in terms of global agricultural production, the rate of innovation at the technological frontier and, in particular, the diffusion of these innovations across the globe. The authors set forth the economic and institutional framework within which innovations are occurring, focusing on the impacts on the least technologically advanced nations and their incentives to conserve genetic resources for use in future research and development.This stimulating book should be widely read by agricultural and resource economists, development economists, and scholars and researchers of environmental economics. Policymakers in developing countries will also gain valuable insights into the distribution of the potential benefits from biotechnology.

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Complex geopolitical debate surrounds the role of intellectual property (IP) in advancing and achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Summarising and advancing this discourse, this prescient Companion is a thorough examination of how IP law interacts, influences and impacts each of the seventeen SDGs.This comprehensive Companion brings together an array of leading international experts to assess and interrogate how IP law impacts each specific SDG in turn. Providing in-depth analysis and invaluable insight, chapters explore IP’s role in ending poverty and inequality, improving food security, ensuring a sustainable environment, better regulating gene patents, and supporting health and well-being through access to medicines. This Companion deftly explores a variety of models of technology transfer and diffusion. Ultimately, the book provides a realistic overview of current progress towards the SDGs and a blueprint to reform IP institutions, agreements and laws to achieve a more sustainable future.The Elgar Companion to Intellectual Property and the Sustainable Development Goals will be an essential resource for academics, researchers, regulators and policymakers interested in the unique intersection between IP law and sustainable development. It will also prove a highly informative read for researchers specialising in development studies, as well as legal practitioners working in private law, public law, technology law, comparative law and international law.

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The insight that institutions, and the communicative practices that create, sustain, and challenge them, are multimodal accomplishments has garnered increasing attention from scholars in organization and management research over the last decade. Traditional understanding of social knowledge and meaning as being constituted primarily through verbal discourse has been challenged and extended by work that has promoted the centrality of visual, material, and other sign systems (e.g., audio, gestures, layout) for constructing social reality. While some discursive approaches to organizations and institutions have acknowledged the existence and relevance of modes other than the verbal for some time, systematic research on multimodality has remained rather sparse. In particular, the interaction and orchestration of multiple modes remains terra incognita with considerable empirical, methodological, and theoretical stakes. Together, 54A and 54B of Research in the Sociology of Organizations investigate these issues with innovative research that focuses on the relationship between different modes in the emergence, diffusion, maintenance, and challenge of social meanings and institutions. Individual contributions demonstrate the potential of multimodal approaches to rejuvenate and extend the study of institutions, they revisit research on classic phenomena in organization theory through a multimodal lens, and advance the design of relevant and rigorous methods of analysis for the study of multimodal communicative practices.

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Based on research by a leading geographer and specialist in diffusion theory, The Slow Plague discloses the geographic dimension of the AIDS pandemic. It provides a lucid description of the HIV, its origins, and the extent to which it has now permeated our lives. The author shows how the virus jumps from city to city, creating regional epicenters from which it spreads into surrounding areas. Four case studies at different geographic scales demonstrate the devastating effects of the disease. In Africa the situation is catastrophic, in Thailand it is rapidly becoming so. In the US there are over 300,000 people with AIDS and more than one million infected by the HIV. The relationships between poverty, drugs and HIV infection are brought out poignantly in a chapter about the Bronx. The author argues that a real understanding of AIDS has been hampered by conscious or unconscious beliefs that those affected are, and will continue to be, confined to specific minority groups and to parts of the Third World. He shows that such views have led to fundamental misconceptions about the pattern of the spread of the disease and about those who will be most at risk, now and in the immediate future.

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Unravels Complex Problems through Quantum Monte Carlo MethodsClusters hold the key to our understanding of intermolecular forces and how these affect the physical properties of bulk condensed matter. They can be found in a multitude of important applications, including novel fuel materials, atmospheric chemistry, semiconductors, nanotechnology, and computational biology. Focusing on the class of weakly bound substances known as van derWaals clusters or complexes, Stochastic Simulations of Clusters: Quantum Methods in Flat and Curved Spaces presents advanced quantum simulation techniques for condensed matter.The book develops finite temperature statistical simulation tools and real-time algorithms for the exact solution of the Schrödinger equation. It draws on potential energy models to gain insight into the behavior of minima and transition states. Using Monte Carlo methods as well as ground state variational and diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) simulations, the author explains how to obtain temperature and quantum effects. He also shows how the path integral approach enables the study of quantum effects at finite temperatures.To overcome timescale problems, this book supplies efficient and accurate methods, such as diagonalization techniques, differential geometry, the path integral method in statistical mechanics, and the DMC approach. Gleaning valuable information from recent research in this area, it presents special techniques for accelerating the convergence of quantum Monte Carlo methods.

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Thermodynamic degradation science is a new and exciting discipline. This book merges the science of physics of failure with thermodynamics and shows how degradation modeling is improved and enhanced when using thermodynamic principles. The author also goes beyond the traditional physics of failure methods and highlights the importance of having new tools such as “Mesoscopic” noise degradation measurements for prognostics of complex systems, and a conjugate work approach to solving physics of failure problems with accelerated testing applications. Key features: • Demonstrates how the thermodynamics energy approach uncovers key degradation models and their application to accelerated testing. • Demonstrates how thermodynamic degradation models accounts for cumulative stress environments, effect statistical reliability distributions, and are key for reliability test planning. • Provides coverage of the four types of Physics of Failure processes describing aging: Thermal Activation Processes, Forced Aging, Diffusion, and complex combinations of these. • Coverage of numerous key topics including: aging laws; Cumulative Accelerated Stress Test (CAST) Plans; cumulative entropy fatigue damage; reliability statistics and environmental degradation and pollution. Thermodynamic Degradation Science: Physics of Failure, Accelerated Testing, Fatigue and Reliability Applications is essential reading for reliability, cumulative fatigue, and physics of failure engineers as well as students on courses which include thermodynamic engineering and/or physics of failure coverage.

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Gary Paul Nabhan takes the reader on a vivid and far-ranging journey across time and space in this fascinating look at the relationship between the spice trade and culinary imperialism. Drawing on his own family's history as spice traders, as well as travel narratives, historical accounts, and his expertise as an ethnobotanist, Nabhan describes the critical roles that Semitic peoples and desert floras had in setting the stage for globalized spice trade. Traveling along four prominent trade routes - the Silk Road, the Frankincense Trail, the Spice Route, and the Camino Real (for chiles and chocolate) - Nabhan follows the caravans of itinerant spice merchants from the frankincense-gathering grounds and ancient harbors of the Arabian Peninsula to the port of Zayton on the China Sea to Santa Fe in the southwest United States. His stories, recipes, and linguistic analyses of cultural diffusion routes reveal the extent to which aromatics such as cumin, cinnamon, saffron, and peppers became adopted worldwide as signature ingredients of diverse cuisines. Cumin, Camels, and Caravans demonstrates that two particular desert cultures often depicted in constant conflict - Arabs and Jews - have spent much of their history collaborating in the spice trade and suggests how a more virtuous multicultural globalized society may be achieved in the future.

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Special functions enable us to formulate a scientific problem by reduction such that a new, more concrete problem can be attacked within a well-structured framework, usually in the context of differential equations. A good understanding of special functions provides the capacity to recognize the causality between the abstractness of the mathematical concept and both the impact on and cross-sectional importance to the scientific reality. The special functions to be discussed in this monograph vary greatly, depending on the measurement parameters examined (gravitation, electric and magnetic fields, deformation, climate observables, fluid flow, etc.) and on the respective field characteristic (potential field, diffusion field, wave field). The differential equation under consideration determines the type of special functions that are needed in the desired reduction process. Each chapter closes with exercises that reflect significant topics, mostly in computational applications. As a result, readers are not only directly confronted with the specific contents of each chapter, but also with additional knowledge on mathematical fields of research, where special functions are essential to application. All in all, the book is an equally valuable resource for education in geomathematics and the study of applied and harmonic analysis. Students who wish to continue with further studies should consult the literature given as supplements for each topic covered in the exercises.

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The eighteen studies in this book continue the exploration of the Jewish sermon Saperstein began in his groundbreaking Jewish Preaching 1200-1800. His new research further illustrates the importance of this genre, largely ignored by modern scholarship, as an indispensible resource for understanding Jewish history, spirituality, and thought from the High Middle Ages to the beginning of the Emancipation in Europe. Saperstein's thematic studies explore the most important occasions for traditional rabbinic preaching: the Days of Awe and the Passover season. Two studies focus on the homiletical exegesis of classical Jewish texts, and two deal with the historical interaction of Christians and Jews. Saperstein discusses the diffusion of philosophical ideas through homiletics and identifies central conceptual issues presented in the Italian Jewish pulpit. Other essays include a critical analysis of the work of Saul Levi Morteira of Amsterdam, an examination of sermons in eighteenth-century Prague for indications of a traditional community in crisis, and homiletical evidence for a developing sense of patriotic identification with the state, even before Emancipation changed the legal status of the Jews. Saperstein also presents newly discovered sermonic texts in order to explore a full panoply of issues relating to historical context and genre. All are published for the first time with his annotated translation accompanying the Hebrew original. Included are a Guide for Preachers, sermons on repentance and on the Binding of Isaac, and three eulogies, the last a fascinating memorialization of the antisemitic empress Maria Theresa.

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This up to date book provides the first evidence on employee-ownership in Central and Eastern Europe. This subject has attracted growing interest in recent years, since the sale and free distribution of enterprise shares to employed workers and mangers have surprisingly become frequent privatization methods in many transitional economies. The book highlights some of the crucial issues which have been debated in recent economic literature, in particular the advantages and risks of employee-ownership in comparison with other privatization methods. It also provides an overview of individual countries' experiences and makes some important policy recommendations. Privatization Surprises in Transition Economies is a wide-ranging survey which considers employee- ownership within privatization legislation and its diffusion and implementation problems in 14 transitional economies. Using empirical evidence on the impact of this privatization method, the authors address issues such as enterprise restructuring, employment, wages, productivity and investment policies. They conclude that employee-ownership has a bright future, and that the fears expressed by many policy advisers regarding the negative implications of employee ownership were largely exaggerated. This privatization method has proven to be one of the quickest, and has also brought with it many positive changes such as decentralization, increased productivity and motivation and more moderate restructuring policies - especially with regard to employment reductions.This book also presents some of the weaknesses of this form of privatization and identifies such possible improvement as the use of employee-ownership in combination with other privatization methods.

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This important book presents a unique body of research into the economics of the digital society. It questions how modern economies have been transformed as a result of digital goods and markets, and explores the policy implications and challenges of this revolution. Luc Soete and Bas ter Weel have assembled leading economists and social scientists to provide an invaluable insight into the influence of the digital society in the core fields of economics. They offer a comprehensive overview of the changes that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have brought about in our analysis and understanding of society, focusing particularly upon welfare economics, networks, the diffusion of new businesses and new forms of entrepreneurship, the auctioning of licences, the much-debated role of intellectual property rights and the emergence of free software in the open-source movement. There are however a number of more indirect economic developments influencing the technological society that are also taken into consideration. These include the increased work pressure and new diseases affecting the workforce, the economics of digital content, the effects of computer use on the wage structure, the impact of ICTs on goods and labour markets, and the macroeconomic consequences of ICT investment in terms of knowledge accumulation and economic growth. Distinctive and comprehensive in its coverage of the critical issues associated with the digital economy, this book will appeal to academics, policy makers and students alike.

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Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) is the main instrument used by governments and regulators to appraise the likely effects of their policy proposals. This pioneering Handbook provides a comparative and comprehensive account of this tool, situating it in the relevant theoretical traditions and scrutinizing its use across countries, policy sectors and policy instruments.Comprising six parts, university researchers, international consultants and practitioners working in international organizations examine regulatory impact assessment from many perspectives, which include: research traditions in the social sciences implementation, regulatory indicators and effects tools and dimensions such as courts and gender sectoral case studies including environment, enterprise and international development international diffusion in the European Union (EU), Americas, Asia and developing countries appraisal, training and education. With its wealth of detail and lessons to be learned, the Handbook of Regulatory Impact Assessment will undoubtedly be of great value to practitioners and scholars working in governance, political science and socio-legal studies.Contributors: C. Adelle, A. Alemanno, L. Allio, C. Arndt, F. Blanc, A. Bond, G. Bounds, P.G.H. Carroll, P. Coletti, F. De Francesco, C.A. Dunlop, M. Fazekas, O. Fritsch, F. Gains, J. Howell, S. Jacobs, A. Jordan, J.C. Kamkhaji, M. Karliuk, S.-J. Kim, T.-Y. Kim, C. Kirkpatrick, I. Lianos, D. Macrae, A.C.M. Meuwese, G. Ottimofiore, J.R. Palmer, D. Parker, A. Peci, C.M. Radaelli, A. Renda, D. Russel, L. Schrefler, J.A. Schwartz, W.R. Sheate, J. Torriti, J. Turnpenny, S. van Voorst, E. Vecchione, W.F. West

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Maintaining a balance between depth and breadth, the Sixth Edition of Principles of Polymer Systems continues to present an integrated approach to polymer science and engineering. A classic text in the field, the new edition offers a comprehensive exploration of polymers at a level geared toward upper-level undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Revisions to the sixth edition include: A more detailed discussion of crystallization kinetics, strain-induced crystallization, block copolymers, liquid crystal polymers, and gels New, powerful radical polymerization methods Additional polymerization process flow sheets and discussion of the polymerization of polystyrene and poly(vinyl chloride) New discussions on the elongational viscosity of polymers and coarse-grained bead-spring molecular and tube models Updated information on models and experimental results of rubber elasticity Expanded sections on fracture of glassy and semicrystalline polymers New sections on fracture of elastomers, diffusion in polymers, and membrane formation New coverage of polymers from renewable resources New section on X-ray methods and dielectric relaxation All chapters have been updated and out-of-date material removed. The text contains more theoretical background for some of the fundamental concepts pertaining to polymer structure and behavior, while also providing an up-to-date discussion of the latest developments in polymerization systems. Example problems in the text help students through step-by-step solutions and nearly 300 end-of-chapter problems, many new to this edition, reinforce the concepts presented.

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Distributed Systems Comprehensive textbook resource on distributed systems—integrates foundational topics with advanced topics of contemporary importance within the field Distributed Systems: Theory and Applications is organized around three layers of abstractions: networks, middleware tools, and application framework. It presents data consistency models suited for requirements of innovative distributed shared memory applications. The book also focuses on distributed processing of big data, representation of distributed knowledge and management of distributed intelligence via distributed agents. To aid in understanding how these concepts apply to real-world situations, the work presents a case study on building a P2P Integrated E-Learning system. Downloadable lecture slides are included to help professors and instructors convey key concepts to their students. Additional topics discussed in Distributed Systems: Theory and Applications include: Network issues and high-level communication tools Software tools for implementations of distributed middleware. Data sharing across distributed components through publish and subscribe-based message diffusion, gossip protocol, P2P architecture and distributed shared memory. Consensus, distributed coordination, and advanced middleware for building large distributed applications Distributed data and knowledge management Autonomy in distributed systems, multi-agent architecture Trust in distributed systems, distributed ledger, Blockchain and related technologies. Researchers, industry professionals, and students in the fields of science, technology, and medicine will be able to use Distributed Systems: Theory and Applications as a comprehensive textbook resource for understanding distributed systems, the specifics behind the modern elements which relate to them, and their practical applications.

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The Systems of the Body series has established itself as a highly valuable resource for medical and other health science students following today's systems-based courses. Now thoroughly revised and updated in this third edition, each volume presents the core knowledge of basic science and clinical conditions that medical students need, providing a concise, fully integrated view of each major body system that can be hard to find in more traditionally arranged textbooks or other resources. Multiple case studies help relate key principles to current practice, with links to clinical skills, clinical investigation and therapeutics made clear throughout. Each (print) volume also now comes with access to the complete, enhanced eBook version, offering easy anytime, anywhere access - as well as self-assessment material to check your understanding and aid exam preparation. The Respiratory System provides highly accessible coverage of the core basic science principles in the context of clinical case histories, giving the reader a fully integrated understanding of the system and its major diseases. Introduction Structure and function of the respiratory system Elastic properties of the respiratory system Airflow and resistance in the respiratory system Pulmonary Ventilation Diffusion of Gases between air and blood The Pulmonary Circulation Carriage of gases by the blood and acid/base balance Nervous control of breathing Chemical control of breathing Lung function tests Systems of the Body Series: The Renal System The Musculoskeletal System The Nervous System The Digestive System The Endocrine System The Respiratory System The Cardiovascular System

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With the same sense of historical responsibility and veracity he has exemplified in his studies on Voltaire, Ira O. Wade turns now to Voltaire's milieu and begins an account of the French Enlightenment which will explain its genesis, its nature and coherence, and its diffusion in the modern world. To understand the movement of ideas that produced the spirit of the Enlightenment, Mr. Wade identifies and examines the people, events, and rich development of philosophy in the Renaissance and seventeenth century. He considers, in turn, the challenges of the Renaissance and the responses of its leading writers (Rabelais, Bacon, and Montaigne); Baroque thought (Descartes, Hobbes, Pascal, the Freethinkers); and Classicism (Moliere, Spinoza, Locke, Leibniz, Newton). Mr. Wade begins his discussion by examining the critical literature on the Enlightenment and concludes with a theoretical chapter, "The Making of a Spirit." As the history of an intellectual culture, his study makes vivid the power of thought in the making of a civilization. Originally published in 1971. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Glimpses of Creatures in Their Physical Worlds offers an eye-opening look into how the characteristics of the physical world drive the designs of animals and plants. These characteristics impose limits but also create remarkable and subtle opportunities for the functional biology of organisms. In particular, Steven Vogel examines the size and scale, and trade-offs among different physical processes. He pays attention to how the forms and activities of animals and plants reflect the materials available to nature, and he explores the unique constraints and possibilities provided by fluid flow, structural design, and environmental forces. Each chapter of the book investigates a facet of the physical world, including the drag on small projectiles; the importance of diffusion and convection; the size-dependence of acceleration; the storage, conduction, and dissipation of heat; the relationship among pressure, flow, and choice in biological pumps; and how elongate structures tune their relative twistiness and bendiness. Vogel considers design-determining factors all too commonly ignored, and builds a bridge between the world described by physics books and the reality experienced by all creatures. Glimpses of Creatures in Their Physical Worlds contains a wealth of accessible information related to functional biology, and requires little more than a basic background in secondary-school science and mathematics. Drawing examples from creatures of land, air, and water, the book demonstrates the many uses of biological diversity and how physical forces impact biological organisms.

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Laurence Belfiore’s unique treatment meshes two mainstream subject areas in chemical engineering: transport phenomena and chemical reactor design. Expressly intended as an extension of Bird, Stewart, and Lightfoot’s classic Transport Phenomena, and Froment and Bischoff’s Chemical Reactor Analysis and Design, Second Edition, Belfiore’s unprecedented text explores the synthesis of these two disciplines in a manner the upper undergraduate or graduate reader can readily grasp. Transport Phenomena for Chemical Reactor Design approaches the design of chemical reactors from microscopic heat and mass transfer principles. It includes simultaneous consideration of kinetics and heat transfer, both critical to the performance of real chemical reactors. Complementary topics in transport phenomena and thermodynamics that provide support for chemical reactor analysis are covered, including: Fluid dynamics in the creeping and potential flow regimes around solid spheres and gas bubbles The corresponding mass transfer problems that employ velocity profiles, derived in the book’s fluid dynamics chapter, to calculate interphase heat and mass transfer coefficients Heat capacities of ideal gases via statistical thermodynamics to calculate Prandtl numbers Thermodynamic stability criteria for homogeneous mixtures that reveal that binary molecular diffusion coefficients must be positive In addition to its comprehensive treatment, the text also contains 484 problems and ninety-six detailed solutions to assist in the exploration of the subject. Graduate and advanced undergraduate chemical engineering students, professors, and researchers will appreciate the vision, innovation, and practical application of Laurence Belfiore’s Transport Phenomena for Chemical Reactor Design.

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Ireland and its inhabitants have often been described as being ‘sports mad’. As a relatively small geographical entity, Ireland, north and south, has produced a disproportionately high number of world class sports men and women who have excelled at the highest levels of their chosen sport. The significance of sport in Ireland though extends far beyond the achievements of such individuals. Sport has historically assumed a centrality in the lives of the island’s inhabitants, a fact that can be measured by the numbers and commitment of participants as well as the emotional and financial investment of fans.This book seeks to address the ways in which Irish aptitude and ebullience for sport has manifested itself in those parts of the world that have or have had relatively large Irish communities. The first part of the book explores the diffusion of Gaelic games to a number of centres of Irish immigration and examines the social, economic, political and psychological impact that these games had in helping the Diaspora adjust to life in what were often inhospitable environs. The second part of the book extends the analysis by examining the contribution of Irish sports men and women to the sports culture that they encountered in their new homes and assessing the ways in which their involvement in these sports allowed them to come to terms with and make their way in their new locales. This book was previously published as a special issue of the journal, Sport in Society

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Intensive Care Medicine has been continuously growing and expanding, culturally, technically and geographically. Monitoring and instrumentation are continuously improving and more and more hospitals are getting Intensive Care facilities. The costs have proportionally increased over the years, so that ICUs represent today a major cost for health structures. Since the available resources are limited, a real need is emerging to set the limits and indications of Intensive Care. It is understood that the problem not only involves medical considerations, but also ethical and economical aspects of the utmost importance. For the first time in Europe, this book edited by Reis Miranda and his colleagues tackles systematically the many structural aspects of the European Intensive Care. The organisation and financing of health care in the Old Continent is deeply different from the American one, and the results and consequent proposals obtained in the USA cannot simply be transferred to this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Weare extremely pleased to welcome this first European attempt to discuss the Intensive Care problem. It lays no claims to giving definite replies in a continuously developing field, but it will surely become the basis for future discussions and proposals. I am particularly happy that this work has mainly developed within the European Society of Intensive Care, whose final target is to ensure a common standard of therapy in our old Europe, beyond national differences. We warmly congratulate the authors, and I am sure that their work will find wide diffusion and consent.

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The value of MR imaging for the evaluation of musculoskeletal system disorders cannot be over-stated. It is the only imaging modality that enables visualization of all components of the joints within single examinations. Yet, given the bewildering variety of possible sequence parameters, with and without contrast medium, acquiring and interpreting MR images with confidence is a challenge, requiring experience usually only gained after examining 1000s of studies with a careful systematic approach. Like the First Edition, the Second Edition of MRI of the Musculoskeletal System assists the radiologist in acquiring the most reliable and complete imaging information, so as to achieve a high degree of diagnostic certainty quickly and efficiently. Key Features: More than 2000 MR images of reference quality, the majority new for this edition Drawings, where helpful, aid the reader in identifying and delineating normal and pathological entities Includes all the latest advanced techniques: MR neurography and myelography, diffusion imaging, quantitative MRI, mDIXON, and more All MR exams described fully, with choice of sequence, positioning, choice of coils, when/how to use contrast, protocols Discussions of possible errors in interpretation Comparison of MR imaging with other modalities Tables expand and organize information on sequence parameters and differential diagnoses More than just an authoritative reference, Vahlensieck's MRI of the Musculoskeletal System is the ideal practical helper to accompany the radiologist at the workstation on a daily basis.

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Presenting the challenges and opportunities ahead, the contributors to this volume critically examine the current status and future direction of research in international marketing. The result of a sustained and lively dialogue among contributors from a variety of cultures, this volume gathers their perspectives and many insights on the revitalization of the field. The authors address the way international marketing actually functions, as well as theoretical explorations of how it should function. Some of the papers break through the bounds of traditional disciplines and methodologies to borrow whatever tools and concepts are needed for a particular inquiry. Others are less concerned with testing existing theory than with generating new insights. Still others provide results that are significant for managers. Many of the contributors are drawn to problems broad in scope and offer insights that are of considerable value for advancing the state of the art. Part I offers a review of the state of the art in international marketing and examines market orientation and withdrawal. Parts II through IV cover foreign market entry modes, strategy, and cross cultural issues. Parts V and VI discuss global electronic commerce as well as diffusion models, country equity, and global scorecards.A timely and innovative volume, Handbook of Research in International Marketing is a must read for anyone interested in marketing research or international business.

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In this book, Robert Boyer follows the origins, course and collapse of the 'new economy' and proposes a new interpretation of US dynamism during the 1990s. He argues that the diffusion of information and communication technologies is only part of a story that also requires understanding of the transformation of the financial system, the reorganization of the management of firms and the emergence of a new policy mix. The book includes a long-term retrospective analysis of technological innovation, and an international comparison of OECD countries delivers an unconventional and critical assessment of the hope and the hype of the 'new economy'. The book proposes that the US way is not necessarily the only efficient one, as demonstrated by the experience of the Nordic countries, which manage to combine economic efficiency with social justice. The author argues that European economies would do well to take note and to explore a promising growth regime for the twenty-first century, one built upon health, education, training and leisure, this comprising the 'anthropogenetic model'.The Future of Economic Growth is a challenging and thought-provoking book, and as such will be of interest to many academics, researchers and students within the field of economics. It will be particularly relevant to those with an interest in macroeconomics, industrial organisation and the theory of the firm, and growth theory.

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This outstanding volume by Zoltán J. Ács, a leading expert on entrepreneurship and innovation, provides the perfect introduction to current thinking about entrepreneurship in the global economy. The topics are critical for people contemplating entrepreneurship and development; from knowledge diffusion to philanthropy, regional growth and the role of entrepreneurs in economic growth.'- Saul Estrin , London School of Economics and Political Science, UKThis book presents some of Zoltán J. Ács' most important contributions since the turn of the new millennium, with a particular intellectual focus on knowledge spillover entrepreneurship. It studies the evolution of global entrepreneurship and pays attention to the role of institutions and the incentives they create for economic agents who become either productive or unproductive entrepreneurs.For productive entrepreneurs, those that create wealth for themselves and for society, the author offers a knowledge spillover theory of entrepreneurship as a new way to help understand the entrepreneurial ecosystem. For those that create wealth only for themselves the author develops a theory of destructive entrepreneurship that undermines the entrepreneurial ecosystem. The book also presents an explanation of the role of philanthropy in reconstituting wealth to complete the circuits of capital in the theory of capitalist development. Finally, the author examines several public policy issues including immigration and technology transfer.This volume will be required reading for students and scholars of entrepreneurship, economics and public policy.

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There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs--and not others--get rerecorded by many musicians? Shaping Jazz answers this question and more, exploring the underappreciated yet crucial roles played by initial production and markets--in particular, organizations and geography--in the development of early twentieth-century jazz. Damon Phillips considers why places like New York played more important roles as engines of diffusion than as the sources of standards. He demonstrates why and when certain geographical references in tune and group titles were considered more desirable. He also explains why a place like Berlin, which produced jazz abundantly from the 1920s to early 1930s, is now on jazz's historical sidelines. Phillips shows the key influences of firms in the recording industry, including how record companies and their executives affected what music was recorded, and why major companies would rerelease recordings under artistic pseudonyms. He indicates how a recording's appeal was related to the narrative around its creation, and how the identities of its firm and musicians influenced the tune's long-run popularity. Applying fascinating ideas about market emergence to a music's commercialization, Shaping Jazz offers a unique look at the origins of a groundbreaking art form.

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Since its original publication in 2000, Game Theory Evolving has been considered the best textbook on evolutionary game theory. This completely revised and updated second edition of Game Theory Evolving contains new material and shows students how to apply game theory to model human behavior in ways that reflect the special nature of sociality and individuality. The textbook continues its in-depth look at cooperation in teams, agent-based simulations, experimental economics, the evolution and diffusion of preferences, and the connection between biology and economics. Recognizing that students learn by doing, the textbook introduces principles through practice. Herbert Gintis exposes students to the techniques and applications of game theory through a wealth of sophisticated and surprisingly fun-to-solve problems involving human and animal behavior. The second edition includes solutions to the problems presented and information related to agent-based modeling. In addition, the textbook incorporates instruction in using mathematical software to solve complex problems. Game Theory Evolving is perfect for graduate and upper-level undergraduate economics students, and is a terrific introduction for ambitious do-it-yourselfers throughout the behavioral sciences. * Revised and updated edition relevant for courses across disciplines * Perfect for graduate and upper-level undergraduate economics courses * Solutions to problems presented throughout * Incorporates instruction in using computational software for complex problem solving * Includes in-depth discussions of agent-based modeling

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One of the most outstanding contributions of NMR to chemistry concerns the information which can be obtained at the molecular level as a result of the time-dependence of NMR spectra. The importance of this information is well illustrated by the large number of applications which have resulted from research in this field. To date, however, both the theory and its applications have only been available in widely scattered articles in the literature. Dynamics of Solutions and Fluid Mixtures by NMR is the first single volume giving a comprehensive coverage of time-dependent effects in NMR, and of the information which can be obtained by investigation of these phenomena. The ten chapters, all written by acknowledged experts in their respective fields, are arranged in a logical progression. The first three chapters give an overview of NMR spectroscopy and the fundamental aspects of molecular dynamics. Topics covered in later chapters include specific relaxation mechanisms, the use of field gradients in the study of translational diffusion, and applications of the technique. Dynamics of Solutions and Fluid Mixtures by NMR provides a timely and comprehensive overview of time-dependent phenomena in NMR. It will be of great interest to analytical chemists and biochemists, and to researchers and students working specifically in the fields of applications covered in the volume.

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Very Short Introductions: Brilliant, Sharp, Inspiring Comparative Law: A Very Short Introduction aims to offer a concise introduction to Comparative Law—its objectives, methods, concepts and uses. After an overview of the fundamental definitions, key concepts and basic lexicon of the discipline, the book proposes an analysis of the most successful techniques adopted in legal comparison for mapping the world's legal systems and for explaining legal change and diffusion of law, also giving a concise description of the legal traditions of the world. It also offers an account of the competing approaches adopted over time in comparative endeavours, from functionalism to culturalism and postmodernism, and highlights the different emphasis placed by each of these approaches on commonalities, faith in universal law and convergence, or on divergence and irreducible differences. Finally, the book provides readers with an understanding of the practical use of comparative law, describing how legal comparison is employed both in law-making and in adjudication, supplementing legal reasoning and interpretation. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

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La premiere partie de l'ouvrage comprend: (1) des generalites sur la langue berbere, et en particulier des rappels de systhematique oA' sont exposes les principales procedures traditionnelles de generation lexicale; (2) un chapitre sur l'amenagement linguistique qui contient des generalites ainsi que des developpements concernant le berbere. La deuxieme partie presente, selon l'ordre chronologique, les materiaux neologiques berberes produits depuis un demi-siecle: les premiers neologismes (1945), les pages lexicales du Bulletin de l'Academie berbere de Paris, la grammaire berbere de Mammeri (1976), l'Amawal (1974-1980), le Lexique francais-berbere de mathematiques (1984), la traduction berbere de la Declaration universelle des droits de l'homme (1990), le Vocabulaire de l'education de Boudris (1993), quelques materiaux neologques touaregs (Mali, Niger), etc. La mise en situation historique et l'analyse interne des materiaux produits constituent l'essentiel de cette partie qui contient aussi des elements d'approche critique. La troisieme partie concerne l'usage des neologismes. Un premier chapitre expose des etudes de cas qui abordent separement les principaux canaux de diffusion: la poesie, la neo-chanson berbere, la radio, la litterature moderne, le theatre, les revues et bulletins culturels, la presse politique kabyle et la television. Le second chapitre contient des elements d'analyse et des conclusions. La quatrieme et derniere partie contient un bilan linguistique global et une typologie des neologismes berberes, ainsi qu'un chapitre de propositions que pourrait integrer une perspective de resaississement de l'action neologique.

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This volume presents the outcome of the international conference 'Housing and Habitat in the Mediterranean World: responses to different environments' that celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Monash University Centre in Prato in 2011. It incorporates comparative and recent research on the housing in the Mediterranean world investigating social, cultural and environmental aspects. The topics of the contributions deal with the development and internationalisation of domestic architecture in the Mediterranean, the transformation and diffusion of different housing typologies, the implications for social interaction, and the adaptation to varying regional environments of Classical models of housing. The contributors present new archaeological data and fresh interpretations, various theories, methods and evidence to investigate the characteristics of and change in social space and dynamics in both the urban and rural environment. Rather than dealing with one discrete region or time frame, the aim of the conference and these papers is diachronic, incorporating data from around the entire region and ranging broadly across the 1st millennium BCE to Late Antiquity. In so doing, regional characteristics can be highlighted but also compared with contemporary developments throughout the region and long-term trends, both local and again regional, can be identified. The volume illustrates different priorities in the study of housing and habitat that hopefully will prove stimulating to all researchers concerned with the lived-in environment.

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Max Rolfstam examines the increasing emphasis on public procurement as a means to stimulate innovation and the theoretical implications of this policy development. While 'regular' public procurement may be regarded as the outcome of anonymous market processes, public procurement of innovation must be understood as a special case of innovation, where social processes - and consequently the institutions governing these social processes - need to be considered. This book contributes to our understanding with a detailed institutional analysis of the public procurement of innovation.The author draws on an institutional framework that underscores the importance of conducting a multilevel institutional analysis. Unlike earlier studies that reduced public procurement challenges to a legal issue, this book offers insights of a more holistic nature.Academics, students and researchers with an interest in innovation policy will find this book to be an informative and fascinating read. It will also provide an invaluable reference tool on how public procurement can be used as an innovation policy tool for policy makers at both national and EU levels.Contents 1. Introduction 2. Public Procurement of Innovation Theory 3. Legal Institutions for Public Procurement of Innovation 4. Public Procurement of Innovation Diffusion 5. Public Procurement of Innovation as Collaboration 6. Public Procurement of Innovation as Endogenous-Exogenous Knowledge Conversion 7. Success Factors Public Procurement of Innovation 8. Concluding Remarks References Index

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In this book, Robert Boyer follows the origins, course and collapse of the 'new economy' and proposes a new interpretation of US dynamism during the 1990s. He argues that the diffusion of information and communication technologies is only part of a story that also requires understanding of the transformation of the financial system, the reorganization of the management of firms and the emergence of a new policy mix. The book includes a long-term retrospective analysis of technological innovation, and an international comparison of OECD countries delivers an unconventional and critical assessment of the hope and the hype of the 'new economy'. The book proposes that the US way is not necessarily the only efficient one, as demonstrated by the experience of the Nordic countries, which manage to combine economic efficiency with social justice. The author argues that European economies would do well to take note and to explore a promising growth regime for the twenty-first century, one built upon health, education, training and leisure, this comprising the 'anthropogenetic model'.The Future of Economic Growth is a challenging and thought-provoking book, and as such will be of interest to many academics, researchers and students within the field of economics. It will be particularly relevant to those with an interest in macroeconomics, industrial organisation and the theory of the firm, and growth theory.

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The quality of ecosystems is affected by the actions of different stakeholders who use them in a variety of ways. In order to understand this complex relationship between humans and nature, it is vital to understand the complexity of the interacting agents. The authors in this book attempt to do this by applying multi-agent systems to the problems of ecosystem management. The multi-agent approach to ecosystem management is a relatively new and rapidly developing field which takes a formal computational approach towards the interaction of humans with their environment. The authors highlight some of the promising new methodologies which are emerging in the field from disciplines such as computer science and computational social science. They move on to address a number of important topics including diffusion processes, common-pool resources, land use change and the participatory use of models, in an attempt to solve contemporary management issues. They clearly demonstrate the potential utility of multi-agent systems in the context of theoretical problems and practical case studies. This book provides a state-of-the-art review of the theory and application of multi-agent systems for ecosystem management. It will prove indispensable for ecological economists, natural resource and social scientists, and policymakers. It will also appeal to students and scholars who are interested in modelling the human dimensions of global environmental change.

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A holistic and extensive exploration of both the dynamic and incremental changes in EU public policy and the decision processes surrounding them, this Elgar Encyclopedia is the definitive reference work in the field of EU public policy.Unifying theoretical insights with empirical phenomena, this pioneering Encyclopedia begins by engaging with the multi-level structure of the EU’s polity and identifies how this affects public policy, considering the role of various non-state actors in EU policymaking, and the concepts of Europeanization and policy diffusion. Offering a theoretical introduction to policy integration, it examines intergovernmentalism, neofunctionalism, and postfunctionalism, alongside an innovative analysis of policy styles and the effects of recent crises on EU public policy, including COVID-19 and populism. Chapters conclude by reflecting on policy implementation and dynamics, and the impact of feedback on public policies and institutions.Ultimately demonstrating that the study of public policy in the EU has produced a set of EU-specific analytical perspectives, this timely book will guide further research avenues into EU public policy for students and scholars interested in (EU) public policy, public administration and comparative politics, alongside informing the decision-making of policymakers globally.Key Features:Accessible format split into 9 thematic partsFully cross-referenced with select bibliographies for further readingEntries written by an international and interdisciplinary group of over 90 preeminent experts in the field of public policy

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Despite the high frequency of their interactions, the policy coordination process between the United Nations (UN) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been underexamined in global and regional governance and ASEAN studies literature. To chart this important terrain, this incisive book contributes to scholarship by investigating UN-ASEAN policy coordination in the case of trafficking in persons (TIP).Guangyu Qiao-Franco advances a conceptual framework designed to explore the coordination between the UN and ASEAN, based on theories of policy transfer, norm diffusion, regime complex, and institutional interaction. By examining an extensive case study that traces developments in Southeast Asian regional governance since the early 1980s, this book contains rich information on the UN and ASEAN’s TIP policies, lobbying and involvement of various actors, and the specific historical contexts of regional policy debates. Featuring analysis based on empirical data collected through 79 interviews with key participants in the TIP policy process across Southeast Asia, the book reveals the black box of ASEAN policymaking that has led to positive changes in human trafficking governance.This dynamic book will interest students and scholars of international relations, law, criminology, and migration studies. Its consideration of how disparate regional states might collaborate on human trafficking issues will further benefit practitioners and professionals working in governments of ASEAN member states, international organisations, and NGOs.

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A broad introduction to PDEs with an emphasis on specialized topics and applications occurring in a variety of fields Featuring a thoroughly revised presentation of topics, Beginning Partial Differential Equations, Third Edition provides a challenging, yet accessible, combination of techniques, applications, and introductory theory on the subjectof partial differential equations. The new edition offers nonstandard coverageon material including Burger’s equation, the telegraph equation, damped wavemotion, and the use of characteristics to solve nonhomogeneous problems. The Third Edition is organized around four themes: methods of solution for initial-boundary value problems; applications of partial differential equations; existence and properties of solutions; and the use of software to experiment with graphics and carry out computations. With a primary focus on wave and diffusion processes, Beginning Partial Differential Equations, Third Edition also includes: Proofs of theorems incorporated within the topical presentation, such as the existence of a solution for the Dirichlet problem The incorporation of Maple™ to perform computations and experiments Unusual applications, such as Poe’s pendulum Advanced topical coverage of special functions, such as Bessel, Legendre polynomials, and spherical harmonics Fourier and Laplace transform techniques to solve important problems Beginning of Partial Differential Equations, Third Edition is an ideal textbook for upper-undergraduate and first-year graduate-level courses in analysis and applied mathematics, science, and engineering.

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To what extent do international organizations, global policy networks, and transnational policy entrepreneurs influence domestic policy makers? Have we entered a new phase of globalization that, unbeknownst to most citizens, shapes policies that used to be the sole domain of domestic politics? Privatizing Pensions reveals how international institutions--such as the World Bank, USAID, and other transnational policy actors--have played a seminal role in the development, diffusion, and implementation of new pension reforms that are transforming the postwar social contract in more than thirty countries worldwide, including the United States. Mitchell Orenstein shows how transnational actors have driven change in a policy area once thought to be beyond reform in many countries, and how they have done so by deploying their unique resources and legitimacy to promote new ideas, recruit disciples worldwide, and provide a broad range of technical assistance to government reformers over the long term. He demonstrates that while domestic decision makers may retain veto power over these reforms--which replace traditional social security with individual pension savings accounts--transnational policy makers play the role of "proposal actors," shaping the information, preferences, and resources of their domestic clients. Privatizing Pensions argues that even the most quintessentially domestic areas of policy have been thoroughly globalized, and that these international influences must be better understood.

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Poetry of the Revolution tells the story of political and artistic upheavals through the manifestos of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Ranging from the Communist Manifesto to the manifestos of the 1960s and beyond, it highlights the varied alliances and rivalries between socialism and repeated waves of avant-garde art. Martin Puchner argues that the manifesto--what Marx called the "poetry" of the revolution--was the genre through which modern culture articulated its revolutionary ambitions and desires. When it intruded into the sphere of art, the manifesto created an art in its own image: shrill and aggressive, political and polemical. The result was "manifesto art"--combinations of manifesto and art that fundamentally transformed the artistic landscape of the twentieth century. Central to modern politics and art, the manifesto also measures the geography of modernity. The translations, editions, and adaptations of such texts as the Communist Manifesto and the Futurist Manifesto registered and advanced the spread of revolutionary modernity and of avant-garde movements across Europe and to the Americas. The rapid diffusion of these manifestos was made "possible by networks--such as the successive socialist internationals and international avant-garde movements--that connected Santiago and Zurich, Moscow and New York, London and Mexico City. Poetry of the Revolution thus provides the point of departure for a truly global analysis of modernism and modernity.

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The development of theorems in logic is generally thought to be a solitary and purely cerebral activity, and therefore unobservable by sociologists. In Weaving Self-Evidence, French sociologist Claude Rosental challenges this notion by tracing the history of one well-known recent example in the field of artificial intelligence--a theorem on the foundations of fuzzy logic. Rosental's analyses disclose the inherently social nature of the process by which propositions in logic are produced, disseminated, and established as truths. Rosental describes the different phases of the emergence of the theorem on fuzzy logic, from its earliest drafts through its publication and diffusion, discussion and reformulation, and eventual acceptance by the scientific community. Through observations made at major universities and scholarly conferences, and in electronic forums, he looks at the ways students are trained in symbolic manipulations and formal languages and examines how researchers work, interact, and debate emerging new ideas. By carefully analyzing the concrete mechanisms that lead to the collective development and corroboration of proofs, Rosental shows how a logical discovery and its recognition within the scholarly community are by no means the product of any one individual working in isolation, but rather a social process that can be observed and studied. Weaving Self-Evidence will interest students and researchers in sociology and the history and philosophy of science and technology, and anyone curious about how scientists work.

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The Sauveterrian represents one of the main cultural aspects of the European Early Mesolithic. In this work, its presumed uniformity—mostly based on typological grounds—is questioned with the purpose of assessing and verifying the relationships existing between the two central areas of diffusion of this complex: southern France and northern Italy. A broad technological approach, combining complementary analytical techniques, was applied to the study of a series of French and Italian lithic assemblages. More specifically, these were investigated with the aim of reconstructing the entire reduction sequences, from the procurement of lithic raw materials to the use and discard of tools. Results indicate that the two regions responded to the same conceptual scheme and their respective lithic technical systems shared the same rationale: an extremely optimized technology, not opportunistic in the least, but issued from a careful strategic planning. Nonetheless, in the context of this generalized behaviour, a consistent variability can be found, marked by differences of both ‘stylistic’ and technical nature especially regarding the processes for producing microlithic armatures. At a general level, in the context of the important environmental changes that characterized the Late Glacial to Early Holocene transition, the emergence of Sauveterrian technology was fundamental in allowing the development of a complex settlement structure, characterized by a mobility system based on relatively short distances and with a strong logistic component.

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While partial differential equations (PDEs) are fundamental in mathematics and throughout the sciences, most undergraduate students are only exposed to PDEs through the method of separation of variations. This text is written for undergraduate students from different cohorts with one sole purpose: to facilitate a proficiency in many core concepts in PDEs while enhancing the intuition and appreciation of the subject. For mathematics students this will in turn provide a solid foundation for graduate study. A recurring theme is the role of concentration as captured by Dirac's delta function. This both guides the student into the structure of the solution to the diffusion equation and PDEs involving the Laplacian and invites them to develop a cognizance for the theory of distributions. Both distributions and the Fourier transform are given full treatment.The book is rich with physical motivations and interpretations, and it takes special care to clearly explain all the technical mathematical arguments, often with pre-motivations and post-reflections. Through these arguments the reader will develop a deeper proficiency and understanding of advanced calculus. While the text is comprehensive, the material is divided into short sections, allowing particular issues/topics to be addressed in a concise fashion. Sections which are more fundamental to the text are highlighted, allowing the instructor several alternative learning paths. The author's unique pedagogical style also makes the text ideal for self-learning.

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Using social media and peer-to-peer networks to teach people about science and health may seem like an obvious strategy. Yet recent research suggests that systematic reliance on social networks may be a recipe for inequity. People are not consistently inclined to share information with others around them, and many people are constrained by factors outside of their immediate control. Ironically, the highly social nature of humankind complicates the extent to which we can live in a society united solely by electronic media. Stretching well beyond social media, this book documents disparate tendencies in the ways people learn and share information about health and science. By reviewing a wide array of existing research - ranging from a survey of New Orleans residents in the weeks after Hurricane Katrina to analysis of Twitter posts related to H1N1 to a physician-led communication campaign explaining the benefits of vaginal birth - Brian G. Southwell explains why some types of information are more likely to be shared than others and how some people never get exposed to seemingly widely available information. This book will appeal to social science students and citizens interested in the role of social networks in information diffusion and yet it also serves as a cautionary tale for communication practitioners and policymakers interested in leveraging social ties as an inexpensive method to spread information.

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