Search results for ""Balance""

"And you thought the passengers were mad. Airline employees are fed up, too-with pay cuts, increased workloads and management's miserly ways, which leave workers to explain to often-enraged passengers why flying has become such a miserable experience."—The New York Times, December 22, 2007 When both an industry's workers and its customers report high and rising frustration with the way they are being treated, something is fundamentally wrong. In response to these conditions, many of the world's airlines have made ever-deeper cuts in services and their workforces. Is it too much to expect airlines, or any other enterprise, to provide a fair return to investors, high-quality reliable service to their customers, and good jobs for their employees? Measured against these three expectations, the airline industry is failing. In the first five years of the twenty-first century alone, U.S. airlines lost a total of $30 billion while shedding 100,000 jobs, forcing the remaining workers to give up over $15 billion in wages and benefits. Combined with plummeting employee morale, shortages of air traffic controllers, and increased congestion and flight delays, a total collapse of the industry may be coming. Is this state of affairs inevitable? Or is it possible to design a more sustainable, less volatile industry that better balances the objectives of customers, investors, employees, and the wider society? Does deregulation imply total abrogation of government's responsibility to oversee an industry showing the clear signs of deterioration and increasing risk of a pending crisis? Greg J. Bamber, Jody Hoffer Gittell, Thomas A. Kochan, and Andrew von Nordenflycht explore such questions in a well-informed and engaging way, using a mix of quantitative evidence and qualitative studies of airlines from North America, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Up in the Air provides clear and realistic strategies for achieving a better, more equitable balance among the interests of customers, employees, and shareholders. Specifically, the authors recommend that firms learn from the innovations of companies like Southwest and Continental Airlines in order to build a positive workplace culture that fosters coordination and commitment to high-quality service, labor relations policies that avoid long drawn-out conflicts in negotiating new agreements, and business strategies that can sustain investor, employee, and customer support through the ups and downs of business cycles.

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When country music star Thomas Rhett won the ACM Award for Single of the Year with "Die a Happy Man," his wife, Lauren Akins, was overjoyed. Her husband was being anointed the hottest new star in country music-for a song he had written about her. He was living his dream. Lauren was elated, but she was also wrestling with some big questions, not the least of which was, how can I live my own life of purpose? Lauren offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the challenges of being married to her best friend, who just happens to be a music star, and the struggle to find her own footing in the frenzy of her husband's fame. And in heart-wrenching detail, she opens up about her life-changing experiences doing mission work in Haiti, and then in Uganda, where she met the precious baby who would become their first daughter. Live in Love is a deeply personal memoir that offers inspiring guidance for anyone looking to keep romance alive, balance children and marriage, express true faith, and live a life of purpose. Includes colour photos throughout. Content Benefits: From sharing the romance of their hand-written wedding vows, to letting readers in on obstacles they faced as they adjusted to the reality of becoming first-time parents, Live in Love takes an intimate look at one couple's life-and opens a window into all of our journeys on the path to self-discovery. Gives an insight into the personal lives of Country Music superstar Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren Explores how Lauren Akins coped with being tossed into the role of one of America's sweethearts as Thomas Rhett made his relationship with Lauren the subject of many of his hit songs Looks at the reality of keep your own identity and dreams alive in a relationship Lauren provides a relatable and friendly voice to help you navigate the pressures of modern family life Explores the process of adoption and the highs and lows this brings Author does humanitarian work with Love One International in Uganda Ideal reading for fans of the TV series Nashville or country music lovers Perfect gift book for any occasion Colour photos are interspersed throughout the book Binding - Hardback Pages - 336 Publisher - Authentic Media

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Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids is a collection of creative, collaborative projects that connect in-game challenges with hands-on activities that are both fun and educational.An Amazon Best Kids’ Books of 2016 pick! Minecraft offers players an environment focused on exploration, imagination, and creation, but its nonlinear game structure can mean spending a lot of time in the game. With these labs, you can balance your child's screen time with real-life learning and interaction. You will start the book by brushing up on some common Minecraft language and examining each of the four game modes: survival, creative, adventure, and spectator. Then, you’ll use this knowledge to venture off onto the six different quests that encourage child and adult participation. For each Lab, complete the hands-on activity in art, craft, or design, then build a related in-game project. Have fun with these creative projects and more: Make a Chinese finger trap from construction paper, followed by a zombie trap in Minecraft. Build a castle from sugar cubes, then learn to build one in Minecraft. Create shadow puppets to perform a scene from your favorite story, then animate the scene using Minecraft. Make a bow and arrow from popsicle sticks, dental floss, and a cotton swab, then do some archery practice in Minecraft. Sticker badges at the back of the book reward your child as they complete each quest. You'll even learn how to screencast and narrate your own videos to share with family and friends. Unofficial Minecraft Lab for Kids provides fun, educational gaming goals that you and your child can reach together! The popular Lab for Kids series features a growing list of books that share hands-on activities and projects on a wide host of topics, including art, astronomy, clay, geology, math, and even how to create your own circus—all authored by established experts in their fields. Each lab contains a complete materials list, clear step-by-step photographs of the process, as well as finished samples. The labs can be used as singular projects or as part of a yearlong curriculum of experiential learning. The activities are open-ended, designed to be explored over and over, often with different results. Geared toward being taught or guided by adults, they are enriching for a range of ages and skill levels. Gain firsthand knowledge on your favorite topic with Lab for Kids.

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While some rigging books focus too much on the theory of rigging and provide little instruction, others do the exact opposite and offer no reasoning behind the button-pushing. An Essential Introduction to Maya Character Rigging, 2nd Edition, however, offers a perfect balance. Cheryl Briggs’ text is built for the classroom, with step-by-step tutorials that guide the reader through the rigging process. With vibrant screenshots and a plethora of helpful tips, this book provides a strong foundation in character rigging for anyone who wants to pursue 3D animation or more advanced rigging topics.Features Provides readers with fundamental techniques to give them a firm grasp on Maya character rigging. Thorough step-by-step tutorials, which provides instruction on how to create biped, quadruped, and prop rigs. Continuous updates and further support can be located at www.cherylcreates.com Cheryl Briggs (formerly Cabrera) is an award-winning animated short film director. She has advised and guided aspiring animators, game artists, and visual effects artists for 20 years. Since 2009, Cheryl has taught all aspects of production in the Character Animation specialization in the School of Visual Arts and Design at the University of Central Florida. She also taught as Professor of Animation at the Savannah College of Art and Design from 2001 to 2009. Cheryl is currently on the Board of Directors for the Animation Hall of Fame. She also is a member of the Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH), the International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood), Women in Animation, Women in Film and Television, and the Society for Animation Studies.Cheryl is also an Autodesk Certified Professional and an Autodesk Certified Instructor in Maya. She is the author of An Essential Introduction to Maya Character Rigging (Focal Press, 2008), Reel Success: Creating Demo Reels and Animation Portfolios (Focal Press, 2013), and Animating Short Stories: Narrative Techniques and Visual Design (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019).Cheryl holds a B.A. and M.Ed. in Education and an M.F.A. in Computer Art with a specialization in 3D Animation. She is a digital artist and animator that blends the lines between digital imagery and the traditional painting medium. She has participated is numerous group and solo exhibitions in the United States and her work is featured in several private collections. Her award-winning students have been featured in animation festivals worldwide, and many have gone on to work within the entertainment industry.

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This book examines the complexities of mothers who are entrepreneurs in different parts of the world. This uniqueness and contribution to the area of women's entrepreneurship presents many challenges. One must historicize context; focus on socio-political realms and on lived realities. All challenging endeavours, when focusing on mothering and entrepreneurship, in different global contexts. What of the workers in these contexts? More specifically what of female workers within these contexts? How have women negotiated gendered roles within old and new structures? What complexities have preconfigured the diverse realities and positionalities of maternal-workers? How have these intricacies shifted the boundaries of work-family interface? This book focuses on a specific subset of work and the economy for mothers who are entrepreneurs in different parts of the world. In this edited collection, we examine how mothers are negotiating their entrepreneurial endeavors within the contexts of local and global economic shifts. We explore how the socio-cultural, economic and national contexts that (re)structure and (re)frame multiple nodes of power, difference, and realities for mothers as workers across diverse contexts. This type of contextual analysis allows for new lines of inquiry and questions that move beyond the descriptive profiling and gendered assessment of women entrepreneurs. Lastly, the mother-entrepreneur-worker-life balance frames our discussion. We particularly set the work-family discourse within many points of contentions related to how the researchers have conceptualized work-life interface, the specific assumptions embedded within these investigations, and the implications of these for how we (re)present the dynamics related to mothering and entrepreneurship. The participation of mothers within entrepreneurial space offers a rich site for analyzing the contextual nature of maternal identity, work life relationships and entrepreneurial identities. In so doing, the chapters addressed the different histories of oppression, movement of people, socio-economic conditions that underpin that experience, the various axes of power that affect the precariousness of work and citizenship on a global scale. Where existing examinations also center on the concerns for work-life interface, such scrutiny also brings to bear the complexities and ambiguities of working within these two boundaries. This is presented as a way of reframing not just work life interface, but also, that of how these affect the specific practices, choices, and responses of entrepreneurial mothers within specific localities and positionalities. No doubt, these insights provide important foundations for advancing theorizations on entrepreneurial mothers.

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Keep shareholders happy and manage for the long term.Earning a board seat is a rite of passage. But directors must juggle many responsibilities, from steering company strategy, managing risk, and appointing leaders to setting the right incentives, meeting shareholder expectations, and dealing with activist investors. How do you balance it all?If you read nothing else on boards, read these 10 articles by experts in the field. We've combed through hundreds of articles in the Harvard Business Review archive and selected the most important ones to help you set your board up for success.This book will inspire you to: Ensure you have directors who can meet company goals Establish a robust succession-planning process Encourage the risk-taking that will generate breakthrough innovation Prioritize the health of the enterprise without neglecting shareholders Provide the critical support a new CEO needs to succeed Ignite nonprofit board members by engaging them in work that matters Take on the world's toughest economic, social, and environmental problems This collection of articles includes "What Makes Great Boards Great," by Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld; "Building Better Boards," by David A. Nadler; "The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership," by Joseph L. Bower and Lynn S. Paine; "The New Work of the Nonprofit Board," by Barbara E. Taylor, Richard P. Chait, and Thomas P. Holland; "Dysfunction in the Boardroom," by Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell; "The Board's New Innovation Imperative," by Linda A. Hill and George Davis; "Managing Risks: A New Framework," by Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes; "Ending the CEO Succession Crisis," by Ram Charan; "Comp Targets That Work," by Radhakrishnan Gopalan, John Horn, and Todd Milbourn; and "Sustainability in the Boardroom," by Lynn S. Paine.HBR's 10 Must Reads paperback series is the definitive collection of books for new and experienced leaders alike. Leaders looking for the inspiration that big ideas provide, both to accelerate their own growth and that of their companies, should look no further. HBR's 10 Must Reads series focuses on the core topics that every ambitious manager needs to know: leadership, strategy, change, managing people, and managing yourself. Harvard Business Review has sorted through hundreds of articles and selected only the most essential reading on each topic. Each title includes timeless advice that will be relevant regardless of an ever‐changing business environment.

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Accelerate your healing and addiction recovery with these powerful self-healing methods from world-renowned author, psychiatrist, clinician, spiritual teacher, and researcher of consciousness, David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.Whether you're dealing with addiction, suffering, or striving for your next level in personal growth, Healing and Recovery provides the tools to guide you on a healing path of emotional healing and inner transformation.This inspirational self-development book, the eighth in a transformational series based on the revelations of consciousness research, resulted from a group of lectures given by Dr. David Hawkins at the request of the original publisher of A Course in Miracles, along with members of several self-help groups, including Alcoholics Anonymous, ACIM, Attitudinal Healing Centers, other recovery groups, and clinicians.Our society lives with constant stress, anxiety, fear, pain, suffering, depression, and worry. Alcoholism, drug addiction, obesity, sexual problems, and cancer are constantly in the news. Mankind in general has had very little information about how to address life’s challenges without resorting to drugs, surgery, or counseling.You’ll Learn:· why the body may not respond to traditional medical approaches.· Specific instructions are provided that can result in complete healing from any disease. The importance of including spiritual practices in one’s healing and recovery program is explained as well.Healing and Recovery provides clinically proven self-healing methods that will enable you to take charge of your health and live a happy, healthy, and fulfilling life.Key Features:· In-depth exploration of metaphysics and psychology: The book provides rich insights into the inner workings of the human psyche, drawing on Dr. David Hawkins’ profound understanding of metaphysics and psychology.· Meditation and Mindfulness: Dr. David Hawkins’ shares powerful effective meditation and mindfulness techniques that invite peace and balance into our everyday lives.· Focus on holistic health: This book underlines the importance of a balanced approach towards health that encompasses mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects.· Practical approach to personal growth and self-improvement: Packed with actionable advice and thought-provoking exercises that prompt personal growth and self-discovery.· Guidance on dealing with addiction and depression: Dr. David Hawkins provides helpful tools and insights to aid those suffering from drug addiction, alcoholism, and depression.With “Healing and Recovery,” Dr. David Hawkins invites us to let go of our pain and step onto a path of mindfulness and self-improvement.

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'CLAIRE NORTH BRINGS A POWERFUL, FRESH AND UNFLINCHING VOICE TO ANCIENT MYTH' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller AriadneFrom the author of the critically acclaimed Ithaca - A Sunday Times Historical Fiction Book of the Year - comes an exquisite and gripping new tale that breathes life into ancient myth. This is the story of Penelope of Ithaca, famed wife of Odysseus, as it has never been told before.On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - but this is shattered by the arrival of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.Orestes's hands are stained with his mother's blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra's life on Ithaca's sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind.Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes's throne - and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca's shores. Her only allies are Elektra and Helen of Troy, Menelaus's enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.Praise for the Songs of Penelope series:'Darkly fascinating, raw and breathtaking' Jennifer Saint, author of Sunday Times bestseller Ariadne'Richly poetic . . . This is an impassioned plea for the lost, disenfranchised queens of ancient Greece, a love letter to the silenced women of history' Booklist'Penelope is proving to be an outstanding epic hero in her own right. A sensational retelling' Elodie Harper, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Wolf Den'Everything I've wanted in a retelling: a vibrant cast, full of suspense, told with a phenomenal narrative voice - this is an absolute masterpiece' Sarah Bonner, author of Her Perfect Twin'Conjures up a world in which women, abandoned by their men, must weave their own destinies' The Times'Claire North has set a new standard for Ancient Greek retellings. Absolutely sublime' Hannah Lynn, author of Athena's ChildThe Songs of Penelope series:Ithaca House of OdysseusThe Last Song of Penelope

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New York Times bestsellerThe pie-making genius behind the popular Instagram account @lokokitchen reveals the secrets of her mind-blowing creations in this gorgeous full-color cookbook featuring 50 incredible sweet and savory pie and tart designsIn a few short years, Lauren Ko made all hell bake loose, going from novice pie baker to internet star and creator of today’s most surprising and delightful pie and tart designs. Her unique geometric style uses fruit and dough cut and woven into stunning shapes to highlight color and texture. With an elegant symmetry that matches their knockout flavor, her dazzlingly intricate and inventive designs look difficult to produce, but can be achieved with little more than a knife, ruler, and some patience.In Pieometry, Lauren reveals her secrets, sharing stories about her designs and the inspiration behind them. Warm and funny, she recounts the spectacular piesasters that led to some of her best creations, and breaks down her most beautiful designs, describing how to make naturally-colored dough, intricate weaves, and striking cut-out patterns. Pieometry provides clear, step-by-step instructions, accompanied by helpful photographs, which any patient baker can follow to build these pies from bottom crust to top in their own kitchens. Lauren makes it easy to mix and match doughs, fruits, fillings, and designs, and each recipe includes suggestions for alternative ingredients. Best of all, the beautiful finished pie and tart photos are just as much of a treat to look at as the pies are to eat. But even if you make a mistake here and there, her flavors save the day!When it comes to flavor, Pieometry offers a balance of sweet and savory pies that are a feast for the senses, including: Of a Shingle Mind: Honey ricotta tart with an herbed pastry shell and beets Berried Treasure: Lavender blackberry cream with a shortbread crust and berries Wave of Wonders: Cardamom coffee cream with a shortbread crust and pear Once in a Tile: Pumpkin black sesame pie with a black sesame crust C and Easy: Butternut bacon macaroni and cheese pie with a whole wheat cheddar chive crust Squiggle Room: Grilled cinnamon pineapple pie with a basic butter crust Whether you want to impress at the holidays or just spruce up a family meal, Pieometry is your guide to transforming a rustic traditional dessert into a modern masterpiece.

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Are you fed up with your work/life balance? Do you feel burnt out and uninspired? Are you stuck in a job you hate and desperate for change but don't know where to start? Then you need this refreshingly honest book that will change your relationship with work for good. One evening after missing the train home, standing on the cold platform, exhausted and quietly sobbing, Anniki Sommerville realized she wouldn't get to see her kids before bedtime for the fourth time that week, she knew it was time for a major change. When podcaster, author, and journalist Anniki first landed her dream job, she was overjoyed. But she very quickly felt trapped in a toxic work culture that was making her miserable and anxious.We're constantly told we should be doing work that is 100% fulfilling and makes us feel authentic and bursting with happiness at every moment. But the perfect job doesn't exist. What if there was another way? From running a multi-million-pound company to becoming a freelancer and everything in between, Anniki has learnt some valuable life lessons about what work means to her. She's figured out that 'nailing it' is a one-way ticket to burnout and disillusionment, and instead found a more joyful path to contentment. In this essential guide to getting your work life back on track, The Big Quit will show you how to: 1. Spot the early signs of burnout 3. Embrace trying new things and overcome fear of failure4. Navigate your way through work anxieties4. Create boundaries with your work and home life5. Benefit from slowing down and looking after yourself6. Build your confidence up after a career break 7. Enjoy your job! Packed with real and practice advice, fans of Arianna Huffington, Everything is Figureoutable, Roxie Nafousi's Manifest and Caitlin Moran will love The Big Quit. Read what everyone is saying about Anniki Sommerville:'I loved this book. Full of wit and wisdom, Anniki tells it like it is.' Clover Stroud 'I LOVED this book... I couldn't put down... so refreshingly honest...The language used made the book feel like I was talking to a friend...really helpful and full of useful advice...such a brilliant read!' NetGalley reviewer ?????????? 'Laugh-out-loud funny! As a woman in her 40s, I thoroughly enjoyed this book... Spot-on for many of the thoughts & worries & oddities running through my head too.' NetGalley reviewer ??????????

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HOW TO DOMINATE, MAKE MILLIONS, AND GET ANYTHING YOU WANT "Serhant shows us it's not enough to just have goals, but to chase our dreams with a verve and joyous energy. Highly practical and infectiously fun." Mark Manson, NYT bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and Everything is F*cked"In Big Money Energy, Ryan Serhant shows readers that when positive energy is mixed with self-confidence and topped off with a heavy dose of hustle. . . anything can be achieved." Sophia Amoruso, NYT bestselling author of #GIRLBOSS Big Money Energy is the feeling you get when you encounter someone who is massively succeeding at life. They're the ultimate picture of self-confidence. There's no bravado, no bragging - they know they have BME and so does everyone else. You get Big Money Energy by being 100% committed to making your vision a reality... and that vision has to be BIG. Ten years ago, Ryan Serhant, billion dollar broker and co-star of Million Dollar Listing New York was living paycheque-to-paycheque and didn't even own a suit. He realized that while he couldn't change his circumstances or the balance of his bank account, there was one thing he could change - his energy. The energy you give off impacts every area of your life, from how much money you earn and how much power you have, to who you socialize with and the jobs you get. Determined to leave his low-rent lifestyle behind forever, Serhant took life-changing steps that resulted in his getting cast on television and doubling his income every year for the next decade. He is now the CEO and Founder of SERHANT., a multi-dimensional property brokerage and media company, and averages a billion dollars in sales every year. Big Money Energy shows you how he tapped into his Big Money Energy to crush his goals and achieve huge success, earning his first million before he turned thirty. Whether you're a self-made entrepreneur, a corporate executive or barista, Serhant will teach you how to climb the ladder to success better and faster than anyone else. If you want Big Money Energy, this is your blueprint. This book is an inspirational, lively guide for anyone who is ambitious enough to dream big and is committed to doing whatever it takes to conquer their goals.

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This bold, groundbreaking study of American political development assesses the presidency of Abraham Lincoln through the lenses of governmental power, economic policy, expansion of executive power, and natural rights to show how Lincoln not only believed in the limitations of presidential power but also dedicated his presidency to restraining the scope and range of it.Though Lincoln’s presidency is inextricably linked to the Civil War, and he is best known for his defense of the Union and executive wartime leadership, Lincoln believed that Congress should be at the helm of public policy making. Likewise, Lincoln may have embraced limited government in vague terms, but he strongly supported effective rule of law and distribution of income and wealth. Placing the Lincoln presidency within a deeper and more meaningful historical context, Abraham Lincoln’s Statesmanship and the Limits of Liberal Democracy highlights Lincoln’s significance in the development of American power institutions and social movement politics.Using Lincoln’s prepresidential and presidential words and actions, this book argues that decent government demands a balance of competing goods and the strong statesmanship that Lincoln exemplified. Instead of relying too heavily on the will of the people and institutional solutions to help prevent tyranny, historian Jon D. Schaff proposes that American democracy would be better served by a moderate and prudential statesmanship such as Lincoln’s, which would help limit democratic excesses.Schaff explains how Lincoln’s views on prudence, moderation, natural rights, and economics contain the notion of limits, then views Lincoln’s political and presidential leadership through the same lens. He compares Lincoln’s views on governmental powers with the defense of unlimited government by twentieth-century progressives and shows how Lincoln’s theory of labor anticipated twentieth-century distributist economic thought. Schaff’s unique exploration falls squarely between historians who consider Lincoln a protoprogressive and those who say his presidency was a harbinger of industrialized, corporatized America.In analyzing Lincoln’s approach, Abraham Lincoln’s Statesmanship and the Limits of Liberal Democracy rejects the idea he was a revolutionary statesman and instead lifts up Lincoln’s own affinity for limited presidential power, making the case for a modest approach to presidential power today based on this understanding of Lincoln’s statesmanship. As a counterpoint to the contemporary landscape of bitter, uncivil politics, Schaff points to Lincoln’s statesmanship as a model for better ways of engaging in politics in a democracy.

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This important new book provides innovative material, including peer-reviewed chapters and survey articles on new applied research and development, in the scientifically important field of QSAR in medicinal chemistry. QSAR is a growing field because available computing power is continuously increasing, QSAR’s potential is enormous, limited only by the quantity and quality of the available experimental input, which are also continuously improving. The number of possible structures for the design of new organic compounds is difficult to imagine, and QSAR helps to predict their activities even before synthesis.The book provides a wealth of valuable information and: • Presents an overview of recent developments in QSAR methodologies along with a brief history of QSAR• Covers the available web resource tools and in silico techniques used in virtual screening and drug discovery processes, compiling an extensive review of web resources in the following categories: databases related to chemical compounds, drug targets, and ADME/toxicity prediction; molecular modeling and drug designing; virtual screening; pharmacophore generation; molecular descriptor calculation software; software for quantum mechanics; ligand binding affinities (docking); and software related to ADME/toxicity prediction• Reviews the rm2 as a more stringent measure for the assessment of model predictivity compared to traditional validation metrics, being specifically important since validation is a crucial step in any QSAR study• Presents linear model improvement techniques that take into account the conformation flexibility of the modeled molecules• Summarizes the building processes of four different pharmacophore models: common-feature, 3D-QSAR, protein-, and protein-ligand complexes• Shows the role of different conceptual density functional theory based chemical reactivity descriptors, such as hardness, electrophilicity, net electrophilicity, and philicity in the design of different QSAR/QSPR/QSTR models• Reviews the use of chemometrics in PPAR research highlighting its substantial contribution in identifying essential structural characteristics and understanding the mechanism of action• Presents the structures and QSARs of antimicrobial and immunosuppressive cyclopeptides, discussing the balance of antimicrobial and haemolytic activities for designing new antimicrobial cyclic peptides• Shows the relationship between DFT global descriptors and experimental toxicity of a selected group of polychlorinated biphenyls, exploring the efficacy of three DFT descriptors• Reviews the applications of Quantitative Structure-Relative Sweetness Relationships (QSRSR), showing that the last decade was marked by an increase in the number of studies regarding QSAR applications for both understanding the sweetness mechanism and synthesizing novel sweetener compounds for the food additive industryThe wide coverage makes this book an excellent reference for those in chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine as well as for research centers, governmental organizations, pharmaceutical companies, and health and environmental control organizations.

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Show parents how to help their children break free of the artificial limitations placed upon them by society’s gender and cultural expectations! This book presents both theoretical and practical ideas for integrating gender and culture into parenting. Unlike other books on the subject, this one examines interventions and activities, and suggests discussion topics that provide children with the skills to become critical consumers and thinkers. You’ll learn to help children discover and celebrate who they are, while infusing the message that they should notice and challenge exaggerated stereotypes of gender and ethnicity. From the editor: If therapists can coach parents in helping to inoculate their children, beginning at early ages, against the negative effects of gender socialization, perhaps the work of developing equal relationships in their friendships and intimate relationships will be less taxing as they grow and mature. Additionally, as children are taught to challenge rigid gender and ethnicity messages, perhaps they will feel a greater sense of flexibility as they dream about who they want to become and how they want to live their lives. This essential book will teach you to help children defeat the harmful media messages they’re bombarded by. Integrating Gender and Culture in Parenting: presents 20 simple ideas and 5 group activities to teach children about social justice in our everyday lives explores parental socialization practices and the values transmitted to school-aged and young adult offspring, focusing on the way parents’ teaching styles integrate race and gender investigates the parenting practices of middle-class, dual-earner couples who feel that they are successfully balancing family and workwith a look at the specific strategies these couples use to achieve an appropriate balance shows what family therapists should know about sexuality education, and highlights the specific roles that feminist family therapists can play with parents, children, and adolescents to help children be more sexually responsible and less likely to put themselves in sexually risky situations examines the gender messages found in 63 articles from the top three selling parenting magazines in the United States In addition, you’ll find two revealing and insightful chapters in which interviewer Lori Lund discusses the cultural scripting that American boys and girls are subjected to, with: Jackson Katzone of America’s leading anti-sexist male activists and the creator/director of the United States Marine Corps Gender Violence Prevention Program, and Mary Pipherrespected sociologist, educator, and bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls and Hunger Pains

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This fascinating biography tells the story of nineteenth-century America through the life of one of its most charismatic and influential characters: Sojourner Truth. In an in-depth account of this amazing activist, Margaret Washington unravels Sojourner Truth's world within the broader panorama of African American slavery and the nation's most significant reform era. Born into bondage among the Hudson Valley Dutch in Ulster County, New York, Isabella was sold several times, married, and bore five children before fleeing in 1826 with her infant daughter one year before New York slavery was abolished. In 1829, she moved to New York City, where she worked as a domestic, preached, joined a religious commune, and then in 1843 had an epiphany. Changing her name to Sojourner Truth, she began traveling the country as a champion of the downtrodden and a spokeswoman for equality by promoting Christianity, abolitionism, and women's rights. Gifted in verbal eloquence, wit, and biblical knowledge, Sojourner Truth possessed an earthy, imaginative, homespun personality that won her many friends and admirers and made her one of the most popular and quoted reformers of her times. Washington's biography of this remarkable figure considers many facets of Sojourner Truth's life to explain how she became one of the greatest activists in American history, including her African and Dutch religious heritage; her experiences of slavery within contexts of labor, domesticity, and patriarchy; and her profoundly personal sense of justice and intuitive integrity. Organized chronologically into three distinct eras of Truth's life, Sojourner Truth's America examines the complex dynamics of her times, beginning with the transnational contours of her spirituality and early life as Isabella and her embroilments in legal controversy. Truth's awakening during nineteenth-century America's progressive surge then propelled her ascendancy as a rousing preacher and political orator despite her inability to read and write. Throughout the book, Washington explores Truth's passionate commitment to family and community, including her vision for a beloved community that extended beyond race, gender, and socioeconomic condition and embraced a common humanity. For Sojourner Truth, the significant model for such communalism was a primitive, prophetic Christianity. Illustrated with dozens of images of Truth and her contemporaries, Sojourner Truth's America draws a delicate and compelling balance between Sojourner Truth's personal motivations and the influences of her historical context. Washington provides important insights into the turbulent cultural and political climate of the age while also separating the many myths from the facts concerning this legendary American figure.

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Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription, Ninth Edition With HKPropel Online Video, is the definitive resource for conducting physical fitness testing and customizing exercise programs. Now in its ninth edition, this comprehensive guide is fully updated with the latest research, the newest exercise testing and prescription guidelines, and the most up-to-date programming content. The text reflects the most recent exercise testing and prescription guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), along with physical activity recommendations from the U.S. government and American Heart Association. It highlights ACSM guidelines for physical activity and exercise testing requirements to consider before beginning exercise programs. Combining important research with practical application of testing and prescription protocols, the ninth edition also features the following: A new full-color interior to provide more detail and understanding of concepts through photos and figures New step-by-step assessment sidebars that make it easy to locate and refer to assessment procedures Modern guidelines for usage of current technology to test and monitor physical activity Demonstrations of many of the assessments and exercises, provided in 73 video clips Structured around the five physical fitness components—cardiorespiratory capacity, muscular fitness, body composition, flexibility, and balance—the text begins with an overview of physical activity, health, and chronic disease, including discussion of preliminary health screenings and risk classification. Readers will gain insight into field and laboratory assessments and testing protocols for each component, along with detailed information on properly administering the most common assessments. The 73 related video clips, delivered online through HKPropel, provide detailed instruction and demonstration for performing many of the assessments and exercises; these include functional movement assessment, pull-up and push-up testing, flywheel training, and more. Finally, readers will turn research into practice by understanding how to design personalized exercise prescription, customized for each client based on individual assessment outcomes. Information on appropriate training methods and programming considerations are presented for each component of fitness. With an unparalleled depth of coverage and clearly outlined approach, Advanced Fitness Assessment and Exercise Prescription bridges the gap between research and practice for students and exercise professionals alike who are eager to increase their knowledge and skill in assessing elements of fitness and designing individualized exercise programs.Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes both the book and exam.Note: A code for accessing online videos is included with this ebook.

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Start developing your own code of conduct for the modern world!Discover the transformative power of Code of Conduct by Scott Freidheim. This captivating and insightful recollection of life events, whether it’s sprinting out of the World Financial Center on 9/11, navigating business in the Gulf during Arab Spring, engaging with Michael Jackson and George Foreman, or avoiding an attempt on his life by a school shooter, the journey Scott takes readers on is a wild first hand account of many moments in our collective history.Through 32 chapters on a mix of both noble tenets and moral threats, such as, materialism, balance, love, and more, Scott shares his colorful personal experiences, hard-earned wisdom, and practical strategies that will empower you to unlock your own guiding characteristics. From highs like becoming a CEO of a NYSE-traded company, to the challenges he faced on the brink of bankruptcy in 2008, Scott reveals lived experiences, assigning meaning and lessons to each of them.Drawing inspiration from Plato’s philosophies, Scott presents a unique framework for finding meaning in your life’s journey. With a professional yet conversational tone, Code of Conduct captivates readers with astute observations and practical advice offering actionable steps for personal growth and guidance.Whether you're a seasoned executive, an aspiring leader, or a young person looking for direction, this book serves as a trusted companion.The endorsements for Code of Conduct reflect its universal appeal and value: Jack Nicklaus, the greatest champion in golf history; Individual Male Athlete of the Century by Sports Illustrated; one of the 10 Greatest Athletes of the Century by ESPN Jerry Greenwald, former Chairman & CEO United Airlines Monica Seles, 9x Major Singles Tennis Champion Bill Perez, Former CEO Nike, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co & S.C. Johnson & Son Wolfgang Schüssel, Federal Chancellor of Austria 2000 - 2007 Kay Koplowitz, Founder, Chairman & CEO USA Networks Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, 9th President of Spelman College and author of widely acclaimed book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Henry Bienen, 15th President of Northwestern University Sami Inkinen, CEO & Co-founder Virta Health, Co-Founder Trulia.com, Elite endurance athlete with Ocean Row world-record Capt. Jeff Frient, U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighter Pilot (Gulf War) Alex Ferreira, Olympic Medalist & X Games Champion Sara Fagen, White House Political Director Dave Bacon, Senior Quantum Physicist, Google Trevor Bezdek, Co-Founder & Chairman GoodRx Kirthiga Reddy, Founder Facebook India, Partner Softbank, WeWork Board of Directors Nick Grayston, CEO The Warehouse Group The author has committed 100% of royalties from the sale of this book to charitable organizations.

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The growth of the number and scale of Chinese museums in the 21st century, from about 1,400 at the turn of the century to over 5,000 to date, reflects the government’s Museum Development Plan for 2011-2020 to open one museum per 250,000 inhabitants, with the goal of attracting one billion visitors at the end of the decade. It is not just the numbers but the speed of development of Chinese museums that takes our breath away—with nearly one new museum per day being opened or expanded in this huge country. What are the motivations for the rapid development of museums in China? How is the public responding? Who pays for these museums and how? What has been the impact of china’s urbanization? How do Chinese museums balance education, scientific research, social cohesion, cultural diplomacy and tourism both internal and external? These are issues that continue to be discussed and debated among western museum professionals in the context of our 200-year history of modern museology. How are these debates evolving in China, which has its own history of museology over that same period from colonialism to communism and from isolation to opening up to the world? This book explores these issues while introducing English-language readers to a sample of the new Chinese museums in case studies and photographs. To accomplish this goal, Lord Cultural Associates partnered with the Chinese Museums Association who engaged leading Chinese museologists, museum directors, academics and architects to provide chapters and case studies on the history of museums in China, on evolving national museum policies, museum exhibitions and cultural diplomacy, the role of private museums, and the impact of museums on society. The four sections of this book build our knowledge of the roles of China’s museums through social and political changes, the systems of governance, the complex relationships between private and public sectors and many levels of government. Section One places the current building boom in context. Section Two addresses how China’s rapid urbanization has fueled the museum building boom, framed it, formed it and in some cases financed it. Section Three analyzes how Chinese exhibitions are tools for cultural diplomacy and key elements of soft power The seven case studies in Section Four provide perspectives on the diversity of innovative approaches in the sector. Museum Development in China --- a beautiful, full-color book --- is the product of an international collaboration to discover how much East and West can learn from each other about museum roles, our publics, how we preserve, what we conserve, and our future sustainability—even as we marvel at the accomplishments of China’s museum building boom.

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'A gorgeous book with beautiful photos, and a historical document to boot.' - Steve Wright, BBC Radio 2Join Lady Carnarvon and discover the fascinating life behind the scenes at the 'real Downton Abbey'.Lady Carnarvon's love of history is richly rewarded at Highclere Castle with its mine of family records going back some 300 years. She has delved into the archives to create a book that invites you inside the Castle, past and present. Throughout the centuries, Highclere has welcomed Royalty, Statesmen, Egyptologists and pioneers of technology along with men and women from the worlds of music, art and letters. The etiquette of the invitation, the balance of guests at a weekend house party, their 'placement' at dinners, and the entertainment of friends, as well as the domestic management required to execute the perfect occasion, have all preoccupied successive generations of châtelaines. This book tells the story four real life weekends - from 1866 to 1936 - when the great and the good gathered at Highclere to change the world in some large or small part. It then reflects on how the current Countess entertains 'At Home' at Highclere today. Each weekend showcases the life of the house, both upstairs with the rich and famous and below stairs with the staff and employees. You are transported to a world where guests were collected from the long since defunct Highclere Station in carriages or later in the earliest cars having had the train stop specifically for them and where the allocation of the most prestigious bedrooms really did matter. It looks at what should be served for dinner, the hot topics of conversation and gossip, traditional breakfasts and shooting parties with the Prince of Wales. She explores how menus were, and still are now, put together with the chef, what were the de rigueur cocktails of the day (and why) - and how to make them at home wherever you are. Each chapter will explore some of the recipes and, where practical, have adaptations and photos of the recipes which can be cooked in today's kitchens. Many recipes are little-changed to this day and Lady Carnarvon shares her commentary on their context at Highclere.'Highclere works hard to steer a steady course in today's world, but the Castle was built for entertainment and pleasure, for convivial weekends. I hope this book gives a glimpse inside a great house, with mouth-watering recipes, eye-catching photographs and fascinating stories about some of the remarkable people who have stayed here.' - Lady Carnarvon

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'This is the most startlingly honest book about grief I have ever read. Its immediacy hits you on the first page and takes you on an unforgettable journey. No one has set out so clearly the stages we go through as we try to come to terms with facing the enormity of death.' - Dame Penelope Wilton, DBE'Sasha writes exquisitely and honestly, the sheer rawness of what she has gone through and is still going through, sitting in balance with the calm and clear-sighted objectivity of the therapist, who is also her.' - Hugh BonnevilleOne person, two perspectives on grief. Plunged unexpectedly into widowhood at just 49 years old, psychotherapist Sasha Bates describes in searing honesty the agonisingly raw feelings unleashed by the loss of her husband and best friend, Bill. At the same time, she attempts to keep her therapist hat in place and create some perspective from psycho-analytic theory. From the depths of her confusion she gropes for ways to manage and bear the pain - by looking back at all that she has learnt from psychotherapeutic research, and from accepted grief theories, to help her make sense of her altered reality.Languages of Loss starts a necessary and overdue conversation about death and loss. It breaks down taboos and tries to find humour and light amidst the depressing, bewildering reality. It is an essential companion to help support readers through the agony of those early months, giving permission for all the feelings, and offering various methods of living with them.This book's overriding message is that everyone's experience of grief is different, but knowing more about the theory, and learning a new vocabulary, while not necessarily easing the grief, can help you feel less alone, and at some point enable you to reflect back and see how far you have come.'This is a useful as well as a moving book. The writing is energetic, down-to-earth and bracingly honest, and many readers will feel consoled and enlightened by Bates's take on her experience.' - Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times'Bates's skill as a psychotherapist is married to her deft ability to use language and metaphor to create this vital treatise on loss. As much as Languages of Loss is an essential text on grief, it is also a story of love.' - Sunday Business Post Review'This book will give anyone grieving the death of their partner an insight into their experience, and help those around them understand the difficult and painful process of grief.' - Julia Samuel, author of This Too Shall Pass and Grief Works

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The must-have second book by the bestselling One Pound Chef, Miguel Barclay. Over 80 delicious super-simple recipes that will save you both time and money.Cook delicious food for less. One Pound Meals became an instant bestseller and the biggest debut cookbook in 2017 with incredible 5-star reviews from his fans and readers. Now in Miguel Barclay's second book, the original One Pound Chef focuses on fresh and light food, all for £1 per person. Here are warm, delicious salads, light soups, nutritious stir-fries and lots of vegetarian meals. All follow Miguel's One Pound style of cooking - simple ingredients, straightforward recipes and mouthwatering meals - and now ready in minutes. With over 80 recipes that are easy to shop for - especially when short of time - Miguel will help you get the most out of your ingredients with his tasty and fast dishes. He will teach you how to shop savvy, buying fresh seasonal ingredients but also show you clever shortcuts with frozen versions when you are in a hurry. Perfect for summer, great for your pocket.'The feedback you gave me from One Pound Meals was that you guys loved the speed and simplicity of my recipes, so I turned this up a notch for you and have created over 80 super-fast recipes for this book. I've also devised more of my characteristic One Pound Meals shortcuts to get you cooking fun and exciting dishes every day of the week without spending hours in the kitchen. I was inspired by all the amazing food from around the globe, especially the street food in Thailand and the refreshing noodle and rice dishes from China. And then, from Europe, I've gone once again to the Mediterranean, taking inspiration from their simple rustic fish dishes that I love so much. These guys adore their food and live in glorious sunshine, so they know how to balance flavours to create light and uplifting summer dishes.My aim is to motivate you to cook as many recipes as possible by making them as irresistible as I can. I want you to keep cooking, discovering one recipe after another, using up ingredients as you go along.'Fast & Fresh recipes include: * Summer Chicken Pie* 5-Spice Baked Feta & Asparagus Salad* Goan Cauliflower Curry* Green Shakshuka * Smoky Fish Tacos* Baked Eggs & Asparagus* Falafel Burger* Butternut Gnocchi with Crispy Parma Ham & Feta* Goats' Cheese 'Scallops'* Mexican Tortilla Soup* Fisherman's PieMiguel Barclay's new recipe book, GREEN ONE POUND MEALS, is available for pre-order now!

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'So perceptive and wise about the media, privilege, the differing but equally troubling pressures that women of all ages face, while still being moving, laugh out loud funny, and inspiring. I loved it.' Louise O'Neill, author of Idol'As she did with sex in her first novel, Insatiable, now Daisy Buchanan holds up a mirror to the changing way we work in the raw and relatable Careering' Red'This thought-provoking, emotionally intelligent, hilarious, sexy and always sharp novel is a fabulous ride.' Daily Mail'A witty tale of the toxic world of modern work' Independentcareering (verb) 1. working endlessly for a job you used to love and now resent entirely2. moving in a way that feels out of control *Imogen has always dreamed of writing for a magazine. Infinite internships later, Imogen dreams of any job. Writing her blog around double shifts at the pub is neither fulfilling her creatively nor paying the bills. Harri might just be Imogen's fairy godmother. She's moving from the glossy pages of Panache magazine to launch a fierce feminist site, The Know. And she thinks Imogen's most outrageous sexual content will help generate the clicks she needs.But neither woman is aware of the crucial thing they have in common. Harri, at the other end of her career, has also been bitten and betrayed by the industry she has given herself to. Will she wake up to the way she's being exploited before her protege realises that not everything is copy? Can either woman reconcile their love for work with the fact that work will never love them back? Or is a chaotic rebellion calling... Hilarious and unflinchingly honest, Careering takes a hard look at the often toxic relationship working women have with their dream jobs.*'The zeitgeisty read tackles the myth of the girl boss, with feelings of imposter syndrome, burnout and comparison rife throughout. Though entertaining - you can't help but cringe at some of the situations Imogen finds herself in - the novel takes a hard look at the very real challenges women still face in the workplace today. With the events of the last two years making many question what really matters in life, Buchanan leaves you with the reminder that whether you love or loathe your job, it doesn't define who you are or put a value on your self-worth.' Stylist'A great great book. Daisy Buchanan has that special something that makes a wonderful popular fiction writer - acute observational skills, huge empathy and a perfect balance of light and

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A comprehensive resource describing innovative technologies and digital health tools that can revolutionize the delivery of health care in low- to middle-income countries, particularly in remote rural impoverished communities Revolutionizing Tropical Medicine offers an up-to-date guide for healthcare and other professionals working in low-resource countries where access to health care facilities for diagnosis and treatment is challenging. Rather than suggesting the expensive solution of building new bricks and mortar clinics and hospitals and increasing the number of doctors and nurses in these deprived areas, the authors propose a complete change of mindset. They outline a number of ideas for improving healthcare including rapid diagnostic testing for infectious and non-infectious diseases at a point-of-care facility, together with low cost portable imaging devices. In addition, the authors recommend a change in the way in which health care is delivered. This approach requires task-shifting within the healthcare provision system so that nurses, laboratory technicians, pharmacists and others are trained in the newly available technologies, thus enabling faster and more appropriate triage for people requiring medical treatment. This text: Describes the current burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases in low- to middle-income countries throughout the world Describes the major advances in healthcare outcomes in low-to middle-income countries derived from implementation of the United Nations/World Health Organisation’s 2000 Millennium Development Goals Provides a review of inexpensive rapid diagnostic point-of-care tests for infectious diseases in low-resource countries, particularly for people living in remote rural areas Provides a review of other rapid point-of-care services for assessing hematological function, biochemical function, renal function, hepatic function and status including hepatitis, acid-base balance, sickle cell disease, severe acute malnutrition and spirometry Explores the use of low-cost portable imaging devices for use in remote rural areas including a novel method of examining the optic fundus using a smartphone and the extensive value of portable ultrasound scanning when x-ray facilities are not available Describes the use of telemedicine in the clinical management of both children and adults in remote rural settings Looks to the future of clinical management in remote impoverished rural settings using nucleic acid identification of pathogens, the use of nanoparticles for water purification, the use of drones, the use of pulse oximetry and the use of near-infrared spectroscopy Finally, it assesses the potential for future healthcare improvement in impoverished areas and how the United Nations/World Health Organization 2015 Sustainable Development Goals are approaching this. Written for physicians, infectious disease specialists, pathologists, radiologists, nurses, pharmacists and other health care workers, as well as government healthcare managers, Revolutionizing Tropical Medicine is a new up-to-date essential and realistic guide to treating and diagnosing patients in low-resource tropical countries based on new technologies.

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Copyright, Contracts, Creators provides a new and original analysis on the relationship between owners and creators and recommendations for legislative change to re-balance the relationship. It is a must read for the intellectual property legal community and anyone interested in the promotion of creative works. - Marshall Rothstein, Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada 'Dr Giuseppina D'Agostino is a protector of the arts, and her work on intellectual property is designed not only to bring law and order to our digital universe but to bring hope to the artists, poets and writers whose only hope of pursuing their artistry is to earn income for their craft. A wonderful book by one of the most wonderful and forward thinking minds in this subject area.- Tony Chapman, Founder and CEO, Capital C, Canada 'Dr D'Agostino has produced an important, carefully documented and courageous study that deserves to be widely read and discussed and (dare one say?) even to have its message heeded.' - David Vaver, Emeritus Professor of Intellectual Property & IT Law, University of Oxford, UK The digital world has put content within arm's reach of desire. No longer can an author be satisfied that her intellectual property is safely encased in a bound book, nor can a photographer know where his work will be displayed or shared, nor can a writer rest assured that her article will be consumed in the intended magazine or newspaper. The Internet-fueled recycling of existing works into new media is the greatest challenge to copyright law. Copyright, Contracts, Creators evaluates the efficacy of current copyright law to address the contracting and use of creative works. It looks in particular at freelance works and argues that their copyright treatment on a national and international level is inadequate to resolve ambiguities in the contracting and uses of the work. Giuseppina D'Agostino discusses how historically laws and courts were more sympathetic to creators, and how the Internet revolution has shifted the scales to favor owners. Consequently, creators often find themselves at opposing ends with copyright owners, and in a disproportionately weaker bargaining position that places tremendous strain on their livelihoods. She argues that this predicament puts society at risk of losing its most valued asset: professional creators. The author calls for a new framework to justify legislative provisions and resolve ambiguities while suggesting principles and mechanisms to address the inadequate treatment of freelance work. Scholars and students of law, cultural studies, and intellectual property will find this volume a critical addition to their libraries. Beyond these, policy makers, lawyers and anyone concerned with the blurring lines of intellectual property in the age of cyberspace will welcome the author's insights.

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Matthews Hamabata got off to an unpromising start when he first arrived in Japan to study influential business families. An unmarried, third-generation Japanese-American graduate student, he was there to learn about business executives in their roles as male principals and heads of households. Some Japanese were less than hospitable and often downright rude to him, and the souvenirs bearing the Harvard University emblem that he had brought along for gifts proved to be inappropriate within the highly ritualized system of Japanese gift-giving. In this engaging and personal narrative, we watch Hamabata in the first disappointing six months of his fieldwork as he attempts to map the boundaries of culture, class, and sexuality. "I became my own biggest fieldwork problem," he writes. "Was I inside or out? When I thought I was in, I was actually out, but when I acknowledged the fact that I was out, I was let in." He soon recognized the importance of marital and filial relations in transmitting power in the business world, and he began to direct his study to examining the social and emotional lives of all members of the Japanese ie (household) and the way they affect business activity and ownership. He takes us behind the scenes of the family enterprise to see how the multiple "layers of reality"—biological, social, religious, emotional, and symbolic—relate and cause dilemmas for ie members. (Names, locations, and other details have been altered for the sake of anonymity.) We meet the Moriuchis, the Itoos, the Okimotos—people who must constantly balance their own personal desires against the good of the ie. Many telling vignettes illustrate a central tension in their lives—their need for love, power, and emotional expression versus the constraints of traditional attitudes toward their ancestors, public honor, the economic enterprise, and the obligation to continue the ie over time. A grandfather stubbornly refuses to hand over the reins of succession to the next generation, creating an impossible situation that eventually tears apart an economic empire, as well as the fabric of various interrelated families. Economic, familial, and religious factors figure in a clash for succession between the person who possesses the ancestral tablets and the head of the enterprise. A daughter must reconcile personal love with arranged marriage. Ambitions for the son in line for succession war with the realization that this spoiled, incompetent young man may well ruin the ie. A fascinating portrait of everyday life told with vibrant sensitivity as well as humor, this book is full of the vitality of common concerns: life choices, love and commitment, confrontations with death. It is about very real people trying to make sense of their lives—trying to reconcile the roles and duties dictated by custom and tradition with rapidly changing expectations in the international milieu of contemporary Japan.

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Stop curating your life as a perfect social media post, and start living authentically as who you really are. Social media and digital content are deeply woven into our daily lives. Reports suggest we check our phones almost 100 times a day! As a result of this, coupled with endlessly streaming shows, news, and gossip, we are bombarded with media that tells us how to look, act, and feel. The reality is that almost all media, and society, is like a house of mirrors, where images can be distorted. Amongst all the photo filters, online shopping, and family and societal pressures, it’s not hard for anyone to start presenting a heavily curated—but ultimately hollow—version of themselves to the world. So how do you stop presenting who you think you should be and start living authentically as who you really are? How do you live your life according to your own values and goals, rather than those of other people? The answer is not to disengage from media or other people altogether—there’s a better way! Finding Your Authentic Self is a guided workbook that will help you connect with your true self, your better self. Through a series of 200+ writing exercises, you will: Observe yourself objectively Explore your values, strengths, and personality Develop compassion for yourself and others Live with integrity and take responsibility Challenge belief systems and communicate honestly Develop self-confidence and manage your emotions Find your life’s purpose A layflat binding facilitates your progress by making it physically easier to write inside the book. Once you realize your true potential, you’ll find you have the respect of others—as well as yourself. You won’t care what others think because you will be living your own personal truth, a truth you can stand behind. Sample prompts include: What currently rules your life? What would you like to rule your life? Do you generally like whom you have become? Why or why not? What has been holding you back emotionally? What do you feel is needed to right your emotional ship? What can you do to reinforce the parts of your soul that make you you? With inspiring and uplifting quotes and affirmations throughout, you can discover the fulfillment and peace that comes from living as a more authentic person, a more genuine you. Other books in the series include: The Adulting Workbook, Stop Overthinking, 5-Minute Productivity Workbook, 3-Minute Positivity Workbook, 52 Weeks to Better Mental Health, The Anti-Anxiety Journal, Manifest Your Intentions, 369 Laws of Attraction Guided Workbook, Tarot: A Guided Workbook to Unlock and Explore Your Magickal Intuition, Astrology: A Guided Workbook to Understand and Explore the Wisdom of the Universe, and Finding Your Balance: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Workbook.

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One of our most incisive critics asks where the assault against the canons of Western culture has led us. Engaging a wide range of literature and criticism, Hartman considers the term "culture" and its many uses, and calls for the restoration of literature to its place as the focus of thinking about culture and for the renewal of aesthetic education to help ensure the balance between art, culture, and politics. Lost among the shouts and skirmishes of the "culture wars" is the very idea of culture itself. In this illuminating book, one of our most distinguished critics and scholars asks what the assault against the canons of Western culture has left in its place. If art and literature are largely the products of ideology and interest, how do they matter? And what does the idea of culture mean in today's sprawling, fragmented, critical world where everything -poetry or pornography- gets "read" in the same way? Engaging an extraordinary range of literature, philosophy, social criticism, and popular culture, Geoffrey Hartman probes the meanings and uses of culture in contemporary society. The triumph of cultural studies -and its critiques of bourgeois Eurocentric tradition- is largely complete, Hartman writes. Against the political appropriation of culture, he posits, instead, a definition of culture as public conversation, intellectual and social debate among diverse communities. And against reactionary pressures to impose -or reinstate- a singular culture, or to seek in art or literature an affirmation of group identity, Hartman sketches new roles for human imagination in a postmodern world. For Hartman, the fusion of culture and politics, of whatever ideology, is disastrous. At a time of abstraction, fragmentation, and alienation, art and literature offer wholeness and meaning. But the promise is frought with danger, Hartman argues, in a provocative discussion of the uses of culture as exemplified in the Romantic legacy. He pays special attention to literature's role in reconnecting us to the world. The choice is ours: Wordsworth or Heidegger, literature as shared experience or as reactionary ideology. Hartman ranges widely in these elegant pages. He confronts the shock to the universalistic sense of culture from the Holocaust, as well as the problematic responses of such critic as Adorno and Derrida; explores the poetry of Wordsworth both as a diagnostic and a counter-model to the desensitization of modern life; and addresses the impact of politics of inclusion and diversity on the claims of high culture. Perhaps Hartman's most publicly engaged book, The Fateful Question of Culture embraces both the masterworks of European literature and art and the signs and symbols of popular media and daily life. It is a powerful reaffirmation of the liberating discourses that have always been at the very center of the Western tradition.

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From the author of the home decorating bestseller, For the Love of White, comes an inspirational and informative guide to creating a welcoming home through the seasons using a white and neutral palette.'Unsurprisingly for a book created by The White Company Founder Chrissie Rucker, this showcases 10 stylist interiors - divided into chapters named after the four seasons - each with a high concentration of white, be it on walls, furniture, textiles or accessories. What it demonstrates is that white need not be bland. Taking a close look at each composed and elegant case study, Chrissie points out the elements that make a room interesting, why a fabric or piece of furniture elevates a scheme, or how the simple addition of a table setting might render it the perfect serene and welcoming space to host a dinner party. The home rituals dispersed throughout provide useful tips on how to refresh your house as the seasons change.' Christabel Chubb, House & Garden'Packed with gorgeous inspiration and clever ideas, it'll help you create unique, characterful rooms with with the palest of shades.' House Beautiful 'White Company founder Chrissie Rucker's new coffee-table book offers plenty of ideas for decorating your home in her signature, soothing style.' The Telegraph, Best Home Christmas Gifts 2022 'Chrissie Rucker, founder of The White Company shows how people use shades of white to great effect in their own homes. ' Good Housekeeping'An absolute delight.' Woman & Home'These homes will inspire anyone who loves tranquil surroundings.' Sunday Express'Beautiful.' Grazia'I love a home to feel warm, inviting, personal and lived-in - and mastering how to decorate with white and neutrals is a wonderful way to achieve this.' - CHRISSIE RUCKERIn her much-anticipated second book, The Art Of Living With White, Chrissie Rucker, Founder of The White Company, explores 10 inspirational homes that illustrate beautifully different ways to use white and neutrals through the seasons. The homes vary in size, style and location - from a minimalist city pied-à-terre to a New England-style country house - but what unites them all is the welcoming, stylish and calm feel that their owners have each created.The homes are grouped into the four seasons and each chapter ends with a summary of seasonal rituals that will work in any home. A concluding chapter - Inspiration & Resources - considers finding your own style, how to create a good balance between work and home in interior spaces, the art of simple entertaining and the importance of scent and touch in a truly comfortable home.Praise for The White Company: For the Love of White'A testament to the power of neutrals' - House and Garden'A visual feast with a passion for all things white at its heart' - House Beautiful

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This fun-filled activity book will teach you all about rocks and minerals with exciting activities, puzzles and more!Uncover all there is to know about the rocks and minerals beneath your feet in this fun-filled activity book.Dig up the Earth's hidden wonders, from ancient rocks to glittering gems, strike gold, and get lost amongst the ancient ruins. No stone is left unturned in this essential activity book!While kids pore over the pages packed with fascinating facts, the fun challenges, quizzes and puzzles will inspire creativity. Explore the relics and ruins of ancient civilisations and have a go at drawing your own, pick out the fake jewels from the real with a spot the difference game, and twist and turn through the maze to discover mysterious caves. Many more buried adventures await you, if you dare to unearth them! With lively activities that go hand in hand with the educational content, learning has never been so effortlessly fun and easy! Perfect for inquisitive, fact-loving kids and budding geologists, The Fact-Packed Activity Book: Rocks and Minerals will keep young readers entertained for hours!Dive deep into the pages of this incredible activity book to explore: -48 colourful, interactive spreads with simple, age-appropriate text-Balance of text and activities on each page make it apt for reluctant readers/learners-Promotes interactive learning-Bright and eye-catching illustrations and photographyA must-have volume for inquisitive and fact-loving kids with a niche for knowledge, The Fact-Packed Activity Book: Rocks and Minerals combines interesting facts about rocks and minerals in the natural world with entertaining activities that encourage children to have fun as they learn. In fact, a recent study suggests that children's activity books help them to develop their reading ability, as well as their literacy and critical thinking. Puzzling out the different steps through each activity naturally improves their comprehension skills whilst they enjoy endless fun along the way! Children have a natural curiosity about the world around them. Rocks and minerals contain clues about the Earth and how it works, so a book like this turns their interest into a learning opportunity. Reveal rocks and minerals you didn't even know existed with with this all-encompassing fact and activity book ideal for 5-9 year olds. Learning has never been more fun!At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why stop there? If you like The Fact Packed Activity Book: Rocks and Minerals then why not try The Fact Packed Activity Book: Dinosaurs to travel back in time and discover the diverse world of dinosaurs, or hone your knowledge on the human body with The Fact Packed Activity Book: Human Body.

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A body lost at sea, arson, murder, astronauts, wind phones, communal funerals, stalking and conspiracy theories … This can ONLY mean one thing! The Skelfs are back, and things are as tense, unnerving and warmly funny as ever! ‘A terrific read with all of Johnston’s trademark warmth and wicked wit in the latest gripping outing for this beguiling family’ A K Turner ‘Some of the best female characters in crime fiction. Pitch-perfect balance of dark and light … disturbing, compassionate and brilliantly funny’ Sarah Hilary 'The Skelfs series just gets better and better! Outstanding characters and a gripping plot … Doug Johnstone is one of the greats of Scottish crime fiction' Luca Veste ____________ Even death needs company… The Skelf women are recovering from the cataclysmic events that nearly claimed their lives. Their funeral-director and private-investigation businesses are back on track, and their cases are as perplexing as ever. Matriarch Dorothy looks into a suspicious fire at an illegal campsite and takes a grieving, homeless man under her wing. Daughter Jenny is searching for her missing sister-in-law, who disappeared in tragic circumstances, while grand-daughter Hannah is asked to investigate increasingly dangerous conspiracy theorists, who are targeting a retired female astronaut … putting her own life at risk. With a body lost at sea, funerals for those with no one to mourn them, reports of strange happenings in outer space, a funeral crasher with a painful secret, and a violent attack on one of the family, The Skelfs face their most personal – and perilous – cases yet. Doing things their way may cost them everything… Tense, unnerving and warmly funny, The Opposite of Lonely is the hugely anticipated fifth instalment in the unforgettable Skelfs series, and this time, danger comes from everywhere… _________________________ ‘If you loved Iain Banks, you’ll devour the Skelfs series’ Erin Kelly ‘Authentic female characters … Short, punchy chapters mean that the pace is brisk, and Johnstone’s deft way of portraying old and new characters means that even novice readers of the series won’t be left behind’ Scotsman 'An absolute joy to read … full of such wonderful characters, brilliantly realised, with more peril and intrigue. Certainly the best one yet' James Oswald ‘Wonderful characters: flawed, funny and brave’ Sunday Times Johnstone never fails to entertain whilst packing a serious emotional punch’ Gytha Lodge ‘A unique brand of crime fiction boasting rare heart and depth’ Ambrose Parry ‘Some of the most unique characters in crime fiction’ Daily Express ‘Gritty, atmospheric and, above all, profoundly moving. An emotional education in the most unexpected of ways … I loved it’ Sarah Sultoon ‘A must for those seeking strong, authentic, intelligent female protagonists’ Publishers Weekly ‘The Skelfs books are brilliant’ Miranda Dickinson ***SHORTLISTED FOR THEAKSTON’S OLD PECULIER CRIME NOVEL OF THE YEAR***

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A step-by-step training program to improve your hearing through enhanced perception with all five senses • Provides detailed instructions for 20 simple, practical exercises you can do at home to improve your hearing and train your senses • Explains the connection between hearing loss and emotional stress and trauma • Shares stories from people who have used this method to compensate for deafness in one ear, others who have been able to ditch their hearing aids completely, as well as the positive effect restored hearing has for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s Through hearing we are connected with everything that surrounds us. Yet millions of people, young and old, suffer from hearing loss, which disrupts this special connection not only with our surroundings but also with our friends, loved ones, and coworkers. As Anton Stucki reveals, onset hearing loss as well as other conditions of the ear canal, such as tinnitus, industrial hearing loss, and vertigo, are not part of our normal physiological aging process. The brain is naturally able to compensate for hearing loss, even in situations with loud background noise, yet as we age, we lose this adaptive ability. In this step-by-step guide, Stucki explains his revolutionary hearing recovery system, complete with detailed instructions for 20 simple, practical exercises you can do at home to improve your hearing and train your senses. Drawing from physiology, biology, physics, psychology, trauma therapy, and brain research, he goes beyond the mechanical notion that damage in the ear is responsible for hearing loss and shows that hearing recovery is possible in many cases. He shares stories from people who used this method to compensate for deafness in one ear, even after multiple unsuccessful surgeries, and others who have been able to ditch their hearing aids completely as well as the positive effect restored hearing has for patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s. He explains how the program does not regenerate inner ear growth directly--the practices work by developing and training your perceptual system to be able to grasp whole meaning from incomplete or partially understood information. Thus the system also helps you establish contact with your inner self and enhances the brain’s self-regulation of all five senses. Exploring the mind-body role of consciousness and belief on overall health, the author reveals how onset hearing loss can be a manifestation of an inner state of imbalance, driven by emotional causes and stress, and how finding the “triggering event” stored in our bodies and dissolving the trauma surrounding it can help restore your hearing. Offering a way to reconnect with the sound environment around us and enhance our inner and outer senses of perception, Stucki shows how improving your hearing can also restore balance to our overall health physically, emotionally, and mentally.

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An explosive new spy series for Alex Rider fans who love breathless plot, cutting-edge tech and action-packed adventure.>> "Hi-tech, hi-spec and high adventure. This is the next generation of super spies. I loved it." EOIN COLFER, bestselling author of Artemis Fowl >> Selected as The Week Junior's Top 5 Action-Packed Adventures>> "A gripping, ingenious, thrilling read that you won't be able to put down!" M.G. LEONARD, bestselling author of Twitch and Adventures on TrainsTwo teen spies. One explosive mission.When their families mysteriously disappear, Swift and Hawk, teen experts in AI and robotics, are recruited by the top-secret Möbius Programme.Plunged into a life-and-death rescue mission, Swift and Hawk must race from hidden tunnels beneath London to the sinister island of Spøkelsøy, straight into the hands of a deadly enemy...An edge-of-your-seat spy thriller for readers 9+ that can be enjoyed as a standalone novel or read as part of the adrenaline-fuelled Swift and Hawk spy series.Praise for Swift and Hawk: Cyberspies“Hi-tech, hi-spec and high adventure. This is the next generation of super spies. I loved it.” EOIN COLFER"Smart, tense and exciting, Swift and Hawk swept me away into a world of cyber espionage, robots and gadgets that would make even Q envious! A brilliant, breathless thriller." JENNIFER BELL"Loved Swift and Hawk: Cyberspies, a high-octane, high-tech teen spy-fi thriller that left me breathless. Buckle up!" JAMIE RUSSELL"A gripping, ingenious, thrilling read that you won't be able to put down!" M.G. LEONARD“Packed with mind-boggling gadgets and superhuman hacking skills, this tense spy thriller is pure escapism. […] A futuristic, middle-grade page-turner with wide appeal.” BookTrust"Do NOT even pick this up . . . unless you can handle nanobot nightmares, unchecked AI, dangerous VR, and terrifying IRL wolves (and fatbergs)." JON SCIESZKA"What a rush – non-stop computer hackery, car chases, kick-ass fighting and international baddies. Great fun!" ALASTAIR CHISHOLM"A brilliantly written spy mystery, with a fast-moving plot, characters that leap from the page, and a cornucopia of coding and tech to keep young readers riveted." ANNA MAZZOLA"Great for fans of the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz, this series has more of a gender balance with Zen being present as the rational, clever and skilled fighter of the pair, bringing some strong girl vibes." ReadPlus"Full of twists and turns which will keep the reader on their toes." ReadingZone, Book of the Day"Slick, tense and insanely exciting, Swift and Hawk is action-packed and adrenaline-fuelled from the get-go..." A Word About Books

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THE DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO PROGRAM MANAGEMENT--FULLY UPDATED AND REVISEDProgram managers must strike a balance between operations and project implementations in order to develop and maintain a culture in which the components of success are repeatable. The Handbook of Program Management is designed to help you do exactly that.This go-to guide supplies you with the insight and tools you need to establish processes that ensure the success of your project managers--and increase the profitability of your products and services. Fully updated and heavily revised, this new edition helps you incorporate new technologies and people into your processes while delivering improved products and services that continually outpace your competition.The Handbook of Program Management providescritical information from a trusted expert. In addition to the classic chapters on Attributes of the Effective Program Manager, Stakeholder Management, and Portfolio Management Essentials, this updated edition is packed with brandnew material covering: Change management Interfaces How bad projects are stopped or postponed How consultants and subcontractors should be used Program performance analysis The role of governance Avoiding the complicated theories and phantom quick-fixes you'll find in other books, The Handbook of Program Management offers straightforward, actionable methods for establishing a highly effective project management culture: one with integrity, energy, and full stakeholder support.Nowhere else will you find such comprehensive,authoritative information on creating successful program management outcomes. The author takes you on the entire journey, from strategically creating a program culture, to building effective relationships, and to analyzing ways ofaccomplishing your program objectives.The Handbook of Program Management is essential reading for program managers of all levels, whether you're a novice seeking certification in the field or an executive looking to build a flexible organization that can support dynamic on-going product development.Praise for the previous edition of The Handbook of Program Management:"Brown's book captures the essential skills of program and project management. It serves as a 'how to' guide for those entering the business, as well as a refresher on the skills and attributes for those ready to take the next step. The book effectively defines the leader’s role in creating the team culture and environment for success." -- Eugene F. Kranz, Apollo 13 Flight Director, author of Failure Is Not an Option, and retired Director NASA Space Operations"Program management is one of the toughest jobs a person can hold…and James Brown knows Program Management. Here's a chance to learn from the scar tissue of others rather than your own." -- Norman R. Augustine, retired Chairman and CEO, Lockheed Martin Corporation"Finally, a pragmatic book that shares the secrets behind successful program management. If I was giving one book to program managers, this would be it! Any business leader in today's environment of accelerating change willbenefit from this book." -- Jack Cooper, former CIO, Bristol-Myers Squibb

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Andreff and his contributors bring a strong dose of reality to the economic modelling of sports leagues. Disequilibrium Sports Economics provides an intellectually compelling opening and a theoretically necessary antidote to the study of sports economics.'- Andrew Zimbalist, Smith College, US'This is an interesting book worth reading for every sports economist because it introduces a thought provoking approach to the growing field of sports economics. The authors show how disequilibrium economics may improve our understanding of puzzling economic phenomena in sports. I congratulate the editor and the contributors for this new book and the novel perspectives provided therein!'- Helmut M. Dietl, University of Zurich, Switzerland'I felt great intellectual excitement after getting acquainted with this volume. The high quality papers by Wladimir Andreff and his co-authors are more significant than the topic indicated modestly by the title; they may not only urge economists of sport to reconsider their earlier theories, but may also provide inspiration and a new momentum to the wide research program on disequilibrium and the soft budget constraint.'- János Kornai, Harvard University, US and Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary'This book sounds like a theoretical breakthrough towards a new approach in sports economics that generates important insights into the issue of financial fair play in football.'- Andrea Traverso, Head of Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play, UEFA'This path-breaking volume contains novel analysis of problems of critical importance to sports clubs, leagues, fans and academics interested in sports.'- Robert Simmons, Lancaster University Management School, UKFor decades, sports economics has been set within the framework of equilibrium economics, in particular when modelling team sport leagues. Based on a conviction that this does not reflect real life, this book addresses a gap in the literature and opens up a new research area by applying concepts drawn from disequilibrium economics. It is divided into two parts, the first of which focuses on economic disequilibrium in sports markets and competitive imbalance in sporting contests. The second part concentrates on soft budget constraints and their consequences for club governance and management.This pioneering book is the first to tackle non-mainstream economics in sport and offers a first approach to disequilibrium sports economics. Providing a new metric of competitive balance and opening up new avenues of future research, this is essential reading for economists and those researching sport across many disciplines.Contributors: W. Andreff, E. Franck, J.-P. Gayant, N. Le Pape, R.D. Macdonald, K. Nielsen, R.K. Storm, G.N. Tuck, D. van Reeth, A.R. Whitten

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"I am delighted to offer my highest praise to Dean Cocking and Jeroen van den Hoven's brilliant new book, Evil Online. The confrontation between good and evil occupies a central place in the challenges facing our human nature, and this creative investigation into the spread of evil by means of all-powerful new technologies raises fundamental questions about our morality and values. Cocking and Van den Hoven's account of the moral fog of evil forces us to face both the demons within each of us as well as the demons all around us. In the end, we are all enriched by their perceptive analyses."—Phil Zimbardo, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Stanford University Principal Investigator, Stanford Prison Experiment "The internet offers new and deeply concerning opportunities for immorality, much of it shocking and extreme. This volume explains with great insight and clarity the corrupting nature of the internet and the moral confusion it has produced. It will play a vital role in the growing debate about how to balance the benefits of the internet against the risks it poses to all of us. Evil Online is an excellent book."—Roger Crisp, Professor of Moral Philosophy, University of Oxford We now live in an era defined by the ubiquity of the internet. From our everyday engagement with social media to trolls on forums and the emergence of the dark web, the internet is a space characterized by unreality, isolation, anonymity, objectification, and rampant self-obsession—the perfect breeding ground for new, unprecedented manifestations of evil. Evil Online is the first comprehensive analysis of evil and moral character in relation to our increasingly online lives. Chapters consider traditional ideas around the phenomenon of evil in moral philosophy and explore how the dawn of the internet has presented unprecedented challenges to older theoretical approaches. Cocking and Van den Hoven propose that a growing sense of moral confusion—moral fog—pushes otherwise ordinary, normal people toward evildoing, and that values basic to moral life such as autonomy, intimacy, trust, and privacy are put at risk by online platforms and new technologies. This new theory of evildoing offers fresh insight into the moral character of the individual, and opens the way for a burgeoning new area of social thought. A comprehensive analysis of an emerging and disturbing social phenomenon, Evil Online examines the morally troubling aspects of the internet in our society. Written not only for academics in the fields of philosophy, psychology, information science, and social science, Evil Online is accessible and compelling reading for anyone interested in understanding the emergence of evil in our digitally-dominated world.

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"We are living through the endtimes of the civilizing mission. The ineffectual International Criminal Court and its disastrous first prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, along with the failure in Syria of the Responsibility to Protect are the latest pieces of evidence not of transient misfortunes but of fatal structural defects in international humanism. Whether it is the increase in deadly attacks on aid workers, the torture and 'disappearing' of al-Qaeda suspects by American officials, the flouting of international law by states such as Sri Lanka and Sudan, or the shambles of the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Phnom Penh, the prospect of one world under secular human rights law is receding. What seemed like a dawn is in fact a sunset. The foundations of universal liberal norms and global governance are crumbling."—from The Endtimes of Human RightsIn a book that is at once passionate and provocative, Stephen Hopgood argues, against the conventional wisdom, that the idea of universal human rights has become not only ill adapted to current realities but also overambitious and unresponsive. A shift in the global balance of power away from the United States further undermines the foundations on which the global human rights regime is based. American decline exposes the contradictions, hypocrisies and weaknesses behind the attempt to enforce this regime around the world and opens the way for resurgent religious and sovereign actors to challenge human rights.Historically, Hopgood writes, universal humanist norms inspired a sense of secular religiosity among the new middle classes of a rapidly modernizing Europe. Human rights were the product of a particular worldview (Western European and Christian) and specific historical moments (humanitarianism in the nineteenth century, the aftermath of the Holocaust). They were an antidote to a troubling contradiction—the coexistence of a belief in progress with horrifying violence and growing inequality. The obsolescence of that founding purpose in the modern globalized world has, Hopgood asserts, transformed the institutions created to perform it, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and recently the International Criminal Court, into self-perpetuating structures of intermittent power and authority that mask their lack of democratic legitimacy and systematic ineffectiveness. At their best, they provide relief in extraordinary situations of great distress; otherwise they are serving up a mixture of false hope and unaccountability sustained by "human rights" as a global brand.The Endtimes of Human Rights is sure to be controversial. Hopgood makes a plea for a new understanding of where hope lies for human rights, a plea that mourns the promise but rejects the reality of universalism in favor of a less predictable encounter with the diverse realities of today's multipolar world.

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'Satisfyingly dark, cleverly plotted and pleasingly Donna Tarttish' Emma Flint, Little Deaths'Seamlessly blends Gone Girl and Promising Young Woman. Smart, sophisticated, seductive' S J Watson, Before I Go To Sleep'A deeply compelling story of friendships turned rotten' Rosemary Hennigan, The Truth Will Out*Sunday Times Bestseller**Shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023**Longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize**Top Ten eBook bestseller**One of Cosmopolitan's Best Books for 2023**One of Apple's Best of the Month**One of FT's Best New Debut Fiction**Heat Book of the Week*------Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a secret. This is her chance for a blank slate: to find the right people and reinvent herself.And then she meets Tabitha.Tabitha is charismatic, beautiful and intimidatingly wealthy. Soon Clare is sucked into her enigmatic circle of friends and their dizzying world of champagne on rooftops and summers in France.Her new life has begun.Then Tabitha reveals the little project they're working on, a project they need Clare's help with. It's reckless, possibly perilous and might finally allow Clare to become who she was meant to be...But how much is an extraordinary life worth if others have to pay?An intoxicating feminist page-turner with shades of The Secret History and Promising Young Woman, this novel will take youon a journey from Edinburgh's dazzling spires to the dripping staircases and dark alleyways of its underbelly.------'Startlingly lovely, like a fine, dark silk shivering on your skin' Julia Heaberlin, We Are All the Same in the Dark'Perfect for fans of dark academia stories like The Secret History and If We Were Villains' Cosmopolitan'Darwent has a great career as a thriller writer ahead of her' Sunday Times'Dark academia and twisted friendships in gothic Edinburgh - what more could you want?' Cailean Steed, Home'Creepy yet compulsive, this impressive novel will stay with you long after reading' Heat'Dark and compulsive, this will have you turning the pages late into the night' Sarah Bonner, Her Perfect Twin'Themes of obsession, revenge and desire collide in a twisty, dark and delicious feminist thriller' Big Issue'An intriguing and complex heroine' Phoebe Wynne, Madam'Darwent keeps the reader guessing. Any time the balance of power appears to settle, the plot takes another twist' Scotland on Sunday'Such an immersive, surprising, impressive debut' Niamh Hargan, Twelve Days In May'Power, privilege and the most toxic of friendships. All set against the stunning backdrop of Edinburgh' Carys Jones, The List

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Kiftsgate Court, perched on the northern edge of the Cotswolds Hills in Gloucestershire, is a garden composed of many different scenes. Some elements - the bluebell wood, the clipped hedging and the rose border, with its famously huge Kiftsgate rose - are traditionally English, but there are also areas of Italianate planting and terracing, and others where a mixture of perennials, roses and rare and exotic shrubs thrive side by side. Equally remarkable is the fine balance between continuity and gentle evolution that the visitor finds at Kiftsgate. This is largely because the garden has belonged to the same family since its creation 100 years ago. Three women have tended Kiftsgate, each one its driving force for a third of a century, and each building on the legacy of the previous generation. In 1919 Heather Muir and her husband, Jack, bought the house, which stands on a relatively narrow plateau from which a bank plunges 100 feet. Heather gave Kiftsgate its structure, laying out the semi-formal gardens by the house, planting the tapestry hedge and rose garden, and terracing the banks. In 1954 Heather was succeeded by her daughter, Diany Binny, who extended and developed her mother's planting, made more borders and paths, and refashioned the White Sunk Garden. Since the late 1980s Diany's daughter, Anne Chambers, has been at the helm, further modernizing the garden and its planting, creating new areas of interest, and opening more often to the public. As Robin Lane Fox, who has written the foreword, comments: `There is nowhere else in Britain that has such a family tradition of planting and dedication ... It is intimate but many-sided, evolving but with roots in a remarkable past.' This beautiful new book - the first dedicated to Kiftsgate - is structured in two main parts. For the first, `The History', Vanessa Berridge has had exclusive access to the Kiftsgate archive, which contains not only family photographs but also letters from their gardening friends, helping us to understand why and how Heather, Diany and Anne have gardened. Among the circle of friends and acquaintances who feature are Lawrence Johnston of Hidcote Manor (Kiftsgate's neighbour); Vita Sackville-West, the creator of Sissinghurst Castle Garden; and the horticulturalist Graham Stuart Thomas, gardens adviser to the National Trust. The second part of the book takes the reader on an extended tour of the garden, illustrated by the glorious photography of Sabina Ruber. The tour concludes with notes on Kiftsgate's signature plants and Anne Chambers's personal reflections on this, one of the great gardens of England.

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Start developing your own code of conduct for the modern world!Discover the transformative power of Code of Conduct by Scott Freidheim. This captivating and insightful recollection of life events, whether it’s sprinting out of the World Financial Center on 9/11, navigating business in the Gulf during Arab Spring, engaging with Michael Jackson and George Foreman, or avoiding an attempt on his life by a school shooter, the journey Scott takes readers on is a wild first hand account of many moments in our collective history.Through 32 chapters on a mix of both noble tenets and moral threats, such as, materialism, balance, love, and more, Scott shares his colorful personal experiences, hard-earned wisdom, and practical strategies that will empower you to unlock your own guiding characteristics. From highs like becoming a CEO of a NYSE-traded company, to the challenges he faced on the brink of bankruptcy in 2008, Scott reveals lived experiences, assigning meaning and lessons to each of them.Drawing inspiration from Plato’s philosophies, Scott presents a unique framework for finding meaning in your life’s journey. With a professional yet conversational tone, Code of Conduct captivates readers with astute observations and practical advice offering actionable steps for personal growth and guidance.Whether you're a seasoned executive, an aspiring leader, or a young person looking for direction, this book serves as a trusted companion.The endorsements for Code of Conduct reflect its universal appeal and value: Jack Nicklaus, the greatest champion in golf history; Individual Male Athlete of the Century by Sports Illustrated; one of the 10 Greatest Athletes of the Century by ESPN Jerry Greenwald, former Chairman & CEO United Airlines Monica Seles, 9x Major Singles Tennis Champion Bill Perez, Former CEO Nike, Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co & S.C. Johnson & Son Wolfgang Schüssel, Federal Chancellor of Austria 2000 - 2007 Kay Koplowitz, Founder, Chairman & CEO USA Networks Dr. Beverly Daniel Tatum, 9th President of Spelman College and author of widely acclaimed book Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? Henry Bienen, 15th President of Northwestern University Sami Inkinen, CEO & Co-founder Virta Health, Co-Founder Trulia.com, Elite endurance athlete with Ocean Row world-record Capt. Jeff Frient, U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighter Pilot (Gulf War) Alex Ferreira, Olympic Medalist & X Games Champion Sara Fagen, White House Political Director Dave Bacon, Senior Quantum Physicist, Google Trevor Bezdek, Co-Founder & Chairman GoodRx Kirthiga Reddy, Founder Facebook India, Partner Softbank, WeWork Board of Directors Nick Grayston, CEO The Warehouse Group The author has committed 100% of royalties from the sale of this book to charitable organizations.

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The Times Best Novels of 2020'Clever, witty and perceptive . . . Gekoski writes movingly about love, loss and grief, while handling the difficult issue of assisted dying with considerable balance and finesse. Beautifully written, engrossing and heartbreakingly funny' Mail on Sunday'Stylish, funny and daring . . . the clarity and energy of Darke Matter fill you with light' The Times (best summer books)'Harrowing, funny, tender and nearly always beautifully written' Sunday TimesJames Darke is dreading the first family Christmas without his wife Suzy. Engulfed by grief, his grudging preparations are interrupted by a persistent knock at the door. Questions about the circumstances of his wife's death force him to confront the outside world and what really happened to her.Isolated, angry and diminished, James soon faces a crisis both legal and psychological. It will test his resolve and threaten his freedom. Darke Matter is a brilliant, mordant examination of the nature and obligations of love. Both immensely sad and extremely funny, the story wrestles with one of the great moral issues of our time.The surprising sequel to Darke . . . Praise for Darke:'An original and bleakly funny portrait of grief' Economist 'Surprising . . . with a warmth that is genuinely and unexpectedly moving' Guardian 'A wondrous book with two fathers, Kingsley Amis and Dante' Sebastian Barry 'Makes for dark, thrilling reading . . . In James Darke, Gekoski has created a powerful, raging voice' Spectator 'I was beguiled and charmed by the vivid personality being revealed. By that, and by the fact that I couldn't stop reading. Gekoski puts words together with a sure touch and deep craftsmanship' Philip Pullman 'Rick Gekoski's impressive debut novel . . . Darke is both a tender and hard-hitting examination of grief and the slow, singular healing process . . . A brilliantly vivid creation . . . life-affirming and life-shattering' The Herald'Staggeringly accomplished. Heartbreakingly true. A shockingly monumental first novel' John Niven 'Stuffed with more wisdom, bile, wit and tenderness than many writers create in a lifetime. In James Darke we have a hero as troubled and eternal as King Lear . . . And in Rick Gekoski we have a late-flowering genius of a novelist who proves it's never too late to start a glittering career in fiction' The Times 'An immensely enjoyable elegy . . . done with precision and patience' The Scotsman 'Debut delight . . . Just how this gleefully conjured misanthrope came to wall himself off from the world is the mystery at the heart of a singular first novel that evolves into a moving meditation on loss and redemption' Mail on Sunday

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NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition, Second Edition, presents valuable foundational information on the effects that nutrition has on performance, health, and body composition. Whether you work with fitness enthusiasts or competitive athletes, this resource will help you understand and apply scientific findings so that you can assess an individual’s nutrition status and—if it falls within your scope of practice—develop customized nutrition plans.Developed by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) with contributions from 13 experts in the areas of nutrition and human performance, and subjected to an intensive peer-review process, this authoritative resource covers all aspects of food selection, digestion, metabolism, and hydration relevant to sport and exercise performance.This second edition brings several contemporary sport nutrition issues to the forefront, including recent developments in relative energy deficiency in sport (RED-S), research related to carbohydrate mouth rinsing, the role of popular dietary supplements, preworkout supplements, and the use of protein and amino acids in improving aerobic endurance, strength, and power. Examine the topic of energy balance and the implications of undereating and overeating. Learn to use popular software and smartphone apps to assess nutrition status. Understand what macronutrients are and how they are metabolized, stored, and oxidized for energy. Use science-based recommendations for using macronutrients, micronutrients, and hydration to improve aerobic, anaerobic, and strength-based performance. Finally, use cutting-edge findings on nutrient timing based on the type, intensity, and duration of activity to help you understand how to recommend the correct nutrients at the ideal time to achieve optimal performance results.NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition includes professional application sections to draw the connection between research and its practical implementation. Sidebars emphasize important topics, and reproducible forms (a food log, brief nutrition assessment, and goal-setting questionnaire) can be copied and shared. A running glossary keeps key terms at your fingertips, and extensive references within the text offer starting points for your continued study and professional enrichment.Each client and athlete can benefit from a customized diet tailored to the frequency, intensity, duration, and specificity of their training and demands of the sport or activity. With NSCA’s Guide to Sport and Exercise Nutrition, you will get an in-depth understanding of how food and sport supplements can enhance exercise and sport performance for optimal training, competition, and recovery.Earn continuing education credits/units! A continuing education course and exam that uses this book is also available. It may be purchased separately or as part of a package that includes all the course materials and exam.

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This best-selling combination planner and journal from Brendon Burchard – the world’s #1 high performance coach and #1 New York Times bestselling author of High Performance Habits will help you strategize your life and increase your performance.This productivity planner is the ultimate tool to help you achieve your goals and become the best version of yourself! It includes writing prompts, self-assessments, and calendars – all backed by science and Brendon’s 20-plus years of coaching the highest performers in business, athletics, entertainment, and beyond. The High Performance Planner is a 2-in-1 day planner and journal based on the world's largest study of how high performers increase productivity, set goals, prioritize projects, outperform their peers, and create the positive mindset and habits needed to win the day. Through morning mindset journal prompts, daily goal boxes, evening scorecards, weekly habit assessments, monthly project planning, and proprietary whole life balance sheets, the Planner helps you think more strategically, prioritize like a pro, achieve your goals faster, and become more focused, happy, and productive. Best of all, the Planner helps you install the personal and professional habits proven to lead to long-term success. “High performance means succeeding over the long term without compromising your health or positive relationships. This Planner helps you do that by accounting for your entire life's progress, not just your daily to-dos.” – Brendon Burchard This motivational daily planner will help you to: · STAY MORE FOCUSED· PRIORITIZE LIKE A PRO· INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY · MEASURE WHAT MATTERS · BUILD MORE EFFECTIVE HABITS · ACCELERATE YOUR PERSONAL GROWTHThe High Performance Planner includes:· 2-in-1 planner features day schedule + morning and evening journal prompts· 60 days, undated, so you can buy now and use any time of year· Daily Pages feature the Morning Mindset Process and Evening Review Scorecard· Weekly Pages include the High Performance Habits Assessment· Monthly Pages help you align to long-term goals and strategically think ahead· Free online assessment to track your habits! ($97 value!)This planner is designed to guide you through every aspect of your day, from morning rituals to evening reflections, and helps you stay focused, motivated, and organized.It features daily pages that include sections for setting intentions, identifying key tasks and priorities, reflecting on progress and lessons learned, and planning for the next day.Whether you’re an entrepreneur, student, or professional, the planner can help you increase productivity, cultivate a positive mindset, and start your journey toward peak performance!

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With Natural Baking you can now have your cake and eat it too!Described by Jamie Oliver as his 'favourite cooking book of the year', this is your new baking bible for healthy baking recipes to create an awe-inspiring array of stunning cakes and sweet treats, whilst cutting down on the sugar too!Discover all of your favourite cake recipes and baked goodies, from carrot cake to hot cross buns, all redefined in a healthy and imaginative way by use of natural ingredients. Dive straight in to discover: -Over 70 delicious low-sugar and sugar-free recipes of all your favourite cakes-Featuring 120 photos of the finished product to accompany each riveting recipe -Many recipes are gluten and dairy free -Includes a seasonal calendar to guide you through how to bake using fresh and seasonal produceEach delicious recipe contains little or no processed sugar, and instead relies on easy-to-source sugar substitutes and natural sugar alternatives, such as honey, maple syrup and more. From honey swirls to hazelnut cake, cranberry pie to panettone, this all-encompassing healthy baking book promises something for everyone to love, with a diverse range of low-sugar cakes, pastries, muffins and more. A must-have volume for those looking to cook healthier treats for the whole family to enjoy, whether you're a health-conscious consumer or a keen baker looking for healthy and creative baking ideas. Author Carolin Strothe and Sebastian Keteil are a husband and wife duo who share a strong love of healthy cooking and baking. Carolin's award-winning food blog has over 64,000 followers on Instagram and inspires thousands to fall in love with baking, without compromising on calories!A recent study suggests 57% of consumers reported low-sugar is an important factor when deciding what food to buy for their household. However, the ever-growing pressure of daily life in today's society, and trying to balance a career with the demands of family life, often gives way to temptation for easily-accessible sugar supplies, baked goods and more. Despite knowing that excessive sugar is bad for health, a lot of people still crave it on a daily basis. However, this book can help people to satiate their cravings, without undermining their health!This ground-breaking baking book allows readers to tap into the world of healthy baking, without using expensive and difficult-to-source ingredients. In fact, many of the healthy-substitute ingredients can already be found in your kitchen!Stunning atmospheric shots within the book add character and inspiration to each recipe, whether it's pastries, pies, pancakes, cakes, biscuits and more!

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'A rapid-fire debut with a cinematographer's eye for detail... Fan strikes a deft balance between agile set-pieces and lingering beauty.' Naoise Dolan 'A vivid, powerful portrait of a vanishing world.' David Nicholls'Do you know what it was like here? You wouldn't believe the glamour. We had our own film studio, redbrick houses for the stars, even Jackie Chan. Now look at us - the Hollywood of the Orient will soon be gone altogether.'1987, Hong Kong. Trying to outrun his demons, a young man who calls himself Buddha returns to the bustling place of his birth. He moves into a small Buddhist nunnery in the crumbling neighbourhood of Diamond Hill, where planes landing at the nearby airport fly so close overhead that travellers can see into the rooms of those below.As Buddha begins to care for the nuns and their neighbours, this pocket of the old city is vanishing. Even the fiery Iron Nun cannot prevent the frequent landslides that threaten the nunnery she fights for, and in the nearby shanty town, a faded film actress who calls herself Audrey Hepburn is hiding a deep secret and trying to survive with her teenage daughter who has a bigger fish to fry.But no one arrives in Diamond Hill by accident, and Buddha's ties to this place run deeper than he is willing to admit. Can he make peace with his past and survive in this disappearing city?Beautifully written and utterly compelling, Diamond Hill is a gorgeous love letter that perfectly captures a lost place, filled with unforgettable characters. If you love books by Hanya Yanagihara, Colm Tóibín and Ocean Vuong, you'll adore this haunting and evocative novel.What people are saying about Diamond Hill:'The best debut I've read in ages... A glorious luminosity to the writing and the reading experience is rather like looking into a kaleidoscope and giving it several twirls.' Cathy Rentzenbrink 'A gripping and highly accomplished debut... A thoroughly enjoyable and profound exploration of powerlessness, identity and the evolution of a city.' Guardian'Fan is an exuberant chronicler of a lost time and place... It's a timely consideration of Hong Kong's recent past.' The Times'An exhilarating and original tale, Diamond Hill marks award-winning Fan as a writer to watch.' Cosmopolitan 'Fan creates a textured, unsettled portrait of a territory facing a decisive ending... The dark drama that unfolds is an elegy to that vanished vanishing world.' The Wall Street Journal'Gleams with pleasurable insights... Memorable moments are sketched by a poet's hand.' South China Morning Post

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'Satisfyingly dark, cleverly plotted and pleasingly Donna Tarttish' Emma Flint, Little Deaths'Seamlessly blends Gone Girl and Promising Young Woman. Smart, sophisticated, seductive' S J Watson, Before I Go To Sleep'A deeply compelling story of friendships turned rotten' Rosemary Hennigan, The Truth Will Out*Sunday Times Bestseller**Shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Crime Debut of the Year 2023**Longlisted for the McIlvanney Prize**Top Ten eBook bestseller**One of Cosmopolitan's Best Books for 2023**One of Apple's Best of the Month**One of FT's Best New Debut Fiction**Heat Book of the Week*------Clare arrives at the University of Edinburgh with a secret. This is her chance for a blank slate: to find the right people and reinvent herself.And then she meets Tabitha.Tabitha is charismatic, beautiful and intimidatingly wealthy. Soon Clare is sucked into her enigmatic circle of friends and their dizzying world of champagne on rooftops and summers in France.Her new life has begun.Then Tabitha reveals the little project they're working on, a project they need Clare's help with. It's reckless, possibly perilous and might finally allow Clare to become who she was meant to be...But how much is an extraordinary life worth if others have to pay?An intoxicating feminist page-turner with shades of The Secret History and Promising Young Woman, this novel will take youon a journey from Edinburgh's dazzling spires to the dripping staircases and dark alleyways of its underbelly.------'Startlingly lovely, like a fine, dark silk shivering on your skin' Julia Heaberlin, We Are All the Same in the Dark'Perfect for fans of dark academia stories like The Secret History and If We Were Villains' Cosmopolitan'Darwent has a great career as a thriller writer ahead of her' Sunday Times'Dark academia and twisted friendships in gothic Edinburgh - what more could you want?' Cailean Steed, Home'Creepy yet compulsive, this impressive novel will stay with you long after reading' Heat'Dark and compulsive, this will have you turning the pages late into the night' Sarah Bonner, Her Perfect Twin'Themes of obsession, revenge and desire collide in a twisty, dark and delicious feminist thriller' Big Issue'An intriguing and complex heroine' Phoebe Wynne, Madam'Darwent keeps the reader guessing. Any time the balance of power appears to settle, the plot takes another twist' Scotland on Sunday'Such an immersive, surprising, impressive debut' Niamh Hargan, Twelve Days In May'Power, privilege and the most toxic of friendships. All set against the stunning backdrop of Edinburgh' Carys Jones, The List

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"We are living through the endtimes of the civilizing mission. The ineffectual International Criminal Court and its disastrous first prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, along with the failure in Syria of the Responsibility to Protect are the latest pieces of evidence not of transient misfortunes but of fatal structural defects in international humanism. Whether it is the increase in deadly attacks on aid workers, the torture and 'disappearing' of al-Qaeda suspects by American officials, the flouting of international law by states such as Sri Lanka and Sudan, or the shambles of the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Phnom Penh, the prospect of one world under secular human rights law is receding. What seemed like a dawn is in fact a sunset. The foundations of universal liberal norms and global governance are crumbling."—from The Endtimes of Human RightsIn a book that is at once passionate and provocative, Stephen Hopgood argues, against the conventional wisdom, that the idea of universal human rights has become not only ill adapted to current realities but also overambitious and unresponsive. A shift in the global balance of power away from the United States further undermines the foundations on which the global human rights regime is based. American decline exposes the contradictions, hypocrisies and weaknesses behind the attempt to enforce this regime around the world and opens the way for resurgent religious and sovereign actors to challenge human rights.Historically, Hopgood writes, universal humanist norms inspired a sense of secular religiosity among the new middle classes of a rapidly modernizing Europe. Human rights were the product of a particular worldview (Western European and Christian) and specific historical moments (humanitarianism in the nineteenth century, the aftermath of the Holocaust). They were an antidote to a troubling contradiction—the coexistence of a belief in progress with horrifying violence and growing inequality. The obsolescence of that founding purpose in the modern globalized world has, Hopgood asserts, transformed the institutions created to perform it, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and recently the International Criminal Court, into self-perpetuating structures of intermittent power and authority that mask their lack of democratic legitimacy and systematic ineffectiveness. At their best, they provide relief in extraordinary situations of great distress; otherwise they are serving up a mixture of false hope and unaccountability sustained by "human rights" as a global brand.The Endtimes of Human Rights is sure to be controversial. Hopgood makes a plea for a new understanding of where hope lies for human rights, a plea that mourns the promise but rejects the reality of universalism in favor of a less predictable encounter with the diverse realities of today's multipolar world.

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Hospital visits, calendar watching, disheartening test results and scheduled sex can make trying for a baby a stressful experience, and the strain it puts on couples and individuals struggling with infertility can impact hugely on the likelihood of successful conception.With an approach that puts wellbeing at the heart of fertility, this easy-to-follow guide by top fertility specialist Ann Bracken offers a proven successful alternative to formal counselling. Her comprehensive and supportive book gives help and guidance on how to enhance and improve the outcome.With a focus on mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques, which have been scientifically proven to help overcome the stress and anxiety associated with fertility problems, the author examines the emotional issues around fertility and conception and offers step-by-step exercises to help readers improve their chances of conceiving. With a whole chapter on nutrition by renowned nutritionist Dr Marilyn Glenville, the integrated mind/body approach in this book offers a plan for the best possible chance of getting pregnant. Offering the perfect blend of emotional support and practical advice on lifestyle changes for infertility this is a must-have book for every couple hoping to get pregnant, written by an expert author with years of experience as a Fertility Counsellor and Mindfulness-Based Therapist.'After 20 years of supporting fertility patients I am convinced that an integrated mind-body approach delivers the best outcome. Ann Bracken has a practical and compassionate approach, as demonstrated in her brilliant new book. It is a much-needed antidote to the all-too-often stressful and soul-searching path to parenthood. I will be recommending it to my fertility patients'Emma Cannon, integrated fertility and pregnancy expert, acupuncturist and author of The Baby-Making Bible'All too often the management of reproductive health is seen through the narrow prism of a particular clinician or clinic. This book provides the perfect balance outlining the integrative mind and body approach and provides an essential complement to the medical aspects of the fertility journey' Dr James Nicopoullos, Consultant Gynaecologist & Subspecialist in Reproductive Medicine, The Lister Clinic, Lister Hospital, Chelsea, London'Ann Bracken expertly shows readers how to weave mindfulness into their lives to help them take care of their wellbeing as they live through a challenging process. Her book includes a great deal else besides, but I was impressed by how she makes mindfulness so readily accessible.'Padraig O'Morain, mindfulness teacher and psychotherapist, author of Mindfulness on the Go, Mindfulness for Worriers

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In Imagination from Fantasy to Delusion, Lois Oppenheim illustrates the enhancement of self that creativity affords, the relationship of imagination to the self as agent. The premise of this book is twofold: First, that the imaginary is real. Where it differs from what we commonly take to be reality is in structure and in form. The imaginary of art, for example, is not illusionary for it is phenomenologically describable and even depictable, as demonstrated by the self-reflexive efforts of modernist painters and writers. No less real than the imaginary of art, and thus fantasy, is the imaginary of delusion, ascertainable in the very function it serves. Though fundamentally different, fantasy and delusion do share a significant feature: a preoccupation with agency. Second is that change, the enhancement of self through an increase in agency, is facilitated by the biology of reward: The pleasure of increased self-cohesion—the efficacy acquired through knowledge of, and the attribution of meaning to, the world—is ultimately the sine qua non of imaginative thought.Oppenheim emphasizes the idea that imagination generates knowledge. Our sensory systems, like our higher cognitive functions, give the human brain knowledge to maintain the homeostatic balance required for survival and to enrich the sense of self required for agency. And, she suggests, imagination is a function of their doing so. Moreover, she explores the construct by which we apprehend the workings of imagination—fantasy—and considers in what the mental imagery that endows it consists, how fantasy may be transmitted transgenerationally, and how delusion can be an impediment to imagination while also being a product of it. Additionally, she likens psychoanalysis to the making of art as a process of acquiring knowledge and looks at creativity itself as a coming-to-know.Throughout this book, there run several opposing threads. The first is that of the intra- and interpsychic psychoanalytic paradigms. This theoretical contrast bears on our understanding of aesthetic experience as sublimatory versus object relational and on our understanding of the construction of meaning. A second opposition resides in the notion of agency (with its implication of self-cohesion) which has everything to do with ego function and, seemingly, the usefulness of "unconscious fantasy," a cornerstone of psychoanalysis now thrown into question by the postmodern favoring of dissociation over repression and other mechanisms of defense. Last, but no less significant, is the contrast interwoven between the empiricism of neuroscience and the metaphysics of philosophical thought. Oppenheim's underlying effort is to explore the validity of these oppositions, which seem not to hold as steadfastly as we tend to suppose.

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