Search results for ""rand""

An original, out-of-this-world fable about friendship, teamwork, and persistence, illustrated by double Caldecott Medalist Chris Raschka.It’s up to Giovanni and Lorenzo, Sky Repair Specialists, to fill the sky with stars. One night, on the job, Lorenzo gets stuck in a nebula! Giovanni calls out for help to the constellations....Find out what it will take to rescue his friend in this imaginative story featuring Chris Raschka’s brilliant, luminescent illustrations.

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“An exhilarating wine book… No serious wine lover’s library is complete without it” Wine Spectator Grapes & Wines is the key to enjoying modern wine. Approaching wine through grapes is in tune with the way consumers now think and learn about wine. Most wines, especially those from the Americas, Australasia and South Africa, are now sold under the name of the grape variety used rather than under the old European system of chateau and appellation name. You’re standing in a wine shop and see bottles labeled Aglianico or Tannat. Do you know what they are? Garnatxa sounds familiar and it is, as it is the Basque name of the popular Grenache grape, but how do you know this? You’ve heard of Carmenere from Chile, and probably bought the wine, but did you know it is an old historic Bordeaux variety? This is the perfect book to help you find out more about the world’s top classic grapes, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Zinfandel – the history, the places, the people, the wine styles and the flavours are covered in detail. It is also just the book for dipping into as you come across an unfamiliar grape variety. Grapes & Wines has been thoroughly revised and updated.

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The world's best-selling annual wine guide.'This compact annual guide is packed with information and recommendations of top names from every wine region.' DecanterHugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book is the essential reference book for everyone who buys wine - in shops, restaurants, or on the internet. Now in its 46th year of publication, it has no rival as the comprehensive, up-to-the-minute annual guide.This latest edition of Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book includes a color supplement: How Wine Ages (And Why), which covers questions such as whether aged wine is necessarily better wine and how to store wine to ensure it ages well. It provides clear succinct facts and commentary on the wines, growers and wine regions of the whole world. It reveals which vintages to buy, which to drink and which to cellar, which growers to look for and why. Hugh Johnson's Pocket Wine Book gives clear information on grape varieties, local specialities and how to match food with wines that will bring out the best in both.

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The operational auditing HANDBOOK Auditing Business and IT Processes Second Edition The Operational Auditing Handbook Second Edition clarifies the underlying issues, risks and objectives for a wide range of operations and activities and is a professional companion for those who design self-assessment and audit programmes of business processes in all sectors. To accompany this updated edition of The Operational Auditing Handbook please visit www.wiley.com/go/chambers for a complete selection of Standard Audit Programme Guides.

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Officially endorsed by The Theraplay® Institute, this handbook builds on the core concepts of Theraplay® and explores innovative ways to integrate the approach with other therapeutic models for diverse settings and client groups. The book features chapters on the neurobiology of Theraplay®, Tele-Theraplay, and men in Theraplay®, as well as advice for working with traumatized children, neurodivergent children, intergenerational trauma, and homelessness. Throughout the handbook, you'll be encouraged to challenge the limits of your practice and discover new ways to approach challenges using techniques rooted in extensive research-based evidence. Contributions from a wide variety of specialists create a rich tapestry of expertise, providing practical recommendations for integrating Theraplay® with other modalities to give clients the best support for their unique needs.Essential reading for Theraplay® trainees, play therapy practitioners, and professionals working with children, this guide explains the practical applications of cutting-edge research and provides a flexible, effective approach to your practice.

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Communication and social skills are a key challenge for children on the autism spectrum, and a fundamental priority for care professionals to support their clients' progress. Using case studies and evidence-based advice, this book guides readers through an integrated Theraplay® approach to helping young people on the autism spectrum. The interventions emphasise interactivity and fun to help children build social and emotional skills through play. From using balloons to encourage eye contact to turn-taking play for fostering social awareness, each Theraplay® activity is tailored to support children on the autism spectrum and includes suggestions for further adaptations to suit each child's unique needs. Parents' and guardians' needs are also addressed in the context of Theraplay®, examining common sources of frustration and providing advice on effective treatment plans. Officially supported by the Theraplay® Institute, this handbook guides readers towards a thoughtful, focused application of Theraplay® to support children on the autism spectrum.

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Recent neuroscience, in replacing the old model of the brain as a single centralized source of control, has emphasized “plasticity,” the quality by which our brains develop and change throughout the course of our lives. Our brains exist as historical products, developing in interaction with themselves and with their surroundings. Hence there is a thin line between the organization of the nervous system and the political and social organization that both conditions and is conditioned by human experience. Looking carefully at contemporary neuroscience, it is hard not to notice that the new way of talking about the brain mirrors the management discourse of the neo-liberal capitalist world in which we now live, with its talk of decentralization, networks, and flexibility. Consciously or unconsciously, science cannot but echo the world in which it takes place. In the neo-liberal world, “plasticity” can be equated with “flexibility”—a term that has become a buzzword in economics and management theory. The plastic brain would thus represent just another style of power, which, although less centralized, is still a means of control. In this book, Catherine Malabou develops a second, more radical meaning for plasticity. Not only does plasticity allow our brains to adapt to existing circumstances, it opens a margin of freedom to intervene, to change those very circumstances. Such an understanding opens up a newly transformative aspect of the neurosciences. In insisting on this proximity between the neurosciences and the social sciences, Malabou applies to the brain Marx’s well-known phrase about history: people make their own brains, but they do not know it. This book is a summons to such knowledge.

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Artworks from the early 1990s through the present examine the many ways that love is understood, expressed or left unspoken This volume features more than 35 diverse and multigenerational artists, exploring themes that grapple with some of the most firmly rooted concepts of love, including the union of two people and their co-belonging in a shared destiny, the ties that bind family and friends, and loving practice that comes from action, intention and commitment to promote the worth and well-being of community. Artists include: Ghada Amer, Rina Banerjee, Thomas Barger, Patty Chang, Susanna Coffey, James Drake, Keith Edmier and Farrah Fawcett, Alanna Fields, Dara Friedman, Andrea Galvani, General Idea, Jeffrey Gibson, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Kahlil Robert Irving, Tomashi Jackson, María de los Angeles Rodríguez Jiménez, Rashid Johnson, Gerald Lovell, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Kerry James Marshall, Felicita Felli Maynard, Wangechi Mutu, Ebony G. Patterson, Paul Pfeiffer, Magnus Plessen, Gabriel Rico, Dario Robleto, RongRong&inri, Michelle Stuart, Vivian Suter, Jana Vander-Lee, Carrie Mae Weems and Akram Zaatari.

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Introduction to Robust Estimating and Hypothesis Testing, Fifth Edition is a useful ‘how-to’ on the application of robust methods utilizing easy-to-use software. This trusted resource provides an overview of modern robust methods, including improved techniques for dealing with outliers, skewed distribution curvature, and heteroscedasticity that can provide substantial gains in power. Coverage includes techniques for comparing groups and measuring effect size, current methods for comparing quantiles, and expanded regression methods for both parametric and nonparametric techniques. The practical importance of these varied methods is illustrated using data from real world studies. Over 1700 R functions are included to support comprehension and practice.

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This title guides readers through the ins and outs of starting, running and maintaining a thriving craft business on a shoestring. It is the most complete, up-to-date & authoritative resource for crafters seeking to learn every aspect of selling, marketing & branding. It features expert tips and invaluable strategies & advice from some of craft's most successful business owners. From setting up a booth at a craft fair to taking the perfect product photograph and launching an online shop, "Handmade to Sell" guides readers through the ins and outs of starting, running and maintaining a thriving craft business. Written by the founders of Hello Craft, the well-known nonprofit trade organisation, this is the most complete, up-to-date and authoritative resource for crafters seeking to learn every aspect of selling, marketing and branding. Topics range from developing successful product lines to preparing taxes and forming LLCs. Also featured are expert tips and invaluable strategies and advice from some of the most successful craft business owners.

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Published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged was Ayn Rand's greatest achievement and last work of fiction. In this novel she dramatizes her unique philosophy through an intellectual mystery story that integrates ethics, metaphysics, epistemology, politics, economics, and sex. Set in a near-future U.S.A. whose economy is collapsing as a result of the mysterious disappearance of leading innovators and industrialists, this novel presents an astounding panorama of human life-from the productive genius who becomes a worthless playboy...to the great steel industrialist who does not know that he is working for his own destruction...to the philosopher who becomes a pirate...to the woman who runs a transcontinental railroad...to the lowest track worker in her train tunnels. Peopled by larger-than-life heroes and villains, charged with towering questions of good and evil, Atlas Shrugged is a philosophical revolution told in the form of an action thriller.

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About 20% of children in the United States live in rural communities, with child poverty rates higher and geographic isolation from resources greater than in urban communities. Yet, there have been surprisingly few studies of children living in rural communities, especially poor rural communities. The Family Life Project helped fill this gap by using an epidemiological design to recruit and study a representative sample of every baby born to a mother who resided in one of six poor rural counties over a one year period, oversampling for poverty and African American. 1,292 children were followed from birth to 36 months of age. This study used a cumulative risk framework to examine the relation between social risk and children's executive functioning, language development, and behavioral competence at 36 months. Using both the Family Process Model of development and the Family Investment Model of development, observed parenting was examined as a mediator and/or moderator of this relationship. Results suggested that cumulative risk predicted all three major domains of child outcomes and that positive and negative parenting and maternal language complexity were mediators of these relations. Maternal positive parenting was found to be a buffer for the most risky families in predicting behavioral competence. In a final model using both family process and investment measures, there was evidence of mediation but with little evidence of the specificity of parenting for particular outcomes. Discussion focused the implications for possible intervention strategies that might be effective in maximizing the early development of these children.

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How have we thought “the body”? How can we think it anew? The body of mortal creatures, the body politic, the body of letters and of laws, the “mystical body of Christ”—all these (and others) are incorporated in the word Corpus, the title and topic of Jean-Luc Nancy’s masterwork. Corpus is a work of literary force at once phenomenological, sociological, theological, and philosophical in its multiple orientations and approaches. In thirty-six brief sections, Nancy offers us at once an encyclopedia and a polemical program—reviewing classical takes on the “corpus” from Plato, Aristotle, and Saint Paul to Descartes, Hegel, Husserl, and Freud, while demonstrating that the mutations (technological, biological, and political) of our own culture have given rise to the need for a new understanding of the body. He not only tells the story of this cultural change but also explores the promise and responsibilities that such a new understanding entails. The long-awaited English translation is a bold, bravura rendering. To the title essay are added five closely related recent pieces—including a commentary by Antonia Birnbaum—dedicated in large part to the legacy of the “mind-body problem” formulated by Descartes and the challenge it poses to rethinking the ancient problems of the corpus. The last and most poignant of these essays is “The Intruder,” Nancy’s philosophical meditation on his heart transplant. The book also serves as the opening move in Nancy’s larger project called “The deconstruction of Christianity.”

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We often speak of doctors as heroes, martyrs, or victims. Drawing from forty years of experience on an emergency psychiatric ward, Paolo Milone offers a more complex—and more compelling—picture. He transports us inside Ward 77, where mental illness coexists with the ordinary lives of those who, at the end of their shifts, take their white coats off. In this unsettling, absorbing, and transformative memoir Milone challenges many of our assumptions about mental health, as we follow nurses, doctors, and patients along the hospital corridors, and we enter the shattered lives of those living on both sides of the invisible, arbitrary boundary, that separates the healthy from the sick. Told with humour and compassion, Paolo Milone’s English language debut is a work of striking humanity that conjures lasting beauty out of the darkness.

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Selected as a Doody's Core Title for 2022!Known for its consistent, authoritative content and presentation, Shields Textbook of Glaucoma is the premier succinct and clinically focused text on the medical and surgical management of glaucoma. This full-color, easy-to-use reference offers a rational approach to every aspect of the field, including rare glaucomas, and presents a total care plan for the patient. The seventh edition brings you fully up to date with all that’s new in this rapidly changing field with new chapters, newly colorized line drawings, and an updated design for faster reference. Presents clear, concise, highly illustrated information ideal for general ophthalmologists, residents, and other non-specialists who treat patients with glaucoma. Includes new chapters on imaging; surgical management, including minimally invasive procedures such as micro-invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS); sustained drug delivery; and malignant glaucoma/aqueous misdirection. Contains new images, newly colorized line drawings, and new icons that highlight and differentiate procedures for quick reference. Covers advances in genetics, technology, and surgical treatment that impact your management and treatment decisions. Offers expert information that is easy to find, clearly explained, and helpfully illustrated—all from an experienced team of authors who present a balanced, consistent approach throughout. Enrich Your Ebook Reading Experience Read directly on your preferred device(s), such as computer, tablet, or smartphone. Easily convert to audiobook, powering your content with natural language text-to-speech.

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The painting La Surprise by Jean Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) belongs to a new genre of painting invented by the artist himself-the fete galante. These works, which show graceful open-air gatherings filled with scenes of courtship, music and dance, strolling lovers, and actors, do not so much tell a story as set a mood: one of playful, wistful, nostalgic reverie. Esteemed by collectors in Watteau's day as a work that showed the artist at the height of his skill and success, La Surprise vanished from public view in 1848, not to reemerge for more than a century and a half. Acquired by the Getty Museum in 2017, it has never before been the subject of a dedicated publication. Marking the three hundredth anniversary of Watteau's death, this book considers La Surprise within the context of the artist's oeuvre, and discusses the surprising history of collecting Watteau in Los Angeles.

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Clinical Endocrinology of Companion Animals offers fast access to clinically relevant information on managing the patient with endocrine disease. Written by leading experts in veterinary endocrinology, each chapter takes the same structure to aid in the rapid retrieval of information, offering information on pathogenesis, signalment, clinical signs, diagnosis, differential diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention for a broad list of endocrine disorders. Chapters begin with brief summaries for quick reference, then delve into greater detail. With complete coverage of the most common endocrine diseases, the book includes chapters on conditions in dogs, cats, horses, ferrets, reptiles, and other species. Clinical Endocrinology of Companion Animals is a highly practical resource for any veterinarian treating these common diseases.

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"This is a great resource that fills a tremendous need. It shouldbe on parents' shelves at home as well as in every school." --AlvinF. Poussaint, M.D. Harvard Medical School These are exciting times for African American children'sliterature. Never before have there been so many titles available.Now the three mothers who founded Black Books Galore! --thenation's leading organizer of festivals of African Americanchildren's books --share their expert advice on how to find andchoose the best. This fully annotated guide opens the door to awonderful world of reading for the children in your life. Here arethe most positive, the best-written, and the most acclaimed booksin every category, including board books, story and picture books,fiction, nonfiction, poetry, history, biography, fables, andmore. Invaluable for parents, teachers, and librarians, this easy-to-use,illustrated reference guide features: * Quick, lively descriptions of 500 books, plus 200 additionalrecommendations * Helpful guidelines for encouraging young readers * Easy-to-find listings organized by age level and indexed bytitle, topic, author, and illustrator * Portraits of selected authors and illustrators * Listings of award winners and Reading Rainbow Books.

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The industry-standard guide to designing well-performing buildings Architectural Detailing systematically describes the principles by which good architectural details are designed. Principles are explained in brief, and backed by extensive illustrations that show you how to design details that will not leak water or air, will control the flow of heat and water vapor, will adjust to all kinds of movement, and will be easy to construct. This new third edition has been updated to conform to International Building Code 2012, and incorporates current knowledge about new material and construction technology. Sustainable design issues are integrated where relevant, and the discussion includes reviews of recent built works that extract underlying principles that can be the basis for new patterns or the alteration and addition to existing patterns. Regulatory topics are primarily focused on the US, but touch on other jurisdictions and geographic settings to give you a well-rounded perspective of the art and science of architectural detailing. In guiding a design from idea to reality, architects design a set of details that show how a structure will be put together. Good details are correct, complete, and provide accurate information to a wide variety of users. By demonstrating the use of detail patterns, this book teaches you how to design a building that will perform as well as you intend. Integrate appropriate detailing into your designs Learn the latest in materials, assemblies, and construction methods Incorporate sustainable design principles and current building codes Design buildings that perform well, age gracefully, and look great Architects understand that aesthetics are only a small fraction of good design, and that stability and functionality require a deep understanding of how things come together. Architectural Detailing helps you bring it all together with a well fleshed-out design that communicates accurately at all levels of the construction process.

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How have we thought “the body”? How can we think it anew? The body of mortal creatures, the body politic, the body of letters and of laws, the “mystical body of Christ”—all these (and others) are incorporated in the word Corpus, the title and topic of Jean-Luc Nancy’s masterwork. Corpus is a work of literary force at once phenomenological, sociological, theological, and philosophical in its multiple orientations and approaches. In thirty-six brief sections, Nancy offers us at once an encyclopedia and a polemical program—reviewing classical takes on the “corpus” from Plato, Aristotle, and Saint Paul to Descartes, Hegel, Husserl, and Freud, while demonstrating that the mutations (technological, biological, and political) of our own culture have given rise to the need for a new understanding of the body. He not only tells the story of this cultural change but also explores the promise and responsibilities that such a new understanding entails. The long-awaited English translation is a bold, bravura rendering. To the title essay are added five closely related recent pieces—including a commentary by Antonia Birnbaum—dedicated in large part to the legacy of the “mind-body problem” formulated by Descartes and the challenge it poses to rethinking the ancient problems of the corpus. The last and most poignant of these essays is “The Intruder,” Nancy’s philosophical meditation on his heart transplant. The book also serves as the opening move in Nancy’s larger project called “The deconstruction of Christianity.”

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BOING! BOING! We BOUNCE so high, We’re JUMPING for the stars! If we don’t stop soon, We’ll land on planet Mars! In Vogue Williams’ enchanting first children’s picture book, we meet lots of little children who like to be super active all day long. Can you JUMP for the Stars?

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From George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama, and every president in between, prayer and religion made its way into their public speeches, private journals and official proclamations. With excerpts taken from speeches, journals, and other public records, this book will feature prayers from every president the U.S. has ever had. Illustrated with photos and paintings, the book will also give background histories of each president and reveal their personal feelings on religion, prayer, and our Creator.

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Teeny Mouse is going on a big adventure, a journey she’s never taken before. And though it’s big, and fun, and exciting, she suddenly feels a little bit small... Journey with Teeny Mouse as she discovers that All You Need to try out new things is a little bit of courage and faith in yourself and in others. A perfect read to share with young children fearful about trying new things. All You Need is an uplifting and empowering picture book for children written by bestselling author and TV presenter Katie Piper OBE. Delightful and atmospheric pictures bring to life Teeny Mouse's adventure, enabling readers to step into the journey with her. Praise for Katie Piper OBE... 'Katie radiates positivity! A book for those who need daily uplifting affirmations from one of the most inspiring women I know. A must read to brighten up your days!' - Laura Whitmore, author and presenter 'In a world that often feels designed to prevent recovery from trauma, Katie Piper is the inspirational warrior we all need. A champion of how to survive and then thrive no matter what tragedy life sends our way' - Ian Redpath and Jeremy Chopra, All on the Board 'Katie embodies strength, resilience and positivity, and that is truly reflected in her new book' - Alice Liveing, personal trainer, author and Instagrammer 'Katie Piper is such an empowering person. Anyone who has struggled with adversity and fought their way out of tough situations can take comfort and inspiration from her approach to life' - Matt Haig, author 'Faith, positivity and spirituality can be such a powerful tool in life. No-one epitomises this more than Katie Piper does' - Nadia Sawalha, TV presenter and personality

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'Absolutely breathtaking' Christy Lefteri, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo.We all have something to tell those we have lost . . .On a windy hill in Japan, in a garden overlooking the sea stands a disused phone box. For years, people have travelled to visit the phone box, to pick up the receiver and speak into the wind: to pass their messages to loved ones no longer with us.When Yui loses her mother and daughter in the tsunami, she is plunged into despair and wonders how she will ever carry on. One day she hears of the phone box, and decides to make her own pilgrimage there, to speak once more to the people she loved the most. But when you have lost everything, the right words can be the hardest thing to find . . .Then she meets Takeshi, a bereaved husband whose own daughter has stopped talking in the wake of their loss. What happens next will warm your heart, even when it feels as though it is breaking . . . The Phone Box at the Edge of the World is an unforgettable story of the depths of grief, the lightness of love and the human longing to keep the people who are no longer with us close to our hearts.Everyone is talking about The Phone Box at the Edge of the World'A moving and uplifting anatomisation of grief and the small miraculous moments that persuade people to start looking forward again' Sunday Times'Strangely beautiful, uplifting and memorable, it's a book to savour' Choice, Book of the Month'A poignant, atmospheric novel dealing with love, coming to terms with loss and the restoration of one's self' Daily Mail'A story about the dogged survival of hope when all else is lost . . . A striking haiku of the human heart' The Times'Beautiful. A message of hope for anyone who is lost, frightened or grieving' Clare Mackintosh, Sunday Times bestselling author of After the End'Incredibly moving. It will break your heart and soothe your soul' Stacey Halls, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Familiars'Mesmerising . . . beautiful . . . a joy to read' Joanna Glen, Costa shortlisted author of The Other Half of Augusta Hope'Spare and poetic, this beautiful book is both a small, quiet love story and a vast expansive meditation on grieving and loss' Heat'A perfect poignant read' Woman & Home

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Since publication of the first edition of Fuel Cell Systems Explained, three compelling drivers have supported the continuing development of fuel cell technology. These are: the need to maintain energy security in an energy-hungry world, the desire to move towards zero-emission vehicles and power plants, and the mitigation of climate change by lowering of CO2 emissions. New fuel cell materials, enhanced stack performance and increased lifetimes are leading to the emergence of the first truly commercial systems in applications that range from fork-lift trucks to power sources for mobile phone towers. Leading vehicle manufacturers have embraced the use of electric drive-trains and now see hydrogen fuel cells complementing advanced battery technology in zero-emission vehicles. After many decades of laboratory development, a global but fragile fuel cell industry is bringing the first commercial products to market. This thoroughly revised edition includes several new sections devoted to, for example, fuel cell characterisation, improved materials for low-temperature hydrogen and liquid-fuelled systems, and real-world technology implementation. Assuming no prior knowledge of fuel cell technology, the third edition comprehensively brings together all of the key topics encompassed in this diverse field. Practitioners, researchers and students in electrical, power, chemical and automotive engineering will continue to benefit from this essential guide to the principles, design and implementation of fuel cell systems.

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In this beautifully written and brilliantly reasoned book, Ayn Rand throws a new light on the nature of art and its purpose in human life. Once again Miss Rand eloquently demonstrates her refusal to let popular catchwords and conventional ideas stand between her and the truth as she has discovered it. The Romantic Manifesto takes its place beside The Fountainhead as one of the most important achievements of our time.

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An unprecedented look at Nellie Mae Rowe’s art as a radical act of self-expression and liberation in the post-civil rights-era South A New York Times critics' pick | Best Art Books 2021 During the last 15 years of her life, Nellie Mae Rowe lived on Paces Ferry Road, a major thoroughfare in Vinings, Georgia, and welcomed visitors to her “Playhouse,” which she decorated with found-object installations, handmade dolls, chewing-gum sculptures and hundreds of drawings. Rowe created her first works as a child in rural Fayetteville, Georgia, but only found the time and space to reclaim her artistic practice in the late 1960s, following the deaths of her second husband and her longtime employer. This book offers an unprecedented view of how Rowe cultivated her drawing practice late in life, starting with colorful and at times simple sketches on found materials and moving toward her most celebrated, highly complex compositions on paper. Through photographs and reconstructions of her Playhouse created for an experimental documentary on her life, this publication is also the first to juxtapose her drawings with her art environment. Nellie Mae Rowe (1900–82) grew up in rural Fayetteville, Georgia. When her Playhouse became an Atlanta attraction, she began to exhibit her art outside of her home, beginning with Missing Pieces: Georgia Folk Art, 1770–1976, a traveling exhibition that brought attention to several Southern self-taught artists, including Rowe and Howard Finster. In 1982, the year she died, Rowe’s work received a new level of acclaim, as she was honored in a solo exhibition at Spelman College and included as one of three women artists in the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s landmark exhibition .

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Ayn Rand’s philosophy has once again found an important part on the American political stage. With the rise of the Tea Party movement, her political and economic philosophy has infused the American public discourse with a new Libertarian vitality. Ironically, many of her new followers identify themselves as committed Christians, a prospect that Rand herself would have rejected. This book critically reviews Rand’s secular-atheist philosophy of religion, which includes her theory of altruism, collectivism, and statism, and asks the questions: How did Ayn Rand become conservative Christians’ favorite atheist?; Can Christianity, or any other prophetic religion, be reconciled with her philosophy of greed, selfishness, and capitalism?; Can one be both a Christian and a dedicated follower of Ayn Rand?; Can one appropriate her political and economic philosophy while rejecting her radical atheism and anti-religious stance?

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Georges de La Tour's haunting depiction of a repentant Mary Magdalen gazing into a mirror by candlelight; Jean Simeon Chardin's perfectly balanced image of a young boy making a house of cards; Jean Honore Fragonard's monumental suite of landscapes showing aristocrats at play in picturesque gardens--these are among the familiar and beloved masterpieces in the National Gallery of Art, which houses one of the most important collections of French old master paintings outside France. This lavishly illustrated book, written by leading scholars and the result of years of research and technical analysis, catalogues nearly one hundred paintings, from works by Francois Clouet in the sixteenth century to paintings by elisabeth Louise Vigee Le Brun in the eighteenth. French art before the revolution is characterized by an astonishing variety of styles and themes and by a consistently high quality of production, the result of an efficient training system developed by the traditional guilds and the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, founded in 1648 by King Louis XIV. The National Gallery collection reflects this quality and diversity, featuring excellent examples by all the leading painters: ideal landscapes by Claude Lorrain and biblical subjects by Nicolas Poussin, two artists who spent most of their careers in Rome; deeply moving religious works by La Tour, Sebastien Bourdon, and Simon Vouet; portraits of the grandest format (Philippe de Champaigne's Omer Talon) and the most intimate (Nicolas de Largillierre's Elizabeth Throckmorton); and familiar scenes of daily life by the Le Nain brothers in the seventeenth century and Chardin in the eighteenth. The Gallery's collection is especially notable for its holdings of eighteenth-century painting, from Jean Antoine Watteau to Hubert Robert, and including marvelous suites of paintings by Francois Boucher and Fragonard. All these works are explored in detailed, readable entries that will appeal as much to the general art lover as to the specialist.

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Rand lives free; lean, pure and defiant, the world has little influence on him. His passion is climbing – the mountains, the huge vertical faces. There, where storms, snow, or rockfall can kill, he finds his happiness, sometimes climbing with others, sometimes alone. This is a novel of obsession and where it leads. Rand, not intending it, becomes suddenly famous for a daring rescue in the Alps. What happens when passion is spent and what becomes of heroes is revealed in this terse and powerfully written novel.

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In 1943 New Guinea, a Japanese officer beheads Hugh Rand, an Australian spy—a coast watcher. The layers unfold as the author entices us through cultural, historical and intellectual curtains, deep into minds and relationships disturbed by the Pacific war and Rand’s legacy in New Guinea, Gilbert Islands, Japan and Australia.

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