Search results for ""Diffusion""

An intellectual history of the late Roman Republic—and the senators who fought both scholarly debates and a civil warIn The Roman Republic of Letters, Katharina Volk explores a fascinating chapter of intellectual history, focusing on the literary senators of the mid-first century BCE who came to blows over the future of Rome even as they debated philosophy, history, political theory, linguistics, science, and religion.It was a period of intense cultural flourishing and extreme political unrest—and the agents of each were very often the same people. Members of the senatorial class, including Cicero, Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Cato, Varro, and Nigidius Figulus, contributed greatly to the development of Roman scholarship and engaged in a lively and often polemical exchange with one another. These men were also crucially involved in the tumultuous events that brought about the collapse of the Republic, and they ended up on opposite sides in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey in the early 40s. Volk treats the intellectual and political activities of these “senator scholars” as two sides of the same coin, exploring how scholarship and statesmanship mutually informed one another—and how the acquisition, organization, and diffusion of knowledge was bound up with the question of what it meant to be a Roman in a time of crisis.By revealing how first-century Rome’s remarkable “republic of letters” was connected to the fight over the actual res publica, Volk’s riveting account captures the complexity of this pivotal period.

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When more than twenty million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1880 and 1920, the government attempted to classify them according to prevailing ideas about race and nationality. But this proved hard to do. Ideas about racial or national difference were slippery, contested, and yet consequential—were “Hebrews” a “race,” a “religion,” or a “people”? As Joel Perlmann shows, a self-appointed pair of officials created the government’s 1897 List of Races and Peoples, which shaped exclusionary immigration laws, the wording of the U.S. Census, and federal studies that informed social policy. Its categories served to maintain old divisions and establish new ones.Across the five decades ending in the 1920s, American immigration policy built increasingly upon the belief that some groups of immigrants were desirable, others not. Perlmann traces how the debates over this policy institutionalized race distinctions—between whites and nonwhites, but also among whites—in immigration laws that lasted four decades.Despite a gradual shift among social scientists from “race” to “ethnic group” after the 1920s, the diffusion of this key concept among government officials and the public remained limited until the end of the 1960s. Taking up dramatic changes to racial and ethnic classification since then, America Classifies the Immigrants concentrates on three crucial reforms to the American Census: the introduction of Hispanic origin and ancestry (1980), the recognition of mixed racial origins (2000), and a rethinking of the connections between race and ethnic group (proposed for 2020).

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This book offers an in-depth and up-to-date review of different statistical tools that can be used to analyze and forecast the dynamics of two crucial for every energy company processes—electricity prices and loads. It provides coverage of seasonal decomposition, mean reversion, heavy-tailed distributions, exponential smoothing, spike preprocessing, autoregressive time series including models with exogenous variables and heteroskedastic (GARCH) components, regime-switching models, interval forecasts, jump-diffusion models, derivatives pricing and the market price of risk. Modeling and Forecasting Electricity Loads and Prices is packaged with a CD containing both the data and detailed examples of implementation of different techniques in Matlab, with additional examples in SAS. A reader can retrace all the intermediate steps of a practical implementation of a model and test his understanding of the method and correctness of the computer code using the same input data. The book will be of particular interest to the quants employed by the utilities, independent power generators and marketers, energy trading desks of the hedge funds and financial institutions, and the executives attending courses designed to help them to brush up on their technical skills. The text will be also of use to graduate students in electrical engineering, econometrics and finance wanting to get a grip on advanced statistical tools applied in this hot area. In fact, there are sixteen Case Studies in the book making it a self-contained tutorial to electricity load and price modeling and forecasting.

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Contact, Circulation, Exchange collects ten articles focusing on worked hard materials of animal origin (shell, tusk, bone, antler) ranging chronologically from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Middle Ages. The authors have varied academic backgrounds that enhance the archaeological analyses carried out, often at first hand, on numerous collections from the Old and New Worlds. Evidence of contact between past populations with distinct technical traditions is found in the dynamic imposed by using certain craft methods, such as stone pressure flaking (7,000 BC). Another kind of stimulus may have given rise to a tool with a specific use in the migration period, the sumak (300 BC-600 AD). Apart from the attraction of a novel technique or a new piece of equipment, it was the attraction of the raw material and the hunting sites that formed the guiding principle behind the mobility of groups within a territory, in early (35,000-12,000 BC) as in recent prehistory (up to 1500 AD). Weaponry, adornments and/or the animal species used are then powerful markers of the extent of trade routes and networks, and even of craftsmanship when related to village settlements (4,500-2,500 BC). In antiquity, the exotic rather than exogenous origin of materials was used to develop unique skills in the service of cults. In the diffusion of figurines, representation took precedence over the unique or sought-after nature of the material, whose origin remained nonetheless animal.

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Very few studies have ventured to explore the shift in economic ideas that were such a critical factor in shaping and understanding the East European transition process. Paul Dragos Aligica and Anthony J. Evans have seized upon the potential that this crucial case has to illuminate the larger phenomenon of diffusion and adoption of economic ideas. Two different but related research agendas are developed: the study of the spread of 'neoliberalism' as seen from the perspective of Eastern European post-communist evolutions and the study of Eastern European transition as seen from an ideas-centered perspective.Combining a distinctive synthesis of the existing data about the spread of neoliberal economic ideas in Central and Eastern Europe with an analysis of the processes at work, the authors challenge a series of misunderstandings and myths about the spread of neoliberal economic ideas. The disputed topics include: the myth of an Eastern European rush to embrace the theories and ideas that may be considered the mark of 'market fundamentalism'; the notion that a harsh 'neoliberal dogmatism' was somehow imposed on the region from outside; the idea that the standardization and regimentation of economic thinking was a result of the spread of the Western way of doing economics; and the belief that the Eastern Europeans passively embraced this uniformity and standardization due to pressure from the Westerners.This unusual synthesis will appeal to scholars in economics, political science, communist/post-communist studies and new institutionalism, as well as policymakers.

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Human rights are at a crossroads. This book considers how these rights can be reconstructed in challenging times, with changes in the pathways to the realization of human rights and new developments in human rights law and policy, illustrated with case studies from Africa, Europe, and the Americas.Contesting Human Rights traces the balance between the dynamics of diffusion, resistance and innovation in the field. The book examines a range of issues from the effectiveness of norm-promotion by advocacy campaigns to the backlash facing human rights advocates. The expert contributors suggest that new opportunities at and below the state level, and creative contests of global governance, can help reconstruct human rights in the face of modern challenges. Critical case studies trace new pathways emerging in the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review, regional human rights courts, constitutional incorporation of international norms, and human rights cities.With its innovative approach to human rights and comprehensive coverage of global, national and regional trends, Contesting Human Rights will be an invaluable tool for scholars and students of human rights, global governance, law and politics. It will also be useful for human rights advocates with a keen interest in the evolution of the human rights landscape.Contributors include: G. Andreopoulos, C. Apodaca, P.M. Ayoub, A. Brysk, P. Elizalde, A. Feldman, M. Goodhart, C. Hillebrecht, P.C. McMahon, S. Meili, M. Mullinax, A. Murdie, B. Park, W. Sandholtz, M. Stohl

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Part cultural history, part sociological critique, and part literary performance, Panic Diaries explores the technological and social construction of individual and collective panic. Jackie Orr looks at instances of panic and its “cures” in the twentieth-century United States: from the mass hysteria following the 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells’s War of the Worlds to an individual woman swallowing a pill to control the “panic disorder” officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980. Against a backdrop of Cold War anxieties over atomic attack, Orr highlights the entanglements of knowledge and power in efforts to reconceive panic and its prevention as problems in communication and information feedback. Throughout, she reveals the shifting techniques of power and social engineering underlying the ways that scientific and social scientific discourses—including crowd psychology, Cold War cybernetics, and contemporary psychiatry—have rendered panic an object of technoscientific management.Orr, who has experienced panic attacks herself, kept a diary of her participation as a research subject in clinical trials for the Upjohn Company’s anti-anxiety drug Xanax. This “panic diary” grounds her study and suggests the complexity of her desire to track the diffusion and regulation of panic in U.S. society. Orr’s historical research, theoretical reflections, and biographical narrative combine in this remarkable and compelling genealogy, which documents the manipulation of panic by the media, the social sciences and psychiatry, the U.S. military and government, and transnational drug companies.

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Why did Tunisian protests following the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi lead to a massive wave of uprisings across the entire Arab world? Who participated in those protests, and what did they hope to achieve? Why did some leaders fall in the face of popular mobilization while others found ways to survive? And what have been the lasting results of the contentious politics of 2011 and 2012? The Arab uprisings pose stark challenges to the political science of the Middle East, which for decades had focused upon the resilience of entrenched authoritarianism, the relative weakness of civil society, and what seemed to be the largely contained diffusion of new norms and ideas through new information technologies. In this volume, leading scholars in the field take a sharp look at the causes, dynamics, and effects of the Arab uprisings. Compiled by one of the foremost experts on Middle East politics and society, The Arab Uprisings Explained offers a fresh rethinking of established theories and presents a new framework through which scholars and general readers can better grasp the fast-developing events remaking the region. These essays not only advance the study of political science in the Middle East but also integrate the subject seamlessly into the wider political science literature. Deeply committed to the study of this region and working out the kinks of the discipline, the contributors to this volume help scholars and policymakers across the world approach this unprecedented historical period smartly and effectively.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technique used in biomedical imaging and radiology to visualize internal structures of the body. Because MRI provides excellent contrast between different soft tissues, the technique is especially useful for diagnostic imaging of the brain, muscles, and heart.In the past 20 years, MRI technology has improved significantly with the introduction of systems up to 7 Tesla (7 T) and with the development of numerous post-processing algorithms such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), functional MRI (fMRI), and spectroscopic imaging. From these developments, the diagnostic potentialities of MRI have improved impressively with an exceptional spatial resolution and the possibility of analyzing the morphology and function of several kinds of pathology.Given these exciting developments, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Handbook: Image Principles, Neck, and the Brain is a timely addition to the growing body of literature in the field. Covering MRI from fundamentals to practice, this comprehensive book: Discusses the clinical benefits of diagnosing human pathologies using MRI Explains the physical principles of MRI and how to use the technique correctly Highlights each organ’s anatomy and pathological processes with high-quality images Examines the protocols and potentialities of advanced MRI scanners such as 7 T systems Includes extensive references at the end of each chapter to enhance further study Thus, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Handbook: Image Principles, Neck, and the Brain provides radiologists and imaging specialists with a valuable, state-of-the-art reference on MRI.

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This book gets to the root of how and why multinational firms differ in the cross-border creation, transfer and diffusion of technology, and provides fresh evidence on the effects that these differences have on productivity and innovation in the economic systems in which they are active. Davide Castellani and Antonello Zanfei consider multinationals as heterogeneous institutions that combine internal networks of subsidiaries with external networks of collaborative linkages, to bridge different economic and innovation systems. They examine heterogeneity in productivity and innovative behaviour between multinational and national firms, as well as across and within multinationals. The authors argue that not every foreign firm is a good source of externality, and not every domestic firm is equally well placed to benefit from multinationals. It is shown that spillovers from multinationals differ according to the technological profiles, embeddedness and linkage creation of both foreign and domestic firms active in local markets. The book supports this view with empirical evidence based on illustrative case studies, and on econometric analysis using extensive firm-level datasets on multinational activities, innovation and economic performances.Integrating an in-depth account of state of the art literature with detailed evidence, this book will be of great interest to an extensive audience. This will encompass students, researchers, academics, policy makers and practitioners across a wide range of disciplines including: international business, economics and management of innovation, international economics and industrial organisation.

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The fourteenth semi-annual Munk Debate, which will be held in Toronto on November 5, 2014, pits Bret Stephens and Robert Kagan against Fareed Zakaria and Anne-Marie Slaughter to debate the legacy of President Obama.From Ukraine to the Middle East to China, the United States is redefining its role in international affairs. Alliance building, public diplomacy, and eschewing traditional warfare in favour of the focused use of hard power such as drones and special forces are all hallmarks of the so-called Obama Doctrine. Is this a farsighted foreign policy for the United States and the world in the twenty-first century — one that acknowledges and embraces the increasing diffusion of power among states and non-state actors? Or, is an America “leading from behind” a boon for the nations and blocs who want to roll back economic globalization, international law, and the spread of democracy and human rights?In this edition of the Munk Debates, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bret Stephens and famed historian and foreign policy commentator Robert Kagan square off against CNN’s Fareed Zakaria and noted academic and political commentator Anne-Marie Slaughter to debate the legacy of President Obama. With ISIS looking to reshape the Middle East, Russia increasingly at odds with the rest of the West, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at a standstill, the Munk Debate on Foreign Policy asks: Has Obama’s foreign policy taken the U.S. in the right direction?

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A critical look at the competing motivations behind one of modern architecture’s most widely known and misunderstood movements Although “mid-century modern” has evolved into a highly popular and ubiquitous architectural style, this term obscures the varied perspectives and approaches of its original practitioners. In Nothing Permanent, Todd Cronan displaces generalizations with a nuanced intellectual history of architectural innovation in California between 1920 and 1970, uncovering the conflicting intentions that would go on to reshape the future of American domestic life.Focusing on four primary figures—R. M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames—Nothing Permanent demonstrates how this prolific era of modern architecture in California, rather than constituting a homogenous movement, was propelled by disparate approaches and aims. Exemplified by the twin pillars of Schindler and Neutra and their respective ideological factions, these two groups of architects represent opposing poles of architectural intentionality, embodying divergent views about the dynamic between interior and exterior, the idea of permanence, and the extent to which architects could exercise control over the inhabitants of their structures.Looking past California modernism’s surface-level idealization in present-day style guides, home decor publications, films, and television shows, Nothing Permanent details the intellectual, aesthetic, and practical debates that lie at the roots of this complex architectural moment. Extracting this period from its diffusion into visual culture, Cronan argues that mid-century architecture in California raised questions about the meaning of architecture and design that remain urgent today.

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Describing an innovative approach to phased-array control in antenna design This book explores in detail phased-array antennas that use coupled-oscillator arrays, an arrangement featuring a remarkably simple beam steering control system and a major reduction in complexity compared with traditional methods of phased-array control. It brings together in one convenient, self-contained volume the many salient research results obtained over the past ten to fifteen years in laboratories around the world, including the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The authors examine the underlying theoretical framework of coupled-oscillator systems, clearly explaining the linear and nonlinear formalisms used in the development of coupled-oscillator arrays, while introducing a variety of state-of-the-art methodologies, design solutions, and tools for applying this control scheme. Readers will find: Numerous implementation examples of coupled-oscillator array prototypes A continuum model that permits application of diffusion theory to the analysis of phase dynamics A demonstration of the array behavior through experimental results that validate the linearized theory Examples of how incorporating coupling delay restores causality, including the latest published results Guidance on how to accurately analyze and optimize coupled-oscillator arrays using modern simulation tools A review of current developments, including the design of compact couple-oscillator array antennas Complete with 150 diagrams and photographs, Coupled-Oscillator Based Active-Array Antennas is a highly useful tutorial for antenna designers and a valuable reference for researchers and engineers wishing to learn about this cutting-edge technology.

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The Arab Spring did not arise out of nowhere. It was the physical manifestation of more than a decade of new media diffusion, use, and experimentation that empowered ordinary people during their everyday lives. In this book, Billie Jeanne Brownlee offers a refreshing insight into the way new media can facilitate a culture of resistance and dissent in authoritarian states.Investigating the root causes of the Syrian uprising of 2011, New Media and Revolution shows how acts of online resistance prepared the ground for better-organised street mobilisation. The book interprets the uprising not as the start of Syria's social mobilisation but as a shift from online to offline contestation, and from localised and hidden practices of digital dissent to tangible mass street protests. Brownlee goes beyond the common dichotomy that frames new media as either a deus ex machina or a means of expression to demonstrate that, in Syria, media was a nontraditional institution that enabled resistance to digitally manifest and gestate below, within, and parallel to formal institutions of power. To refute the idea that the population of Syria was largely apathetic and apolitical prior to the uprising, Brownlee explains that social media and technology created camouflaged geographies and spaces where individuals could protest without being detected.Challenging the myth of authoritarian stability, New Media and Revolution uncovers the dynamics of grassroots resistance blossoming under the radar of ordinary politics.

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The Arab Spring did not arise out of nowhere. It was the physical manifestation of more than a decade of new media diffusion, use, and experimentation that empowered ordinary people during their everyday lives. In this book, Billie Jeanne Brownlee offers a refreshing insight into the way new media can facilitate a culture of resistance and dissent in authoritarian states.Investigating the root causes of the Syrian uprising of 2011, New Media and Revolution shows how acts of online resistance prepared the ground for better-organised street mobilisation. The book interprets the uprising not as the start of Syria's social mobilisation but as a shift from online to offline contestation, and from localised and hidden practices of digital dissent to tangible mass street protests. Brownlee goes beyond the common dichotomy that frames new media as either a deus ex machina or a means of expression to demonstrate that, in Syria, media was a nontraditional institution that enabled resistance to digitally manifest and gestate below, within, and parallel to formal institutions of power. To refute the idea that the population of Syria was largely apathetic and apolitical prior to the uprising, Brownlee explains that social media and technology created camouflaged geographies and spaces where individuals could protest without being detected.Challenging the myth of authoritarian stability, New Media and Revolution uncovers the dynamics of grassroots resistance blossoming under the radar of ordinary politics.

Read more less

An intellectual history of the late Roman Republic—and the senators who fought both scholarly debates and a civil warIn The Roman Republic of Letters, Katharina Volk explores a fascinating chapter of intellectual history, focusing on the literary senators of the mid-first century BCE who came to blows over the future of Rome even as they debated philosophy, history, political theory, linguistics, science, and religion.It was a period of intense cultural flourishing and extreme political unrest—and the agents of each were very often the same people. Members of the senatorial class, including Cicero, Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, Cato, Varro, and Nigidius Figulus, contributed greatly to the development of Roman scholarship and engaged in a lively and often polemical exchange with one another. These men were also crucially involved in the tumultuous events that brought about the collapse of the Republic, and they ended up on opposite sides in the civil war between Caesar and Pompey in the early 40s. Volk treats the intellectual and political activities of these “senator scholars” as two sides of the same coin, exploring how scholarship and statesmanship mutually informed one another—and how the acquisition, organization, and diffusion of knowledge was bound up with the question of what it meant to be a Roman in a time of crisis.By revealing how first-century Rome’s remarkable “republic of letters” was connected to the fight over the actual res publica, Volk’s riveting account captures the complexity of this pivotal period.

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For scholars in the European Middle Ages, Isidore, bishop of Seville (560? — 636) was one of the most influential authorities for understanding the natural world. Isidore’s On the Nature of Things is the first work on natural science by a Christian author that is not a commentary on the creation story in Genesis. Instead, Isidore adopted a classical model to describe the structure of the physical cosmos, and discuss the principles of astronomy, physics, geography, meteorology and time-reckoning. Into this framework he incorporated an eclectic array of ancient and patristic erudition. The fact that On the Nature of Things presents an essentially Greco-Roman picture of the universe, but amplified with Christian reflections and allegories, played a crucial role in the assimilation of ancient science into the emerging culture of the Middle Ages. It exerted a deep and long-lasting influence on scholars like Bede, one of whose earliest works was an adaptation of On the Nature of Things. On the Nature of Things provides a new window into vital intellectual currents, as yet largely unexplored, flowing from Visigothic Spain into Celtic Ireland, Anglo-Saxon England, and Merovingian France. This is the first translation of this work into English. The introduction places the work in the context of Isidore's milieu and concerns, and traces the remarkable diffusion of his book. A chapter-by-chapter commentary explains how Isidore selected and transformed his source material, and added his own distinctive features, notably the diagrams that gave this work its medieval name The Book of Wheels (Liber rotarum).

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An argument for the classical realist approach to world politics An Unwritten Future offers a fresh reassessment of classical realism, an enduring approach to understanding crucial events in the international political arena. Jonathan Kirshner identifies the fundamental flaws of classical realism’s would-be successors and shows how this older, more nuanced and sophisticated method for studying world politics better explains the formative events of the past. Kirshner also reveals how this approach is ideally equipped to comprehend the vital questions of the present—such as the implications of China’s rise, the ways that social and economic change alter the balance of power and the nature of international conflict, and the consequences of the end of the US-led postwar order for the future of world politics.Laying out realism’s core principles, Kirshner discusses the contributions of the perspective’s key thinkers, including Thucydides, Hans Morgenthau, and Raymond Aron, among others. He illustrates how a classical realist approach gives new insights into major upheavals of the twentieth century, such as Britain’s appeasement of Nazi Germany and America’s ruinous involvement in Vietnam. Kirshner also addresses realism’s limits and explores contemporary issues, including the ascent of great power challengers, the political implications of globalization, and the diffusion of power in modern world politics.A reexamination of the realist tradition, with a renewed emphasis on the crucial roles played by uncertainty, contingency, and contestation, An Unwritten Future demonstrates how a once-popular school of thought provides invaluable insights into pressing real-world problems.

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A solid understanding of MRI physics is essential for both residents and practicing radiologists, and Duke Review of MRI Physics Principles: Case Review Series, 2nd Edition, provides practical applications, board-style self-assessment questions, and clinically relevant cases in a high-yield, easy-to-digest format. Designed to help you solve clinical questions, arrive at accurate diagnoses, and use MRI more effectively in your practice, it uses a case-based approach to demonstrate the basic physics of MRI and how it applies to successful and accurate imaging, interpretation, and diagnosis. Focuses on 18 key MRI principles (such as T1 contrast, T2 contrast, and proton density), using a series of cases that make difficult concepts engaging and understandable. Features over 800 high-quality MR images in a full-color, user-friendly case format with clear explanations of physics and other MRI principles. Shares the experience and knowledge of a multidisciplinary author team comprising radiology residents, practicing radiologists, and radiology physicists who provide practical guidance for each body system - neurologic, breast, body, vascular, and musculoskeletal. Includes a new chapter on MRI Safety, as well as new and improved color images in functional MRI, perfusion MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging. Contains more than 300 all-new multiple-choice self-assessment questions following the board review certification and recertification question format. Includes new Take-Home-Points at the end of each chapter for easy recall and review. Expert ConsultT eBook version included with purchase. This enhanced eBook experience allows you to search all of the text, figures, and references from the book on a variety of devices.

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In the 1960s, thanks to the development of prenatal diagnosis, medicine found a new object of study: the living fetus. At first, prenatal testing was proposed only to women at a high risk of giving birth to an impaired child. But in the following decades, such testing has become routine. In Imperfect Pregnancies, Ilana Lowy argues that the generalization of prenatal diagnosis has radically changed the experience of pregnancy for tens of millions of women worldwide. Although most women are reassured that their future child is developing well, others face a stressful period of waiting for results, uncertain prognosis, and difficult decisions. Lowy follows the rise of biomedical technologies that made prenatal diagnosis possible and investigates the institutional, sociocultural, economic, legal, and political consequences of their widespread diffusion. Because prenatal diagnosis is linked to the contentious issue of selective termination of pregnancy for a fetal anomaly, debates on this topic have largely centered on the rejection of human imperfection and the notion that we are now perched on a slippery slope that will lead to new eugenics. Imperfect Pregnancies tells a more complicated story, emphasizing that there is no single standardized way to scrutinize the fetus, but there are a great number of historically conditioned and situated approaches. This book will interest students, scholars, health professionals, administrators, and activists interested in issues surrounding new medical technologies, screening, risk management, pregnancy, disability, and the history and social politics of women's bodies.

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This book tells the story of how Al Qaeda grew in the West. In forensic and compelling detail, Jytte Klausen traces how Islamist revolutionaries exiled in Europe and North America in the 1990s helped create and control one of the world's most impactful terrorist movements - and how, after the near-obliteration of the organization during the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, they helped build it again. She shows how the diffusion of Islamist terrorism to Europe and North America has been driven, not by local grievances of Western Muslims, but by the strategic priorities of the international Salafi-jihadist revolutionary movement. That movement has adapted to Western repertoires of protest: agitating for armed insurrection and religious revivalism in the name of a warped version of Islam. The jihadists-Al Qaeda and the Islamic State, and their many affiliates and associates- also proved to be amazingly resilient. Again and again, the movement recovered from major setbacks. Appealing to disaffected Muslims of immigrant origin and alienated converts to Islam, Jihadist groups continue to recruit new adherents in Europe and North America, street-side in neighborhoods, in jails, and online through increasingly clandestine platforms. Taking a comparative and historical approach, deploying cutting-edge analytical tools, and drawing on her unparalleled database of up to 6,500 Western jihadist extremists and their networks, Klausen has produced the most comprehensive account yet of the origins of Western jihadism and its role in the global movement.

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Human rights are at a crossroads. This book considers how these rights can be reconstructed in challenging times, with changes in the pathways to the realization of human rights and new developments in human rights law and policy, illustrated with case studies from Africa, Europe, and the Americas.Contesting Human Rights traces the balance between the dynamics of diffusion, resistance and innovation in the field. The book examines a range of issues from the effectiveness of norm-promotion by advocacy campaigns to the backlash facing human rights advocates. The expert contributors suggest that new opportunities at and below the state level, and creative contests of global governance, can help reconstruct human rights in the face of modern challenges. Critical case studies trace new pathways emerging in the United Nations' Universal Periodic Review, regional human rights courts, constitutional incorporation of international norms, and human rights cities.With its innovative approach to human rights and comprehensive coverage of global, national and regional trends, Contesting Human Rights will be an invaluable tool for scholars and students of human rights, global governance, law and politics. It will also be useful for human rights advocates with a keen interest in the evolution of the human rights landscape.Contributors include: G. Andreopoulos, C. Apodaca, P.M. Ayoub, A. Brysk, P. Elizalde, A. Feldman, M. Goodhart, C. Hillebrecht, P.C. McMahon, S. Meili, M. Mullinax, A. Murdie, B. Park, W. Sandholtz, M. Stohl

Read more less

A critical look at the competing motivations behind one of modern architecture’s most widely known and misunderstood movements Although “mid-century modern” has evolved into a highly popular and ubiquitous architectural style, this term obscures the varied perspectives and approaches of its original practitioners. In Nothing Permanent, Todd Cronan displaces generalizations with a nuanced intellectual history of architectural innovation in California between 1920 and 1970, uncovering the conflicting intentions that would go on to reshape the future of American domestic life.Focusing on four primary figures—R. M. Schindler, Richard Neutra, and Charles and Ray Eames—Nothing Permanent demonstrates how this prolific era of modern architecture in California, rather than constituting a homogenous movement, was propelled by disparate approaches and aims. Exemplified by the twin pillars of Schindler and Neutra and their respective ideological factions, these two groups of architects represent opposing poles of architectural intentionality, embodying divergent views about the dynamic between interior and exterior, the idea of permanence, and the extent to which architects could exercise control over the inhabitants of their structures.Looking past California modernism’s surface-level idealization in present-day style guides, home decor publications, films, and television shows, Nothing Permanent details the intellectual, aesthetic, and practical debates that lie at the roots of this complex architectural moment. Extracting this period from its diffusion into visual culture, Cronan argues that mid-century architecture in California raised questions about the meaning of architecture and design that remain urgent today.

Read more less

Lies and inaccurate information are as old as humanity, but never before have they been so easy to spread. Each moment of every day, the Internet and broadcast media purvey misinformation, either deliberately or accidentally, to a mass audience on subjects ranging from politics to consumer goods to science and medicine, among many others. Because misinformation now has the potential to affect behavior on a massive scale, it is urgently important to understand how it works and what can be done to mitigate its harmful effects.Misinformation and Mass Audiences brings together evidence and ideas from communication research, public health, psychology, political science, environmental studies, and information science to investigate what constitutes misinformation, how it spreads, and how best to counter it. The expert contributors cover such topics as whether and to what extent audiences consciously notice misinformation, the possibilities for audience deception, the ethics of satire in journalism and public affairs programming, the diffusion of rumors, the role of Internet search behavior, and the evolving efforts to counteract misinformation, such as fact-checking programs. The first comprehensive social science volume exploring the prevalence and consequences of, and remedies for, misinformation as a mass communication phenomenon, Misinformation and Mass Audiences will be a crucial resource for students and faculty researching misinformation, policymakers grappling with questions of regulation and prevention, and anyone concerned about this troubling, yet perhaps unavoidable, dimension of current media systems.

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Lies and inaccurate information are as old as humanity, but never before have they been so easy to spread. Each moment of every day, the Internet and broadcast media purvey misinformation, either deliberately or accidentally, to a mass audience on subjects ranging from politics to consumer goods to science and medicine, among many others. Because misinformation now has the potential to affect behavior on a massive scale, it is urgently important to understand how it works and what can be done to mitigate its harmful effects.Misinformation and Mass Audiences brings together evidence and ideas from communication research, public health, psychology, political science, environmental studies, and information science to investigate what constitutes misinformation, how it spreads, and how best to counter it. The expert contributors cover such topics as whether and to what extent audiences consciously notice misinformation, the possibilities for audience deception, the ethics of satire in journalism and public affairs programming, the diffusion of rumors, the role of Internet search behavior, and the evolving efforts to counteract misinformation, such as fact-checking programs. The first comprehensive social science volume exploring the prevalence and consequences of, and remedies for, misinformation as a mass communication phenomenon, Misinformation and Mass Audiences will be a crucial resource for students and faculty researching misinformation, policymakers grappling with questions of regulation and prevention, and anyone concerned about this troubling, yet perhaps unavoidable, dimension of current media systems.

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Over the last decade, software product line engineering (SPLE) has emerged as one of the most promising software development paradigms for increasing productivity in IT-related industries. Detailing the various aspects of SPLE implementation in different domains, Applied Software Product Line Engineering documents best practices with regard to system development. Expert contributors from academia and industry come together and focus on core asset development, product development, and management, addressing the process, technical, and organizational issues needed to meet the growing demand for information. They detail the adoption and diffusion of SPLE as a primary software development paradigm and also address technical and managerial issues in software product line engineering. Providing an authoritative perspective of the latest research and practice in SLPE, the text: Presents in-depth discussions and many industry / case studies Covers applications in various domains including automotive, business process management, and defense Organized according to the organizational, process, and technical aspects of software product lines within an organization Provides the expertise of a distinguished panel of global contributors Ever-increasing global competition coupled with a fragile world economy means that the pressure is on for software engineers and software process improvement professionals to find ways to meet the needs of expanding markets—with greater efficiency and effectiveness. This book arms readers with the insight needed to harness the power of SPLE to increase productivity, reduce time to market, and to handle the growing diversity in the quickly evolving global marketplace.

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Herod the Great, King of Judaea from 444 B.C., is known as one of the world's great villains. This notoriety has overshadowed his actual achievements, particularly his role as a client king of Rome during Augustus's reign as emperor. An essential aspect of Herod's responsibilities as king of Judaea was his role as a builder. Remarkably innovative, he created an astonishing record of architectural achievement, not only in Judaea but also throughout Greece and the Roman east. Duane W. Roller systematically presents and discusses all the building projects known to have been initiated by Herod, and locates this material in a broad historical and cultural context. Bringing together previously inaccessible material, Roller enriches our understanding of the enigmatic Herod and provides new insights into Roman architecture. Herod was instrumental in the diffusion of the Augustan architectural revolution into the provinces and was the first to build outside Italy such Italian architectural forms as the basilica, amphitheater, villa, and Italian temple. Herod's legacy provided a groundwork for the architectural Romanization of the east, influencing the construction of the great temple complexes and palaces so familiar from later Roman architecture. Herod, like Augustus himself, was not only interested in architecture but also in diplomatic and financial contacts among cities of the region. In addition to providing a repertorium of the building projects, this study is also an exploration of international relations in the eastern Mediterranean at the beginning of the Roman imperial period.

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Global Standards of Market Civilization brings together leading scholars, representing a range of political views, to investigate how global 'standards of market civilization' have emerged, their justification, and their political, economic and social impact. Key chapters show how as the modern state system has evolved such standards have also developed, incorporating the capacity for social cooperation and self-government to which states must conform in order to fully participate as legitimate members in international society. This study analyzes their justification, and their political, economic and social impact. Civilization is a term widely used within modern political discourse its meaning, yet it is poorly understood and misused. part I explores the idea of a ‘standard of civilization’, its implications for governance, and the use of such standards in political theory and economic thought, as well as its historical application part II presents original case studies that demonstrate the emergence of such standards and explore the diffusion of liberal capitalist ideas through the global political economy and the consequences for development and governance; the International Monetary Fund’s capacity to formulate a global standard of civilization in its reform programs; and problems in the development of the global trade, including the issue of intellectual property rights. This book will be of strong interest to students and scholars in wide range of fields relating to the study of globalization including: international political economy; international political theory; international relations theory; comparative political economy; international law; historical sociology; and economic history.

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Ideal for both trainees and experienced practitioners, Textbook of Gastrointestinal Radiology, 5th Edition, provides detailed, concise, well-illustrated information on all aspects of GI imaging-now in a single volume for convenient point-of-care reference. Drs. Richard M. Gore and Marc S. Levine lead a team of world-renowned experts to provide unparalleled coverage of all major gastrointestinal disorders as well as the complete scope of abdominal imaging modalities. Every chapter has been thoroughly updated, and new authors provide fresh perspectives on complex imaging topics. Offers streamlined, actionable content in a new single-volume format for quicker access at the point of care. Highlights the complete scope of imaging modalities including the latest in MDCT, MRI, diffusion weighted and perfusion imaging, ultrasound, PET/CT, PET/MR, plain radiographs, MRCP, angiography, barium studies, and CT and MR texture analysis of abdominal and pelvic malignancies. Features more than 1,100 state-of-the art-images, with many in full color. Discusses the imaging features of abdominal and pelvic malignancies that are key in an era of personalized medicine, as well as the relationship of abdominal and pelvic malignancies to cancer genomics and oncologic mutations that guide novel molecular, targeted and immunotherapies. Provides a diagnostic approach to incidentally discovered hepatic, pancreatic, and splenic lesions now commonly found on cross-sectional imaging. Enhanced eBook version included with purchase. Your enhanced eBook allows you to access all of the text, figures, and references from the book on a variety of devices.

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Essential reading on how technology empowers rogue actors and how society can adapt. Never have so many possessed the means to be so lethal. A dramatic shift from 20th century "closed" military innovation to "open" innovation driven by commercial processes is underway. The diffusion of modern technology--robotics, cyber weapons, 3-D printing, synthetic biology, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence--to ordinary people has given them access to weapons of mass violence previously monopolized by the state. As Audrey Kurth Cronin explains in Power to the People, what we are seeing now is the continuation of an age-old trend. Over the centuries, from the invention of dynamite to the release of the AK-47, many of the most surprising developments in warfare have occurred because of technological advances combined with changes in who can use them. That shifting social context illuminates our current situation, in which new "open" technologies are reshaping the future of war. Cronin explains why certain lethal technologies spread, which ones to focus on, and how individuals and private groups will adapt lethal off-the-shelf technologies for malevolent ends. Now in paperback with a foreword by Lawrence Freedman and a new epilogue, Power to the People focuses on how to both preserve the promise of emerging technologies and reduce risks. Power is flowing to the people, but the same digital technologies that empower can imperil global security--unless we act strategically.

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Presenting the fundamental topics in glass science and technology, this concise introduction includes glass formation, crystallization, and phase separation. Glass structure models, with emphasis on the oxygen balance method, are presented in detail. Several chapters discuss the viscosity, density, thermal expansion, and mechanical properties of glasses as well as their optical and magnetic behavior and the diffusion of ions, atoms, and molecules and their effect on electrical conductivity, chemical durability, and other related behavior. In addition to the effects of atomic structure on the properties of glasses, the effects of phase separation, crystallization, and water content, which are neglected in most texts, are discussed extensively. Glass technology is addressed in chapters dealing with the raw materials for producing glasses, batch calculations, and the melting and fining processes. The compositions, properties, and production of commercial glasses are also presented. A chapter is devoted to the use of thermal analysis in the study of glasses, including their crystallization behavior. This expanded, third edition, includes new chapters on doped vitreous silica and the, often overlooked, role of halides on glass formation and properties. In addition, solutions to all of the exercises at the ends of chapters are included for the first time in this edition. This introductory text is ideal for undergraduates in materials science, ceramics, or inorganic chemistry. It will also be useful to the graduate student, engineer, or scientist seeking basic knowledge of the formation, properties, and production of glass in support of their work.

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The hydraulic heritage and water culture in Ibero-America result in a man-made cultural landscape, century after century, where the legacies of several peoples are superimposed. Water is here an element of landscape differentiation and constitutes, therefore, as a distinctive mark in the territory and local memory. The approach to the theme of water from the patrimonial point of view as a material and immaterial good, whose cultural manifestations, derived from its use and application by the peoples, require efforts for its conservation and diffusion. In this context, this work intends to understand the past, present and future of Water Heritage and Culture in its interrelationship with multiculturalism and to promote the investigation of the processes of constitution of memory, identities and local values in Ibero-America. "Claiming water as a world heritage and also as a fundamental human right" is a statement included in the European Union's 2000 Water Framework Directive which serves as a motivation in the presentation of this work highlighting the patrimonial nature of water associated with culture of the people. Water as patrimony is an inexhaustible subject of studies that exceeds the pretensions of this work. The approach to the theme of water from the patrimonial point of view as a material and immaterial good, whose cultural manifestations, derived from its use and application by the peoples, require efforts for its conservation and diffusion. This work will be supported by the research characterized by the difficulty to find the information and to deepen the knowledge related to the water heritage and culture. The explanation lies in the scarcity of materials elaborated on this subject and the difficulty in accessing the respective files and sources. The cultural heritage associated with water is immense. There are innumerable objects associated with water heritage, not least the offices of those who work with this resource in traditional occupations, which only remain in the memory of older people or in cultures that keep their traditions alive. For centuries, human intervention has harnessed the resources and natural environments related to water, resulting in a series of high quality heritage elements that contain important cultural, environmental, landscape and socio-economic values. The consideration of water as heritage includes both material culture: objects, technologies, places, infrastructures ... and the immaterial culture that has been appearing throughout history. Water forms part of the territory. It determines the so-called landscapes of water, defined by the physiognomy of the territory with its natural and anthropogenic elements linked to the emotions that awaken its contemplation. Water landscapes have gained notoriety and, at times, exclusive spatial prominence, given that they are cultural footprints present in many of the municipalities of the Ibero-American countries that are still less well perceived and considered by social collectives. The development of a civic conscience on the conservation of water heritage and culture, which presses to declare them as goods of Community interest and to include them in the heritage of the Ibero-American regions, is therefore absolutely necessary and falls within the scope of this work

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Discusses New Advancements to Improve Existing Simulations of Plant NitrogenWritten by research pioneers and leading scientists in the area of agricultural systems, Quantifying and Understanding Plant Nitrogen Uptake for Systems Modeling comprehensively covers plant N uptake in agricultural system models, especially for building soil-plant system models. The text illustrates how to minimize the transportation of nitrogen fertilizers in crop production to surface and ground waters, as even moderate errors in uptake estimations lead to a dramatic increase in the amount of nitrogen leached into groundwater. It also highlights the knowledge gaps preventing correct simulation of this process and explains what to look for when using a system model and interpreting simulation results. Applies to a Variety of Crops, Including Oilseed, Wheat, Potatoes, and MaizeAddressing quantification and synthesis in the context of system modeling, this text introduces cutting-edge and original information regarding N uptake not previously offered by other research texts in the field. This, in turn, benefits scientists, professors, system modelers, and model users in interpreting modeling results for enhancing nitrogen management and developing decision support tools. This volume documents, with complex, detailed models, plant N uptake based on absorption kinetics of transporters across the root cell membranes, mass flow, and diffusion to the root surface of single or composite roots. It also provides simpler models used in N uptake simulations at the field and watershed scales.Discusses All Areas of the Complex ProcessIn addition to the important processes of nitrogen translocation, remobilization, and grain protein formation, the book documents various philosophies, mechanisms, and scales in simul

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A groundbreaking approach to Rococo religious décor and spirituality in Europe and South America, The Spiritual Rococo addresses three basic conundrums that impede our understanding of eighteenth-century aesthetics and culture. Why did the Rococo, ostensibly the least spiritual style in the pre-Modern canon, transform into one of the world’s most important modes for adorning sacred spaces? And why is Rococo still treated as a decadent nemesis of the Enlightenment when the two had fundamental characteristics in common? This book seeks to answer these questions by treating Rococo as a global phenomenon for the first time and by exploring its moral and spiritual dimensions through the lens of populist French religious literature of the day-a body of work the author calls the ’Spiritual Rococo’ and which has never been applied directly to the arts. The book traces Rococo’s development from France through Central Europe, Portugal, Brazil, and South America by following a chain of interlocking case studies, whether artistic, literary, or ideological, and it also considers the parallel diffusion of the literature of the Spiritual Rococo in these same regions, placing particular emphasis on unpublished primary sources such as inventories. One of the ultimate goals of this study is to move beyond the cliché of Rococo’s frivolity and acknowledge its essential modernity. Thoroughly interdisciplinary, The Spiritual Rococo not only integrates different art historical fields in novel ways but also interacts with church and social history, literary and post-colonial studies, and anthropology, opening up new horizons in these fields.

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This book describes technological change in an industry that played a central role in the Indsutrial Revolution. While earlier scholars have examined isolated aspects of ironmaking in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain, Charles Hyde surveys all aspects of its development. Costs, prices, profits, shrewd leaders, competition, new inventions, and productivity all figure in this story of a key industry during the major period of its evolution.The author's account illuminates not only the nature of innovation in one industry, but the nature of technologial change in general. using new data compiled form the records of the ironmaking concerns, Professor Hyde considers each of the basic economic variables affecting entrepreneurial decisions. He finds that ironmaking advanced through a process of gradual, continuous change rather than through a series of discrete innovations. The rate of diffusion of new techniques corresponded to their profitability when compared to that of existing means of production--a finding that explains that timing of innovation.Charles K. Hyde is Assistant Professor of Social Science at Monteith College, Wayne State University.Originally published in 1977.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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This richly illustrated and superbly organized text/atlas is an excellent point-of-care resource for practitioners at all levels of experience and training. Written by global leaders in the field, Imaging Anatomy: Brain and Spine provides a thorough understanding of the detailed normal anatomy that underlies contemporary imaging. This must-have reference employs a templated, highly formatted design; concise, bulleted text; and state-of- the-art images throughout that identify the clinical entities in each anatomic area. Features more than 2,500 high-resolution images throughout, including 7T MR, fMRI, diffusion tensor MRI, and multidetector row CT images in many planes, combined with over 300 correlative full-color anatomic drawings that show human anatomy in the projections that radiologists use. Covers only the brain and spine, presenting multiplanar normal imaging anatomy in all pertinent modalities for an unsurpassed, comprehensive point-of-care clinical reference. Incorporates recent, stunning advances in imaging such as 7T and functional MR imaging, surface and segmented anatomy, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans, dopamine transporter (DAT) scans, and 3D quantitative volumetric scans. Places 7T MR images alongside 3T MR images to highlight the benefits of using 7T MR imaging as it becomes more widely available in the future. Presents essential text in an easy-to-digest, bulleted format, enabling imaging specialists to find quick answers to anatomy questions encountered in daily practice. Includes the Expert ConsultT version of the book, allowing you to search all the text, figures, and references on a variety of devices.

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This four-volume handbook gives a state-of-the-art overview of porous materials, from synthesis and characterization and simulation all the way to manufacturing and industrial applications. The editors, coming from academia and industry, are known for their didactic skills as well as their technical expertise. Coordinating the efforts of 37 expert authors in 14 chapters, they construct the story of porous carbons, ceramics, zeolites and polymers from varied viewpoints: surface and colloidal science, materials science, chemical engineering, and energy engineering. Volumes 1 and 2 cover the fundamentals of preparation, characterisation, and simulation of porous materials. Working from the fundamentals all the way to the practicalities of industrial production processes, the subjects include hierarchical materials, in situ and operando characterisation using NMR, X-Ray scattering and tomography, state-of-the-art molecular simulations of adsorption and diffusion in crystalline nanoporous materials, as well as the emerging areas of bio-artificing and drug delivery. Volume 3 focuses on porous materials in industrial separation applications, including adsorption separation, membrane separation, and osmotic distillation. Finally, and highly relevant to tomorrow's energy challenges, Volume 4 explains the energy engineering aspects of applying porous materials in supercapacitors, fuel cells, batteries, electrolysers and sub-surface energy applications.The text contains many high-quality colourful illustrations and examples, as well as thousands of up-to-date references to peer-reviewed articles, reports and websites for further reading. This comprehensive and well-written handbook is a must-have reference for universities, research groups and companies working with porous materials.Related Link(s)

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A common critique of globalization is that it causes economic segmentation and even disintegration of the national economy. Quite to the contrary, Baldev Raj Nayar provides a thorough empirical treatment of India's political economy that challenges this critique by demonstrating that, on balance, both state and market have functioned to attenuate such a disintegrative impact and to accentuate economic integration. The active role of the Indian state in the areas of economic planning, fiscal federalism, and tax reform has resulted in improved economic integration and not increased segmentation. Similarly, his investigation of trade, investment, entrepreneurship, and migration suggests tendencies inherent in the market in favor of economic integration, especially when assisted by the state. While globalization has its benefits, such as higher economic growth, and costs, such as external shocks, Nayar's findings show that India has benefited from globalization more than it has been victimized by it. Globalization and India's Economic Integration shows how globalization's pressures favoring efficiency paradoxically induced the state to push for consolidation on a pan-Indian scale in the area of fiscal federalism and to advance the cause of the common market through reforming the indirect tax system; meanwhile, the state has pressed forward with social inclusiveness as never before in its economic planning. For another, the market, too, has been instrumental, because of its widened scope and its inherently expanding character, in strengthening economic integration through trade expansion, diffusion of industry, and increased inter-state migration. Nayar's groundbreaking work will interest students, scholars, and specialists of India, South Asia, globalization, and political economy.

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Advances in Engineering Research. Volume 32 opens by describing a general strategy for building Markov chain models and performing computational analysis of characteristics of the process, as well as showing a few examples of applying this approach to modeling mixing, grinding, fluidized bed, etc. Next, the configurations of gas channels and gas diffusion layers influences on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are investigated. Additionally, a numerical method and an experimental method are realized to predict aeroelastic response and characteristic parameters of wing structure. The numerical method is based on coupled algorithms between computational fluid dynamics and computational structural dynamics. A Lagrangian expression based on the state equation of a class of nonlinear system is proposed to develop the corresponding functional. From this, a control law is developed, and by employing the classical Euler-Lagrange approach, the operation of the system was led to a critical point with success. Following this, a roadmap is presented to directly transition from cutting edge experimental and in-situ geospatial data-collection technology to a predictive computational model for volcanic lahars. The soil-pile-structure interaction plays an important role in assessing the vibrations internally generated within structures due to dynamic loads that could bring significant impacts on the structural behavior. As such, the effects of forces on the seismic response of three tall and massive building cases are investigated. In conclusion, research is presented on the joint effect of silica fume and nanosilica on the fresh and hardened properties of natural hydraulic lime-based grouts for mechanical strengthening of old stone masonry walls.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technique used in biomedical imaging and radiology to visualize internal structures of the body. Because MRI provides excellent contrast between different soft tissues, the technique is especially useful for diagnostic imaging of the brain, muscles, and heart.In the past 20 years, MRI technology has improved significantly with the introduction of systems up to 7 Tesla (7 T) and with the development of numerous post-processing algorithms such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), functional MRI (fMRI), and spectroscopic imaging. From these developments, the diagnostic potentialities of MRI have improved impressively with an exceptional spatial resolution and the possibility of analyzing the morphology and function of several kinds of pathology.Given these exciting developments, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Handbook: Imaging of the Pelvis, Musculoskeletal System, and Special Applications to CAD is a timely addition to the growing body of literature in the field. Offering comprehensive coverage of cutting-edge imaging modalities, this book: Discusses MRI of the urinary system, pelvis, spine, soft tissues, lymphatics, and brain Explains how MRI can be used in fetal, pediatric, forensic, postmortem, and computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) applications Highlights each organ’s anatomy and pathological processes with high-quality images Examines the protocols and potentialities of advanced MRI scanners such as 7 T systems Includes extensive references at the end of each chapter to enhance further study Thus, the Magnetic Resonance Imaging Handbook: Imaging of the Pelvis, Musculoskeletal System, and Special Applications to CAD provides radiologists and imaging specialists with a valuable, state-of-the-art reference on MRI.

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Never before have so many possessed the means to be so lethal. The diffusion of modern technology (robotics, cyber weapons, 3-D printing, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence) to ordinary people has given them access to weapons of mass violence previously monopolized by the state. In recent years, states have attempted to stem the flow of such weapons to individuals and non-state groups, but their efforts are failing. As Audrey Kurth Cronin explains in Power to the People, what we are seeing now is an exacerbation of an age-old trend. Over the centuries, the most surprising developments in warfare have occurred because of advances in technologies combined with changes in who can use them. Indeed, accessible innovations in destructive force have long driven new patterns of political violence. When Nobel invented dynamite and Kalashnikov designed the AK-47, each inadvertently spurred terrorist and insurgent movements that killed millions and upended the international system. That history illuminates our own situation, in which emerging technologies are altering society and redistributing power. The twenty-first century "sharing economy" has already disrupted every institution, including the armed forces. New technologies are transforming access to the means of violence. Just as importantly, higher-order functions that previously had been under state military control (mass mobilization, force projection, and systems integration) no longer are. Cronin closes by focusing on how to respond so that we both preserve the benefits of emerging technologies yet reduce the risks. Power is flowing to the people, but the same technologies that empower can imperil global security, unless we act strategically.

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Today, more doctors than ever are prescribing tai chi for patients recovering from injury, illness, and surgery. This book presents over ten years of research into how and why tai chi benefits health from an evidence-based, medical perspective. Dr. Peter Anthony Gryffin demonstrates the link between health and metarobics, his term for slow, meditative exercises that enhance blood oxygen saturation, diffusion, and oxygen-based metabolism. Metarobics—including tai chi, qigong, and yoga—focus on relaxation and deep breathing. Dr. Gryffin’s research shows that these exercises offer a wide range of benefits for treating chronic disease. Dr. Gryffin cites numerous scientific studies as well as testimonials from patients who have experienced the natural healing benefits of metarobic exercise. Many have surmounted chronic health problems to improve their quality of life. Some even overcame grave diagnoses. This book features: More than 120 scientific studies on tai chi and other metarobic exercises More than 50 case stories from tai chi qigong, and yoga practitioners Clear, straightforward language Tested guidelines to improve your metarobic exercise and maximize health benefits “This book presents over ten years of research into how and why tai chi benefits health from a physiological perspective,” Dr. Gryffin says. “The links I discovered will allow everyone from novice students to veteran teachers to maximize benefits for health and chronic conditions.” In 1968, Dr. Kenneth Cooper’s book Aerobics changed the world of health and fitness. Mindful Exercise: Metarobics , Healing, and the Power of Tai Chi is the next step in this evolution.

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Polymer Thermodynamics: Blends, Copolymers and Reversible Polymerization describes the thermodynamic basis for miscibility as well as the mathematical models used to predict the compositional window of miscibility and construct temperature versus volume-fraction phase diagrams. The book covers the binary interaction model, the solubility parameter approach, and the entropic difference model. Using equation of state (EOS) theories, thermodynamic models, and information from physical properties, it illustrates the construction of phase envelopes.The book presents nine EOS theories, including some that take into account molecular weight effects. Characteristic values are given in tables. It uses the binary interaction model to predict the compositional window of miscibility for copolymer/homopolymer blends and blends of copolymers and terpolymers with common monomers. It discusses Hansen fractional solubility parameter values, six phase diagram types, the role of polymer architecture in phase behavior, and the mathematical framework for multiple glass transition temperatures found in partially miscible polymer blends. The author also illustrates biomedical and commercial applications of nanocomposites, the properties of various polymer alloys, Fick’s laws of diffusion and their implications during transient events, and the use of the dynamic programming method in the sequence alignment of DNA and proteins. The final chapter reviews the thermodynamics of reversible polymerization and copolymerization.Polymer blends offer improved performance/cost ratios and the flexibility to tailor products to suit customers’ needs. Exploring physical phenomena, such as phase separation, this book provides readers with methods to design polymer blends and predict the phase behavior of binary polymer blends using desktop computers.

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Is it possible to apply a network model to composites with conical inclusions?How does the energy pass through contrast composites? Devoted to the analysis of transport problems for systems of densely packed, high-contrast composite materials, Capacity and Transport in Contrast Composite Structures: Asymptotic Analysis and Applications answers questions such as these and presents new and modified asymptotic methods for real-world applications in composite materials development. A mathematical discussion of phenomena related to natural sciences and engineering, this book covers historical developments and new progress in mathematical calculations, computer techniques, finite element computer programs, and presentation of results of numerical computations. The "transport problem"—which is described with scalar linear elliptic equations—implies problems of thermoconductivity, diffusion, and electrostatics. To address this "problem," the authors cover asymptotic analysis of partial differential equations, material science, and the analysis of effective properties of electroceramics. Providing numerical calculations of modern composite materials that take into account nonlinear effects, the book also: Presents results of numerical analysis, demonstrating specific properties of distributions of local fields in high-contrast composite structures and systems of closely placed bodies Assesses whether total flux, energy, and capacity exhaust characteristics of the original continuum model Illustrates the expansion of the method for systems of bodies to highly filled contrast composites This text addresses the problem of loss of high-contrast composites, as well as transport and elastic properties of thin layers that cover or join solid bodies. The material presented will be particularly useful for applied mathematicians interested in new methods, and engineers dealing with prospective materials and design methods.

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Since the 1980s a number of countries have established truth commissions to come to terms with the legacy of past human rights violations, yet little is known about the achievements and shortcomings of this popular transitional justice tool. Drawing on research on Chile's National Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and exploring the scholarship on thirteen other transitional contexts, Onur Bakiner evaluates the success of truth commissions in promoting policy reform, human rights accountability, and the public recognition of human rights violations. He argues that although political elites often see a truth commission as a convenient way to address past atrocities, the findings, historical narratives, and recommendations of such commissions often surprise, upset, and discredit influential political actors. Even when commissions produce only modest change as a result of political constraints, Bakiner contends, they open up new avenues for human rights activism by triggering the creation of new victims' organizations, facilitating public debates over social memory, and inducing civil society actors to monitor the country's human rights policy. Bakiner demonstrates how truth commissions have recovered basic facts about human rights violations, forced societies to rethink the violence and exclusion of nation building, and produced a new dynamic whereby the state seeks to legitimize its central position between history and politics by accepting a high degree of societal penetration into the production and diffusion of official national history. By doing so, truth commissions have challenged and transformed public discourses on memory, truth, justice, reconciliation, recognition, nationalism, and political legitimacy in the contemporary world.

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We live in a modern age, but what does ‘modern’ mean and how can a reflection on ‘modernity’ help us to understand the world today? These are the questions that Peter Wagner sets out to answer in this concise and accessible book. Wagner begins by returning to the question of modernity's Western origins and its claims to open up a new and better era in the history of humanity. Modernity's claims and expectations have become more prevalent and widely shared, but in the course of their realization and diffusion they have also been radically transformed. In an acute and engaging analysis, Wagner examines the following key issues among others: - Modernity was based on the hope for freedom and reason, but it created the institutions of contemporary capitalism and democracy. How does the freedom of the citizen relate to the freedom of the buyer and seller today? And what does disaffection with capitalism and democracy entail for the sustainability of modernity? - Rather than a single model of modernity, there is now a plurality of forms of modern socio-political organisation. What does this entail for our idea of progress and our hope that the future world can be better than the present one? - All nuance and broadening notwithstanding, our concept of modernity is in some way inextricably tied to the history of Europe and the West. How can we compare different forms of modernity in a 'symmetric', non-biased or non-Eurocentric way? How can we develop a world-sociology of modernity?

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Graduate students in the natural sciences--including not only geophysics and space physics but also atmospheric and planetary physics, ocean sciences, and astronomy--need a broad-based mathematical toolbox to facilitate their research. In addition, they need to survey a wider array of mathematical methods that, while outside their particular areas of expertise, are important in related ones. While it is unrealistic to expect them to develop an encyclopedic knowledge of all the methods that are out there, they need to know how and where to obtain reliable and effective insights into these broader areas. Here at last is a graduate textbook that provides these students with the mathematical skills they need to succeed in today's highly interdisciplinary research environment. This authoritative and accessible book covers everything from the elements of vector and tensor analysis to ordinary differential equations, special functions, and chaos and fractals. Other topics include integral transforms, complex analysis, and inverse theory; partial differential equations of mathematical geophysics; probability, statistics, and computational methods; and much more. Proven in the classroom, Mathematical Methods for Geophysics and Space Physics features numerous exercises throughout as well as suggestions for further reading. * Provides an authoritative and accessible introduction to the subject * Covers vector and tensor analysis, ordinary differential equations, integrals and approximations, Fourier transforms, diffusion and dispersion, sound waves and perturbation theory, randomness in data, and a host of other topics * Features numerous exercises throughout * Ideal for students and researchers alike * An online illustration package is available to professors

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A practical guide to solving problems in chemistry with fractal geometry. It has been two decades since Mandelbrot formulated his revolutionary theories of fractal geometry. Yet, in that brief time, fractals -those strangely beautiful infinite geometric patterns -and the computational processes that give rise to them have become a valued research tool in a broad array of scientific, social-scientific, and commercial fields. While inroads also have been made in applying fractals to theoretical and applied chemistry, there continues to be a dearth of texts and references on the subject. This book helps fill that gap in the literature. Fractals in Chemistry provides chemists with a concise, practical introduction to fractal theory and its applications to a wide range of "bread and butter" issues in chemistry. Drawing upon his considerable experience as a researcher who helped pioneer some of the methods he describes, Walter Rothschild critically appraises the power and limitations of the fractal approach and shows how it can provide more predictive classification schemes and explain phenomena difficult to handle by classical means. Then, with the help of nearly 100 illustrations, he demonstrates how to apply fractals to model chemical phenomena such as adsorption, aggregation, catalysis, chemical reactivity, degradation, and turbulent flames, and how to understand dynamics on fractals in terms of fractons in diffusion-limited reactions, dispersive spectroscopies, and energy transfer. Fractals in Chemistry is both a valuable working resource for professionals in physical chemistry, chemical physics, and computer modeling and an excellent graduate-level text for courses covering the use of fractals in chemistry.

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