Search results for ""Taylor Francis""

Ever since the fifties, when television became ascendent in American popular culture, it has become commonplace to bemoan its "bad" effects. Little or nothing, however, has been said about its "good" effects. With this observation, Henry Perkinson introduces his provocative and original analysis of television and culture. Rejecting the determinism inherent in most studies of the effects of television ("We are what we watch"), he insists that it is people that actively change culture, media having no agency to do so. Nevertheless, he argues that television did facilitate the changes we have made in our culture over the past thirty years.Perkinson describes how television helped us become critical of our existing culture, especially of the relationships that were commonly accepted between men and women, blacks and whites, politicians and voters, employers and employees, and between people and the environment. These criticisms have brought about dramatic changes in our social, political, and economic arrangements, as well as changes in our intellectual outlook. Since these changes came about through our efforts to eliminate or reduce discrimination, suffering, and injustice, Perkinson argues that our culture has become more moral in the age of television.In what amounts to a history of recent social change in America, Getting Better examines the role television has played in the rise of feminism, the black protest movement, the presidential elections, the Vietnam War, Watergate, environmentalism, religious fundamentalism, and the New Age movement. This book will be essential reading for students of communications and American culture, and for anyone who wants to make sense of the transformations of American life from the 1950s to the present. Even those who do not agree that things are "getting better" will find that Perkinson's analysis helps to make things more coherent.

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Edited and with an introduction by Alan Sica.In 1975 Joseph Gabel published a modern masterpiece which appeared in English as False Consciousness: An Essay on Reification. Combining his special knowledge of existential psychiatry, axiology, Marxism, and political history, Gabel proposed the utterly novel idea that victims of serious mental disturbances (especially paranoia and schizophrenia) reproduce those distorted thought patterns commonly associated with ideological beliefs at the collective level. Such beliefs initially had been laid bare in the 1920s by Gabel's intellectual progenitors, Karl Mannheim and George Lukacs. Gabel's remarkable innovation was to transfer the private crisis of mental collapse into the analytic framework previously reserved for ideological critique, making him an expert on what was later called "the micro-macro problem." Ideologies and the Corruption of Thought includes Gabel's essays over the last 40 years, characteristically treating micro and macro theoretical matters simultaneously. Originally written in French and German, they have been recast in idiomatic English and bibliographically updated. Using a unique mode and vocabulary of analysis, Gabel offers theoretical investigations of McCarthyism and Stalinism (original and more recent types), as well as Althusser, Orwell, and Jonathan Swift in his capacity as a psychiatric theorist. He also explores anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism, and a fascinating case study of a paranoid who regarded himself as the pope. In addition this volume includes a range of general commentaries on ideological "thought," utopianism, and false consciousness.This rich feast of social and political analysis and theory illuminates a range of contemporary concerns: racism, utopian fantasy, ethnocentrism, anti-Semitism, the interplay of social structure and mental illness, and ideological transformations of social life, which only Gabel's unique mixture of the clinical and the political could achieve. It will be studied with interest by all theorists and politically alert readers in the social sciences, philosophy, and related fields of study.

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Icelandic Spiritualism is an engaging social anthropological study of the place of spiritualism in Icelandic church and society during the first half of the twentieth century. Challenging standard theoretical approaches to the study of religion, the book contributes a wealth of data on the history of religion and psychical research, presenting it in a vivid descriptive narrative.The authors trace the role of the spirit world in Icelandic culture, giving particular attention to the distinctive history of Iceland's "conversion" to Christianity. They focus on the appearance of "modern" spiritualism as a distinct phenomenon in Icelandic life. The book studies the interaction between various groups in fin-de-siecle Icelandic society, not least in the state church, as mediumistic phenomena became widely reported through the newspapers.To some, Icelandic spiritualism may be considered a deviant case of Protestantism. What makes this book interesting, however, is that the spiritualism is seen as integral to Iceland's transition to modernity. While Icelandic Spiritualism concentrates mainly on the first half of the twentieth century, it also provides a summary of the continuation of spiritualist phenomena up to the current period. This intriguing study will be of interest to theologians, philosophers, sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists.

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Lack of family structure, violence in the schools, and overcrowded classrooms spur a never-ending cry for "reforms" to confront such issues. Quentin L. Quade cuts through the alarming din to what he feels is the real heart of the matter- the ways society assigns tax dollars dedicated to education, what he refers to as educational finance monopoly or EFM.In the United States, contrary to the practice of many other modern democracies, tax dollars are assigned by state bureaucratic structures to each state's own schools. Such a system spawns structures and personnel that stay in place irrespective of merit, and keep control of all finances. An alternative to EFM, at work in various other democracies, is programs aimed to permit school choice without financial penalty. In such systems, parents determine the allocation of education-dedicated tax dollars, and can select schools most suited to their children. In contrast, under EFM state schools are sheltered from competitive incentives to excel, to make themselves choiceworthy. And independent schools are damaged because they are deprived of the resources they would have if parents were free to choose.On the one side, defenders of EFM want political control for financial advantage and to block efforts to change. On the other side, critics want parents to be free to decide the educational environment for their children. Quade maintains that EFM is fundamentally injurious to children, parents, and the nation; that it is maintained by political defenses of financial interests, not for reasons of educational merit; and that school choice without financial penalty would create better educational conditions and outcomes.Financing Education examines the major problems of American K-12 education, establishes the casual connections with EFM, offers school choice without financial penalty as a powerful and obvious cure, and examines several American school choice proposals. It will be of interest to policymakers, policy analysts, educators, taxpayers, parents, and all persons concerned about American's educational quality.

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Hysteria as a neurosis seems to have disappeared altogether from the psychiatric manuals; but there are articles here and there, particularly in the United States and France, which advocate the existence of hysteria as a psychosis. Hysterical psychosis is the clinical combination of a hysterical personality with a seemingly psychotic state. Looking back to nineteenth-century psychiatry, Katrien Libbrecht attempts to answer the question: Is there such a thing as a hysterical psychosis or are we dealing with hysteria exhibiting psychotic features?Hysterical Psychosis is divided into three sections. The first part of the book carries the reader back to the second half of the nineteenth century, the heyday of the study of hysteria on the eve of the discovery of psychonanalysis. The second part of the book discusses the implications of the generalized impact of Bleuler's concept of schizophrenia during the interbellum period. The last section of the book deals with the current reemergence of hysterical psychosis from the 1960s to the 1990s.Libbrecht provides a historical survey of the most important psychiatric and psychoanalytic references on hysterical psychosis, as well as a review of current research on the matter. She sheds new light on reasons for the disappearance of the diagnosis of hysteria rn the 1950s and the emergence of the notion of hysterical psychosis during the 1960s. Hysterical Psychosis is a landmark study that is essential for psychoanalysts, psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, medical practitioners, and historians of psychology.

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To those still accustomed to seeing social order depicted in classes, strata, central groups, or institutions, and who measure and classify the social world according to "centers" and "margins," modern society presents itself as ambiguous and unmanageable. This is not unprecedented. Human societies often discover themselves in situations in which the traditional grids of order and stratification lose their value and fail to serve as guideposts for individuals.In The Order of Rituals, Hans-Georg Soeffner aims to answer the question: Through what efforts of order and orientation are loosely organized societies like ours held together? Soeffner focuses on symbolic forms of self-presentation that bring focus and clarity to our lives, such as emblems, fashions, styles, and symbols. As these replace old orders of classes or strata, there is a further consequence. Economically, culturally, and ethnically "mixed" societies not only return to specific visible forms of presentation, but also present themselves and their worldviews as a public stage of life-styles, attitudes, and demeanor.Soeffner asserts that society preserves certain continuously handed-down forms of action and ritual as specific symbolic forms over a long period of time. The Order of Rituals describes these symbols and routines of everyday life in fascinating detail, coupled with thoughtful analysis. Sociologists, anthropologists, and philosophers will all benefit immensely from this book.

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Innerworldly Individualism looks to colonial history, in particular, seventeenth-century New England, to understand the sources of modern nation building. Seligman analyzes how cultural assumptions of collective identity and social authority emerged out of the religious beliefs of the first generation of settlers in New England. He goes on to examine how these assumptions crystallized three generations later into patterns of normative order, forming the foundation of an American consciousness. Seligman uses sociological research grounded in early American history as his laboratory, and does so in a highly original way.Seligman uses Max Weber's paradigm of sociological inquiry to explore how a combination of ideational and structural factors helped to develop modern conceptions of authority and collective identity among New England communities. Seligman addresses a number of significant issues, including social change, the mutual interaction and development of process and structure, and the role of charisma in the forging of a social order. His book profoundly increases our understanding of the ideological and social processes prevalent in early American history as well as their contemporary influence on civil identity.Innerworldly Individualism uniquely intertwines sociological study with cultural history. It uses American history to develop and elucidate problems of broad theoretical significance. Seligman's argument is bolstered by a close examination of concrete detail. His book will be of interest to anthropologists, sociologists, political theorists, and historians of American culture.

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This is Volume 2 of Praxiology: The International Annual of Practical Philosophy and Methology, focusing on Philosophy and Action Theory. This volume is divided into three parts: the first one being, so to speak, a ‘business card’ of Finland’s contemporary practical philosophy, the second one being a ‘business card’ of the P oland’s present praxiology, and a collection of contributions from other philosophical environments related to the topics.

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Judgment and Sensibility is the second volume of the collected essays of E. Digby Baltzell, one of the keenest observers and analysts of America's upper classes since Thorstein Veblen. Spanning four decades of writing, these essays cover a wide range of topics, including contemporary politics, democratic elitism, Puritanism, Judaism, higher education, urbanization, and the U.S. Supreme Court, among others.

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Examines dumpers of hazardous waste as criminals, comparing their behavior to other criminals. Finds a fairly unusual environment, in which the intensity, duration, and methods of the crime are determined by opportunities in the legitimate marketplace, rather than by a crime syndicate. Annotation co

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This study was conceived in the winter of 1984, in response to the profession’s efforts to achieve counselor licensure. Licensure of counselors brought about the concern of what defines the practice of a professional counselor. The study had its origins in two sources: (a) the National Board for Certified Counselors’ and staff members’ functioning and (b) a commitment by NBCC to strengthen the credentialing of counselors and incur the expense to conduct a study of this magnitude.

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The MRCPsych examinations, conducted by the Royal College of Psychiatrists, are perhaps the most important exams for any psychiatric trainee to achieve specialist accreditation. Written by authors with previous exam experience and edited by the distinguished team behind Revision Notes in Psychiatry , this two-volume set provides candidates with the most realistic and up-todate MCQ and EMIs, closely matched to themes appearing most often in the Paper A1 and A2 exams.

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Designed for survey courses in the field A History of Medicine presents a wide-ranging overview for those seeking a solid grounding in the medical history of Western and non-Western cultures. Invaluable to instructors promoting the history of medicine in pre-professional training, and stressing major themes in the history of medicine, this third edition continues to stimulate further exploration of the events, methodologies, and theories that have shaped medical practices in decades past and continue to do so today.

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This concise, beautifully illustrated book provides a convenient introduction to the basic science of medical microbiology and how this relates to clinical practice. Expanded from the prize-winning first edition to cover virology and parasitology in addition to bacteriology, this second editions explains the essentials of microbial infection and continues to provide a sound basis for developing logical diagnostic and management strategies, including the critical area of antibiotic usage. Section One focuses on the clinical with chapters centred around infections of the organ systems, while full coverage of the scientific aspects underpinning microbial disease follows in Section Two.

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This book is about the process of using analytics and the capabilities of analytics in today’s organizations. Cutting through the buzz surrounding the term analytics and the overloaded expectations about using analytics, the book demystifies analytics with an in-depth examination of concepts grounded in operations research and management science. Analytics as a set of tools and processes is only as effective as: The data with which it is working The human judgment applying the processes and understanding the output of these processes. For this reason, the book focuses on the analytics process. What is intrinsic to analytics’ real organizational impact are the careful application of tools and the thoughtful application of their outcomes. This work emphasizes analytics as part of a process that supports decision-making within organizations. It wants to debunk overblown expectations that somehow analytics outputs or analytics as applied to other concepts, such as Big Data, are the be-all and end-all of the analytics process. They are, instead, only a step within a holistic and critical approach to management thinking that can create real value for an organization.To develop this holistic approach, the book is divided into two sections that examine concepts and applications. The first section makes the case for executive management taking a holistic approach to analytics. It draws on rich research in operations and management science that form the context in which analytics tools are to be applied. There is a strong emphasis on knowledge management concepts and techniques, as well as risk management concepts and techniques. The second section focuses on both the use of the analytics process and organizational issues that are required to make the analytics process relevant and impactful.

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From the ForewordUmberto Quattrocchi has brought us some amazing and useful works through the various dictionaries that he has compiled. This time it is for two very important plant families the palms and the cycads that are synthesized here in these two volumes. Each entry is fascinating not just for the botany and full nomenclature of the plant species but for all the associated uses, folklore and interactions with other organisms. ...These entries are fascinating glimpses of natural history. ... Botanists, conservationists, ethnobotanists, anthropologists, geographers, bird watchers, naturalists, historians and those of many other disciplines will find these volumes a most valuable and useful resource. It is the sort of book that will be in frequent use in my library.----- Professor Sir Ghillean Prance FRS, VMH, Former Director, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew Following the same format as Umberto Quattrocchi's highly praised and well-used previous w

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This book discusses the advanced databases for the cloud-based application known as NoSQL. It will explore the recent advancements in NoSQL database technology. Chapters on structured, unstructured and hybrid databases will be included to explore bigdata analytics, bigdata storage and processing. The book is likely to cover a wide range of topics such as cloud computing, social computing, bigdata and advanced databases processing techniques.

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North American Border Conflicts: Race, Politics, and Ethics adds to the current discussion on class, race, ethnic, and sectarian divides, not only within the United States but throughout the Americas in general. The book explores the phenomenon of border challenges throughout the world, particularly the current increase in population migration in the America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, which has been linked to human trafficking and many other causes of human suffering. North American Border Conflicts takes students through the rich, sad history of border conflict on this continent.

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Animation has a lot to do with acting. That is, character animation, not the standardized, mechanical process of animation. Acting and animation are highly creative processes. This book is divided into two parts: From film history we learn about the importance of actors and the variety of acting that goes into animation; then, we will turn to the actor's point of view to describe the various techniques involved. Through exhaustive research and interviews with people ranging from the late Ray Harryhausen, Jim Danforth, Joe Letteri, and Bruno Bozzetto, this book will be the primary source for animators and animation actors.Key FeaturesInterviews with industry legends are found throughout this exhaustive work on animationFrom film history we learn about the importance of actors and the variety of acting that goes into animation, then turn to the actor's point of view to describe the various techniques involvedCoverage of acting from Vaudeville to Rotoscoping to Performance CaptureCase studies throughout bring the content to life while providing actionable tools and techniques that can be used immediately

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Computer Modeling Applications for Environmental Engineers in its second edition incorporates changes and introduces new concepts using Visual Basic.NET, a programming language chosen for its ease of comprehensive usage. This book offers a complete understanding of the basic principles of environmental engineering and integrates new sections that address Noise Pollution and Abatement and municipal solid-waste problem solving, financing of waste facilities, and the engineering of treatment methods that address sanitary landfill, biochemical processes, and combustion and energy recovery. Its practical approach serves to aid in the teaching of environmental engineering unit operations and processes design and demonstrates effective problem-solving practices that facilitate self-teaching. A vital reference for students and professional sanitary and environmental engineers this work also serves as a stand-alone problem-solving text with well-defined, real-work examples and explanations.

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Convex Optimization for Signal Processing and Communications: From Fundamentals to Applications provides fundamental background knowledge of convex optimization, while striking a balance between mathematical theory and applications in signal processing and communications. In addition to comprehensive proofs and perspective interpretations for core convex optimization theory, this book also provides many insightful figures, remarks, illustrative examples, and guided journeys from theory to cutting-edge research explorations, for efficient and in-depth learning, especially for engineering students and professionals. With the powerful convex optimization theory and tools, this book provides you with a new degree of freedom and the capability of solving challenging real-world scientific and engineering problems.

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Exome and genome sequencing are revolutionizing medical research and diagnostics, but the computational analysis of the data has become an extremely heterogeneous and often challenging area of bioinformatics. Computational Exome and Genome Analysis provides a practical introduction to all of the major areas in the field, enabling readers to develop a comprehensive understanding of the sequencing process and the entire computational analysis pipeline.

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Everywhere you look in healthcare, disruptive changes are emerging, yet the pressure to keep productivity up is ever-present. There are ways to minimize disruption and make adoption stick. Change Rx for Healthcare: Your Prescription for Leading Change showcases a case study of a large, transformational change implementing an electronic health record platform, as well as a collection of best-practice tools for leading through change or adopting change successfully. The author also includes hints on how to take learning and applying the contents to the next level and provides a detailed review of the science and profession of change adoption.This book will help any executive, physician, leader, consultant, project member, or change management professional become more familiar with the science of change and tools that make it faster and easier.

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Future remote sensing systems will make extensive use of Compressive Sensing (CS) as it becomes more integrated into the system design with increased high resolution sensor developments and the rising earth observation data generated each year. Written by leading experts in the field Compressive Sensing of Earth Observations provides a comprehensive and balanced coverage of the theory and applications of CS in all aspects of earth observations. This work covers a myriad of practical aspects such as the use of CS in detection of human vital signs in a cluttered environment and the corresponding modeling of rib-cage breathing. Readers are also presented with three different applications of CS to the ISAR imaging problem, which includes image reconstruction from compressed data, resolution enhancement, and image reconstruction from incomplete data.

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Dosimetry refers to the calculation and assessment of the radiation dose received by the human body. The proposed book will place emphasis on the existence of physical and biophysical dosimetry. It will be discussed for the proper description and evaluation of the signal at the power generation system. It will cover in detail 10 different parameters of EMF (electromagnetism) exposure such as amplitude, frequency, vector, time of exposure, orientation, etc. In most published papers, these parameters are not well defined.

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In many places in the world, forests dominate landscapes and provide various products. Future climate change could profoundly alter the productivity of forest ecosystems and species composition. Until now, climate impact research has primarily focused on the likely impacts of rise in temperature, increased atmospheric CO2 concentration, and varying precipitation on unmanaged forests. The issue that now needs to be addressed is how to sustainably manage climate change for timber production and biomass. Though climate change is a global issue, impacts on forests depend on local environmental conditions and management methods, so this book will look at the issue under varying local contexts.

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John Glaser has been an astute observer and recognized leader in the health care industry for over thirty years. He has written a regular column for Hospitals & Health Networks in which he comments on a wide range of topics, including improving organizational performance through health information technology (HIT), changes in HIT architecture, challenges in leveraging data, and the evolution of the role of IT leadership. Glaser on Health Care IT: Perspectives from the Decade that Defined Health Care Information Technology is a collection of some of the most widely read articles that have been published in H&HN Daily, H&HN Weekly, and Most Wired Online in the past decade (2005–2015). The columns are dated to show their original publication dates, and the material is organized into four broad themes: HIT Applications and Analytics Challenges Improving Organizational Performance through HIT IT Management Challenges HIT Industry Observations Each section offers readers an intimate look at the myriad issues associated with getting IT "right" and the organizational performance gains that can be achieved in doing so. Moreover, the book examines the power and potential of the technologies available to health care providers today, as well as the transformative nature of those we have yet to fully embrace.From seasoned CIOs and consultants to software developers and nurses, this book provides invaluable insights and guidance to all those seeking to make the delivery of care safer, more effective, and more efficient through the application of health care IT.Foreword by Russ Branzell, President and CEO, College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME)Co-published with Health Forum, Inc.

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The global warming problem is becoming critical year by year, causing climate disaster all over the world, where it has been believed that the CO2 gas emitted from the factories and the burning of fossil fuels may be one of the reasons of global warming. Moreover, the global stock of fossil fuels is limited, and may run out soon within several tens of years. Although wind, geo-thermal, and tide energies have been considered as clean energy sources, those depend on the land or sea locations and subject to the climate change. Biofuel and biochemical production from renewable bio-resources has thus been paid recent attention from environmental protection and energy production points of view, where the current chemical and energy producing plants can be also utilized with slight modification. The so-called 1st generation biofuels have been produced from corn starch and sugarcane in particular in USA and Brazil. However, this causes the problem of the so-called "food and energy issues" as the production scale increases. The 2nd generation biofuel production from lingo-cellulosic biomass or wastes has thus been paid recent attention. However, it requires energy intensive pretreatment for the degradation of lingo-cellulosic biomass, and the fermentation is slow due to low growth rate, and thus the productivity of biofuels and bio-chemicals is low. The 3rd generation biofuel production from photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria and algae has been also paid attention, because such organisms can grow with only sun light and CO2 in the air, but the cell growth rate and thus the productivity of the fuels is significantly low. The main part or core of such production processes is the fermentation by micro-organisms. In particular, it is critical to properly understand the cell metabolism followed by the efficient metabolic engineering. The book gives comprehensive explanation of the cell metabolism and the metabolic regulation mechanisms of a variety of micro-organisms. Then the efficient metabolic engineering approaches are explained to properly design the microbial cell factories for the efficient cell growth and biofuel and biochemical production.

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Climate Health Risks in Megacities: Sustainable Management and Strategic Planning courageously confronts the immense challenges of alleviating climate change and takes the initiative to layout an agenda that calls for action in the rapidly changing landscape of our global climate. This guide provides a constructive methodology for developing and implementing risk management and operational continuity management systems to climate change effects on urban populations. It addresses key issues such as physical location, proper sanitation, food security and vector-borne diseases against the backdrop of climate change, and then model its effect on the urban dwellers. The author also reveals the benefits of implementing a unique risk management approach to combat global threats and focuses on building urban resilience in the face of disasters. Prepared with a comprehensive and forward-thinking style, this book draws on indispensable case studies in key megacities like New York, Los Angeles, Beijing, Rio de Janeiro, London, Mumbai, and Lagos, and links researchers, scientists, city’s mayors, environmentalists, policy-makers and world leaders from central areas to review, reflect, and expound on future directions.

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Nonlinear Control of Robots and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: An Integrated Approach presents control and regulation methods that rely upon feedback linearization techniques. Both robot manipulators and UAVs employ operating regimes with large magnitudes of state and control variables, making such an approach vital for their control systems design. Numerous application examples are included to facilitate the art of nonlinear control system design, for both robotic systems and UAVs, in a single unified framework. MATLAB® and Simulink® are integrated to demonstrate the importance of computational methods and systems simulation in this process.

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While much has been written about instinct shooting with long guns, very little had been published on doing so with a handgun until this publication. Written by a pioneering author of the concept, Instinct Combat Shooting: Defensive Handgunning for Police, now in its fourth edition, is not about winning target shooting competitions, but purports surviving real-life firefights by examining testimonies of shootout survivors and carefully analyzing firefights that prove shooting instinctively is not only crucially fast, but also equally accurate.The book defines instinctive combat shooting as: "The act of operating a handgun by focusing on the target, as opposed to the sights, and instinctively coordinating the hand and mind to cause the handgun to discharge at a time and point that ensures interception of the projectile with the target."The concepts behind instinct combat shooting discussed in this book are now being integrated into some of the most progressive police academies in the United States and around the world. New chapters provide valuable material dispelling myths on indexing, laser sights, and other trick-shooting methods. Intended to help officers survive close-quarter combat conditions, Instinct Combat Shooting is an essential tool for police looking to improve their close-range shooting skills and enhance their firefight survival.

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Successfully estimate risk and reliability, and produce innovative, yet reliable designs using the approaches outlined in Offshore Structural Engineering: Reliability and Risk Assessment. A hands-on guide for practicing professionals, this book covers the reliability of offshore structures with an emphasis on the safety and reliability of offshore facilities during analysis, design, inspection, and planning. Since risk assessment and reliability estimates are often based on probability, the author utilizes concepts of probability and statistical analysis to address the risks and uncertainties involved in design. He explains the concepts with clear illustrations and tutorials, provides a chapter on probability theory, and covers various stages of the process that include data collection, analysis, design and construction, and commissioning. In addition, the author discusses advances in geometric structural forms for deep-water oil exploration, the rational treatment of uncertainties in structural engineering, and the safety and serviceability of civil engineering and other offshore structures.An invaluable guide to innovative and reliable structural design, this book: Defines the structural reliability theory Explains the reliability analysis of structures Examines the reliability of offshore structures Describes the probabilistic distribution for important loading variables Includes methods of reliability analysis Addresses risk assessment and more Offshore Structural Engineering: Reliability and Risk Assessment provides an in-depth analysis of risk analysis and assessment and highlights important aspects of offshore structural reliability. The book serves as a practical reference to engineers and students involved in naval architecture, ocean engineering, civil/structural, and petroleum engineering.

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Analyzing Longitudinal Clinical Trial Data: A Practical Guide provides practical and easy to implement approaches for bringing the latest theory on analysis of longitudinal clinical trial data into routine practice.The book, with its example-oriented approach that includes numerous SAS and R code fragments, is an essential resource for statisticians and graduate students specializing in medical research. The authors provide clear descriptions of the relevant statistical theory and illustrate practical considerations for modeling longitudinal data. Topics covered include choice of endpoint and statistical test; modeling means and the correlations between repeated measurements; accounting for covariates; modeling categorical data; model verification; methods for incomplete (missing) data that includes the latest developments in sensitivity analyses, along with approaches for and issues in choosing estimands; and means for preventing missing data. Each chapter stands alone in its coverage of a topic. The concluding chapters provide detailed advice on how to integrate these independent topics into an over-arching study development process and statistical analysis plan.

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This book serves as an introduction to the level design process in Unreal Engine 4. By working with a number of different components within the Unreal Editor, readers will learn to create levels using BSPs, create custom materials, create custom Blueprints complete with events, import objects, create particle effects, create sound effects and combine them to create a complete playable game level. The book is designed to work step by step at the beginning of each chapter, then allow the reader to complete similar tasks on their own to show an understanding of the content. A companion website with project files and additional information is included.

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Cognitive radio is 5-G technology, comes under IEEE 802.22 WRAN (Wireless Regional Area Network) standards. It is currently experiencing rapid growth due to its potential to solve many of the problems affecting present-day wireless systems. The foremost objective of "Introduction to Cognitive Radio Networks and Applications" is to educate wireless communication generalists about cognitive radio communication networks. Written by international leading experts in the field, this book caters to the needs of researchers in the field who require a basis in the principles and the challenges of cognitive radio networks.

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Himalaya, the world's most prominent mountain system of the world is a source of sustainence for the social, cultural and economic development of population across different countries. Unscientific, small-scale mining for harnessing reounrces including minerals has caused ecosystem damage. Therefore, an integrated and holistic approach to deal with the resource management is required. This book makes a focussed effort to explain how mining in the Himalaya is practiced with discussions pertaining to critiques and lacunas of mining and environmental practices. Status of mining practices in Himalaya is included along with the legal/environmental repercussions of mining.

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Cannabis sativa is best known as the source of marijuana, the world’s most widely consumed illicit recreational drug. However, the plant is also extremely useful as a source of stem fiber, edible seed oil, and medicinal compounds, all of which are undergoing extremely promising research, technological applications, and business investment. Indeed, despite its capacity for harm as a recreational drug, cannabis has phenomenal potential for providing new products to benefit society and for generating extensive employment and huge profits. Misguided policies, until recently, have prevented legitimate research on the beneficial properties of cannabis, but there is now an explosion of societal, scientific, and political support to reappraise and remove some of the barriers to usage. Unfortunately, there is also a corresponding dearth of objective analysis. Towards redressing the limitation of information, Cannabis: A Complete Guide is a comprehensive reference summarizing botanical, business, chemical, ecological, genetic, historical, horticultural, legal, and medical considerations that are critical for the wise advancement and management of cannabis in its various forms.This book documents both the risks and benefits of what is indisputably one of the world’s most important species. The conflicting claims for medicinal virtues and toxicological vices are examined, based mainly on the most recent authoritative scientific reviews. The attempt is made consistently to reflect majority scientific opinion, although many aspects of cannabis are controversial. Aside from the relevance to specialists, the general public should find the presentation attractive because of the huge interest today in marijuana. Unfortunately, society has become so specialized and compartmentalized that most people have limited appreciation of the importance of science to their lives, except when a topic like marijuana becomes sensationalized. This review of cannabis can serve as a vehicle for public education in the realm of science and technology. Indeed, towards the goal of disseminating the important information in this book to a wide audience, the presentation is user-friendly, concise, and well-illustrated in the hope that non-specialists will find the topics both informative and entertaining.

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Since the Second World War, the field of ion exchange has taken a dominant role in offering solutions to many problems in the developed and developing world. It has evolved to a wide array of applications, including mining, microelectronics, drug delivery and detection, food, fertilizers, chemical cleaning, catalysis, bioseparation, water management, environmental research and practices, and energy.The six chapters in this book represent diverse contributions from researchers around the globe who are making noticeable strides in the field in currently important areas: Brackish water desalination Removing boron from water Sustainable approaches for synthesizing commercially important epoxide building blocks Solid-phase heavy-metal separation Separating concentrated ion mixtures in sorption columns Sensing toxic metals Ion Exchange and Solvent Extraction: A Series of Advances, Volume 22 provides a focused review of new materials and new processes that have developed and are rapidly growing. It describes cutting-edge research and practices in the use of ion exchange for building a cleaner, sustainable world and provides thoughtful insights on what ion exchange may do for us in the future.

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Convective Flow and Heat Transfer from Wavy Surfaces: Viscous Fluids, Porous Media, and Nanofluids addresses the wavy irregular surfaces in heat transfer devices. Fluid flow and heat transfer studies from wavy surfaces have received attention, since they add complexity and require special mathematical techniques. This book considers the flow and heat transfer characteristics from wavy surfaces, providing an understanding of convective behavioral changes.

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Iterative Methods without Inversion presents the iterative methods for solving operator equations f(x) = 0 in Banach and/or Hilbert spaces. It covers methods that do not require inversions of f (or solving linearized subproblems). The typical representatives of the class of methods discussed are Ulm’s and Broyden’s methods. Convergence analyses of the methods considered are based on Kantorovich’s majorization principle which avoids unnecessary simplifying assumptions like differentiability of the operator or solvability of the equation. These analyses are carried out under a more general assumption about degree of continuity of the operator than traditional Lipschitz continuity: regular continuity.Key Features The methods discussed are analyzed under the assumption of regular continuity of divided difference operator, which is more general and more flexible than the traditional Lipschitz continuity. An attention is given to criterions for comparison of merits of various methods and to the related concept of optimality of a method of certain class. Many publications on methods for solving nonlinear operator equations discuss methods that involve inversion of linearization of the operator, which task is highly problematic in infinite dimensions. Accessible for anyone with minimal exposure to nonlinear functional analysis.

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Body Reshaping through Muscle and Skin Meridian Therapy: An Introduction to 6 Body Types shows you how your weight and body shape can be a direct result of ill health and explains the structures and functions involved. It explores much more than just what your scale and the fit of your clothes might tell you. It looks at skin, fat, muscles, diaphragm, historical illnesses or injuries, body posture, body clock or circadian rhythm, digestion, blood vessels, nutrition, sympathetic nervous system, parasympathetic nervous system, and enteric nervous system. By examining the above factors, you will learn how they contribute toward changes in body shape (notice no mention of dieting or exercise).Muscle meridian therapy refers to the passive application of treatments to muscles not connected to any major organ. The techniques involved improve all the metabolic balances of the body (pressure, temperature, and balance) as well as your overall health. Therapies can benefit all people, including those with traumas such as digestive system disorders, autonomic nerve system disorders, medication complications, post-childbirth complications, major scarring, posture issues, and pain management.The author provides the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) tools and techniques needed for practitioner-guided wellness or at-home wellness understanding and maintenance. The book offers a full guide to "body type" evaluation for muscle meridian therapy and presents a "passive" therapy method (like massage or acupuncture) to complement "active" therapies (like physical therapy and exercise). It covers concepts that are highly individualized yet very "whole body" for physical restoration and balance.

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Using illustrative case examples, this book thoroughly reviews similarities and differences between asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the overlap syndrome. It is important to highlight the distinctions because these commonly encountered conditions in respiratory and primary care share many similarities but have important differences often mistaken for each other. This can have serious implications for treatment, particularly as new treatments are targeted at specific phenotypes of the diseases. This practical guide shows how to distinguish between the diseases on a pathological and clinical basis so that appropriate management and treatment may be pursued.

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Reflectance confocal microscopy enables lesions in skin to be examined without excision, but with improved diagnostic accuracy, assessment of dermoscopic-histologic correlation, assessment of surgical margins, as well as speed and convenience for the physician and patient. This extensively enlarged and updated text reviews the current and future state of the art for those involved with the diagnosis and treatment of skin tumors, with a greatly increased amount of material on the expected normal patterns of skin throughout life and on non-melanocytic tumors.

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This book focusses on a parallel approach that ensures successful acquisitions are strategic and cultural fits, which meet all synergy goals while at the same time optimizing and growing the current business. Busiensses must run effectively before they are built upon them through acquisition. These same tools that we use in the preparatory phase while optimizing our current business including Lean, Six Sigma and Theory of Constraints become the catalyst that will maximize business growth, cash flow and net profits for the expanded business in the long term. They are transferrable and form an integral part of "the glue" that holds the newly acquired company and the core business together.

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In recent years, novel families of materials have been discovered and significant improvements in classical thermoelectric materials have been made. Thermoelectric generators are now being used to harvest industrial heat waste and convert it into electricity. This is being utilized in communal incinerators, large smelters, and cement plants. Leading car and truck companies are developing thermoelectric power generators to collect heat from the exhaust systems of gasoline and diesel engines. Additionally, thermoelectric coolers are being used in a variety of picnic boxes, vessels used to transport transplant organs, and in air-conditioned seats of mid-size cars. Consisting of twenty-one chapters written by top researchers in the field, this book explores the major advancements being made in the material aspects of thermoelectricity and provides a critical assessment in regards to the broadening of application opportunities for thermoelectric energy conversion.

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Phylogenetic Systematics: Haeckel to Hennig traces the development of phylogenetic systematics against the foil of idealistic morphology through 100 years of German biology. It starts with the iconic Ernst Haeckel—the German Darwin from Jena—and the evolutionary morphology he developed. It ends with Willi Hennig, the founder of modern phylogenetic systematics. Written in English, the book presents a unique perspective on a vast body of German biological literature.The book also offers a perspective on German biology in the Third Reich. The author looks at how idealistic morphology and phylogenetic systematics represented two antagonistic traditions in German biology, the first organicist-holistic, the latter empiricist-positivistic. In addition, he explains the ways in which both traditions acquired socio-political and ideological connotations, culminating in their accommodation to different strands of Nazi ideology.The book’s nine chapters summarize a century of the conceptual development of systematics, describe both the history and philosophy of phylogenetic approaches to the understanding of the history of life, examine the role of important people such as Haeckel, Gegenbauer, Portman, von Bertalanffy, Stresemann, and Hennig, and critically evaluate the impact and influence of Nazism on evolutionary biology.Chapter titles include: The Evolutionary Turn in Comparative Anatomy; Of Parts and Wholes; The Turn against Haeckel; The Rise of Holism in German Biology; The Rise of German ("Aryan") Biology; Ganzheitsbiologie; The Ideological Instrumentalization of Biology; A New Beginning: From Speciation to Phylogenetics; and Grundzüge: The Conceptual Foundations of Phylogenetic Systematics.

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This book explores the different types of police misconduct including the use of excessive force. It also explores what types of officers become involved in illegal misconduct, steps jurisdictions may take to prevent such problems, and discusses who should police the police. Also included is a historical analysis of police misconduct, discussions on the legal restrictions designed to prevent police misconduct, and steps that the jurisdiction may take to limit their liability. Ancillary material is available with course adoption.

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Contamination of aqueous environments by hazardous chemical compounds is the direct cause of the decline of safe clean water supply throughout the globe. The use of unconventional water sources such as treated wastewater will be a new norm. Emerging nanotechnological innovations have great potential for wastewater remediation processes. Applications that use smart nanomaterials of inorganic and organic origin improve treatment efficiency and lower energy requirements. This book describes the synthesis, fabrication, and application of advanced nanomaterials in water treatment processes; their adsorption, transformation into low toxic forms, or degradation phenomena, and the adsorption and separation of hazardous dyes, organic pollutants, heavy metals and metalloids from aqueous solutions. It explains the use of different categories of nanomaterials for various pollutants and enhances understanding of nanotechnology-based water remediation to make it less toxic and reusable.

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