Search results for ""currency""

Ingeborg Bachmann (1926-1973) is recognized as one of post-war German literature’s most important novelists, poets, and playwrights. Influenced by Hans Weigel and the legendary literary circle Gruppe 47, Bachmann gained international renown for her poems, short stories, and novels, and won numerous awards for her work. Sadly, her life ended abruptly in October of 1973 when a lit cigarette burned down her apartment causing Bachmann to suffer severe burns that would eventually prove fatal. The author was only forty-seven, and her tragic death left what could have been a long and lustrous writing career regretfully stunted. Nearly twenty years after her death, during an estate sale in Vienna, fifteen episodes of the popular Viennese radio drama The Radio Family were discovered. Remarkably, they happened to be written by Ingeborg Bachmann herself, who had been a writer on the show just after she graduated university. The Radio Family was a popular radio soap opera broadcast in the American sector of occupied Vienna in the 1950s. The program focused on a middle-class Viennese family and their everyday life. Topics ranged from birthday parties and holiday plans to profiteering and currency fraud in the commercial sector, and Austrians’ involvement in the Nazi past. All fifteen scripts have now been compiled and masterfully translated, revealing an early and significant piece of Bachmann’s body of work, while simultaneously offering a rare glimpse into Vienna’s quotidian history.

Read more less

In Cuba something curious has happened over the past fifteen years. The government has allowed vocal criticism of its policies to be expressed within the arts. Filmmakers, rappers, and visual and performance artists have addressed sensitive issues including bureaucracy, racial and gender discrimination, emigration, and alienation. How can this vibrant body of work be reconciled with the standard representations of a repressive, authoritarian cultural apparatus? In Cuba Represent! Sujatha Fernandes—a scholar and musician who has performed in Cuba—answers that question. Combining textual analyses of films, rap songs, and visual artworks; ethnographic material collected in Cuba; and insights into the nation’s history and political economy, Fernandes details the new forms of engagement with official institutions that have opened up as a result of changing relationships between state and society in the post-Soviet period. She demonstrates that in a moment of extreme hardship and uncertainty, the Cuban state has moved to a more permeable model of power. Artists and other members of the public are collaborating with government actors to partially incorporate critical cultural expressions into official discourse. The Cuban leadership has come to recognize the benefits of supporting artists: rappers offer a link to increasingly frustrated black youth in Cuba; visual artists are an important source of international prestige and hard currency; and films help unify Cubans through community discourse about the nation. Cuba Represent! reveals that part of the socialist government’s resilience stems from its ability to absorb oppositional ideas and values.

Read more less

The question "Who lost China?" has provoked political vituperation and academic controversy ever since the Chinese Communists drove the Nationalist regime of Chiang Kai-shek off the mainland in 1949. In this study based on a wide array of hitherto unused documentary sources, the author delves deeply into the inner workings of the Nationalist regime and concludes that the Nationalists collapsed largely as a result of their own failings. Most strikingly, he uses the records and memoirs of the Nationalists themselves to document the weaknesses of the Nationalist rule. For even Chiang Kai-shek said of the Kuomintang on the eve of its final defeat in 1949, "This kind of party should long ago have been destroyed and swept away!" To illuminate the factors that contributed to its ultimate defeat, the author examines the Nationalist government during the period 1937-1949 from several different perspectives. He carefully scrutinizes the relationship between the central and provincial governments, the plight of the tax-burdened peasantry in the Nationalist-held areas, the intraparty politics of the regime as expressed in the Youth Corps and the reformist Ko-hsin Movement, the deficiencies of the army during the wars against Japan and the Communists, the failure of the Gold Yüan currency reform of late 1948, and finally, Chiang Kai-shek's own assessment of his army and the civilian branches of his regime during the final phases of the war.

Read more less

China's economic growth is sputtering, the Euro is under threat, and the United States is combating serious trade disadvantages. Another Great Depression? Not quite. Noted economist and China expert Michael Pettis argues instead that we are undergoing a critical rebalancing of the world economies. Debunking popular misconceptions, Pettis shows that severe trade imbalances spurred on the recent financial crisis and were the result of unfortunate policies that distorted the savings and consumption patterns of certain nations. Pettis examines the reasons behind these destabilizing policies, and he predicts severe economic dislocations--a lost decade for China, the breaking of the Euro, and a receding of the U.S. dollar--that will have long-lasting effects. Pettis explains how China has maintained massive--but unsustainable--investment growth by artificially lowering the cost of capital. He discusses how Germany is endangering the Euro by favoring its own development at the expense of its neighbors. And he looks at how the U.S. dollar's role as the world's reserve currency burdens America's economy. Although various imbalances may seem unrelated, Pettis shows that all of them--including the U.S. consumption binge, surging debt in Europe, China's investment orgy, Japan's long stagnation, and the commodity boom in Latin America--are closely tied together, and that it will be impossible to resolve any issue without forcing a resolution for all. Demonstrating how economic policies can carry negative repercussions the world over, The Great Rebalancing sheds urgent light on our globally linked economic future.

Read more less

Once upon a time, economists saw capital account liberalization--the free and unrestricted flow of capital in and out of countries--as unambiguously good. Good for debtor states, good for the world economy. No longer. Spectacular banking and currency crises in recent decades have shattered the consensus. In this remarkably clear and pithy volume, one of Europe's leading economists examines these crises, the reforms being undertaken to prevent them, and how global financial institutions might be restructured to this end. Jean Tirole first analyzes the current views on the crises and on the reform of the international financial architecture. Reform proposals often treat the symptoms rather than the fundamentals, he argues, and sometimes fail to reconcile the objectives of setting effective financing conditions while ensuring that a country "owns" its reform program. A proper identification of market failures is essential to reformulating the mission of an institution such as the IMF, he emphasizes. Next he adapts the basic principles of corporate governance, liquidity provision, and risk management of corporations to the particulars of country borrowing. Building on a "dual- and common-agency perspective," he revisits commonly advocated policies and considers how multilateral organizations can help debtor countries reap enhanced benefits while liberalizing their capital accounts. Based on the Paolo Baffi Lecture the author delivered at the Bank of Italy, this refreshingly accessible book is teeming with rich insights that researchers, policymakers, and students at all levels will find indispensable.

Read more less

Health economics is one of the fastest growing sub-disciplines of economics and is probably the one that has most engaged with neighbouring disciplines, such as epidemiology and bio-statistics, to solve some of the more intractable problems confronting healthcare systems around the world. The impact of health economics outside the economics profession has been immense, and it has introduced the common currency of economists (opportunity cost, elasticity, the margin, production functions) into medical parlance. However, the very size of the literature spawned by health economists poses a challenge to both students and to those seeking to know more about what economists have had to say on key issues. These volumes are designed to help readers to overcome these difficulties. Presenting a comprehensive ‘library’ of the most important contributions made by health economists, each of the four volumes covers two significant areas of health economics, with each of these eight areas then including an introduction and an article-by-article commentary by the editor. There is also a general introduction, which outlines the scope and content of health economics, to help orientate the reader.The selection of articles made by Culyer has been based on a survey of the principal teachers of health economics in universities in North America, Europe and elsewhere. Each chosen item is of current relevance and collectively the articles provide a comprehensive review of the most important contributions made by health economists over the past thirty years or so.

Read more less

'A masterclass in spotting the early signs of a crisis' Nouriel Roubini'This is the historical perspective we need' John Kay'A first point of entry for anybody who wants to learn how the world sleep-walked into multiple crashes' Daron Acemoglu'Fascinating, well-written and authoritative' Tim Harford-----------------------------------------------------------------The global economy has weathered the most tumultuous century in modern financial history. Since the Wall Street Crash in 1929, financial meltdowns have repeatedly sent shockwaves through our world. From the currency crises of the 1980s and 1990s, to Japan's housing crash, the dot com boom and bust, the global financial meltdown, the euro crisis and the COVID pandemic, The Great Crashes tells the stories of ten of these historic events. They serve as a series of cautionary tales, each with their own set of lessons to be learnt.With clear-eyed analysis, renowned economist Dr Linda Yueh extracts a three step framework to help recognise the early signs of a crash and mitigate the effects - all with the hope of preventing the worst mistakes of the past from being repeated in the next inevitable financial crisis. She warns about where the next one might come from and shows how her framework could contain it.Combining her in-depth knowledge with compelling storytelling, The Great Crashes is essential reading that offers urgent lessons for the modern world.-----------------------------------------------------------------'An important contribution that can help society anticipate and tackle potential crashes in the future' Christine Lagarde

Read more less

Argentina, once heralded as the future of capitalist progress, has a long history of economic volatility. In 2001–2002, a financial crisis led to its worst economic collapse, precipitating a dramatic currency devaluation, the largest sovereign default in world history, and the flight of foreign capital. Protests and street blockades punctuated a moment of profound political uncertainty, epitomized by the rapid succession of five presidents in four months. Since then, Argentina has fought economic fires on every front, from inflation to the cost of utilities and depressed industrial output. When things clearly aren't working, when the constant churning of booms and busts makes life almost unlivable, how does our deeply compromised order come to seem so inescapable? How does critique come to seem so blunt, even as crisis after crisis appears on the horizon? What are the lived effects of that sense of inescapability? Anthropologist Sarah Muir offers a cogent meditation on the limits of critique at this historical moment, drawing on deep experience in Argentina but reflecting on a truly global condition. If we feel things are being upended in a manner that is ongoing, tumultuous, and harmful, what would we need to do—and what would we need to give up—to usher in a revitalized critique for today's world? Routine Crisis is an original provocation and a challenge to think beyond the limits of exhaustion and reimagine a form of criticism for the twenty-first century.

Read more less

THE ALIENS ARE AMONG US! “Where is everybody?” Nobel Prize–winning physicist Enrico Fermi once asked after a discussion about the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. To sum up the Fermi Paradox, if the billions of stars in our galaxy have planets with intelligent life on them, why hasn’t anyone visited us? But maybe they have, and we just haven’t noticed—and that’s the way they want it. And if they are here in secret, why are they here? Are they tourists? Anthropologists, perhaps? Or journalists sending stories back about the quaint habits of the primitives? Or maybe the extraterrestrial equivalent of hunters or fishermen? (Any odd disappearances in your neighborhood lately?) An enemy already within the gates? Or a refugee seeking sanctuary? Gourmets looking for exotic foreign food? Alien criminals hiding out? Alien cops looking for those alien criminals? No missionaries—at least not yet—and there doesn’t seem to be a Galactic Peace Corps. They might happen to look close enough to human to pass, or they might be masters of disguise. Or they might be so incomprehensibly different that we don’t even notice that they’re here. The secret visitors are revealed by such luminaries as Larry Niven, Poul Anderson, Spider Robinson, William Tenn, and more. And if any alien visitors want to check out the local natives’ speculations herein, feel free. Please pay with local currency, of course.

Read more less

As Information Management put it, "On the strength of its currency and coverage alone, Franks' book is poised to take over as the recommended go-to reference for both students and RIM professionals for many years to come.” The new second edition cements this work’s status as an up-to-date classic, its content updated and expanded to address emerging technologies, most notably blockchain, and evolving standards and practices. Inside, Franks presents complete coverage of the records and information lifecycle model, encompassing paper, electronic (databases, office suites, email), and new media records (blogs, chat messages, and software as a service). Informed by an advisory board of experts in the field and with contributions by noted authorities, the text addresses such key topics as: the origins and development of records and information the discipline of information governance and developing a strategic records management plan creation/capture and classification retention strategies, inactive records management, archives, and long-term preservation access, storage, and retrieval electronic records and electronic records management systems the latest on rapidly evolving technologies such as web records, social media, and mobile devices vital records, disaster preparedness and recovery, and business continuity monitoring, auditing, and risk management education and training. This book’s authoritative blend of theory and practice makes it a matchless resource for everyone in the archives and records management field. Instructor/trainer extras include a set of ready-to-go, customizable PowerPoint slides to accompany the text.

Read more less

The cryptocurrency world has transformed in a few short years from a niche subculture to a parallel economic universe, reaching a market capitalization of more than $2.5 trillion in 2021 before plummeting in 2022. For their advocates, cryptocurrencies represent a revolution of world-historical significance. To critics, crypto is more of a speculative tool than a true currency. How do tens of thousands of financial actors make these new monies? What forces give cryptocurrencies their value—or take it away? And what does crypto’s spectacular ascent reveal about the nature of money? In this groundbreaking ethnographic analysis of crypto economies and their global markets and communities, Koray Caliskan offers an inside view of how cryptocurrencies are made and traded. He argues that cryptocurrency should be understood as “data money,” a historically novel money type, created as the right to send data privately over an accounting infrastructure called blockchain. Drawing on two years of fieldwork among global cryptocurrency communities and in crypto markets, Caliskan makes visible the production principles of cryptocurrencies and explores how crypto exchanges work from within. He explains why and how we have been misunderstanding, underregulating, and improperly taxing crypto exchanges and actors. He also proposes a radically new way to make sense of new finance and its actors. An invaluable book for all readers seeking to understand cryptocurrency, Data Money sheds new light on a profound transformation of finance and its possible future trajectories.

Read more less

Over the last four decades, Asian countries have experienced a substantial increase in their global competitiveness. While some of this is due to their economic activity, politics are also a contributing factor. Technological advances, particularly concerning the internet and social media, have also contributed, as have many other factors. We expect information and communication technology led by the development of the internet to make the transformation of knowledge easier and more efficient, thus contributing to faster economic growth worldwide. Sound macroeconomic policy and political conditions facilitate this process. Many Asian countries have learned from the experience of the Asian Crisis of 1987 when the Thai baht lost its value due to a shortage of reserves by the Central bank of Thailand, and capital outflow spread throughout the region. Asian countries now know that to avoid such a run on foreign currencies, they must hold enough reserves to support their own currency. Sound fiscal and monetary policies, as well as an exchange rate policy combined with an efficient banking system, are required to enhance the reserve policy. Another requirement for the effectiveness of macroeconomic policies is desirable political conditions to enhance international confidence in these countries. Strong political stability requires sound rules, laws, and democratic institutions that must be transparent. Granting excessive power to any one ruler has proved to lead to corruption which is an impediment to growth. This book addresses the issues above by providing theoretical and empirical evidence using data from some countries in Asia.

Read more less

Ever since he can remember, Dom Joly has been fascinated by travel to odd places. In part this stems from a childhood spent in war-torn Lebanon, where instead of swapping marbles in the schoolyard, he had a shrapnel collection -- the schoolboy currency of Beirut. Dom's upbringing was interspersed with terrifying days and nights spent hunkered in the family basement under Syrian rocket attack or coming across a pile of severed heads from a sectarian execution in the pine forests near his home.These early experiences left Dom with a profound loathing for the sanitized experiences of the modern day travel industry and a taste for the darkest of places. In this brilliantly odd and hilariously told travel memoir, Dom Joly sets out on a quest to visit those destinations from which the average tourist would, and should, run a mile. The more insalubrious the place, the more interesting is the journey and so we follow Dom as he skis in Iran on segregated slopes, spends a weekend in Chernobyl, tours the assassination sites of America and becomes one of the few Westerners to be granted entry into North Korea. Eventually Dom journeys back to his roots in Beirut only to discover he was at school with Osama Bin Laden.Funny and frightening in equal measure, this is a uniquely bizarre and compelling travelogue from one of the most fearless and innovative comedians around.

Read more less

NFTs: “non-fungible tokens” representing digital assets traded in cryptocurrency - aren’t going anywhere. And now, for the first time ever, there’s a handy pocket field guide!NFTs: An Illustrated Field Guide is a beautifully illustrated guide to NFTs—a must-have for anyone interested in entering the NFT universe and learning about this incredible new trend that, for many people, may seem futuristic and obscure at first! Non-fungible tokens, so called because they are uniquely coded files “tokenized,” or stored on a blockchain ledger, are a new way to create, sell, trade, and collect unique digital assets. Each NFT can be traced by anyone to its owner by an imbedded digital code within it. Why “non-fungible”? Because, unlike a “fungible” form of currency like the US dollar, NFTs cannot be swapped any one for any other. Instead, each unique NFT must be purchased with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, and on a special online trading platform.Written by finance expert Alyssa Place, and beautifully illustrated by Rebecca Pry, this field guide will walk you through the various categories of NFTS, like collectibles, art, land, sports, and more. Inside this elegant paperback, you’ll find profiles on individual NFTs, each showcasing a full-page illustration, plus definitions of NFT terms, information on how and where to find NFTs, and how to collect them. It’s a complicated but excited world out there, and this visually stunning field guide will help you join the fun!

Read more less

**WINNER OF THE FORWARD PRIZE FOR BEST COLLECTION 2019****WINNER OF THE ROEHAMPTON PRIZE FOR BEST POETRY COLLECTION 2019**Violence hangs over this book like an electric storm. Beginning with a poem about the teenage dawning of sexuality, Vertigo & Ghost pitches quickly into a long sequence of graphic, stunning pieces about Zeus as a serial rapist, for whom woman are prey and sex is weaponised. These are frank, brilliant, devastating poems of vulnerability and rage, and as Zeus is confronted with aggressions both personal and historical, his house comes crumbling down. A disturbing contemporary world is exposed, in which violent acts against women continue to be perpetrated on a daily – hourly – basis. The book shifts, in its second half, to an intimate and lyrical document of depression and family life. It sounds out the complex and ambivalent terrain of early motherhood – its anxieties and claustrophobias as well as its gifts of tenderness and love – reclaiming the sanctuary of domestic private life, and the right to raise children in peace and safety. Vertigo & Ghost is an important, necessary book, hugely impressive in its range and risk, and dramatic in its currency: a collection that speaks out with clarity, grace and bravery against the abuse of power.**SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2020 RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE****SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2019 T. S. ELIOT PRIZE** ‘Misogynistic violence, ancient myth and modern rage confront each other in moving and dynamic verse’ Financial Times

Read more less

Murder for hire. Drug trafficking. Embezzlement. Money laundering... These might sound like plot lines of a thriller, but they are true stories from the short history of cryptocurrencies - digital currencies conceived by computer hackers and cryptographers that represent a completely new sort of financial transaction that could soon become mainstream. The most famous - or infamous - cryptocurrency is bitcoin. But look beyond its tarnished reputation and something much shinier emerges. The technology that underlies bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies - the blockchain - is hailed as the greatest advancement since the invention of the internet. It is now moving away from being the backbone for a digital currency and making inroads into other core concepts of society: identity, ownership and even the rule of law.The End of Money is your essential introduction to this transformative new technology that has governments, entrepreneurs and forward-thinking people from all walks of life sitting up and taking notice.ABOUT THE SERIESNew Scientist Instant Expert books are definitive and accessible entry points to the most important subjects in science; subjects that challenge, attract debate, invite controversy and engage the most enquiring minds. Designed for curious readers who want to know how things work and why, the Instant Expert series explores the topics that really matter and their impact on individuals, society, and the planet, translating the scientific complexities around us into language that's open to everyone, and putting new ideas and discoveries into perspective and context.

Read more less

Perfect for fans of David Baldacci, Stuart MacBride and Peter James, The Murder Exchange is a thills, spills and kills all-action novel guaranteed to get under the skin. Sunday Times bestselling author Simon Kernick - the UK's answer to Harlan Coben - has done it again. So fasten your seat belts and hang on tight for a fantastic ride!'I love this book! It's hard, fast and tight and blasts through the London underworld like a speed boat on the Thames' -- Lee Child'Simon Kernick writes with his foot pressed hard on the pedal. Hang on tight!' -- Harlan Coben'This book hooks you from the first page and doesn't let go until the enda fantastic read' -- ***** Reader review'Classic Kernick. Fast paced and hard to put down' -- ***** Reader review'Gripping, like all his books - keeps you on the edge of your seat' -- ***** Reader review****************************************************************************************THE CURRENCY IS DEATHFive grand for a couple of hours work?It seems easy money, but the deal ex-mercenary Max Iversson is chasing has gone disastrously wrong. Two of his friends are dead. And now he wants to find out who's behind their killings.Detective Sergeant John Gallan is also looking for answers. He's investigating the fatal poisoning of a nightclub doorman. But leads are scarce and, when they do appear, so do bodies.What neither man knows is that they are heading towards a devastating confrontation that will see one of them staring down the wrong end of a gun.

Read more less

Sugars are familiar as vital sources of energy. Yet the biological importance of the sugars extends well beyond their value as cellular fuels. Introduction to Glycobiology reveals the true impact of the sugars on biological systems, explaining their function at the molecular, cellular, and organismal level. Employing a two-part structure, the book leads us through essential principles and concepts upon which the discipline is grounded, before exploring the diverse roles of sugars throughout biological systems, including development, cell signalling, and protein trafficking. It also emphasises the importance of glycobiology in disease, and explains how an understanding of the link between the two is enabling us to develop new therapeutic strategies. Taking the student from the fundamental principles to the frontiers of the subject, and with a wealth of learning features to get the most out of their studies, Introduction to Glycobiology remains the ideal resource for students and teachers alike. Online Resource Centre For students: · Updates - surveys of key developments in the field, provided on a six-monthly basis, to maintain currency · Library of 3D, rotatable molecular structures to help students visualize structures and gain a proper appreciation of the link between structure and function · Hyperlinked references to facilitate access to primary literature For registered adopters of the book: · Full colour figures, available for download individually or as PowerPoint slides with key explanatory points · Answers to end-of-chapter questions · Journal Clubs - suggested papers and discussion questions linked to topics covered in the book

Read more less

Transform your business with inspiration from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a revolutionary and progressive thinker who changed American history and society for the better. King’s sweeping dream of equality and freedom for all is well known around the world, but you may not realize just how keenly focused he was on economic issues and the belief that economic inequality kept minorities out of influential positions and handicapped them financially. It was while King was planning the Poor People’s March, a dramatic stand on economic issues, that his life was taken from him and his voice was forever silenced.Like King once asked, “Where do we go from here?” The answer lies in Kingonomics, a 21st–century interpretation of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s vision, translated through the eyes of Rodney Sampson, a globally established economic innovator, business developer, and highly successful serial entrepreneur. Focusing on free enterprise as the ideal environment to practice King’s teachings, Sampson has created a 12-currency guide through which you can realize your full potential as an individual and as part of a greater movement.More than 10 years later, the lessons in Kingonomics are more relevant than ever. This groundbreaking book challenges America’s individualistic and profit-focused business mentality in favor of collaboration, diversity, and equal opportunity—and explains why and how this approach can create abundant success for all.

Read more less

During the final days of World War II, German SS officers crammed trains, cars, and trucks full of gold, currency, and jewels, and headed for the mountains of Austria. Fearful of arrest and determined to keep the stolen loot out of Allied hands, they concealed their treasures and fled. Most of these men were eventually apprehended, but many managed to evade capture. The intensive postwar Allied investigation that followed recovered only a sliver of this mountain of gold. What happened to the rest of it, and what fate befell these men?Authors Alford and Savas answer these questions and many more in this fast-paced and well-written new book. Their groundbreaking study is based upon thousands of pages of previously unpublished and recently declassified documents. The result is a fresh and absolutely original reading experience that offers insights into the minds and methods of these SS thieves, the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA) within which they labored, how they achieved their positions of near-absolute power, the complex Allied investigation into their activities, and what happened to the vast sums of wealth they looted from Europe's Jews.Nazi Millionaires deftly captures the high drama surrounding these men and women and the secrets they carried with them during the closing days of World War II--and in some cases, to the grave. It is a remarkable tale of greed, lust, fraud, deceit, treachery, and murder. And it is one you will long remember.

Read more less

If metropoles were the 20th century’s favorite playground, borders are the laboratory for globalized phenomena in the 21st century. Hot spots for migrants, barbed wire, Green borders, checkpoints, go slow for cross-border workers, crypto-currency mining farms, casinos, brothels, tax havens, condominiums, principalities, white elephants, and so on: such places, residues of nation states, are all to be found on borders. Border inhabitants are often left to their own device. To date, borders lack a political project. In order to realize this project, the editors have worked in-situ with those living in border regions in Switzerland, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Liechtenstein, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Eritrea. They have started to imagine, describe and model the real territory and a potential project for it. A collective intelligence – a res publica – is taking form. Oræ, plural of the Latin noun ora, translates as “borders” in English. Figuratively speaking, it signifies “the beginning of something.” Oræ is a project of a territory, whose setting is its borders and whose authors are its inhabitants. Its political and poetic program consists of experiencing the world from its margins. This guide invites readers to an unplanned journey inside oræ. It is a non-hierarchical succession of fragmentary narratives coming from borders and the imaginations of those living in their vicinity. The project “oræ – Experiences on the Border” was conceived as Switzerland’s nominated National Participation in the 17th Venice architecture biennial, commissioned by the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia.

Read more less

This book reveals significant lessons on how economic prosperity was secured for people over three decades in eight Asian countries. It focusses on the careful way in which these nations designed and implemented pro-growth, liberal economic and financial policies. A new phenomenon - namely financial fragility - in the more liberalised fast growth Asian economies is also examined.The authors explore why only some of the early reformers among China, India, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, and Thailand succumbed to a serious financial crisis in 1997 whilst others did not. They also analyse the impact of policies implemented by the crisis-hit economies, either under the IMF restructuring programs or independent pursuit of capital and currency controls. The book goes on to identify the weaknesses of the banking sector in order to explain the reasons behind the financial crisis. The book concludes with lessons for other emerging economies undertaking economic and financial development through liberalization. These examples reveal policies that could be prescribed in order to prevent future problems. Focusing on post-crisis reforms and their policy impacts, and on post-crisis evaluation of restructuring implemented in the financial sector, this book will appeal to academics and those with specific interests in Asian studies and/or banking and finance. Policymakers - in particular those at central banks and treasuries, along with professionals in financial institutions and multinational firms, will find the book to be a fascinating read.

Read more less

Many companies conduct Lean training and projects, but few have tapped the wealth of ideas in the minds of their staff like Baylor Scott & White Health. This book documents the path Steve Hoeft and Robert Pryor created at Baylor Scott & White Health and shares what worked as well as what didn’t—illustrating over seven years of successes and failures in detail.Providing easy-to-follow guidance for deploying Lean and TPS in healthcare, The Power of Ideas to Transform Healthcare focuses on what needs to be done and who needs to do it. It explains that the new "currency" for 2015 and beyond will be ideas—ideas brought out in projects, problem solving, and especially in "Huddles." The most significant concept in this book is not huddles. Instead it’s who builds the systems around them and why. Supplies the understanding required to build a Lean management system in any industry Explains how to align staff around common goals and cascade and translate those goals using Hoshin Kanri Demonstrates how daily Lean can reduce the cost of healthcare The authors share hundreds of pictures, forms, tools, and tips. Describing how to engage all staff and draw out their ideas in daily huddles, the book offers ways that staff can try out their ideas without spending too much time away from their work.Although the book focuses on healthcare, the management systems described, along with the lessons learned and best practices, will work in almost any industry.

Read more less

Hiplife is a popular music genre in Ghana that mixes hip-hop beatmaking and rap with highlife music, proverbial speech, and Akan storytelling. In the 1990s, young Ghanaian musicians were drawn to hip-hop's dual ethos of black masculine empowerment and capitalist success. They made their underground sound mainstream by infusing carefree bravado with traditional respectful oratory and familiar Ghanaian rhythms. Living the Hiplife is an ethnographic account of hiplife in Ghana and its diaspora, based on extensive research among artists and audiences in Accra, Ghana's capital city; New York; and London. Jesse Weaver Shipley examines the production, consumption, and circulation of hiplife music, culture, and fashion in relation to broader cultural and political shifts in neoliberalizing Ghana.Shipley shows how young hiplife musicians produce and transform different kinds of value—aesthetic, moral, linguistic, economic—using music to gain social status and wealth, and to become respectable public figures. In this entrepreneurial age, youth use celebrity as a form of currency, aligning music-making with self-making and aesthetic pleasure with business success. Registering both the globalization of electronic, digital media and the changing nature of African diasporic relations to Africa, hiplife links collective Pan-Africanist visions with individualist aspiration, highlighting the potential and limits of social mobility for African youth.The author has also directed a film entitled Living the Hiplife and with two DJs produced mixtapes that feature the music in the book available for free download.

Read more less

In ancient Colombia, people did not use gold as currency or desire it for its economic value. Gold was revered instead for its symbolic association and transformative properties. This sacred metal was used to create some of the most visually dramatic and technically sophisticated works of art found anywhere in the Americas before European contact. Drawing on the spectacular collections of the Museum del Oro in Bogota and the British Museum, this beautiful book features over 100 masterpieces fashioned exquisitely in gold and its alloy tumbaga, including small votive figures, decorative nose rings and earrings, vessels, pectorals and masks. These are presented alongside an array of other highly valued objects – textiles, ceramic figurines, shells, colourful stone beads – which also played a significant part in daily and ritual contexts. Focusing on the artistic production of six of the many chiefdoms that populated pre-Hispanic Colombia, the author explores the fascinating truth behind the myth and ritual of El Dorado (the gilded one), the use of gold objects by spiritual leaders in their dangerous mystical ‘soul journey’; the role played by gold in the public expression of identity and rank by chiefs and community spiritual leaders; and the importance of gold in accompanying the deceased on the final journey to the afterlife. Beyond El Dorado: power and gold in ancient Colombia was published to complement a major exhibition at the British Museum from October 2013 to March 2014.

Read more less

In psychoanalysis, misogyny hides in plain sight, seemingly above and beyond the usual conventions of workplace etiquette or even a vague awareness of sexism. It is commonplace in psychoanalytic literature and in the presentation of case studies for a description of the female client’s attractiveness to be given as a diagnosis rather than an opinion, for the word ‘feminine’ to be used as a synonym for submission, for psychosexual development to still miss the glaringly important stage of menstruation, for women to still be described in terms of losing a penis but gaining a baby – not a vagina or clitoris – and for the fundamental experiences of pregnancy and birth to be overlooked. Ironically for a field that’s main currency is reflection, the different treatment of women is bypassed as misogyny is institutionalised in psychoanalysis. The book reflects the author’s experience in the world of psychoanalysis and psychotherapy as a trainee, supervisee, student, teacher, psychotherapist and supervisor in various institutions, and as a former CEO of a psychotherapy training organisation. It is a collection of five essays inviting you to join an inclusive conversation about why psychoanalysis is the way it is and, through a case study, experience the impact this misogyny has on the treatment of women. Misogyny in Psychoanalysis highlights what’s at risk for the practice of psychoanalysis / psychotherapy and, most importantly, for those seeking help when institutionalised misogyny goes by unchallenged.

Read more less

THE FIRST GRAY MAN NOVEL FROM #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR MARK GREANEY - now a Netflix original film starring Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans'Hard, fast, and unflinching-exactly what a thriller should be.' Lee ChildTo those who lurk in the shadows, he's known as the Gray Man. He is a legend in the covert realm, moving silently from job to job, accomplishing the impossible and then fading away. And he always hits his target.But there are forces more lethal than Gentry in the world. Forces like money. And power. And there are men who hold these as the only currency worth fighting for. In their eyes, Gentry has just outlived his usefulness.But Court Gentry is going to prove that, for him, there's no grey area between killing for a living and killing to stay alive...***********************'Bourne for the new millenium' New York Times bestselling author James Rollins'A high-octane thriller that doesn't pause for more than a second for all of its 464 pages...For readers looking for a thriller where the action comes fast and furious, this is the ticket.' Chicago Sun-Times'Take fictional spy Jason Bourne, pump him up with Red Bull and meth, shake vigorously-and you've got the recipe for Court Gentry.' The Memphis Commercial Appeal'From the opening pages, the bullets fly and the bodies pile up. Through the carnage, Gentry remains an intriguing protagonist with his own moral code.' Booklist

Read more less

Is Benjamin Franklin, the familiar cultural icon whose face appears on coins, currency, and postage stamps, in addition to being an affable inventor, printer, and humorist also an important American philosopher? In Recovering Benjamin Franklin, James Campbell attempts to "recover" Benjamin Franklin's role as philosopher. In the broad eighteenth-century understanding of the term "philosopher", most people would say that Franklin clearly qualifies as one. But since the beginning of the twentieth century, the meaning of the term has narrowed. What should be said about Franklin as philosopher in the current sense of the word?Part of the problem is that Franklin's thought is difficult to classify. Franklin is not a composer of lengthy, systematic treatises. Instead, we know him as the author of letters and essays, primarily short and often fragmentary, that were intended for diverse audiences. Was Franklin a thinker whose interests were nearly universal, or was he a dabbler who flew from topic to topic? Was he a minor intellectual who was incapable of sustained theoretical work, or was he a thinker who recognized that thought must function in the world?In answering these questions, Campbell provides a survey of the events in Franklin's rich life and explores his extraordinary place in American history, along the way challenging a series of popular misconceptions that are based upon narrow interpretations of Franklin's work. To foster a more adequate understanding, the author lays out in detail Franklin's ideas in four areas: science, religion, morality, and politics.

Read more less

In an increasingly diverse society, it is essential that medicine be aware of matters of difference. Medical humanities programs promote awareness of the social aspects of medicine, and the Association of American Medical Colleges has recently instituted cultural competencies for clinical interaction for the training of medical students. Yet these efforts to impart understanding of the cross-cultural aspects of medicine are still hindered by a significant limitation: within a medical system whose currency is diagnosis, difference is primarily defined through disease. This special issue of Literature and Medicine focuses on difference and identity in the context of disease and disability. The articles collected here explore the complex ways in which notions of disease, disability, and difference are related and in which bodies marked by gender, race, disability, sexuality, and ethnic identities experience disease in specific ways. The essays take a humanities-based approach to the subject and emphasize an awareness and sensitivity to difference through forms of symbolic representation such as metaphor and narrative. This volume provides a heuristic lens through which relationships between individual expressions of identity and communal experiences of difference can be considered. Each article speaks to the process whereby individual stories and strategies shape, and are in turn shaped by, the institutions they seek to transform. Literature and Medicine is devoted to exploring interfaces between literary and medical knowledge and understanding. The journal showcases the creative and critical work of renowned physician-writers, leading literary scholars, and medical humanists.

Read more less

We are on the cusp of a revolution. Mobile phones, computers and iPods are commonplace in hundreds of millions of households worldwide, influencing how we think and shaping how we interact. In the future, smart machines will compete with clever people for employment and even human affection. We are shifting to a world where knowledge will be automated and people will be rewarded instead as conceptual and creative thinkers. Hence being able to think and act in ways that machines cannot will become vital. Ideas are the currency of this new economy and curiosity and imagination are among the key raw materials. But what happens to the rigour of our thinking in a world where we never really sit still or completely switch off? What are some of the unexpected consequences of digital information on the 100 billion cells and quadrillion connections inside our brains? Future Minds illustrates how to maximise the potential of digital technology and minimise its greatest downside, addressing the future of thinking and how we can ensure that we unleash the extraordinary potential of the human mind. In this absorbing new book, discover all about: the sex life of ideas; the rise of the screenager; generations, gender and geography; delving deep inside your head; how to clear a blocked brain; why clever people make dumb mistakes; why we are so afraid of doing nothing; what we can do to reclaim our brains.

Read more less

Thomas Tooke was the founder of the contra-quantity theory of money - the view that monetary policy is powerless to influence prices because the supply of money depends on the flow of money expenditure and hence is the result and not the cause of price change. Yet his prominence within economic circles was also derived from his work as a lobbyist for free trade and the principal spokesman of the banking school, arguing against statutory control of the currency. Long neglected, Mountifort Longfield has now attracted the attention of modern economists who have praised him for, amongst other things, the discovery of the modern factor proportions theory of international trade and a theory of distribution which was a genuine alternative to Ricardo's. Modern readers have been amazed by his Lectures, a path-breaking book which sketches out a subjective theory of value and a marginal productivity theory of distribution - all this in 1834, only 11 years after the death of Ricardo. Richard Jones was the first institutionalist critic of Ricardo and a historically-minded economist years before the emergence of the British and German Schools. He launched himself into the task of reconstructing the whole of economics on historical and evolutionary grounds. However, not being able to carry this ambitious programme beyond the field of rent theory, and his great reluctance to make unsupported generalizations, caused his work to fall into oblivion. Only recently has modern scholarship begun to reassess his importance.

Read more less

Between the death of Ricardo in 1823 and the publication of J.S. Mill's Principles of Political Economy (1848) there flourished a generation of minor but occasionally highly original English economists. Chief amongst these were Ramsay McCulloch, Nassau Senior and Robert Torrens. McCulloch was Ricardo's most zealous disciple and was perhaps more responsible than anyone for Ricardo's enormous influence, which he propagated through a series of newspaper articles and pamphlets. He was also the originator of much new and important research about the British Economy and his Discourse on the Rise of Political Economy (1824) was virtually the first attempt in any language to project a formal history of Economic Doctrines. Robert Torrens was to produce almost 100 books and pamphlets in a lifespan of 84 years. In his own time he was renowned for his work on banking and currency, but he is also notable for discovering the law of diminishing returns at the same time as Ricardo, Malthus and West. Nassau Senior, twice Drummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford, made significant, if highly individualistic, contributions to the theories of value, rent, population, money and international trade. Throughout the 1830s he was active as a policy maker on behalf of the Whig Party and served on four Royal Commissions, including the Poor Laws 1834 and the Factory Acts 1837.This careful selection of articles brings home the central place that these thinkers occupy within English Classical Political Economy.

Read more less

Emerging in the late nineteenth century and gaining currency in the 1930s and 1940s, Afrikaner nationalist fervour underpinned the establishment of white Afrikaner political and cultural domination during South Africa's apartheid years. Focusing on manifestations of Afrikaner nationalism in paintings, sculptures, monuments, buildings, cartoons, photographs, illustrations and exhibitions, Troubling Images offers a critical account of the role of art and visual culture in the construction of a unified Afrikaner imaginary, which helped secure hegemonic claims to the nation-state. This insightful volume examines the implications of metaphors and styles deployed in visual culture, and considers how the design, production, collecting and commissioning of objects, images and architecture were informed by Afrikaner nationalist imperatives and ideals. While some chapters focus only on instances of adherence to Afrikaner nationalism, others consider articulations of dissent and criticism. By 'troubling' these images: looking at them, teasing out their meanings, and connecting them to a political and social project that still has a major impact on the present moment, the authors engage with the ways in which an Afrikaner nationalist inheritance is understood and negotiated in contemporary South Africa. They examine the management of its material effects in contemporary art, in archives, the commemorative landscape and the built environment. Troubling Images adds to current debates about the histories and ideological underpinnings of nationalism and is particularly relevant in the current context of globalism and diaspora, resurgent nationalisms and calls for decolonisation.

Read more less

Discover how blockchain will facilitate a new currency that will transcend space and time Largely inspired by The Denationalization of Money by Fredrich Hayek, Money Without Boundaries’ ideological foundation is also inspired by economists and thought leaders like Milton Friedman and Irving Fisher, advancements in capital markets over the past 50 years, and the convergence of old and new technologies. Author Thomas J. Anderson explains how blockchain acts as the filter and the glue, making it all possible. Compared with other currencies, blockchain-managed money markets are more straightforward and transparent. It is easier to monitor, understand, and assess the quality of their "full-faith and credit." Money Without Boundaries shows how not only money, but also the process of borrowing and lending, will evolve to be conducted in a 100% trusted, secure, transparent, open architecture environment. Anderson begins with a history of money and discusses the rise of cryptocurrency, concluding with a comparison of decentralized money markets to all other alternatives. Money without Boundaries: • Demonstrates how blockchain technology allows full transparency • Explains how blockchain makes it possible for money to be fully commoditized • Explains how this fully market-based, decentralized, self-regulating system has vast implications throughout the global financial system • Shows how everyone will benefit when they have the opportunity to compete on “full faith in credit” If you are interested in cryptocurrency, money, monetary theory, or understanding how the applied uses of blockchain technology will change your everyday life, this is essential reading.

Read more less

Provides new insights on the lasting impact of famed philosopher and educator Paulo Freire 50 years after the publication of his masterpiece, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, this book brings new perspectives on rethinking and reinventing Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire. Written by the most premier exponents and experts of Freirean scholarship, it explores the currency of Freire's contribution to social theory, educational reform, and democratic education. It also analyzes the intersections of Freire’s theories with other crucial social theorists such as Gramsci, Gandhi, Habermas, Dewey, Sen, etc. The Wiley Handbook of Paulo Freire studies the history and context of the man as a global public intellectual, moving from Brazil to the rest of the world and back. Each section offers insides on the epistemology of the global south initiated by Freire with his work in Latin America; the connections between class, gender, race, religion, the state and eco-pedagogy in the work of Freire; and the contributions he made to democratic education and educational reform. Presents original theory and analysis of Freire’s life and work Offers unique and comprehensive analysis of the reception and application of Paulo Freire in international education on all continents Provides a complete historical study of Freire’s contributions to education Systematically analyzes the impact of Freire in teachers training, higher education, and lifelong learning The Wiley Handbook of Paulo Freire is an ideal book for courses on international and comparative education, pedagogy, education policy, international development, and Latin America studies.

Read more less

This monograph presents the pediatric portion of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Toolbox Cognition Battery (CB) of the NIH Toolbox for the Assessment of Neurological and Behavioral Function. The NIH Toolbox is an initiative of the Neuroscience Blueprint, a collaborative framework through which 16 NIH Institutes, Centers, and Offi ces jointly support neuroscience-related research, to accelerate discoveries and reduce the burden of nervous system disorders. The CB is one of four modules that measure cognitive, emotional, sensory, and motor health across the lifespan. The CB is unique in its continuity across childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, and old age, and in order to help create a common currency among disparate studies, it is also available at low cost to researchers for use in large-scale longitudinal and epidemiologic studies. Chapter 1 describes the evolution of the CB; methods for selecting cognitive subdomains and instruments; the rationale for test design; and a validation study in children and adolescents, ages 3 to 15 years. Subsequent chapters feature detailed discussions of each test measure and its psychometric properties (Chapters 2–6), the factor structure of the test battery (Chapter 7), the effects of age and education on composite test scores (Chapter 8), and a final summary and discussion (Chapter 9). As the chapters in this monograph demonstrate, the CB has excellent psychometric properties, and the validation study provided evidence for the increasing differentiation of cognitive abilities with age.

Read more less

In the spring of 1916, as the workers for woman suffrage were laying plans for another attack on the bastions of male supremacy, the idea for The Sturdy Oak was born. Based on the rules of an old parlor game, wherein one person begins a narrative, another continues it, and another follows, this collaborative effort by the leading writers of the day, such as Fannie Hurst, Dorothy Canfield, and Kathleen Norris, is a satiric look at the gender roles of the time. There is much in The Sturdy Oak that reflects the New York campaign for suffrage of 1916–1917. The setting is the fictional city of Whitewater in upstate New York. Idealistic reformers are pitted against a ruthless political machine, and the traditional picture of man as “the sturdy oak” supporting woman, “the clinging vine,” is ridiculed in the portrayal of an engaging couple, George and Genevieve Remington. Nonetheless, the purpose of the book is not primarily ridicule but reform, and the reader is taken through the steps by which a confirmed anti-suffragist is gradually transformed into a supporter of the suffrage cause. Beyond its historical interest, The Sturdy Oak is imbued with a political and social currency that makes it applicable even today. And because of the skill of the writers of this composite novel, even eight decades after its initial publication The Sturdy Oak is still, as the New York Times said in 1917, “irresistibly readable.”

Read more less

"Here is a 'must-read' for all health promotion researchers and practitioners eager to stay one step ahead of the pack. A panoply of insightful and promising new approaches is presented for consideration and exploration in our contemporary behavioral science arsenal." — M. Elaine Auld, MPH, CHES, Chief Executive Officer, Society for Public Health Education "This book is an essential addition to the health practice and research literature, concentrating on theories that have not been extensively covered elsewhere and that have great currency. It provides an up-to-date rendition on the interplay among contemporary public health concerns, sound public health practice, and the theoretical bases for practice."— Robert M. Goodman, PhD, MPH, Dean and Professor, School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation, Indiana University "The authors of Emerging Theories provide vivid descriptions of the state of the science in health promotion and presents an exciting map for future research. Understanding and using theories is the hallmark of an excellent practitioner. Creating and elaborating theories is the mark of an excellent researcher. This text will be very valuable for both." — Noreen M. Clark, PhD, Myron E. Wegman Distinguished University Professor; Director, Center for Managing Chronic Disease, University of Michigan "Emerging Theories captures the dynamic growth in theories of health promotion and illustrates how divergent theoretical perspectives are being integrated into richer explanatory and practice models." — Matthew W. Kreuter, PhD, MPH, Professor of Social Work and Medicine; Director, Health Communication Research Laboratory, Washington University in St. Louis

Read more less

An ALA Top Ten Best Graphic Novel for ChildrenA thrilling new graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases, launching with a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the only unsolved airplane hijacking in the U.S.CASE NO. 001: NORJAK NOVEMBER 24, 1971 PORTLAND, OREGON2:00 P.M. A man in his mid-forties, wearing a suit and overcoat, buys a ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 bound for Seattle.3:07 P.M. The man presents his demands: $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. If the demands are not met, he threatens to detonate the explosive device in his briefcase.So begins the astonishing true story of the man known as D.B. Cooper, and the only unsolved airplane hijacking case in the United States. Comic panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages.What better way to draw readers into nonfiction than through an exciting graphic novel? This series will appeal to readers of series such as Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. Fans of history and whodunits, CSI-club kids, and graphic novel enthusiasts alike will be pulled in by the suspenseful, complex, and kid-appropriate cases in this series.Sidebars provide fun facts about pre-2001 air travel, serial numbers on currency, airplane design, and more. Backmatter showcases period photos and primary source material in FBI archives.

Read more less

This new Handbook unites cartographic theory and praxis with the principles of cartographic design and their application. It offers a critical appraisal of the current state of the art, science, and technology of map-making in a convenient and well-illustrated guide that will appeal to an international and multi-disciplinary audience. No single-volume work in the field is comparable in terms of its accessibility, currency, and scope. The Routledge Handbook of Mapping and Cartography draws on the wealth of new scholarship and practice in this emerging field, from the latest conceptual developments in mapping and advances in map-making technology to reflections on the role of maps in society. It brings together 43 engaging chapters on a diverse range of topics, including the history of cartography, map use and user issues, cartographic design, remote sensing, volunteered geographic information (VGI), and map art. The title’s expert contributions are drawn from an international base of influential academics and leading practitioners, with a view to informing theoretical development and best practice. This new volume will provide the reader with an exceptionally wide-ranging introduction to mapping and cartography and aim to inspire further engagement within this dynamic and exciting field. The Routledge Handbook of Mapping and Cartography offers a unique reference point that will be of great interest and practical use to all map-makers and students of geographic information science, geography, cultural studies, and a range of related disciplines.

Read more less

Part memoir, part document of the DIY, punk-infused subculture of skateboarding as it came of age in the 1990s and early 2000s, Ed Templeton’s Wires Crossed pulses with the raw, combustive energy of Templeton’s image-making from the last twenty-plus years. Illustrated by photographs, collages, texts, maps, and other ephemera from Templeton’s journals, Wires Crossed offers an insider’s look at a subculture in the making and reflects the unique aesthetic stamp that sprang from the skate world he helped create. Templeton occupies the rare position of having been a professional skateboarder, a two-time World Skateboarding champion, as well as a photographer and artist working within the skateboard community as it gained increasing cultural currency in the 1990s and beyond. His work first gained recognition as part of the Beautiful Losers collective loosely gathered around Aaron Rose’s Alleged Gallery on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. This work, much of it previously unpublished and unseen, explores Templeton’s own journey as an image maker, as well as the lives of professional skateboarders as they spent long hours crisscrossing the world on tour, reveling in their newfound status as rock star–like figures and the eternal search for new terrain to skate. Interviews between Templeton and fellow pro-skaters and friends add compelling detail about the pressures and pleasures of life on the road, and what it’s like to obsessively pursue an art form—whether on their decks or behind the camera.

Read more less

An in-depth and authoritative treatment of one of the most pressing topics of our time In Blockchain and Web3: Building the Cryptocurrency, Privacy, and Security Foundations of the Metaverse, two tech and finance experts deliver a comprehensive and accessible guide to the present and future of blockchain technology and how it will form the foundation of a new, better internet. To support a concept as bold as the Metaverse, we need several orders of magnitude more powerful computing capability, accessible at much lower latencies, across a multitude of devices and screens. You’ll discover how blockchain can accelerate data flow, exchange, and transactions to create and transfer value around the world and, at the same time, how it can be used to protect user data privacy and security with decentralized web infrastructures. The book also includes: Discussions of how sovereign governments are entering the blockchain fray and how their entry, especially with CBDC digital currency, shapes the conversations around Web3 Explorations of whether we will ever realize the holy grail of blockchain tech: interoperability to compete with Big Tech platforms Discussion of new security and privacy issues rising from the intersection of Blockchain, Web3 and Metaverse.A fascinating and eye-opening treatment of the past, present, and future of blockchain and the role it will play on the internet and metaverse, Blockchain and Web3 is a truly original and engaging discussion of a timely and critical topic.

Read more less

Social work is the profession that claims to intervene to enhance people's well-being. However, social workers have played a low-key role in environmental issues that increasingly impact on people's well-being, both locally and globally. This compelling new contribution confronts this topic head-on, examining environmental issues from a social work perspective. Lena Dominelli draws attention to the important voice of practitioners working on the ground in the aftermath of environmental disasters, whether these are caused by climate change, industrial accidents or human conflict. The author explores the concept of ‘green social work' and its role in using environmental crises to address poverty and other forms of structural inequalities, to obtain more equitable allocations of limited natural resources and to tackle global socio-political forces that have a damaging impact upon the quality of life of poor and marginalized populations at local levels. The resolution of these matters is linked to community initiatives that social workers can engage in to ensure that the quality of life of poor people can be enhanced without costing the Earth. This important book will appeal to those in the fields of social work, social policy, sociology and human geography. It powerfully reveals how environmental issues are an integral part of social work's remit if it is to retain its currency in the modern world and emphasize its relevance to the social issues that societies have to resolve in the twenty-first century.

Read more less

Colourful maps, flags and fascinating insights make this pocket sized atlas an ideal source of information about our ever changing world.Arranged in two main sections - a world atlas and country factfile - the Pocket A-Z World Atlas provides an invaluable source of accurate, informative and interesting geographical information, all in one compact and affordable volume. The atlas section, arranged by continent, presents over 70 colourful, clearly labelled, easy-to-read regional maps showing all the world's nations, combining digital landscape modelling with the most important roads, railways, rivers, and settlements. Each map is annotated with fascinating 'insight' facts that reveal a wealth of amazing information from around the world. The second section comprises a comprehensive series of country profiles, arranged alphabetically, covering all the essential facts and figures, including details of geography, climate, society, and economics. This section also contains reference factfile data for every nation, including the national flag, total area, population, languages, religions, and currency.Dive straight in to discover: - This new fully revised 8th Edition incorporating hundreds of updates to maps and statistics.- 71 regional maps, 196 country profile maps, flags, and statistics.- In-depth country profiles. - Fully cross-referenced index/gazetteer.Finding places is quick and convenient with a clearly-styled index of 7,000 atlas section place-names. Ideal for family reference, crosswords, and quizzes, this atlas presents an intriguing and absorbing journey around the world in which we live.

Read more less

“If wilderness is outlawed, only outlaws can save wilderness.” Edward Abbey In a collection of gripping stories of adventure, Doug Peacock, loner, iconoclast, environmentalist, and contemporary of Edward Abbey, reflects on a life lived in the wild, asking the question many ask in their twilight years: “Was It Worth It?” Recounting sojourns with Abbey, but also Peter Matthiessen, Doug Tompkins, Jim Harrison, Yvon Chouinard and others, Peacock observes that what he calls “solitary walks” were the greatest currency he and his buddies ever shared. He asserts that “solitude is the deepest well I have encountered in this life,” and the introspection it affords has made him who he is: a lifelong protector of the wilderness and its many awe-inspiring inhabitants. With adventures both close to home (grizzlies in Yellowstone and jaguars in the high Sonoran Desert) and farther afield (tigers in Siberia, jaguars again in Belize, spirit bears in the wilds of British Columbia, all the amazing birds of the Galapagos), Peacock acknowledges that Covid 19 has put “everyone’s mortality in the lens now and it’s not necessarily a telephoto shot.” Peacock recounts these adventures to try to understand and explain his perspective on Nature: That wilderness is the only thing left worth saving. In the tradition of Peacock’s many best-selling books, Was It Worth It? is both entertaining and thought provoking. It challenges any reader to make certain that the answer to the question for their own life is “Yes!”

Read more less

In light of the experience of the global financial crisis, this book develops concrete recommendations for financial sector reform and regulation in Asian economies aimed at preventing the recurrence of systemic financial crises, improving the ability to manage and resolve crises, managing capital flows and promoting the development of Asian bond markets. The focus of the book is on longer-term structural measures. It explores areas such as the scope for regional monitoring and cooperation; deepening and integration of Asian bond and money markets; liberalization/regulation of capital flows; and issues related to macroprudential oversight, regulatory structure and cooperation as well as the role of state intervention in crisis resolution in the financial sector. The need for and impacts of regulations on innovative financial products and specific investor groups such as hedge funds, ways to reduce systemic risk of pro-cyclicality of regulation and ways to improve the infrastructure and regulatory environment for local currency bond markets are also examined in depth. The book will appeal to public and private finance experts, policy makers and decision makers in governments and banks, think-tanks and students in graduate courses related to financial and economic development. Contributors: C. Adams, J.A. Batten, Y.J. Cho, S.F. de Lis, M. Fujii, A. Garcia-Herrero, W.P. Hogan, M. Kapur, M. Kawai, D.G. Mayes, R. Mohan, P.J. Morgan, M.G. Plummer, M. Pomerleano, M.M. Spiegel, P.G. Szilagyi, L.D. Wall, A. Winkler

Read more less

Once upon a time, economists saw capital account liberalization--the free and unrestricted flow of capital in and out of countries--as unambiguously good. Good for debtor states, good for the world economy. No longer. Spectacular banking and currency crises in recent decades have shattered the consensus. In this remarkably clear and pithy volume, one of Europe's leading economists examines these crises, the reforms being undertaken to prevent them, and how global financial institutions might be restructured to this end. Jean Tirole first analyzes the current views on the crises and on the reform of the international financial architecture. Reform proposals often treat the symptoms rather than the fundamentals, he argues, and sometimes fail to reconcile the objectives of setting effective financing conditions while ensuring that a country "owns" its reform program. A proper identification of market failures is essential to reformulating the mission of an institution such as the IMF, he emphasizes. Next he adapts the basic principles of corporate governance, liquidity provision, and risk management of corporations to the particulars of country borrowing. Building on a "dual- and common-agency perspective," he revisits commonly advocated policies and considers how multilateral organizations can help debtor countries reap enhanced benefits while liberalizing their capital accounts. Based on the Paolo Baffi Lecture the author delivered at the Bank of Italy, this refreshingly accessible book is teeming with rich insights that researchers, policymakers, and students at all levels will find indispensable.

Read more less

The cryptocurrency world has transformed in a few short years from a niche subculture to a parallel economic universe, reaching a market capitalization of more than $2.5 trillion in 2021 before plummeting in 2022. For their advocates, cryptocurrencies represent a revolution of world-historical significance. To critics, crypto is more of a speculative tool than a true currency. How do tens of thousands of financial actors make these new monies? What forces give cryptocurrencies their value—or take it away? And what does crypto’s spectacular ascent reveal about the nature of money? In this groundbreaking ethnographic analysis of crypto economies and their global markets and communities, Koray Caliskan offers an inside view of how cryptocurrencies are made and traded. He argues that cryptocurrency should be understood as “data money,” a historically novel money type, created as the right to send data privately over an accounting infrastructure called blockchain. Drawing on two years of fieldwork among global cryptocurrency communities and in crypto markets, Caliskan makes visible the production principles of cryptocurrencies and explores how crypto exchanges work from within. He explains why and how we have been misunderstanding, underregulating, and improperly taxing crypto exchanges and actors. He also proposes a radically new way to make sense of new finance and its actors. An invaluable book for all readers seeking to understand cryptocurrency, Data Money sheds new light on a profound transformation of finance and its possible future trajectories.

Read more less