Search results for ""independent""

Note: The three volumes are not sequential but rather independent of each other and largely self-contained.Basic Matters is a first introduction to quantum mechanics that does not assume any prior knowledge of the subject. The emphasis is on the general structure as the necessary foundation of any understanding. Starting from the simplest quantum phenomenon, the Stern-Gerlach experiment with its choice between two discrete outcomes, and ending with one-dimensional continuous systems, the physical concepts and notions as well as the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics are developed in successive, manageable steps. The presentation is modern inasmuch as the natural language of the trade - Dirac's kets and bras and so on - is introduced early, and the temporal evolution is dealt with in a picture-free manner, with Schrödinger's and Heisenberg's equations of motion side by side and on equal footing.The reader of Simple Systems is not expected to be familiar with the material in Basic Matters, but should have the minimal knowledge of a standard brief introduction to quantum mechanics with its typical emphasis on one-dimensional position wave functions. The step to Dirac's more abstract and much more powerful formalism is taken immediately, followed by reviews of quantum kinematics and quantum dynamics. The important standard examples (force-free motion, constant force, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen-like atoms) are then treated in considerable detail, whereby a nonstandard perspective is offered wherever it is deemed feasible and useful. A final chapter is devoted to approximation methods, from the Hellmann-Feynman theorem to the WKB quantization rule.Perturbed Evolution has a closer link to Simple Systems than that volume has to Basic Matters, but any reader familiar with the subject matter of a solid introduction to quantum mechanics - such as Dirac's formalism of kets and bras, Schrödinger's and Heisenberg's equations of motion, and the standard examples that can be treated exactly, with harmonic oscillators and hydrogen-like atoms among them - can cope with the somewhat advanced material of this volume. The basics of kinematics and dynamics are reviewed at the outset, including discussions of Bohr's principle of complementarity and Schwinger's quantum action principle. The Born series, the Lippmann-Schwinger equation, and Fermi's golden rule are recurring themes in the treatment of the central subject matter - the evolution in the presence of perturbing interactions for which there are no exact solutions as one has them for the standard examples in Simple Systems. The scattering by a localized potential is regarded as a perturbed evolution of a particular kind and is dealt with accordingly. The unique features of the scattering of indistinguishable quantum objects illustrate the nonclassical properties of bosons and fermions and prepare the groundwork for a discussion of multi-electron atoms.

Read more less

Note: The three volumes are not sequential but rather independent of each other and largely self-contained.Basic Matters is a first introduction to quantum mechanics that does not assume any prior knowledge of the subject. The emphasis is on the general structure as the necessary foundation of any understanding. Starting from the simplest quantum phenomenon, the Stern-Gerlach experiment with its choice between two discrete outcomes, and ending with one-dimensional continuous systems, the physical concepts and notions as well as the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics are developed in successive, manageable steps. The presentation is modern inasmuch as the natural language of the trade - Dirac's kets and bras and so on - is introduced early, and the temporal evolution is dealt with in a picture-free manner, with Schrödinger's and Heisenberg's equations of motion side by side and on equal footing.The reader of Simple Systems is not expected to be familiar with the material in Basic Matters, but should have the minimal knowledge of a standard brief introduction to quantum mechanics with its typical emphasis on one-dimensional position wave functions. The step to Dirac's more abstract and much more powerful formalism is taken immediately, followed by reviews of quantum kinematics and quantum dynamics. The important standard examples (force-free motion, constant force, harmonic oscillator, hydrogen-like atoms) are then treated in considerable detail, whereby a nonstandard perspective is offered wherever it is deemed feasible and useful. A final chapter is devoted to approximation methods, from the Hellmann-Feynman theorem to the WKB quantization rule.Perturbed Evolution has a closer link to Simple Systems than that volume has to Basic Matters, but any reader familiar with the subject matter of a solid introduction to quantum mechanics - such as Dirac's formalism of kets and bras, Schrödinger's and Heisenberg's equations of motion, and the standard examples that can be treated exactly, with harmonic oscillators and hydrogen-like atoms among them - can cope with the somewhat advanced material of this volume. The basics of kinematics and dynamics are reviewed at the outset, including discussions of Bohr's principle of complementarity and Schwinger's quantum action principle. The Born series, the Lippmann-Schwinger equation, and Fermi's golden rule are recurring themes in the treatment of the central subject matter - the evolution in the presence of perturbing interactions for which there are no exact solutions as one has them for the standard examples in Simple Systems. The scattering by a localized potential is regarded as a perturbed evolution of a particular kind and is dealt with accordingly. The unique features of the scattering of indistinguishable quantum objects illustrate the nonclassical properties of bosons and fermions and prepare the groundwork for a discussion of multi-electron atoms.

Read more less

'Unremittingly glorious. I and the world demand more and we shall thump our tin mugs on the table demanding it until we are satisfied.'Stephen FryLoveable... Dreadful... Amazing... Learned... Baroque... Exquisite... Utterly wonderful... Uplifting... Stupendously Acute... Very scary... Genuinely mad...Having written acclaimed biographies of uncompromising and glittering geniuses such as Peter Sellers, Laurence Olivier, Carry On star Charles Hawtrey, and Anthony Burgess, of A Clockwork Orange fame, Roger Lewis, rotund, dark and difficult, has at long last stumbled upon the greatest monster of all - himself.As with bestselling and beloved Seasonal Suicide Notes, in this new book Lewis has produced a funny and appalling self-portrait, crammed with his clashes and frustrations.The calamities he describes, however, such as coming a pathetic fifth in the Oxford Chair of Poetry Election or throwing a party in what turned out to be a Cornish old peoples' home, are always offset by beautiful riffs - about Seville, a city he can't keep away from; or the train ride from Salzburg to Venice, where he stays in the restaurant car so long he alights in Zagreb by mistake; or the lush flowering magnolias he sees at Agatha Christie's house on the River Dart.It was when Lewis suggested in the press that Agatha Christie was a lesbian that the death threats began.Hearing the overture to Iolanthe played on Radio Three, and his own name mentioned by the announcer, Lewis is conveyed back to his extraordinary Welsh past, where Gilbert & Sullivan was put on in the village hall, and where Roger Lewis knew at once that his destiny was to become Evil Fairy, complete with wand.Who is to say he has not succeeded in this ambition?What Am I Still Doing Here? will win its author hordes more passionate devotees.'There is only one writer alive today who is as mordantly funny as Kingsley Amis, as acute about human misery as Philip Larkin, and as brilliant in skewering pretension and vanity as both. His name is Roger Lewis... Nothing funnier or wise has been published all year. If you love someone buy them this book. If they don't appreciate the gift then purge them from your life.' Mail on Sunday'The funniest book of the year. What Am I Still Doing Here? by Roger Lewis is a wonderfully splenetic journal - part-diary, part-diatribe - by a man who rages with an indignant eloquence against the modern world. But Lewis' furious rants are never far from hilarity, and his anger is redeemed by flashes of pur poetry. Like all the best comics, Lewis is a disappointed optimist rather than an outright cynic, and it's this thwarted idealism which makes this such a liberating, life-affirming read.'Independent

Read more less

From the author of international bestseller Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 ''Cho’s complex, humane, and by its end utterly transfixing novel shows that it is in community that we find resilience.' i newspaper 'Like Bong Joon-ho's Academy Award-winning film Parasite and the popular Netflix series Squid Games, Saha points to the increasing inequality and lack of social mobility in South Korea. ... With global inequality on the rise, Saha’s theme of human dignity quashed by the interests of mega-corporations resonates widely.' Guardian '[A]n affecting portrait of people doing their best to survive in a world that would rather pretend they didn’t exist.' New York Times In a country called ‘Town’, Su is found dead in an abandoned car. The suspected killer is presumed to come from the Saha Estates. Town is a privatised country, controlled by a secretive organisation known as the Seven Premiers. It is a society clearly divided into the haves and have-nots and those who have the very least live on the Saha Estates. Among their number is Jin-Kyung, a young woman whose brother, Dok-yung, was in a relationship with Su and quickly becomes the police’s prime suspect. When Dok-yung disappears, Jin Ky-ung is determined to get to the bottom of things. On her quest to find the truth, though, she will uncover a reality far darker and crimes far greater than she could ever have imagined. At once a dystopian mystery and devastating critique of how we live now, Saha lifts the lid on corruption, exploitation and government oppression, while, with deep humanity and compassion, showing us the lives of those who, through no fault of their own, suffer at the hand of brutal forces far beyond their control.Praise for Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982 'It describes experiences that will be recognisable everywhere. It’s slim, unadorned narrative distils a lifetime’s iniquities into a sharp punch.’ The Sunday Times ‘A ground-breaking work of feminist fiction’ Stylist ‘Along with other socially critical narratives to come out of Korea, such as Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite, her story could change the bigger one.’ The Guardian 'This witty, disturbing book deals with sexism, mental health issues and the hypocrisy of a country where young women are “popping caffeine pills and turning jaundiced” as they slave away in factories helping to fund higher education for male siblings.' The Independent 'Enthralling and enraging.' Sunday Express ‘Cho’s moving, witty and powerful novel forces us to face our reality, in which one woman is seen, pretty much, as interchangeable with any other. There’s a logic to Kim Jiyoung’s shape-shifting: she could be anybody.’ Daily Telegraph

Read more less

The eighth edition of the Palliative Care Formulary (PCF8), from Pharmaceutical Press, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s knowledge business, is an essential resource for health professionals who care for patients with progressive end-stage disease.Although written primarily with cancer patients in mind, PCF8 contains specific material relating to several other life-limiting diseases e.g. COPD, end-stage heart failure, renal and hepatic failure, and end-stage Parkinson's disease.Grounded in clinical practice, this comprehensive title includes independent information about drugs used in palliative care, highlighting off-label indications or routes, and dealing with the administration of multiple drugs by continuous subcutaneous infusion.Updates in the new edition:• Renamed monograph (Tricyclic antidepressants) and two discontinued - (Carbamazepine and Danazol).Fully reviewed and updated monographs with the latest references and evidence for all uses in palliative care including for:• All the individual strong opioid analgesic drug monographs and Quick Clinical Guides• Antidepressants class and individual drug monographs• Anti-epileptics class and individual drug monographs including a significantly updated section on the management of seizures and the use of subcutaneous levetiracetam• Bisphosphonates monograph including the 2020 ESMO clinical practice guidelines and a new joint summary table for the indications of use for bisphosphonates and denosumab in palliative care• Denosumab monograph including the 2020 ESMO clinical practice guidelines• Drugs and fitness to drive chapter including updates to the summary table of the available evidence for sedative drugs• Renal impairment chapter including significant changes to the sections on assessing renal function, and opioid use in renal impairment• Drug administration to patients with swallowing difficulties or enteral feeding tubes chapter including a new step-wise approach for alternative formulations, and a fully updated table on commonly used alternative productsTargeted updates to monographs including:• H2-receptor antagonists monograph updated to reflect the alternative oral and parenteral options due to the world-wide absence of ranitidine• Proton pump inhibitors monograph significant updates to the parenteral administration section• Clonidine monograph, involving significant updates to the dose and use section and a new summary of dexmedetomidine use• Drugs for diabetes monograph updated to include the 2021 Diabetes UK guidelines and the 2021 Joint British Diabetes Societies Inpatient Care Group guidelines. Significant changes to the sections on corticosteroid-induced diabetes mellitus, the management of hypoglycaemia, and the management of spikes of hyperglycaemia in the last few weeks of life• Systemic corticosteroids significant updates on the risks of adrenal insufficiency including information about the new steroid emergency card and information on the evidence of use for appetite stimulation• Anaphylaxis appendix updated to reflect the 2021 Resuscitation Council UK guidelines.PCF8 also includes several Quick Clinical Guides covering key topics in palliative care and designed for everyday use.

Read more less

While complex strategies and systems may work for some traders, understanding price action is all you really need to succeed in this arena. Price action analysis is an effective approach to trading today's markets—whether you're involved in stocks, futures, or options. It allows you to focus on the process of trading without being overwhelmed by a complicated collection of trading techniques. And while this method may appear elementary, it can significantly enhance returns as well as minimize downside risk. One way to apply price action analysis to your trading endeavors is with chart patterns. Nobody understands this better than author Al Brooks, a technical analyst for Futures magazine and an independent trader for more than twenty years. Brooks discovered ten years ago that reading price charts without indicators proved to be the most simple, reliable, and profitable way for him to trade. Mastering that discipline is what made him consistently successful in trading. Now, with Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar, Brooks shares his extensive experience on how to read price action. At the end of the day, anyone can look at a chart, whether it is a candle chart for E-mini S&P 500 futures trading or a bar chart for stock trading, and see very clear entry and exit points. But doing this in real time is much more difficult. Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar will help you become proficient in the practice of reading price action—through the use of trendlines and trend channel lines, prior highs and lows, breakouts and failed breakouts, and other tools—and show you how this approach can improve the overall risk-reward ratio of your trades. Written with the serious trader in mind, this reliable resource addresses the essential elements of this discipline, including the importance of understanding every bar on a price chart, why particular patterns are reliable setups for trades, and how to locate entry and exit points as markets are trading in real time. Brooks focuses on five-minute candle charts to illustrate basic principles, but discusses daily and weekly charts as well. Along the way, he also explores intraday swing trades on several stocks and details option purchases based on daily charts—revealing how using price action alone can be the basis for this type of trading. There's no easy way to trade, but if you learn to read price charts, find reliable patterns, and get a feel for the market and time frame that suits your situation, you can make money. While price action trading doesn't require sophisticated software or an abundance of indicators, this straightforward approach can still put you in a better position to profit in almost any market. Reading Price Charts Bar by Bar will show you how.

Read more less

‘Another perfect page-turner’ The Times ‘A triumph from the master thriller writer’ The Sun In this twisty thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Take Your Breath Away, a man desperately tries to track down his father – who was taken into witness protection years ago – before his enemies can get to him. Your dad’s not a good person. Your dad killed people, son.These are some of the last words Jack Givins’s father spoke to him before he was whisked away by witness protection, leaving Jack and his mother to pick up the shattered pieces of their lives. Years later, Jack is a struggling author, recruited by the U.S. Marshals to create false histories for people in witness protection. Jack realises this may be a chance to find his dad – but then he discovers he’s gone missing, and he could be in serious danger. Jack knows he has to track him down. But how will he find a man he’s never truly known? And how will he evade his father’s deadly enemies – enemies who wouldn’t think twice about using his own son against him? PRAISE FOR THE LIE MAKER: ‘Linwood Barclay has crafted another perfect page-turner’ The Times ‘Pacey and tense, it’s a triumph from a master thriller writer. Every page makes your heart beat that little bit faster’ The Sun 'Twisty, emotional, surprising, and told at a breakneck pace, Linwood Barclay’s The Lie Maker shows once again he’s one of the best thriller writers working today. This is a read-in-one-sitting kind of story' David Koepp ‘Engrossing and moving, full of clever plot twists, this is great crime writing’Literary Review ‘You’ll be left speed-reading towards the end to discover answers expertly posed by the bestselling Toronto-based crime writer’The Independent ‘A master of the intricately plotted psychological thriller genre’Women’s Weekly ‘Deliciously intriguing’Crime Fiction Lover ‘A tense and original page-turner with a likeable protagonist and intriguing side-characters. A must-read for Barclay fans’Culturefly ‘A totally absorbing, two-fisted conspiracy thriller told with characteristic aplomb … full of gasp-inducing twists and oodles of tension … brilliant stuff’ Neil Lancaster 'Barclay (Look Both Ways) nails this riveting standalone thriller about a washed-up writer’s search for his long-lost parent… Barclay expertly knits the strands together and constructs a fully realized everyman in Givins. Crafty plotting and rich characters make this a winner' Publishers Weekly, Starred Review PRAISE FOR LINWOOD BARCLAY: ‘A superior thriller’ Sunday Times ‘A suspense master’ Stephen King ‘The twists keep coming’ The Times ‘Devilishly good’ Shari Lapena ‘Linwood Barclay is in a class of his own’ T.M. Logan ‘One of the finest thriller writers in the world at the very top of his game’ Mark Billingham

Read more less

THE LAST THING A TWIN EXPECTS IS TO BE ALONE ...*** From the acclaimed author of THE LAST THING TO BURN comes a new thriller about identity, rivalry and deceit. ***'Dean handles his plot with skill ... Molly is an intriguing protagonist and Dean has plenty of surprises for the unwary reader' OBSERVER'The talented Mr Ripley would have enjoyed every moment of its tortuous plot. There is no higher praise' DAILY MAIL'Highly accomplished, dark and dazzling. First Born twists and deceives, and cements Will Dean's status as a truly rare talent. Pure brilliance' CHRIS WHITAKERMolly lives a quiet, contained life in London. Naturally risk averse, she gains comfort from security and structure. Every day the same.Her identical twin Katie is her exact opposite: gregarious and spontaneous. They used to be inseparable, until Katie moved to New York a year ago. Molly still speaks to her daily without fail.But when Molly learns that Katie has died suddenly in New York, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. Katie is part of her DNA. As terrifying as it is, she must go there and find out what happened. As she tracks her twin's last movements, cracks begin to emerge. Nothing is what it seems. And a web of deceit is closing around her.Delivering the same intensity of pace and storytelling that made THE LAST THING TO BURN a word-of-mouth sensation, FIRST BORN will surprise, shock and enthral.'Powerful ... Dean takes on issues of personal identity and familial responsibility' FINANCIAL TIMES'Tiptoes into Highsmith territory here. Pacy, exhilarating and jaw-dropping, it's a meditation on identity and loneliness as well as a bloody good page-turner. New York buffets the characters about its ruthless streets, just as the reader is propelled from one twist to the next' ERIN KELLY'A superb page-turner' STEVE CAVANAGH'Will Dean writes a mean thriller, with a keen ear for what scares us. The streets of New York shine off the page, and the action rarely lets up. Highly recommended' SARAH HILARY'Will Dean manages to accomplish the rare blend of excellent writing and intriguing, ingenious plotting' LIZ NUGENT'Taut, suspenseful, chilling and surprising' GILLY MACMILLAN'Equal parts murder mystery and psychological thriller, Will Dean dazzles with FIRST BORN. A tense, taut plot that blows through unexpected twists and turns, you won't be able to look away until the final, shattering page' JULIE CLARK'Great pace, great twists, a perfect psychological thriller' B.A. PARIS'A clever and sophisticated construction...A jolly good read' SHOTS'Rather special' Sunday Times Crime Club *Star pick*'The storyline is truly original, with one of those brilliant endings only a great thriller writer can dream up' The Press Association'Spine-chilling' Irish Independent'This psychological thriller is a masterpiece' Crime Review

Read more less

'Like nothing else you will read' Hilary MantelTop 25 History Books of the Year, The Times - the perfect gift for book lovers this Christmas!Every day a beloved father dies. Every day a lover departs. Every day a woman turns forty.All three happening together brings a moment of reckoning.Medieval historian Elizabeth Boyle made sense of these events the best way she knew how - by immersing herself in the literature that has been her first love and life's work for over two decades.Fierce Appetites is the exhilarating and deeply humane result. Not only does Elizabeth Boyle write dazzling accounts of ancient stories, familiar and obscure, from Ireland and further afield, but she uses her historical learning to grapple with the raw and urgent questions she faces, questions that have bedevilled people in every age. She writes on grief, addiction, family breakdown, the complexities of motherhood, love and sex, memory, class, education, travel (and staying put) with unflinching honesty, deep compassion and occasional dark humour.Fierce Appetites is captivating and original - as an insight into the mind and heart of a groundbreaking scholar, and as a wise and reassuring account of what it is to be human._____________________'Wonderful . . . I laughed. I cried. I was blown away' The Times'Pure nectar for the imagination' Irish Examiner 'Unusual, arresting and genuinely enriching' Irish Times'I loved this luminous, radical book about bodies in time. It is a deeply personal history, that simultaneously brings medieval myth and poetry to breathing, bleeding life. An education for the mind and the heart' Clare Pollard'Highly original . . . engagingly candid [and] thought-proviking' Irish Independent'An eloquent plea for the value of curiosity and the life of the mind, standing up the robustness of scholarship against the frailty of individuals, the resilience of myth against brittle daily preoccupations. It's an agile story, irreverent, capacious and constantly surprising: like nothing else you will read' Hilary Mantel'Bracingly honest, fiery, funny, scholarly, Fierce Appetites really is a wildly good book' Hilary Fannin'Extremely intriguing . . . I found myself completely absorbed' Ryan Tubridy'I absolutely loved this utterly original book. Immersing myself in Elizabeth Boyle's considerable brain was a true privilege, and the way she uses medieval narratives to unpick her own present was endlessly surprising and beautiful. I read it in two sittings, devouring her perspective on life, love, loss' Clover Stroud'Fiercely smart, strange, surprising, unsettling, unflinching' Jennifer O'Connell, Irish Times'An outstanding achievement. Fierce Appetites defies easy categorization, is brilliantly written and simply deserves to be read' Darach Ó Séaghdha'Everything is illuminated, magnified, revisioned: sexual desire, motherhood, family. Her writing is unorthodox, unnerving, and very exciting' Tanya Shadrick

Read more less

Uncover the journeys that define Black British History in this informative, boldly illustrated collection of migration stories. Learn the incredible untold stories of the people, places and journeys that shaped Britain, and be inspired to continue learning beyond the page.In this brand new series from The Black Curriculum, learn about how migration has shaped Black British History. Discover how migration has been part of British history right from the start. For example, did you know Black people lived in Britain during Roman times? Or that there was a Black trumpeter in Henry VIII's court? Find out more in this fascinating guide to Britain's diverse history.Discover the Black British people who campaigned for the abolition of slavery in the 18th century, like Olaudah Equiano. Find out what brought people to Britain in the 20th century and what life was like for them. Learn how migration is important to Britain's identity and history, and how it continues today. This book features a foreword from Maro Itoje, bright, bold illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a timeline and glossary of key terms.Explore key stories in Black British History alongside: - Written by Millie Mensah with beautiful and striking illustrations by Camilla Ru- Empowering tone to inspire children to ask questions and continue their learning beyond the page.- Part of a bold, eye-catching three-part series.- Information is presented clearly in an engaging, accessible format.- Text is accessible for children ages 8+ but the tone will continue to appeal to children up to age 16.Founded by Lavinya Stennet, the Black Curriculum is an organisation dedicated to promoting the learning of Black British history within schools, via workshops and free teaching resources. Black British history is currently not taught consistently in British schools, despite being recommended by reports such as the Windrush review and the MacPherson Report as a way of tackling racism.This series provides a resource to fill the gap and aims to support the work that the Black Curriculum is doing. The books will act as a resource in the classroom, as well as promoting independent learning. The bold illustrations from Black British illustrators, and age-appropriate text present the information in a fun and accessible way.At DK, we believe in the power of discovery. So why stop there? The Black Curriculum - Migration is a three-part series for children aged 8+ who want to learn more about Black British History, alongside teachers seeking to inspire children to learn more about the subject. Explore important sites in Black British History with The Black Curriculum - Places, and discover an inspiring collection of stories of iconic figures from Black British History with The Black Curriculum - Legacies.

Read more less

Get the 2018 Updated edition of this book! Winner: Axiom Business Theory Silver Medal (2017 Edition) Official Selection: Gary’s Book Club at CES (2017 Edition) Wall Street Journal Best Seller (2015 Edition) TOP 50 ALL AMAZON KINDLE BOOKS (2015 Edition) What unexpected insights can a holographic Holocaust survivor and a Japanese film about soy sauce offer us about career development? How do self-repairing airplane wings, touch-enabled “skinterface” tattoos and smart locks predict the next trillion-dollar industry? What can the surprising popularity of an odd Norwegian TV show and the rise of “quiet eating” in Spain teach us about buying behavior? The answers to these questions may not be all that obvious. And that’s exactly the point. For the past 7 years, marketing expert and Georgetown University Professor Rohit Bhargava has curated his best-selling list of non-obvious trends by asking the questions that most trend predictors miss. It’s why his insights on future trends and the art of curating trends have been utilized by dozens of the biggest brands and organizations in the world like Intel, Under Armour and the World Bank. In this all-new seventh edition, discover what more than a million readers already have: how to use the power of non-obvious thinking to grow your business and make a bigger impact in the world. Here is a snapshot of trends featured in the report: . Fierce Femininity – As gender continues to become more fluid, fiercely independent women are increasingly portrayed as heroines, seen as role models and changing the world. · Passive Loyalty - The ease of switching from brand to brand continues to empowers consumers – forcing brands to get smarter about earning true loyalty of belief versus loyalty of convenience. · Robot Renaissance - As the utility of robots moves beyond manufacturing and into the home and workplace, they adopt better human-like interfaces and even may have micro-personalities built in. · Moonshot Entrepreneurship – Inspired by visionary entrepreneurs, more organizations think beyond profit and focus on using business to make a positive social impact and even save the world. In total, the Non-Obvious 2017 Edition features 15 all-new trends for 2017 across 5 categories including Culture & Consumer Behavior, Marketing & Social Media, Media & Education, Technology & Design plus Economics & Entrepreneurship. The book also features a detailed section with a review and rating for more than 60 previously predicted trends – with longevity ratings for each. As with the original version, this new edition of Non-Obvious also delves into the curation process the author has used for years to build his Trend Reports and takes readers behind the scenes of trend curation (much to the delight of past readers who have been asking about this for years), and show them the methodology they can use to predict the future for themselves.

Read more less

Born and raised in New York City, Lockwood de Forest (1850–1932) has long been recognized as an early business partner of Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848–1933). He began his career as a painter trained by Frederic E. Church with connections to the Tenth Street Studio, the National Academy of Design, and Society of Decorative Art in New York, and emerged as an artistic decorator with a specialty in richly appointed interiors that boasted heavily carved East Indian architectural elements and furniture. Though his formal ties with Tiffany lasted only two years, de Forest continued an independent career in the decorative arts that extended into the early twentieth century. In this book—the first that focuses scholarly attention on de Forest’s career in the decorative arts—Robert A. Mayer argues that his commitment to India cannot be understood without exploring the larger context of the East Indian craft revival, a self-conscious attempt by the British colonial government to create a Western market for handmade, East Indian goods. This endeavor brought together many different individuals—Queen Victoria in her role as Empress of India, the Price of Wales as a cultural ambassador, key enthusiasts employed by the Indian Civil Service who emerged as collectors and connoisseurs, the ideology of the English arts and crafts movement, the art schools of India, and hereditary craftsmen of India who had lost their traditional patrons. De Forest was the only American represented within these intersecting circles, and part of his commitment to India was fueled by his concern that East Indian arts and crafts were dying and his belief that American patronage could reverse this trend. Mayer further suggests that de Forest embraced India because of his desire to achieve authority in an intellectual pursuit that was equal to, yet different from, those of his brothers, both of whom were successful lawyers. She provides a complete view of his career, from his early idealistic ideas, to his success in courting Gilded Age millionaires, to the fading of demand for opulent Indian rooms. In doing so, she balances de Forest’s memoirs of his experience of India in the 1880s and the 1890s with those more tempered recollections of his wife, Meta Kemble de Forest (of the du Pont family), and also acknowledges the perspectives of his contemporary critics. De Forest’s house and studio at 7 East Tenth Street survives today as the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at New York University. In his role as a decorative artist, he had major patrons in New York City and the Hudson River Valley, including Frederic Edwin Church (for Olana), William Henry Appleton (for Wavve Hill), and Andrew Carnegie (for his mansion, now the Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum). This book contains sixty color plates and one hundred thirty-two black-and-white illustrations.

Read more less

'A shocking, enraging, sometimes hilarious exposé of a tax system that lives down to all our worst fears of further enriching the wealthy at the expense of the little guys.' - Piers Morgan'Very funny (and furious)... By the end of the book you may be spluttering with rage at the injustice of it all. Page after page shows how the rich are exploiting loopholes to reduce their tax bill.... But this is not some crazed figure on the extreme left hoping to bring down the establishment. The book is written by an accountant who has spent his career coming up with the very tax avoidance schemes the super-wealthy use to evade the clutches of HMRC.' - The Telegraph'Funny, clever and really quite brilliant. Taxtopia will make you furiously angry and possibly even filthy rich.' - Tom Peck, The Independent'If you want to know how skewed the system is and how the rich always get richer and stay that way, while you don't, then read this book. Then get angry.' - Patrick Alley, Co-founder of Global Witness and author of Very Bad People'Taxtopia's anonymous author has done the impossible - created a hilarious and deeply troubling expose about how the world's shady tax system is exploited and proves what we always suspected - that our tax system is rigged against us. Read it and weep.' - Geraint Anderson author of City Boy'Would I recommend the book? For readers of Spear's, my answer is 'yes, and it may also be worth going back over some of the more interesting ideas with your accountant' -Spear's'The book is enormously readable ... I would very much recommend reading Taxtopia because it's the most hilarious book about tax I've ever read!' - Siân Pattenden, The BunkerIn TAXTOPIA a rogue accountant breaks ranks to share his journey from clueless naïf to skilled tax consultant -and in doing so blows the lid on the murky world of making the tax burdens of the ultra-wealthy disappear.In the topsy-turvy world of tax avoidance, you can get richer by buying a yacht, the world's biggest exporter of coffee is Switzerland, and billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump and the Duke of Westminster often pay less tax than you do.Written with sharp wit and over-brimming with inside secrets, the anonymous author shows us that not only does the global tax system encourage dubious practice which favours the rich, but that it was specifically founded with that in mind.If you suspect that tax is a rigged game, a con, designed to fleece the little guy, you are about to find out just how shockingly true that really is.Welcome to TAXTOPIA.

Read more less

A very powerful, well-researched and thoughtful argument in support of the ecological versus the economic way of thinking and acting. Paul Nieuwenhuis is no 'Fachidiot' but sees clearly the bigger picture. His book takes you on a fascinating journey through the worlds of philosophy and ecology to an in-depth understanding of the evolution of car manufacturing, its past and future. A fascinating read even for a 'tree-hugger' and public transportation fan like me.'- Georgios Kostakos, Independent Consultant on global challenges and sustainability, governance and UN affairsIf we are part of nature, then so is everything we make. This unique book explores this notion using the example of the car, how it is made and used and especially how we relate to it, with a view to creating a more sustainable automobility.We have been trying to make cars cleaner and more efficient, but has this really made them more sustainable? This book argues, within the context of sustainable consumption and production, that we should see the car as a natural system, subject to natural laws and processes. As part of this new perspective we need to change our attitude to cars, building more durable relationships and co-evolving with them. Revolutionary, perhaps; but if we get it right, this approach will allow us to enjoy motoring - albeit in modified form - into the future. The book draws on a range of disciplines, including industrial ecology, engineering, philosophy, anthropology, consumer psychology and object-oriented ontology, as well as providing industry examples to support its innovative case.This ground-breaking book will be of interest to academics of sustainability, socio-technical transition, management of change, engineering, biomimicry and business. It will also be of interest to automotive consultancies and those working in the car and oil industries. Paul Nieuwenhuis' innovative suggestions will certainly be of interest to government workers in industry, business and the environment, as well as various environmental NGOs.Contents: 1. Introduction - A Natural History of the Car 2. The Problem with Cars is… 3. What is Sustainability and what is Sustainable? 4. The History of the Car and the History of Car Production 5. A Changing Industry 6. Regulating the Car to Save our Environment; Emptying the Ashtrays on the Titanic? 7. Supply Chains…, or Loops, Tiers, Webs, or Flows? 8. Freedom to Tinker: The True Ownership Model 9. Consumers: SCP and Sustainable Car Use; Learning to Love your Car 10. How Does Change Happen? 11. The Ecological Model of Business 12. Automotive Evolution - the Car of the Future; a Future for the Car? 13. The Automotive Industry; an Ecosystem Perspective 14. Making the Transition; Ecodiversity at the Sector Level; Industry as Ecosystem 15. Concluding Remarks References

Read more less

This volume, the original version of which was published in 1988, brings to a close the autobiographical writings of a modern Christian philosopher who lived through the two World Wars and the ecclesiastical upheaval in the Catholic Church in the context of the Second Vatican Council. What stamps this philosopher throughout the course of his life – with all its social and political uncertainties – is his constant dedication to truth and his manifest unswerving integrity. Themes with which the reader of his previous works would be well acquainted recur in this volume. The dedicated Catholic philosopher, who preferred his independence as a trainer of teachers to the less independent role of a professor in a Catholic university, was quite prepared to criticize developments in the Church which resulted from Vatican II. In his defense of the sacred, which he deemed threatened by popularizing trends in the Church, he criticized what he saw as the watered down language in modern German translations of Church liturgical texts; the growing preference for secular garb; and the compromising developments which saw the sacramental signs – surrounding baptism, for instance – being reduced to such an extent that they no longer had the power to signify their sacred meaning even to a well-intentioned congregation. A great lover of the philosophy of Plato, Augustine, and Aquinas – among many others –, Pieper highlighted the need for living a life of truth. He did not consider truth to be merely something abstract but as something to be lived existentially. While he could explain his philosophy in clear rational terms, something which especially stood to him in his post-war lectures to eager students who were hungry for intellectual guidance and leadership, the great interest of his philosophy was, possibly, his preoccupation with mystery – that which impinges on our inner lives but frustrates all our attempts to account for it in purely rational terms. As a philosopher – one might say a Christian philosopher – Pieper seems to have observed the traditional boundaries drawn between philosophy and theology. His generation was exposed to the modernist debates in the Church. It would have been deemed heretical to say that the Divine could be grasped by our purely human thought processes – access to the Divine being only possible through faith and grace. Pieper was no heretic. But he was also not altogether conservative. In fact, his philosophy, closely allied to existentialism – despite his care, for instance, to distance himself from the negative existentialism of Sartre – focused on the individual’s inner existential grasp of the most profound reality. Truth is to be found within us, even if it remains a mystery. What lies beyond death is, for the individual, the ultimate mystery.

Read more less

Bridges the knowledge gap between engineering and economics in a complex and evolving deregulated electricity industry, enabling readers to understand, operate, plan and design a modern power system With an accessible and progressive style written in straight-forward language, this book covers everything an engineer or economist needs to know to understand, operate within, plan and design an effective liberalized electricity industry, thus serving as both a useful teaching text and a valuable reference. The book focuses on principles and theory which are independent of any one market design. It outlines where the theory is not implemented in practice, perhaps due to other over-riding concerns. The book covers the basic modelling of electricity markets, including the impact of uncertainty (an integral part of generation investment decisions and transmission cost-benefit analysis). It draws out the parallels to the Nordpool market (an important point of reference for Europe). Written from the perspective of the policy-maker, the first part provides the introductory background knowledge required. This includes an understanding of basic economics concepts such as supply and demand, monopoly, market power and marginal cost. The second part of the book asks how a set of generation, load, and transmission resources should be efficiently operated, and the third part focuses on the generation investment decision. Part 4 addresses the question of the management of risk and Part 5 discusses the question of market power. Any power system must be operated at all times in a manner which can accommodate the next potential contingency. This demands responses by generators and loads on a very short timeframe. Part 6 of the book addresses the question of dispatch in the very short run, introducing the distinction between preventive and corrective actions and why preventive actions are sometimes required. The seventh part deals with pricing issues that arise under a regionally-priced market, such as the Australian NEM. This section introduces the notion of regions and interconnectors and how to formulate constraints for the correct pricing outcomes (the issue of "constraint orientation"). Part 8 addresses the fundamental and difficult issue of efficient transmission investment, and finally Part 9 covers issues that arise in the retail market. Bridges the gap between engineering and economics in electricity, covering both the economics and engineering knowledge needed to accurately understand, plan and develop the electricity market Comprehensive coverage of all the key topics in the economics of electricity markets Covers the latest research and policy issues as well as description of the fundamental concepts and principles that can be applied across all markets globally Numerous worked examples and end-of-chapter problems Companion website holding solutions to problems set out in the book, also the relevant simulation (GAMS) codes

Read more less

Gets professionals quickly on-line with all the crucial designconcepts and skills they need to dramatically improve themaintainability of their products or systems Maintainability is a practical, step-by-step guide to implementinga comprehensive maintainability program within your organization'sdesign and development function. From program scheduling,organizational interfacing, cost estimating, and supplieractivities, to maintainability prediction, task analysis, formaldesign review, and maintainability tests and demonstrations, itdescribes all the planning and organizational aspects ofmaintainability for projects under development and * Schools readers in state-of-the-art maintainability designtechniques * Demonstrates methods for quantitatively measuring maintainabilityat every stage of the development process * Shows how to increase effectiveness while reducing life-cyclecosts of already existing systems or products * Features numerous case studies, sample applications, and practiceexercises * Functions equally well as a professional reference and aclassroom text Independent cost analysis studies indicate that an inordinatelylarge percentage of the overall life-cycle cost of mostsystems/products is currently taken up by maintenance and support.In fact, for many large-scale systems, maintenance and support havebeen shown to account for as much as 60% to 75% of overalllife-cycle costs. At a time of fierce global competition, long-termcost effectiveness is a major competitive advantage thatmanufacturers simply cannot afford to underestimate. Clearly then,to remain competitive in today's international marketplace,companies must institute programs for reducing system maintenanceand support costs-- comprehensive programs that are an integralpart of the design and development process from its earliestconceptual stages. This book shows you how to implement such a program within yourorganization's design and development function. From programscheduling, organizational interfacing, cost estimating, andsupplier activities, to maintainability prediction, task analysis,formal design review, and maintainability tests and demonstrations,it describes all the planning and organizational aspects ofmaintainability for projects under development while schooling youin the use of the full range of proven design techniques--includingmethods for quantitatively measuring maintainability at every stageof the development process. The authors also clearly explain howthe principles and practices outlined in Maintainability can beapplied to the evaluation of systems/products now in use both toincrease their effectiveness and reduce long-term costs. While theoretical aspects of maintainability are discussed, theauthors' main purpose in writing this book is to help getprofessionals quickly on-line with the essential maintainabilityconcepts and skills. Hence, in addition to clarity of presentationand a rational hierarchical format, Maintainability features manycase studies and sample applications that help to clarify thepoints covered, and numerous practice exercises that help engineersto test their mastery of the concepts and techniques covered. Maintainability is an invaluable professional tool for engineersfrom all disciplines who are involved with the design, testing,prototyping, manufacturing, and maintenance of products andsystems. It also serves as a superior course book forgraduate-level programs in those disciplines.

Read more less

"Small Store Survival should challenge retailers' views of smallstore retailing by questioning key areas of business. What is thevision for the store in 10 years? How have the customers changedover the past few years? How current are the managers about whatcustomers genuinely like and dislike? What is being done toattract, educate, and motivate the best retail talent in the area?How effective is the merchandising strategy? What plans exist forsuccession? "The real lesson of this study is that the best retailers neverstop learning. They never stop growing. They never lose theirenthusiasm for the customers and the business. And they never ceaseto revel in change and the chance to deal with it." --from theExecutive Summary of Small Store Survival Small Store Survival Over the past decade, thousands of small retail stores have fallenvictim to overwhelming competition from huge discount chainsdetermined to take in every retail dollar in sight. But noteveryone succumbs to the megastore invasion; many small retailersgrow and prosper in spite of this cutthroat competition. How dothey do it? Even more important, how can you do it? Small Store Survival is the how-to book that belongs behind thecounter of every independent retail store. It analyzes small-storeoperation in detail and lays out optimal survival strategies andtactics for seven key areas of business practice that are criticalto success: customer service, marketing, merchandising, storeoperations, management, human resources, and finance. Its clear andlogical organization enables you to evaluate your businesspractices function by function, identify strengths and weaknesses,and develop action plans to improve operations in each of thesecrucial functions. Written by a team of experts from Arthur Andersen LLP, this guidepresents detailed solutions and best practices culled from retailersurveys, site visits, and industry research. Its recommendationsare applicable to a broad variety of retail formats, includingstores that specialize in apparel; appliances; books; drugs,health, and beauty care products; electronics; hardware; home andgarden supplies; pets and pet supplies; as well as other specialtystores. Numerous case studies illustrate the problems that plaguemany retailers and demonstrate ways you can overcome theseobstacles and improve your business. You'll learn how to: * Identify customer expectations and meet or exceed them at everyturn * Identify, pursue, and capture a distinct customer market * Establish a vision and culture for your store, plan where thecompany needs to go, and take steps to get there * Compete for quality employees and, once you hire them, keep them * Establish budgetary controls and contain costs * Negotiate effectively for favorable terms from vendors andsuppliers The most successful retailers never stop learning, growing, andadapting to changing circumstances. The hundreds of sound ideaspresented in this study were developed and implemented by the mostsuccessful small store operators in the industry. Here is yourchance to learn and grow with them by adapting these solutions toyour own business needs.

Read more less

Science, with its inherent tension between the known and the unknown, is an inexhaustible mine of great stories. Collected here are twenty-six among the most enchanting tales, one for each letter of the alphabet: the main characters are scientists of the highest caliber most of whom, however, are unknown to the general public.This book goes from A to Z. The letter A stands for Abel, the great Norwegian mathematician, here involved in an elliptic thriller about a fundamental theorem of mathematics, while the letter Z refers to Absolute Zero, the ultimate and lowest temperature limit, - 273,15 degrees Celsius, a value that is tremendously cooler than the most remote corner of the Universe: the race to reach this final outpost of coldness is not yet complete, but, similarly to the history books of polar explorations at the beginning of the 20th century, its pages record successes, failures, fierce rivalries and tragic desperations. In between the A and the Z, the other letters of the alphabet are similar to the various stages of a very fascinating journey along the paths of science, a journey in the company of a very unique set of characters as eccentric and peculiar as those in Ulysses by James Joyce: the French astronomer who lost everything, even his mind, to chase the transits of Venus; the caustic Austrian scientist who, perfectly at ease with both the laws of psychoanalysis and quantum mechanics, revealed the hidden secrets of dreams and the periodic table of chemical elements; the young Indian astrophysicist who was the first to understand how a star dies, suffering the ferocious opposition of his mentor for this discovery. Or the Hungarian physicist who struggled with his melancholy in the shadows of the desert of Los Alamos; or the French scholar who was forced to hide her femininity behind a false identity so as to publish fundamental theorems on prime numbers. And so on and so forth.Twenty-six stories, which reveal the most authentic atmosphere of science and the lives of some of its main players: each story can be read in quite a short period of time -- basically the time it takes to get on and off the train between two metro stations. Largely independent from one another, these twenty-six stories make the book a harmonious polyphony of several voices: the reader can invent his/her own very personal order for the chapters simply by ordering the sequence of letters differently. For an elementary law of Mathematics, this can give rise to an astronomically large number of possible books -- all the same, but - then again - all different. This book is therefore the ideal companion for an infinite number of real or metaphoric journeys.

Read more less

The car world is full of fascinating characters, but few have a story to tell quite as remarkable and inspirational as Tom Hartley. Walking out of school at the age of 11, unable to read or write, Hartley set up his own business buying and selling cars. From that moment on he defied logic and ripped up the rule book on his way to the top.Today, he heads one of the most successful independent family-run luxury, performance and classic car businesses in the world, and has built an unrivalled reputation as 'The Dealmaker.' Tom has been at the top for over 40 years, survived and thrived through four recessions, and overcome three life-threatening illnesses. In his own brutally honest words Hartley tells his gripping story of a boy from a traditional Romany family who swapped the classroom for the cut-throat world of Glasgow's car auctions, buying and selling his first car at the age of 12. Having decided to illegally drive himself, he was only 15 when he had his first car crash, and they don't come more spectacular than writing off a Ferrari Dino - nothing has ever been mundane in the world of Tom Hartley! Hartley had made his first million by the age of 17, but soon suffered major setbacks as his business went bust, and he found himself at risk of losing his sight without major surgery. Hartley started all over again, living with his wife in a mobile home, and working from the back of a car. He had gone from hero to zero, but his burning desire to be the best saw him climb his way back to the top. His ability to clinch deals in some of the most bizarre places has become legendary, like buying a car in a sauna, while stuck in a traffic jam on a motorway, and even in a swimming pool! Family has played a key part in the Tom Hartley story: his wife, Priscilla, has been at his side all the way, and his two sons have followed closely in their father's footsteps. Indeed, Tom's belief in family is just one of the inspiring messages that comes through in his book. Hartley's inspirational story is about his unshakeable belief in his own abilities, from a precocious schoolboy who had a dream, and then through sheer hard work and a burning desire made the dream come true. This is not just a book for car enthusiasts but for anyone who has dared to dream. It's a story that will inspire and motivate, and proves you can make the wildest dream come true if you want it badly enough ..

Read more less

Uncertain Swimmer is the second monograph on the work of British artist Jonathan Wateridge (b. 1972, Lusaka, Zambia), presenting around eighty paintings and works on paper made between 2019 and 2022. Following on from the bodies of work Enclave and Expatria (2016–18), Uncertain Swimmer develops the artist’s interest in modes of representation and the legacies of twentieth-century modernist painting through a visual and social exploration of the motif of the pool, depicting swimmers and sunbathers, often by night. Far from being an escapist environment of aspiration and privilege, Wateridge imbues the pool with a disquieting atmosphere, creating a cumulative feeling of unease and ennui among those present, now seemingly unsure of their world.The publication charts a marked evolution in the artist’s style from the realism of his earlier paintings with complex multi-figure compositions to more solitary, gestural and expressive works. His masterly application of paint takes new forms in the beautiful, curious and often haunting paintings and works on paper showcased here. Art historian and curator Marco Livingstone’s essay considers the change from Wateridge’s naturalistic paintings to the flattened, reduced shapes, forms and lines of the modernism- and abstraction-infused pieces he is making today. Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch and Paul Cézanne are among numerous art historical influences cited by Livingstone, who ruminates on the identity of the people in Wateridge’s portraits and the mercurial spaces they occupy, examining how Wateridge’s current critical preoccupations have transitioned from the autobiographical to more formal concerns.In the featured conversation between Wateridge and fellow painter Caroline Walker, the two artists discuss their overlapping experiences studying painting at Glasgow, as well as Wateridge’s fourteen-year break from painting until 2005. He eventually returned to the medium when he realised it excited him more than anything else. Wateridge elaborates on his fascinating painting process, staging shoots in studios with hired actors and using elements from the photographs in the paintings, often over a period of years. On his canvases, he will scrape back the paint and reapply it, frequently taking pictures of the paintings in their various stages; he will then print the photographs and draw over them to continue working out what he will do with the final paintings. For Wateridge, a painting works when it stops failing, and he embraces unforeseen conclusions.Jonathan Wateridge has recently exhibited with the Hayward Gallery, London; Nino Mier Gallery, Los Angeles, New York and Brussels; TJ Boulting, London; Galerie Haas, Zurich; Pace Gallery and HENI, London. Wateridge's art is in the collections of institutions worldwide, including Aïshti Foundation, Lebanon; Pinault Foundation, Venice; the Saatchi Collection, London; the Rennie Collection, Vancouver; and Simmons & Simmons, London. He has been featured in publications such as The Sunday Times, The Independent, Fad Magazine, Artforum and Artnet. Wateridge is represented by Nino Mier Gallery.

Read more less

"This remarkable book combines practical advice, ready-to-use techniques, anda deep understanding of why this is the right way to develop software. I haveseen software teams transformed by the ideas in this book." --Mike Cohn, author of Agile Estimating and Planning "As a lean practitioner myself, I have loved and used their first book for years.When this second book came out, I was delighted that it was even better. If youare interested in how lean principles can be useful for software developmentorganizations, this is the book you are looking for. The Poppendiecks offer abeautiful blend of history, theory, and practice." --Alan Shalloway, coauthor of Design Patterns Explained "I've enjoyed reading the book very much. I feel it might even be better than thefirst lean book by Tom and Mary, while that one was already exceptionallygood! Mary especially has a lot of knowledge related to lean techniques inproduct development and manufacturing. It's rare that these techniques areactually translated to software. This is something no other book does well(except their first book)." --Bas Vodde "The new book by Mary and Tom Poppendieck provides a well-written andcomprehensive introduction to lean principles and selected practices for softwaremanagers and engineers. It illustrates the application of the values andpractices with well-suited success stories. I enjoyed reading it." --Roman Pichler "In Implementing Lean Software Development, the Poppendiecks explore moredeeply the themes they introduced in Lean Software Development. They beginwith a compelling history of lean thinking, then move to key areas such asvalue, waste, and people. Each chapter includes exercises to help you apply keypoints. If you want a better understanding of how lean ideas can work withsoftware, this book is for you." --Bill Wake, independent consultant In 2003, Mary and Tom Poppendieck's Lean Software Development introduced breakthrough development techniques that leverage Lean principles to deliver unprecedented agility and value. Now their widely anticipated sequel and companion guide shows exactly how to implement Lean software development, hands-on. This new book draws on the Poppendiecks' unparalleled experience helping development organizations optimize the entire software value stream. You'll discover the right questions to ask, the key issues to focus on, and techniques proven to work. The authors present case studies from leading-edge software organizations, and offer practical exercises for jumpstarting your own Lean initiatives. Managing to extend, nourish, and leverage agile practices Building true development teams, not just groups Driving quality through rapid feedback and detailed discipline Making decisions Just-in-Time, but no later Delivering fast: How PatientKeeper delivers 45 rock-solid releases per year Making tradeoffs that really satisfy customers Implementing Lean Software Development is indispensable to anyone who wants more effective development processes--managers, project leaders, senior developers, and architects in enterprise IT and software companies alike.

Read more less

'A shocking, enraging, sometimes hilarious exposé of a tax system that lives down to all our worst fears of further enriching the wealthy at the expense of the little guys.' - Piers Morgan'Very funny (and furious)... By the end of the book you may be spluttering with rage at the injustice of it all. Page after page shows how the rich are exploiting loopholes to reduce their tax bill.... But this is not some crazed figure on the extreme left hoping to bring down the establishment. The book is written by an accountant who has spent his career coming up with the very tax avoidance schemes the super-wealthy use to evade the clutches of HMRC.' - The Telegraph'Funny, clever and really quite brilliant. Taxtopia will make you furiously angry and possibly even filthy rich.' - Tom Peck, The Independent'If you want to know how skewed the system is and how the rich always get richer and stay that way, while you don't, then read this book. Then get angry.' - Patrick Alley, Co-founder of Global Witness and author of Very Bad People'Taxtopia's anonymous author has done the impossible - created a hilarious and deeply troubling expose about how the world's shady tax system is exploited and proves what we always suspected - that our tax system is rigged against us. Read it and weep.' - Geraint Anderson author of City Boy'Would I recommend the book? For readers of Spear's, my answer is 'yes, and it may also be worth going back over some of the more interesting ideas with your accountant' -Spear's'The book is enormously readable ... I would very much recommend reading Taxtopia because it's the most hilarious book about tax I've ever read!' - Siân Pattenden, The BunkerIn TAXTOPIA a rogue accountant breaks ranks to share his journey from clueless naïf to skilled tax consultant -and in doing so blows the lid on the murky world of making the tax burdens of the ultra-wealthy disappear.In the topsy-turvy world of tax avoidance, you can get richer by buying a yacht, the world's biggest exporter of coffee is Switzerland, and billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Donald Trump and the Duke of Westminster often pay less tax than you do.Written with sharp wit and over-brimming with inside secrets, the anonymous author shows us that not only does the global tax system encourage dubious practice which favours the rich, but that it was specifically founded with that in mind.If you suspect that tax is a rigged game, a con, designed to fleece the little guy, you are about to find out just how shockingly true that really is.Welcome to TAXTOPIA.

Read more less

THE THRILLING NEW MYSTERY FROM THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF MIDNIGHT AT MALABAR HOUSE'A delightful book, well-researched, complex and hugely entertaining' ANN CLEEVES'A twisting plot and an intriguing cast of characters, together with vivid glimpses of the vibrant, complex world of post-Independence Bombay - and a narrative that thunders along with the pace and drama of an elephant on the rampage' ANDREW TAYLORBombay, 1950When the body of a white man is found frozen in the Himalayan foothills near Dehra Dun, he is christened the Ice Man by the national media. Who is he? How long has he been there? Why was he killed?As Inspector Persis Wadia and Metropolitan Police criminalist Archie Blackfinch investigate the case in Bombay, they uncover a trail left behind by the enigmatic Ice Man - a trail leading directly into the dark heart of conspiracy.Meanwhile, two new murders grip the city. Is there a serial killer on the loose, targeting Europeans? Rich in atmosphere, the thrilling third chapter in the CWA Historical Dagger-winning Malabar House series pits Persis against a mystery from beyond the grave, unfolding against the backdrop of a turbulent post-colonial India, a nation struggling to redefine itself in the shadow of the Raj.'A stunning, richly imagined and downright thrilling mystery. Vaseem Khan has that rare ability to transport you wholly to a bygone time, and he does so with such skill and charm. I loved it' CHRIS WHITAKER'A compelling historical thriller ... Codes, crime and conspiracies collide in post-colonial India' D.V. BISHOP'One of my top reads this year. A peerless portrait of early independent India through the eyes of new crime fiction star, India's first police detective, Persis Wadia' BARBARA NADEL"The brilliant Persis Wadia is one of the most electrifying figures in crime fiction today. Vaseem Khan keeps getting better and better' WILLIAM SHAW'Outstanding' IMRAN MAHMOOD'This is historical crime fiction at its best - a compelling mix of social insight and complex plotting with a thoroughly engaging heroine. A highly promising new series' MAIL ON SUNDAY'This is historical crime fiction at its sharpest' SUNDAY TIMES'The Lost Man of Bombay is the latest outstanding entry in the Malabar House series. Persis Wadia is shaping up to be a giant of the scene - a detective as dogged and determined as any out there, with a point to prove and a chip on her shoulder as deep as it is justified. Her latest case is as beautifully written and evocative as you've come to expect from Vaseem Khan, a gripping and engrossing mystery that draws deeply on its setting and time period but nonetheless reads as fresh and original. This is a writer at the top of his game and a series that just keeps getting better' ROD REYNOLDS

Read more less

When The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter was published in 1940, Carson McCullers was instantly recognized as one of the most promising writers of her generation. The novels that followed established her as a master of Southern Gothic. This Library of America volume collects McCullers’s complete novels for the first time in a single-volume edition that reveals the power and breadth of her haunting vision.“McCullers’s gift,” writes Joyce Carol Oates, “was to evoke, through an accumulation of images and musically repeated phrases, the singularity of experience, not to pass judgment on it.” McCullers effortlessly conveyed the raw anguish of her characters and the weird beauty of their perceptions. Set in small Georgia towns that are at once precisely observed and mythically resonant, McCullers’s novels explore the strange, sometimes grotesque inner lives of characters who are often marginal and misunderstood. Above all, McCullers possessed an unmatched ability to capture the bewilderment and fragile wonder of adolescence.In The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (1940), one of the most extraordinary debuts in modern American literature, an enigmatic deaf-mute draws out the haunted confessions of an itinerant worker, a young girl, a doctor, and a widowed owner of a small-town café. The disfiguring violence of desire is explored with shocking intensity in two shorter works, Reflections in a Golden Eye (1941) and The Ballad of the Sad Café (1943).The Member of the Wedding (1946), thought by many to be McCullers’s masterpiece, hauntingly depicts a young girl’s fascination with her brother’s wedding. In 13-year-old Frankie Addams, confused, easily wounded, yet determined to survive, McCullers created her most indelible protagonist. Clock Without Hands (1960), her final novel, was completed against great odds in the midst of tremendous physical suffering. Set against the background of court-ordered school integration, it contains some of McCullers’s most forceful social criticism.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Read more less

The sermon is the first and most enduring genre of American literature. At the center of the Puritan experience, it continued in succeeding centuries to play a vital role—as public ritual, occasion for passion and reflection, and, not least, popular entertainment. The fifty-eight sermons collected in this volume display the form’s eloquence, intellectual rigor, and spiritual fervor. Ranging from the first New England settlements to mass-media evangelism and the civil rights movement in the 1960s, these texts reclaim a neglected American tradition.The Puritan sermons with which the volume opens are extraordinary in their richness of imagery, force of argument, and probing psychological insight. From John Winthrop’s visionary injunction that “wee must consider that wee shall be as a citty upon a Hill,” to Samuel Danforth’s admonition not to deviate from the divine “errand into the wilderness,” these seventeenth-century works first explored what it means to be an American.Jonathan Edwards’s remarkable “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” which stirred its eighteenth-century audiences to frenzy, shows the intensity to which the sermon could rise, while Jonathan Mayhew’s “Discourse Concerning Unlimited Submission” heralds the political thinking that led to the American Revolution.The ferment of the nineteenth century—the Mexican War, the struggle against slavery, the Civil War—inevitably affected the sermon. Orthodoxies were challenged, and a new diversity emerged in the Unitarianism of William Ellery Channing, the Transcendentalism of Ralph Waldo Emerson, the new Church of Latter Day Saints, and the gathering strength of the African-American sermon tradition.The twentieth-century sermons collected here continue to wrestle with fundamental spiritual and civic concerns. They range from a homily on charity by the popular evangelist Billy Sunday to a discourse on interfaith cooperation by Abraham Joshua Heschel, and from Harry Emerson Fosdick’s controversial “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” to John Gresham Machen’s uncompromising riposte. The achievement of the African-American sermon attains a new breadth of influence in the inspiring oratory of Martin Luther King Jr.LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nation’s literary heritage by publishing, and keeping permanently in print, America’s best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date, authoritative editions that average 1,000 pages in length, feature cloth covers, sewn bindings, and ribbon markers, and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.

Read more less

Hester, the startlingly beautiful Native American who was rescued as an infant by an Amish couple, now lives in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She shares a house with Bappie King, another Amish woman, living their independent lives in the fast-growing mid-18th-century city. Bappie runs a highly successful stand at the downtown farmers market; Hester is Bappie’s assistant when she isn’t out in the city nursing desperately sick children and their impoverished parents with her tinctures, teas, and rubs.And then one day, Noah comes back; Noah, the first child born to Hans and Kate Zug, the Amish couple who had welcomed Hester during their childless years.Both Hester and Noah are refugees from this Amish family gone awry. Both were victims of Hans’ deep attraction to the lovely Hester. Two hurt souls, they have each had their own adult troubles. Noah left his family and the Amish to join the War. Hester is the widow of William King, an Amish man who was determined to possess his wife and dictate her life.When Noah invites Hester to join him on a visit to their childhood home, Hester can no longer ignore her buried anger at her adopted father or her bitterness toward Annie, his second wife. Nor can Hester deny the tempting thrill of spending time with the steady but sensitive Noah, who since childhood showed special care for Hester.Hester and Noah both know that the visit home will force them to face blistering questions: Can they possibly forgive their ill father, Hans, for his misplaced love for Hester and his utter neglect of Noah? Can Hester and Noah risk marriage, especially if they can’t forgive Hans? Can Hester trust herself—and Noah—enough to marry again after her failed marriage to William?Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Read more less

The intellectual and political elite of the West is nowadays taking for granted that religion, in particular Christianity, is a cultural vestige, a primitive form of knowledge, a consolation for the poor minded, an obstacle to coexistence. In all influential environments, the widespread watchword is "We are all secular" or "We are all post-religious." As a consequence, we are told that states must be independent of religious creed, politics must take a neutral stance regarding religious values, and societies must hold together without any reference to religious bonds. Liberalism, which in some form or another is the prevailing view in the West, is considered to be "free-standing," and the Western, liberal, open society is taken to be "self-sufficient." Not only is anti-Christian secularism wrong, it is also risky. It's wrong because the very ideas on which liberal societies are based and in terms of which they can be justified--the concept of the dignity of the human person, the moral priority of the individual, the view that man is a "crooked timber" inclined to prevarication, the limited confidence in the power of the state to render him virtuous--are typical Christian or, more precisely, Judeo-Christian ideas. Take them away and the open society will collapse. Anti-Christian secularism is risky because it jeopardizes the identity of the West, leaves it with no self-conscience, and deprives people of their sense of belonging. The Founding Fathers of America, as well as major intellectual European figures such as Locke, Kant, and Tocqueville, knew how much our civilization depends on Christianity. Today, American and European culture is shaking the pillars of that civilization. Written from a secular and liberal, but not anti-Christian, point of view, this book explains why the Christian culture is still the best antidote to the crisis and decline of the West. Pera proposes that we should call ourselves Christians if we want to maintain our liberal freedoms, to embark on such projects as the political unification of Europe as well as the special relationship between Europe and America, and to avoid the relativistic trend that affects our public ethics. "The challenges of our particular historical moment", as Pope Benedict XVI calls them in the Preface to the book, can be faced only if we stress the historical and conceptual link between Christianity and free society.

Read more less

This substantially expanded new edition of this widely-used and acclaimed text maintains the objectives and tenets of the first. It is designed to help students understand and reflect on their community service experiences both as individuals and as citizens of communities in need of their compassionate expertise. It is designed to assist faculty in facilitating student development of compassionate expertise through the context of service in applying disciplinary knowledge to community issues and challenges. In sum, the book is about how to make academic sense of civic service in preparing for roles as future citizen leaders.Each chapter has been developed to be read and reviewed, in sequence, over the term of a service-learning course. Students in a semester course might read just one chapter each week, while those in a quarter-term course might need to read one to two chapters per week. The chapters are intentionally short, averaging 8 to 14 pages, so they do not interfere with other course content reading.This edition presents four new chapters on Mentoring, Leadership, Becoming a Change Agent, and Short-Term Immersive and Global Service-Learning experiences. The authors have also revised the original chapters to more fully address issues of social justice, privilege/power, diversity, intercultural communication, and technology; have added more disciplinary examples; incorporated additional academic content for understanding service-learning issues (e.g., attribution theory); and cover issues related to students with disabilities, and international students.This text is a student-friendly, self-directed guide to service-learning that: Develops the skills needed to succeed Clearly links service-learning to the learning goals of the course Combines self-study and peer-study workbook formats with activities that can be incorporated in class, to give teachers maximum flexibility in structuring their service-learning courses Promotes independent and collaborative learning Equally suitable for courses of a few weeks’ or a few months’ duration Shows students how to assess progress and communicate end-results Written for students participating in service learning as a class, but also suitable for students working individually on a project. Instructor's ManualThis Instructor Manual discusses the following six key areas for aligning your course with use of Learning through Serving, whether you teach a senior-level high school class, freshman studies course, or a college capstone class:1. Course and syllabus design2. Community-partner collaboration3. Creating class community4. Strategic teaching techniques5. Developing intercultural competence6. Impact assessment

Read more less

***2022 Independent Press Award: Winner, Young Adult******American Book Fest Best Book Award: Winner, College Guides******NYC Big Book Award: Distinguished Favorite, Health/Fitness******Readers Favorite Book Award: Bronze Medalist, Health/Fitness******Living Now Book Award: Bronze Medalist, Health/Wellness******Firebird Book Award: Winner, Health******Literary Titan: Gold Award Winner***The coach's guide to beating the Freshman Fifteen, Sophomore Slump, crippling anxiety, and your worst hangover! Learn to take care of yourself, and de-stress throughout your undergrad years and beyond.Every fall, millions of young adults crash into college fired up for the best four years of their lives, ready to experience campus life, take classes about things they’re interested in, and meet people from all over the world. Most students, however, are better prepared to pick their major or talk to strangers than they are to take care of themselves in the college setting. College students today are more depressed, anxious, and stressed than previous waves of students; they’re also more sedentary, not really exercising, and living in a meal-plan limbo supplemented with ramen and coffee.In this comprehensive field guild, high school coaches Jill and Dave Henry break down the facts and deliver doable, no-BS strategies for managing physical and mental health on campus. In addition to helpful, interactive graphics, the coaches share their relatable true stories—ranging from the ridiculous to the serious—to discuss the five biggest health obstacles students face in college. On top of research-backed tips, The Greatest College Health Guide You Never Knew You Needed also features raw and personal advice from current students on college campuses across the country. While simply figuring out what to eat and how to exercise can be completely overwhelming, this guide goes beyond a basic crash course on how to be healthy. Jill and Dave cover everything from crucial time-management skills to the complex sensitivity of self-doubt, sexual assault, and depression with humor, humility, and heart. The Greatest College Health Guide You Never Knew You Needed is a complete road map for how to take care of your mind and body that will not only set students up to crush the next four years, but will also provide a foundation they can carry with them for the rest of their lives.

Read more less

The twenty-first book in the beloved Foreigner saga continues the adventures of diplomat Bren Cameron, advisor to the atevi head of state.The overthrow of the atevi head of state, Tabini-aiji, and the several moves of enemies even since his restoration, have prompted major changes in the Assassins' Guild, which has since worked to root out its seditious elements—a clandestine group they call the Shadow Guild. With the Assassins now rid of internal corruption, with the birth of Tabini's second child, and with the appointment of an heir, stability seems to have returned to the atevi world. Humans and atevi share the space station in peaceful cooperation, humans and atevi share the planet as they have for centuries, and the humans' island enclave is preparing to welcome 5000 human refugees from a remote station now dismantled, and to do that in unprecedented cooperation with the atevi mainland. In general Bren Cameron, Tabini-aiji's personal representative, returning home to the atevi capital after securing that critical agreement, was ready to take a well-earned rest—until Tabini's grandmother claimed his services on a train trip to the smallest, most remote and least significant of the provinces, snowy Hasjuran—a move concerning which Tabini-aiji gave Bren a private instruction: protect her. Advise her. Advise her—perhaps. As for protection, she has a trainload of high-level Guild. But since the aiji-dowager has also invited a dangerously independent young warlord, Machigi, and a young man who may be the heir to Ajuri, a key northern province—the natural question is why the dowager is taking this ill-assorted pair to Hasjuran and what on this earth she may be up to. With a Shadow Guild attack on the train station, it has become clear that others have questions, too. Hasjuran, on its mountain height, overlooks the Marid, a district that is part of the atevi nation only in name—a district in which Machigi is one major player, and where the Shadow Guild retains a major stronghold. Protect her? Ilisidi is hellbent on settling scores with the Shadow Guild, and her reasons for this trip and this company now become clear. One human diplomat and his own bodyguard suddenly seem a very small force to defend her from what she is setting in motion.

Read more less

“From its highly original premise to its deliciously isolated setting, Gregory Bastianelli’s SHADOW FLICKER hooked me and kept me squirming until the very last page. An entertaining and emotional read. I had a blast!” — Jonathan Janz, Author of THE SIREN AND THE SPECTER and THE RAVEN Investigator Oscar Basaran travels to Kidney Island off the coast of Maine to document the negative effects of shadow flicker from wind turbines on residents living near the windmills, but is unprepared for what he encounters from the islanders. Oscar’s research shows that sleep deprivation, light deficiency and ringing headaches brought on by the noise and constant strobe-like effect of the sun filtered through the spinning blades of the turbines brings on hallucinatory episodes for the closest neighbors to the machines. Melody Larson’s elderly father nearly chokes to death after stuffing dandelion heads into his mouth. The Granberrys' pregnant cow repeatedly runs headlong into a fence post. Tatum Gallagher mourns her young son who vanished more than a year ago, presumed swept out to sea by a wave while fishing on the rocky shore, but several people claim to see him appear only in the glimmer of the shadow flicker. Aerosource, the energy corporation that owns the turbines, hired Oscar to investigate the neighbors’ claims, but the insurance agent shows no allegiance to the conglomerate, especially after learning a previous employee sent to the island a year before has disappeared without a trace. When Oscar meets former island school science teacher Norris Squires, fired for teaching his students about the harmful effects of shadow flicker, he learns a theory regarding Aerosource that sounds too preposterous to believe. While it seems the shadow flicker effect has driven some of the island’s animals crazy, is it possible it’s caused an even worse mental breakdown among the human inhabitants? Or is something more nefarious at work on the island? As Oscar’s investigation deepens, he discovers the turbines create an unexpected phenomena kept secret by a select group of people on Kidney Island who have made a scientific breakthrough and attempt to harness its dark power. FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices.

Read more less

Find out how the tension between LGBT studies and queer theory exists in the classroom, politics, communities, and relationshipsLGBT Studies and Queer Theory: New Conflicts, Collaborations, and Contested Terrain examines the similarities and differences between LGBT studies and queer theory and the uneasy relationship between the two in the academic world. This unique book meets the challenge that queer theory presents to the study and politics of gay and lesbian studies with a collection of essays from leading academics who represent a variety of disciplines. These original pieces place queer theory in social and historical contexts, exploring the implications for social psychology, religious studies, communications, sociology, philosophy, film studies, and women's studies. The book's contributors address queer theory's connections to a wide range of issues, including the development of capitalism, the evolution of the gay and lesbian movement, and the study of bisexuality and gender. Many scholars working in gay and lesbian studies still question the intellectual and political value of queer theory. As a result, queer theory has often been concentrated in the humanities, while gay and lesbian studies are concentrated in the social sciences and history. But this has begun to change in the past 10-15 years, as documented by the 12 essays presented in LGBT Studies and Queer Theory: New Conflicts, Collaborations, and Contested Terrain.LGBT Studies and Queer Theory: New Conflicts, Collaborations, and Contested Terrain includes: historical notes on LGBT studies and queer theory some continuing tensions between LGBT studies and queer theory doubts about whether queer theory can lead to social change an analysis of the current state of proto-fields of LGBT studies and queer studies in religion concerns that queer theory’s "erasure of identity" feeds into late capitalism an analysis of variability in social psychologists’ studies of anti-homosexual prejudice an exploration of the commodification of queer identities in independent cinema how and why the category of bisexuality has been marginalized a historical review and assessment of recent bisexual theory a case study of Provincetown, Massachusetts an investigation of the interarticulation of race/ethnicity and gender a case study of the struggle to introduce LGBT studies in the curriculum at West Chester University and much more LGBT Studies and Queer Theory: New Conflicts, Collaborations, and Contested Terrain is an essential read for researchers, academics, and practitioners involved in exploring multifaceted aspects of LGBT Studies and Queer Theory and their points of convergence and divergence.

Read more less

The Sunday Times bestseller from international bestseller John Grisham. Is a Perfect Storm the Perfect Time for a Murder? 'Another gem from John Grisham' Observer When Hurricane Leo threatens Florida's Camino Island, the Governor is quick to issue an evacuation order. Most residents flee but a small group of diehards decide to ride it out. Amongst them is Bruce Cable, proprietor of Bay Books in downtown Santa Rosa.The hurricane is devastating: homes and condos are levelled, hotels and storefronts ruined, streets flooded, and a dozen people are killed. One of the victims is Nelson Kerr, a friend of Bruce's who wrote timely political thrillers. But evidence suggests that the storm wasn't the cause of Nelson's death - he had received several mysterious blows to the head.Who would want Nelson dead? The local police are overwhelmed with the aftermath of the storm and in no condition to handle the case. Bruce begins to wonder if the shady characters in Nelson's novels were more fact than fiction. And somewhere on Nelson's computer is the manuscript of his new novel - could the key to the case be right there, in black and white? Bruce starts to look into it and what he finds between the lines is more shocking than any of Nelson's plot twists - and far more dangerous.Gripping, compelling and pacy, this exceptional thriller from international bestseller John Grisham is the perfect escapist read this summer.Praise for Camino Winds:'In American icon John Grisham's new novel, Camino Winds, an odd assortment of mystery and crime authors, some of them felons themselves, discover one of their colleagues has been murdered during the fury of a massive hurricane-the perfect crime scene' Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing'The Camino Island series, featuring trouble-prone bookseller Bruce Cable, is a perfect escapist mix of detective action, insider riffs on the literary world - and even a little romance' Mail on Sunday'Camino Winds has all the usual Grisham hallmarks - a pacy plot and tension-filled scenes' Independent'Another compelling read from Grisham, and will satisfy old fans and please new readers alike' Press Association'The novel has enough plot twists to keep you engaged' The Herald 350+ million copies, 45 languages, 9 blockbuster films:NO ONE WRITES DRAMA LIKE JOHN GRISHAM

Read more less

WHAT IS YOUR FIRST MEMORY? Or, rather, what do you imagine to be your earliest memory? Perhaps, alternatively, there was a moment during childhood when the world’s axis shifted? A transformative realisation, epiphany or experience that changed the course of your life: your very own ‘sense of a beginning’… In My First Memory, bestselling anthologist Ben Holden explores these touchstones via the watershed experiences of some of the greatest figures of our age. Along the way, he lightly explores how memory and childhood merge to form identity. How, in the process, we not only create individual origin-stories but also, on a broader level, fashion human history. The first memories of iconic figures – from Machiavelli to Freud, Einstein to Hawking, Churchill to Luther King, Pankhurst to Angelou, Pavarotti to Springsteen, and Pelé to Bolt – combine with exclusive, personal pieces by some of today’s greatest writers, scientists and thinkers: the likes of Sebastian Barry, Melvyn Bragg, David Eagleman, Susan Greenfield, Tessa Hadley, Javier Marías, Michael Morpurgo and the late Ursula K Le Guin. The trip down memory lane is heightened by the remembrances of refugees: from heroic figures such as Madeleine Albright, Isabel Allende, Alf Dubs, Yusra Mardini, Elie Wiesel and Stefan Zweig to lesser-known but no less courageous voices. Many of these moving accounts tell of children being forced to leave home and family behind forever. They may have grown up to lead inspirational lives – but none ever forgot from whence they came. After all, each of us must start somewhere and – as this timeless collection unforgettably proves – there is always a first time for everything.Praise for Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 'Everyone who reads this collection will be roused: disturbed by the pain, exalted in the zest for joy given by poets' Observer 'That's the great thing about a good anthology of poems: you are reminded of old friends and introduced to new ones... This is a welcome addition to my shelves' Sunday Telegraph 'A fascinating anthology. Finding out what makes particular men emotional is intriguing' Irish Independent 'The title is pure genius... what I love most is the proud grasp of emotion as mature and manly. Two words that become magnificent in their juxtaposition: "men" and "cry"' Daily Mail 'This is a really thought-provoking book...The range of contributors leads to a wonderful range of verse. And the overall result is a wonderfully powerful and moving experience' The Times

Read more less

THE NEW THRILLER FROM THE MASTER OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE ‘He did kill. Kill and kill and kill.’ Tess’s number one priority has always been her three-year-old daughter Poppy. But splitting up with Poppy’s father Jason means that she cannot always be there to keep her daughter safe. When she finds a disturbing drawing, dark and menacing, among her daughter’s brightly coloured paintings, Tess is convinced that Poppy has witnessed something terrible. Something that her young mind is struggling to put into words. But no one will listen. It’s only a child’s drawing, isn’t it? Tess will protect Poppy, whatever the price. But when she doesn’t know what, or who, she is protecting her from, how can she possibly know who to trust . . . ? ‘What an intriguing, compelling page-turner. I ate it up in two days’ Liz Nugent, author of Our Little Cruelties 'I love Nicci French’s books, and with The Unheard they are right at the top of their game. Few crime writers can match their psychological acuity, of their ability to lead a reader through dizzying plot twists without ever losing pace. It’s an absolute masterclass of crime writing' Kate Rhodes, author of the Locked-Island Mystery series Praise for Nicci French: 'Confirms Nicci French as the giant of the genre' Erin Kelly ‘Part ingenious locked-room mystery. Part you’ve-got-the-wrong-person nightmare drama. Part intricate memory game. Yet all seamlessly woven together. French’s best book yet’ A J Finn ‘Expertly paced, psychologically sharp, thoroughly enjoyable' Louise Candlish ‘Meticulously plotted, psychologically astute’ Sarah Vaughan ‘Great writing, razor-sharp plotting, and powerful characterisation. I was 100 pages in before I even drew breath, and I defy anyone to see the ending coming’ Cara Hunter ‘It’s Nicci French perfection – which, as we all know, is the best kind of perfection. So, so gripping and brilliantly clued' Sophie Hannah ‘A novel that blissfully plays with two genres: on the one hand an against-the-odds legal thriller à la John Grisham… and on the other a Miss Marple whodunnit’ Sunday Times ‘Nicci French husband-and-wife writing team responsible for some of the UK’s best psychological thrillers have created a gem of a protagonist in Tabitha’ Observer ‘First-class’ Independent ‘Gripping’ Literary Review ‘Gritty and moving – the husband-and-wife team have scored another hit’ Best ‘A twisty and shocking read’ Bella ‘Engrossing’ Good Housekeeping

Read more less

Take the trip of a lifetime into the past and present of Bollywood Fascinated by the high energy, high emotion, high color, endless dance routines, and sheer scale of Bollywood—but afraid you'll never really know your Ghazals from your Qawwalis, or your Khans from your Kapoors? Well, in the immortal line from the Hindi-language blockbuster Sultan, "No one can defeat you unless you accept defeat yourself," and there's no need to be defeated at all when you can sit back with Bollywood For Dummies and immerse yourself in the glamorous whirl of one of the most exciting movie industries on Earth. Starting with the time-travel adventure of the book’s main feature—the history of the Hindi-speaking industry from people and events of early to mid 20th century Mumbai—you'll also journey in space, taking fascinating documentary side trips to get to know Tollywood’s Telegu-language cinema in southern India, as well as the growing influence of Lollywood across the border in Pakistan. Written by the cohosts of Desi Standard Time, a podcast that explores Bollywood and South Asian movies and media, you'll see how the unique cinema culture of Bollywood in particular has become a global phenomenon, reflecting the rise of India as an independent nation and presenting its long history—and it’s exciting and multifaceted present—in new, influential, and enduring forms. Whatever you paid the price of entry for: the popular Bollywood "Masala" movie style that emphasizes music, comedy, romance, and action; sensitive critiques of a fast-changing society by the Indian Social Realism movement; new forms of music from Indian disco to Sufi boogie; or a look at the lives and talents of the great acting dynasties—it's all here. And there'll still be plenty more plot twists beyond these to surprise and delight you. Get to know the people who built Bollywood Discover the main music and dance styles Explore and recognize Bollywood’s influence on Western cinema Go social and join up with the liveliest Bollywood fan communities You're right to be excited: for newbies a whole new world awaits, and for aficionados, there's always so much more to know. So, sit back with this book, grab some popcorn or a plate of samosas—or why not both—and prepare to begin an electric feast to sizzle all your senses.

Read more less

Praise for the First Edition “ …beautiful and well worth the reading … with many exercises and a good bibliography, this book will fascinate both students and teachers.” Mathematics Teacher Fibonacci and Lucas Numbers with Applications, Volume I, Second Edition provides a user-friendly and historical approach to the many fascinating properties of Fibonacci and Lucas numbers, which have intrigued amateurs and professionals for centuries. Offering an in-depth study of the topic, this book includes exciting applications that provide many opportunities to explore and experiment. In addition, the book includes a historical survey of the development of Fibonacci and Lucas numbers, with biographical sketches of important figures in the field. Each chapter features a wealth of examples, as well as numeric and theoretical exercises that avoid using extensive and time-consuming proofs of theorems. The Second Edition offers new opportunities to illustrate and expand on various problem-solving skills and techniques. In addition, the book features: • A clear, comprehensive introduction to one of the most fascinating topics in mathematics, including links to graph theory, matrices, geometry, the stock market, and the Golden Ratio • Abundant examples, exercises, and properties throughout, with a wide range of difficulty and sophistication • Numeric puzzles based on Fibonacci numbers, as well as popular geometric paradoxes, and a glossary of symbols and fundamental properties from the theory of numbers • A wide range of applications in many disciplines, including architecture, biology, chemistry, electrical engineering, physics, physiology, and neurophysiology The Second Edition is appropriate for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level courses on the history of mathematics, combinatorics, and number theory. The book is also a valuable resource for undergraduate research courses, independent study projects, and senior/graduate theses, as well as a useful resource for computer scientists, physicists, biologists, and electrical engineers. Thomas Koshy, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Framingham State University in Massachusetts and author of several books and numerous articles on mathematics. His work has been recognized by the Association of American Publishers, and he has received many awards, including the Distinguished Faculty of the Year. Dr. Koshy received his PhD in Algebraic Coding Theory from Boston University. “Anyone who loves mathematical puzzles, number theory, and Fibonacci numbers will treasure this book. Dr. Koshy has compiled Fibonacci lore from diverse sources into one understandable and intriguing volume, [interweaving] a historical flavor into an array of applications.” Marjorie Bicknell-Johnson

Read more less

If Harvard can be said to have a literature all its own, then few universities can equal it in scope. Here lies the reason for this anthology—a collection of what Harvard men (teachers, students, graduates) have written about Harvard in the more than three centuries of its history. The emphasis is upon entertainment, upon readability; and the selections have been arranged to show something of the many variations of Harvard life.For all Harvard men—and that part of the general public which is interested in American college life—here is a rich treasury. In such a Harvard collection one may expect to find the giants of Harvard’s last 75 years—Eliot, Lowell, and Conant—attempting a definition of what Harvard means. But there are many other familiar names—Henry Dunster, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell, Henry Adams, Charles M. Flandrau, William and Henry James, Owen Wister, Thomas Wolfe, John P. Marquaud. Here is Mistress Eaton’s confession about the bad fish served to the wretched students of Harvard’s early years; here too is President Holyoke’s account of the burning of Harvard Hall; a student’s description of his trip to Portsmouth with that aged and Johnsonian character, Tutor Henry Flynt; Cleveland Amory’s retelling of the murder of Dr. George Parkman; Mayor Quiney’s story of what happened in Cambridge when Andrew Jackson came to get an honorary degree; Alistair Cooke’s commentary on the great Harvard–Yale cricket match of 1951. There are many sorts of Harvard men in this book—popular fellows like Hammersmith, snobs like Bertie and Billy, the sensitive and the lonely like Edwin Arlington Robinson and Thomas Wolfe, and independent thinkers like John Reed. Teachers and pupils, scholars and sports, heroes and rogues pass across the Harvard stage through the struggles and the tragedies to the moments of triumph like the Bicentennial or the visit of Winston Churchill.And speaking of visits, there are the visitors too—the first impressions of Harvard set down by an assortment of travelers as various as Dickens, Trollope, Rupert Brooke, Harriet Martineau, and Francisco de Miranda, the “precursor of Latin American independence.”For the Harvard addict this volume is indispensable. For the general reader it is the sort of book that goes with a good living-room fire or the blissful moments of early to bed.

Read more less

"What a woman! And what a fabulous life to unearth. Zelia Nuttall was incredibly smart, determined, a divorced single mother in a man’s world, a great scholar, and an original thinker—yet today she’s completely forgotten. Merilee Grindle has dug deep into the archives and uncovered her fascinating story."—Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature"Zelia Nuttall comes alive in all her fascinating contradictions in Merilee Grindle’s capable hands...[This] biography challenges our modern smugness and reminds us that our roots as scholars are more complex than we often acknowledge."—Camilla Townsend, author of Fifth Sun: A New History of the AztecsThe gripping story of a pioneering anthropologist whose exploration of Aztec cosmology, rediscovery of ancient texts, and passion for collecting helped shape our understanding of pre-Columbian Mexico.Where do human societies come from? The drive to answer this question took on a new urgency in the nineteenth century, when a generation of archaeologists began to look beyond the bible for the origins of different cultures and civilizations. A child of the San Francisco Gold Rush whose mother was born in Mexico City, Zelia Nuttall threw herself into the study of Aztec customs and cosmology, eager to use the tools of the emerging science of anthropology to prove that modern Mexico was built over the ruins of ancient civilizations.Proud, disciplined, as prickly as she was independent, Zelia Nuttall was the first person to accurately decode the Aztec calendar stone. An intrepid researcher, she found pre-Columbian texts lost in European archives and was skilled at making sense of their pictographic histories. Her work on the terra-cotta heads of Teotihuacán captured the attention of Frederic Putnam, who offered her a job at Harvard’s Peabody Museum.Divorced and juggling motherhood and career, Nuttall chose to follow her own star, publishing her discoveries and collecting artifacts for US museums to make ends meet. From her beloved Casa Alvarado in Coyoacán, she became a vital bridge between Mexican and US anthropologists, connecting them against the backdrop of war and revolution.The first biography of Zelia Nuttall, In the Shadow of Quetzalcoatl captures the appeal and contradictions that riddled the life of this trailblazing woman, who contributed so much to the new field of anthropology until a newly professionalized generation overshadowed her remarkable achievements and she became, in the end, an artifact in her own museum.

Read more less

There are many reasons for serving up dynamic content from a web site:to offer an online shopping site, create customized information pages for users, or just manage a large volume of content through a database. Anyone with a modest knowledge of HTML and web site management can learn to create dynamic content through the PHP programming language and the MySQL database. This book gives you the background and tools to do the job safely and reliably.Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL, Second Edition thoroughly reflects the needs of real-world applications. It goes into detail on such practical issues as validating input (do you know what a proper credit card number looks like?), logging in users, and using templates to give your dynamic web pages a standard look. But this book goes even further. It shows how JavaScript and PHP can be used in tandem to make a user's experience faster and more pleasant. It shows the correct way to handle errors in user input so that a site looks professional. It introduces the vast collection of powerful tools available in the PEAR repository and shows how to use some of the most popular tools. Even while it serves as an introduction to new programmers, the book does not omit critical tasks that web sites require. For instance, every site that allows updates must handle the possibility of multiple users accessing data at the same time. This book explains how to solve the problem in detail with locking. Through a sophisticated sample application--Hugh and Dave's Wine Store--all the important techniques of dynamic content are introduced. Good design is emphasized, such as dividing logic from presentation. The book introduces PHP 5 and MySQL 4.1 features, while providing techniques that can be used on older versions of the software that are still in widespread use. This new edition has been redesigned around the rich offerings of PEAR. Several of these, including the Template package and the database-independent query API, are fully integrated into examples and thorougly described in the text. Topics include: Installation and configuration of Apache, MySQL, and PHP on Unix(R), Windows(R), and Mac OS(R) X systems, Introductions to PHP, SQL, and MySQL administration, Session management, including the use of a custom database for improved efficiency, User input validation, security, and authentication, The PEAR repository, plus details on the use of PEAR DB and Template classes, Production of PDF reports.

Read more less

"It has made me more aware of the difficulties faced by ESL students on a daily basis across the curriculum." Year 4 teacher, Lynne Cadenhead, Aberdeen"Lots of ideas that should be encompassed in the whole school plan." Key Stage One Coordinator, Susan Hills, who has taught in Durham, Norfolk and North East Lincolnshire in both Independent & State schools "It helped me to bridge the gap between two cultures." Teacher, British International School, Beijing, ChinaThere are increasing numbers of children with little or no English entering English speaking mainstream lessons. This often leaves them with unique frustrations due to limited English language proficiency and disorientation. Teachers often feel unable to cater sufficiently for these new arrivals. Teaching English as an Additional Language Ages 5-11 is designed to support every 5-11 year old child new to the English language who is beginning their education in an English speaking mainstream curriculum. It provides teachers with the tools needed to support young learners’ survival language needs and help them achieve a smooth transition into their new learning environment. Packed full of advice, guidance, resources and support for teachers managing beginners to the English language in the mainstream English speaking school, it also includes: 68 flexible sessions for children to learn survival language - sessions are based on assessment for learning and can be adapted easily into weekly lesson plans; A DVD to support each session containing visuals of commonly used vocabulary; Audio examples of English language word pronunciation and sentence structures; Fully downloadable worksheets and lesson plans. The text offers expert guidance on: Strategies to help EAL new arrivals embrace their new cultural experience; Assessing the EAL new arrivals in their English language skills; Teaching EAL new arrivals to use a second language writing system; Delivering survival language intervention sessions; Developing effective language learning strategies; Managing EAL new arrivals in the mainstream classroom; Resources that you use to support EAL new arrivals; Evaluating EAL provision for new arrivals and setting targets for whole school improvement. This flexible and user-friendly resource can be used with the English National Curriculum, International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP), the International Primary Curriculum (IPC), and other English speaking curricula. It will be a must-have for all schools looking to support newly arrived children with speaking English as an additional language.

Read more less

Move to the beat and savor the unique creative energy of Music City. From hot chicken to warm Southern hospitality, experience it all with Moon Nashville.* Explore the city: Navigate by neighborhood or by activity with color-coded maps* See the sights: Watch country music's top acts at the Grand Ole Opry, tour the storied halls of the Tennessee State Capitol, and pay homage to legends at the Country Music Hall of Fame. Stroll the Vanderbilt and Fisk campuses, shop for vintage records and handcrafted jewelry, and go honky-tonking late into the night* Get a taste of the city: Cast your vote for the best authentic hot chicken, dine at a classic meat-and-three, or delight in food truck feasts featuring Egyptian treats, farm-fresh peaches, and fiery moonshine* Bars and nightlife: Tap your foot to some live music at the Bluebird Café or pull up a barstool for a flight of classic Tennessee whiskeys. Get inspired by up-and-coming singers in The Basement before finding your own voice at Lonnie's Western Room karaoke, or try a free line dance lesson at Wildhorse Saloon* Local advice from Nashvillian Margaret Littman on her beloved home city* Flexible, strategic itineraries including a two-day tour, a foodie weekend, and Nashville on a budget, plus day trips to Land Between the Lakes, Mammoth Cave, the Jack Daniels Distillery in Lynchburg, and more* Tips for travelers including where to stay, how to safely bike in the city, plus advice for LGBTQ+ visitors, international travelers, and families with children* Helpful resources on Covid-19 and traveling to Nashville* Maps and tools like background information on the history and culture of Nashville, easy-to-read maps, full-color photos, and neighborhood guides from Midtown to Music ValleyExperience the best of Music City with Moon Nashville. Hitting the road? Try Moon Blue Ridge Parkway Road Trip or Moon Nashville to New Orleans Road Trip. About Moon Travel Guides: Moon was founded in 1973 to empower independent, active, and conscious travel. We prioritize local businesses, outdoor recreation, and traveling strategically and sustainably. Moon Travel Guides are written by local, expert authors with great stories to tell-and they can't wait to share their favorite places with you.For more inspiration, follow @moonguides on social media.

Read more less

Marisha Pessl's Special Topics in Calamity Physics is an unforgettable debut novel that combines the storytelling gifts of Donna Tartt and the suspense of Alfred Hitchcock: a darkly hilarious coming-of-age tale and a richly plotted suspense story, told with dazzling intelligence and wit.'I wrote this account one year after I'd found Hannah Dead.I thought I'd managed to erase all traces of that night within myself.But I was wrong.Every night when I tried to sleep, I'd close my eyes and see her again, exactly as I found her, hanging from a pine tree by an orange electrical cord, her neck twisted like a tulip stem, her eyes seeing nothing. Or else that was the problem. They'd seen everything.'Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a mesmerizing debut. As teenager Blue van Meer tells her story we are hurled into a dizzying world of murder and butterflies, womanizing and wandering, American McCulture, The Western Canon, political radicalism and juvenile crushisms. Structured around a syllabus for a Great Works of Literature class (with hand-drawn Visual Aids), Blue's wickedly funny yet poignant tale reveals how the imagination finds meaning in the most bewildering times, the ways people of all ages strive for connection, and how the darkest of secrets can set us free.'Beneath the foam of this exuberant debut is a dark, strong drink' Jonathan Franzen, author of, The Corrections 'Any [Donna] Tartt fan disappointed that her second novel had little in common with her debut should rush out and buy this book immediately... It's a brilliant debut, guaranteed to join the ranks of The Secret History and The Virgin Suicides as one of those rare books to become a cult hit and instant classic' Sunday Telegraph 'One of the most impressive debut novels I have ever read ... It stops you doing anything apart from reading it ' Independent on Sunday 'Special Topics in Calamity Physics made me stay up all night reading; in the morning it seemed like one of those parties where everyone is too cool for you but you desperately want to know them anyway . . . I loved this book' Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife Marisha Pessl was born in 1977 and lives in New York. This is her first novel.

Read more less

Text in French and English. Mouans-Sartoux, a small community near Cannes, has become a Mecca for concrete art. Since 1990 two collectors from Switzerland, Sybil Albers and the artist Gottfried Honegger, have been working to establish the Espace de l'Art Concret (EAC). Neither a museum nor a municipal gallery, this institution is located in the Château de Mouans and in two new buildings in its large park. The first of the two new buildings was a studio designed by Marc Barani from Nice for children who come here to paint and to develop their aesthetic senses. Barani began work in 1990 with the extension to the cemetery of Saint Pancrace in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. The way he located the cemetery in the local landscape and his use of original vegetable and mineral materials immediately brought him to international notice. In 2000 Albers and Honegger decided to donate their collections to the French state, on the understanding that it would finance a building to house the nearly 500 works of art. A competition was launched and was won by the Zurich architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer. The building, which opened its doors in 2004, stands on a steeply sloping wooded terrain. As one enters the park, one sees its yellowish-green hues through the branches of the trees. The monochrome colour unifies the five levels of the building that give no clue as to what it contains. While the outside of the building looks artificial, independent, sculptural, its interior is set up in accordance with Honegger's special instructions. He wanted the building that was to house his collection to be distinct from the official and sterile museums that are often laid out on the gallery model, passageways for contemplation, internal streets with overhead lighting. Honegger prefers an interior that is like a private home rather than a public institution. The domestic framework of the rooms must reflect a principle dear to the heart of the donors: that the works are to be lived with. Honegger takes an overall view of our material environment and emphasises that for him the distinction between fine arts and applied arts has no meaning, because "an unapplied art would have no purpose and would be bound to be insignificant and disappear".

Read more less

Save time and money with in-depth reviews, ratings, and details from the trusted source for a successful Las Vegas vacation. How do some guests always seem to find the best restaurants, the best shows, the best hotels—and still come home with winnings in their pockets? Why do some guests pay full price for their visit when others can save hundreds of dollars? In Las Vegas, every minute and every dollar count. Your vacation is too important to be left to chance, so put the independent guide to Las Vegas in your hands and take control of your trip. The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas explains how Sin City works and how to use that knowledge to stay ahead of the crowd. Authors Bob Sehlinger and Seth Kubersky know that you want your vacation to be anything but average, so they employ an expert team of researchers to find the secrets, the shortcuts, and the bargains that are sure to make your vacation exceptional! Find out what’s available in every category, ranked from best to worst, and get detailed plans to make the most of your time in Las Vegas. Stay at a top-rated hotel, eat at the most acclaimed restaurants, and experience all the most popular attractions. Inside You’ll Find: Nearly 100 hotels and casinos described, rated, and ranked―the most offered by any guidebook―plus strategies for scoring the best room rate Reviews of more than 100 restaurants―a complete dining guide within the guide, plus the best buffets and brunches The best places to play for every casino game Almost 50 pages of gambling tips, including how to play, recognizing sucker games, and cutting the house advantage to the bone Critical reviews of more than 70 of Las Vegas’s best shows Complete coverage of the Las Vegas nightclub, bar, and lounge scene, with surefire advice on how to get into the most exclusive venues Detailed instructions for avoiding Strip and I-15 traffic gridlock In-depth descriptions and consumer tips on shopping and experiencing attractions Make the right choices to create a vacation you’ll never forget. The Unofficial Guide to Las Vegas is your key to planning a perfect stay. Whether you’re putting together your annual trip or preparing for your first visit, this book gives you the insider scoop on hotels, restaurants, entertainment, and more.

Read more less

Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy is defined as heart failure independent of the coronary artery, valve disease and hypertension. It has multifactorial aetiology but the pathogenesis is incompletely understood. Hyperglycemia, hyperlipidemia and inflammation with high oxidative stress lead to structural and functional alterations of the left ventricle (LV) and promote diabetic cardiomyopathy. Diastolic dysfunction is an early sign of diabetic cardiomyopathy. It has a long asymptomatic period, but with time leads to loss of contractile function. Hence, the identification of subclinical diabetic cardiomyopathy and correction of potentially modified risk factors are very important to delay the onset of heart failure. The aim: We aimed to assess the LV function in asymptomatic diabetic patients and its correlation with clinical and biochemical parameters. Study design: Cross-sectional study that includes a total number of 137 subjects. The target group consists of 72 asymptomatic normotensive patients with diabetes mellitus type 2, without coronary artery and valve disease. The control group is composed of 65 healthy subjects. Methods: All patients were subject to echocardiography (conventional 2D, M-mode, PW Doppler analysis and contemporary techniques-TDI and 2D-Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography). We evaluate LV diastolic and systolic function and its correlation with basic clinical characteristics (age, gender, BMI, BSA, waist to hip ratio, duration of diabetes) and biochemical analyses (glucose profile, lipid profile, CRP). The correlation between clinical, biochemical and echocardiographic parameters was assessed by the Pearson Product Moment of Correlation. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered to indicate significance. Results: Analysis of deformation identify the greatest number of subjects with abnormal myocardial mechanics (n=45, 62%). Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Test showed a statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the prevalence of diastolic dysfunction, in each imaging modality-PWD and TDI (Z=2.3, p=0.01; Z=2.9, p=0.003). There were strong negative correlations between clinical, biochemical and echocardiographic parameters of PW Doppler and 2D Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography and strong positive correlation with TDI. Conclusion: Doppler echocardiography is a valuable imaging technique for identifying LV dysfunction in asymptomatic patients with diabetes, and is an important part of the diagnostic algorithm in diabetic cardiomyopathy. Novel Doppler-echocardiographic techniques as are Tissue Doppler Imaging and Speckle-Tracking Echocardiography show superiority over other echocardiographic methods, regarding the early detection of LV functional abnormalities in the asymptomatic diabetic population. Its introduction in daily routine will contribute to the timely initiation of treatment of risk factors, to prevent the development of heart failure

Read more less

Elementary education provides the foundation for a learned and literate global citizenry. Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms that everyone has the right to education. Likewise, the document states that elementary education should be free, compulsory, and universally accessible to all children. Parents, leaders, and policymakers recognize the importance of education in developing basic skills. Yet, the purpose of education goes beyond just skill building; the purpose of education, as Paulo Freire asserts, is for emancipation and the development of independent thought and critical awareness. Education is freedom. It is as Nelson Mandela once declared "the most powerful weapon to change the world." Again, elementary education provides the roots for the world and for our future. Yet, each society situates their systems of elementary education based on their society's cultural values, economic goals, political whims, and socio-historical context. To understand the larger goals of elementary education it is important to have a comparative and international lens, which is provided in this new NOVA Science book titled Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century. The book is co-edited Dr. Erik Jon Byker and Dr. Akesha Horton, both editors are long-time global educators committed to social justice. The purpose of this book is to describe and explain the perspectives, challenges, and issues related to elementary education in this current, twenty-first century global age. The book's authors and the content of the book's chapters represent several countries across the globe including India, Indonesia, Greece, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, and the United States of America. The book is organized into three sections: (1) context, (2) competencies, and (3) content. The context section examines the historical and current context for elementary education from international perspectives. The competencies section focuses on the skills and dispositions necessary for pre-service and in-service teachers to navigate the contours of elementary education in a global age. The content section explores elementary education subject matter-largely in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-that will continue to eminent throughout the twenty-first century. Elementary Education: Global Perspectives, Challenges and Issues of the 21st Century is a timely book for internationally-minded educators, government leaders, parents, practitioners, and policymakers for gaining deeper insight into the critical role of elementary education in preparing children for our dynamic, interconnected, and globalized world.

Read more less