Search results for ""author dom"

A practical framework for effectively managing performance in today's complex, competitive and risky global markets The Third Edition provides a complete framework for building best practice management processes for today's complex and uncertain world. Fully updated to reflect the events of the global economic crisis, this book provides further practical examples of companies that are successfully using the practices identified. Updated for the implications of the global economic crisis on management practices Completely rewritten section on "What it Takes To Be An Effective Manager In An Uncertain World Added examples and mini case studies throughout the book from companies such as Qualcomm, IBM, Dominos, Target, Toshiba and Facebook Establishes new benchmarks for performance management process and practice Fully updated to include recent events, new learnings, technologies and emerging best practices This book includes serious rethinking of the way companies plan and manage performance-from the role of accounting to the skills needed to be an effective manager-including new technologies, techniques and real time management processes.

Read more less

Continuing the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the first part of Tolkien’s epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien’s own design, the definitive text, and a detailed map of Middle-earth. Sauron, the Dark Lord, has gathered to him all the Rings of Power – the means by which he intends to rule Middle-earth. All he lacks in his plans for dominion is the One Ring – the ring that rules them all – which has fallen into the hands of the hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose. Part of a set of three paperbacks, this popular edition is once again available in its classic black livery designed by Tolkien himself.

Read more less

More than half of America's waterbodies are unsafe for swimming, fishing, and as sources of drinking. Why? Because of unsustainable city building and poor farming practice. Beyond water quality problems, dysfunctional streams cause flooding and erosion of property, leading to neighbourhood blights. Not only can this be reversed, but repair of degraded urban streams can be a powerful agent for reinventing the physical environments of post-industrial cities. This requires trans-disciplinary collaboration between the fields of ecological engineering and urban design. The American city was uniquely premised on fusions of landscape and urbanism: a tradition with plenty of room for innovation. However, watershed plans remain data-and-policy-driven documents with a singular interest in repairing waterbodies. They have little to say about the city and urban design. Conversely, urban planning has not codified the value of healthy ecosystems within which cities are built. In this age of the Anthropocene, when most ecosystems are human-dominated, resilient urban design must account for biological processes. This book introduces watershed management into urban design with one simple demand: that every new development contribute to watershed stewardship, where infrastructure and building deliver ecological services in addition to urban services. The Conway Urban Watershed Framework Plan formulates a planning vocabulary for use among professionals and decision-makers to engage this new design market.

Read more less

Although formal analysis programming techniques may be quite old, the introduction of formal methods only dates from the 1980s. These techniques enable us to analyze the behavior of a software application, described in a programming language. It took until the end of the 1990s before formal methods or the B method could be implemented in industrial applications or be usable in an industrial setting. Current literature only gives students and researchers very general overviews of formal methods. The purpose of this book is to present feedback from experience on the use of “formal methods” (such as proof and model-checking) in industrial examples within the transportation domain. This book is based on the experience of people who are currently involved in the creation and evaluation of safety critical system software. The involvement of people from within the industry allows us to avoid the usual problems of confidentiality which could arise and thus enables us to supply new useful information (photos, architecture plans, real examples, etc.). Topics covered by the chapters of this book include SAET-METEOR, the B method and B tools, model-based design using Simulink, the Simulink design verifier proof tool, the implementation and applications of SCADE (Safety Critical Application Development Environment), GATeL: A V&V Platform for SCADE models and ControlBuild. Contents 1. From Classic Languages to Formal Methods, Jean-Louis Boulanger. 2. Formal Method in the Railway Sector 
the First Complex Application: SAET-METEOR, Jean-Louis Boulanger. 3. The B Method and B Tools, Jean-Louis Boulanger. 4. Model-Based Design Using Simulink – Modeling, Code Generation, Verification, and Validation, Mirko Conrad and Pieter J. Mosterman. 5. Proving Global Properties with the Aid of the SIMULINK DESIGN VERIFIER Proof Tool, Véronique Delebarre and Jean-Frédéric Etienne. 6. SCADE: Implementation and Applications, Jean-Louis Camus. 7. GATeL: A V&V Platform for SCADE Models, Bruno Marre, Benjamin Bianc, Patricia Mouy and Christophe Junke. 8. ControlBuild, a Development Framework 
for Control Engineering, Franck Corbier. 9. Conclusion, Jean-Louis Boulanger.

Read more less

How manufacturing textiles and guns transformed the United States from colonial dependent to military power.In 1783, the Revolutionary War drew to a close, but America was still threatened by enemies at home and abroad. The emerging nation faced tax rebellions, Indian warfare, and hostilities with France and England. Its arsenal—a collection of hand-me-down and beat-up firearms—was woefully inadequate, and its manufacturing sector was weak. In an era when armies literally froze in the field, military preparedness depended on blankets and jackets, the importation of which the British Empire had coordinated for over 200 years. Without a ready supply of guns, the new nation could not defend itself; without its own textiles, it was at the economic mercy of the British. Domestic industry offered the best solution for true economic and military independence. In Manufacturing Advantage, Lindsay Schakenbach Regele shows how the US government promoted the industrial development of textiles and weapons to defend the country from hostile armies—and hostile imports. Moving from the late 1700s through the Mexican-American War, Schakenbach Regele argues that both industries developed as a result of what she calls “national security capitalism”: a mixed enterprise system in which government agents and private producers brokered solutions to the problems of war and international economic disparities. War and State Department officials played particularly key roles in the emergence of American industry, facilitating arms makers and power loom weavers in the quest to develop industrial resources. And this defensive strategy, Schakenbach Regele reveals, eventually evolved to promote westward expansion, as well as America’s growing commercial and territorial empire. Examining these issues through the lens of geopolitics, Manufacturing Advantage places the rise of industry in the United States in the context of territorial expansion, diplomacy, and warfare. Ultimately, the book reveals the complex link between government intervention and private initiative in a country struggling to create a political economy that balanced military competence with commercial needs.

Read more less

An in-depth study of non-elite white families in Alabama—from the state’s creation through the end of the Civil WarThe Failure of Our Fathers: Family, Gender, and Power in Confederate Alabama examines the evolving position of non-elite white families in Alabama during one of the most pivotal epochs in the state’s history. Drawing on a wide range of personal and public documents reflecting the state’s varied regions and economies, Victoria E. Ott uses gender and family as a lens to examine the yeomanry and poor whites, a constituency that she collectively defines as “common whites,” who identified with the Confederate cause. Ott provides a nuanced examination of how these Alabamians fit within the antebellum era’s paternalistic social order, eventually identifying with and supporting the Confederate mission to leave the Union and create an independent, slaveholding state. But as the reality of the war slowly set in and the Confederacy began to fray, the increasing dangers families faced led Alabama’s common white men and women to find new avenues to power as a distinct socioeconomic class. Ott argues that family provided the conceptual framework necessary to understand why common whites supported a war to protect slavery despite having little or no investment in the institution. Going to war meant protecting their families from outsiders who threatened to turn their worlds upside down. Despite class differences, common whites envisioned the Confederacy as a larger family and the state as paternal figures who promised to protect its loyal dependents throughout the conflict. Yet, as the war ravaged many Alabama communities, devotion to the Confederacy seemed less a priority as families faced continued separations, threats of death, and the potential for starvation. The construct of a familial structure that once created a sense of loyalty to the Confederacy now gave them cause to question its leadership. Ott shows how these domestic values rooted in highly gendered concepts ultimately redefined Alabama’s social structure and increased class distinctions after the war.

Read more less

An urgent examination of how violence against women is inextricably linked to other issues that stoke our greatest passions. Every 90 seconds a woman is sexually assaulted. In that same minute and a half, another is a victim of domestic violence at the hands of a current or former intimate partner. Every sixteen hours, one of those intimate partners shoots and kills a woman. Nearly two in ten women are stalked, while one in sixteen is raped during her first sexual experience. Despite these jaw-dropping statistics, collectively we are well practiced at seeing such acts as someone else's problem. And yet, violence against women is tangled up with the most frequently discussed and debated issues of our time: healthcare and education access, immigration, gun policies, economic security, and criminal justice reform-issues that impact us all, nearly every day. In Every 90 Seconds, Anne P. DePrince argues that to end violence against women, we must fundamentally redefine how we engage with it-starting by abandoning the idea that violence is a problem involving only those who abuse or are abused. Instead, DePrince illuminates how violence against women is inextricably linked to other issues that stoke our greatest passions. For instance, each time a woman requires emergency medical attention as a result of violence and abuse, our overburdened healthcare system bears an entirely preventable cost. Meanwhile, the threat of violence is a significant cause of pressure on the US southern border, driving women and their families to seek safety far from home. Violence against women also takes a stunning toll on the US economy by contributing to widespread poverty. Drawing on these and other complex examples, DePrince builds the case that this very complexity offers an opportunity for mobilizing ordinary people to work to stop violence against women in a way we never have before. DePrince's call to action arises out of the reality that when we address violence against women, we can make progress on a range of other significant issues that we care deeply about too.

Read more less

A gripping history of one of the United States' most controversial Cold War intelligence operations.Project Paperclip brought hundreds of German scientists and engineers, including aerospace engineer Wernher von Braun, to the United States in the first decade after World War II. More than the freighters full of equipment or the documents recovered from caves and hastily abandoned warehouses, the German brains who designed and built the V-2 rocket and other "wonder weapons" for the Third Reich proved invaluable to America's emerging military-industrial complex. Whether they remained under military employment, transitioned to civilian agencies like NASA, or sought more lucrative careers with corporations flush with government contracts, German specialists recruited into the Paperclip program assumed enormously influential positions within the labyrinthine national security state. Drawing on recently declassified documents from intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, the FBI, and the State Department, Brian E. Crim's Our Germans examines the process of integrating German scientists into a national security state dominated by the armed services and defense industries. Crim explains how the Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency enticed targeted scientists, whitewashed the records of Nazis and war criminals, and deceived government agencies about the content of security investigations. Exploring the vicious bureaucratic rivalries that erupted over the wisdom, efficacy, and morality of pursuing Paperclip, Our Germans reveals how some Paperclip proponents and scientists influenced the perception of the rival Soviet threat by volunteering inflated estimates of Russian intentions and technical capabilities. As it describes the project's embattled legacy, Our Germans reflects on the myriad ways that Paperclip has been remembered in culture and national memory. As this engaging book demonstrates, whether characterized as an expedient Cold War program born from military necessity or a dishonorable episode, the project ultimately reflects American ambivalence about the military-industrial complex and the viability of an "ends justifies the means" solution to external threats.

Read more less

AUTOMATED SECURE COMPUTING FOR NEXT-GENERATION SYSTEMS This book provides cutting-edge chapters on machine-empowered solutions for next-generation systems for today’s society. Security is always a primary concern for each application and sector. In the last decade, many techniques and frameworks have been suggested to improve security (data, information, and network). Due to rapid improvements in industry automation, however, systems need to be secured more quickly and efficiently. It is important to explore the best ways to incorporate the suggested solutions to improve their accuracy while reducing their learning cost. During implementation, the most difficult challenge is determining how to exploit AI and ML algorithms for improved safe service computation while maintaining the user’s privacy. The robustness of AI and deep learning, as well as the reliability and privacy of data, is an important part of modern computing. It is essential to determine the security issues of using AI to protect systems or ML-based automated intelligent systems. To enforce them in reality, privacy would have to be maintained throughout the implementation process. This book presents groundbreaking applications related to artificial intelligence and machine learning for more stable and privacy-focused computing. By reflecting on the role of machine learning in information, cyber, and data security, Automated Secure Computing for Next-Generation Systems outlines recent developments in the security domain with artificial intelligence, machine learning, and privacy-preserving methods and strategies. To make computation more secure and confidential, the book provides ways to experiment, conceptualize, and theorize about issues that include AI and machine learning for improved security and preserve privacy in next-generation-based automated and intelligent systems. Hence, this book provides a detailed description of the role of AI, ML, etc., in automated and intelligent systems used for solving critical issues in various sectors of modern society. Audience Researchers in information technology, robotics, security, privacy preservation, and data mining. The book is also suitable for postgraduate and upper-level undergraduate students.

Read more less

Provides a comprehensive introduction to ion exchange for beginners and in-depth coverage of the latest advances for those already in the field As environmental and energy related regulations have grown, ion exchange has assumed a dominant role in offering solutions to many concurrent problems both in the developed and the developing world. Written by an internationally acknowledged leader in ion exchange research and innovation, Ion Exchange: in Environmental Processes is both a comprehensive introduction to the science behind ion exchange and an expert assessment of the latest ion exchange technologies. Its purpose is to provide a valuable reference and learning tool for virtually anyone working in ion exchange or interested in becoming involved in that incredibly fertile field. Written for beginners as well as those already working the in the field, Dr. SenGupta provides stepwise coverage, advancing from ion exchange fundamentals to trace ion exchange through the emerging area of hybrid ion exchange nanotechnology (or polymeric/inorganic ion exchangers). Other topics covered include ion exchange kinetics, sorption and desorption of metals and ligands, solid-phase and gas-phase ion exchange, and more. Connects state-of-the-art innovations in such a way as to help researchers and process scientists get a clear picture of how ion exchange fundamentals can lead to new applications Covers the design of selective or smart ion exchangers for targeted applications—an area of increasing importance—including solid and gas phase ion exchange processes Provides in-depth discussion on intraparticle diffusion controlled kinetics for selective ion exchange Features a chapter devoted to exciting developments in the areas of hybrid ion exchange nanotechnology or polymeric/inorganic ion exchangers Written for those just entering the field of ion exchange as well as those involved in developing the “next big thing” in ion exchange systems, Ion Exchange in Environmental Processes is a valuable resource for students, process engineers, and chemists working in an array of industries, including mining, microelectronics, pharmaceuticals, energy, and wastewater treatment, to name just a few.

Read more less

The Mexican American woman zoot suiter, or pachuca, often wore a V-neck sweater or a long, broad-shouldered coat, a knee-length pleated skirt, fishnet stockings or bobby socks, platform heels or saddle shoes, dark lipstick, and a bouffant. Or she donned the same style of zoot suit that her male counterparts wore. With their striking attire, pachucos and pachucas represented a new generation of Mexican American youth, which arrived on the public scene in the 1940s. Yet while pachucos have often been the subject of literature, visual art, and scholarship, The Woman in the Zoot Suit is the first book focused on pachucas. Two events in wartime Los Angeles thrust young Mexican American zoot suiters into the media spotlight. In the Sleepy Lagoon incident, a man was murdered during a mass brawl in August 1942. Twenty-two young men, all but one of Mexican descent, were tried and convicted of the crime. In the Zoot Suit Riots of June 1943, white servicemen attacked young zoot suiters, particularly Mexican Americans, throughout Los Angeles. The Chicano movement of the 1960s–1980s cast these events as key moments in the political awakening of Mexican Americans and pachucos as exemplars of Chicano identity, resistance, and style. While pachucas and other Mexican American women figured in the two incidents, they were barely acknowledged in later Chicano movement narratives. Catherine S. Ramírez draws on interviews she conducted with Mexican American women who came of age in Los Angeles in the late 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s as she recovers the neglected stories of pachucas. Investigating their relative absence in scholarly and artistic works, she argues that both wartime U.S. culture and the Chicano movement rejected pachucas because they threatened traditional gender roles. Ramírez reveals how pachucas challenged dominant notions of Mexican American and Chicano identity, how feminists have reinterpreted la pachuca, and how attention to an overlooked figure can disclose much about history making, nationalism, and resistant identities.

Read more less

The year 1998 represents the hundredth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Puerto Rico. Since that time, the “Puerto Rican archipelago” has come to extend from the island itself, up the Eastern seaboard, and as far west as California and Hawai’i. Puerto Rican Jam considers the issues unique to Puerto Rican culture and politics, issues often encapsulated in concerns about ethnicity, race, gender, and language. Discussions of Puerto Rican cultural politics usually fall into one of two categories, nationalist or colonialist. Puerto Rican Jam moves beyond this narrow dichotomy, elaborating alternatives to dominant postcolonial theories, and includes essays written from the perspectives of groups that are not usually represented, such as gays and lesbians, youth, blacks, and women. The essays propose different ways of conceptualizing the U.S.-Puerto Rican colonial relationship, thus opening new spaces for political, social, economic, and cultural agency for Puerto Ricans on both the island and the continent. Among the topics discussed are the limitations of nationalism as a transformative and democratizing political discourse, the contradictory impact of American colonialism, language politics, and the 1928 U.S. congressional hearings on women’s suffrage in Puerto Rico.A groundbreaking contribution to the study of colonialism, Puerto Rican Jam represents an important engagement with issues raised by American expansionism in the Caribbean. Contributors: Jaime E. Benson-Arias, U of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez; Arlene Dávila, Syracuse U; Chloé S. Georas, SUNY, Binghamton; Manuel Guzmán, CUNY Graduate Center; Gladys M. Jiménez-Muñoz, SUNY, Oneonta; Agustín Lao, SUNY, Binghamton; Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel, U of Puerto Rico; Mariano Négron-Portillo, U of Puerto Rico; José Quiroga, George Washington U; Raquel Z. Rivera, CUNY Graduate Center; Alberto Sandoval Sánchez, Mount Holyoke College; Kelvin A. Santiago-Valles, SUNY, Binghamton. Frances Negrón-Muntaner is a doctoral candidate in comparative literature at Rutgers University, as well as a poet and filmmaker. Ramón Grosfoguel is assistant professor of sociology at the State University of New York, Binghamton.

Read more less

In The China Paradox: At the Front Line of Economic Transformation, Harvard University-based historian of modern China and business strategist Dr. Paul G. Clifford documents the twists and turns of China’s dramatic and unforeseen rise over the last four decades. He sheds light on the delicate and fragile balance of forces at the heart of the success of China’s hybrid model, explaining how the ruling Communist Party boldly led the nation’s economic reforms as the surest way to preserve its grip on political power. Five years after this book was first published, much has changed within China and in its relationship with the world. This second edition provides extensive fresh new material. It explains how China has raised its game, moving from a catch-up mode to technological innovation in some areas, while still languishing in technology dependence in other respects. Earlier, China had shown signs that its driving spirit was faltering with its sails flapping. Under Xi Jinping, renewed energy has been injected. But at the same time Xi and his party have strongly reinforced their control across society and the economy, posing the question of whether Xi’s New Era in fact marks a retreat from the reforms. This second edition contains two new chapters. One profiles Huawei, a national champion in advanced technology. Another focuses on China’s frictions with the world which have been fueled by a perception that its technology progress threatens US global dominance, coupled with China’s human rights record. In addition, against a background of the challenges faced by Alibaba and other firms, there is analysis of this watershed in China’s private sector’s autonomy. There is also extensive new insight into Xi Jinping’s rule. As it celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2021, the Chinese Communist Party displays strong optimism over its continued governance of China. But that should not mask the longer-term risks to China’s development and stability if its hybrid model continues to unravel as reforms are abandoned in favor of heightened autocracy.

Read more less

In recent decades, scientific insight into the chemistry of water has increased enormously, leading to the development of advanced wastewater and water purification technologies. However, the quality of freshwater resources has continually deteriorated worldwide, both in industrialised countries and in developing countries. Although traditional wastewater technologies are focused on the removal of suspended solids, nutrients and bacteria, hundreds of organic pollutants occur in wastewater and affected urban surface waters. These new pollutants are synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals that are not often monitored in the environment but have the potential to penetrate the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological and/or human health effects. These contaminants are collectively referred to as the "Emerging Contaminants" and are mostly derived from domestic use and occur in trace concentrations ranging from pico to micrograms per litre. Environmental contaminants are recalcitrant for conventional wastewater treatment processes and most of them remain unaffected, leading to the contamination of receiving water. This scenario leads to the need for an advanced wastewater treatment process that can remove environmental contaminants to safely monitor fresh water sources. This book explains the technologies of biological and chemical wastewater treatment processes. The biological wastewater treatment processes presented include: (1) bioremediation of wastewater that includes aerobic treatment (oxidation ponds, aerating lagoons, aerobic bioreactors, active sludge, percolation or drip filters, biological filters, rotating biological contactors, biological removal of nutrients) and anaerobic treatment (anaerobic bioreactors), anaerobic lagoons); (2) phytoremediation of waste water consisting of engineered wetlands, rhizofiltration, rhizodegradation, phytodegradation, phytoaccumulation, Phyto transformation and hyperaccumulators; and (3) mycoremediation of wastewater. The chemical wastewater treatment processes discussed include chemical precipitation (coagulation, flocculation), ion exchange, neutralisation, adsorption, and disinfection (chlorination / dechlorination, ozone, UV light). In addition, this chapter explains the wastewater treatment plants and illustrates them in terms of plant size, plant layout, and plant design and installation location.

Read more less

A groundbreaking look at how technology with a human touch is revolutionizing government and industry Human Systems Integration (HSI) is very attractive as a new integrating discipline designed to help move business and engineering cultures toward a more people-technology orientation. Over the past decade, the United States and foreign governments have developed a wide range of tools, techniques, and technologies aimed at integrating human factors into engineering systems in order to achieve important cost and performance benefits that otherwise would not have been accomplished. In order for this new discipline to be effective, however, a cultural change is needed that must start with organizational leadership. Handbook of Human Systems Integration outlines the principles and methods that can be used to help integrate people, technology, and organizations with a common objective toward designing, developing, and operating systems effectively and efficiently. Handbook of Human Systems Integration is broad in scope, covering both public and commercial processes as they interface with systems engineering processes. Emphasizing the importance of management and organization concepts as well as the technical uniqueness of HSI, Handbook of Human Systems Integration features: * More than ninety contributors, technical advisors, and reviewers from government, industry, and academia * Comprehensive coverage of the most recent HSI developments, particularly in presenting the cutting-edge tools, techniques, and methodologies utilized by each of the HSI domains * Chapters representing the governments and industries of the United Kingdom and Canada * Contributions from three services of the Department of Defense along with the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Academy of Sciences * Many chapters covering both military and nonmilitary applications * Concepts widely used by government contractors both in the United States and abroad This book will be of special interest to HSI practitioners, systems engineers, and managers, as well as government and industry decision-makers who must weigh the recommendations of all multidisciplines contributing to systems performance, safety, and costs in order to make sound systems acquisition decisions.

Read more less

A landmark study of the history of male-male sex in early modern Europe, including the European colonies and the Ottoman world. Until quite recently, the history of male-male sexual relations was a taboo topic. But when historians eventually explored the archives of Florence, Venice and elsewhere, they brought to light an extraordinary world of early modern sexual activity, extending from city streets and gardens to taverns, monasteries and Mediterranean galleys. Typically, the sodomites (as they were called) were adult men seeking sex with teenage boys. This was something intriguingly different from modern homosexuality: the boys ceased to be desired when they became fully masculine. And the desire for them was seen as natural; no special sexual orientation was assumed. The rich evidence from Southern Europe in the Renaissance period was not matched in the Northern lands; historians struggled to apply this new knowledge to countries such as England or its North American colonies. And when good Northern evidence did appear, from after 1700, it presented a very different picture. So the theory was formed - and it has dominated most standard accounts until now - that the 'emergence of modern homosexuality' happened suddenly, but inexplicably, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Noel Malcolm's masterly study solves this and many other problems, by doing something which no previous scholar has attempted: giving a truly pan-European account of the whole phenomenon of male-male sexual relations in the early modern period. It includes the Ottoman Empire, as well as the European colonies in the Americas and Asia; it describes the religious and legal norms, both Christian and Muslim; it discusses the literary representations in both Western Europe and the Ottoman world; and it presents a mass of individual human stories, from New England to North Africa, from Scandinavia to Peru. Original, critical, lucidly written and deeply researched, this work will change the way we think about the history of homosexuality in early modern Europe.

Read more less

The last twenty years have witnessed a proliferation of radical social and political movements around the world, in wave after wave of struggles against intersecting forms of exploitation, domination, and subalternization. From the International Women's Strike and Occupy, to #BlackLivesMatter and direct action against the climate emergency, a series of common questions have continually re-emerged as immediate and practical challenges. How should radical political movements relate to the state? What makes emancipatory politics fundamentally different from both technocratic and populist models of "politics as usual"? Which forms of organization are most likely to deepen and extend the dynamics that led to the emergence of these movements in the first place? To investigate the goal, nature, method, and organizational forms of radical political engagement against the neoliberal consensus, Peter D. Thomas draws on the work of Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Communist Party leader and political theorist best known for his ideas about hegemony. Hegemony is a concept that, most commonly understood, describes either the way in which a political system functions from the top down, through a culture of passive consent, or a process of neutralizing cultural and political differences to form unity in a nation state. Interestingly, both the left and right have seized on this idea, but, of course, to different political ends. In Radical Politics, Thomas argues that both of these interpretations are misapprehensions of the radical potential of Gramsci's ideas. Offering a new reading of Gramsci, Thomas contends that hegemony is a process of differentiation in which political culture is always changing, and always with the goal of moving toward expanded freedom. Over the course of the book, Thomas looks at the way in which various theorists have approached the dilemma of how to engage productively in radical politics and explains why hegemony is a method of doing politics rather than an end goal. A distinctive and forceful contribution to ongoing debates about the nature and orientation of contemporary emancipatory movements, Radical Politics provides a counterintuitive interpretation of Gramsci's famous and newly relevant work.

Read more less

Climate Change and Indigenous Peoples offers the most comprehensive resource for advancing our understanding of one of the least coherently developed of climate change policy realms - legal protection of vulnerable indigenous populations. The first part of the book provides a tremendously useful background on the cultural, policy, and legal context of indigenous peoples, with special emphasis on developing general principles for climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions. The remainder of the volume then carefully and thoroughly works through how those general principles play out for different regional indigenous populations around the globe. All of the contributions to the volume are by leading experts who bring their insights and innovative thinking to bear on a truly complex subject. Whether as a novice s starting point or expert's desktop reference, I cannot think of a more useful resource for anyone interested in climate policy for indigenous peoples.'- J.B. Ruhl, Vanderbilt University Law School, USThis timely volume explores the ways in which indigenous peoples across the world are challenged by climate change impacts, and discusses the legal resources available to confront those challenges.Indigenous peoples occupy a unique niche within the climate justice movement, as many indigenous communities live subsistence lifestyles that are severely disrupted by the effects of climate change. Additionally, in many parts of the world, domestic law is applied differently to indigenous peoples than it is to their non-indigenous peers, further complicating the quest for legal remedies. The contributors to this book bring a range of expert legal perspectives to this complex discussion, offering both a comprehensive explanation of climate change-related problems faced by indigenous communities and a breakdown of various real world attempts to devise workable legal solutions. Regions covered include North and South America (Brazil, Canada, the US and the Arctic), the Pacific Islands (Fiji, Tuvalu and the Federated States of Micronesia), Australia and New Zealand, Asia (China and Nepal) and Africa (Kenya).This comprehensive volume will appeal to professors and students of environmental law, indigenous law and international law, as well as practitioners and policymakers with an interest in indigenous legal issues and environmental justice.Contributors: R.S. Abate, D. Badrinarayana, K. Boom, M. Burkett, J.M. Cha, E. Charles-Newton, L.A. Crippa, M. Davis, P. Dong, N. Johnstone, P. Kameri-Mbote, P. Kebec, S. Krakoff, E.A. Kronk, J.-D. Lavallee, J. Liu, A. Long, L.A. Miranda, C.Y. Mulalap, E. Nyukuri, H. Osofsky, J.V. Royster, I.L. Stoyanova, V. Sutton, E.J. Techera, S. Thériault, R. Tsosie, P. Van Tuyn, W. Yu

Read more less

Pull up a seat for a colorful tour of sound-proofed, silver-screened retreats fit for movie stars, Starship commanders, and sultans. Take an ultra-privileged tour through some of today's finest high-tech homes, where room-by-room sensors and touch-pad controls put lighting, sound, temperature, and security at your command. Watch screens descend or ascend from unexpected hiding places, projectors appear, and windows disappear in James-Bond-like mechanical transitions. And enjoy flat-screen and plasma entertainments in the most unexpected places: shower stalls, pool rooms, home sports bars, and more. This is the only book that offers an inside look at the ultimate techie fantasies, culminating in today's hottest home trend -- more than 80 dedicated home theaters. Many of these fantasy rooms were drawn straight out of sci-fi, classic films, and even Westerns, embodying the fantasy of Hollywood. Others are to-die-for interiors created by designers in today's hottest styles. Visit basement hideaways that deliver the ultimate theater experience, while doubling as hurricane shelters. There are also bedrooms, playrooms, garages, and even attics that have been remodeled into state-of-the-art theaters and media rooms. Included are equipment lists for many of the projects, and discussions about the art of wiring, and advice on choosing a professional to help you transform your home. This is a lip-smacking look at a luxury that is becoming an increasingly popular domestic investment. Packed with dazzling, mind-blowing pictures of home theater systems and media/rec rooms, the book is sure to inspire and excite movie enthusiasts, architects, and designers looking for insight to the hi-tech world of electronic homes.

Read more less

This textbook covers a diversity of topics in graph and network theory, both from a theoretical standpoint, and from an applied modelling point of view. Mathematica® is used to demonstrate much of the modelling aspects. Graph theory and model building tools are developed in tandem with effective techniques for solving practical problems via computer implementation. The book is designed with three primary readerships in mind. Individual syllabi or suggested sequences for study are provided for each of three student audiences: mathematics, applied mathematics/operations research, and computer science. In addition to the visual appeal of each page, the text contains an abundance of gems. Most chapters open with real-life problem descriptions which serve as motivation for the theoretical development of the subject matter. Each chapter concludes with three different sets of exercises. The first set of exercises are standard and geared toward the more mathematically inclined reader. Many of these are routine exercises, designed to test understanding of the material in the text, but some are more challenging. The second set of exercises is earmarked for the computer technologically savvy reader and offer computer exercises using Mathematica. The final set consists of larger projects aimed at equipping those readers with backgrounds in the applied sciences to apply the necessary skills learned in the chapter in the context of real-world problem solving. Additionally, each chapter offers biographical notes as well as pictures of graph theorists and mathematicians who have contributed significantly to the development of the results documented in the chapter. These notes are meant to bring the topics covered to life, allowing the reader to associate faces with some of the important discoveries and results presented. In total, approximately 100 biographical notes are presented throughout the book. The material in this book has been organized into three distinct parts, each with a different focus. The first part is devoted to topics in network optimization, with a focus on basic notions in algorithmic complexity and the computation of optimal paths, shortest spanning trees, maximum flows and minimum-cost flows in networks, as well as the solution of network location problems. The second part is devoted to a variety of classical problems in graph theory, including problems related to matchings, edge and vertex traversal, connectivity, planarity, edge and vertex coloring, and orientations of graphs. Finally, the focus in the third part is on modern areas of study in graph theory, covering graph domination, Ramsey theory, extremal graph theory, graph enumeration, and application of the probabilistic method.

Read more less

This textbook covers a diversity of topics in graph and network theory, both from a theoretical standpoint, and from an applied modelling point of view. Mathematica® is used to demonstrate much of the modelling aspects. Graph theory and model building tools are developed in tandem with effective techniques for solving practical problems via computer implementation. The book is designed with three primary readerships in mind. Individual syllabi or suggested sequences for study are provided for each of three student audiences: mathematics, applied mathematics/operations research, and computer science. In addition to the visual appeal of each page, the text contains an abundance of gems. Most chapters open with real-life problem descriptions which serve as motivation for the theoretical development of the subject matter. Each chapter concludes with three different sets of exercises. The first set of exercises are standard and geared toward the more mathematically inclined reader. Many of these are routine exercises, designed to test understanding of the material in the text, but some are more challenging. The second set of exercises is earmarked for the computer technologically savvy reader and offer computer exercises using Mathematica. The final set consists of larger projects aimed at equipping those readers with backgrounds in the applied sciences to apply the necessary skills learned in the chapter in the context of real-world problem solving. Additionally, each chapter offers biographical notes as well as pictures of graph theorists and mathematicians who have contributed significantly to the development of the results documented in the chapter. These notes are meant to bring the topics covered to life, allowing the reader to associate faces with some of the important discoveries and results presented. In total, approximately 100 biographical notes are presented throughout the book. The material in this book has been organized into three distinct parts, each with a different focus. The first part is devoted to topics in network optimization, with a focus on basic notions in algorithmic complexity and the computation of optimal paths, shortest spanning trees, maximum flows and minimum-cost flows in networks, as well as the solution of network location problems. The second part is devoted to a variety of classical problems in graph theory, including problems related to matchings, edge and vertex traversal, connectivity, planarity, edge and vertex coloring, and orientations of graphs. Finally, the focus in the third part is on modern areas of study in graph theory, covering graph domination, Ramsey theory, extremal graph theory, graph enumeration, and application of the probabilistic method.

Read more less

Master Bayesian Inference through Practical Examples and Computation–Without Advanced Mathematical Analysis Bayesian methods of inference are deeply natural and extremely powerful. However, most discussions of Bayesian inference rely on intensely complex mathematical analyses and artificial examples, making it inaccessible to anyone without a strong mathematical background. Now, though, Cameron Davidson-Pilon introduces Bayesian inference from a computational perspective, bridging theory to practice–freeing you to get results using computing power. Bayesian Methods for Hackers illuminates Bayesian inference through probabilistic programming with the powerful PyMC language and the closely related Python tools NumPy, SciPy, and Matplotlib. Using this approach, you can reach effective solutions in small increments, without extensive mathematical intervention. Davidson-Pilon begins by introducing the concepts underlying Bayesian inference, comparing it with other techniques and guiding you through building and training your first Bayesian model. Next, he introduces PyMC through a series of detailed examples and intuitive explanations that have been refined after extensive user feedback. You’ll learn how to use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm, choose appropriate sample sizes and priors, work with loss functions, and apply Bayesian inference in domains ranging from finance to marketing. Once you’ve mastered these techniques, you’ll constantly turn to this guide for the working PyMC code you need to jumpstart future projects. Coverage includes • Learning the Bayesian “state of mind” and its practical implications • Understanding how computers perform Bayesian inference • Using the PyMC Python library to program Bayesian analyses • Building and debugging models with PyMC • Testing your model’s “goodness of fit” • Opening the “black box” of the Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm to see how and why it works • Leveraging the power of the “Law of Large Numbers” • Mastering key concepts, such as clustering, convergence, autocorrelation, and thinning • Using loss functions to measure an estimate’s weaknesses based on your goals and desired outcomes • Selecting appropriate priors and understanding how their influence changes with dataset size • Overcoming the “exploration versus exploitation” dilemma: deciding when “pretty good” is good enough • Using Bayesian inference to improve A/B testing • Solving data science problems when only small amounts of data are available Cameron Davidson-Pilon has worked in many areas of applied mathematics, from the evolutionary dynamics of genes and diseases to stochastic modeling of financial prices. His contributions to the open source community include lifelines, an implementation of survival analysis in Python. Educated at the University of Waterloo and at the Independent University of Moscow, he currently works with the online commerce leader Shopify.

Read more less

You Are Noah! sees YOU taking an active interest, in a dramatic dream – to save wildlife the world over, especially animals on the IUCN red list of endangered species. Publicity for the most ambitious of projects began with the Introduction volume of this book series, and its tie-in to Noah's Ark TV Series 1. It was then, and still is now, the Introduction to the whole programme. The TV series, which ran on Sky TV (UK) in 2021, along with the release of music singles, is now going back into production to track on camera building the world's most iconic and technologically advanced conservation park ever conceived of. The series is part of an Entertainment programme that will include: more books as well as music labels by A-list stars, and even a London West End musical. And a series of mega benefit Concerts will kick off with performances potentially in London's Wembley Stadium and New York's Madison Square Garden. Both, Entertainment and Concerts, are aimed at putting The Noah's Ark Conservation Park at the heart of eco-tourism, and its conference centre and research facilities high in conservation circles. The overriding aim being to protect wild animal species, sustainably, for decades to come. Located in large open expanses along the coast of Africa, its main attractions will be: seeing the biggest range of animals from across the world, protected by Jurassic Park strength security, with massive Eden-Project-like Geo Domes for species (with their natural vegetation) from other climates, and the largest sea life aquarium in the world. Noah's Ark's response to the biodiversity crisis our planet faces, is a beacon for many more to follow worldwide. Climate change is receiving more attention, as are recycling and prioritising renewable energy. And in line with that, especially at COP Conferences and around the world post-COVID, people are now reconnecting much more with nature. All of which is raising awareness to the overriding need for a united front on the crisis. The challenge for the project team, led by Richard Curson & Hein Prinsloo, is to inspire YOU, and all who want to save our planet, to collectively raise a tsunami wave of opinion. Opinion that changes policies worldwide to our precious biodiversity, and with that to peace and wellbeing for all humanity. It will all start simply with what YOU watch, read, say, buy and follow. Note: Project development, essentially building the park, is with Scapha Ltd (UK). While Entertainment and Concerts are with The Noah's Ark Foundation – a non-profit organisation set up to sustainably support this project, and others that aim to tackle threats to animal wildlife from industrial and agricultural development, pollution, also poaching.

Read more less

This interdisciplinary text takes into account the impact of the Cold War on various locales, groups, societies, organizations, and technology. Included in this work are chapters on education, political groups, cultural challenges and rivalries, nuclear technology and weaponry, the impact of nuclear exposure, and the new global order in a post-nuclear age. Edited by an historian, each chapter is written from multiple disciplinary perspectives - - political science, history, social science, science, and medicine - - making this work exceptionally unique with broad sweeping conceptual frameworks, methods, and points of analysis, all the while focused upon a four- decade era of fear. The work of Stivachtis and Manning offer an engaging look into the organization of the international community, world affairs, and inter-cultural challenges during the Cold War to understand the impact on global society through the lens of the English School of International Relations. Cimbala's chapter delves into the challenges to controlling and understanding nuclear warfare throughout the Cold War and how the knowledge of control or preventing catastrophic nuclear war in the historic period is significantly different from the current nuclear age, from the perspectives of what nations have weapons, of what magnitude, and the potential for warfare. The impact of nuclear exposure well after the Cold War is examined in Osono's work, which analyzes the physiological and neurological impact of nuclear waste on workers in China who unknowingly unearthed barrels of nuclear waste. Nekola offers readers a view into the role of the exiled Czech political parties that operated in outside of the regulations of the Iron Curtain, after the 1948 Communist Coup, maintaining party publications and organization throughout the 1950s. The work of Bar-Noi analyzes the relationship between the Israeli and Soviet governments as the nation of Israel was founded and ultimately placed in the political cross-hairs of world leaders from 1945 to 1967. Palmadessa's works on U.S. education - - k-12 compulsory and higher education - - considers the ways in which education responded to the call for patriotic support of the U.S. in opposition to the communist regime in Russia and the understanding of the global role education was to play. The Cold War shook the world, its institutions, cultural groups, and scientific communities to their core. The Cold War: Global Impacts and Lessons Learned offers readers insight into the immediate challenges, the continued obstacles, and the knowledge gained from this tumultuous period riddled with fear that dominates the narrative of 20th century world history.

Read more less

This twenty-seven chapter book provides an excellent and accessible overview of the literature on rent seeking since its inception. What makes the book a fascinating reading is its application to different areas, such as regulation and economic aid, and presentation of an array of highly readable cases studies, including on China, Greece, India and Russia. It is a must for both students of public finance and policy makers.'- Sanjeev Gupta, International Monetary Fund'Indeed, this book is an indispensable companion to everyone working on rent seeking or the theory or politics of contests. It combines excellent surveys and innovative work of the most eminent researchers in this field.'- Kai Konrad, Director, Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance, Munich, GermanyThe quest for benefit from existing wealth or by seeking privileged benefit through influence over policy is known as rent seeking. Much rent seeking activity involves government and political decisions and is therefore in the domain of political economy, although rent seeking can also take place in personal relations and within firms and bureaucracies. The contributions in this outstanding volume provide an accompaniment or 'companion' to the literature on rent seeking and the related political economy of rent creation and extraction. The chapters, written by leading scholars in the field, demonstrate the centrality of rent-related incentives to the study of economics, politics, culture, public administration and history.The expert and original contributions summarize and extend the literature in both theoretical and applied areas of research. The book begins with a clear and comprehensive description of the theory of rent seeking and of contest design for political and bureaucratic rent extraction. This is followed by a series of case studies showing the relevance of rent seeking for regulatory policies, international-trade policies, public finance, natural-resource discoveries, development aid, behavior in international bureaucracies, litigation and judicial systems. The applied chapters also include overviews of rent seeking and rent extraction in Europe, Russia, Asia, Africa and the US.This volume will appeal to a broad readership, including economists, political scientists and development practitioners, wishing to gain an understanding of the concept of rent seeking. The chapters in this book also provide an excellent introduction to the extensive literature.Contributors: J. A. Amegashie, M. Brooks, R.D. Congleton, G. Dari-Mattiacci, R.T. Deacon, G.S. Epstein, S. Flamand, R.J. Hagan, A.L. Hillman, R.G. Holcombe, C. Kang, M.S. Kimenyi, E. Langlais, M.I. Levin, N. Van Long, B. Lovat, B. Luppi, S. Marjit, J.M. Mbaku, Y. Mealem, T. Moutos, D. C. Mueller, V. Mukherjee, S. Nitzan, M. Paldam, F. Parisi, L. Pechlivanos, L. Qijun, A. Rode, G.A.Satarov, R.M. Sheremeta, W.F. Shughart II, D.W. Thomas, G. Tridimas, O. Troumpounis, R. Vaubel, K. Wärneryd

Read more less

Now an eight-part docuseries on Apple TV+ featuring Kim Kardashian, Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn, Kate Hudson, Wanda Sykes, Megan Thee Stallion and more She couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years old. “Go ahead, ask your question,” her father urged, nudging her forward. She smiled shyly and said, “You’re my hero. Who’s yours?” Many people – especially girls – have asked us that same question over the years. It’s one of our favourite topics. HILLARY: Growing up, I knew hardly any women who worked outside the home. So I looked to my mother, my teachers, and the pages of Life magazine for inspiration. After learning that Amelia Earhart kept a scrapbook with newspaper articles about successful women in male-dominated jobs, I started a scrapbook of my own. Long after I stopped clipping articles, I continued to seek out stories of women who seemed to be redefining what was possible. CHELSEA: This book is the continuation of a conversation the two of us have been having since I was little. For me, too, my mom was a hero; so were my grandmothers. My early teachers were also women. But I grew up in a world very different from theirs. My pediatrician was a woman, and so was the first mayor of Little Rock who I remember from my childhood. Most of my close friends’ moms worked outside the home as nurses, doctors, teachers, professors, and in business. And women were going into space and breaking records here on Earth. Ensuring the rights and opportunities of women and girls remains a big piece of the unfinished business of the twenty-first century. While there’s a lot of work to do, we know that throughout history and around the globe women have overcome the toughest resistance imaginable to win victories that have made progress possible for all of us. That is the achievement of each of the women in this book. So how did they do it? The answers are as unique as the women themselves. Civil rights activist Dorothy Height, LGBTQ trailblazer Edie Windsor, and swimmer Diana Nyad kept pushing forward, no matter what. Writers like Rachel Carson and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie named something no one had dared talk about before. Historian Mary Beard used wit to open doors that were once closed, and Wangari Maathai, who sparked a movement to plant trees, understood the power of role modeling. Harriet Tubman and Malala Yousafzai looked fear in the face and persevered. Nearly every single one of these women was fiercely optimistic – they had faith that their actions could make a difference. And they were right. To us, they are all gutsy women – leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done. So in the moments when the long haul seems awfully long, we hope you will draw strength from these stories. We do. Because if history shows one thing, it’s that the world needs gutsy women.

Read more less

Biocultural or biosocial anthropology is a research approach that views biology and culture as dialectically and inextricably intertwined, explicitly emphasizing the dynamic interaction between humans and their larger social, cultural, and physical environments. The biocultural approach emerged in anthropology in the 1960s, matured in the 1980s, and is now one of the dominant paradigms in anthropology, particularly within biological anthropology. This volume gathers contributions from the top scholars in biocultural anthropology focusing on six of the most influential, productive, and important areas of research within biocultural anthropology. These are: critical and synthetic approaches within biocultural anthropology; biocultural approaches to identity, including race and racism; health, diet, and nutrition; infectious disease from antiquity to the modern era; epidemiologic transitions and population dynamics; and inequality and violence studies. Focusing on these six major areas of burgeoning research within biocultural anthropology makes the proposed volume timely, widely applicable and useful to scholars engaging in biocultural research and students interested in the biocultural approach, and synthetic in its coverage of contemporary scholarship in biocultural anthropology. Students will be able to grasp the history of the biocultural approach, and how that history continues to impact scholarship, as well as the scope of current research within the approach, and the foci of biocultural research into the future. Importantly, contributions in the text follow a consistent format of a discussion of method and theory relative to a particular aspect of the above six topics, followed by a case study applying the surveyed method and theory. This structure will engage students by providing real world examples of anthropological issues, and demonstrating how biocultural method and theory can be used to elucidate and resolve them. Key features include: Contributions which span the breadth of approaches and topics within biological anthropology from the insights granted through work with ancient human remains to those granted through collaborative research with contemporary peoples. Comprehensive treatment of diverse topics within biocultural anthropology, from human variation and adaptability to recent disease pandemics, the embodied effects of race and racism, industrialization and the rise of allergy and autoimmune diseases, and the sociopolitics of slavery and torture. Contributions and sections united by thematically cohesive threads. Clear, jargon-free language in a text that is designed to be pedagogically flexible: contributions are written to be both understandable and engaging to both undergraduate and graduate students. Provision of synthetic theory, method and data in each contribution. The use of richly contextualized case studies driven by empirical data. Through case-study driven contributions, each chapter demonstrates how biocultural approaches can be used to better understand and resolve real-world problems and anthropological issues.

Read more less

This publication outlines the region's economic performance in 2020 and analyses trends in the early months of 2021, as well as the outlook for the rest of the year. It examines the external and domestic factors that have influenced the region's economic performance, analyses the characteristics of growth, prices and the labour market, and draws attention to some of the macroeconomic policy challenges of the prevailing external conditions, amid mounting uncertainty stemming mainly from political factors. It analyses the dynamics of investment and its determinants, with a view to identifying the different variables on which public policy can act to influence the trajectory of investment. This edition also analyses the impact of the crisis caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on the region's labour markets, with a comparison of historical trends, and particular emphasis placed on the disproportionate effect of the pandemic on female and youth employment

Read more less

This book presents a selection from papers, including some speeches and book chapters, published by Ernst Hirsch Ballin in English since 1991. His work, both in academic life and in several public offices, expresses an awareness of the impact of a lack of public trust and trustworthiness concerning respect for human rights and the rule of law, and the effects that this often has in cross-border relations.The papers, starting with a programmatic speech on ‘investing in confidence’ at a symposium on police and judicial cooperation in the EU, were written against the backdrop of Hirsch Ballin’s quest for institutions and practices that respect and promote human rights within and beyond national constitutional arrangements, and that seek to reduce the risks of exclusions and injustices both for vulnerable individuals and groups, as well as for future generations.The collection focuses on constitutional and administrative law and, more specifically, on the relationship between these legal domains and the constitutional principles of the rule of law, democracy and human rights.Alongside this selection of work celebrating Hirsch Ballin’s work and retirement, Boom juridisch has also published a collection of papers in Dutch entitled Recht doorgronden. Keuze uit wetenschappelijk werk over publiekrecht, rechtsstaat en beleid 1993-2021.

Read more less

Cuba: The Doctrine of the Lie is a thoroughly researched and profoundly revealing work on two themes of vital importance to the world today: the true nature of totalitarianism and how religion, philosophy, culture, tradition, and individual freedom are the most effective antibodies for countering this deadly ontological virus. Approaching Cuba's history as both a rallying icon for the radical left and an engine of freedom activism for the powerful Cuban-American community in the United States, this study helps dispel the black legend about life in Cuba before the communist triumph in 1959, reveals the destructive ideology behind the façade of Che Guevara's socialism, explains how so-called agrarian reform camouflaged the structuring of a police state, and provides unique insights into the dynamics of the struggle of the Cuban Resistance.Cuba: The Doctrine of the Lie explains how totalitarianism was established and consolidated in Cuba and assesses the repercussions that event has had for America's domestic ideological spectrum. Resulting from personal conversations with key actors, research into original sources, and a thorough knowledge of Cuban history, this book represents a vital contribution not just to the field of studies of totalitarianism but also to the study of Cuban history as a whole.

Read more less

In a time when the idea of literature has been dissolved by our academic critics into mere “discourse,” many readers seem unable to distinguish between art and ideology. “This book,” James Tuttleton writes, “is about the difference between the two and about the ways in which ideology has not merely entered the word of some of our best writers but even grossly disfigured it.” Mr. Tuttleton’s new collection of fifteen essays focuses on what Henry James called “the imaginative faculty under cultivation,” the quality that makes for important literature. The subjects here range from Washington Irving to Louis Auchincloss, with stops along the way for considerations of Cooper, Poe, Howells, James, Henry Adams, Edith Wharton, Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, and Conrad Aiken. The effects of ideology are a dominant motif, supported by Mr. Tuttleton’s customary banquet of information based upon his close reading of American literature and criticism. Of his most recent collection, Vital Signs, James Seaton wrote in the Hudson Review: "The ability to integrate analysis with celebration requires both intellectual entergy and generosity of spirit; James Tuttleton is one of those rare critics who possesses both.... He is a critic whose judgements can be trusted." A Fine Silver Thread further confirms Mr. Tuttleton’s stature as one of our most respected critics.

Read more less

The defense of the cult of saints and relics was an essential element of the Catholic Counter-Reformation in Europe. Facing attacks from Protestant denominations of all kinds, the Roman church redoubled its efforts to promote the veneration of its holy figures and to house their earthly remains in dramatic style. Bedazzled Saints chronicles the transfer, distribution, and display of nearly four hundred "holy bodies" of ancient Christian martyrs, some of the church’s most prestigious relics, sent from the Roman catacombs to the Electorate of Bavaria between 1590 and 1803. Local communities, both religious and secular, broke with medieval tradition and spent immense amounts of time and money to fuse incomplete skeletons into lavishly decorated whole-body saints.By examining these ornamented skeletons--painstakingly enhanced with jewels and fine clothing and still on display atop church altars to this day--Noria Litaker elucidates the interplay between local religious practice and universal church doctrine, shedding new light on the negotiated nature of sanctity in early modern Catholicism. In so doing, she challenges the dominant narrative of the Bavarian Catholic Reformation as a top-down process and provides new insights into the role relics and their innovative presentation played in the development of Catholic identity in early modern German lands.

Read more less

Science, medicine, and technology have become increasingly important to the average individual in modern society. The importance of these three fields is in many ways one of the defining characteristics of modernity. Understanding their history is essential for educated individuals. Science, medicine, and technology are not static endeavors but processes, bodies of knowledge, tools, and techniques that are constantly growing and changing. The entries in this encyclopedia explore the changing character of science, medicine, and technology in the United States; the key individuals, institutions, and organizations responsible for major developments; and the concepts, practices, and processes underlying these changes. Especially since the early decades of the twentieth century, American science, medicine, and technology have played dominant roles internationally. Entries explore distinctive characteristics of American institutions and culture that help explain this development. At the same time, the encyclopedia situates specific events, theories, practices, and institutions in their proper historical context and explores their impact on American society and culture. Entries are written by the experts in the field. Students not only from the humanities and social sciences but also from the sciences and the medical sciences should be attracted to the broad-ranging and in-depth analysis in the encyclopedia.

Read more less

This is the first book to focus comparatively on the development processes of finance in China and Japan during the prewar period. The key issue is how to evaluate the role of government in the establishing of modern financial system. Both China and Japan started from a similar pre-modern situation in the middle of 19th century in that the monetary conditions were primitive and complicated, the traditional financial institutions were money-exchange-based, and above all, both countries had faced serious challenging pressure from the Western powers. International or domestic military affairs largely affected the development processes in both countries. While Japan succeeded in establishing its modern financial system that consistently supported its economic growth, China failed to modernize its money and banking system effectively at least until the end of World War II and the government had to change hands to the socialists, which further delayed the financial development. The experience of Japan suggests that the establishment of modern financial system may not simply be as a result of "spontaneous order", a concept used by Hayek, at least for the case of a catching-up country. The evolution process of money and banking in China shows that the role of government, especially its enforcement ability of and compliance to the rule of law may be more important than the "legal origins".

Read more less

The historic uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd transformed the way Americans and the world think about race and policing. Why did it achieve so little in the way of substantive reforms? After Black Lives Matter argues that the failure to leave an institutional residue was not simply due to the mercurial and reactive character of the protests. Rather, the core of the movement itself failed to locate the central racial injustice that underpins the crisis of policing: socio-economic inequality.For Johnson, the anti-capitalist and downwardly redistributive politics expressed by different Black Lives Matter elements has too often been drowned out in the flood of black wealth creation, fetishism of Jim Crow black entrepreneurship, corporate diversity initiatives, and a quixotic reparations demand. None of these political tendencies addresses the fundamental problem underlying mass incarceration. That is the turn from welfare to domestic warfare as the chief means of regulating the excluded and oppressed. Johnson sees the way forward in building popular democratic power to advance public works and public goods. Rather than abolishing police, After Black Lives Matter argues for abolishing the conditions of alienation and exploitation contemporary policing exists to manage.

Read more less

This incisive book provides an extensive analysis of the robust array of international law applicable across the spectrum of international conflict and security. With a particular focus on new and emerging technologies and domains such as cyber and outer space, Laurie Blank illustrates how international conflict and security law applies to 21st century challenges.From conflict prevention to the use of force, the law of armed conflict to transitional justice, this book offers an in-depth examination of how these legal frameworks address the most fundamental questions for security at the human, national and international levels: how to prevent and reduce escalation of conflict; how to protect States, their territory and their core national interests; how to protect individuals and their rights; how to maintain and restore international peace; how to resolve conflicts; and how to promote justice and reconciliation after conflict. Overall, the book creates a multifaceted and insightful picture of how the international legal system functions as a comprehensive - if still sometimes fractured - framework. International Conflict and Security Law will be essential reading for both graduate and undergraduate students studying security policy, international law, conflict resolution and armed conflict. It will also provide a well-rounded exploration of the field as a whole for policy makers, practitioners and academics.

Read more less

Exploring the wide variety of political aspects relating to oil resources and markets, The Politics of Oil provides an important and accessible introduction to topics such as the so-called 'resource curse?' oil rent, producer cartels, and international oil governance. Broadening the scope further, Dag Harald Claes also examines the role of oil in political conflicts.Divided thematically into three parts, this book discusses the exercise of political control over oil resources, their extraction, and the income from oil exports; the vagaries of oil market forces and political attempts to govern them; and finally, the complex role of oil in international, regional, and domestic conflicts. Drawing on a number of academic perspectives, including economics, political science, philosophy, history, geology, and more, the key debates surrounding oil are explored. These include the role of OPEC, the future of oil in the context of climate change, and the part oil has played in civil war and terrorism.Easily accessible, this introduction to the intertwined relationship between oil and political decisions and behaviour, is an essential tool for students of political science, economics, and energy related studies of all kinds. It is also valuable for policymakers, industry practitioners, and others interested in the oil business or governance seeking a comprehensive introduction to the subject.

Read more less

How new conceptions of human–environment interaction became central to design theories and practices in the 1970s At the end of the 1960s, new models of responsiveness between humans and their environments had a profound impact on theories and practices in architecture, design, art, technology, media, and the sciences. The resulting initiatives—design philosophies, art installations, architectural projects, exhibitions, publications, and symposia—sought to bring together insights from biology, systems theory, psychology, and anthropology with modernist legacies of total design.In The Responsive Environment, Larry D. Busbea takes up this concept of environment as an object and method of design at the height of its aesthetic, technical, and discursive elaboration. Exploring emerging paradigms of environmental perception, patterning, and control as developed by Gregory Bateson, Edward T. Hall, Wolf Hilbertz, György Kepes, Marshall McLuhan, Nicholas Negroponte, Paolo Soleri, and others, he shows how living space itself was reimagined as a domain capable of modification through input from its newly sensitized inhabitants.The Responsive Environment intercuts the development of new ideas about environmental awareness with case studies of specific architecture and design projects for responsive environments. Throughout, Busbea connects these theories and practices to the contemporary obsession with “smart” things: responsive technologies, intelligent environments, biomimetic materials, and digital atmospherics.

Read more less

School shootings, police misconduct, and sexual assault where people are injured and die dominate the news. What are the connections between such incidents of violence and extreme harm? In this new book, world-renowned sociologist Patricia Hill Collins explores how violence differentially affects people according to their class, sexuality, nationality, and ethnicity. These invisible workings of overlapping power relations give rise to what she terms “lethal intersections,” where multiple forms of oppression converge to catalyze a set of violent practices that fall more heavily on particular groups. Drawing on a rich tapestry of cases, Collins challenges readers to reflect on what counts as violence today and what can be done about it. Resisting violence offers a common thread that weaves together disparate antiviolence projects across the world. When parents of murdered children organize against gun violence, when Black citizens march against the excessive use of police force in their neighborhoods, and when women and girls report sexual abuse by employers, coaches, and community leaders, the ideas and actions of ordinary people lay a foundation for new ways of thinking about and combating violence. Through its ground-breaking analysis, Lethal Intersections aims to stimulate debate about violence as one of the most pressing social problems of our times.

Read more less

In December of 1997, the International Monetary Fund announced the largest bailout package in its history, aimed at stabilizing the South Korean economy in response to a credit and currency crisis of the same year. Vicious Circuits examines what it terms "Korea's IMF Cinema," the decade of cinema following that crisis, in order to think through the transformations of global political economy at the end of the American century. It argues that one of the most dominant traits of the cinema that emerged after the worst economic crisis in the history of South Korea was its preoccupation with economic phenomena. As the quintessentially corporate art form—made as much in the boardroom as in the studio—film in this context became an ideal site for thinking through the global political economy in the transitional moment of American decline and Chinese ascension. With an explicit focus of state economic policy, IMF cinema did not just depict the economy; it also was this economy's material embodiment. That is, it both represented economic developments and was itself an important sector in which the same pressures and changes affecting the economy at large were at work. Joseph Jonghyun Jeon's window on Korea provides a peripheral but crucial perspective on the operations of late US hegemony and the contradictions that ultimately corrode it.

Read more less

Frustrated by her students’ performance, her relationships with them, and her own daughter’s problems in school, Susan D. Blum, a professor of anthropology, set out to understand why her students found their educational experience at a top-tier institution so profoundly difficult and unsatisfying. Through her research and in conversations with her students, she discovered a troubling mismatch between the goals of the university and the needs of students. In "I Love Learning; I Hate School," Blum tells two intertwined but inseparable stories: the results of her research into how students learn contrasted with the way conventional education works, and the personal narrative of how she herself was transformed by this understanding. Blum concludes that the dominant forms of higher education do not match the myriad forms of learning that help students—people in general—master meaningful and worthwhile skills and knowledge. Students are capable of learning huge amounts, but the ways higher education is structured often leads them to fail to learn. More than that, it leads to ill effects. In this critique of higher education, infused with anthropological insights, Blum explains why so much is going wrong and offers suggestions for how to bring classroom learning more in line with appropriate forms of engagement. She challenges our system of education and argues for a "reintegration of learning with life."

Read more less

In everyday language, masochism is usually understood as the desire to abdicate control in exchange for sensation—pleasure, pain, or a combination thereof. Yet at its core, masochism is a site where power, bodies, and society come together. Sensational Flesh uses masochism as a lens to examine how power structures race, gender, and embodiment in different contexts. Drawing on rich and varied sources—from 19th century sexology, psychoanalysis, and critical theory to literary texts and performance art—Amber Jamilla Musser employs masochism as a powerful diagnostic tool for probing relationships between power and subjectivity. Engaging with a range of debates about lesbian S&M, racialization, femininity, and disability, as well as key texts such as Sacher-Masoch’s Venus in Furs, Pauline Réage’s The Story of O, and Michel Foucault's History of Sexuality, Musser renders legible the complex ways that masochism has been taken up by queer, feminist, and critical race theories. Furthering queer theory’s investment in affect and materiality, she proposes “sensation” as an analytical tool for illustrating what it feels like to be embedded in structures of domination such as patriarchy, colonialism, and racism and what it means to embody femininity, blackness, and pain. Sensational Flesh is ultimately about the ways in which difference is made material through race, gender, and sexuality and how that materiality is experienced.

Read more less

A history of mainline Protestant responses to immigrants and refugees during the twentieth century Open Hearts, Closed Doors uncovers the largely overlooked role that liberal Protestants played in fostering cultural diversity in America and pushing for new immigration laws during the forty years following the passage of the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924. These efforts resulted in the complete reshaping of the US cultural and religious landscape. During this period, mainline Protestants contributed to the national debate over immigration policy and joined the charge for immigration reform, advocating for a more diverse pool of newcomers. They were successful in their efforts, and in 1965 the quota system based on race and national origin was abolished. But their activism had unintended consequences, because the liberal immigration policies they supported helped to end over three centuries of white Protestant dominance in American society. Yet, Pruitt argues, in losing their cultural supremacy, mainline Protestants were able to reassess their mission. They rolled back more strident forms of xenophobia, substantively altering the face of mainline Protestantism and laying foundations for their responses to today’s immigration debates. More than just a historical portrait, this volume is a timely reminder of the power of religious influence in political matters.

Read more less

How female directors, producers, and writers navigate the challenges and barriers facing female-driven projects at each stage of filmmaking in contemporary Hollywood. Conversations about gender equity in the workplace accelerated in the 2010s, with debates inside Hollywood specifically pointing to broader systemic problems of employment disparities and exploitative labor practices. Compounded by the devastating #MeToo revelations, these problems led to a wide-scale call for change. The Value Gap traces female-driven filmmaking across development, financing, production, film festivals, marketing, and distribution, examining the realities facing women working in the industry during this transformative moment. Drawing from five years of extensive interviews with female producers, writers, and directors at different stages of their careers, Courtney Brannon Donoghue examines how Hollywood business cultures "value" female-driven projects as risky or not bankable. Industry claims that "movies targeting female audiences don't make money" or "women can't direct big-budget blockbusters" have long circulated to rationalize systemic gender inequities and have served to normalize studios prioritizing the white male-driven status quo. Through a critical media industry studies lens, The Value Gap challenges this pervasive logic with firsthand accounts of women actively navigating the male-dominated and conglomerate-owned industrial landscape.

Read more less

Examines the cultural significance of the werewolf film Provides the first academic monograph dedicated to developing a cultural understanding of the werewolf film Reconsiders the psychoanalytic paradigms that have dominated scholarly discussion of werewolves in pop culture Includes over 40 individual case studies to illustrate how werewolf films can be understood as products of their cultural moment Identifies the cinematic werewolf's most common metaphorical dimensions Horror monsters such as the vampire, the zombie and Frankenstein's creature have long been the subjects of in-depth cultural studies, but the cinematic werewolf has often been considered little more than the 'beast within' a psychoanalytic analogue for the bestial side of man. This book, the first scholarly study of the werewolf in cinema, redresses the balance by exploring over 100 years of werewolf films, from The Werewolf (1913) to Wildling (2018) via The Wolf Man (1941), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961), The Howling (1981) and WolfCop (2014). Revealing the significance of she-wolves and wolf-men as evolving metaphors for the cultural fears and anxieties of their times, Phases of the Moon serves as a companion and a counterpoint to existing scholarship on the werewolf in popular culture, and illustrates how we can begin to understand one of our oldest mythical monsters as a rich and diverse cultural metaphor.

Read more less

SUNDAY TIMES CHILDREN'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 Laugh-out-loud funny and instantly recognisable - not since The Inbetweeners has a coming of age story been so irreverent and relatable. Fifteen-year-old Sam is not a famous vlogger, he’s never gone viral, and he doesn’t want to be the Next Big Thing. In fact he's ordinary and proud of it. None of which was a problem until Dad got rich and Mum made the whole family move to London. Now Sam's off to the North London Academy for the Gifted and Talented, where everyone's busy planning Hollywood domination or starting alt-metal psychedelica crossover bands. Sam knows he'll never belong, even if he wanted to. And that's before he ends up on stage wearing nothing but a fur onesie ... A brilliantly funny look at fitting in, falling out and staying true to your own averageness. 'Dangerously funny ... To the parent, every line rings true — this is a writer with real live teenagers and he is especially good on the ups and downs of sibling relations and young love. Sutcliffe is gifted and talented. I hope the prizes flood in. I’ll be giving this to every teenager I know' - Alex O'Connell, The Times 'The Gifted, the Talented and Me made me cry with laughter. A comic novel like this is a gift to the nation' - Amanda Craig

Read more less

'Exquisite ... A wonderment of an essay about a wonderment of a building' Paul Preston Its scaffolding-cloaked spires reach up to the heavens, dominating the Barcelona skyline and drawing in millions of visitors every year. What seduces our attention is perhaps a combination: not only its almost megalomaniac ambition and architectural extravagance but the sheer longevity of its construction. Its creator, Antoni Gaudí, 'God's Architect', saw the first stone laid on 19 March 1882 and yet it is unlikely to be completed until 2026 at the very earliest. It has survived two World Wars, the ravages of the Spanish Civil War and the 'Hunger Years' of Franco's rule. It has defied the critics, the penny-pinching accountants, the conservative town-planners and the slaves to sterile modernism to witness the most momentous changes in society and history. The Sagrada Familia explores the evolution of this remarkable building, working through the decades right up to the present day before looking beyond to the final stretch of its construction. It is at once a guidebook and a chronological history, and a moving and compelling study of man’s aspiration towards the divine. Rich in detail, vast in scope, this is a revelatory and authoritative study of a building and its place in history and the genius that created it.

Read more less

There are many books on computers, networks, and software engineering but none that integrate the three with applications. Integration is important because, increasingly, software dominates the performance, reliability, maintainability, and availability of complex computer and systems. Books on software engineering typically portray software as if it exists in a vacuum with no relationship to the wider system. This is wrong because a system is more than software. It is comprised of people, organizations, processes, hardware, and software. All of these components must be considered in an integrative fashion when designing systems. On the other hand, books on computers and networks do not demonstrate a deep understanding of the intricacies of developing software. In this book you will learn, for example, how to quantitatively analyze the performance, reliability, maintainability, and availability of computers, networks, and software in relation to the total system. Furthermore, you will learn how to evaluate and mitigate the risk of deploying integrated systems. You will learn how to apply many models dealing with the optimization of systems. Numerous quantitative examples are provided to help you understand and interpret model results. This book can be used as a first year graduate course in computer, network, and software engineering; as an on-the-job reference for computer, network, and software engineers; and as a reference for these disciplines.

Read more less