Special Collections
Benetech’s Global Certified Accessible Titles
Description: Benetech’s GCA program is the first independent third-party EPUB certification to verify ebook accessibility. By creating content that is born accessible, publishers can meet the needs of all readers. Learn more: https://bornaccessible.benetech.org/
- Table View
- List View
The Polter-Ghost Problem
by Betsy UhrigThree best friends discover a haunted orphanage and get swept up in ghoulish shenanigans in this &“laugh-out-loud, high-action read&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) for fans of Best Nerds Forever and the Fear Street series.One haunted orphanage + two types of ghosts + three freaked-out friends = plenty of trouble. Best friends Aldo, Pen, and Jasper are braced for a boring summer. And equally dull summer journal writing assignments. That is, until they see a slightly transparent boy with a bad haircut appear by the soccer field and then disappear into the woods beyond. The boys follow him and discover the long-abandoned Grauche Orphanage for Orphans, a house in the woods that is most definitely haunted. But the ghosts are not the problem. They have been trapped at the orphanage by a cranky poltergeist who erupts into violent tantrums if they put even a spectral toe across the property line. The ghosts ask the boys to help free them—but who is the angry poltergeist and what does it want? To solve the mystery, the trio must investigate the orphanage&’s dark past, evade Aldo&’s ghastly older brother, borrow a skeptical librarian, and duck lots of flying furniture, all while failing to agree on almost anything. Can they defeat the evil entity and rescue the ghosts before their parents catch on and ground them for eternity?
Welcome to Dweeb Club
by Betsy UhrigFor fans of Gordon Korman comes a hilarious, heartfelt middle grade adventure about a school club whose members stumble across video footage of themselves from five years in the future.What if a school club changed your life forever? In the second week of seventh grade, Jason Sloan signs up for the brand-new HAIR Club. He and his friends have no idea what it&’s about, but since they&’re the first to sign up they figure they&’ll be in charge in no time. The club turns out to be super weird: using fancy new equipment donated by a mysterious benefactor, the members are supposed to monitor school security footage. Their first assignment: find out what is stealing the cafeteria&’s croutons. Instead of the expected dark cafeteria, the computers show the club members something else entirely: actual footage of themselves as high school seniors, five years in the future! What on earth could be happening? Is it some kind of time warp, or alternate reality? Or is it just an un-funny prank? As they scramble to solve the mystery, they can&’t help but notice something else—none of them like what they see five years from now. Is there any way to change the future—and their fates? Figuring out who you are and who you want to become has never been funnier in this laugh-out-loud romp through the perils of middle school—and beyond.
Second-Generation Memory and Contemporary Children's Literature
by Anastasia UlanowiczWinner of the Children’s Literature Association Book Award This book visits a range of textual forms including diary, novel, and picturebook to explore the relationship between second-generation memory and contemporary children’s literature. Ulanowicz argues that second-generation memory — informed by intimate family relationships, textual mediation, and technology — is characterized by vicarious, rather than direct, experience of the past. As such, children’s literature is particularly well-suited to the representation of second-generation memory, insofar as children’s fiction is particularly invested in the transmission and reproduction of cultural memory, and its form promotes the formation of various complex intergenerational relationships. Further, children’s books that depict second-generation memory have the potential to challenge conventional Western notions of selfhood and ethics. This study shows how novels such as Lois Lowry’s The Giver (1993) and Judy Blume’s Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself (1977) — both of which feature protagonists who adapt their elders’ memories into their own mnemonic repertoires — implicitly reject Cartesian notions of the unified subject in favor of a view of identity as always-already social, relational, and dynamic in character. This book not only questions how and why second-generation memory is represented in books for young people, but whether such representations of memory might be considered 'radical' or 'conservative'. Together, these analyses address a topic that has not been explored fully within the fields of children’s literature, trauma and memory studies, and Holocaust studies.
How We Eat
by Paco UnderhillAn &“eye-opening&” (Kirkus Reviews) and timely exploration of how our food—from where it&’s grown to how we buy it—is in the midst of a transformation, showing how this is our chance to do better, for us, for our children, and for our planet, from a global expert on consumer behavior and bestselling author of Why We Buy.Our food system is undergoing a total transformation that impacts how we produce, get, and consume our food. Market researcher and bestselling author Paco Underhill—hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as &“a Sherlock Holmes for retailers&”—reveals where our eating and drinking lives are heading in his &“delectable&” (Michael Gross, New York Times bestselling author of 740 Park) book, How We Eat. In this upbeat, hopeful, and witty approach, How We Eat reveals the future of food in surprising ways. Go to the heart of New York City where a popular farmer&’s market signifies how the city is getting country-fied, or to cool Brooklyn neighborhoods with rooftop farms. Explore the dreaded supermarket parking lot as the hub of innovation for grocery stores&’ futures, where they can grow their own food and host community events. Learn how marijuana farmers, who have been using artificial light to grow a crop for years, have developed a playbook so mainstream merchants like Walmart and farmers across the world can grow food in an uncertain future. Paco Underhill is the expert behind the most prominent brands, consumer habits, and market trends and the author of multiple highly acclaimed books, including Why We Buy. In How We Eat, he shows how food intersects with every major battle we face today, from political and environmental to economic and racial, and invites you to the market to discover more.
Future Tech
by Trond Arne UndheimAmazon's Fire phone. Google Glass. Facebook Home. Quikster. New technologies alone don't always cause industry changes. Future Tech explains how the four forces of technology, policy, business models and social dynamics work together to create industry disruption and how this understanding can help to predict what is coming next. Technology is generally viewed as the single force that disrupts markets. However, history is rife with stories of technologies that have failed to meet such hyped expectations. In Future Tech, the author reveals that true change only results from combining the forces of science and technology, policy and regulation, new business models (i.e. sharing economy) and social dynamics (whether or not people adopt it). Whether these four forces align explains why some technologies, such as AI, blockchain, robotics, synthetic biology and 3D printing, stick and why others fail. With an understanding of these four forces, business executives and policymakers can explain what technology is likely to stick and even anticipate what is coming next.By 2030, the global labor force will be led by an elite set of knowledge workers enabled by robotic AI. To help individuals thrive in this workplace, Future Tech advises readers to develop their human capabilities of creativity and adaptation, develop deep expertise in one domain while being well-versed in dozens more, and develop a personalized approach to acquiring and processing information and deliberating decisions.
Health Tech
by Trond Arne UndheimGlobal healthcare will change drastically in the next decade due to key technologies, social dynamics, and systemic shifts that are already in motion. However, shaping the future requires being aware of the opportunities and able to capitalize on them to one’s family and the community’s benefit. Health tech can be a part of the solution, but tracking the right startups and influencers takes know-how. The grand challenges of our time demand that we coordinate better than ever before. Social movements can both accelerate and slow down change. Health systems across the world need to reboot, with private partnerships and new governance paradigms that have global reach but local legitimacy, but exactly how can this be done considering the collective action problem and complexity involved? Health Tech: Transforming Public Health Innovation at the Edge fulfills the need for actionable insight on what’s truly driving change and how to become a changemaker, not just affected by it. The book introduces anybody who wishes to understand how global healthcare will change in the next decade to key technologies, social dynamics, and systemic shifts that are shaping the future. Healthcare Futurist, investor and entrepreneur, Trond Undheim, describes the complex history of public health, why it’s so complicated and what the major challenges right now. He includes a discussion of COVID, why it happened, the cultural factors that has slowed down traditional public health measures and how innovation can help. He also discusses what is happening in health systems around the world as a result of the pandemic. The book also explores certain health tech measures, tools (basic medical devices gradually being upgraded and digitally enhanced), processes and innovation which are already working well, and others that are in their infancy such as AI, wearables, robotics, sensors, digital therapeutics and others. The author also describes the movers and shakers in the healthcare system of the future from startups to patients and services providers and the health challenges of our time including the pandemic, aging and preventive healthcare and much more. The book concludes with a look at how health tech may provide the biggest opportunity to transform healthcare for decades to come.
Sleeping with the Light On
by David UngerLife in Guatemala is simple for young Davico and his older brother Felipe ... until soldiers invade, and the blackouts begin. Davico lives with his family above La Casita — the Little House — in Guatemala City in the early 1950s. But it’s not just a little house. It’s also the family restaurant! The restaurant provides plenty of distraction and adventure for Davico and his older brother, Felipe. The mean cook, Augusto, and the always-late waiter, Otto, love to play tricks on Davico. There’s a huge oven that Felipe knows how to light — if he can only reach the box of matches above the stove. And don’t forget the glass tank of live lobsters — including the king of them all, Genghis Khan, who stares at Davico with round unblinking eyes. Could Genghis Khan climb on the back of the other lobsters and get out of the tank, Davico wonders. Could he move faster on land than in the water? Then one day, Davico hears shooting in the streets. There are blackouts every evening, and the family must sleep under the big wooden table in the dining room. People stop coming to the restaurant, and tanks and soldiers swarm the front of the National Palace, where a shoeshine boy warns the brothers that the gringos are coming. But what does that mean, and who are the gringos? Davico wants to be brave, but the shooting and tanks and airplanes flying overhead terrify him. He finds comfort in the special lamp that his father buys him to endure the blackouts. But it is not enough to console Davico when his parents announce that it’s time to leave for the United States of America, where no one speaks Spanish, and everything is different. Key Text Features Illustrations Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
NGOs and Civil Society in Thailand
by Theerapat UngsuchavalNGOs and Civil Society in Thailand critically examines the relationships of civil society to nongovernmental organisations in Thailand, and examines the ‘NGOisation’ of civil society, how NGOs are funded and governed, and in what way the NGOs has been shaped to work with the funder. NGOisation is a phenomenon by which the funded organisations are impelled to transform suit their funder as reliable partners. Focusing on Thailand, an Asian country where NGOs have been heavily relied on the public sector for funding, the book analyses the relations between NGOs and their significant funder, Thailand Health Promotion Foundation (THPF), one of the biggest and most influential players in the NGO sector. As the NGO funded organisations are impelled to transform and adapt to become more professionalised, institutionalised, bureaucratised, and depoliticised to suit their funder as reliable partners, their characteristics and relations with the state are complex and interactive. Engaging with key stakeholders in the field of NGO and public governance in Thailand, the book demonstrates how THPF changed the NGO landscape, integrating them and innovatively coordinating non-state initiatives into public governance system. A novel contribution to the study of NGOs and the state, the book also addresses NGO transformation, politics, and governance. It will be of interest to academics working on Asian Politics, civil society, public policy and public management.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Global Empires
by Ko UnokiCompanies that have acquired other enterprises through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) have in essence become entities that are akin to the global "empires" of history. In this book, the author weaves a unique narrative that looks at both empires of business created from M&A and global empires from world history in an attempt to answer the question: why do certain empires endure for long periods while others collapse in a short space of time. Empires formed from M&A or conquest have a hierarchical relationship of control and domination by a single authority or centre that can be described as a "parent company" or a "mother country" over another group of people based in a periphery that can be described as a "subsidiary company" or "colony." Given their similarities in development and structure, the author argues from looking at examples of empires in Western and Asian history as well as major M&A cases that long enduring empires created from M&A and global empires have a common cultural trait; their practice of "tolerance" within their organizations/societies. While there are books on the topics of M&A and empires, at present there is no single text that examines the impact of culture on both. This book is intended to fill such a void and provide hints and suggestions to those practitioners of M&A as well as students of business and history who want an accessible, non-technical narrative on what makes empires, whether they are of the nation or of M&A endure and prosper.
Rethinking Race and Identity in Contemporary British Fiction
by Sara UpstoneThis book takes a post-racial approach to the representation of race in contemporary British fiction, re-imagining studies of race and British literature away from concerns with specific racial groups towards a more sophisticated analysis of the contribution of a broad, post-racial British writing. Examining the work of writers from a wide range of diverse racial backgrounds, the book illustrates how contemporary British fiction, rather than merely reflecting social norms, is making a radical contribution towards the possible future of a positively multi-ethnic and post-racial Britain. This is developed by a strategic use of the realist form, which becomes a utopian device as it provides readers with a reality beyond current circumstances, yet one which is rooted within an identifiable world. Speaking to the specific contexts of British cultural politics, and directly connecting with contemporary debates surrounding race and identity in Britain, the author engages with a wide range of both mainstream and neglected authors, including Ian McEwan, Zadie Smith, Julian Barnes, John Lanchester, Alan Hollinghurst, Martin Amis, Jon McGregor, Andrea Levy, Bernardine Evaristo, Hanif Kureishi, Kazuo Ishiguro, Hari Kunzru, Nadeem Aslam, Meera Syal, Jackie Kay, Maggie Gee, and Neil Gaiman. This cutting-edge volume explores how contemporary fiction is at the centre of re-thinking how we engage with the question of race in twenty-first-century Britain.
Moving Target
by Carole-Anne UptonMoving Target offers a rigorous exploration of the practice of translating for the theatre. The twelve essays in the volume span a range of work from Eastern and Western Europe, Canada and the United States. For the first time, this book draws together existing translation theory with contemporary practice to shed light on a hitherto neglected aspect of the production process. How does the theatre translator mediate between source text, performance text and target audience? What happens when theatre is transposed from one culture to another? What are the obstacles to theatre translation, and what are the opportunities? Central to the debate throughout is the role of the translator in creating not only a linguistic text but also a performance text, as the contributors repeatedly demonstrate an illuminating sensibility to the demands and potential of theatre production. Impacting upon areas of (inter)cultural theory as well as theatre studies and translation studies, the result is a startling revelation of the joys, as well as the frustrations of the dramatic art of the translator for performance.
Talk Santa to Me
by Linda UrbanA teen girl gets the perfect second try at a first kiss in this hilarious, romp-filled young adult romantic comedy perfect for fans of Jenna Evans Welch and Hallmark Christmas movies.Francie was born in a stable. Really. Granted, it was the deluxe model with the light-up star on the roof, one of the many Christmas items for sale at her family&’s Hollydale Holiday Shop. Their holiday gift empire also includes the Santa School, which was founded by Francie&’s beloved grandpa, who recently passed away. Francie&’s always loved working in the shop, but lately Aunt Carole has been changing everything with her ideas for too-slick, Hollywood-inspired Santas and horrible holiday-themed employee uniforms. Aunt Carole&’s vision will ruin all the charm and nostalgia Francie loves about her family&’s business…unless she does something about it. But this winter is about more than preserving the magic of Christmas. Francie is saving up for a car and angling to kiss the cute boy who works at the tree lot next door—hopefully it will be good enough to wipe her fiasco of a first kiss from her memory. As the weather outside gets more and more frightful, can Francie pull off the holiday of her dreams?
Human Behavior in the Social Environment
by Esther UrdangHuman Behavior in the Social Environment: Interweaving the Inner and Outer Worlds is an essential human behavior textbook for social work students. The third edition emphasizes the biopsychosocial framework within a psychodynamic, developmental and life-course perspective and includes a brand new chapter on the psychosocial complexities of technological advances. Written by an experienced classroom teacher, faculty advisor and clinician, the text approaches development through the life cycle, discussing the challenges, tasks, and problems of each stage. Presenting complex concepts in a clear and understandable way, Human Behavior in the Social Environment: Includes 16 chapters which cover the diverse nature of the circumstances that practicing social workers will be exposed to, including cultural differences, mental health issues, and disability; Analyses several different theories, including psychoanalytic, ego psychology, cognitive-behavioral, and postmodern theories in a manner that enables students to engage critically with the subject matter; Includes case vignettes and material from literary works, biographies and newspapers, intertwined with learning exercises and suggestions for additional readings, forming an engaging and practical volume. Written specifically for social work students undertaking courses and modules on human behavior in the social environment, this book is also a valuable resource for beginning and advanced readers in human services, including nursing, medicine, public health, clinical psychology and counseling.
The Age of Creativity
by Emily UrquhartA moving portrait of a father and daughter relationship and a case for late-stage creativity from Emily Urquhart, the bestselling author of Beyond the Pale: Folklore, Family, and the Mystery of Our Hidden Genes. “The fundamental misunderstanding of our time is that we belong to one age group or another. We all grow old. There is no us and them. There was only ever an us.” — from The Age of CreativityIt has long been thought that artistic output declines in old age. When Emily Urquhart and her family celebrated the eightieth birthday of her father, the illustrious painter Tony Urquhart, she found it remarkable that, although his pace had slowed, he was continuing his daily art practice of drawing, painting, and constructing large-scale sculptures, and was even innovating his style. Was he defying the odds, or is it possible that some assumptions about the elderly are flat-out wrong? After all, many well-known visual artists completed their best work in the last decade of their lives, Turner, Monet, and Cézanne among them. With the eye of a memoirist and the curiosity of a journalist, Urquhart began an investigation into late-stage creativity, asking: Is it possible that our best work is ahead of us? Is there an expiry date on creativity? Do we ever really know when we’ve done anything for the last time?The Age of Creativity is a graceful, intimate blend of research on ageing and creativity, including on progressive senior-led organizations, such as a home for elderly theatre performers and a gallery in New York City that only represents artists over sixty, and her experiences living and travelling with her father. Emily Urquhart reveals how creative work, both amateur and professional, sustains people in the third act of their lives, and tells a new story about the possibilities of elder-hood.
The Message of Plato
by Edward J UrwickEdward Urwick’s original work draws upon Plato’s best known work, the Republic, to provide a new interpretation of Plato’s teaching based upon Indian religious thought. Most scholars have sought to interpret the Republic from the standpoint of politics, ethics, and metaphysics and indeed the accepted title of the dialogue – Concerning a Polity or Republic – would seem to legitimate this. Even the alternative title for the work – Concerning Justice – seems to justify such an approach. Yet the original Greek work, Dikaiosune, had a fuller meaning: righteousness. The author believes this gives a truer clue to the meaning of the dialogue. It is a discussion of righteousness in all its forms, from the just dealing of the law-abiding citizen to the spirit of holiness in the saint.
9/11 Ten Years After
by Rachel E. UtleyTen years on, what have been the principal impacts of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the external policies and international outlooks of the world's major powers, the range and scope of the international security agenda and on the capacity for states and international organisations to work together to combat the dangers of international terrorism? This book investigates a range of international responses to the events of 9/11, to evaluate their consistency over time; to analyse their long-term significance and impact and to consider both their implications for the international security agenda and the prospects for international cooperation in addressing the challenges posed. In particular, the book considers the perspectives of some of the world's major powers and international organisations on the question of international terrorism, and on its perpetrators, comparing their interpretations and responses and examining how these have changed over the course of a decade of conflict. This book is primarily directed at an academic market, and especially towards undergraduate and taught postgraduate students on courses in international politics, international relations, security studies, terrorism studies, and contemporary international history.
Dismantling the Ottoman Empire
by Nevzat UyanıkPrior to World War I, American involvement in Armenian affairs was limited to missionary and educational interests. This was contrary to Britain, which had played a key role in the diplomatic arena since the Treaty of Berlin in 1878, when the Armenian question had become a subject of great power diplomacy. However, by the end of the war the dynamics of the international system had undergone drastic change, with America emerging as one of the primary powers politically involved in the Armenian issue. Dismantling the Ottoman Empire explores this evolution of the United States’ role in the Near East, from politically distant and isolated power to assertive major player. Through careful analysis of the interaction of Anglo-American policies vis-à-vis the Ottoman Armenians, from the Great War through the Lausanne Peace Conference, it examines the change in British and American strategies towards the region in light of the tension between the notions of new diplomacy vs. old diplomacy. The book also highlights the conflict between humanitarianism and geostrategic interests, which was a particularly striking aspect of the Armenian question during the war and post war period. Using material drawn from public and personal archives and collections, it sheds light on the geopolitical dynamics and intricacies of great power politics with their long-lasting effects on the reshuffling of the Middle East. The book would be of interest to scholars and students of political & diplomatic history, Near Eastern affairs, American and British diplomacy in the beginning of the twentieth century, the history of the Ottoman Empire, the Middle East and the Caucasus.
Mastering Django
by Sufyan Bin UzayrMastering Django helps the reader master the powerful Django framework for Python for creating dynamic applications and projects. Django is a high-level, open-source Python web framework created to help web developers achieve tight deadlines while also meeting a variety of needs. The primary feature of Django that makes it so popular among developers is that it promotes rapid development while providing a consistent and realistic design. Django is a complete toolkit with a basic code architecture and highly adaptable architecture that promotes rapid development — it can shape and pace your web app concept and see it through to launch in a matter of hours. Django's simplicity, stability, scalability, and flexibility are unmatched. It is currently a vibrant, collaborative open source project with thousands of users and contributors. Django is a versatile framework capable of developing any website. Robust design, rapid software development, fantastic documentation and tutorials, a vast community with readymade solutions,reasonably easy learning curve, and a high degree of clarity and readability are all hallmarks of this popular web framework. Django has carved out a niche for itself in the industry over the years, and appropriately so. Many popular apps use Django as their secret ingredient. Django has many faetures and can accommodate any modern web application. If you wish to build a successful career in web development, learning Django is a wise choice. With Mastering Django, learning the Django framework becomes a charm, and will help readers undoubtedly advance their careers. About the Series The Mastering Computer Science covers a wide range of topics, spanning programming languages as well as modern-day technologies and frameworks. The series has a special focus on beginner-level content, and is presented in an easy to understand manner, comprising: Crystal-clear text, spanning various topics sorted by relevance, Special focus on practical exercises, with numerous code samples and programs, A guided approach to programming, with step by step tutorials for the absolute beginners, Keen emphasis on real-world utility of skills, thereby cutting the redundant and seldom-used concepts and focusing instead of industry-prevalent coding paradigm, A wide range of references and resources, to help both beginner and intermediate-level developers gain the most out of the books. Mastering Computer Science series of books start from the core concepts, and then quickly move on to industry-standard coding practices, to help learners gain efficient and crucial skills in as little time as possible. The books assume no prior knowledge of coding, so even the absolute newbie coders can benefit from this series. Mastering Computer Science series is edited by Sufyan bin Uzayr, a writer and educator with over a decade of experience in the computing field.
Mastering Rust
by Sufyan Bin UzayrMastering Rust helps the reader master the powerful Rust programming language for creating stable and versatile applications and projects. Rust is a dependable and robust programming language that was created with today’s needs in mind, which is something that several other scripting languages lack. Rust was developed to provide high functions comparable to those of C and C++, and with a focus on code integrity, which is, arguably, lacking in languages such as C. Rust is a dynamically typed language that emphasizes performance and reliability, particularly in parallelism and storage organization. Rust allows you to store data on the tower or the shedload, and it recognizes the importance of performance optimization. It permits even more effective memory usage as well as faster memory management than most other programming languages in its league. Make no mistake about it – Rust is a programming language with a strong learning curve, and is considered complicated by even the most experienced of developers. The rewards for learning Rust are aplenty, but the learning process itself requires a good deal of determination and hard work. Nonetheless, Rust aims to provide a secure, concurrent, and practical systems language in ways that other programming languages do not, and this is primarily why Rust is often the preferred choice for building complex and highly stable apps. Rust boasts of advantages over many other programming languages in terms of expressiveness, speed, sound design, and memory storage. Though the language is new and constantly changing with time, there is an excellent opportunity in this field for future employment. That said, to learn the reliable language that is Rust, you need to have an equally reliable companion guide in your hands, and this is where Mastering Rust comes in. With Mastering Rust, learning Rust programming language becomes a charm, and will undoubtedly help readers advance their careers. The Mastering Computer Science series is edited by Sufyan bin Uzayr, a writer and educator with more than a decade of experience in the computing field.
Advancing Computational Intelligence Techniques for Security Systems Design
by Uzzal Sharma, Parmanand Astya, Anupam Baliyan, Salah-ddine Krit, Vishal Jain and Mohammad Zubair KhanSecurity systems have become an integral part of the building and large complex setups, and intervention of the computational intelligence (CI) paradigm plays an important role in security system architecture. This book covers both theoretical contributions and practical applications in security system design by applying the Internet of Things (IoT) and CI. It further explains the application of IoT in the design of modern security systems and how IoT blended with computational intel- ligence can make any security system improved and realizable. Key features: Focuses on the computational intelligence techniques of security system design Covers applications and algorithms of discussed computational intelligence techniques Includes convergence-based and enterprise integrated security systems with their applications Explains emerging laws, policies, and tools affecting the landscape of cyber security Discusses application of sensors toward the design of security systems This book will be useful for graduate students and researchers in electrical, computer engineering, security system design and engineering.
Public Health in International Investment Law and Arbitration
by Valentina VadiIs a State free to adopt measures to protect the public health of its citizens? If so, what are the limits, if any, to such regulatory powers? This book addresses these questions by focusing on the clash between the regulatory autonomy of the state and international investment governance. As a wide variety of state regulations allegedly aimed at protecting public health may interfere with foreign investments, a tension exists between the public health policies of the host state and investment treaty provisions. Under most investment treaties, States have waived their sovereign immunity, and have agreed to give arbitrators a comprehensive jurisdiction over what are essentially regulatory disputes. Some scholars and practitioners have expressed concern regarding the magnitude of decision-making power allocated to investment treaty tribunals. This book contributes to the current understanding of international investment law and arbitration, addressing the fundamental question of whether public health has and/or should have any relevance in contemporary international investment law and policy. With a focus on the ‘clash of cultures’ between international investment law and public health, the author critically analyses the emerging case law of investment treaty arbitration and considers the theoretical interplay between public health and investor rights in international investment law. The book also explores the interplay between investment law and public health in practice, focusing on specific sectors such as pharmaceutical patents, tobacco regulation and environmental health. It then goes on to analyze the available means for promoting consideration of public health in international investment law and suggests new methods and approaches to better reconcile public health and investor rights.
Language, Desire and Theology
by Noëlle VahanianThis interesting and provocative work develops a new theological approach to language in the light of contemporary critical theory.
The Birth of a Genetics Policy
by Joëlle VaillyTesting for genetic diseases or traits is a rapidly developing practice, the most widely used form of testing currently in use being newborn screening. Based on a five-year research project and winner of the Prix ’Le Monde’ for academic research in France, The Birth of a Genetics Policy analyses the three dimensions - scientific, political and moral - of the social issues raised by a policy of screening for the genetic disease of cystic fibrosis amongst babies. Drawing on extensive interview material and observational research, it explores the conditions under which a screening policy is decided upon and implemented, the types of political logic underlying it, and the effects it has on norms and values. Revealing the ties that exist between forms of biomedical knowledge and political techniques, whilst showing how the notion of biomedical abnormality is being extended, this book sheds light on judgements surrounding the idea of the ’quality (of) life’. A rigorous examination of the discourses and practices of medical genetics in the early twenty-first century, The Birth of a Genetics Policy will appeal to sociologists and anthropologists with interests in medicine and the body, evidence-based care and questions of biopolitics and governmentality.
Islamic Veiling in Legal Discourse
by Anastasia VakulenkoIslamic Veiling in Legal Discourse looks at relevant law and surrounding discourses in order to examine the assumptions and limits of the debates around the issue of Islamic veiling that has become so topical in recent years. For some, Islamic veiling indicates a lack of autonomy, the oppression of women and the threat of Islamic radicalism to western secular values. For others, it suggests a positive autonomous choice, a new kind of gender equality and a legitimate exercise of one’s freedom of religion – a treasured right in democratic societies. This book finds that, across seemingly diverse legal and political traditions, a set of discursive frameworks – the preoccupation with autonomy and choice; the imperative of gender equality; and a particular western understanding of religion and religious subjectivity – shape the positions of both proponents and opponents of various restrictions on Islamic veiling. Rather than take a position on one or the other side of the debate, the book focuses on the frameworks themselves, highlighting their limitations
The Evolution of Deficit Thinking
by Richard R. ValenciaDeficit thinking refers to the notion that students, particularly low income minority students, fail in school because they and their families experience deficiencies that obstruct the leaning process (e.g. limited intelligence, lack of motivation, inadequate home socialization). Tracing the evolution of deficit thinking, the authors debunk the pseudo-science and offer more plausible explanations of why students fail.