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Where You're Planted
by Melanie SweeneyFrom the author of the "phenomenal achievement" (Kirkus) Take Me Home, a children&’s librarian must temporarily move her public library into a shed in the county botanic gardens, where her archnemesis is the assistant director.Single mom Tansy Perkins only has room in her life for her daughter and her library. And maybe the next book to add to her collection. But after a catastrophic hurricane severely damages her library, she's forced to temporarily move her branch into the adjacent county botanic gardens, where Jack Reid—the world&’s grouchiest gardener who rescued her and her daughter from the flood—happens to be the assistant director.Jack has always preferred plants over people, having built a strong track record of avoiding relationships ever since his divorce six years ago. So, Tansy and her quirky band of bookish colleagues&’ encroachment into his carefully-kept territory is a little more than irksome, especially when it means sharing his already-scarce resources.When Jack and Tansy are tasked with working together on the spring festival, they have no choice but to call a truce. And soon their newfound professional partnership gives way to a deep intimacy that they've both been silently craving. But Tansy has lost too much to risk her heart, and Jack has sworn off real love. When an opportunity arises for funding that both the library and gardens need, will their loyalties lie with the futures they'd always planned for, or the new spark they've found with each other?
Fortress Power: Hostile Designs and the Politics of Spatial Control
by Derek S. DenmanA compelling treatise on the relationship between power and enclosureFortress Power presents a genealogy of fortification as a material and political technology intent on obstruction, tracing its implementation across battlefields, borders, and urban environments. Drawing on the influential work of philosophers Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben, Derek S. Denman places the fortress alongside the archetypes of the prison and the camp, citing them as paradigmatic of how space is transformed into a tool of domination and control. Focusing on the defensive architecture of bastion fortresses, urban design, and border landscapes, Fortress Power charts the rise of a form of governance grounded in hostility, extending the scope of its subject from a piece of military construction to a much broader political concept. Detailing how power manifests in everything from city centers to international boundaries, the book analyzes the logic of fortification as it moves through various contexts in the advancement of surveillance, exploitation, warfare, and political authority. Through a unique blend of architecture and design studies, political theory, international relations, geography, and migration studies, Denman outlines the disquieting legacy of the fortress to highlight its role in the formation of modern government and the enactment of violence. In an era marked by the increasing prevalence of authoritarian power and conflicting geopolitical boundaries, he presents an insightful investigation of the weaponization of the built environment.
Opposition by Imitation: The Economics of Italian Anti-Mafia Activism (Diverse Economies and Livable Worlds)
by Christina JerneDefying the mafia with everyday acts of resistance For more than 150 years, Italy has been home to a resilient and evolving resistance against the pervasive influence of mafias. While these criminal organizations are renowned for their vast international business enterprises, the collective actions taken to oppose them are less known. In Opposition by Imitation, Christina Jerne explores anti-mafia activism, revealing how ordinary people resist, counter, and prevent criminal economies from proliferating. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork among anti-mafia alliances in Campania, Sicily, and other parts of Italy, Jerne details a particular aspect of mafia activities: providing cash relief and other forms of patronage to individuals and groups. Her research shows how activism has evolved to imitate this sustaining role. Activists are increasingly challenging mafia control both by creating alternative economies—from producing food that interrupts mafia labor practices to organizing tourism that supports anti-mafia hospitality—and by subversively adopting business tactics similar to the mafia&’s to compete with their social influence and legitimacy. Exposing the political implications of this mimetic opposition, Jerne points to its potential impact on crime prevention and criminalization, both in Italy and globally. Opposition by Imitation shows how these modern-day Robin Hoods are redefining collective action, taking what was controlled by the mafias and returning it to the collective. This contentious economic turn, against the backdrop of broader social movements, reveals significant political possibilities afforded by imitative opposition. Retail e-book files for this title are screen-reader friendly with images accompanied by short alt text and/or extended descriptions.
The Key to Everything: May Swenson, A Writer's Life
by Margaret A. BruciaAn intimate portrait of the twentieth-century American poetMay Swenson (1913–1989) was one of the most important and original poets of the twentieth century. The Key to Everything is a biography of this experimental American modernist that draws directly from her unpublished diaries and her letters to friends, family, and colleagues, most notably Elizabeth Bishop. In 1952, Swenson wrote in her diary, &“I want to confirm my life in a narrative—my Lesbianism, the hereditary background of my parents, grandparents, origins in the &‘old country.&’&” Taking up Swenson&’s uncompleted autobiographical plan, Margaret Brucia tells Swenson&’s story as much as possible through her own words.While chronicling the whole of Swenson&’s life, this book focuses on the period from 1936 to 1959, when she came of age artistically and personally in New York City. Against the backdrop of the Great Depression, the Federal Writers&’ Project, Greenwich Village, and the emergence of gay culture, Swenson&’s diaries lay bare her aspirations, fears, joys, and disappointments. Readers see the poet and person emerge, inextricably entwined, as Swenson describes her struggles with poverty, anonymity, and predatory men; her romantic relationships; and the people she met, the books she read, and the work she produced.The most detailed and intimate biography of Swenson to date, The Key to Everything is a unique portrait of a poet who resisted labels throughout her life.
The Regime Question: Foundations of Democratic Governance in Europe and the United States
by Amel AhmedOngoing struggles over core principles of democratic governanceThe regime question—often boiled down to &“democracy or autocracy?&”—has been central to democratic politics from the start. This has entailed not only fights over the extent of the franchise but also, crucially, ongoing struggles over core principles of democracy, the &“rules of the game.&” In this timely study, Amel Ahmed examines the origins and development of the regime question in Western democracies and considers the implications for regime contention today. She argues that battles over the regime question were so foundational and so enduring that they constitute a dimension of politics that polarized political opponents across the regime divide.Ahmed investigates four historical cases in the study of democratic development: the United Kingdom between the Reform Act of 1832 and World War II (1832–1939), Imperial and Weimar–era Germany (1876–1933), the French Third Republic (1870–1939), and the United States before World War II (1789–1939). Focusing on legislative politics as an essential site of democratic governance and key to understanding long-term democratic endurance, she shows that when the regime question became salient, it hindered the formation of viable legislative coalitions along the left-right policy spectrum. This failure opened the door to executive encroachment, destabilizing the regime. Ahmed shows that the resurgence of the regime question today is not, as is often assumed, a break with prior trajectories of political development but a new instantiation of battles fought in previous eras.
The Colony and the Company: Haiti after the Mississippi Bubble
by Malick W. GhachemA new account of how Haiti under French colonial rule became a violent sugar plantation stateIn the early eighteenth century, France turned to its New World colonies to help rescue the monarchy from the wartime debts of Louis XIV. This short-lived scheme ended in the first global stock market crash, known as the Mississippi Bubble. Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) was indelibly marked by the crisis, given its centrality in the slave-trading monopoly controlled by the French East Indies Company. Rising prices for enslaved people and devaluation of the Spanish silver supply triggered a diffuse rebellion that broke the company&’s monopoly and paved the way for what planters conceived as &“free trade.&” In The Colony and the Company, Malick Ghachem describes how the crisis that began in financial centers abroad reverberated throughout Haiti. Beginning on the margins of white society before spreading to wealthy planters, the revolt also created political openings for Jesuit missionaries and people of color. The resulting sugar revolution, Ghachem argues, gave rise to an increasingly violent, militarized planter state from which the colony, and later Haiti, would never recover.Ghachem shows that the wealthy planters who co-opted the rebellion were simultaneously locked in a showdown with maroon resistance. The conflict between the planters&’ militant defense of their prerogatives and maroon rebellion laid the foundations for a brutal history of marginalization and immiseration. Haiti became a full-fledged plantation colony held together by a ruthless form of white supremacy and enslavement, triggering a cycle of escalating violence that led to the Haitian Revolution. Tragically, Haiti&’s postrevolutionary future remained captive to the imperial sway of money and debt.
Discrete and Computational Geometry, 2nd Edition
by Joseph O'Rourke Satyan L. DevadossThe essential introduction to discrete and computational geometry—now fully updated and expandedDiscrete and Computational Geometry bridges the theoretical world of discrete geometry with the applications-driven realm of computational geometry, offering a comprehensive yet accessible introduction to this cutting-edge frontier of mathematics and computer science. Beginning with polygons and ending with polyhedra, it explains how to capture the shape of data given by a set of points, from convex hulls and triangulations to Voronoi diagrams, geometric duality, chains, linkages, and alpha complexes. Connections to real-world applications are made throughout, and algorithms are presented independent of any programming language. Now fully updated and expanded, this richly illustrated textbook is an invaluable learning tool for students in mathematics, computer science, engineering, and physics.Now with new sections on duality and on computational topologyProject suggestions at the end of every chapterCovers traditional topics as well as new and advanced materialFeatures numerous full-color illustrations, exercises, and fully updated unsolved problemsUniquely designed for a one-semester classAccessible to college sophomores with minimal backgroundAlso suitable for more advanced studentsOnline solutions manual (available to instructors)
The West: The History of an Idea
by Georgios VarouxakisA comprehensive intellectual history of the idea of the WestHow did &“the West&” come to be used as a collective self-designation signaling political and cultural commonality? When did &“Westerners&” begin to refer to themselves in this way? Was the idea handed down from the ancient Greeks, or coined by nineteenth-century imperialists? Neither, writes Georgios Varouxakis in The West, his ambitious and fascinating genealogy of the idea. &“The West&” was not used by Plato, Cicero, Locke, Mill, or other canonized figures of what we today call the Western tradition. It was not first wielded by empire-builders. It gradually emerged as of the 1820s and was then, Varouxakis shows, decisively promoted in the 1840s by the French philosopher Auguste Comte (whose political project, incidentally, was passionately anti-imperialist). The need for the use of the term &“the West&” emerged to avoid the confusing or unwanted consequences of the use of &“Europe.&” The two overlapped, but were not identical, with the West used to differentiate from certain &“others&” within Europe as well as to include the Americas.After examining the origins, Varouxakis traces the many and often astonishingly surprising changes in the ways in which the West has been understood, and the different intentions and consequences related to a series of these contested definitions. While other theories of the West consider only particular aspects of the concept and its history (if only in order to take aim at its reputation), Varouxakis&’s analysis offers a comprehensive account that reaches to the present day, exploring the multiplicity of current, and not least, prospective future meanings. He concludes with an examination of how, since 2022, definitions and membership of the West have been reworked to consider Ukraine, as the evolution and redefinitions continue.
Worlds of Unfreedom: West Central Africa in the Era of Global Abolition
by Roquinaldo FerreiraAn African-centered account of the protracted battle to end the slave trade, connecting local and global historiesIn Worlds of Unfreedom, Roquinaldo Ferreira recasts West Central Africa as a key battleground in the struggle to abolish the transatlantic slave trade between the 1830s and the 1860s. Ferreira foregrounds the experiences and agency of enslaved Africans, challenging Eurocentric narratives that marginalize African participation in abolition efforts. Drawing on extensive archival research across multiple continents, he shows how enslaved people actively resisted the oppressive systems that sought to commodify their lives. Doing so, he integrates microhistorical analysis with broader world history, exploring individual trajectories to unravel complex global phenomena. Worlds of Unfreedom bridges a crucial gap by connecting Atlantic and Indian Ocean histories, revealing how abolitionist measures often camouflaged new forms of labor exploitation and forced migration under emerging colonial regimes.Ferreira&’s analysis spans the globe, from Luanda, the kingdom of Kongo, and the Lunda Empire to Havana, Rio de Janeiro, New York City, and Réunion Island. He examines the South Atlantic as a space where politics and race-making were deeply intertwined, with ideas and identities crossing and recrossing the ocean. He considers Portugal&’s strategic use of abolition efforts for territorial expansion, its impact on the kingdom of Kongo, and the intricate networks linking West Central Africa to Cuba and Brazil. With Worlds of Unfreedom, Ferreira shows how multiple actors, including Africans, built anti–slave trade politics from the margins. His nuanced, Africa-centered perspective on abolition highlights the resilience and contributions of enslaved Africans in shaping the course of history.
Designing the American Century: The Public Landscapes of Clarke and Rapuano, 1915–1965
by Thomas J. CampanellaA richly illustrated look at the lives and collaborations of two unsung giants of American landscape and urban designGilmore D. Clarke and Michael Rapuano were the foremost spatial designers of the American century. Their vast portfolio of public landscapes propelled the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux into the motor age, touching the lives of millions and changing the face of the nation. Designing the American Century recovers the forgotten legacy of Clarke and Rapuano, whose parks and parkways, highways and housing estates helped modernize—for better or worse—the American metropolis.With the patronage of public-works titan Robert Moses, Clarke and Rapuano transformed New York over a span of fifty years, revitalizing the city&’s immense park system but also planning expressways, public housing, and urban renewal projects that laid waste to entire sections of the city. In this groundbreaking work, Thomas J. Campanella describes how Clarke and Rapuano helped create some of the metropolitan region&’s most iconic landscapes, from the Central Park Zoo and Conservatory Garden to the Henry Hudson Parkway and Riverside Park, Jones Beach, the Palisades and Taconic State Parkways, and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. He shows how they left their mark far beyond Gotham as well, with projects as diverse as Yellowstone&’s Mammoth Hot Springs, the Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, site plans for the Pentagon and CIA headquarters, and Montreal&’s Olympic Park.Richly illustrated with a wealth of previously unpublished drawings, plans, and photographs, Designing the American Century fills one of the last major gaps in the history of American urbanism.
MCAT Biology Review 2026-2027: Online + Book (Kaplan Test Prep)
by Kaplan Test PrepKaplan&’s MCAT Biology Review 2026-2027 offers an expert study plan, detailed subject review, and hundreds of online and in-book practice questions—all authored by the experts behind Kaplan's score-raising MCAT prep course. Prepping for the MCAT is a true challenge. Kaplan can be your partner along the way—offering guidance on where to focus your efforts and how to organize your review. This book has been updated to match the AAMC&’s guidelines precisely—no more worrying about whether your MCAT review is comprehensive!The Most Practice More than 350 questions in the book and access to even more online—more practice than any other MCAT biology book on the market. The Best Practice Comprehensive biology subject review is written by top-rated, award-winning Kaplan instructors. Full-color, 3-D illustrations, charts, graphs and diagrams help turn even the most complex science into easy-to-visualize concepts. All material is vetted by editors with advanced science degrees and by a medical doctor. Online resources, including a full-length practice test, help you practice in the same computer-based format you&’ll see on Test Day. Expert Guidance High-yield badges throughout the book identify the topics most frequently tested by the AAMC. We know the test: The Kaplan MCAT team has spent years studying every MCAT-related document available. Kaplan&’s expert psychometricians ensure our practice questions and study materials are true to the test.
MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Review 2026-2027: Online + Book (Kaplan Test Prep)
by Kaplan Test PrepKaplan&’s MCAT Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills Review 2026-2027 offers an expert study plan, detailed subject review, and hundreds of online and in-book practice questions—all authored by the experts behind Kaplan's score-raising MCAT prep course. Prepping for the MCAT is a true challenge. Kaplan can be your partner along the way—offering guidance on where to focus your efforts and how to organize your review. This book has been updated to match the AAMC&’s guidelines precisely—no more worrying about whether your MCAT review is comprehensive!The Most Practice More than 100 questions in the book and access to even more online—more practice than any other MCAT CARS book on the market. The Best Practice Comprehensive CARS subject review is written by top-rated, award-winning Kaplan instructors. All material is vetted by editors with advanced science degrees and by a medical doctor. Online resources, including a full-length practice test, help you practice in the same computer-based format you&’ll see on Test Day. Expert Guidance We know the test: The Kaplan MCAT team has spent years studying every MCAT-related document available. Kaplan&’s expert psychometricians ensure our practice questions and study materials are true to the test.
The 13 Power Moves of Dark Psychology: Learn the Tricks to Protect Yourself from Abuse and Covertly Influence Anyone
by Lena SiscoUnlock the psychology of deceit, step into your power, and regain control of your life.Whether it&’s a manipulative boss, a controlling partner, or a toxic friend or roommate, chances are you&’ve encountered mind games in your relationships. The 13 Power Moves of Dark Psychology will help you decode gaslighting and deception by reading body language, recognizing behavior patterns, and understanding the methodology of individuals who employ dark psychology—or subtle techniques meant to manipulate and control you in harmful ways. Bringing her expertise as a military interrogator and intelligence officer, author Lena Sisco teaches you the warning signs of manipulation and offers 13 proven strategies to help you protect yourself from narcissists, liars, cheaters, and outright sociopaths. For anyone who wants to sharpen their instincts, especially those who are: Navigating a new relationship, personal or professional, and need to know who to trust Running a business and want to avoid being manipulated into bad decisions Trying to recover from being scammed, lied to, or emotionally manipulated Simply looking to protect themselves from those who take advantage You don&’t have to live in fear of being deceived. Armed with the right knowledge, you can avoid toxic people, reclaim your peace of mind, and ensure that your life is filled with healthy relationships.
Island Creatures
by Margarita EngleFrom award-winning author Margarita Engle comes an inspiring and luminous love story told in verse about childhood friends, once lost and now reconnected, and their fight to protect endangered animals.Every day, Vida reads to the creatures at the wildlife rescue center and dreams of her childhood in Cuba, where she and her best friend Adán adventured through the island rescuing animals from harm. Unbeknownst to her, Adán has also moved to Florida and is feeling trapped in his new home, buffeted by the stormy fights between his abuelo and papi. When a chance encounter with a captive fox leads to their reunion, Vida and Adán are able to find refuge from the cruelty that surrounds them in their soaring, rekindled romance. Their love reaches new heights as they work together at the zoo that rescues rare species, but soon they realize that this peace is only temporary. Much like the wildlife they want to protect, Vida and Adán are caught in a cycle of distrust and heartlessness. As old family grudges and painful memories come to light, can they and their families learn to heal and forgive each other for a brighter, kinder future?
Moonrising
by Claire BarnerA debut near future romance, where Sea of Tranquility meets Winter's Orbit, told against the backdrop of the Moon's first lunar colony, with a multicultural and LGBTQ+ cast, about a cynical agronomist and charming Emirati businessman who fall in love, and battle eco-terrorists.In 2073, controversial agronomist Dr. Alex Cole has dedicated her life to mutagenetic food, the only solution to feeding a world torn apart by climate change. When fierce opposition from radical environmentalists wipes out her lab funding, a surprising lifeline appears in the form of Mansoor Al Kaabi, a charismatic Emirati businessman who needs a sustainable food supply for his guests on the Moon&’s first hotel. Alex moves to the Moon colony with Mansoor, and they immediately dive into the challenging work. As she smuggles in illegal chickens, fights a vexing tomato fungus, and dreams of olive groves on the Moon, Alex is surprised to find herself falling in love not just with the lunar colony, but with Mansoor, whose vision for the future of the Moon extends far beyond luxury hotels. Back on Earth, eccentric genius Victor Beard and Mansoor&’s younger brother Rashid fight to push the Homestead Act through Congress. Without the support of the US government, they&’ll never be able to achieve their goal to relocate humanity to the Moon and secure a second chance for life on Earth. When eco-terrorists threaten the lunar colony, Alex, Mansoor, Victor, and Rashid must choose what they&’re willing to die for–and what they&’re really living for. Is it their grandiose visions of saving the planet–or is it each other?
No Write Way to Die
by Neal LipschutzThis debut thriller from award-winning journalist Neal Lipschutz, former deputy editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal, combines a gripping, good old-fashioned murder mystery with the ethical consideration of just how far a person should go to protect their family.In this debut thriller from award-winning journalist Neal Lipschutz, former deputy editor-in-chief of The Wall Street Journal, Scott Morgan's carefully crafted life---one he had worked hard to insulate from the sort of tumult he had experienced growing up---is upended when a murder victim is found in his daughter's Manhattan apartment. Scott and his loved ones become prime suspects. Morgan had lifted himself out of his old Brooklyn neighborhood into a successful career as a respected management consultant. A sign of his progress: his current address is an expensive home in the affluent suburb of Scarsdale, New York. When his twenty-eight-year-old daughter brings home a new beau---a fifty-five-year-old one hit wonder of a novelist---Scott suspects the writer is a serial user of people and sets out to expose him. Murder, however, applies a screeching halt to Scott's investigation, as he, his wife, and daughter become suspects. His quest to forestall catastrophe means facing submerged demons from his Brooklyn past and matching wits with a clever and idiosyncratic NYPD detective. Scott's tool kit consists of the take-no-prisoners lessons he's gleaned from an ethics-free approach to business. How far will Scott go to protect everything he's worked for?
Give Hospitality: A Hopeful Story of What Happens When We Live, Work, and Love from a Place of Generosity
by Taylor ScottBurnout and turnover are at an all-time high. Hospitality pioneer Taylor Scott proves a spirit of generosity is the key to bridging our divides and engaging the best in others regardless of our differences in this all-new business fable.At a fundamental level, the purpose of leadership is to connect with and inspire the hearts and minds of others to become their absolute best so they can ultimately give the best of themselves at work, at home, and in their communities. How do we do that? Taylor Scott draws on his 20 plus years of experience working at hospitality industry leaders like Disney Parks and Resorts, Gaylord Hotels and Resorts, and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, to provide an inviting, accessible fable about adopting a spirit of generosity. Give Hospitality tells the story of Summer Grace, who after leaving a toxic workplace that lacked inclusivity lands a new role at Kauwela Resorts—the home of five core values that empower its people to thrive. Her story charts how leaders in any industry can bring those values to life by purposefully giving compassion, encouragement, kindness, hospitality, and leadership. Be inspired to embrace the game-changing power of giving and receiving hospitality, which in turn makes us happier, improves our health, strengthens our social bonds, evokes feelings of gratitude, and has a positive ripple effect in our communities. Learn actionable principles for cultivating an environment where employees are happier and more engaged, and where they feel comfortable bringing their authentic selves to work.
The Divine Nature of Plants: A Medical Intuitive's Guide to Plant Spirit Medicine
by Laura Aversano• Presents the spiritual, emotional, and physical healing properties of 30 common plants and their spirits• Explains how to intuitively, energetically, and spiritually connect with plant spirits and their healing medicine• Shares the author&’s personal story of awakening to the divine powers of plant spiritsSharing her personal story of awakening to the divine powers of plant spirits, medical intuitive Laura Aversano takes you on a journey deep into sacred connection with the elemental world of nature where plants are animated intelligent beings.Aversano explains how to intuitively, energetically, and spiritually connect with plant spirits and their healing medicine, including how to make your own plant spirit essences. She presents the stories and remedies of 30 common plants—including Astragalus, Black Cohosh, Lilac, Motherwort, and Violet—whose spirits she has worked with for years to nurture herself and her friends, family, and clients. She shares her inner experience with each plant, including visitations from the fairy, deva, or spirit that endows and protects each plant. For each plant she includes a plant spirit prayer and explores the plant&’s spiritual, emotional, and physical healing properties.Revealing that each plant has a divine purpose to help us heal, Aversano shows how we each have the power to come into divine relationship with the plant kingdom to heal ourselves and our loved ones.
The Occult Harry Smith: The Magical and Alchemical Work of an Artist of the Extremes
by Harry Smith• Explores in depth the occult and mystical side of Smith—his &“heaven and earth magic&”—focusing on how his varied artistic efforts were part of a comprehensive magical and alchemical practice• Includes unpublished photos of and letters from Smith, rare interviews, one of his unpublished texts, and essays by scholars and friendsHarry Smith (1923–1991) was a legendary twentieth-century artist, filmmaker, painter, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and archivist. Especially well known for his Anthology of American Folk Music, innovative abstract realms, and extraordinary collection of paper airplanes now housed at the Getty Research Institute, Smith also had a deep esoteric and mystical side, with experimentation in magic, Tarot, Kabbalah, and other occult practices. Like other alchemists, Smith&’s life mission was to create a unified work from disparate elements, a synthesis of correspondences between seemingly unrelated topics—from music, string figures, and Seminole patterns to the relationship between sound and film imagery.Presenting the most diverse collection of writings about Harry Smith, this volume explores the far-ranging esoteric themes that run throughout his art and career. The book includes never-before-seen photos, rare interviews, personal letters, and an unpublished text by Harry Smith, The 96 Apparitions of the 96 Alchemical Formulae (1 to 36), as well as personal reminiscences from Smith&’s friends and former students. Smith&’s groundbreaking mystical wisdom, "heaven and earth magic," and influence as an artist of the extremes leap from the pages in this book, confirming his contribution to art, music, film, and modern alchemy.
Plant Energy Medicine: The Guiding Voice and Healing Vibration of 58 Plants
by Rhonda PallasDowney Sandi O'Connor• Presents in-depth teachings on 58 flowers, trees, and plants• Each write-up features a full-color close-up photo along with the plant&’s medicinal and flower essence traits, the voice of its flower, energetic impact on the chakras, and an affirmation• Also explores plant biofield energetics, how to use flower essences, and the sensory experience of connecting with a plantBy learning to listen quietly to flowers and plants, we can tune in to the inner teachings they have to offer us. Plants can not only heal us, but they can also teach us how to live a more joyful, healthy, and balanced life.Sharing the teachings they&’ve received through years of attentive listening to flowers, trees, and plants, Rhonda PallasDowney and Sandi O&’Connor explore how to deepen your personal experience with the world of plants and connect with their energies. They look at the life force energy of plants, their sensory systems, biofields and electromagnetic energy fields, and their growth from seed to root to stem to leaf to blossom. They offer insights into how to deepen your sensory experience of plants—including their taste, texture, and sounds—and they also teach you how to work with flower essences.Presenting in-depth teachings on 58 flowers, trees, and plants, the authors explore each plant&’s medicinal and flower essence traits, the voice of its flower, its insight, its energetic impact on the chakras, and an affirmation to help you embody the teachings of the plant. Each plant discussion also features full-color close-up photos by Rhonda PallasDowney that capture the energetic imprint and personality of the plant.
Guitar Goods & Gods: Die E-Gitarre im Spannungsfeld von Kapitalismus und Geschlecht (Geschlecht und Gesellschaft #86)
by Sarah SchaubergerWarum wird die E-Gitarre trotz ihrer grundsätzlichen Zugänglichkeit für alle Geschlechter überwiegend mit Männlichkeit und vor allem auch männlichen Gitarrenhelden assoziiert? Ob als ikonisches Symbol der Rockmusik, als Phallus oder Prestigeobjekt – die E-Gitarre ist weit mehr als nur ein Musikinstrument. Sie ist ein kulturelles Artefakt, das tief in gesellschaftliche Bedeutungszuschreibungen eingebunden ist. In ihrer Studie untersucht Sarah Schauberger die Prozesse der Vergeschlechtlichung dieses Musikinstruments als Beispiel für gesellschaftliche Differenzierungs- und Machtstrukturen – hier: das Wechselspiel von Geschlecht und Kapitalismus. Im Zentrum der Untersuchung steht die E-Gitarre als Trägerin und Konstrukteurin sozialer Wirklichkeit. Mittels einer Methodentriangulation aus Dispositiv-/Diskursanalyse, Ethnografie und qualitativem Interview analysiert Schauberger sowohl historische Entwicklungen als auch gegenwärtige Dynamiken. Auf der Grundlage eines umfangreichen Quellenfundus – z.B. Musikfachmagazine, Fachbücher zur E-Gitarre, Feldbeobachtungen von Konzerten, Musikläden, Gitarrenstunden und Interviews mit Gitarrist*innen, Gitarrenbauer*innen und anderen Expert*innen des Feldes – zeigt die Studie, wie sich gesellschaftliche Machtverhältnisse nicht nur in den Praktiken des Gitarrenspiels, sondern auch in der Materialität und vor allem auch der Wertbildung niederschlagen, und leistet damit einen Beitrag zur kultur- und musiksoziologischen Forschung sowie zur kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit Musikinstrumenten.
Führung im Wandel: Wie KMUs dynamische Zeiten meistern
by Christian Kastner Daniel Hesmer Werner KringsIn einer Welt, die von ständigem Wandel und zunehmender Unsicherheit geprägt ist, stehen Führungskräfte vor immer neuen Herausforderungen. Dieses Buch bietet Einblicke in die Belastungsproben von Leadership und zeigt Wege, wie Führungskräfte ihre Teams erfolgreich leiten können. In 21 prägnanten Kapiteln werden zentrale Konzepte wie Resilienz, effektive Kommunikation und Changemanagement behandelt und wichtige Fragen beantwortet: Wie kann Führung in Krisenzeiten gelingen? Wie sieht gutes Stressmanagement aus? Und wie kann Vertrauen auf allen Ebenen aufgebaut werden? Diese Themen werden durch praxisnahe Strategien und fundierte Einsichten ergänzt, die direkt im beruflichen Alltag anwendbar sind. Dieses Buch richtet sich an Führungskräfte, die ihre Unternehmen zukunftsfähig machen wollen, sowie an Leser*innen im Bereich Unternehmensführung oder Personalmanagement. Mit konkreten Handlungsempfehlungen und Werkzeugen bietet es nicht nur neue Perspektiven, sondern auch praktische Unterstützung im Umgang mit Veränderungen.
Biotechnological Removal of Emerging Pollutants from Wastewater Systems (Advances in Wastewater Research)
by Maulin P. Shah Satarupa DeyThis book focuses on the most recent developments in bioremediation techniques and what the future holds for bioremediation in order to reduce the amount of pollution in the world. This book serves as a valuable resource for policy makers, teachers, researchers, climatologists, and undergraduate and graduate students of agriculture, forestry, ecology, soil science, and environmental sciences.Both industries and anthropogenic activities generate pollutants of different types which have affected human health and have destroyed biodiversity at multiple levels. They largely consist of personal care and pharmaceuticals products produced by different industries. Most of these emergent contaminants cannot be removed by conventional water treatment procedures and are released in surface water. They further contaminate groundwater, soil, sediments and oceans. More efficient and improved treatment systems are required to remove such emerging contaminants. Various microbes can play crucial role in bioremediation by elimination, degradation, detoxification, and immobilization of pollutants. Most of these microbes are versatile in nature and can survive in a wide range of environmental conditions. Furthermore, they can be applied to different pollutants. Microbial degradation and bioremediation can be considered as useful and effective treatment options for emerging pollutants.
Natural Compounds Enabled Therapies
by Athanassios GiannisWe live in the golden age of medicine and patients benefit from a variety of valuable drugs that are successfully used as therapeutics for various diseases. They increase both life expectancy and quality of life and enable painless surgical interventions. Most of these drugs come directly or indirectly from nature and the narrative of their development and success are presented in this book. After a long scientific adventure, Streptomycin, a metabolite from the bacterium Streptomyces griseus turned out to be effective against tuberculosis, the scourge of mankind. At the same time, the famous PAS (a derivative of the naturally occurring salicylic acid) was developed as an equally effective agent against TB. The complex history and the many biological effects of aspirin are discussed in the light of new findings. Another chapter shows how the great German poet Wolfgang Goethe encountered atropine, an ancient poison. Also discussed is how nitric oxide and nitroglycerin (an explosive material) provide relief from angina pectoris and other heart diseases and how a deadly poison from spoiled sausages enabled not only a treatment of several previously untreatable diseases but also the opened the way for foundation of a billion-dollar health industry. Further chapters describe - discovery and mechanism of action of colchicine, an alkaloid from the plant Colchicum introduced in the therapy of gout. - the complex story behind the groundbreaking discovery of penicillin. - the development of L-DOPA for the treatment of Parkinson disease, and finally the history of discovery and use of digitalis in the therapy of heart failure. In total, there are 10 chapters, each with a disease, which is briefly described with a story. Historical backgrounds are discussed, and the people and character traits are briefly illuminated. The book also contains photos of people, plants, documents. It is an odyssey with stations in medicine, biology, chemistry, pharmacology, botany, mythology and archaeology. The book is written in a generally understandable way, and no prior knowledge is required. It is of interest to physicians and students of Medicine and Chemical Biology, researchers in the field of Life Sciences, and for people interested in the history of Science.
Machine Learning for Disease Detection, Prediction, and Diagnosis: Challenges and Opportunities
by Tanupriya Choudhury Avita KatalThe book &“Machine Learning for Disease Detection, Prediction, and Diagnosis&” can be a comprehensive guide to the novel concepts, techniques, and frameworks essential for improving the viability of existing machine-learning practices. It provides an in-depth analysis of how these new technologies are helpful to detect, predict and diagnose diseases more accurately. The book covers various topics such as image classification algorithms, supervised learning methods like support vector machines (SVM), deep neural networks (DNNs), convolutional neural networks (CNNs), etc. unsupervised approaches such as clustering algorithms as well as reinforcement learning strategies. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in machine-learning applications related to disease detection or diagnosis. It explains different concepts and provides practical examples of how they can it implements using real-world data sets from medical imaging datasets or public health records databases, among others. Furthermore, it offers insights into recent advances made by researchers which have enabled automated decision-making systems based on AI models with improved accuracy over traditional methods. This text also discusses ways through which current models could improve further by incorporating domain knowledge during the model training phase, thereby increasing their efficacy even further. Overall, this book serves as a great source of information about the latest advancements made in the field of Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence towards efficient building systems capable enough detecting & diagnosing diseases automatically while avoiding human errors resulting due manual intervention at any stage along process pipeline thus ensuring better outcomes overall. Moreover, it helps readers understand the underlying principles behind each technique discussed so that they may apply them according to their own application scenarios efficiently without worrying much about the implementation details required to get the job done the right way the first time around itself!