Making Transition Work for Everyone: Poverty and Inequality in Europe and Central Asia

Book Description

Examines the transnational implications of immigrants' legalization efforts

Customer Reviews:

Packed with information on fertilizers.......1999-03-06

I use this as my main reference source in my business. It is written in clear, easy to understand language. It is loaded with data and great charts and indexes.

Book Description

Proteases in Tissue Remodelling of Lung and Heart is unique for its comprehensive presentation of protease function in lung and heart under both physiological conditions and major diseases manifesting in these two organs. The individual chapters have been written by leaders in the field who paid much attention to outline in great detail the role of proteases in the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of disease. Available animal models (of disease, transgenic, or knock-out) are extensively referred to and experimental data obtained thereby are discussed in the context of patient-derived data.

Newcomers to the field and interested non-specialists will take advantage of the extensive introduction to individual proteases, protease families and the diseases. Understanding is greatly facilitated by the clear and condensed presentation of summarised data in tables and graphs. Thus, the book should be a valuable source for both clinicians and researchers interested in protease function and/or diseases of lung and heart.

Proteases in Tissue Remodelling of Lung and Heart:
*is devoted to proteases in lung and heart specifically and extensively,
*covers major diseases of the lung and heart,
*extensively introduces individual proteases (or families thereof),
*presents up-to-date patient-derived and experimental data,
*covers most aspects of protease function in disease.

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Proteases in Tissue Remodelling of Lung and Heart
Uwe (Edt)/ Hooper, Nigel M. ( Lendeckel
Manufacturer: Kluwer Academic Pub 01/1//2003
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N5ON3C

Book Description

Hundreds of well-illustrated articles explore the most important fields of science.

Book Description

This book provides a thorough introduction to quantum theory of gauge fields. Emphasis is placed on four non-perturbative methods: path integrals, lattice gauge theories, the 1/N expansion, and reduced matrix models, which have important contemporary applications. The book uses a novel approach to gauge theories based on path-dependent phase factors known as the Wilson loops, and provides comprehensive coverage of large-N Yang-Mills theory.

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This book introduces the quantum theory of gauge fields. Emphasis is placed on four non-perturbative methods: path integrals, lattice gauge theories, the 1/N expansion, and reduced matrix models, all of which have important contemporary applications. Written as a textbook, it assumes a knowledge of quantum mechanics and elements of perturbation theory, while many relevant concepts are pedagogically introduced at a basic level in the first half of the book. The second half comprehensively covers large-N Yang-Mills theory. The book uses a modern approach to gauge theories based on path-dependent phase factors known as the Wilson loops, and contains problems with detailed solutions to aid understanding. Suitable for advanced graduate courses in quantum field theory, the book will also be of interest to researchers in high energy theory and condensed matter physics as a survey of recent developments in gauge theory.

Probabilistic Treatment of Gauge Theories (Contemporary Fundamental Physics)

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Probabilistic Treatment of Gauge Theories (Contemporary Fundamental Physics)
G. Quznetsov
Manufacturer: Nova Science Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

Here is a clear and authoritative discussion of the basic concerns which underlie the development and use of language tests, and an up-to-date synthesis of research on testing. Primarily for students on teacher education courses, it is also an invaluable resource for all those professionally involved in designing and administering tests, acting as a complement to practical 'how to' books. Winner MLA Kenneth W Mildenberger Prize

Customer Reviews:

A Complete Source.......2006-01-08

Bachman explores language testing from a theoretical point of view in this book. I found the coverage of measurement, testing purposes, reliability, and validity to be very useful. Perhaps the one warning I would give is that this book is a little statistics-heavy, and it assumes that you have at least some knowledge of statistics. If you don't have any knowledge of statistics, then the sections on reliability and validity may take a little work to get though. In that case, I recommend Brown's text on testing. It's a simpler read. However, this volume by Bachman is more detailed and Bachman is rightly considered to be an authority on testing.

Language teachers cannot afford not to read it!.......1998-07-22

Bachman shows more than just why tests are important. His depth of insight is illuminating and the carefully analysed topics will definetely trigger an ever lasting curiosity in anyone concerned with testing which is certain to render rewarding dividends.

Book Description

This book offers an interpretation of the rise of secular historical thought in nineteenth-century Europe. Instead of characterizing â€~historicismâ€™ and â€~secularizationâ€™ as fundamental breaks with Europeâ€™s religious heritage, they are presented as complex cultural permutations with much continuity; for inherited theological patterns of interpreting experience determined to a large degree the conditions, possibilities and limitations of the forms of historical imagination realizable by nineteenth-century secular intellectuals. This point is made by examining the thought of the German theologian W. M. L. de Wette and that of the Swiss-German historian Jacob Burckhardt. Burckhardtâ€™s meeting with de Wette and his subsequent decision to study history over theology are interpreted as revealing moments in nineteenth-century intellectual history. By examining their encounter, its larger historical context, and the thought of both men, the book demonstrates the centrality of theological concerns and forms of knowledge in the emergence of modern, secular historical consciousness.

Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W.M.L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness.(Review) ... An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W.M.L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness.(Review) ... An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Lionel Steiman , and Elizabeth Colwill
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on April 1, 2001. The length of the article is 976 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Religion and the Rise of Historicism: W.M.L. de Wette, Jacob Burckhardt, and the Theological Origins of Nineteenth-Century Historical Consciousness.(Review) (book review)
Author: Lionel Steiman
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2001
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 36 Issue: 1 Page: 145

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Half a century after the civil war which tore apart Greek society in the 1940s, the essays in this volume look back to examine the crisis. They combine the approaches of political and international history with the latest research into the social, economic, religious, cultural, ideological and literary aspects of the struggle. Underpinned by the use of a wide range of hitherto neglected sources, the contributions shed new light, broaden the scope of inquiry, and offer fresh analysis.

Thus far, comparative approaches have not been employed in the study of the Greek Civil War. The papers here redress this imbalance and establish the not always so clear links between Greek and European historical developments in the 1940s, placing the evolution of Greek society and politics in a European context. They also highlight the complexity and interconnections of the social, economic and political cleavages that split Greek society, and provide a comprehensive and subtle understanding of the origins, course and impact of the Greek Civil War in a variety of contexts and levels.

The volume will appeal to those interested in the European history of the 1940s and the origins of the Cold War, in addition to the specialists of modern Greek history and those engaged in the comparative study of civil wars.

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Phrenology was long ago discredited as pseudoscience, but its basic premise--that the key to people's personalities can be found by examining their brains--remains the subject of heated debate even now. In Postcards from the Brain Museum, a globetrotting tour of brain collections from Turin, Italy, to Paris to Moscow, Brian Burrell explores the long history of scientists' attempts to explain the brain's function by examining its form. Since antiquity, scientists have attempted to explain intellectual and personality traits by prodding, poking, dissecting, and examining the structures of the brain. Almost invariably, their theories have been misguided, colored by prejudice, or just plain wrong. Lord Byron's enormous brain, which weighed in at a whopping 6 pounds, was used as fodder for theories relating brain size to genius until the relatively tiny brains of Walt Whitman and Albert Einstein led later scientists to abandon that notion. From Franz Josef Gall, who first theorized that bumps on the skull corresponded to functions of the brain itself, to Cesare Lombrosio, who believed that born criminals could be identified by their "animalistic" features, the scientists Burrell introduces in Postcards are hindered by their preconceptions even as they lay the groundwork for modern neuroscience. Postcards, an articulate, thoughtful, and often hilarious history of scientists' early efforts to study the human brain, cleverly demonstrates how far the science of brain anatomy has come--and how much we have left to learn. --Erica C. Barnett

Book Description

What makes one man a genius and another a criminal? Is there a physical explanation for these differences? For hundreds of years, scientists have been fascinated by this question.

In Postcards from the Brain Museum, Brian Burrell relates the story of the first scientific attempts to locate the sources of both genius and depravity in the physical anatomy of the human brain. It describes the men who studied and collected special brains, the men who gave them up, and the sometimes cruel fate of the brains themselves.

The fascination with elite brains was an aspect of the scientific mania for measurement that gripped the Western world in the mid-nineteenth century, along with a passionate interest in the biological basis of genius or exceptional talent. Many leading intellectuals and artists willed their brains to science, and the brains of notorious criminals were also collected by eager anatomists ghoulishly waiting in the execution chamber with a bag full of sharp metal tools.

Focusing on the posthumous sagas of brains belonging to Byron, Whitman, Lenin, Einstein, the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss, and many others, Burrell describes how the brains of famous men were first collected—by means both fair and foul—and then weighed, measured, dissected, and compared; exhaustive studies analyzed their fissural complexity and cell or neuron size.

In various cities in Europe, Russia, and the United States, brain collections were painstakingly assembled and studied. A veritable who’s who of literary, artistic, musical, scientific, and political achievement waited in Formalin-filled jars for their secrets to be unlocked. The men who built the brain collections were colorful and eccentric figures like Rudolph Wagner, whose study of the brain of Carl Friedrich Gauss led to one of the great scientific debates of the nineteenth century. In America, the Fowler brothers brought phrenology to the United States and made a convert of Walt Whitman, whose brain was donated to science and disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Eventually, this misconceived phrenological project was abandoned, and with the discovery of new technologies the study of the brain has moved on to a higher plane. But the collections themselves still exist, and today, in Paris, London, Stockholm, Philadelphia, Moscow, and even Tokyo, the brains of nineteenth century geniuses sit idle, gathering dust in their jars. Brian Burrell has visited these collections and looked into the original intentions and purposes of their creators. In the process, he unearths a forgotten byway in the history of science—a tale of colorful eccentrics bent on laying bare the secrets of the human mind.

Customer Reviews:

The History of Neurology from Descartes Onward.......2007-10-05

Perhaps it is simply my tastes to want all the knowledge I can lay my hands on regarding the field of neurology and related disciplines. One reviewer was disappointed that this book went into too much detail about neurology's history. Frankly, this was WHY I loved the book: a convenient collection of the random odds and ends of its history, from Descartes onwards.

I don't think it was poorly written, but for someone who doesn't revel in the minutest of details, who perhaps isn't as interested in the nitty gritty background of the field, then, yes, I can see how this book wouldn't earn its five stars. For me, there are few other books I've enjoyed-- or referenced in conversation-- moreso than this book.

A bit overly detailed and dry.......2005-05-08

I generally appreciate a good general-interest book about science and the history of science. But while this book definitely has some interesting points to make, it does get bogged down quite a bit in the very specific minutiae of the hitory of brain study. This story would make an excellent magazine article, but I think it suffers in full-length book form, and ends up being a bit too long and even (in parts) dull for the general reader.

Phrenology-then and now.......2005-05-08

This book is about "Phrenology" in the broadest concept of that word, that is, the attempts to localize certain

aspects of "mind" in various parts of the human brain. Originally, it was thought that certain functions of the

brain such as intellectual, or personality traits could be determined from simple observation and palpation of

bumps on the head, and this quickly became the territory of charlatans and pseudoscience. Gradually, however,

during the 19th century, neuroanatomists attempted to find correlations between those functions and the gross

and then the microscopic features of the brain. Throughout this time, various claims were made, e.g. that "minds

of geniuses" or "minds of criminals" could be found in certain distinct areas of the brain. Or that there was a

direct connection between genius and insanity. Some of the claims even went so far as to promote eugenics-

breeding of people of superior intelligence, or not allowing criminals or the insane to propagate. But all of these

claims could never be scientifically proved or validated. Often, non-scientific claims were voiced and

publicized by the popular press only to fade into obscurity. Even in the 20th century, using modern techniques

such as PET scans, careful microscopic examinations of brains of the famous and infamous were done, but

never could there be found any correlation between intellectual ability and brain anatomy. The book relates how

time after time scientific and non-scientific methods led to erroneous conclusions. The author tells of men who

attended to scientific details, and men who glazed over them in order to validate a predetermined theory,

promoting guesses as facts, and making assertions without anatomical basis. Although dualism is most likely

not a viable theory of mind, the bottom line is that no one has as yet fully demonstrated that "mind" arises from

brain anatomy or physiology. All of this is told in very detailed fashion by the author who has researched this

very thoroughly, with notes on each chapter, and a wide bibliography.

Mind over Matter.......2005-03-17

Nothing so intrigues the intellect as the contemplation of itself. Yet unlike the functional relationship between other organs and their products, that between mind and brain defies satisfactory definition. As Burrell's historical survey proves, that has not deterred countless investigators from attempting to explain mental ability in terms of physical structures.
Phrenology,which remained in vogue throughout the nineteenth century, was widely exploited by charlatans but, as the author points out, it established the basic tenet of modern neuroscience: the concept of cortical localization. Although the elaborate maps of the skull, "read" by touch, only hinted at the complexity of the sensorimotor cortex, they helped to refute the concept of the mind as a unified whole. With the development of techniques for the removal and preservation of whole brains, the scientists' attention began describing the gross anatomy of that structure. Laboring under the assumption that there was some correlation between quantitatively determined properties, such as weight, and intellectual capabilities, they published numerous studies of virtually no worth.
Of particular interest were their efforts to establish the physical basis of genius. Many distinguished intellectuals would donate their own brains for postmortem analysis. Only in those instances where the investigators were persuaded of their subjects' capabilities did the results sometimes confirm a correlation between the physical and the mental. Completely objective inquiries invariably showed no correlation.With the development of sophisticated cytological techniques, the focus shifted from gross structures the the cellular level but with no change in the results.
In the course of these investigations, numerous collections of preserved brains were established, some of which still languish in various states of repair. Burrell describes several of these at length. The American Anthopometric Society's collection in Philadelphia briefly held Walt Whitman's brain, only to have it disappear unexamined. (It appears to have been shattered when dropped by a laboratory assistant.) A much different fate was in store for Vladimir Lenin's brain for which a special institute was established by the Soviet government. Sliced into a huge number of sections and initially subjected to examination by a leading specialist of the l920's, it failed to yield any characteristics to prove its possessor superior. Nor have renewed efforts by post-Soviet investigators been any more successful.
As well as the political, there have been racial and gender biases behind some of the analyses but they have met with the same failure. As Burrell concludes: "No one can look at a brain and tell what sort of person inhabited it (sic). Nor has anyone discovered a scientific basis for judging the superiority of one mind over another..." (306) Although he occasionally meanders into excessive biographical detail, the author has provided a well documented record of an exercise in futility.

Postcards from the Brain Museum: The Improbable Search for Meaning in the Matter of Famous Minds

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Postcards from the Brain Museum: The Improbable Search for Meaning in the Matter of Famous Minds
Brian Burrell
Manufacturer: Broadway Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QV4XGU

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