Book Description
Oil Rent Dependency and Neocolonialism in the Republic of Gabon
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Legal Rules of Technology Transfer in Asia (Max Planck Series on Asian Intellectual Property Law, 4)
Christopher Heath
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ASIN: 9041198830 |
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Despite the harmonizing effect of TRIPS and intellectual property law in general, technology transfer remains firmly rooted in domestic contract law and public policy. However, similarities in legal culture across many national borders keep this problem to a minimum -- until we approach the technologically advanced countries of East Asia. For practitioners worldwide working with technology transfer in this culturally heterogeneous part of the world, Legal Rules of Technology Transfer in Asia is a godsend. For each of nine significant technology market jurisdictions -- the PRC, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia -- this nuts-and-bolts approach to the applicable national rules provides all necessary legal information and guidance. Country chapters by local authorities are structured to cover the following essential factors: + government policy on technological research and transfer; + intellectual property system; + licensing agreements; + registration and notification; + dispute resolution; + tax considerations; + transfer of patents; + choice of law questions; + franchising; + publicity and merchandising; + anti-trust rules. ...and many other invaluable details to help lawyers and business persons avoid pitfalls and make the most of the technology transfer opportunities available in these countries. Two introductory chapters provide a much-needed perspective on technology transfer in the context of the world trade regime as it especially affects East Asia, with an emphasis on the trend to clarify and strengthen anti-trust rules. A concluding chapter surveys the market anthropology of the region and offers an expert assessment of the probable future development of technology transfer trade in the region. With its first-hand, in-depth, country-by-country analysis, and its firm grasp on a diversity of relevant legal and cultural issues, Legal Rules of Technology Transfer in Asia is unexcelled for desktop use in offices handling East Asian trade in technology products.
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Dormancy and Low Growth States in Microbial Disease (Advances in Molecular and Cellular Microbiology)
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521809401 |
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Organisms replicate only when conditions are beneficial and, when not replicating, concentrate on surviving environmental stresses in a low growth state. This book addresses the basic science of microbial dormancy and low growth states in the context of human medicine. The chapters describe how bacteria can cause such diseases as stomach ulcers, bladder infections, and tuberculosis. The volume will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in medical microbiology, immunology and infectious disease medicine.
Download Description
All cellular life-forms can exist in replicating and non-replicating states. Organisms replicate only when the conditions are beneficial, and when not replicating they concentrate on survival of these environmental stresses. Many bacteria, harmful to humans, survive the period of infection in a low growth state. This book addresses the basic science of microbial dormancy and low growth states, putting this in the context of human medicine. Such fundamental topics as bacterial growth and non-growth, culturability and viability are covered, as well as survival of the host's immune response, and inter-bacterial signalling. Following this introduction, more medically-focused topics are discussed, namely antibiotic resistance arising during stationary phase, biofilms, the bacteria which cause gastric ulcers and tuberculosis as the classic persistent bacterial infection. This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in medical microbiology, immunology and infectious disease medicine who are interested in bacterial dormancy in relation to disease.
Book Description
The availability of intense X-ray beams from synchroton storage rings has revolutionised the field of X-ray science. This is illustrated by the cover pictures: Von Laue's first observation of X-ray diffraction from a single crystal of ZnS used an exposure time of around 1000 seconds, whereas the diffraction from a single crystal of myoglobin using modern X-ray synchroton radiation was obtained within the duration of a single pulse lasting only 0.00000000001 seconds.
In this book the basics of X-ray physics, as well as the completely new opportunities offered by synchrotron radiation, are viewed from a modern perspective. The style of the book is to develop the basic physical principles without obscuring them in too much mathematical rigour. This approach should make the book attractive to the wider community of material scientists, chemists, biologists and geologists, as well as to physicists who use synchrotron radiation in their research. The book should be useful both to students taking course in X-rays, and to more experienced professionals who have the desire to extend their knowledge into new areas.
Customer Reviews:
Contemporary book on X-ray scattering.......2002-10-17
Before this book came out, the bible of the scientists in the field was either Guinier's or else, Warren's book on X-ray diffraction (both books by Dover). I think Jens Als-Nielsen's book will replace these as far as introduction to the field is concerned, because the other two books (especially warren's black book) are pages of equation after equation. Elements of Modern X-ray Physics, in contrast, is much more readable (it has colors even... wohooo). Also it covers recent techniques suxh as scattering from liquid interfaces that were not covered in previous books. Trade-off is that the book does not cover any crystallography. Author's say in the preface that they feel there are other adequate books on this subject (guinier's book prevails).
Interesting note: Book is written not with conventional text editors but with some type of Tex/LaTex.
Product Description
Articles include: John Wayne in Arizona, The Untold Story, by Ray Ring. Natural History of Stone Trees and Fossils, by Tom Dollar. Painted Desert Surrealism, text and photos by George H. H. Huey. Ice Fishing, by James Tallon. Acorn Woodpecker, by Tom Dollar. Boaboquivari: The Land Outside of Time, by Charles Bowden, photos by Jack Dykinga.
Book Description
In this book Verne struck again the bolder note of imagination and creation. Here the daring explorers are represented as actually attaining the pole; and the bold inventions of what they saw and did, rising to the startling climax of the volcano and the madman's climb, are led up to through such a well-managed, well-constructed and convincing story, that many critics have selected this in its turn as the most powerful of Verne's works.
It is notable that, with the exception of the open sea and the volcano, the world which our author here penetrates in imagination, coincides closely with that which Peary has discovered to exist in reality. Here are the same barren lands, the same weary sledge journey, the same locations of land and sea, the "red snow," the open leads in the ice. Verne's predictions, wild as they sometimes seem, were all so carefully studied that they shoot most close to truth.
Customer Reviews:
The Better Of The Two Volumes.......2005-03-02
This is the second of two volumes of the "Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras". It was first published in magazine form between March 20th, 1864 and December 5th of 1865, and in Book form on May 4th, 1866. Together with "At The North Pole" it forms the second adventure story by Jules Verne.
This book does not stand on its own, you need to read "At The North Pole" first. This book picks up right after the cliff-hanging ending of the first book. Where the first book was fairly repetitive, this book has a much better variety of difficulties for the characters to overcome. Obviously the cold is still a significant obstacle as is food, but to these are added predatory bears, and the mutinous crew is replaced by a rivalry between Captain Hattaras and the American Captain Altamont.
For me, this book had a much better pace than the first book. The characters are not just sitting around waiting for things to happen as much as they were in the prior volume. Despite some glaring factual errors which date the book, and a somewhat anti-climactic ending, I found this to be more entertaining than "At The North Pole", and I give it the higher rating of the two volumes.
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Desert of Ice
Hackwell
Manufacturer: Atheneum
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ASIN: 0684190850 |
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El Desierto De Hielo/ Ice Desert (La Guerra De Las Brujas / the War of the Witches)
Maite Carranza
Manufacturer: EDBE
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ASIN: 8423678512 |
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UNENDING VIGIL: The History of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Philip Longworth
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
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ASIN: 1844150046 |
Book Description
One million, one hundred thousand men and women lost their lives in the service of the British Empire during the First World War; in the Second, another six hundred thousand from all parts of the Commonwealth made the same sacrifice.
The First World War, which began as a war between professional armies, was very soon to be fought by millions of ordinary citizens turned soldier. Those who died could no longer be "shovelled into a hole...and so forgotten" as had happened, to Thakeray's indignation, at Waterloo, and in May 1917 a new organization, the Imperial War Graves Commission, was founded to provide permanent care for their graves and commemoration for the missing.
The Unending Vigil tells the story of the Commission - of its beginnings on the western Front, and of its work since then, laboring worldwide, often against the odds to turn scenes of desolation and horror into places of peace and haunting beauty
Customer Reviews:
Encyclopedic Proof.......2007-07-09
This book, although a challenging read, should be read by every person with an honest curiosity about the history of humanity as it relates to black Africa. I say a challenging read because the book seems to have been written in answer to professional critics of his prior works. As a result, he uses some terms that mainly an anthropologist or paleontologist may readily understand. I am incredibly grateful to find this book and will be keeping a copy in my library forever.
Don't listen to reviews that don't actually talk about the book!.......2006-07-10
Funny how most of the 1 star reviewers never deal with the facts of whats stated in the book. Even if they do have valid issues, where are the counter references beyond, he (C.A. Diop) is wrong just because YOU say so.
They make it sound as though he made up all he had to say in this EXTREMELY POWERFUL WORK with no references to other "noted" scholars and no use of scientific methods of research. They write as though C.A. diop himself isn't an Egyptologist and Scientist who ran the Radiocarbon Laboratory in Dakar. I would like to know what counter body of work exists that can compete with this one?
Perhaps the 1 star reviewers should read the works of Gerald Massey, C.F Volney, Albert Churchward, Stanley Lane Poole, Martin Bernal, Michael Bradley and even Alexander Von Wuthenau to get a comprehensive "White" Scholars view of why The PERSPECTIVE of C.A. Diop and other noted African Scholars like him exist.
An, in regards to Gerald Massey...I have yet to see anyone seriously challenge his body of work!!! Mary Lefkowitz or otherwise! I wonder why that is!
Disregard Lupa.......2006-02-01
The negative review preceding this one should be exposed for what it is. The pseudo intellectual ramblings of someone who probably didn't even read the book. If he did, he read it with the condescending mind-set that those of european descent adopt their historical and cultural supremacy is challenged.
First he cla1ms that Diop is false in claiming that society, science or civilization had their start with the so-called "Negro". This an absurd statement when their is a literal library of work by black and white authors that prove and support Diops premise. As well as the historical recordings of the people who lived in those times and wrote about what they saw,both black and white.
Then he states the salvation of Africa and African people relies on "integration" Oh yeah we see how thats been workin like a charm dont we? The salvation of Africa and African people will rely on the collective utilization of all our resources (including our true history) combined with an ethnically based ideology.
Then claims class and money distinctions dont seperate people. Even the dominant ethnic group at this writing has class distinctions within itself (ever hear of poor white trash?)
As for the rest of his statement, it seems his philosophy is based upon the eurocentric principle of individualism, survival of the fittest, Africans have been forced to adopt this mind-set at our peril as it does not work for us. Our ancestors didnt think or conduct themselves that way and they ruled the world taking on all comers for over 3000 years.
Diops book is genius, as he was a genius, buy it.
Black Senegalese glare? .......2006-01-09
Cheikh Anta Diop - civilization or barbarism ( an Authentic Anthropology )
Written as a genuine masterpiece of anthropological thought based on Africa it is rationally expressed and very comprehensible even for outsiders, though unfortunately tendentious towards putting forth a proposition of Black Supremacy as a trade of derivation of human race in general. It is false to postulate that the Negro Race is dominating the beginnings of humanity in society, science or civilization. It is true that race or better say color of skin is subject to climatic region. Therefore the salvation of Africa and Africans should neither rely on this falsity, nor on other misleading propaganda or on intoxicating religious beliefs ( see dedication ). It should take place by an intelligent and secular policy of integration. Blacks, whites and any skinned are not separable from each other by social status, rights or any other disadvantageous classifications. All human beings no matter of which skin color are to be understand as one people equal to each other either if distinguishable by facts like color of skin and other climatic adaptation. Complementing and temporary achievements in any field as a manner of creating redemption or a relative form of compensative justice are to be welcomed without regarding any race.
As all colors of human skin only derive from climatic conditions and changes they will underlie them wholly and always. Therefore racial theories must all prove wrong! There will never be a superior race nor a significant superiority through climatic differences of the habitat any representative dwell in by truth. Nevertheless colors of skin will always be attractive as exotic opposites.
By the way it is only healthy biologically to undergo climatic and interracial changes in order to create less delicate descendants, accepting the changes in color of skin regardless how they turn out to be, due to this huge advantages.
But there is a bigger failure of massive naivety that Diop undergoes with his infantile optimism. He is trying to provide us with a salutary solution for our ethnical problems by assuming that the human race derives from an equal origin in the highlands of former Nubia ( Abyssinia, Ethiopia ). Unfortunately he forgets that even if there is an equal origin of the human race, not in Nubia but in Babylon ( the belly of the world and former Mesopotamia, nowadays Iraq ) not far from the legendary city of Ur where lies the garden of a queen named Eden, a Jew who declared himself a god named Yahweh Elohim used to dwell in, that doesn't mean that there's going to be any solution or salvation in moral or ethics for a stronger conflict human race is carrying out with itself regardless to how civilized it is: the continuous hunt for power ( we all know as the struggle of the fittest ). This is a conflict beyond race or origin related to talent and intelligence. It's an individualistic conflict laid down in the ego of every single human being. This is a conflict of advantage, disadvantage and greed among members of one people, even one tribe, clan or family. A conflict of revenge, riot and rebellion of the disadvantaged towards the advantaged. I speak about the conflict of classes. Envying the wealthy ( healthy ) the poor ( unhealthy ) will have to rise ( condemn ). This uprising of the poor will always cause oppressive policy by the wealthy and lead to compulsion or even slaughter in the end. History proves and history continues. Our problem has never been the one of ethnicity, since anytime the intelligent have understood humanity on the planet earth as one people, but it is an almost unsolvable one of guilt and atonement. The rich are deep in the debt of the poor while the old are deeply indebted by the young. Maybe temporalily even the whites towards the blacks. You can call it even a spiritual conflict, but don't forget that spirit is just fine substantial matter.
Nevertheless Cheikh Anta Diops opus magnum is entertaining and worth reading though I wouldn't recommend it to a serious scholar.
A waste of time and paper.......2005-11-25
In my retirement I have been spending time reading some books I never had a chance to read while I was working. Unfortunately I wasted some of my valuable time on this racist drivel. Diop is simply a proponent of black racism--it's as simple as that.
Amazon.com
For Christopher Phillips, philosophy is a passion: it is not so much a discipline to be learned as an experience to be lived. Taking his cue from Socrates, the inaugurator of the Western philosophical tradition, Phillips embarks on a search for truth and meaning through a series of conversations that is at once refreshing, humorous, troubling, confusing, encouraging, depressing, and provocative. What makes Plato's Socratic dialogues so enduring--and Phillips's book so intriguing--is that for both Plato and Phillips, philosophy is not something you read or study. It is something you do. Plato wrote in Parmenides that "without wandering around and examining everything in detail one is unable to secure understanding." Phillips takes this approach--the Socratic approach--to heart. In the course of Socrates Café, he travels around asking questions of everyone who's interested. Just like the real Socrates, who did not confine himself to the Athenian ivory tower, Phillips searches out public conversations--what he calls Socrates cafés--with children, seniors, psychiatrists, prisoners, ex-academics, students, lawyers, and everyday people. In a sense, the book is a series of short, modern-day Socratic dialogues interspersed with meditations on the nature of philosophical inquiry.
Phillips seizes upon what the Greeks called "elenchus," a method of inquiry that helps people see their own beliefs and opinions more clearly. In the course of the numerous Socrates cafés highlighted in this book, Phillips persistently reminds us that we ought to ask questions simply because the process is good for us. In each of the cafés, the participants vary as widely as the questions, and the dialogues are by turns candid, insightful, muddled, intelligent, bland, and piquant. The real meaning of Socrates Café lies in the contentious and wonderful space of human interaction. --Eric de Place
Book Description
A modern-day Socrates takes to the road to bring philosophy back to the people. Journalist-turned-philosopher Christopher Phillips is on a mission: to revive the love of questions that Socrates once inspired in ancient Athens. With great charisma and optimism, he travels around the country, gathering people to participate in Socrates cafes in bookstores, senior centers, elementary schools and universities, and prisons. In this accessible, lively account, Phillips recalls what led him to start his itinerant program and recreates some of the most invigorating sessions. Harvard psychiatrist Robert Coles praises the "morally energetic and introspective exchanges with children and adults from all walks of life," which come to reveal sometimes surprising, often profound reflections on the meaning of love, friendship, work, growing old, and other large questions of life. Phillips also draws from his own academic background to introduce us to the thought of philosophers through the ages. Socrates Cafe is an engaging blend of philosophy and storytelling.
Customer Reviews:
Okay..........2007-04-21
I really enjoyed this book when I read it for the first time in tenth grade. Looking back on it, however, I see it now as a bit...well, a bit childish. The world of thoughts and opinions is much deeper than the bottom of a coffee cup.
It seems now, even then as I was reading the book in tenth grade, that Phillips has oversimplified complex matters. His whole philosophy, as put forth in this book, could be summarized easily in one sentence: "Let's all be happy because philosophy is cool." This is a gigantic simplification of the real issues at stake; namely: What is being? Who are we? Why are we here?
He leaves out the actual history too; historical mentions are scanty and not worth noting. He idealizes Socrates and his contemporaries; in his book they are very "Americanized" versions of what the actual men were probably like, their real likenesses adapted to fit the cultural norms of contemporary North America--when in fact they were part of a totally different culture which he didn't even mention (As one who studies anthropology, this really irked me).
And, on top of this, he never really says anything. Somewhere near the end of the book, he asks why we should philosophize, and answers it by saying "to be better people" or something like that. But then, why should we "be better people"? Instead of exploring these real issues, he kind of vaguely says that they exist--and then recounts a meeting at a cafe (or a prison or school, the locations vary) where, once again, people with very "American" mindsets talk about their experiences and try to delve into the issue.
One other problem is the length and difficulty level. It's just too short and too easy of a read to answer, or even attempt to begin to answer, the problems Phillips claims he is devoted to. For example, in one of the dialogs someone remarks that Phillips' wife has just "crossed the language barrier." There are two problems with this: First, the "language barrier" is never defined and like many other issues, just another abstract concept, now given a "philosophical" dimension.
Secondly, the barrier that is "crossed" in his book is between Spanish and English. Guess what people, those two languages are not very different. I am a budding linguist and nearly fluent in Spanish, Japanese, Arabic (Modern standard with a specialty in Saudi and Iraqi dialects), and am familiar with many other languages (one of which is ancient Greek, the language of Socrates). The "barrier" between Spanish and English just isn't very big. If a language barrier does exist between two given languages, it 1) is more related to culture and 2) can be crossed once the new "culture" is learned.
And lastly, there is one other problem, which is the biggest of all.
HE NEVER ACTUALLY CITES PLATO. You know, he could have written the book completely on what he's read about Plato and Socrates rather than what he actually did read of Plato's works. I couldn't believe that Plato's works weren't cited in the references section. He does mention a few, but they are relatively unimportant works like Gorgias and Euthyphro--I think there is only ONE mention of the Republic, without which Plato would have been an obscure philosopher, like Heraclitus. This is like talking about J.K. Rowling but never mentioning Harry Potter. When other philosophers are discussed, their views are oversimplified.
Looking back, this book poses serious problems historically, linguistically and anthropologically.
It was okay when I read it, a few years ago. I've grown up since then.
Using "reason" as a key to life........2007-01-12
Christopher Phillips, in the true tradition established by Socrates himself, has provided a road map to passing on the process of "reason". I enjoyed the book and have recommended it to others following the same philosophy.
The cafes have some unexamined chinks.......2006-10-12
Where does "everyman" go in this world for reasoned, open, and enlightened conversation outside an academic setting? The filtered, abbreviated, and sanitized output of the media and Internet sites hardly serves as a replacement. Into this vacuum stepped the author, a former journalist, enamored of philosophers and philosophizing, who decided to facilitate Socratic discussions in all manner of locations, but mostly cafes and bookstores. Of course, Socrates, an Athenian of the 5th century BC, was known for his penetrating questioning of the assumptions of the leading citizens of Athens, a habit which little endeared him to them. This book consists of a rather meandering look at the author's hesitant start up of this enterprise, simplified re-creations of several actual question and answer sessions at a variety of locations, and various pertinent philosophical points from philosophers of the past and from the author.
The questioning process at these discussions is pretty much ad hoc with honesty being the only requirement for asking or answering. Among the questions asked were "What is here?"; "What is home?"; "What is silence?"; "What is a friend?"; or "Why is what?". It is simply assumed that a group of near strangers who meet for two hours once a week, or less, benefits from kicking around these various, often vague or obscure, subjects. He doesn't address the impact of the disparity in backgrounds that such an assemblage is likely to have. The discussions can deteriorate into an endless series of not necessarily connected questions with limited results.
It is striking that virtually none of the topics presented for discussion in the book are controversial. Does the author suggest that politics, religion, economics, media, justice, war, etc are of no interest to people who attend his cafes. If these subjects were broached, how would that affect the functioning of the groups? The author asks "What is a church?" in one group. What if he had asked, "What is the basis of religious belief"? One suspects that Socrates would have gone right to that. There is not the sense that the author is after the truth in quite the unrestrained manner as a Socrates.
The author notes that ideas and conversation are essential to a democracy, however, neighborhood gathering places located in the midst of our sterile, zoned housing tracts are virtually non existent. These Socratic cafes could easily be seen as inadequate, artificial alternatives to real community gathering places. It's hard to imagine the people in "The Great Good Places" by Ray Oldenburg devoting much time to "Why is what" when so many real world issues having community impacts need to be addressed.
The author disappoints in another way. Many authors have web sites, and he is no exception. In this case it is for his institution, the Society for Philosophical Inquiry, which supposedly supports 300 dialogue groups. But one can find no evidence of these groups anywhere on the entire web site - very strange. From reading his book, one would think they would be front and center on the site. Perhaps there are legal issues. Instead those who access the site are given several means of buying goods or joining the SPI for a fee. It's disheartening to find an emphasis on the Socratic Café name as a brand for sale. [Note: It turns out that the list of local cafes is for sale also. Socrates is rolling over in his grave.]
At first glance, Socratic cafes seem to be an unqualified good - and they are as far as they go. But there is a certain amount of doubt as to whether that model can play a relevant and important role in public discourse in this era of isolation and spin. The book is unwilling to address any shortcomings of the concept, which is rather ironic given the author's insistence that he is "seeking Socrates." The autobiographical elements of the book are interesting, but there is an element of self promotion that lingers.
cool read.......2006-05-02
i can't speak for experts but for a firsttime philosophizer like me who wanted to get his feet wet in the field and know about Western philosophy, reading this book was a great experience, giving me just the taste of philosophy i hoped for without lots of intimidating jargon. Best for me was that it didn't just summarize the history of western philosophy but it brought it back to life in the modern world
likeable philosophy.......2006-03-14
i run a (dead)philosophy club, and couple of people recommended the book to me, so i was obligated to read it. i usually don't care for Socrates. He gets on my nervs. Not that he is a crafty sophist, but perhaps his optimistic intellectualism and loaded questions goest against my philosphical sensibilities. But I was pleasnatly surprised. It was not bad at all. Philips is a good philosopher. He knows how to run a show. And I know, running a philosophy club is harder than he makes it appear. If you want to be involved with philosophy in some serious ways; but you don't care for the academic type, maybe this will give you a heretic stand.
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- Toward a Just and Caring Society: Christian Responses to Poverty in America
- Towards Recovery in Pacific Asia (Esrc Pacific Asia Programme (Series).)
- Transitions to Capitalism and Democracy in Russia and Central Europe: Achievements, Problems, Prospects
- Turmoil in Latin America and the Caribbean: Volatility, Spillovers, and Contagion (World Bank Working Papers)
- Understanding Mainland Puerto Rican Poverty
- Vietnamese Economy and Its Transformation to an Open Market System
Books Index
Books Home
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