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Fieldwork in Landscape Architecture: Methods, Actions, Tools
by Thomas Oles Paula HorriganFieldwork in Landscape Architecture: Methods, Actions, Tools addresses the initial encounters between landscape designer and landscape site, an encounter that determines the entire course of the design process. The book offers a four-part framework (‘what you seek,’ ‘what you carry,’ ‘how you act,’ and ‘what you leave behind’) for learning and practicing fieldwork as a landscape design skill, and contains over sixty first-person accounts by international practitioners and educators about the methods and tools they bring to the field, from drones to dance. The first title of its kind, Fieldwork will be an invaluable resource for students and instructors of landscape architecture, as well as for anyone interested in the practice and experience of direct encounter with real places.
Building-Integrated Photovoltaics: A Technical Guidebook
by Nuria Martín Chivelet Costa Kapsis Francesco FrontiniBuilding-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is an innovative technology offering a variety of building envelope solutions, materials, and colours for virtually any building surface. These BIPV products generate on-site renewable electricity, turning buildings from energy consumers to producers. BIPV is expected to play an indispensable role in the transition towards decarbonisation and energy resilience of cities, effectively reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Lack of knowledge and guidance on designing BIPV systems has hindered this technology's widespread adoption and creative applications. As a remedy, this guidebook presents best practices and decision-making processes for efficient and resilient architecture. Featuring more than 50 annotated reference drawings—roofs, solar shadings, rainscreen façades, curtain walls and double skin façades—and 24 international BIPV case studies, the guidebook provides building professionals with the technical knowledge and inspiration to implement BIPV technology in the built environment.
Autoethnographies in Psychology and Mental Health: New Voices
by Alec Grant Jerome CarsonThis autoethnographic volume gathers a multiplicity of different voices in autoethnographic research from across psychology and mental health disciplines to address topics ranging from selfhood, trauma, emotional understanding, clinical psychology, and the experience of grief.Edited by two leading figures, this volume broadens the concept of psychology beyond its conventional, mainstream academic boundaries and challenges pre-conceived and received notions of what constitutes ‘psychology’ and ‘mental health’. This book collects new autoethnographic writers in psychology and mental health from across as diverse a range of disciplines and, in doing so, makes a strong case for the legitimacy of subjectivity, emotionality and lived experience as epistemic and pedagogic resources. The collection also troubles the related concept of ‘mental health.’ In contemporary times, this is either biomedically over-colonised (welcomed by some but resisted by others), often regarded by lay and professional people alike in terms of an ‘ordered or disordered’ binary (comforting for some but associated with stigma and othering for others), or, at worst, is reduced to a set of hackneyed memes – the stuff of Breakfast television (well-intentioned and undoubtedly reassuring and helpful for some but patronising and naïve for others). Overall, the volume promotes the subjective and lived-experiential voices of its contributors – the hallmark of autoethnographic writing.Autoethnographies in Psychology and Mental Health will be of interest to psychology and mental health students and professionals with an interest in qualitative inquiry as it intersects with autoethnography and mental health.
Building-Integrated Photovoltaics: A Technical Guidebook
by Nuria Martín Chivelet Costa Kapsis Francesco FrontiniBuilding-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) is an innovative technology offering a variety of building envelope solutions, materials, and colours for virtually any building surface. These BIPV products generate on-site renewable electricity, turning buildings from energy consumers to producers. BIPV is expected to play an indispensable role in the transition towards decarbonisation and energy resilience of cities, effectively reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Lack of knowledge and guidance on designing BIPV systems has hindered this technology's widespread adoption and creative applications. As a remedy, this guidebook presents best practices and decision-making processes for efficient and resilient architecture. Featuring more than 50 annotated reference drawings—roofs, solar shadings, rainscreen façades, curtain walls and double skin façades—and 24 international BIPV case studies, the guidebook provides building professionals with the technical knowledge and inspiration to implement BIPV technology in the built environment.
Autoethnographies in Psychology and Mental Health: New Voices
by Alec Grant Jerome CarsonThis autoethnographic volume gathers a multiplicity of different voices in autoethnographic research from across psychology and mental health disciplines to address topics ranging from selfhood, trauma, emotional understanding, clinical psychology, and the experience of grief.Edited by two leading figures, this volume broadens the concept of psychology beyond its conventional, mainstream academic boundaries and challenges pre-conceived and received notions of what constitutes ‘psychology’ and ‘mental health’. This book collects new autoethnographic writers in psychology and mental health from across as diverse a range of disciplines and, in doing so, makes a strong case for the legitimacy of subjectivity, emotionality and lived experience as epistemic and pedagogic resources. The collection also troubles the related concept of ‘mental health.’ In contemporary times, this is either biomedically over-colonised (welcomed by some but resisted by others), often regarded by lay and professional people alike in terms of an ‘ordered or disordered’ binary (comforting for some but associated with stigma and othering for others), or, at worst, is reduced to a set of hackneyed memes – the stuff of Breakfast television (well-intentioned and undoubtedly reassuring and helpful for some but patronising and naïve for others). Overall, the volume promotes the subjective and lived-experiential voices of its contributors – the hallmark of autoethnographic writing.Autoethnographies in Psychology and Mental Health will be of interest to psychology and mental health students and professionals with an interest in qualitative inquiry as it intersects with autoethnography and mental health.
Dismantling Orientalist Representations in US Education: Schooling and Otherness in the Social Studies Classroom (Routledge Research in Decolonizing Education)
by Daniel OsbornThis book examines the evolving role played by the social studies classroom in shaping national identity and contributing to Orientalism, which depicts the peoples of the Middle East as “the Other” relative to those of the United States and Europe.Building upon the momentum of critical approaches to examining the nature of knowledge, the role of schools in society, and the trends within social studies education and its hidden curriculum, the volume crucially shifts the focus toward a more global emphasis, examining the nature of Orientalism and the school as a setting where Orientalist logic and assumptions about the Middle East and its inhabitants are reified. Focusing on the ecosystem of social studies knowledge production and working within the sociology of knowledge, it traces this evolution across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.A novel and unique exploration of knowledge construction, and presenting a vision for a more nuanced and multifaceted portrayal of the Middle East that corrects for the deleterious aspects of Orientalism while avoiding a romanticized apologetic, it will appeal to scholars, researchers, and educators with interests in decolonizing education, social studies education, the history of education, and race and ethnicity studies.
Performing Human Consciousness: A Philosophical Investigation into the Staging of the Mind (ISSN)
by Vanessa DoddIs the mind like a theatrical performance? This comparison has often been used as a conceptual tool by neuroscientists, philosophers, and psychologists in trying to understand what constitutes the human mind, and in particular how the comings and goings and the character transformations on the stage and in the scripted text give us visible access to the hidden workings of the human mind.Performing Human Consciousness makes use of this metaphor to explore the variety of ways in which the private thoughts and feelings we all have bring into play many aspects of persistent philosophical questions over how the essentially private world of personal experiences can relate to and communicate with the common public world. To investigate this generalisation in more detail, the author brings into play her own conscious experiences by making use of an auto-inscribed play Being Me. Through this dramatic medium she seeks to show in detail how phenomenal consciousness is captured through the dramatic play text and thereby made known to others through performance of that text. Broadening out her argument further, the author then embarks on an enquiry into a selection of play texts from an historical variety of perspectives, from the early Greek and Mediaeval dramas, through to the Symbolist period and onwards to the present day, demonstrating the variety of ways in which they illustrate her argument. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of theatre & performance and scriptwriting.
Islam in Historical Perspective
by Alexander KnyshIslam in Historical Perspective is a general introduction to Islam and the history of Muslim societies. Richly illustrated by quotations and images from Muslim scripture, historical chronicles, artistic works, and theological and juridical treatises, it invites the reader to examine this evidence and to form a comprehensive understanding of Islam’s evolution from its inception in Arabia to the present day.Combining chronological and thematic principles, this book examines Muslims’ political and intellectual struggles over the meaning and practical implications of their faith. Treating Islam as a language that various factions and generations of Muslims have used to express their grievances, aspirations, and personal experiences and preferences, the book shows the religion’s remarkable potency as a social, political, and cultural force and source of identity. It also describes and analyses Muslim devotional practices, emotional responses to the revelation, artistic and intellectual creativity, and patterns of everyday existence. The goal of this book is to help the reader to develop personal empathy for the subject by showing the relevance of the dilemmas faced by Muslims in different epochs and geographical locations to the burning issues of today’s world. A thorough analysis of pivotal events, trends, and personalities of Islamic history is accompanied by witness accounts showing how they were perceived by Muslims themselves.This new edition features a thoroughly revised text, updated bibliography, new illustrations, study questions and chapter summaries, and is an outstanding resource for students of Islam and Muslim civilization.
Cultural Cold Wars and UNESCO in the Twentieth Century (Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe)
by W. John MorganCultural Cold Wars and UNESCO in the Twentieth Century addresses the now-considerable interest in the concept of cultural cold war as a means of advancing ideologies.The book charts the development of the concept in the twentieth century. Structured in two parts, Part I considers the League of Nations’ idealist attempts at international intellectual cooperation. It discusses also the first cultural cold war with the Communist International’s attempts to advance communism. It also analyses the ideological and cultural appeal of Italian fascism, German national socialism, and Japanese nationalist militarism; and the transition from a wartime alliance to a new cold war. Part II examines the renewal of international intellectual co-operation through the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the context of a second cultural cold war between the capitalist democracies and the communist bloc. The book shows that UNESCO became a site of this ideological competition and an example of its tensions.Based on original research and a comprehensive review of the literature, including in Russian, German, and French, the book will appeal to academics, postgraduate researchers, advanced undergraduates, and others interested in recent international history and the comparative politics of ideas.
Dismantling Orientalist Representations in US Education: Schooling and Otherness in the Social Studies Classroom (Routledge Research in Decolonizing Education)
by Daniel OsbornThis book examines the evolving role played by the social studies classroom in shaping national identity and contributing to Orientalism, which depicts the peoples of the Middle East as “the Other” relative to those of the United States and Europe.Building upon the momentum of critical approaches to examining the nature of knowledge, the role of schools in society, and the trends within social studies education and its hidden curriculum, the volume crucially shifts the focus toward a more global emphasis, examining the nature of Orientalism and the school as a setting where Orientalist logic and assumptions about the Middle East and its inhabitants are reified. Focusing on the ecosystem of social studies knowledge production and working within the sociology of knowledge, it traces this evolution across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries.A novel and unique exploration of knowledge construction, and presenting a vision for a more nuanced and multifaceted portrayal of the Middle East that corrects for the deleterious aspects of Orientalism while avoiding a romanticized apologetic, it will appeal to scholars, researchers, and educators with interests in decolonizing education, social studies education, the history of education, and race and ethnicity studies.
Cultural Cold Wars and UNESCO in the Twentieth Century (Routledge Studies in the History of Russia and Eastern Europe)
by W. John MorganCultural Cold Wars and UNESCO in the Twentieth Century addresses the now-considerable interest in the concept of cultural cold war as a means of advancing ideologies.The book charts the development of the concept in the twentieth century. Structured in two parts, Part I considers the League of Nations’ idealist attempts at international intellectual cooperation. It discusses also the first cultural cold war with the Communist International’s attempts to advance communism. It also analyses the ideological and cultural appeal of Italian fascism, German national socialism, and Japanese nationalist militarism; and the transition from a wartime alliance to a new cold war. Part II examines the renewal of international intellectual co-operation through the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the context of a second cultural cold war between the capitalist democracies and the communist bloc. The book shows that UNESCO became a site of this ideological competition and an example of its tensions.Based on original research and a comprehensive review of the literature, including in Russian, German, and French, the book will appeal to academics, postgraduate researchers, advanced undergraduates, and others interested in recent international history and the comparative politics of ideas.
Islam in Historical Perspective
by Alexander KnyshIslam in Historical Perspective is a general introduction to Islam and the history of Muslim societies. Richly illustrated by quotations and images from Muslim scripture, historical chronicles, artistic works, and theological and juridical treatises, it invites the reader to examine this evidence and to form a comprehensive understanding of Islam’s evolution from its inception in Arabia to the present day.Combining chronological and thematic principles, this book examines Muslims’ political and intellectual struggles over the meaning and practical implications of their faith. Treating Islam as a language that various factions and generations of Muslims have used to express their grievances, aspirations, and personal experiences and preferences, the book shows the religion’s remarkable potency as a social, political, and cultural force and source of identity. It also describes and analyses Muslim devotional practices, emotional responses to the revelation, artistic and intellectual creativity, and patterns of everyday existence. The goal of this book is to help the reader to develop personal empathy for the subject by showing the relevance of the dilemmas faced by Muslims in different epochs and geographical locations to the burning issues of today’s world. A thorough analysis of pivotal events, trends, and personalities of Islamic history is accompanied by witness accounts showing how they were perceived by Muslims themselves.This new edition features a thoroughly revised text, updated bibliography, new illustrations, study questions and chapter summaries, and is an outstanding resource for students of Islam and Muslim civilization.
Performing Human Consciousness: A Philosophical Investigation into the Staging of the Mind (ISSN)
by Vanessa DoddIs the mind like a theatrical performance? This comparison has often been used as a conceptual tool by neuroscientists, philosophers, and psychologists in trying to understand what constitutes the human mind, and in particular how the comings and goings and the character transformations on the stage and in the scripted text give us visible access to the hidden workings of the human mind.Performing Human Consciousness makes use of this metaphor to explore the variety of ways in which the private thoughts and feelings we all have bring into play many aspects of persistent philosophical questions over how the essentially private world of personal experiences can relate to and communicate with the common public world. To investigate this generalisation in more detail, the author brings into play her own conscious experiences by making use of an auto-inscribed play Being Me. Through this dramatic medium she seeks to show in detail how phenomenal consciousness is captured through the dramatic play text and thereby made known to others through performance of that text. Broadening out her argument further, the author then embarks on an enquiry into a selection of play texts from an historical variety of perspectives, from the early Greek and Mediaeval dramas, through to the Symbolist period and onwards to the present day, demonstrating the variety of ways in which they illustrate her argument. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of theatre & performance and scriptwriting.
Digressions and the Human Imagination: Tracing the Indirectness of Cultural Creativity (Anthropological Studies of Creativity and Perception)
Digressions and the Human Imagination makes a significant contribution to our anthropological knowledge about human creativity. The creative force of the human imagination is widely considered as a key ingredient in understanding how social and cultural transformations occur. And yet, what we know about the nature of creative processes is surprisingly limited. Taking their cue from literary studies, the contributors to this volume explore digression as human creativity’s main impulse. They offer a series of experimental explorations of digression in different arenas of social life – literature, conversations, myths, humour, art, and wayfinding. In their examination of the relationship between creativity and digressive processes, the contributions challenge and eventually collapse conventional distinctions between ‘artistic’ and ‘scientific’ imaginaries. This book articulates with clarity the freedom and joy of wandering off in new directions, but also the potentially transgressive and even revolutionary character that digression has when it is put to work through the creativity of the human imagination. It will be relevant for anthropologists and other scholars from across the humanities and social sciences with an interest in creativity.
Nanomedicine, Nanotheranostics and Nanobiotechnology: Fundamentals and Applications
by Rishi Paliwal Shivani Rai PaliwalNanosized particles explored for therapeutics and diagnosis-related research areas need the latest updated information for budding researchers as well as academicians. Nanomedicine, nanotheranostics, and nanobiotechnology have been contemporary technological tools for diverse biomedical, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic solutions. The present book is divided into two sections.The first section is dedicated to exclusive book chapters related to nanomedicine such as its history, regulatory aspects, scale-up, and regulatory toxicology. Additionally, this section includes chapters focusing on the application domain of nanomedicine for targeted cancer therapy, rheumatoid arthritis management, psoriasis treatment, ocular delivery, topical applications, oral bioavailability enhancement, and pulmonary delivery.The second section is composed of chapters in the area of nanotheranostics and applications of nanobiotechnology. In brief, the latest topics such as gold nanoparticles in diagnostics and therapy, nanoparticles for siRNA delivery, carbon nanotubes for gene delivery, nanoparticles for vaccine delivery, nanobiotechnology in cell-based nanomedicines, nanotechnology in regenerative medicine, and nanocarriers in delivery of proteins and peptides are complied.KEY FEATURES A total of 26 emerging topics are covered in the book on cutting-edge research areas at the multi-disciplinary level. The chapters focus on fundamentals and applications, making the book attractive for beginners as well as experts. The chapters are written by well-known experts of the field in a simple scientific style with figures, schemes, and illustrations.
Nanomedicine, Nanotheranostics and Nanobiotechnology: Fundamentals and Applications
by Rishi Paliwal Shivani Rai PaliwalNanosized particles explored for therapeutics and diagnosis-related research areas need the latest updated information for budding researchers as well as academicians. Nanomedicine, nanotheranostics, and nanobiotechnology have been contemporary technological tools for diverse biomedical, pharmaceutical, and diagnostic solutions. The present book is divided into two sections.The first section is dedicated to exclusive book chapters related to nanomedicine such as its history, regulatory aspects, scale-up, and regulatory toxicology. Additionally, this section includes chapters focusing on the application domain of nanomedicine for targeted cancer therapy, rheumatoid arthritis management, psoriasis treatment, ocular delivery, topical applications, oral bioavailability enhancement, and pulmonary delivery.The second section is composed of chapters in the area of nanotheranostics and applications of nanobiotechnology. In brief, the latest topics such as gold nanoparticles in diagnostics and therapy, nanoparticles for siRNA delivery, carbon nanotubes for gene delivery, nanoparticles for vaccine delivery, nanobiotechnology in cell-based nanomedicines, nanotechnology in regenerative medicine, and nanocarriers in delivery of proteins and peptides are complied.KEY FEATURES A total of 26 emerging topics are covered in the book on cutting-edge research areas at the multi-disciplinary level. The chapters focus on fundamentals and applications, making the book attractive for beginners as well as experts. The chapters are written by well-known experts of the field in a simple scientific style with figures, schemes, and illustrations.
Digressions and the Human Imagination: Tracing the Indirectness of Cultural Creativity (Anthropological Studies of Creativity and Perception)
by Morten NielsenDigressions and the Human Imagination makes a significant contribution to our anthropological knowledge about human creativity. The creative force of the human imagination is widely considered as a key ingredient in understanding how social and cultural transformations occur. And yet, what we know about the nature of creative processes is surprisingly limited. Taking their cue from literary studies, the contributors to this volume explore digression as human creativity’s main impulse. They offer a series of experimental explorations of digression in different arenas of social life – literature, conversations, myths, humour, art, and wayfinding. In their examination of the relationship between creativity and digressive processes, the contributions challenge and eventually collapse conventional distinctions between ‘artistic’ and ‘scientific’ imaginaries. This book articulates with clarity the freedom and joy of wandering off in new directions, but also the potentially transgressive and even revolutionary character that digression has when it is put to work through the creativity of the human imagination. It will be relevant for anthropologists and other scholars from across the humanities and social sciences with an interest in creativity.
North Korea’s Nuclear Decisions and Strategies: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and the Bomb (Asian Security Studies)
by George A. HutchinsonThis book provides a comprehensive analysis of North Korea’s nuclear strategies and of the decisions which explain its strategic motivations.The existence of two separate Koreas is an accepted outcome of the current international system. However, in today’s emerging multipolar order, the question of Korean legitimacy remains unresolved and South Korea finds itself surrounded by three nuclear powers— China, Russia, and, de facto, North Korea. This book traces North Korea’s nuclear quest across three major epochs: the Cold War, the post-Cold War, and post- September 11 periods. Through these lenses, the book reveals the underlying drivers of North Korea’s nuclear decisions and strategies, providing evidence that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are not only intended to guarantee the survival of the Kim regime but also hold the key for Pyongyang to resolve the lingering question over Korean legitimacy. The book provides evidence, through a longitudinal case study, that North Korea’s nuclear program provides a means to achieve full sovereign control of the Korean Peninsula by exploiting future opportunities in an increasingly multipolar international order.This book will be of interest to students in the fields of foreign policy, defense policy, nuclear proliferation, Korean Studies and International Relations.
North Korea’s Nuclear Decisions and Strategies: Sovereignty, Legitimacy, and the Bomb (Asian Security Studies)
by George A. HutchinsonThis book provides a comprehensive analysis of North Korea’s nuclear strategies and of the decisions which explain its strategic motivations.The existence of two separate Koreas is an accepted outcome of the current international system. However, in today’s emerging multipolar order, the question of Korean legitimacy remains unresolved and South Korea finds itself surrounded by three nuclear powers— China, Russia, and, de facto, North Korea. This book traces North Korea’s nuclear quest across three major epochs: the Cold War, the post-Cold War, and post- September 11 periods. Through these lenses, the book reveals the underlying drivers of North Korea’s nuclear decisions and strategies, providing evidence that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are not only intended to guarantee the survival of the Kim regime but also hold the key for Pyongyang to resolve the lingering question over Korean legitimacy. The book provides evidence, through a longitudinal case study, that North Korea’s nuclear program provides a means to achieve full sovereign control of the Korean Peninsula by exploiting future opportunities in an increasingly multipolar international order.This book will be of interest to students in the fields of foreign policy, defense policy, nuclear proliferation, Korean Studies and International Relations.
Gender Fields: The Social Organisation of Gender Identity (Routledge Research in Gender and Society)
by Sofia Aboim Pedro VasconcelosExploring gender through the lens of field theory, Gender Fields proposes a new framework for understanding the social organisation of gender identity. In conversation with Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, the book conceptualises under-theorised situated dimensions of gender, bridging the gap between macro and micro theories of gender. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted over five years in several countries in Europe and beyond, the authors situate gender as a critical site of autonomous socio-political struggle and highlight the centrality of the transgender experience in redefining gendered personhood and freedom. Increased trans visibility catalysed new social and political arenas of contestation that expanded the potential for reimagining gender norms and identities. The authors examine political and legal arenas, the medical field and health markets, gender naming, individual practices, and material-discursive embodiments, offering new insights into gender change. While numerous explanations have been proposed, this book offers a fresh perspective on these revolutionary developments. Gender Fields characterises gender as a field of struggle through a set of basic tools that can be usefully applied to studies in diverse settings. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with an interest in issues of gender, social theory and identity.
Gender Fields: The Social Organisation of Gender Identity (Routledge Research in Gender and Society)
by Sofia Aboim Pedro VasconcelosExploring gender through the lens of field theory, Gender Fields proposes a new framework for understanding the social organisation of gender identity. In conversation with Pierre Bourdieu's field theory, the book conceptualises under-theorised situated dimensions of gender, bridging the gap between macro and micro theories of gender. Drawing on extensive fieldwork conducted over five years in several countries in Europe and beyond, the authors situate gender as a critical site of autonomous socio-political struggle and highlight the centrality of the transgender experience in redefining gendered personhood and freedom. Increased trans visibility catalysed new social and political arenas of contestation that expanded the potential for reimagining gender norms and identities. The authors examine political and legal arenas, the medical field and health markets, gender naming, individual practices, and material-discursive embodiments, offering new insights into gender change. While numerous explanations have been proposed, this book offers a fresh perspective on these revolutionary developments. Gender Fields characterises gender as a field of struggle through a set of basic tools that can be usefully applied to studies in diverse settings. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with an interest in issues of gender, social theory and identity.
Majority State Ownership of Oil and Mining Sectors in Africa: The Resource Curse Undermined (Routledge Studies on the Political Economy of Africa)
by John James QuinnMajority State Ownership of Oil and Mining Sectors in Africa: The Resource Curse Undermined shows that countries in sub-Saharan Africa with majority state ownership of their major oil or mineral export sectors suffered from more severe versions of the natural resource curse than other similar countries. Examining natural resource exporting nations in sub-Saharan Africa between 1966 to 2000, Quinn shows that on average, states with majority state ownership of these sectors featured lower growth, lower incomes, declining alternative export sectors, more debt, lower levels of investment, lower levels of political and civil rights, and more domestic conflict than other similar countries. These results remained fairly consistent across both cross-country data, as well as in paired case studies. One surprise finding is that these countries either had depreciating currencies, or did not feature high levels of currency appreciation, on average, which is inconsistent with resource curse literature predictions. Rather, most countries with majority state ownership had high levels of currency overvaluation – which operated in a similar manner as currency appreciation. This work should appeal to students and faculty interested in the political economy of development, the natural resource curse, and African development, as well as politicians, policy makers, and NGO workers working in these areas. The strong recommendation of the book is that governments should control 50% or less of these sectors.
Agricultural, Biosystems, and Biological Engineering Education: Global Perspectives and Current Practice (Contemporary Food Engineering)
by Umezuruike Linus OparaAgricultural engineering, developed as an engineering discipline underpinned by physics, applies scientific principles, knowledge, and technological innovations in the agricultural and food industries. During the last century, there was exponential growth in engineering developments, which has improved human wellbeing and radically changed how humans interact with each other and our planet. Among these, “Agricultural Mechanization” is ranked among the top 10 in a list of 20 Top Engineering Achievements of the last century that have had the greatest impact on the quality of life.While many success stories abound, the problems of low appeal among students, identity crises, and limited job opportunities in many climes continue to trouble the discipline’s future in many parts of the world. Yet agriculture and agricultural engineering remain fundamental to assuring food and nutrition security for a growing global population.Agricultural, Biosystems, and Biological Engineering Education provides the first comprehensive global review and synthesis of different agricultural, biosystems, and biological engineering education approaches, including a detailed exposition of current practices from different regions.Key Features: Describes novel approaches to curriculum design and reform Outlines current and emerging epistemology and pedagogies in ABBE education Provides a framework to grow agricultural engineering in Africa and other developing regions Highlights the role of ABBE education in the context of the SDGs Presented in 3 parts and containing 42 chapters, this book covers the historical evolution of agricultural engineering education and discusses the emergence of biological and biosystems engineering education. It will appeal to engineers and other professionals, education planners and administrators, and policy makers in agriculture and other biological industries.
Majority State Ownership of Oil and Mining Sectors in Africa: The Resource Curse Undermined (Routledge Studies on the Political Economy of Africa)
by John James QuinnMajority State Ownership of Oil and Mining Sectors in Africa: The Resource Curse Undermined shows that countries in sub-Saharan Africa with majority state ownership of their major oil or mineral export sectors suffered from more severe versions of the natural resource curse than other similar countries. Examining natural resource exporting nations in sub-Saharan Africa between 1966 to 2000, Quinn shows that on average, states with majority state ownership of these sectors featured lower growth, lower incomes, declining alternative export sectors, more debt, lower levels of investment, lower levels of political and civil rights, and more domestic conflict than other similar countries. These results remained fairly consistent across both cross-country data, as well as in paired case studies. One surprise finding is that these countries either had depreciating currencies, or did not feature high levels of currency appreciation, on average, which is inconsistent with resource curse literature predictions. Rather, most countries with majority state ownership had high levels of currency overvaluation – which operated in a similar manner as currency appreciation. This work should appeal to students and faculty interested in the political economy of development, the natural resource curse, and African development, as well as politicians, policy makers, and NGO workers working in these areas. The strong recommendation of the book is that governments should control 50% or less of these sectors.
Design Process: A Hands-on Approach
by Sangarappillai SivaloganathanThis book introduces the systematic design process for product and engineering design projects by adopting a design model and the use of several design methods. Starting with a product idea normally outlined by the senior management as a design brief, it guides to plan the design process, define the problem, generate and choose a near-optimal or optimal solution, and complete the embodiment, all under a systematic design process model. The main strength of this book is its provision of several worked examples in the use of several design methods at all stages of the design process.This book explains how to: Start with the design brief and define the problem by eliciting and refining stakeholder requirements. Establish the functional representation of the product as a function tree or function structure. Create conceptual solutions using 12 different conceptual design methods. Evaluate and prove that the proposed conceptual solutions are of high grade before choosing one for further development, using the decision matrix method and Pugh’s controlled convergence method. Use the embodiment design method by Pahl and Beitz to develop the embodiment design for the chosen concept. It is primarily written for senior undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of industrial engineering, production engineering, manufacturing engineering, mechanical engineering, and aerospace engineering.The e-book+ version of the book, Design Process: A Hands-on Approach, complements the other versions of the book. This ebook+ version provides extensive and elaborative details about the topic to improve the overall experience of the readers. The videos that are recorded and embedded in the appropriate sections of the book outline and explicate the key features of this book, which include an overview of this book and covering critical and advanced topics at the beginning of Chapter 1 to enrich the user experience.