bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dynamic analysis of a predator-prey impulse model with action threshold depending on the density of the predator and its rate of change
Authors: Wu Liping , Xiang Zhongyi
Published: March 2024

The concept of an action threshold that depends on predator density and the rate of change is relatively novel and can engender new ideas among scholars studying predator-prey systems more effectively than earlier concepts. On this basis, a predator-prey system with an action threshold based on predator density and its change rate has been established and its dynamic behavior studied. The exact phase set and pulse set of the model were obtained conducting image analysis. The Poincaré map of the model has been constructed and the extreme value points, monotonic interval and immobility points of the Poincaré map have been studied. In addition, the nature of the periodic solution is discussed and we present simulations of the interesting dynamical behavior of the model through the use of numerical examples. An action threshold that depends on the density and rate of change of predators is more reasonable and realistic than techniques proposed in earlier studies, which is significant for the study of control strategies. It is the analytical approach adopted in this paper that allows researchers to explore other generalized predator-prey models more fully and in-depth.
Numerical method for a compound Poisson risk model with liquid reserves and proportional investment
Authors: Wang Chunwei , Wang Shujing , Xu Jiaen , Li Shaohua
Published: March 2024

In this paper, a classical risk model with liquid reserves and proportional investment is considered, and the expected total discounted dividend before ruin of insurance companies under the threshold dividend strategy is studied. First, the integral differential equations of the expected total discounted dividend before ruin satisfying certain boundary conditions is derived. Second, since the explicit solutions of the equations cannot be obtained, the numerical approximation solutions are obtained by the sinc approximation method. Finally, we discuss the effects of parameters such as risk capital ratio and liquid reserve on the expected total discounted dividend before ruin by some examples.
Strongly convex functions and extensions of related inequalities with applications to entropy
Authors: Sayyari Yamin , Donganont Mana , Dehghanian Mehdi , Jahanshahi Morteza Afshar
Published: March 2024

We extended the Mercer inequlaity, Fejér-Hermite-Hadamard, and Jensen inequalities for strongly convex functions. Moreover, we obtained several results in information theory and mathematical analysis using obtained inequalities.
AI-Based Solution for Sustainability Tracing for Companies
Authors: Pisoni Galena , Molnár Bálint
Published: March 2024

Many companies look for novel ways to trace their operational sustainability. The application of AI to analyze and make sense of the big data the company holds represents one promising approach for this aim. The authors study how one can set and design an AI-based solution for improving the sustainability of complex business processes and decision-making in companies of different types. First, they provide a general analysis of current frameworks for measuring adherence to sustainability goals for companies, then they present a conceptual framework and architecture design for an AI-enabled sustainability service for companies. The implications of our research suggest that AI can provide distinct functions: (a) automation: taking big data from different departments and analyzing them with the aim of tracing the sustainability of the company; (b) support: to help decision-making and create relevant insights for stakeholders that are coherent with defined sustainability decision criteria. To the authors' knowledge, no previous research has provided analysis and design of such AI solution for companies.
Semantic-Based Optimization of Deep Learning for Efficient Real-Time Medical Image Segmentation
Authors: Wei Zhenkun , Liu Jia , Yao Yu
Published: March 2024

In response to the critical need for advanced solutions in medical imaging segmentation, particularly for real-time applications in diagnostics and treatment planning, this study introduces SM-UNet. This novel deep learning architecture efficiently addresses the challenge of real-time, accurate medical image segmentation by integrating convolutional neural network (CNN) with multilayer perceptron (MLP). The architecture uniquely combines an initial convolutional encoder for detailed feature extraction, MLP module for capturing long-range dependencies, and a decoder that merges global features with high-resolution CNN map. Further optimization is achieved through a tokenization approach, significantly reducing computational demands. Its superior performance is confirmed by evaluations on standard datasets, showing interaction times drastically lower than comparable networks—between 1/6 to 1/10, and 1/25 compared to SOTA models. These advancements underscore SM-UNet's potential as a groundbreaking tool for facilitating real-time, precise medical diagnostics and treatment strategies.
Application and Research of Media Information Retrieval Technology in Student Work Management Systems
Authors: Chen Xiaogang , Liu Dongmei
Published: March 2024

The development of the internet has promoted the improvement of media information retrieval technology, which has also been applied to the work management of college students. This paper mainly adopts media information retrieval technology, studies the function principle of this technology, and establishes a student work management system based on media information retrieval technology. Then, this system is applied to the student management of different grades, and the problems existing in the student work management of each grade are compared and analyzed, and the corresponding improvement measures are put forward. The results indicate that the student work management system can improve the efficiency of student work management among colleges and universities in different grades.
Exploring the Teaching Path of Visual Communication in the Digital Era
Authors: Zhao Kun , Peng Cong , Wu Yue
Published: March 2024

The update of artificial intelligence (AI) is triggering the innovation of education concepts, education methods, and education means. This paper takes the impact of contemporary visual communication design on design methods, design means, and presentation methods brought by AI as the starting point; combines the possibilities brought by the characteristics of AI to the teaching mode; integrates and deepens the development of educating mode; and makes AI play a benefit in the educating of visual correspondence design, so as to transform and upgrade to the intelligent teaching of visual communication design.
Predicting and Visualizing Lateral Movements Based on ATT&CK and Quantification Theory Type 3
Authors: Okada Satoshi , Katano Yosuke , Kozai Yukihiro , Mitsunaga Takuho
Published: March 2024

When a cyber incident occurs, organizations need to identify the attack's impacts. They have to investigate potentially infected devices as well as certainly infected devices. However, as an organization's network expands, it is difficult to investigate all devices. In addition, the cybersecurity workforce shortage has risen, so organizations need to respond to incidents efficiently with limited human resources. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a tool to assist an incident response team. It can visualize ATT&CK techniques attacker used and, furthermore, detect lateral movements efficiently. The tool consists of two parts: a web application that extracts ATT&CK techniques from logs and a lateral movement detection system. The web application was implemented and could map the collected logs obtained from an actual Windows device to the ATT&CK matrix. Furthermore, actual lateral movements were performed in an experimental environment that imitated an organizational network, and the proposed detection system could detect them.
Comparison of Computed Tomography Findings in Lung Tuberculosis in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Patients
Authors: Turkar Ayla , Babalik Aylin , Feyzullahoglu Gorkem
Published: March 2024

Background:

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading infectious causes of mortality globally. The purpose of this research is to examine the clinical and radiological characteristics of patients with TB and diabetes.

Methods:

The research comprised 276 TB patients, 52 of whom were diabetic and 224 of whom were not. During the evaluation of the patients’ clinical histories, age, gender, diagnostic indicator, and whether or not they had undergone prior treatment were questioned, as were the requirement of inpatient treatment and the existence of drug resistance. Radiographically, they were questioned in terms of bilateral–unilateral extent, percentage of parenchymal involvement, cavitation, tree-in-bud appearance, the presence of ground glass, consolidation, miliary involvement, sequela fibrotic changes, parenchymal calcification, mediastinal lymphadenopathy, pleural effusion, and pleural calcification. In addition, segmenting was used to assess involvement in the affected lobes.

Results:

When we look at the results of 276 patients, 182 males and 94 females, the mean age is 46.01 ± 17.83. Diabetes and TB coexistence are more prevalent in male individuals (P = 0.029). Smear positivity and the need for inpatient treatment were found to be higher in the clinical features of diabetic patients (P = 0.05 and P = 0.01, respectively). Radiologically, diabetes individuals are more likely to have larger mediastinal lymph nodes (P = 0.032).

Conclusion:

In the coexistence of both TB and diabetes, there are variations in radiological findings, complexity in treatment response, and patient management.
Persistent residual lung abnormalities as final outcome in recovered severe COVID-19 pneumonia with lung function abnormalities in spirometry: Pulmonologist and radiologist perspective
Authors: Patil Shital , Gatagat Aditi , Gatagat Sheetal kumar
Published: March 2024

Coronavirus-related (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 [SARS-CoV-2]) global pandemic has caused significant mortality and morbidity globally in the last 3 years. In the present case report, a 51-year-old man presented in the outdoor unit for shortness of breath on exertion with a history of severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia resulted in acute respiratory distress syndrome with hospitalisation in the intensive care unit 1 year back and required high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) with noninvasive ventilatory support (NIV) for 2 weeks. He was offered oxygen supplementation at home with antibiotics for 3 months and there was no requirement of oxygen and some respiratory symptoms even after 1 year. His high-resolution computed tomography thorax documented at 1 year of discharge from the hospital revealed typical interstitial opacities labelled as persistent residual lung abnormalities (RLAs) that are predominantly reticular and linear opacities in peripheral parts of lungs without honeycombing within typical pleural-based areas with parenchymal bands and minimally altered lung architecture and preserved lung volume.
Comparative Evaluation of Sclerostin Levels in Gingival Crevicular Fluid of Periodontal Health and Disease before and after Nonsurgical Periodontal Therapy
Authors: Mathur Ankita , Gopalakrishnan D. , Sharath Shetty , Mehta Vini , Bagwe Shreya , Kumbhalwar Abhishek
Published: March 2024

Aim:

The purpose of this study was to measure the concentration of sclerostin in the gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) before and after 1, 3, and 6 weeks of nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) in subjects with and without chronic periodontitis.

Materials and Methods:

An interventional study was conducted among 35 subjects of the age groups of 30–50 years. Subjects were divided into three groups: Group I (10 healthy individuals), Group II (10 gingivitis), and Group III (15 chronic periodontitis only). Clinical parameters assessed were gingival index (GI), plaque index (PI), probing pocket depth (PPD), and clinical attachment level (CAL). The GCF samples were collected from all the groups at baseline and in Group III at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 weeks after NSPT using micropipettes.

Results:

Although the mean sclerostin concentration in GCF (ng/ml) was highest in Group III at baseline (5.41 ± 0.68) and lowest in Group I (4.98 ± 0.46), there was no statistically significant difference (P < 0.05) when intergroup comparison was done. PPD and CAL measured for Group III were 6.93 ± 1.2 and 7.67 ± 1.2, respectively. PI (2.52 ± 0.25) and GI (2.52 ± 0.17) were measured highest in Group III.

Conclusion:

There was a substantial decrease in the concentration of sclerostin in the GCF of chronic periodontitis patients after 1, 3, and 6 weeks after NSPT. This proves sclerostin to be a responsive measure of inflammation in periodontal destruction.
Ethical dilemmas: Experiences of secondary school teachers in Addis Ababa city, Ethiopia
Authors: Tsega Tigist Wuhib
Published: March 2024

Being a teacher involves multi-layered ethical challenges and decisions. The purpose of this research was to explore the ethical dilemmas faced by secondary school teachers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In addition, the study aimed to explore the ways and approaches to resolving ethical dilemmas. A phenomenological qualitative research approach served as the guiding methodology. Eight participants were involved in the semi-structured in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed by exploring potential themes and sub-themes using thematic analysis. The major ethical dilemmas that emerged from the data include (a) not being governed by schools’ rules and regulations (disrespect and dis-rule), (b) not being honest in the position they have, (c) lack of acceptance and recognition among the school community, and (d) being indecisive due to deep personal challenges of students and political interference. The major approaches utilized in addressing ethical challenges were (a) respecting the code of conduct of students’ discipline, (b) open discussion and confrontation, (c) understanding causal factors, and (d) being ethical. The need for professional development plans and training based on guiding books have been suggested as means of action in preparing secondary school teachers to deal with ethical challenges and to help them be good at decision-making.
How can Retailers Help Consumers to Recycle? Exploratory Views on the Romanian Market
Authors: Bejan Brindusa Mariana , Pop Ciprian Marcel , Sirbu Gabriela Nicoleta
Published: March 2024

In recent years, sustainability has become a concept brought more and more frequently to the attention of consumers. European directives and legislation in force regulate the sustainable behavior of retailers, mentioning the changes they must include in the company's vision, respectively the facilities they must implement to encourage consumers to recycle. Starting from these considerations, the article focuses on the importance of the 3 R's – Reuse, Recycle, Reduce and how these concepts are implemented in consumer behavior. From a practical perspective, the research analyzes the sustainable behavior of Generation Z, starting from the premise that this cohort shows a greater interest in protecting the environment. The results of the research provide information regarding the interest in the recycling process undertaken by young people, as well as aspects related to the motivations underlying this action or the places where it takes place. Thus, we will be able to observe whether the workplace, college, or reference group exerts a greater influence on recycling behavior. At the same time, the article aims to identify the measures that retailers adopt to encourage consumers to recycle. The research results allow the identification of solutions that can be adopted by retailers to optimize the recycling process.
Sovereign Credit Default Swap Market Volatility in BRICS Countries Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Özdemir Letife , Grima Simon , Özen Ercan , Rupeika-Apoga Ramona , Romanova Inna
Published: March 2024

SCDS (Sovereign Credit Default Swaps) are becoming more widely used as a country risk indicator after 2008 and stand out for providing real-time information rather than periodic reporting. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to economic disruptions and a decline in international trade. Understanding how the Pandemic affects SCDS return volatility in emerging economies like BRICS forms the motivation for our research. With this study, we aim to determine the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on SCDS return volatility in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, known as the BRICS countries. We used the Exponential Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (EGARCH) model to analyze the data, which consisted of the daily closing price data for SCDS. The date of the first COVID-19 case in each country has been taken as the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic in each country. The results of the estimated GARCH models show that the volatility processes of the SCDS return series differ between periods. EGARCH model results indicate that shocks created by news in these countries during the Pandemic have a small and persistent effect on Brazil and Russia's SCDS return volatility, while they have a large and enduring effect on China and South Africa's SCDS return volatility. The findings will guide policymakers and portfolio managers in determining risk management models.
RELATIONSHIP OF FEMALE BREASTS TO PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, EXERCISE AND SPORT – PART 2
Authors:   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista School of Medicine, Discipline of Exercise and Sports Medicine, Lombardi João Augusto , Passarela Faroni Corrêa Rosangela ,   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista School of Medicine, Discipline of Exercise and Sports Medicine, do Nascimento Silva Roberto ,   Universidade de São Paulo, School of Medicine, Department of Biochemistry and Immunology, Rebizzi Parmigiano Moreno Tathiana ,   Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Paulista School of Medicine, Discipline of Exercise and Sports Medicine
Published: March 2024

Women are increasingly seeking to be physically active or even choose sports as their professional activity as in the years, the number of Summer Olympic athletes has equaled that of men. Due to this growing female participation in sports, the study of female and male differences has become increasingly relevant in the involvement of the academic world. Several anthropometric and physiological differences have been established; however, the volume and shape of female breasts are peculiar and still little studied. The specificity of female breasts are conditions that can exert sports performance and contribute to distancing women from physical activity practice. Possible conditions of female breasts in sports are exercise-induced mastalgia, breast injury, nipple injury, pregnancy, and many others. A review on this subject, stimulating more research, and making knowledge reach more women is a major objective of this literature review. We understand that more studies are needed to understand pathophysiology, prevention, and treatment. Level of Evidence II; Retrospective Narrative Review.
SMRD: A Novel Cyber Warfare Modeling Framework for Social Engineering, Malware, Ransomware, and Distributed Denial-of-Service Based on a System of Nonlinear Differential Equations
Authors: Bouke Mohamed Aly , Abdullah Azizol
Published: March 2024

Cyber warfare has emerged as a critical aspect of modern conflict, as state and non-state actors increasingly leverage cyber capabilities to achieve strategic objectives. The rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape demands robust and adaptive approaches to protect against advanced cyberattacks and mitigate their impact on national security. Traditional cyber defense strategies often struggle to keep pace with the rapidly changing threat landscape, resulting in the need for more robust and adaptive approaches to protect against advanced cyberattacks. This paper presents a novel cyber warfare modeling framework, Social Engineering, Malware, Ransomware, and Distributed Denial-of-Service (SMRD), capturing the interactions and interdependencies between these core components. The SMRD framework offers insights for enhancing cyber defense, threat prediction, and proactive measures. A mathematical model consisting of a system of nonlinear differential equations is proposed to quantify the relationships and dynamics between the components.
The Necessity of Aesthetic Education
Authors: D’Olimpio Laura
Published: March 2024

The Necessity of Aesthetic Education is a manifesto. That which is experienced through engagement with art, through the many various and diverse art forms and media, is uniquely and essentially valuable to the lives of human beings. In order to fully appreciate and gain the most out of the arts, which offer a variety of aesthetic experience, there are concepts, skills and techniques integral to such understanding. In this book, Laura D’Olimpio argues that aesthetic education ought to be a compulsory part of education for all school-aged students, from pre-primary to high school, on the basis of its distinctive value. Such an argument is timely, given the so-called crisis in the arts and humanities, with declining student numbers in subjects that do not have a direct vocational correlative, and increased focus on science, engineering, technology and mathematics (STEM) subjects. As funding cuts increasingly slash the support for the arts, there is a need to argue for why the arts and arts education is valuable, for their own sake, as well as for the positive contributions they can and do make to society. Through critical engagement with a range of thinkers including Maxine Greene, John Dewey and Elliot Eisner, D’Olimpio offers a unique and important contribution to aesthetic education, and to research within philosophy of education.
The Origins of Modern Japanese Philosophy
Authors: Stone Richard
Published: March 2024

Nishida Kitaro is widely considered as the first original philosopher in modern Japan. Addressing this claim, Richard Stone critically examines Nishida’s relation to his contemporary philosophers in the Meiji era (1868-1912), highlighting the continuity, difference and relationships between them.

Stone reassesses the notion that Nishida’s An Inquiry into the Good (1911) was substantially more philosophically worthwhile than any preceding attempts at philosophy in Japan, whilst demonstrating how his early ideas were heavily influenced by the work of thinkers such as Inoue Enryo, Onishi Hajime and Miyake Setsurei. He argues that original philosophy in Japan did not suddenly start with Nishida. Instead, it developed within a process of methodological refinement, wherein ideas starting from early Meiji philosophers were gradually given more rigorous treatment over the course of the era, eventually culminating in Nishida’s early philosophy.

Providing an in-depth analysis of Nishida's work that brings it into dialogue with his predecessors, The Origins of Modern Japanese Philosophy offers both an engaging insight into the Meiji Period as the background of Nishida's philosophical formation and also a clear account of how several core themes in modern Japanese philosophy evolved over the course of an era.
Leadership in Independent Africa, Six Decades On
Authors: Vincent Anani Kofi
Published: March 2024

: In Leadership in Independent Africa, Kofi Anani offers an in-depth study of the Blended Representation Principle(BRP), which stipulates that power be shared between leaders selected on the basis of Western-democratic ideals and leaders chosen on the basis of traditional African norms and conventions. Drawing on academic research as well as copious personal experience, Anani shows how incorporating this principle into African leadership and governance thinking can encourage more voluntary public participation in politics, guarantee transparency and accountability in decision-making, particularly when it comes to the use of public resources, and ultimately encourage more public confidence in leaders.
A Multimodal Language Faculty
Authors: Cohn Neil , Schilperoord Joost
Published: March 2024

Language has traditionally been held as an “amodal” system that flows into different forms like speech, writing, or signing; however, communication is multimodal by nature. We pair speech with gestures, use emoji with text, and combine writing with drawings and images in places from doodles to comics to advertising. Yet, the linguistic and cognitive theories maintaining the traditional amodal notion of language cannot account for the richness of this multimodal communication. What is needed is a new, multimodal paradigm of language.

This book presents a model of a multimodal language faculty which heralds a re-organization of the structures of language and their guiding assumptions. It shows that the primary human expressive behaviors – speaking, signing, drawing–may seem distinct, but actually decompose into similar cognitive building blocks, which coalesce into a multifaceted multimodal communicative system. The result is an account of human cognition where all communication – whether speech, gesture, graphics, and their multimodal interactions – arises as emergent activation states out of a singular cognitive architecture. The architecture put forward provides a 'grand unified theory' of language and communication, accounting for the insights of traditional linguistic formalizations, conceptual semantics, gesture studies, Peircean semiotics, visual language theory, and both unimodal and multimodal lexicons, all integrated into a single model. This overall approach directly confronts the traditional notions of language that have stood for at least two centuries with a new paradigm of acknowledging the multimodal nature of human communication, forcing us to reimagine what language is and how it works.
Islamic Algorithms
Authors: Bunt Gary R.
Published: March 2024

This book examines how Islam is digitally mediated across devices and contexts, in a constantly shifting framework of technological change, enhanced access and digital literacy, and proactive engagement in Islamic online content by authorities and influencers.

What is the impact of this on societies, believers, and understandings of Islam? Islamic Algorithms provides a thorough exploration of cyber Islamic environments (CIEs) through representations of significant historical and religious influences across contexts and diversities. This ranges from jinn and angels through to contemporary influencers. Influence is built and developed across and within categories of interpretation, context, origins, and historical patterns - from the emergence of the Qur'an through to Islamic expansion in space and time. This includes the power dynamics of CIEs, incorporating a range of specific influences and ideas explored in Allah Algorithms. Religious authority and influence take multifarious forms, with underlying archetypal patterns that can relate to context and combinations of other factors and influences - traditional, historical, legalistic, cultural, genealogical, linguistic, interpretative and, in contemporary contexts - technological.

Islamic Algorithms raises issues of how digital content is embedded in contemporary understandings of Islam and their dissemination. Gary Bunt shows how perceptions of pivotal figures in Islam are informed by new generations of digital influences, which present a primary source of information and dissemination within younger Muslim demographics, with user expectations commensurate with other areas of online expression – such as apps, interactivity, and peer networking.
Human Flourishing
Authors: Mountbatten-O’Malley Eri
Published: March 2024

In this first systematic reconstruction of the concept of human flourishing, Eri Mountbatten-O’Malley addresses the central problems with the treatment of the concept in psychology, education, policy and science. Drawing on Wittgenstein and his followers, he develops a sophisticated methodology of conceptual analysis and makes the case for paying closer attention to complex human contexts, purposes and uses.

Adopting a conceptual approach, informed by fundamental insights adapted from Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language, Mountbatten-O’Malley highlights the key features and connections in the conceptual landscape of human flourishing, such as humanness, agency, personal growth, happiness and meaning. He considers the extent to which any claim to knowledge is reliant on a putative human nature, what that nature is, and how we can better understand such notions.

Re-humanizing current research on the concept that is technicalized and detached from ordinary uses, this volume takes the ‘human’ in conceptions of human flourishing seriously.

If any concept is subject to the standards of judgement in our human form of life it is the notion of what it is to flourish. Yet what is clear is that in the understandable desire to improve human happiness, well-being, success and satisfaction, researchers often neglect the importance of normativity and context. What researchers are left with is some technical or theoretical, non-normative, concept with the gloss of a normative concept. The problem in the literature is that by technicalizing the concept and dislocating it from its everyday contexts without paying sufficient attention to the dynamic and changeable influence of use, language-games, normativity or occasion-sensitivity, the concept loses its meaning. This is important because of the potential for misapplying the concept in the areas of human knowledge, understanding, education, science and policy. Therefore, the case I make is that the concept demands much greater attention than is currently afforded and this thesis will provide that level of attention. Because there is no finite list of possibilities where someone might be said to flourish, the thesis will aim to strike a proper balance between the clarity needed in order to make sense of the term through connective analyses, whilst also exploring the vital contextual nuances and occasion-sensitivity that give richness, life and meaning to the concept.
The Temptation of Non-Being
Authors: Magun Artemy
Published: March 2024

Why do we enjoy artworks that depict disasters and suffering? Is this a hangover from the Modernist impulse to break the rules of harmony? Is there actually a proper way to perform negativity in art without resorting to nihilism? The Temptation of Non-Being uses these fundamental questions to paint a picture of contemporary art as beset by an outbreak of the negative, and to construct a new theory of art as a medium of complex negativity.

The negative in art is explained not as a simple negation or destruction, but as a multifaceted, polymorphous structure with a vast range of strategies and techniques from parody and pastiche to defamiliarization and non-resemblance. Charting the depth of these negative practices, Artemy Magun shows how they become progressively more complex and explicit, illustrating them with interdisciplinary examples from Lars von Trier, Jacek Malczewski, Andrei Platonov and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. At the heart of this layered, nested structure lies an understanding of Modern aesthetics that helps to answer even more questions: how can the testing, probing nature of art lead to this preoccupation with the negative? Why does this negativity emerge in the first place? What can it tell us about art itself and how it functions in society? This is an erudite and provocative analysis that enriches the ongoing evaluation of both ‘high’ and ‘low’ art.
Vertical Gardening
Authors: Staffler Martin
Published: March 2024

With low-cost and sustainable DIY projects, this practical guide helps gardeners to make use of small spaces by growing upwards.

Vertical gardening offers great opportunities to grow flowers, vegetables, succulents and herbs, particularly for those with a balcony, patio or compact garden. It can also be a fantastic way to showcase creative and sustainable design choices, whether you've got wood, terracotta pots, burlap sacks, fabric or even plastic bottles.

From privacy screens to foldable storage, this helpful guide includes step-by-step DIY projects, plant care tips and tricks, and practical information on the special challenges that come with planting in a compact garden, including advice on pests, drainage and plants suited for gardens with limited light.

Beautifully illustrated throughout with aspirational photography and useful diagrams, Vertical Gardening celebrates the versatility of growing up in a small or awkward space.
Tanks on Iwo Jima 1945
Authors: Cansière Romain
Published: March 2024

An award-winning US Marine Corps armor historian's account of the role of US and Japanese tanks on Iwo Jima.

The battle of Iwo Jima is iconic and known for its brutality: this was the only battle in which the number of US casualties outnumbered those of the Japanese. But as is often the case with the Pacific campaigns, the tank action on the island has generally been overshadowed by that of infantry. The tank, however, played an important role as a support weapon – especially on the US side – despite the rough terrain and unconventional enemy tactics.

Using unpublished official records and veterans' accounts, award-winning USMC armor specialist Romain Cansière sheds new light on Japanese and USMC armored operations on the island. This book offers new information on the battle in a complete, concise, and accessible format, and its illustrations include unpublished photographs from private collections and meticulously researched new color profiles, highlighting the tanks' modifications and their diverse camouflage and markings.
Germany’s French Allies 1941–1945
Authors: Afiero Massimiliano
Published: March 2024

A fully illustrated study of the Wehrmacht's French volunteer units and their actions on the Eastern Front and in North Africa during World War II.

It is little known that, in late 1941, French volunteer units were among Wehrmacht troops defending Germany in the first bitter winter on the Eastern Front, and also among the last fighting for Berlin in April 1945. After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, some 13,000 Frenchmen enlisted in the ‘Légion des volontaires français contre le bolchévisme’ (LVF), which was reformed as the Wehrmacht’s Infanterie-Regiment 638 and posted to Russia.

This volume examines the involvement of French volunteers, not only on the Eastern Front, but also in the ‘Phalange Africaine’ in Tunisia and in the ‘Légion Tricolore’, a short-lived military organization under the control of the French Vichy government. Using archive photographs and specially commissioned artwork, it casts a new light on forces fighting for the Axis and studies the French personnel’s equipment, insignia and uniforms while describing their involvement in some of the most gruelling battles of World War II.
Advertising Law and Regulation
Authors: Bray Oliver , Crown Giles , Earle Rupert , Lloyd-Taylor Geraint
Published: March 2024

Covers all aspects of the law as it affects advertising, from European legislation and copyright law to libel and obscenity laws. It clearly explains the laws, statutes and self-regulatory codes that govern advertising and there are sections given to the specific issues affecting television, radio and cinema.
Water and Waste Regulation
Authors: Smail Louise
Published: March 2024

Water pollution law is the most developed of the pollution control systems. This title contains a comprehensive account of water and waste legislation plus a detailed interpretation of the relevant statutory provisions and associated case law.

This book includes:
- A detailed interpretation of the relevant statutory provisions and associated case law- The impact of Brexit on current regulations- Discussions surrounding UK desalination plants, end of life vehicles and nature conservation- The changes in international regulations and the impact that this has on UK water and waste regulation- The regulation of water quality standards, water pollution control, fisheries, navigation, flood, coastal protection and marine pollution with a wide range of water pollution offences

The detailed treatment of the issues involved will enable environmental and energy law practitioners to feel confident in what is a complicated area of law.

This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Environmental Law online service.
The Praeger Handbook of Acupuncture for Pain Management
Authors: Xu Jun
Published: March 2024

This unique text examines 30 specific pain management case studies to explain pain treatments from the perspectives of Eastern acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine as well as that of Western medical practice.

Millions of Americans are affected or incapacitated by a wide variety of chronic pain—from heel spurs, herniated discs, and hip bursitis to osteoarthritis, plantar fasciitis, and rotator cuff tears. As complex as the injuries and problems can be, medically speaking, for many pain sufferers, the question is simple: can acupuncture work to make my pain go away? This book provides information from 30 different pain management cases to shed light on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatments in specific situations.

Presented in easy-to-understand, plain language, the author explains why acupuncture works to stop pain from the theoretical frameworks of both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. Each chapter describes the potential sources and systems of specific pain, depicts the acupuncture points for that pain, and explains how they work. The case studies—selected from more than 9,000 patients seen by Dr. Xu during his 14 years of clinical practice in the United States—document how acupuncture has effectively granted these individuals relief from pain, whether viewed from the Western science of neurology, or the Eastern theories of yin and yang and keeping the body's energies in a balanced state.
Presenting the Past
Authors: Udayakumar S. P.
Published: March 2024

The interface of identity construction practices and the role of knowledge of the past in that continual process manifests itself in contemporary Hindu-Muslim relations and political governance. Presenting' the Past studies the religious, cultural, sociological, and ideological dimensions of the Hindutva historiographical project going back and forth into the realms of history, myth, socialization, and governance. Taking Ram' and the division of the Indian society into Rambhakts (Ram devotees) and non-Rambhakts as the core, Udayakumar proceeds by reading the closely related set of texts: the Ramayana, Ramarajya (State of Ram) imageries in political discourses, the Babri Masjid/Ramjanmabhumi controversy in Ayhodhya and the Ramraksha governance of the BJP-led government in New Delhi.

With analysis of events dating to the 1920s and the establishment of Muslim separatism and Hindu fundamentalism, extending to the 1990s when the Sangh Parivar's narrative of national history' reached its pinnacle with the demolition of the Babri Masjid and the attainment of state power, and terminating in 2004 when the BJP lost power and prominence at the center, this illuminating discourse is readily accessible to students and scholars of contemporary Indian politics and society.
The Press and the Decline of Democracy
Authors: Picard Robert
Published: March 2024

The author discusses the role of economic concentration in limiting public access to information and reducing opportunities for public discourse. Picard examines the government policies that have contributed to the erosion of democratic participation and have permitted the growth of large commercial press entities, unobstructed by anti-trust provisions. He relates recent public policy responses to this problem to democratic socialist ideology and develops a social-democratic theory of the press which draws upon ideas and policies found throughout the Western world. Picard provides a democratic framework for understanding the changing nature of media economics and state-press relations and offers proposals for achieving both a democratically functioning press and broader popular participation.
The Press in American Politics, 1787–2012
Authors: Novotny Patrick
Published: March 2024

From the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and the fight for ratification of the Constitution in the pages of America's newspapers through the digital era of 24/7 information technologies and social media campaigns, this book tells the story of the press as a decisive and defining part of America's elections, parties, and political life.

The Press In American Politics, 1787–2012 supplies a far-reaching and fast-moving historical narrative of the decisive and defining moments in U.S. politics as told through the history of America's press, beginning from the emergence of the press in American politics during the 1787 Constitutional Convention through to 21st-century campaigning that utilize "big data" and harness the power of social networking.

Suitable for general readers with an interest in the history of American elections and political campaigns and students and academic scholars studying the press and American politics, the book tells the story of "the press"—collectively, some of the most familiar institutions in American news, broadcasting, and technology—as a defining part of America's elections, political parties, and political life. Author Patrick Novotny examines topics such as the expansion of the press into the Western territories and states in the early 19th century, the growing independence of the press after the Civil War, the early history of wireless communication, the emergence of radio and television as powerful media, and the daunting challenges newspapers face in the Internet era.
Private Sector, Public Wars
Authors: Carafano James Jay
Published: March 2024

Contractors are big business and a big part of war, with businesses taking upon themselves many tasks previously designated to the armed forces. By 2007, there were over 100,000 individuals working on U.S. contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan-versus about 160,000 U.S. combat troops. By some estimates, contractors account for some 40 percent of the costs of running operations.

This important work examines how that came to be, as well as answering a number of critical questions: How have Congress, public interest groups, and other parties dealt with the issue? How is the marketplace affecting the American way of war? What impact will this have on force structure? How will the growing involvement of the private sector influence such matters as the all-volunteer force and the procurement and maintenance of advanced warfighting systems?

The emergent role of contractors on the battlefield reflects a deeply significant transition in the nature of armed conflict, a significant rebalancing between the roles of the private and public sectors. This change is the most significant upheaval in the nature of warfare since the rise of the nation-state in the 17th century. It represents a transformation started long before the invasion of Iraq and, absent a dramatic change in the evolution of the global marketplace, it will continue to increase, regardless of the course of American domestic politics. Government will have to change to keep up.

Understanding why the private sector has come to play such a prominent role in public wars requires tracing a story as torturous and, at times, mysterious as the search for the Holy Grail, a tale filled with deceit, greed, courage, selflessness, stupidity, misdirection, and myth. It includes following a winding path from Medieval Tuscan hills, to England, to colonial America, to the sands of Iwo Jima and of Iraq, the mountains of Afghanistan, the corridors of Wall Street, and the halls of the Pentagon. It demands walking through the cross sections of military, political, social, cultural, economic, intellectual, and business history. At the end of the journey lies the unvarnished truth about contractors in combat. That is the story Private Sector, Public Wars means to tell.
Prudent Decision Making in an Imprudent World
Authors: Gould Patrick
Published: March 2024

A practical guide to making better decisions in all aspects of life, based on extensive research and a wide range of historic and current examples.

Combining clearly communicated research-based principles, a wealth of practical advice, and dozens of historic and contemporary examples of decision making (good and bad), Patrick Gould's Prudent Decision Making in an Imprudent World: Better Decisions at Home and Work gives readers a fresh new way to look at the way we make choices.

What makes Gould's book both authoritative and compelling is its distinctive foundation—prospect theory—derived from Amos Tversky and Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman's landmark research on "neuro-economic" decision making. Through the prism of prospect theory—which explains why people make conservative decisions in some instances and reckless decisions in others—Gould provides practical pathways to sound, timely judgments about relationships, family matters, careers, finances, and more. Time and again, throughout this concise but richly rewarding book, Gould demonstrates that understanding how and why people make choices is the first step toward making the best possible choices for ourselves.
Psychology of Champions
Authors: Barrell James J. , Ryback David
Published: March 2024

The first book to gather firsthand accounts of successful practices, and thinking habits, of sports legends and super-athletes—from across sports including football, baseball, basketball, boxing, golf, car-racing, and swimming—this work holds lessons that can power not only athletic success, but winning in any daily challenges of life or work. The result of years of research, Psychology of Champions offers the very personal words of star athletes who explain how they overcame such obstacles as fear, discouragement, and anxiety, and were able to move on to success. Each story—including from those of baseball great Ted Williams, basketball star Michael Jordan, football's famed Deion Sanders, and dozens more from across sports —is unique. Yet, the authors determine that, when all is said and done, the overriding variables accounting for the greatest success fall into three categories: motivation, confidence, and concentration. Barrell and Ryback spell out the rules for such success after each section in this absorbing book. The result is a book that not only entertains and educates us with firsthand accounts of ever-popular sports heroes, but also instructs athletes, amateur or professional, and arguably anyone with a goal to achieve in work or life.

In-the-moment accounts reveal just what to do in various critical periods of sports competition—from being at bat in baseball, to making an instantaneous decision as a quarterback, firing the winning basket in the dying moments of a game, or launching the winning move in boxing or judo. Barrell and Ryback draw the lessons together in what they term The Focus Edge mindset. That mindset—and this book— says one former Olympian, take greatness and make it accessible to you and me.