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The Jane Austen Marriage Manual: A Novel
by Kim IzzoKatherine Shaw—Kate— is happy with her life. She has supportive friends, a glamorous magazine career, and a love of all things Jane Austen. But when she loses her job, her beloved grandmother falls ill and a financial disaster forces a sale on the family home, Kate finds herself facing a crisis that would test even the most stalwart of Austen heroines. Friends rally round, connecting her to freelance gigs, and presenting her with a birthday gift— title to land in Scotland—that's about to come in very handy. Turns out that Kate's first freelance assignment is to test an Austen-inspired theory: in the toughest economic times is a wealthy man the only must-have accessory? What begins as an article turns into an opportunity as Kate—now Lady Kate—jet-sets to Palm Beach, St Moritz and London where, in keeping company with the elite, she meets prospects who make Mr. Darcy look like an amateur. But will rubbing shoulders with men of good fortune ever actually lead her to love? And will Kate be able to choose between Mr. Rich and Mr. Right?
Anya's War
by Andrea AlbanAnya Rosen and her family have left their home in Odessa for Shanghai, believing that China will be a safe haven from Hitler's forces. At first, Anya's life in the Jewish Quarter of Shanghai is privileged and relatively carefree: she has crushes on boys, fights with her mother, and longs to defy expectations just like her hero, Amelia Earhart. Then Anya finds a baby—a newborn abandoned on the street. Amelia Earhart goes missing. And it becomes dangerously clear that no place is safe—not for Jewish families like the Rosens, not for Shanghai's poor, not for adventurous women pilots.Based on a true story, here is a rich, transcendent novel about a little-known time in Holocaust history.
Dead But Not Forgotten: The True Story of a Cheating Husband, His Stunning Mistress, and a Murder Case Gone Cold (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
by Amber HuntBarbara and Michael ran a Detroit-area comic book shop, where Renee Kotula was an employee—and Michael's lover. Their torrid affair took a shocking turn when one night Barbara was found dead at the shop, a bullet through her skull. Did Michael kill his wife so that he could collect her life insurance policy…and run off with Renee? With no weapon or witnesses, the police weren't able to arrest Michael…until, eighteen years later, a new district attorney reopened the case and found overlooked evidence that placed him at the scene of the crime. Michael was finally arrested. But after a jury found him guilty of murder, the judge overturned his case. Why? As Michael awaits a second trial, many are left to wonder if justice will ever be served for the woman who isDEAD BUT NOT FORGOTTEN.
Itch: A Novel
by Michelle D. KwasneyAfter the death of her beloved Gramps, Delores Colchester, better known as "Itch," moves with her grandmother from Florida to Ohio. Starting over is hard, and Itch feels like an outsider in her new school, until she becomes friends with popular baton-twirling Gwendolyn. On the outside, Gwendolyn seems perfect: talented, smart, and beautiful. But she has a dark secret, which Itch begins to suspect and soon discovers is true. "Speaking up takes courage," Gramps had always told Itch, and she's about to discover just how much. Michelle D. Kwasney weaves a compelling story about child abuse, family, and friendship against the backdrop of the late 1960s.Itch is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.
A Date with Death: The Secret Life of the Accused "Craigslist Killer"
by Michele R. McPheeIn a luxury Boston hotel on April 14, 2009, police discovered the body of a beautiful young woman—her head battered, a bullet through her heart. Within hours, the story exploded, making headlines across the nation. The victim, a masseuse named Julissa Brisman, had advertised her erotic services on popular classified ads Web site Craigslist. A twenty-two-year-old medical student named Philip Markoff was her last-known client…The Boston Police Homicide Unit followed a digital trail that led to Markoff's home, where investigators found a gun, prepaid cell phones, plastic handcuffs, and other evidence linking Markoff to Brisman. They also uncovered a stash of women's undergarments, raising even more questions about their suspect: How many other women did Markoff meet before Brisman? And what happened to them? This is the true story of one woman's DATE WITH DEATH.
The Language of Innovation: Transforming Ideas into Awesome Products
by Ron ItelmanTransform how teams innovate together and turn your ideas into scalable solutions through practical implementation techniques. Drawing from real-world successes and failures at companies like Apple, Toyota, and Amazon, this book provides a visual language and framework that helps teams align their efforts and reduce risks. Do you struggle to turn creative ideas into reality? Are your innovation projects moving slower than you'd like? Innovation thrives on collaboration, but without the right tools and principles, even brilliant ideas can falter. Through captivating stories and clear frameworks, learn how to create alignment across teams and stakeholders to help make confident strategic choices that minimize risk. You’ll also identify and solve innovation bottlenecks, build systems that scale innovation success, and measure what matters for sustainable growth Whether you're a startup founder, corporate innovator, or team leader, The Language of Innovation equips you with practical tools you can implement immediately using just a whiteboard or spreadsheet. Master the proven principles that help organizations like Amazon turn simple ideas into billion-dollar innovations. What You Will Learn Master the four types of innovation (Process, Business Model, Product, Marketing) and how to apply them effectively Develop systems thinking approaches to understand and improve organizational processes Create effective innovation strategies using proven frameworks and tools Build alignment across teams and stakeholders to drive successful innovation Measure and validate innovation success using data-driven methods Who This Book is For Innovation leaders, product developers, entrepreneurs, and business strategists who need practical frameworks to turn ideas into reality; project managers, business analysts, and cross-functional team leaders who must navigate complex organizational challenges while delivering results; MBA students and business educators interested in understanding real-world innovation dynamics.
An Introduction to Materials Informatics: The Elements of Machine Learning
by Tongyi ZhangThis textbook educates current and future materials workers, engineers, and researchers on Materials Informatics. Volume I serves as an introduction, merging AI, ML, materials science, and engineering. It covers essential topics and algorithms in 11 chapters, including Linear Regression, Neural Networks, and more. Suitable for diverse fields like materials science, physics, and chemistry, it enables quick and easy learning of Materials Informatics for readers without prior AI and ML knowledge.
Advanced Technologies for Physical Properties Measurement of Food and its Processing
by Lei Zhang Quansheng Chen Hao Lin Man Zhou Leiqing Pan Qin Ouyang Solomon Yao-Say Adade Yanyu LiThis book provides a comprehensive overview of the physical properties of foods and the cutting-edge technologies employed to measure them. Delving into key topics such as optical, thermal, acoustic, rheological, and textural properties, it provides a detailed examination of principles, measurement methods, and applications in food quality evaluation. While it discusses advanced technologies such as near-infrared spectroscopy, computer vision, spectral imaging, acoustic resonance analysis, electronic noses/tongues/eyes, and multi-sensor data fusion in detail, the book also introduces intelligent equipment design and real-time quality monitoring systems for the food industry, including emerging technologies like 4D printing and terahertz technology. The book also addresses critical questions about the application of these technologies in real-world scenarios, making it a must-read for those seeking to understand and apply the latest advancements in food science. This book is an invaluable resource for undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and professionals in food science and engineering. It helps readers understand the principles of various non-destructive food quality measurement techniques and applies them to in-situ evaluation and in-field monitoring. It also serves as both a textbook and a reference guide, enabling readers to understand and apply advanced measurement and processing techniques for in-situ evaluation and in-field monitoring. By providing a thorough understanding of the principles and applications of food physical properties, this book ensures that its audience remains at the forefront of technological advancements in the field. The book contains several chapters originally written in the Chinese language. The translation was done with the help of artificial intelligence. A subsequent human revision was done primarily in terms of content.
Behavioral Consultation and Primary Care: A Guide to Integrating Services
by Patricia J. Robinson Jeffrey T. ReiterThis third edition of Behavioral Consultation and Primary Care builds on the success of the previous editions, with updates and expansions of material. This volume will address many timely developments and will be useful to those professionals new to integrated care, and will serve as a text for the growing number of graduate courses on primary care consultation. Topics of interest include workforce shortage issues, guidance on growing strong and resilient teams, and an exploration of the spread of this model to a wide variety of settings such as family practice, women's clinics, and pediatric facilities. In all, the goal of this book is to provide better health care for everyone, and provide the steps necessary to achieve this goal. Robinson and Reiter have crafted a masterpiece with this third edition of Behavioral Consultation and Primary Care. Their great care in building the PCBH model explains its positive impact on patients and healthcare systems around the world and its remarkable growth over the past 17 years. This edition, enriched with new research, practical tools, evolved thinking, and the authors' stunning ability to keep things simple, is a tour de force of how to make evidence-based work clinically relevant. I am thrilled to see this comprehensive guide continue to advance the field. It’s THE essential resource for clinicians, leaders, and anyone who is passionate about transforming primary care through behavioral health integration. Steven C. Hayes, PhD, Foundation Professor of Psychology Emeritus, University of Nevada, Reno Expect this book to be dog-eared and covered with notes. This is not a pristine book to sit on your shelf. This is your go-to guide for integrating behavioral health services into primary care. From the basics to the complex nuances of implementation and scaling integration — this is your resource. Whether you are just starting to integrate behavioral health into your practice, or have a seasoned integrated system, this book is for you. Parinda Khatri, PhD, Chief Health Officer, Cherokee Health Systems
Bariatric Endoscopy
by Christopher C. ThompsonThe issues presented in this text have particular relevance in our obesogenic society. Over one-third of the adult population in the United States suffers from obesity, and it is now apparent that this epidemic is progressively becoming global in scale. Lifestyle modification, dietary programs, and medical therapies have an important role, however, alone they are not adequate for many patients. Bariatric surgery has provided an effective alternative for achieving durable weight loss in many patients with morbid obesity, and there are currently several types of surgery being employed for weight loss and the treatment of obesity associated comorbid illness. It is estimated that over 200,000 bariatric procedures are performed annually in the United States. The most common are Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy among others. Each of these surgeries may also have important variations, and are in turn associated with unique gastrointestinal complications. Additionally, there are new medications and emerging endobariatric therapies that are gaining wide acceptance, and offering less invasive alternatives to this struggling population. This textbook on obesity management and bariatric endoscopy is the work of a multidisciplinary group of international experts and is intended to serve as a comprehensive guide to the endoscopic management of patients with obesity. It is divided into three main sections: I. Obesity Overview and Medical Management; II. Traditional Bariatric Surgery and Endoscopic Management of Complications; and III. Endoscopic Bariatric Therapies. Epidemiology, pharmacological and surgical treatment of obesity, surgical anatomy, post-operative complications, endoscopic treatment of complications, and endoscopic bariatric therapies are covered in-depth. In addition to thoroughly revised chapters from the previous edition, the latest volume includes more than 10 new chapters. Clinical gastroenterologists, gastroenterologists in training, and surgeons with a special interest in obesity management will find this book to be of practical importance.
Between Two Fires: A Novel (Queen Branwen)
by Mark NoceSaxon barbarians threaten to destroy medieval Wales. Lady Branwen becomes Wales' last hope to unite their divided kingdoms when her father betroths her to a powerful Welsh warlord, the Hammer King. But the fledgling alliance is fraught with enemies from within and without as Branwen becomes the target of assassination attempts and courtly intrigue. A young woman in a world of fierce warriors, she seeks to assert her own authority and preserve Wales against the barbarians. But when she falls for a young hedge knight named Artagan, her world threatens to tear itself apart. Caught between her duty to her people and her love of a man she cannot have, Branwen must choose whether to preserve her royal marriage or to follow her heart. Somehow she must save her people and remain true to herself, before Saxon invaders and a mysterious traitor try to destroy her.Branwen's story combines elements of mystery and romance with Noce's gift for storytelling.
Murphy and the Great Surf Rescue (Puppy Academy)
by Gill LewisMeet the students at Puppy Academy—a team of plucky puppies learning to be working dogs.Murphy is used to being top dog; no one at Puppy Academy can perform a water rescue like he can. But when he's sent to the beach to try for his Surf Rescue Badge, his first time in the ocean leaves him wave-tossed and afraid. Will Murphy find the confidence to get back in the water? Can he be brave when it matters most?
Thanks Fur Last Night
by Kate Baxter Eve Langlais Milly TaidenEnter a world of smoldering shifters in this scintillating anthology headlined by New York Times bestselling authors Eve Langlais and Milly Taiden with brand-new, never published novellas! Bearing His Sin Cole should have killed Anja the moment he realized she was his mate. Instead, he let her live and now they’re on the hunt, chasing the morons who think they can force her to marry another man. Like hell. And while this shapeshifting bear might have his share of sins, he’s not going to let little things like murder and mayhem prevent him from having the woman meant to be the keeper of his heart.Bought by the Bear Josilyn Martinez just needed the money to help raise her nephew. That's it. There's no other reason she would take a job posing as a shifter's mate so he can assure his grandmother he's settled down. There's no reason to stay at his place so they learn "more about each other." And there's definitely no good reason she should get involved with the hard, hot, and handsome shifter that's hired her. Xander just needs a fake mate for a week to get his grandmother off his back. But what's a bear shifter to do when the impostor mate he hired turns out to be his actual mate? All sweet, luscious curves and a heart of gold, Xander's not going to let his mate get away. Now all he has to do is show her that they belong together, one kiss and touch at a time...The Alpha and I Devon Kincaid is happy with her new life in Lowman, Idaho. Her little bar on the outskirts of the tiny, isolated town is doing well, and she’s not even interested in finding a man. But when she finds a bleeding man—a hot, hard, handsome, naked bleeding man—in the snow one night, Devon brings him home to care for him. He’s definitely not like any man she’s ever met before, but what she doesn’t realize is that he’s not just a man… Liam Murphy isn't simply a werewolf. He's the Alpha. In a heated battle with a deadly bear shifter, he's moved his pack to the Sawtooth Wilderness in order to draw danger from them. He was hoping to escape his problems—but the last thing he expects to find in the isolated Idaho wilderness was his mate. Fragile and unfamiliar with the violent supernatural world, the only way he can protect Devon is to make her what he is: a werewolf. He only hopes that in the process convincing her to enter fully into his world, that he doesn’t drive away the one woman he can’t live without.
New Magics: An Anthology of Today's Fantasy
by Ursula K. Le Guin Orson Scott Card Charles De LintWhether it's a tale of a wizard developing his powers or a breakneck chase through New York City in search of the Grail, the best fantasy is all about coming face to face with reality---with boundaries---and saying, What if? It's about stepping across the threshold of what is and what must be into a world of maybes and why-nots. Most of all, it's a great deal of fun.It's for today's generation of young readers that Patrick Nielsen Hayden---winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology---has selected these stories from the thousands published by contemporary fantasy writers over the past two decades. For those readers who keep asking questions but are never completely satisfied with the answers---only the journey.Here is National Book Award winner Ursula K. Le Guin with a tale of wizardry from the world of her Earthsea books. Here is Orson Scott Card, author of Ender's Game, with the original story of Prentice Alvin in alternate, magical nineteenth-century America. Here is Newbery Medal winner Robin McKinley with a tale of an exiled princess's quest to regain her people. Here is Sandman author Neil Gaiman with a story of chivalry, with a distinctly modern twist.Here are werewolves and princesses, battles and enchantments, and great stories from Jane Yolen, Harry Turtledove, Charles de Lint, Emma Bull, and more.Whimsical or harrowing, irreverent or sublime, each of these stories is an adventure in imagination. Journey from the here and now to New Magics.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
Penelope: A Novel
by Marilyn KayeA modern-day fairytale--a major motion picture starring Christina Ricci, Catherine O'Hara, James McAvoy, and Reese Witherspoon.Penelope Wilhern has everything a girl could want: A wealthy, socialite family, an enchanted bedroom and some of the coolest clothes around. There is only one problem: She was born into a cursed family and has the face of a pig. Hidden away from the world, Penelope now finds herself subjected to a string of snobby, blue-blooded bachelors in a desperate attempt to find her a husband in order to break the curse. Though she yearns for something greater, what's a girl to do when faced with a determined mother and her matchmaking sidekick? Hoping to snap a photo of the mysterious girl, mischievous tabloid reporter Lemon hires down-on-his-luck Max to pose as a prospective suitor and infiltrate the family. But when Max finds himself truly drawn to Penelope, he can't bring himself to expose and disappoint her, so he just disappears. Fed up with this latest betrayal and determined to live life on her own terms, Penelope decides to break free from her family and go out into the world in search of adventure. Hiding her true identity with a scarf, Penelope discovers a wondrous world where freedom opens her eyes to possibilities she never knew existed. Making new friends along the way, she discovers happiness in the most unexpected places.
The Last Years of the Monroe Doctrine: 1945–1993
by Gaddis Smith"In a cogent study, [Smith] explains how the U.S. molded the U.N. Charter to bar the U.N. from political involvement in the West." - Publishers WeeklyWhen President Monroe issued his 1823 doctrine on U.S. policy in the Western Hemisphere, it quickly became as sacred to Americans as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But in the years after World War II - notably in Guatemala in 1954, in Brazil in 1963, in Chile in 1973, and in El Salvador in the 1980s - our government's policy of supporting repressive regimes in Central and South America hastened the death of the very doctrine that had been invoked to protect us in the Cold War, by associating its application with torture squads, murder, and the denial of the very democratic ideals the Monroe Doctrine was intended to protect. Gaddis Smith's measured but devastating account, The Last Years of the Monroe Doctrine, is essential reading for all those who care how the United States behaves in the world arena.
Cultural Capitalism: Literature and the Market after Socialism (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies)
by Bradley A. GorskiCultural Capitalism explores Russian literature's eager embrace of capitalism in the post-Soviet era. When the Soviet Union fell, books were suddenly bought and sold as commodities. Russia's first bestseller lists brought attention and prestige. Even literary prizes turned to the market for legitimacy. The rise of capitalism entirely transformed both the economics and the aesthetics of Russian literature. By reconstructing the market's influence on everything from late-Soviet paper shortages to the prose of neoimperialism, Cultural Capitalism reveals Russian literature's exuberant hopes for and deep disappointments in capitalism. Only a free market, it was hoped, could cure endemic book deficits and liberate literature from ideological constraints. But as the market came to dominate literature, it imposed an ideology of its own, one that directed literary development for decades.Through archival research, original interviews, and provocative readings of literary texts, Bradley A. Gorski immerses the reader in both the economic and aesthetic worlds of post-Soviet Russian literature to reveal a cultural logic dominated by capitalism. The Russian 1990s and early 2000s saw markets introduced, adopted, and debated at an accelerated pace, all against the backdrop of a socialist past, staging the polemics between capitalism and culture in high drama and sharp relief. But the market forces at the center of the post-Soviet transition are fundamental to cultural trends worldwide. By revealing the complexities of Russia's story, Cultural Capitalism mounts a critique that cuts across national borders and provides a new way of seeing culture in the post-1989 era worldwide.
Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators
by David SobelChildhood and Nature is a guide for educators looking to foster in their students a love of nature as well as an understanding of complex environmental issues. This second edition brings new material and fresh insights to David Sobel's foundational exploration of place-based education.Sobel articulates seven design principles that teachers can use to build learning experiences: adventure, fantasy and imagination, animal allies, maps and paths, special places, small worlds, and hunting and gathering,. Pulling from recurrent play themes and real-world examples from educators, Sobel details placed-based projects and lessons for each principle. Students learn and develop vital skills through engagement with their local environments and communities. Miniature ecosystems in the "small world" of a sandbox, for example, can help children grasp larger, abstract ideas. A timely and actionable resource, Childhood and Nature shows how centering the world around us in education can create a generation of nature students, explorers, and protectors.
When the City Stopped: Stories from New York's Essential Workers
by Robert W. SnyderIn When the City Stopped, Robert Snyder tells the story of COVID-19 in the words of ordinary New Yorkers, illuminating the fear and uncertainty of life in the early weeks and months, as well as the solidarity that sustained the city. New Yorkers were "alone together," separated by the protective measures of social distancing and the fundamental inequalities of life and work in New York City. Through their personal accounts, we see that while many worked from home, others knowingly exposed themselves to the dangers of the pandemic as they drove buses, ran subways, answered 911 calls, tended to the sick, and made and delivered meals. Snyder builds bridges of knowledge and empathy between those who bore dangerous burdens and those who lived in relative safety. The story is told through the words of health care workers, grocery clerks, transit workers, and community activists who recount their experiences in poems, first-person narratives, and interviews. When the City Stopped preserves for future generations what it was like to be in New York when it was at the center of the pandemic.
Disciplining Democracy: How the Modern American University Transformed Student Activism (Histories of American Education)
by David S. BuschDisciplining Democracy reveals the political consequences for the triumph of "service learning" as the dominant pedagogical model of civic engagement in the modern American university. Volunteer-based civic engagement programs in higher education are popularly understood as curricular opportunities that enable young people to engage as citizens in campus and public life. But, as David S. Busch argues, these civic programs are also emblematic of a new political tradition in American higher education—a culture of "disciplining democracy"—that polices the boundaries of appropriate forms of citizenship both for the student and for the university itself.Looking at seven different universities across two political eras, Busch unearths a common institutional trend: that student activists' demand for "action education" in the 1960s—a demand that many believed would reimagine the political role of the university—was reconstituted as university-sponsored volunteer programs by the 1980s. Disconnected from their political roots and visions, these programs became the source for the promotion of service learning as the primary model of the new civics in American higher education and an integral part of institutional strategies for responding to student activism. Embraced by universities big and small, private and public, the triumph of service learning as the new civics narrowed the political terrain of engaged citizenship and set limits on the modern American university's mission. In excavating the genealogy of the new civics and its institutional legacy, Disciplining Democracy offers a new way to understand the university as a political actor in American life.
Computational Intelligence in Communications and Business Analytics: 6th International Conference, CICBA 2024, Patna, India, January 23–25, 2024, Revised Selected Papers, Part II (Communications in Computer and Information Science #2367)
by Paramartha Dutta Somnath Mukhopadhyay Amit Kumar Singh Jyoti Prakash Singh Jyotsna K. Mandal Maheshwari Prasad SinghThis three-volume set CCIS 2366-2368 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Communications and Business Analytics, CICBA 2024, held in Patna, India, during January 23–25, 2024. The 82 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 249 submissions. Together, these papers showcase cutting-edge research in the fields of computational intelligence and business analytics, covering a broad range of topics.
Computational Intelligence in Communications and Business Analytics: 6th International Conference, CICBA 2024, Patna, India, January 23–25, 2024, Revised Selected Papers, Part III (Communications in Computer and Information Science #2368)
by Paramartha Dutta Somnath Mukhopadhyay Amit Kumar Singh Jyoti Prakash Singh Jyotsna K. Mandal Maheshwari Prasad SinghThis three-volume set CCIS 2366-2368 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computational Intelligence in Communications and Business Analytics, CICBA 2024, held in Patna, India, during January 23–25, 2024. The 82 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 249 submissions. Together, these papers showcase cutting-edge research in the fields of computational intelligence and business analytics, covering a broad range of topics.
Towards new e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries: 15th International Conference, AFRICOMM 2023, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, November 23–25, 2023, Proceedings, Part I (Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering #587)
by Oumarou Sie Rashid A. Saeed Abdoulaye SereThe two-volume set LNICST 587 + 588 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the EAI 15th International Conference on nternational Conference on e-Infrastructure and e-Services for Developing Countries, AFRICOMM 2023, which took place in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, in November 2023. The 59 full papers presented in these two volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 72 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: Part I: Digital economy, Digital transformation, e-Government and e-services; ICT infrastructures for critical environmental conditions; Wireless networks; E-health; Cybersecurity and Privacy. Part II: Systems and cloud computing; Artificial Intelligence; Ontology and data preparation; Responsible Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Development in Africa (workshop).
Two-dimensional Crossing-Variable Cubic Nonlinear Systems
by Albert C. LuoThis book is the fourth of 15 related monographs presents systematically a theory of crossing-cubic nonlinear systems. In this treatment, at least one vector field is crossing-cubic, and the other vector field can be constant, crossing-linear, crossing-quadratic, and crossing-cubic. For constant vector fields, the dynamical systems possess 1-dimensional flows, such as parabola and inflection flows plus third-order parabola flows. For crossing-linear and crossing-cubic systems, the dynamical systems possess saddle and center equilibriums, parabola-saddles, third-order centers and saddles (i.e, (3rd UP+:UP+)-saddle and (3rdUP-:UP-)-saddle) and third-order centers (i.e., (3rd DP+:DP-)-center, (3rd DP-, DP+)-center) . For crossing-quadratic and crossing-cubic systems, in addition to the first and third-order saddles and centers plus parabola-saddles, there are (3:2)parabola-saddle and double-inflection saddles, and for the two crossing-cubic systems, (3:3)-saddles and centers exist. Finally,the homoclinic orbits with centers can be formed, and the corresponding homoclinic networks of centers and saddles exist. Readers will learn new concepts, theory, phenomena, and analytic techniques, including · Constant and crossing-cubic systems · Crossing-linear and crossing-cubic systems · Crossing-quadratic and crossing-cubic systems · Crossing-cubic and crossing-cubic systems · Appearing and switching bifurcations · Third-order centers and saddles · Parabola-saddles and inflection-saddles · Homoclinic-orbit network with centers · Appearing bifurcations
Becoming Beautiful: Female Beauty and Beauty Practices in Contemporary China (Genders and Sexualities in the Social Sciences)
by Hua MaThis book explores young women’s negotiations of female beauty and beauty practices in contemporary China, based on 20 semi-structured interviews, 10 beauty diaries, and 10 follow-up interviews with women aged 18–25. The research takes an interdisciplinary feminist approach to explore several themes related to beauty, including reasons for engaging in beauty practices, daily beauty routines and their understanding of what constitutes female beauty. Focusing on the under-researched everyday beauty practices in Chinese culture, the book addresses gaps in feminist work on beauty, particularly by examining postfeminism in China. It reveals how young Chinese women use postfeminist discourse of choice and pleasure to explain their beauty practices, while also negotiating inner and outer beauty within a Chinese social and political context. This study highlights how local values and postfeminism shape attitudes toward beauty. This book also foregrounds the issues of cultural specificity within beauty culture studies. Combining rich empirical data with feminist analysis, this work appeals to students and scholars of sociology, women’s and gender studies, feminist theory, media and cultural studies, and Chinese and East Asian studies.