Harper - Böcker

In this dramatic re-reading of postmodernism, Phil Harper contends that the fragmentation considered to be characteristic of the postmodern age can in fact be traced to the status of marginalized writers of the thirties to fifties: West, Nin, Barnes, Allison, Brooks. Disempowered by circumstances of gender, race, and sexual orientation, these writers (Harper argues) display a postmodern sensibility that is specifically rooted in their status in society.

Harper's new book explores how various kinds of social difference are negotiated in a number of African-American cultural contexts. Some of his examples originate within the African-American community iteself, but the emphasis of his work is on the effect of the mass media in the larger culture. Harper's examination includes the treatment of anchorman Max Robinson's AIDS-related death; homophobia and chauvinism in the black music industry, television and literature.

Advances in genetics over the past 50 years have dramatically changed the understanding and management of inherited disorders, and are beginning to have a major impact on the practice of medicine overall. The rapidity of these advances means that clinicians and scientists in the field are often unfamiliar with the key research that has led to many developments that now are accepted and familiar. Few have time to search for the original papers, which are scattered and often difficult to obtain.This collection has been edited mainly for medical geneticists and genetics researchers who wish to learn more about how their field originated and developed. Brief, clearly written commentaries on each paper and section place the work in its current context and serve to unify the different parts of the book. They also help make it a readable and authoritative source of information.The papers chosen fall into several groups. First are classic descriptions of important genetic disorders, often from the pre-mendelian era. The following sections deal with the definition of human mendelian inheritance, the origins of human cytogenetics, the early development of the human gene map and the transition from biochemical genetics to human molecular genetics, the relatively recent studies that have shown how mendelian principles are increasingly modifiable, and finally advances in the treatment and management of genetic disorders, which are placed in their social context.

This book is an introduction to the principal forms and orders of Western liturgy between about 900 and 1700. It explains their nature and basic historical origin, and presents in detail the contents and orders of principal services as well as additional and special forms of worship. The book emphasizes the mainstream of Western liturgy derived from the medieval Roman Rite as found in secular and monastic churches. After the Reformation it concentrates on the rites of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. There is consideration of the nature of liturgy, a historical summary, and individual chapters on medieval churches and their communities, the Christian calendar, medieval liturgical books, the Psalms, the Office, the Mass, Processions and Additional Observances, Holy Week and Easter, the Tridentine Rite, and the English Book of Common Prayer. There are two further chapters which raise the problems of establishing the order of a liturgical service, and introduce selected medieval sources accessible in facsimile or edition. A select, annotated bibliography and a glossary of ecclesiastical and liturgical terms are included.

Why are animal signals reliable? This is the central problem for evolutionary biologists interested in signals. Of course, not all signals are reliable; but most are, otherwise receivers of signals would ignore them. A number of theoretical answers have been proposed and empirical studies made, but there still remains a considerable amount of confusion. The authors, one a theoretician the other a fieldworker, introduce a sense of order to this chaos. A significant cause of confusion has been the tendency for different researchers to use either the same term with different meanings, or different terms with the same meaning. The authors attempt to clarify these differences. A second cause of confusion has arisen because many biologists continue to assume that there is only one correct explanation for signal reliability. The authors argue that the reliability of signals is maintained in several ways, relevant in different circumstances, and that biologists must learn to distinguish between them. In this book they explain the different theories, give examples of signalling systems to which one or another theory applies, and point to the many areas where further work, both theoretical and empirical, is required.John Maynard Smith is one of the most influential scientists of his generation and his theories have transformed our understanding of animal behaviour, whilst David Harper is a reknowned field ecologist. Animal signals are one of the hottest and most controversial subjects in animal behaviour, and are also of major importance to an understanding of human behaviour and the evolution of language.

Financial Economics is an exciting new field of study that integrates the theory of finance and financial institutions into the main body of economic theory. In doing so, it draws on insights from general equilibrium analysis, information economics, and the theory of contracts. Financial Economics is a self-contained and comprehensive introduction to the field for advanced undergraduate and post-graduate economists and finance specialists. It develops the main ideas in finance theory, including the CAPM, arbitrage pricing, option pricing, and the Modigliani-Miller theorem within an economic framework. Students of economics are shown how finance theory derives from foundations in economic theory, while students of finance are given a firmer appreciation of the economic logic underlying their favourite results. Financial Economics provides all of the technical apparatus necessary to read the modern literature in financial economics and the economics of financial institutions. The book is self-contained in that the reader is guided through branches of the theory, as necessary, in order to understand the main topics. Numerous examples and diagrams illustrate the key arguments, and the main chapters are followed by guides to the relevant literature and exercises for students.

Provides syntheses of studies in three continents on the problem ofachieving and understanding tropical rural development withoutcompromising longer-term sustainability of the soil and watersystems that underpin it. The studies were carried out in Central/South America, Africa andAsia during the 1990s, mostly through the support of the EU Scienceand Technology for Development Programme. The studies encompassexamples of erosion measurement:; of erosion control andconservation techniques at soil and ecosystem levels; of the limitsto uses of fragile tropical soils; of the effects of runoffcombined with regulation on rivers and reservoirs; of theimportance of indigenous people in the development processes and ofthe value and limitations of modelling at scales from soils tocatchment. There is no single message from the book because thereis no single solution to the problems of achieving sustainabletropical development. This book presents ideas, techniques and case studies, knowledge ofwhich will help researchers in many scientific and socialdisciplines to understand the complexities better, and politiciansand bureaucrats to understand the consequences of developmentdecisions and learn from the failure of many earlier ones.

In the 1840s the Wisconsin Historical Society's first director, Lyman C. Draper, gathered outstanding materials such as the Daniel Boone papers, which include Draper's interviews with Boone's son, and the papers of Revolutionary War hero George Rogers Clark. These two collections alone are of vast significance to frontier history before 1830, but the full collection comprises nearly five hundred volumes of records, including military and government records, interviews, Draper's own research notes, and rare personal letters. For scholars, genealogists, and local historians, the Draper papers offer a wealth of information on the social, economic, and cultural conditions experienced by our frontier forebears. The 180-page index lists thousands of names and is an indispensable guide for all who wish to use the collection, which is available in libraries across the country on microfilm.