Book:
Pariah Politics: Understanding Western Radical Islamism and What Should be DoneAuthor:
Shamit SaggarPages:
352Format:
pdfLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
0199558132Pariah Politics breaks new ground in examining the issue of western Islamist extremism from the perspective of government. It links underlying causes to the capacity of governments to respond directly and to influence others. The book contains four main messages.Focusing on causes, not symptoms. The book identifies four big causal drivers: settled disadvantage, social isolation, grievance and oppositional cultures, and the volatile dynamics of global Islam. Governments can hope to influence the first two, using existing and innovative policy levers. The scope to make big changes in the latter two is severely limited.The circle of tacit support. Action by government to counter terrorism has relied too heavily on security policy measures to intercept or disrupt men of violence. This emphasis is misplaced. Though important, this fails to address the moral oxygen for violence and confrontation that exists within Muslim communities.Better focus and better levers. Ministers and officials need to think and act smart. They need to push ahead with social inclusion policies to broaden opportunity. They need to make more use of community-based strategies to isolate extremism. They need to promote civil society actions so that affected communities can take control of their own reputational future. And, they desperately need to avoid making things worse.Reputations matter. The pariah status of western Muslims has worsened by the fallout from terrorism. Few have anything good to say about western Muslims; still fewer can imagine an optimistic future. Yet earlier demonised groups, such as Jews or Asian refugees, have overcome significant hurdles, moving from pariahs to paragons. A credible willingness to tackle extremism is the most important first step to a reputational turnaround. 
Book:
Do Fish Feel Pain?Author:
Victoria BraithwaitePages:
256Format:
pdfLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
0199551200Refreshingly intelligent book, which trusts the reader and maintains a thoughtful and balanced tone throughout. The author explores the issues around fish pain, suffering and welfare, identifying the questions we might ask, the ways we might try to answer them, and what the answers really mean. At each stage the book gives clear but detailed descriptions of the scientific research supporting each conclusion, making the story accessible to non-specialists and crucially moving the text from a 'trust me, I know' harangue to a 'here's what we know' dialogue.
Considering the general philosophical issues around animal welfare as well as the scientific questions of what fish can experience, the book scrupulously fails to find a bogeyman or call for any knee-jerk instant solutions. Nonetheless, it raises some hard issues, and in a world where we're ready to pay more for free-range poultry, it may be timely to be hearing some unpalatable facts about many of the standard commercial fishing practices used to produce the fish on our plates.
Alongside the exploration of the book's main themes comes plenty of fascinating biology, including the extraordinary and rather delightful story of the grouper and the eel, which I've had to repeat to everyone since reading it. The author is a fish biologist, and the book tells a perhaps unintended third story, that of the scientific process, the honest search for the right question, and then the ingenuity and elegance applied to finding an answer. When the predominant exposure to science is about dramatic breakthroughs or headline-grabbing controversy, this readable, thoughtful and informative book is a tribute to the people quietly getting on with it, trying to find out how things really work. I'm grateful one of them has found the time to share the process, as well as raising some very important issues about our understanding of and interactions with these fascinating and diverse animals.
Book:
Getting Started with Oracle BPM Suite 11gR1 - A Hands-On TutorialAuthor:
Heidi Buelow, Manoj DasPages:
536Format:
PDFLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
1849681686This fully illustrated step-by-step tutorial is based on proven training content that has been highly praised by hundreds of developers in product training courses given as part of the BPM Suite 11g rollout. You will learn how to build a business process application project iteratively with each chapter introducing new technology components and adding a functional increment. Each chapter comes with a working solution for your reference. You can use the solution to start the tutorial at any point or to jump around to the chapters most interesting to you. This clear and detailed tutorial is perfect for both new and experienced business process developers, process architects, and process analysts looking for a pragmatic and hands-on approach to learning Oracle BPM Suite 11g.
Book:
Espiritu Santo de Zuniga: A Frontier Mission in South TexasAuthor:
Tamra Lynn WalterPages:
239Format:
PDFLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
0292714785In the early part of the eighteenth century, the Spanish colonial mission Espiritu Santo de Zuniga was relocated from far south Texas to a site along the Guadalupe River in Mission Valley, Victoria County. This mission, along with a handful of others in south Texas, was established by the Spaniards in an effort to Christianize and civilize the local Native American tribes in the hopes that they would become loyal Spanish citizens who would protect this new frontier from foreign incursions. With written historical records scarce for Espiritu Santo, Tamra Walter relies heavily on material culture recovered at this site through a series of recent archaeological investigations to present a compelling portrait of the Franciscan mission system. By examining findings from the entire mission site, including the compound, irrigation system, quarry, and kiln, she focuses on questions that are rarely, if ever, answered through historical records alone: What was daily life at the mission like? What effect did the mission routine have on the traditional lifeways of the mission Indians? How were both the Indians and the colonizers changed by their frontier experiences, and what does this say about the missionization process? Walter goes beyond simple descriptions of artefacts and mission architecture to address the role these elements played in the lives of the mission residents, demonstrating how archaeology is able to address issues that are not typically addressed by historians. In doing so, she presents an accurate portrait of life in South Texas at this time. This study of Mission Espiritu Santo will serve as a model for research at similar early colonial sites in Texas and elsewhere.
Book:
Deliberative Democracy: Essays on Reason and PoliticsAuthor:
James Bohman, William RehgPages:
477Format:
PDFLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
0262024349Ideals of democratic participation and rational self-government have long informed modern political theory. As a recent elaboration of these ideals, the concept of deliberative democracy is based on the principle that legitimate democracy issues from the public deliberation of citizens. This remarkably fruitful concept has spawned investigations along a number of lines. Areas of inquiry include the nature and value of deliberation, the feasibility and desirability of consensus on contentious issues, the implications of institutional complexity and cultural diversity for democratic decision making, and the significance of voting and majority rule in deliberative arrangements. The anthology opens with four key essays--by Jon Elster, Jurgen Habermas, Joshua Cohen, and John Rawls--that helped establish the current inquiry into deliberative models of democracy. The nine essays that follow represent the latest efforts of leading democratic theorists to tackle various problems of deliberative democracy. All the contributions address tensions that arise between reason and politics in a democracy inspired by the ideal of achieving reasoned agreement among free and equal citizens. Although the authors approach the topic of deliberation from different perspectives, they all aim to provide a theoretical basis for a more robust democratic practice.
Book:
The Worlds of Japanese Popular Culture: Gender, Shifting Boundaries and Global CulturesAuthor:
Dolores MartinezPages:
228Format:
PDFLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
0521637295This is a lively discussion of Japanese popular culture from an anthropological perpective. An international team of authors considers a broad range of topics, including sumo, karaoke, manga, women's magazines, soccer and morning television. Through these topics--many of which have never previously been addressed by scholars--the contributors also explore several deeper themes: the construction of gender in Japan; the impact of globalization and modern consumerism; and the rapidly shifting boundaries of Japanese culture and identity.
Book:
Town and Country Planning in the UKAuthor:
Barry Cullingworth, Vincent NadinPages:
624Format:
PDFLanguage:
EnglishISBN10:
0415358108This extensively revised edition reinforces this title's reputation as the bible of British planning. It provides an explanation of the nature of planning, the institutions and organizations involved, the plans and other tools used by planners, the system of controlling development and land use change and planning policies pursued.
The 14th edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the many changes in town and country planning since the last edition. A review is given of the wide ranging changes to the planning system, the nature of plans, and the fuller amount of public participation in the planning process. Major changes have been made to the transport chapter, while there have been updates to heritage planning; the countryside; and the new provisions for devolved and regional government. A major addition deals with social inclusion (and its opposite - social exclusion). A widened discussion of housing policy and land availability draws upon the Cabinet Office study of housing land availability and land prices. Bibliographies and lists of official publications have also been updated.
