This volume brings together essays on the cultural expression of apocalypse primarily in anglophone science fiction of the nineteenth and 20th centuries. Focusing on themes, writers, and individual works, the contributors examine the relations between secular and spiritual apocalypse, connecting the fiction and films to their historical moment. Not surprisingly, war recurs throughout this material, as a critical turning-point, fulfillment of prophecy, or prelude to a new age. Among the writers covered are H.G. Wells, Olaf Stapledon, and such contemporary figures as Michael Moorcock, J.G. Ballard, and Storm Constantine.

The stand-off across the Straits of Taiwan continues to be one of the most dangerous confrontations in Asia. The technical superiority of the Taiwanese forces has been a major factor in maintaining balance, but as mainland China's armed forces modernize, Taiwan's advantages are being eroded. In response, Taiwan has recently undertaken a major reform of its armed forces. Bringing together a wide range of experts including people who are involved in defence policy making in Taiwan, this book presents a comprehensive analysis of these reforms, and assesses their likely effectiveness. Chapters are devoted to issues including the Chinese threat, the domestic context of reform, the role of the United States and specific defence issues, making the book an invaluable guide to the changes undertaken and underway within Taiwan's strategic environment. With a foreword by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's Defense Reform will be of interest to policy makers and academics working in this vital strategic area.

All science proceeds by progressively building on the work of others while remaining open to new discoveries and challenging existing conceptual frameworks. The same is true of culturo-behavior science. This textbook presents the scientifically rigorous work of the last several decades that has taken a behavior-analytic view of social and cultural processes, with an eye for contributions that address social and cultural issues. The chapters herein explore and elaborate on the history, theories, and methodologies of culturo-behavior science and those of its researchers and practitioners. Throughout this volume, the authors intentionally prompt students to both learn from and question the current theory and methods while shaping their own research and practice. This book presents multiple intersecting perspectives intended for graduate-level students of behavior analysis. Contributors to this volume include many of the major scholars and practitioners conducting research and/or practicing in communities and larger cultural systems. Their work is scientifically guided, systemic, and ecologically valid; it includes basic research as well as efforts having applications in community health, sustainability, environmental issues, and social justice, among other matters. There is material here to support specialists preparing to do research or practice within community and cultural-level systems. As well, students who intend to do direct and clinical work will find the background they need to make contributions to the field as engaged, informed citizens.

This book provides detailed systematic micro-level analysis of the historical development of the Chinese banking industry, focusing in particular on the development of the Bank of China (BOC) in the period 1905 to 1949. Banking reform is a key area of China's economic transformation, and this book, bringing a vast amount of material to a Western audience for the first time, provides a detailed evidence of the key challenges faced by a major Chinese bank. The book: addresses important issues in its evolution, including corporate governance government intervention, foreign competition and white-collar crime evaluates how the challenges in these areas were met considers the results of its efforts draws lessons for policy making today.

There is a growing interest in human security in Southeast Asia. This book firstly explores the theoretical and conceptual basis of human security, before focusing on the region itself. It shows how human security has been taken up as a central part of security policy in individual states in Southeast Asia, as well as in the regional security policy within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The book discusses domestic challenges for human security including the insurgencies in southern Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Transnational security issues such as terrorism, drugs, human trafficking and the situation in Burma are explored by the author, and the 'ASEAN' way of contrasting the values and approaches of Southeast Asian countries with those in the West is assessed. By focusing on the ongoing changes and efforts to achieve human security in Southeast Asia, this book contributes to theoretical debates on human security as well as regional studies on Southeast Asia.

In Activists Speak Out, a group of 15 American activists speak candidly about how and why they struggle for change. Their causes and strategies vary--in the areas of civil rights, gay and lesbian rights, the environment, women’s issues, health, youth, education, labor, freedom of expression, and the arts. But the lessons learned resonate across geographic and ideological boundaries. Whether working as grass-roots organizers or corporate insiders, in cities or in rural areas, the through-line of their observations is constant: Change is slow, and may take shape in unexpected ways. Small victories count. And, whatever the initial motivation to become engaged in the struggle for change--anger, compassion, frustration--the very process of engagement is itself transformative. You cross that line, and nothing is ever the same.

Large-Scale Nonlinear Optimization reviews and discusses recent advances in the development of methods and algorithms for nonlinear optimization and its applications, focusing on the large-dimensional case, the current forefront of much research. The chapters of the book, authored by some of the most active and well-known researchers in nonlinear optimization, give an updated overview of the field from different and complementary standpoints, including theoretical analysis, algorithmic development, implementation issues and applications.

In the early 1990s, financial liberalization started in India, and it was thought that such reforms would increase economic growth. This argument formed part of the finance led industrialization hypothesis and although higher growth resulted, higher industrialization did not immediately. This book is the first study to comprehensively apply the flow of funds model for India. Using detailed data of the Indian economy, the whole financial sector is presented with associated policy simulation for India. The demand function is theoretically grounded in the Almost Ideal Demand System and cointegration techniques are adapted into the econometric methodology. The policy simulation experiments are conducted with a view to analyzing the delivery of loanable funds to sectors which are the most in need of poverty-reducing economic growth. The system-wide simulation as a result of interactions with disaggregated economic sectors will allow the analysis of a wide spectrum of policy effects on issues such as the determinant of interest rates, financial capital formulation, and the role of financial institutions, government debt and allocation of credit. India's Emerging Financial Market provides a thorough and rigorous analysis of policy responses in India and will be of interest to academics working on development economics in general and South Asia in particular.

The Parsis are India's smallest minority community, yet they have exercised a huge influence on the country. As pioneers in education in nineteenth century India, and as leading figures in banking and commerce, medicine, law and journalism, they were at the forefront of India's industrial revolution. Parsis were also at the heart of the creation of the Indian National Congress in the nineteenth century and contributed some of the great leaders through into the twentieth century. This book, written by notable experts in the field, explores various key aspects of the Parsis. It spans the time from their arrival in India to the twenty-first century. All contributions are based on original research and most of them use hitherto unexplored primary sources. The first part of the book analyzes the topic of Parsi migration from very different points of view; the second part presents leading Parsi personalities of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The final part is a set of studies of the Parsi traditional community in Bombay and an examination of three different diasporas. The concluding chapter, by John R. Hinnells, shows the range of contributions of Parsis to modern India and also in the diasporas, where the Zoroastrian religion is practiced in more countries around the globe than at any time in its history of more than 3,000 years.

This book shows how East Asian masculinities are being formed and transformed as Asia is increasingly globalized. The gender roles performed by Chinese and Japanese men are examined not just as they are lived in Asia, but also in the West. The essays collected here enhance current understandings of East Asian identities and cultures as well as Western conceptions of gender and sexuality. While basic issues such as masculine ideals in China and Japan are examined, the book also addresses issues including homosexuality, women's perceptions of men, the role of sport and food and Asian men in the Chinese diaspora.

'Astute, compassionate, and brilliant' Siri Hustvedt Vanessa wakes from a coma having forgotten ten years of her life. Toussaint is haunted by voices. Claire loses the use of her hand because of an inexplicable pain. Noga Arikha began studying these patients to explore how our physical experiences inform our identities. The question took on unexpected urgency when Arikha's own mother began to show signs of Alzheimer's disease. Weaving together stories of her subjects' troubles and her mother's decline, Arikha searches for meaning in the science she set out to study. The result is an unforgettable journey across the ever-shifting boundaries between ourselves and each other. As her mother slips into the fog of dementia, philosopher Noga Arikha grapples with the unbreakable links between our bodies and our sense of self. 'Fascinates on every page' Lisa Appignanesi, author of Mad, Bad and Sad 'Will leave you humanly richer and, wonder of wonders, at peace with yourself' Antonio Damasio, author of Descartes' Error

This open access book offers an overview of the beautiful, powerful, and dynamic array of opportunities to promote health through the arts from theoretical, methodological, pedagogical, and critical perspectives. This is the first-known text to connect the disparate inter-disciplinary literatures into a coherent volume for health promotion practitioners, researchers, and teachers. It provides a one-stop depository for using the arts as tools for health promotion in many settings and as bridges across communities, cultures, and sectors. The diverse applications of the arts in health promotion transcend the multiple contexts within which health is created, i.e., individual, community, and societal levels, and has a number of potential health, aesthetic, and social outcomes. Topics covered within the chapters include: Exploring the Potential of the Arts to Promote Health and Social Justice Drawing as a Salutogenic Therapy Aid for Grieving Adolescents in Botswana Community Theater for Health Promotion in Japan From Arts to Action: Project SHINE as a Case Study of Engaging Youth in Efforts to Develop Sustainable Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Strategies in Rural Tanzania and India Movimiento Ventana: An Alternative Proposal to Mental Health in Nicaragua Using Art to Bridge Research and Policy: An Initiative of the United States National Academy of Medicine Arts and Health Promotion is an innovative and engaging resource for a broad audience including practitioners, researchers, university instructors, and artists. It is an important text for undergraduate- and graduate-level courses, particularly in program planning, research methods (especially qualitative methodology), community health, and applied art classes. The book also is useful for professional development among current health promotion practitioners, community nurses, community psychologists, public health professionals, and social workers.

South African National Cinema examines how cinema in South Africa represents national identities, particularly with regard to race. This significant and unique contribution establishes interrelationships between South African cinema and key points in South Africa s history, showing how cinema figures in the making, entrenching and undoing of apartheid. This study spans the twentieth century and beyond through detailed analyses of selected films, beginning with De Voortrekkers (1916) through to Mapantsula (1988) and films produced post apartheid, including Drum (2004), Tsotsi (2005) and Zulu Love Letter (2004).

Jacqueline Maingard discusses how cinema reproduced and constructed a white national identity, taking readers through cinema s role in building white Afrikaner nationalism in the 1930s and 1940s. She then moves to examine film culture and modernity in the development of black audiences from the 1920s to the 1950s, especially in a group of films that includes Jim Comes to Joburg (1949) and Come Back, Africa (1959). Jacqueline Maingard also considers the effects of the apartheid state s film subsidy system in the 1960s and 1970s and focuses on cinema against apartheid in the 1980s. She reflects upon shifting national cinema policies following the first democratic election in 1994 and how it became possible for the first time to imagine an inclusive national film culture.

Illustrated throughout with excellent visual examples, this cinema history will be of value to film scholars and historians, as well as to practitioners in South Africa today.

Political Reform in Japan argues that the quality of political leadership is the crucial determinant of whether parties in positions of dominance, like the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan, pass or reject policies such as electoral system and campaign finance reforms that could harm the party's future electoral chances.

By comparing successful reform drives led by Miki Takeo, Ozawa Ichiro and Koizumi Junichiro with unsuccessful reform efforts pursued by Kaifu Toshiki, Miyazawa Kiichi and Kono Yonhei, Alisia Gaunder forces a reconsideration of the structure versus agency debate in political science, and of the conventional wisdom on Japanese politics that consensus decision-making norms and factional power balancing produce little in the way of political leadership.

The history of Chinese medicine hinges on three major turning points: the formation of canonical theory in the Han dynasty; the transformation of medicine via the integration of earlier medical theories and practices in the Song dynasty; and the impact of Western medicine from the nineteenth century onwards. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the crucial second stage in the evolution of Chinese medicine by examining the changes in Chinese medicine during the pivotal era of the Song dynasty. Scholars often characterize the Song era as a time of change in every aspect of political, social, intellectual or economic life. More specifically it focuses on three narratives of change: the emperor's interest in medicine elevated the status of medicine in the eyes of the elite, leading to an increased involvement of intellectuals and the literary elite in medicine government officials systematically revised, printed, and promulgated earlier heterogeneous medical manuscripts belonging to various traditions the government established unique imperially sponsored medical institutions to handle public health and other aspects of medicine. As the first book to study the transformation medicine underwent during the Song period this volume will appeal to Sinologists and scholars of the history of medicine alike.

The gyrotron is a powerful source of coherent radiation that has experienced significant improvement since its invention. Today  gyrotrons are capable of delivering hundreds of kilowatts of power at microwave and millimeter wavelengths, and they have important applications ranging from the electron cyclotron resonance heating of fusion plasmas to industrial and scientific applications and communications. Furthermore, the exciting potential applications of these devices and their derivatives span an even wider range of technologies. Drawing on the author's wide experience, this book gives a comprehensive review of the state of the art in gyrotron technology, covering the theory, design and applications. It will be a valuable resource for all engineers and scientists working with and developing high-power microwave devices. The book includes an extensive references list which provides an excellent guide to the related literature.

Adopting a comparative approach, the book examines the evolution of nationality law across the European Union since WWI. It explores the hypothesis that two factors, the experience of large-scale non-European immigration and the need to integrate a large and growing third country national population, have forced a convergence in European nationality law. The book accords attention to the role of gender and decolonization in reforms to nationality law.

Lawrence Driscoll's fresh examination of the meaning of drugs from the Victorians to the present asks us to listen to historical and current voices whose positions on drugs are at variance with our "truths." Driscoll draws on the work of figures as diverse as William Burroughs, Sigmund Freud, Conan Doyle, and Anna Kavan to shed light on different or silenced ways of talking about drugs and to offer us a historical counter-memory. The result of his work is to unsettle and disturb the familiar parameters that frame our discussion of drugs, revealing that others are available: positions which expose our own constructions as surprisingly limited.

The book explores the macroeconomic and sectoral employment implications (in agriculture, industry and services) of China's World Trade Organisation accession. It argues that while short-run employment losses may occur, in the longer term China will be able to generate additional employment particularly in the tertiary sectors; and that it can maintain its comparative advantage in labour-intensive exports by relocating production from high-cost coastal areas to the hinterland with abundant supply of cheap labour. It also argues that, although China is likely to benefit in the long run, in the short and medium term China is likely to face enormous problems, including increased unemployment as weaker links cease to be protected by tariffs, and the problem of restructuring state-owned enterprises.

European retailers have successfully internationalised their activities in Europe but have been less successful in North America. American retailers have been successful in their home market but less so in Europe. The major European and American retailers are now entering Asia and competing directly with each other in a substantive way fort he first time. These Western retailers, using modern managerial methods, are entering markets typified by more traditional managerial approaches. Western managerial cultures and values are interfacing with Asian ones. The results of these moves are new stresses for Asian retail structures that bring a new dynamism to Asian retailing. The contributions in this book explore the conflicts and benefits that arise as retailing in Asia becomes internationalised. The contributions are provided by experts in retail research from across Asia and for the first time in depth analyses are provided of the ways that Western retailers are provoking change in Asia. The book results form a seminar held at the University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences, Kobe, in November 2001 under the auspices of Society for Asian Research in Distribution. Scholars from across the region presented research results of their analyses of the New Commerce now appearing in Asia.

Throughout the postwar history of Indonesia, the military have played a key role in the politics of the country and in imposing unity on a fragmentary state. The collapse of the authoritarian New Order government of President Suharto weakened the state and the armed forces briefly lost their grip on control of the archipelago. However, under President Megawati, the military has again begun to assert itself, and re-impose its heavy hand on control of the state, most notably in the fracturing outer provinces. Based on extensive original research, this book examines the role of the military in Indonesian politics. It looks at the role of the military historically, examines the different ways it is involved in politics, and considers how the role of the military might develop in what is still an uncertain future.

The issue of how interpretation results from the form and type of syntactic structures present in language is one which is central and hotly debated in both theoretical and descriptive linguistics. This volume brings together a series of eleven new cutting-edge essays by leading experts in East Asian languages which shows how the study of formal structures and functional morphemes in Chinese, Japanese and Korean adds much to our general understanding of the close connections between form and interpretation. This specially commissioned collection will be of interest to linguists of all backgrounds working in the general area of syntax and language change, as well as those with a special interest in Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

The work explores the complex and profound implications of digital technology for a stunning variety of spaces, ranging from science and cinema to citizenship and bazaars. It maps the multiple ways in which the 'new' media rewrites the 'old', and the dilemmas and issues that they pitch - questioning, in turn, recieved notions of knowledge, legality, ethics, privacy, identity and community. The book argues that the old and the new media are neither radically different nor the same: while the mutability of a narrative, whether on the printed page or on a digitally recorded disk remains, there are intrinsic differences between print and digital print.

When 51 nations gathered in 1945 to witness the birth of the United Nations, international business groups urged governments to ratify the UN Charter without delay. During the following 55 years, UN and business leaders dismissed each other when they were not engaging in a war of words. This book examines why the global order of the 21st century demands a new partnership between the UN and business. If the UN fails to engage the business community, it is likely to become irrelevant. If global corporations y refuse to support the UN, they will face a closing world with disastrous consequences for the prosperity of all. The UN and business are bound to work together, and indeed they are.

This book addresses the paradox of political mobilization and the failings of governance in India, with reference to the conflict between secularism and Hindu nationalism, authoritarianism and democracy. It demonstrates how the Internal Emergency of 1975 led to increased support of groups such as the BJS and the RSS, accounting for the rise of political movements advocating Hindu nationalism - Hindutva - as a response to rapid political mobilization triggered by the Emergency, and an attempt by political elites to control this to their advantage. Vernon Hewitt argues that the political disjuncture between democracy and mobilization in India is partly a function of the Indian state, the nature of a caste-class based society, but also - and significantly - the contingencies of individual leaders and the styles of rule. He shows how, in the wake of the Emergency, the BJP and the RSS gained popularity and power amid the on-going decline and fragmentation of the Congress, whilst, at the same time, Hindu nationalism appeared to be of such importance that Congress began aligning themselves with the Hindu right for electoral gains. The volume suggests that, in the light of these developments, the rise of the BJP should not be considered as remarkable - or as transformative - as was at first imagined.