Discusses the ideas and impact of 27 atheists, agnostics, and secularists whose ideas have shaped society over the last 200 years. In the opinion of many critics and philosophers, we are entering an age of atheism marked by the waning of Christian fundamentalism and the flourishing of secular thought. Through alphabetically arranged entries written by expert contributors, this book profiles 27 iconic figures of unbelief whose ideas have shaped American society over the last 200 years. Included are entries on influential figures of the past, such as Albert Einstein and Voltaire, as well as on such contemporary figures as Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. Each entry discusses the ideas and lasting significance of each person or group, provides sidebars of interesting information and illuminating quotations, and cites works for further reading. The volume closes with a selected, general bibliography. Students in social studies and history classes will welcome this reference as a guide to the ideas central to the American separation of Church and State and to many of the political debates at the heart of society today. Each entry discusses the ideas and lasting significance of the person or group, provides sidebars of interesting information and quotations, and closes with a list of works for further reading. The volume ends with a selected, general bibliography. Students in history and social studies classes will welcome this reference as a guide to the American separation of Church and State and to the ideas central to contemporary political debates.

This is a fascinating encyclopedia comparing the most important adaptations and evolutions in the natural world with the most important discoveries and inventions of human history. Welcome to the amazing world of adaptations, where species-including humans-develop fascinating new capabilities to ensure a competitive edge in their environment, or in some cases, survival itself. Encyclopedia of Adaptations in the Natural World is a wide-ranging catalog of the most important of those adaptations-from photosynthesis to the the peculiar "vampire"-like behavior of the tiny life form called the prion. The seven chapters in the Encyclopedia cover the key survival challenges all organisms face. Entries within those chapters cover specific adaptations from all forms of life, including animals, plants, bacteria, algae, fungi, and viruses. For each adaptation, the book also describes a related technological breakthrough in the human world, showing how engineers today study natural processes to help them develop new inventions. Provides diagrams of the process of photosynthesis, the functional areas of the human brain, and the bluefin tuna Includes 58 photographs and electron microscope images illustrating the adaptations in the book Presents bibliographic listings of key reference books, internet resources, and academic papers for further reading

Martyrs create space and time through the actions they take, the fate they suffer, the stories they prompt, the cultural narratives against which they take place and the retelling of their tales in different places and contexts. The title "Desiring Martyrs" is meant in two senses. First, it refers to protagonists and antagonists of the martyrdom narratives who as literary characters seek martyrs and the way they inscribe certain kinds of cultural and social desire. Second, it describes the later celebration of martyrs via narrative, martyrdom acts, monuments, inscriptions, martyria, liturgical commemoration, pilgrimage, etc. Here there is a cultural desire to tell or remember a particular kind of story about the past that serves particular communal interests and goals. By applying the spatial turn to these ancient texts the volume seeks to advance a still nascent social geographical understanding of emergent Christian and Jewish martyrdom. It explores how martyr narratives engage pre-existing time-space configurations to result in new appropriations of earlier traditions.

Indigenous peoples have passed down vital knowledge for generations from which local plants help cure common ailments, to which parts of the land are unsuitable for buildings because of earthquakes. Here, Hendry examines science through these indigenous roots, problematizing the idea that Western science is the only type that deserves that name.

Human chemistry is the study of bond-forming and bond-breaking reactions between people and the structures they form. People often speak of having either good or bad chemistry together: whereby, according to consensus, the phenomenon of love is a chemical reaction. The new science of human chemistry is the study of these reactions. Historically, human chemistry was founded with the 1809 publication of the classic novella Elective Affinities, by German polymath Johann von Goethe, a chemical treatise on the origin of love. Goethe based his human chemistry on Swedish chemist Torbern Bergman's 1775 chemistry textbook A Dissertation on Elective Attractions, which itself was founded on Isaac Newton's 1687 supposition that the cause of chemical phenomena may 'all depend upon certain forces by which the particles of bodies, by some causes hitherto unknown, are either mutually impelled towards each other, and cohere in regular figures, or are repelled and recede from one another'; which thus defines life.

OPEN CHANNEL DESIGN A fundamental knowledge of flow in open channels is essential for the planning and design of systems to manage water resources. Open channel design has applications within many fields, including civil engineering, agriculture, hydrology, geomorphology, sedimentology, environmental fluid and sediment dynamics and river engineering. Open Channel Design: Fundamentals and Applications covers permissible velocity, tractive force, and regime theory design methodologies and applications. Hydraulic structures for flow control and measurement are covered. Flow profiles and their design implications are covered. Sediment transport mechanics and moveable boundaries in channels are introduced. Finally, a brief treatment of the St. Venant equations and Navier-Stokes equations are introduced as topics to be explored in more advanced courses. The central goal is to prepare students for work in engineering offices where they will be involved with aspects of land development and related consulting work. Students will also be prepared for advanced courses that will involve computational fluid dynamics approaches for solving 2-d and 3-d problems in advanced graduate level courses. Offering a fresh approach, Open Channel Design: Fundamentals and Applications prepares students for work in engineering offices where they will be involved with aspects of land development and related consulting work. It also introduces the reader to software packages including Mathematica, HecRas and HY8, all widely used in professional settings.

The current global marketplace demands more workers who are scientifically literate, yet few are being adequately prepared to meet that demand. Particularly underrepresented are women and minorities, who often lack the social and academic support that stimulate and sustain interest in science, math, and engineering. The authors of this book demonstrate that early intervention, especially during grades 4 through 8, can help overcome some of these obstacles. They show how increased career awareness and exposure to mentors and role models can help students see science and math-related careers as desirable and viable options. And they explain how test preparation, activity-based instruction, cooperative learning, and tutoring can help to improve academic outcomes. The authors also provide critical information on ten successful intervention programs, including MESA, Project SEED, and Operation SMART - and they offer practitioners specific guidance for developing, funding, and implementing similar programs in their own schools.

Meet Mickey, an innocent, screaming that the emperor has no clothes. But no one hears, least of all George, the aristocrat. George has risen high and, with Bill, the guileful ruler, and the US Congress protecting him, his confidence swells. As it is, the circumstances of his life make him feel utterly safe and he becomes blind to the lurking dangers around him. Enter pragmatic Doug - no-nonsense, down-to-earth and pesky. He's one who won't suffer fools and is determined to change the order of things. Now meet Carlo who sets his sights on greatness and Leon who has the audacity to oppose the daring Italian. With elements of the looming conflict in place, the plot rapidly unfolds. Leon joins forces with Doug and Jay - Doug who is lording it over Bill and Jay who has the ear of President Reagan. A conspiracy is set in motion. The science community rumbles, with many crushed in the quaking earth. And the tale fate has writ plays out to its inevitable end.

The universe has the resources to create conscious beings with cognitive powers. We are the living proof. But what if these resources are limited in such a way that the universe cannot create a being with sufficient cognitive powers to fully comprehend any corporeal object-not acorns or water molecules, let alone intelligent animals. Quadrants of the Corporeal: Reflections on the Foundations of Experience presents reasons to believe that precisely this is the case, and explains why this cosmic fact makes "the mind-body problem" or "the hard problem of consciousness" impossible to solve. No being that this universe can make can understand what makes conscious beings conscious.

This book presents physical models, backed by experimental results, explaining the behavior of living matter in relation to electromagnetic (EM) fields ranging from quasi-stationary state to optical range. The ability of very low frequency EM fields to cure diseases (e.g. respiratory infection) is addressed. The bacteria destruction by non-thermal effects of low frequency electric fields is explained with the proton nuclear resonance and the DNA half-wave resonance. The microtubule instabilities are studied. Explosion of bacteria with acoustic resonance is also modeled. Centimeter and millimeter-waves effects are discussed. Clues about interaction with the human brain are given. Effects of a 60 GHz field on cellular physiology are presented as well as on mice nerve system. A cell membrane is modeled in near IR to UV ranges. The capacity of cells to move towards an IR source is explained. Finally, explanation of cancer mechanisms of the human skin is proposed with ultra-weak photon energy.