Moisture dynamics in brick, stone and concrete has a controlling influence on the durability and performance of the built environment. Water Transport in Brick, Stone and Concrete provides a unified description of transport processes involving saturated and unsaturated flow in porous inorganic materials and structures. It sets out fundamental physics and materials science, mathematical description and experimental measurement as a basis for engineering design and construction practice. Now in its third edition, the book combines a systematic presentation of the scientific and technical principles with new analyses of topics such as sorption isotherms, temperature dependence of sorptivity, time-dependent properties of cement-based materials, layered materials, air-trapping and driving rain. It serves as an authoritative reference for research workers, practising engineers and students of civil, building, architectural and materials engineering. Much of the fundamental work is relevant to engineers in soil science and geotechnics, as well as oilfield, chemical and process engineering.

Analysis of language and discourse in social sciences has become increasingly popular over the past thirty years. Only very recently has it been applied to the study of social work, despite the fact that communication and language are central to social work practice. This book looks at how social workers, their clients and other professionals categorise and manage the problems of social work in ways which are rendered understandable, accountable and which justify professional intervention. Features include: studies of key practice areas in social work, such as interviews, case conferences, home visits analysis of the language and construction used in typical case studies of everyday social work practice exploration of the ways in which professionals can examine their own practice and uncover the discursive, narrative and rhetorical methods that they use. The purpose of this engaging study is to increase awareness of language and discourse in order to help develop better practice in social work. It is essential reading for professionals in social work, child welfare and the human services and will be a valuable contribution to the study of professional language and communication.

First published in 1997, this volume presents a critical analysis of how social work is formulated in everyday practice. Christopher Hall sets the task of exploring how social workers make their work visible and justifiable through their talk and writing. The analysis examines conversations and documents in which social workers describe and justify their work in research interviews, reports and case notes. Social workers construct convincing occupational stories to convince judges, supervisors and other critical readers and listeners. Drawing on narrative analysis, Hall explores how such language practices create characters, plots and address audiences. At the time of publication the use of reflexive writing was seen as controversial; however, this study was a forerunner to what has become a flourishing scholarship in narrative and reflexivity in social work writing and practice.

With communication and relationships at the core of social work, this book reveals the way it is foremost a practice that becomes reality in dialogue, illuminating some of the profession's key dilemmas. Applied discourse studies illustrate the importance of talk and interaction in the construction of everyday and institutional life. This book provides a detailed review and illustration of the contribution of discourse approaches and studies on professional interaction to social work. Concentrating on how social workers carry out their work in everyday organisational encounters with service users and colleagues, each chapter uses case studies analysing real-life social work interactions to explore a concept that has relevance both in discursive studies and in social work. The book thus demonstrates what detailed discursive studies on interaction can add to professional social work theories and discussions. Chapters on categorization, accountability, boundary work, narrative, advice-giving, resistance, delicacy and reported speech, review the literature and discuss how the concept has been developed and how it can be applied to social work. The book encourages professional reflection and the development of rigorous research methods, making it particularly appropriate for postgraduate and post-qualifying study in social work where participants are encouraged to examine their own professional practice. It is also essential reading for social work academics and researchers interested in language, communication and relationship-based work and in the study of professional practices more generally.

This book brings together contributions from a range of social welfare settings, including child welfare, unemployment, mental health and substance abuse treatment, to examine how interprofessional collaboration and service user participation are realised or challenged in multi-agency meetings. It provides empirically grounded analyses of specific aspects of multi-agency work and offers a distinctive conceptual framework for understanding and analysing interaction during meetings in various social welfare settings. Based on audio and video recordings, the authors provide clear examples of actual practices of social welfare professionals and demonstrate how the realisation of collaborative and integrated welfare policy is contingent on effective interactional practices between professionals and service users.

First published in 1997, this volume presents a critical analysis of how social work is formulated in everyday practice. Christopher Hall sets the task of exploring how social workers make their work visible and justifiable through their talk and writing. The analysis examines conversations and documents in which social workers describe and justify their work in research interviews, reports and case notes. Social workers construct convincing occupational stories to convince judges, supervisors and other critical readers and listeners. Drawing on narrative analysis, Hall explores how such language practices create characters, plots and address audiences. At the time of publication the use of reflexive writing was seen as controversial; however, this study was a forerunner to what has become a flourishing scholarship in narrative and reflexivity in social work writing and practice.

The impetus for this book is the shift in welfare policy in Western Europe from state responsibilities to individual and community responsibilities. The book examines the ways in which policies associated with advanced liberalism and New Public Management can be identified as influencing professional practices to promote personalisation, participation, empowerment, recovery and resilience. In examining the concept of 'responsibilisation' from the point of view of both the 'responsibilised client and welfare worker', the book breaks from the traditional literature to demonstrate how responsibilities are negotiated during multi-professional care planning meetings, home visits, staff meetings, focus groups and interviews with different stakeholders. The settings examined in the book can be described as on the 'margins of welfare' - mental health, substance abuse, homelessness services and probation work, where the rights and responsibilities of clients and workers are uncertain and constantly under review. Each chapter approaches the management of responsibilities from a particular angle by combining responsibilisation theory and discourse analysis to examine everyday encounters. Taken together, the chapters paint a comprehensive picture of the responsibilisation practices at the margins of welfare services and provide an extensive discussion of the implications for policy and practice. Drawing upon both the governmentality literature and everyday encounters, the book provides a broad approach to a key topic. It will therefore be a valuable resource for social policy, public administration, social work and human service researchers and students, and social and health care professionals.

With communication and relationships at the core of social work, this book reveals the way it is foremost a practice that becomes reality in dialogue, illuminating some of the profession's key dilemmas. Applied discourse studies illustrate the importance of talk and interaction in the construction of everyday and institutional life. This book provides a detailed review and illustration of the contribution of discourse approaches and studies on professional interaction to social work. Concentrating on how social workers carry out their work in everyday organisational encounters with service users and colleagues, each chapter uses case studies analysing real-life social work interactions to explore a concept that has relevance both in discursive studies and in social work. The book thus demonstrates what detailed discursive studies on interaction can add to professional social work theories and discussions. Chapters on categorization, accountability, boundary work, narrative, advice-giving, resistance, delicacy and reported speech, review the literature and discuss how the concept has been developed and how it can be applied to social work. The book encourages professional reflection and the development of rigorous research methods, making it particularly appropriate for postgraduate and post-qualifying study in social work where participants are encouraged to examine their own professional practice. It is also essential reading for social work academics and researchers interested in language, communication and relationship-based work and in the study of professional practices more generally.

Moisture dynamics in brick, stone and concrete has a controlling influence on the durability and performance of the built environment. Water Transport in Brick, Stone and Concrete provides a unified description of transport processes involving saturated and unsaturated flow in porous inorganic materials and structures. It sets out fundamental physics and materials science, mathematical description and experimental measurement as a basis for engineering design and construction practice. Now in its third edition, the book combines a systematic presentation of the scientific and technical principles with new analyses of topics such as sorption isotherms, temperature dependence of sorptivity, time-dependent properties of cement-based materials, layered materials, air-trapping and driving rain. It serves as an authoritative reference for research workers, practising engineers and students of civil, building, architectural and materials engineering. Much of the fundamental work is relevant to engineers in soil science and geotechnics, as well as oilfield, chemical and process engineering.

This book brings together contributions from a range of social welfare settings, including child welfare, unemployment, mental health and substance abuse treatment, to examine how interprofessional collaboration and service user participation are realised or challenged in multi-agency meetings. It provides empirically grounded analyses of specific aspects of multi-agency work and offers a distinctive conceptual framework for understanding and analysing interaction during meetings in various social welfare settings. Based on audio and video recordings, the authors provide clear examples of actual practices of social welfare professionals and demonstrate how the realisation of collaborative and integrated welfare policy is contingent on effective interactional practices between professionals and service users.

The impetus for this book is the shift in welfare policy in Western Europe from state responsibilities to individual and community responsibilities. The book examines the ways in which policies associated with advanced liberalism and New Public Management can be identified as influencing professional practices to promote personalisation, participation, empowerment, recovery and resilience. In examining the concept of 'responsibilisation' from the point of view of both the 'responsibilised client and welfare worker', the book breaks from the traditional literature to demonstrate how responsibilities are negotiated during multi-professional care planning meetings, home visits, staff meetings, focus groups and interviews with different stakeholders. The settings examined in the book can be described as on the 'margins of welfare' - mental health, substance abuse, homelessness services and probation work, where the rights and responsibilities of clients and workers are uncertain and constantly under review. Each chapter approaches the management of responsibilities from a particular angle by combining responsibilisation theory and discourse analysis to examine everyday encounters. Taken together, the chapters paint a comprehensive picture of the responsibilisation practices at the margins of welfare services and provide an extensive discussion of the implications for policy and practice. Drawing upon both the governmentality literature and everyday encounters, the book provides a broad approach to a key topic. It will therefore be a valuable resource for social policy, public administration, social work and human service researchers and students, and social and health care professionals.

Women with fish tails are among the oldest and still most popular of mythological creatures, possessing a powerful allure and compelling ambiguity. They dwell right in the uncanniest valley of the sea: so similar to humans, yet profoundly other. Mermaids: Art, Symbolism and Mythology presents a comprehensive, interdisciplinary and beautifully illustrated study of mermaids and their influence on Western culture. The roots of mermaid mythology and its metamorphosis through the centuries are discussed with examples from visual art, literature, music and architecture—from 600 BCE right up to the present day. Our story starts in Mesopotamia, source of the earliest preserved illustrations of half-human, half-fish creatures. The myths and legends of the Mesopotamians were incorporated and adopted by ancient Greek, Etruscan and Roman cultures. Then, during the early medieval period, ancient mythological creatures such as mermaids were confused, transformed and reinterpreted by Christian tradition to begin a new strand in mermaid lore. Along the way, all manner of stunning—and sometimes bizarre or unsettling—depictions of mermaids emerged. Written in an accessible and entertaining style, this book challenges conventional views of mermaid mythology, discusses mermaids in the light of evolutionary theory and aims to inspire future studies of these most curious of imaginary creatures.

This book is dedicated to the protection of horses, ponies and donkeys and is based on first-hand international experience from a lifetime spent with horses - hunting, racing and welfare - whether with The Pony Club, The Jockey Club or international horse charity. It covers all equines to the highest levels of performance - racing, show jumping, eventing and endurance riding and encourages all owners to care for their animals. Horses are beautiful animals that can work with their owners to the best effect; it is only right that they should all be cared for with respect so that the partnership is equal, one of working together and free from abuse. Christopher also looks at the world of working horses, donkeys and mules in the developing world, where they are often the only means of transporting people and goods, provide the only power to work the land and are essential for their owners' survival. He calls for them to be given closer attention and care and that training is given to the owners who may not be aware of how to care properly for their animals. He also writes about people in equestrian sports both nationally and internationally and the work of the major charity World Horse Welfare of which he was chairman, calling on his role as a leading regulator and lifelong horseman. He held one of the highest profile jobs in the Jockey Club, steward in charge of enforcing the rules of horse racing - and provides an insight into the high stakes world of racing where winning is everything. But whatever the activity or level, readers will be aware that horses are the real stars.

This revised and updated edition of "Modern German Pronunciation" offers the most complete guide to the correct pronunciation of German for native speakers of English. It begins with an introduction to the problems of pronunciation and the basic concepts of phonetics. The following chapters take each aspect of pronunciation in turn: consonants, vowels, stress and intonation, and the conversational pronunciation of German with its many reduced or "weak" forms. The text is comprehensively illustrated with clear pronunciation and intonation diagrams and the emphasis is on the problems that speakers of English are known to encounter when learning to speak German. This second edition has been revised and updated, taking into account comments and suggestions from readers and adapting the German texts to the new official spelling. A significant new feature is the discussion of English-speaking learners of German has been extended to include American learners, reflecting the use world-wide of the first edition of this volume.

As the Gatekeepers of the nation, we are called to pray and to become 'PRAYERS.' "Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things ..." Engaging the Supernatural is a call to journey with God into a realm of the spirit world that challenges the human mind and human thinking. It demands abandonment of self and the flesh and demands a humble walk of absolute love and obedience to God. There are great experiences to be realized when the journey is pursued. If you are struggling with issues of indecision or your prayer journey, then Engaging the Supernatural is the book for you. One cannot read through the pages without feeling the Supernatural attraction towards intimacy and authority with the Lord. There is also a release of the anointing of God to provide passion for intercession. I believe the Spirit of God will deeply touch each life that shares this book, resulting in the demolition and removal of strongholds. Leo has laid a prayer roadmap responding to the change in approach and authority necessary to master praying in the presence of the Lord, in the inner courts of God. If we use this material, not only will we be blessed and challenged with great insight, but our prayer life will be significantly adjusted for the Kingdom of God. We would then be able to bless others with the authority of God and declare, "Let your Kingdom come on earth as you have already determined it in the heavens; for yours is the Kingdom, the power and the glory - Amen."

...It doesn't really matter where we stand in this world-proudly in the center or forgotten in the corners. The love of the Father and His grace, flowing out from the sacrifice of His only Son, is there to cover all of our sins, all of our failures, to make us into the beautiful vessels He originally intended. The spiritual readings in this collection are down-to-earth, humorous, and touching. Written in a simple, conversational style, these devotionals are designed to bring you closer to a God who longs to be closer to you-and they are sure to reaffirm your faith in a fresh new way. Tall, Dark, and Handsome and Other Devotionals will quickly become a treasured addition to any inspirational library.

It is dark...darker than it had been the night before. Darker than the bluest night in this town, one that existed for decades, centuries even, way before those that currently walked its streets had been born. Before they took their first step, and last steps. Before Richard was hit by that bus on Eighth Avenue, an avenue where the wind battered its windows and tumbled trash and leaves into the street, where rain would come and go, yet always leave its mark, where people were born and left immediately; heading out on the first train to the first place that didn't know their name, where they could reform themselves, make a new life, create a new name, leave behind that abusive father or girlfriend, live out the dreams that were crushed along with the garbage when it rained. This place, this place, it ate people alive; those few left made it by on guile and grit, squinting their eyes to keep score in a place as hostile as a kill box, hoping that one day the rain would stop, that the sun would shine through, that for once the darkness wouldn't be as black, that the blue became brighter, the sun no longer afraid of the rain, the day new and refreshing instead of the God's honest same. This place, it's stubborn in its ways, yet everyone got up in the morning and went about their days, punching clocks and sitting in traffic and carrying a brown bagged lunch; where girls got pregnant and kids dropped out of school, homeless men hoped to impress someone with their singing voice just enough to get a nickel, a quarter, if they hit that high note, this is the blackest world-and it is raining again.

Can the US Border Patrol increase mission capability through the use of citizen volunteers and if so, how could the volunteers best be used to support the Patrol's current operations in securing US land borders?