Indoor residential environments have a direct influence on human health, both in developed and developing countries. Significant levels of indoor pollution can make housing unsafe and can negatively impact on human health. Housing, therefore, is a key health factor for people all over the world, and various parameters such as air quality, ventilation, hygrothermal comfort, lighting, physical environment, building efficiency, and others can contribute to healthy architecture and the conditions that can result from the poor application of these parameters. Health and Well-Being Considerations in the Design of Indoor Environments addresses issues concerning indoor environmental quality (IEQ), including air quality and ventilation, access to daylight and views, acoustic conditions, and control over lighting and thermal comfort, as well as the impact that this environment can have on human health and mental well-being. The book also investigates the functional aspects of interior design such as whether the layout provides easy access to tools and sufficient space for occupants. It also considers energy demand and building energy losses due to such issues as air renovations and enclosure infiltrations. Covering topics such as sustainable design, pollution, building materials, and lighting, this book is an effective resource for students, professors, academicians, researchers, architects, designers, planners, engineers, interior designers, building managers, construction companies, and other industry professionals looking to increase building occupant satisfaction by considering all aspects of IEQ.

It is a perfect day for golf in Albany, New York. Amateur golfers Ed Michaels, Bill Moretti, and Frank Solis have just topped off their ideal day at the golf course with cold beers. As the trio heads to their cars in the parking lot, the men have no idea that their lives are about to change forever.

After two burly men throw them into the back of a van at gunpoint and take them to a basement in a seedy part of New York City, Ed, Bill, and Frank each wonder what will become of themselves. With no clue as to why they have been snatched in broad daylight, Ed secretly speculates whether his gambling addiction has caught up with him. Bill wonders if his competitors are retaliating for his ruthless business practices. But it is when the kidnappers confront Frank that he discovers he is the target, simply because he works in a nuclear laboratory.

In this political thriller, three men are unwittingly taken on a dangerous journey that leads them from upstate New York to the streets of Little Havana, where they are forced to face agents of terrorists with bold plans to steal some of our most guarded secrets. Only time will tell if Ed, Bill, and Frank can survive and prevent the terrorists from achieving their goals.

John A. Gonzalez, Director of the Rozhkov Historical Research Centre, examines the evolution of the thought of the most important and prolific historian after V.O. Kliuchevskii. Rozhkov's transformation from liberal thinker to social democrat is explored against the background of Russia's paradigmatic shift from tsarist regime to revolutionary government.

Thermal comfort and indoor air quality (IAQ) issues have gained significant interest in the scientific and technical community involved in building performance analysis and other related subjects. In terms of thermal comfort, the achievement and maintenance of a thermally acceptable indoor environment is affected by energy costs, and energy poverty is a widespread problem globally. There is a call for energy-efficient architecture for a developed and sustainable world. However, with the use of renewable energy that increased considerably in recent years, new technical challenges arose for the energy sector. Consumers are key players in this context, as flexibility in demand is crucial to cope with the intermittent nature of most renewable energy sources. Active demand-side participation is particularly important to ensure the efficient use of locally and globally available energy. Sustainability, human comfort, and healthy living environments have become top priorities. Advancements in Sustainable Architecture and Energy Efficiency explores how housing is a key health factor for individuals and looks at factors such as air quality, ventilation, hygrothermal comfort, lighting, physical environment, building efficiency, and other areas as important pieces in healthy architecture. It discusses how the poor application of these parameters can directly affect human health and how sustainable architecture provides a solution. Beyond just labeling the important facets of architecture for healthy living, this book will look at different perspectives of energy consumption and demand to ensure sustainable energy, increased energy efficiency, improved energy policies, and reasonable energy costs for homes. This book is ideal for architects, designers, engineers, energy engineers, environmental scientists, practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students interested in architecture that is both conducive to healthy living and energy efficiency.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam: An Introduction to Monotheism shows how a shared monotheistic legacy frames and helps explain the commonalities and disagreements among Judaism, Christianity and Islam and their significant denominations in the world today. Taking a thematic approach and covering both historical and contemporary dimensions, the authors discuss how contemporary geographic and cultural contexts shape the expression of monotheism in the three religions. It covers differences between religious expressions in Israeli Judaism, Latin American Christianity and British Islam. Topics discussed include scripture, creation, covenant and identity, ritual, ethics, peoplehood and community, redemption, salvation, life after death, gender, sexuality and marriage. This introductory text, which contains over 30 images, a map, a timeline, chapter afterthoughts and critical questions, is written by three authors with extensive teaching experience, each a specialist in one of the three monotheistic traditions.

The colonial history of the Caribbean created a context in which many religions, from indigenous to African-based to Christian, intermingled with one another, creating a rich diversity of religious life. Caribbean Religious History offers the first comprehensive religious history of the region. Ennis B. Edmonds and Michelle A. Gonzalez begin their exploration with the religious traditions of the Amerindians who flourished prior to contact with European colonizers, then detail the transplantation of Catholic and Protestant Christianity and their centuries of struggles to become integral to the Caribbean's religious ethos, and trace the twentieth century penetration of American Evangelical Christianity, particularly in its Pentecostal and Holiness iterations. Caribbean Religious History also illuminates the influence of Africans and their descendants on the shaping of such religious traditions as Vodou, Santeria, Revival Zion, Spiritual Baptists, and Rastafari, and the success of Indian indentured laborers and their descendants in reconstituting Hindu and Islamic practices in their new environment. Paying careful attention to the region's social and political history, Edmonds and Gonzalez present a one-volume panoramic introduction to this religiously vibrant part of the world.

International Society and the Middle East brings together a distinguished cast of theorists and Middle East experts to provide a comprehensive overview of the region's history and how its own traditions have mixed, often uncomfortably, with the political structures imposed by the expansion of Western international society.

Proceedings of the International Workshop, Thermal Solid Waste Utilization in Regular and Industrial Facilities, held in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, November 28-30, 1999. In recent years, industrial and urban growth has resulted in growing volumes of nondegradable wastes, and this volume focuses on the technologies related to recycling and material reuse which are now being favoured over land disposal. There is an overview on waste utilisation in industrial facilities, particularly cement kilns, from an ecological as well as technological aspect, and some innovative solutions of pyrolitic and plasma reactors, used for hazardous wastes combustion.

TheAdvancedResearchWorkshop"NewTrendsinIntegrabilityandPartial Solvability"(ARW. 978791) tookplaceinthebeautifulsettingoftheFaculty ofMedicineofC adizUniversity'smainroomonJune13-15,2002. Although thenumberofparticipantswas 30, thelectureswereattendedbymorethan one hundred researchers from around the world who were also attending the NEEDS 2002 meeting. Theaim of the organizers was to take advantage of these events to bring together researchers from the ?eld of integrable systems and/or from the particular subject of partial integrability, in view of the current interest in combining methods and ideas arising from both areas. A widevariety of topics were covered in the talks andthe subsequent discussions, including the analysis of reductions and solutions of integrable nonlinear partial di?erential equations and dynamical systems, new me- ods for the analysis of initial-boundary value problems for linear partial di?erential equations, quasi-exactly solvable Bose systems, the geometric theory of ordinarydi?erential equations, exactly and partially solvable spin models, the theory of nonlocal symmetries of di?erential equations, and superintegrable systems. Theworkshop revealed the growing importance of the theory of integrable system as well as the emerging theory of partially solvable systems. The present volume contains a series of invited contributions describing the background and recent developments of the main subjects discussed in the workshop. Special emphasis has been laid on providing self-contained and detailed presentations of the theory. M. J. Ablowitz and J. Villarroel give a detailed description of the inverse scattering for the KP equation, a keystone in the theory of integrable s- tems."

This volume presents an extended reflection on human dependency and the need to 'care' and be 'cared for'. Philosophers, theologians, social theorists, economists, and professional caregivers to discuss the challenges of professional caregiving, analyzing how societies can promote relationships in which individuals can give and receive 'care'.

The first meeting in this series was organized by Prof. Pawlowski and Dr. Lacy in 1976 at the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland. The conference dealt with various physicochemical methodologies for water and wastewater treatment research projects that were jointly sponsored by US EP A and Poland. The great interest expressed by the participants led the organizers to expand the scope of the second conference, which was also held in Poland in September 1979. The third and enlarged symposium was again successfully held in 1981 in Lublin, Poland. At that time the participating scientists and engineers expressed their desire to broaden the coverage as well as the title of the conference series. The International Committee, ap proved the title "Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment" and designated that date of the fourth conference, CPE IV, which was convened in September 1983 at the Paul Sabatier University in Toulouse, France, and was hosted and arranged by Prof. A. Verdier. This conference series included participants from various government agencies, academia, and the private sector, representing industrialized countries as well as emerging nations, both the East and West in an independent, non politica forum."

Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment 4 focuses on:

a [ Environmental aspects of agricultural practices

a [ Field characterization and quantification of chemical constituents

a [ Fate of contaminants in the environment/environmental monitoring

a [ Thermal treatment technologies

a [ Remediation of contaminated sites

a [ Wastewater treatment and sludge management

a [ Environmental Security

a [ Risk Assessment and Environmental Management

This volume is the proceedings of the first CPE conference in the new millennium and the thirteenth in a well-established series of conferences on Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment, first established in 1976. With support of the U.S. EPA, the series of conferences provides an opportunity for interdisciplinary exchange of ideas among international specialists, from diverse fields and backgrounds, on the chemical aspects of environmental protection. Over the years, the CPE conferences have gathered participants from more and more countries, and the scope of interests have been broadened. Held in Hilo, Hawaii, this was the first of these international conferences to take place in the United States. The Organizing Committee attracted to the conference a wide range of talented scientists and engineers who have useful ideas to contribute on how to clean our environment.

Any pollution control or pollution cure action today must take into consideration not only one element of the environment, like water, air or soil but also proper environmental handling and related problems. In all cases, chemical processes play a highly significant role. In recent years there has been a shift from wastewatertechnologies and pollutant monitoring problems to environment management and solid wastes issues. This book provides a forum for chemical scientists and engineers who are dedicated to the worthy mission of making a cleaner, healthier world for everyone.

The central goals of Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment are to improve technology transfer and scientific dialogue, thereby leading to better comprehension of and solution to a broad spectrum of environmentally related problems.

As Islamic states struggle to modernize and, in some cases, democratize, the issue of women's rights continues to elicit strong feelings and controversy and there are many paradoxes surrounding the idea of Islamic Feminism. Why are conservative Islamists winning elections? Why are educated and professional Muslim women still choosing to wear the veil? Many of the populist revolutions we are witnessing in the Middle East focus on the legitimate grievances of marginalized groups and populations. This book highlights the voices of cultural elites in the oil-rich State of Kuwait, where we have been witness to a modern suffrage movement since when women were given their political rights in 2005. The result is a new brand of feminism, one born out of a traditional and culturally conservative climate, which gives Islamic Feminists in Kuwait the edge they need to soar to new heights.

In Empire's Mistress Vernadette Vicuña Gonzalez follows the life of Filipina vaudeville and film actress Isabel Rosario Cooper, who was the mistress of General Douglas MacArthur. If mentioned at all, their relationship exists only as a salacious footnote in MacArthur's biography—a failed love affair between a venerated war hero and a young woman of Filipino and American heritage. Following Cooper from the Philippines to Washington, D.C. to Hollywood, where she died penniless, Gonzalez frames her not as a tragic heroine, but as someone caught within the violent histories of U.S. imperialism. In this way, Gonzalez uses Cooper's life as a means to explore the contours of empire as experienced on the scale of personal relationships. Along the way, Gonzalez fills in the archival gaps of Cooper's life with speculative fictional interludes that both unsettle the authority of “official� archives and dislodge the established one-dimensional characterizations of her. By presenting Cooper as a complex historical subject who lived at the crossroads of American colonialism in the Philippines, Gonzalez demonstrates how intimacy and love are woven into the infrastructure of empire.

A Critical Introduction to Religion in the Americas argues that we cannot understand religion in the Americas without understanding its marginalized communities. Despite frequently voiced doubts among religious studies scholars, it makes the case that theology, and particularly liberation theology, is still useful, but it must be reframed to attend to the ways in which religion is actually experienced on the ground. That is, a liberation theology that assumes a need to work on behalf of the poor can seem out of touch with a population experiencing huge Pentecostal and Charismatic growth, where the focus is not on inequality or social action but on individual relationships with the divine. By drawing on a combination of historical and ethnographic sources, this volume provides a basic introduction to the study of religion and theology in the Latino/a, Black, and Latin American contexts, and then shows how theology can be reframed to better speak to the concerns of both religious studies and the real people the theologians' work is meant to represent. Informed by the dialogue partners explored throughout the text, this volume presents a hemispheric approach to discussing lived religious movements. While not dismissive of liberation theologies, this approach is critical of their past and offers challenges to their future as well as suggestions for preventing their untimely demise. It is clear that the liberation theologies of tomorrow cannot look like the liberation theologies of today.

The Star Trek franchise reflects, conveys, and comments upon the key philosophical tensions of the modern era. This book details the manner in which these tensions and controversies are manifested in Star Trek across its iterations, arguing that Star Trek offers an indispensable contribution to our understanding of politics in the modern era.

This book offers an accessible and in-depth look at some of the most important episodes of two thousand years of mathematical history. Beginning with trigonometry and moving on through logarithms, complex numbers, infinite series, and calculus, this book profiles some of the lesser known but crucial contributors to modern day mathematics. It is unique in its use of primary sources as well as its accessibility; a knowledge of first-year calculus is the only prerequisite. But undergraduate and graduate students alike will appreciate this glimpse into the fascinating process of mathematical creation.

The history of math is an intercontinental journey, and this book showcases brilliant mathematicians from Greece, Egypt, and India, as well as Europe and the Islamic world. Several of the primary sources have never before been translated into English. Their interpretation is thorough and readable, and offers an excellent background for teachers of high school mathematics as well as anyone interested in the history of math.

Metallic systems are ubiquitous in daily life. They play key roles, for example, in the chemistry of many biomolecules, ionic solutions, nanoparticles, and catalytic processes. They may be in solid, liquid, or gaseous form. The interactions of other molecules with metal surfaces are of considerable importance. Each of these topics is addressed in Metallic Systems. As we have entered the age where theoretical approaches are sufficiently mature to complement and guide experiments in many areas, an understanding of the theoretical tools and approaches to studying metallic systems is essential. Metallic Systems is concerned with enhancing our understanding of the diverse chemistry of metals and metal-containing systems and the applicability of modern quantum chemistry methodologies to study them. Metallic Systems presents brief overviews of most of the popular approaches to quantum chemical treatments and computations of chemical systems that include metals. Attention is given to the potentialities and limitations of first principles Density Functional Theory and dynamics methods (e.g. QM/MM approaches). The book emphasizes the importance of using methods that take into account crucial physical features such as explicit solvation, temperature and dynamics of metal-containing systems. It emphasizes first principles calculations in providing reliable and detailed information concerning electronic structures, mechanisms, and reaction energetics. Accessible to newcomers to the field, Metallic Systems overviews theory underpinning current methodologies. It presents a practical set of modalities for studying metallic systems, assesses current technological barriers, and examines future challenges and topics of exploration.

War, Power and the Economy contains a comparative history of Great Britain, France and Spain, the three rival empires of the 1700s. It explores how the states prepared for war, what kind of economic means they had, what institutional changes they implemented, and how efficient this was. As such, the book presents the first comparative synthesis aiming to understand the outcome of the global confrontation in the eighteenth century. Faced with the challenge of paying for new and more costly wars, some countries found flexible ways to get more money and better supplies, whereas others did not. The development of freer colonial markets, the increase of consumption and its taxation, the problems of venal administration or the different systems of patronage with contractors, are some of the factors explaining the divergences that were made clear by 1815. This book explores political and economic dimensions of the eighteenth-century European state in order to explain why and how changes in power as an outcome of war depended upon the available means and the way they were obtained and used. The book takes the idea that making war or preparing for it obliged governments to make important changes in their institutions, so that during the eighteenth century the state in many ways formed itself through war efforts. Ultimately, this study aims to show how closely political and military success was entwined with economic interests. This volume is of great interest to those who study economic history, political economy and European history.

Metallic systems are ubiquitous in daily life. They play key roles, for example, in the chemistry of many biomolecules, ionic solutions, nanoparticles, and catalytic processes. They may be in solid, liquid, or gaseous form. The interactions of other molecules with metal surfaces are of considerable importance. Each of these topics is addressed in Metallic Systems. As we have entered the age where theoretical approaches are sufficiently mature to complement and guide experiments in many areas, an understanding of the theoretical tools and approaches to studying metallic systems is essential. Metallic Systems is concerned with enhancing our understanding of the diverse chemistry of metals and metal-containing systems and the applicability of modern quantum chemistry methodologies to study them. Metallic Systems presents brief overviews of most of the popular approaches to quantum chemical treatments and computations of chemical systems that include metals. Attention is given to the potentialities and limitations of first principles Density Functional Theory and dynamics methods (e.g. QM/MM approaches). The book emphasizes the importance of using methods that take into account crucial physical features such as explicit solvation, temperature and dynamics of metal-containing systems. It emphasizes first principles calculations in providing reliable and detailed information concerning electronic structures, mechanisms, and reaction energetics. Accessible to newcomers to the field, Metallic Systems overviews theory underpinning current methodologies. It presents a practical set of modalities for studying metallic systems, assesses current technological barriers, and examines future challenges and topics of exploration.

Although considerable progress has been made in improving environmental quality in parts of the United States, many localities have yet to meet federal air and water quality standards and many hazardous-waste sites remain to be cleaned up. At the international level, the U.S. and other countries continue to face critical environmental problems. As a contribution to the literature on public policy and to help educate students about natural resource issues, this book identifies the likely "hot spots" of environmental policy and presents alternative and often opposing points of view on the major controversies that are likely to be with us well into the next century. Among the topics covered are comparative risk assessment; market incentives in environmental regulation; environmental justice; public versus private management of public lands; international trade and sustainable development; and the relationship between national security and environmental protection.

"The 'controversies format' makes for interesting reading and a good teaching tool. Sustainability is the current catch word among natural resource managers and environmentalists, yet the meaning of the term is unclear. This book goes a long way toward explaining the debates surrounding sustainability. It is a useful text for upper division environmental policy courses and graduate seminars". -- Helen Ingram, Director, The Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, University of Arizona

The objective of this book is to teach native speakers of Spanish how to write and use correctly their own language. This text is designed for Spanish speakers who also know English. Current methodology in the teaching of Spanish to Spanish speakers is based on the belief that native speakers already know Spanish and that such students primarily need to polish their orthography. The book stresses traditional but advanced grammar as well as accentuation, orthography and the avoidance of anglicisms in vocabulary and sentence structure. It draws from the students' linguistic background in both languages in order to teach them Spanish.