The first of three epic instalments in director Peter Jackson's blockbuster prequel to 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy. Set in Middle-Earth 60 years before events in 'The Lord of the Rings', the story follows the adventures of Hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), who, at the instigation of the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), suddenly finds himself co-opted into joining a company of 13 Dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) to help reclaim the Dwarves' lost kingdom of the Lonely Mountain from the clutches of Smaug the dragon. After setting out on their quest from the safety of Bag End, the band of travellers soon find themselves pitted against a range of strange and fearsome opponents, in addition to a small, slimy creature known simply as Gollum (Andy Serkis).

More than four decades have passed since surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) was discovered. In today's world SERS has been established as a plasmon-based spectroscopy with ultra-high sensitivity and versatility at the forefront of the developments in plasmonics. SERS has been developing with the advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The "SERS world" has grown up markedly for the last 20 years or so, and recently the wider concept of, plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy was born. Plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy contains not only SERS but also tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS), surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF), and more. Through these novel spectroscopies various amazing properties of plasmons have become known, providing new exciting research fields. One of the main purposes of the book is to convey the enthusiastic discussion on plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy at the symposium to the scientific community. This book reports leading-edge advances in the theory of plasmonic enhancement and application of plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy to biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, and medicine. Many books have been published about SERS, but this may be the first time that a book on a wide area of plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy has ever been published. The book consists of two volumes; the second volume discusses TERS, SEIRA, and other topics related to plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER As seen on The Joe Rogan Experience! A groundbreaking dive into the role psychedelics have played in the origins of Western civilization, and a real-life quest for the Holy Grail. The most influential religious historian of the twentieth century, Huston Smith, once referred to it as the "best-kept secret" in history. Did the Ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And did the earliest Christians inherit the same, secret tradition? A profound knowledge of visionary plants, herbs and fungi passed from one generation to the next, ever since the Stone Age? There is zero archaeological evidence for the original Eucharist - the sacred wine said to guarantee life after death for those who drink the blood of Jesus. The Holy Grail and its miraculous contents have never been found. In the absence of any hard data, whatever happened at the Last Supper remains an article of faith for today's 2.5 billion Christians. In an unprecedented search for real answers, The Immortality Key examines the archaic roots of the ritual that is performed every Sunday for nearly one third of the planet. Religion and science converge to paint a radical picture of Christianity's founding event...and, after centuries of debate, to solve history's greatest puzzle once and for all. Before the birth of Jesus, the Ancient Greeks found salvation in their own sacraments. Sacred beverages were routinely consumed as part of the so-called Ancient Mysteries - elaborate rites that led initiates to the brink of death. The best and brightest from Athens and Rome flocked to the spiritual capital of Eleusis, where a holy beer unleashed heavenly visions for two thousand years. Others drank the holy wine of Dionysus to become one with the god. In the 1970s, renegade scholars claimed this beer and wine - the original sacraments of Western civilization - were spiked with mind-altering drugs. In recent years, vindication for the disgraced theory has been quietly mounting in the laboratory. The constantly advancing fields of archaeobotany and archaeochemistry have hinted at the enduring use of hallucinogenic drinks in antiquity. And with a single dose of psilocybin, the psychopharmacologists at Johns Hopkins and NYU are now turning self-proclaimed atheists into instant believers. But the smoking gun remains elusive. If these sacraments survived for thousands of years in our remote prehistory, from the Stone Age to the Ancient Greeks, did they also survive into the age of Jesus? Was the Eucharist of the earliest Christians, in fact, a psychedelic Eucharist? With an unquenchable thirst for evidence, Brian C. Muraresku takes the reader on his twelve-year global hunt for proof. He tours the ruins of Greece with its government archaeologists. He gains access to the hidden collections of the Louvre Museum to show the continuity from pagan to Christian wine. He unravels the Ancient Greek of the New Testament with a Catholic priest. He spelunks into the catacombs under the streets of Rome to decipher the lost symbols of Christianity's oldest monuments. He breaches the secret archives of the Vatican to unearth manuscripts never before translated into English. And with leads from the archaeological chemists at the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he unveils the first scientific data for the ritual use of psychedelic drugs in classical antiquity. The Immortality Key reconstructs the suppressed history of women consecrating a forbidden, drugged Eucharist that was later banned by the Church Fathers. Women who were then targeted as witches during the Inquisition, when Europe's sacred pharmacology largely disappeared. Have the scientists of today resurrected this lost technology? Is Christianity capable of returning to its roots? Featuring a Foreword by Graham Hancock, the New York Times bestselling author of America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization.

More than four decades have passed since surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) was discovered. In today's world SERS has been established as a plasmon-based spectroscopy with ultra-high sensitivity and versatility at the forefront of the developments in plasmonics. SERS has been developing with the advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The "SERS world" has grown up markedly for the last 20 years or so, and recently the wider concept of, plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy was born. Plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy contains not only SERS but also tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS), surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA), surface-enhanced fluorescence (SEF), and more. Through these novel spectroscopies various amazing properties of plasmons have become known, providing new exciting research fields. One of the main purposes of the book is to convey the enthusiastic discussion on plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy at the symposium to the scientific community. This book reports leading-edge advances in the theory of plasmonic enhancement and application of plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy to biology, chemistry, physics, materials science, and medicine. Many books have been published about SERS, but this may be the first time that a book on a wide area of plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy has ever been published. The book consists of two volumes; the first volume contains the introductory review by George Schatz followed by eight chapters, which are mainly concerned with SERS.

All ten episodes of the award-winning mini-series based on the real-life experiences of American paratroopers who fought in Europe during the Second World War. From their training in Camp Toccoa, Georgia, through their landing in Normandy as part of the D-Day offensive, their participation in the Battle of the Bulge, and all the way up to the final surrender of the German forces, the series follows the adventures of Easy Company, a unit noted for its skill and bravery, but which also suffered a high number of casualties in its journey across Europe. Each episode also features excerpts from actual interviews with surviving members of the company.

The UK Catalysis Hub is a consortium of universities working together on fundamental and applied research to find out how catalysts work and to improve their effectiveness. The contribution of catalysis to manufacturing contributes to almost 40% of global GDP, making development and innovation within the field integral to industry.Modern Developments in Catalysis, Volume 2 provides a review and update of current research and practice on catalysis. Topics range from the treatment of water using novel techniques for carbon neutrality, cutting-edge techniques using intense radiation including Operando Synchrotron Infrared Microspectroscopy to innovation in homogeneous catalysis, heterogeneous catalysis and biocatalysis. Edited by leaders of the UK Hub, this book provides insight into one of the most important areas of modern chemistry - it represents a unique learning opportunity for students and professionals studying and working towards speeding up, improving and increasing the rate of catalytic reactions in science and industry.

The UK Catalysis Hub is a consortium of universities working together on fundamental and applied research to find out how catalysts work and to improve their effectiveness. The contribution of catalysis to manufacturing contributes to almost 40% of global GDP, making development and innovation within the field integral to industry.Modern Developments in Catalysis provides a review of current research and practise on catalysis, focussing on five main themes: catalysis design, environmental catalysis, catalysis and energy, chemical transformation and biocatalysis and biotransformations. Topics range from complex reactions to the intricacies of catalyst preparation for supported nanoparticles, while chapters illustrate the challenges facing catalytic science and the directions in which the field is developing. Edited by leaders of the UK Hub, this book provides insight into one of the most important areas of modern chemistry — it represents a unique learning opportunity for students and professionals studying and working towards speeding-up, improving and increasing the rate of catalytic reactions in science and industry.

The UK Catalysis Hub is a consortium of universities working together on fundamental and applied research to find out how catalysts work and to improve their effectiveness. The contribution of catalysis to manufacturing contributes to almost 40% of global GDP, making development and innovation within the field integral to industry.Modern Developments in Catalysis provides a review of current research and practise on catalysis, focussing on five main themes: catalysis design, environmental catalysis, catalysis and energy, chemical transformation and biocatalysis and biotransformations. Topics range from complex reactions to the intricacies of catalyst preparation for supported nanoparticles, while chapters illustrate the challenges facing catalytic science and the directions in which the field is developing. Edited by leaders of the UK Hub, this book provides insight into one of the most important areas of modern chemistry - it represents a unique learning opportunity for students and professionals studying and working towards speeding-up, improving and increasing the rate of catalytic reactions in science and industry.

Provides real world studies of the family in business, by observing typical firms rather than dynasties. It looks at how the nature of family business is changing in our times and provides insight into the lessons we can learn from this. The book focuses on the impact for the professional non-family manager.

Specialist Periodical Reports provide systematic and critical review coverage in major areas of chemical research. Compiled by teams of leading authorities in the relevant subject, the series creates a unique service for the active research chemist with regular critical in-depth accounts of progress in particular areas of chemistry. Subject coverage of all volumes is very similar and publication is on an annual or biennial basis. As EPR continues to find new applications in virtually all areas of modern science, including physics, chemistry, biology and materials science, this series caters not only for experts in the field, but also those wishing to gain a general overview of EPR applications in a given area.

Escaping Eden brings together feminist biblical scholars to explore how aspects of social location such as gender, ethnicity, class, and religious background affect biblical interpretation.

The volume combines feminist reading strategies with sustained methodological inquiry. Writing in a range of modes including historical and literary criticism, cultural studies, satirical fiction, and the personal essay, the contributors challenge the presumed objectivity of conventional biblical scholarship.

Interrogating biblical authority, que(e)rying Jeremiah, exploring translation as a feminist act, and reclaiming texts as diverse as Genesis, Luke, and Philippians, Escaping Eden expands the usual boundaries of biblical academic discourse.

An ordinary school day in Middlefield turns into a mystical tale filled with endless adventures of magic, fairies, flying horses, and danger. A modern-day saga of four young teens who find themselves trapped in another realm-"The Otherworld"-where they must abide by an evil druid's bidding or risk endangering the lives of their loved ones and the magical beings they have befriended.

This is the first of two volumes of a state-of-the-art survey article collection which originates from three commutative algebra sessions at the 2009 Fall Southeastern American Mathematical Society Meeting at Florida Atlantic University. The articles reach into diverse areas of commutative algebra and build a bridge between Noetherian and non-Noetherian commutative algebra. These volumes present current trends in two of the most active areas of commutative algebra: non-noetherian rings (factorization, ideal theory, integrality), and noetherian rings (the local theory, graded situation, and interactions with combinatorics and geometry). This volume contains combinatorial and homological surveys. The combinatorial papers document some of the increasing focus in commutative algebra recently on the interaction between algebra and combinatorics. Specifically, one can use combinatorial techniques to investigate resolutions and other algebraic structures as with the papers of Floystad on Boij-Soederburg theory, of Geramita, Harbourne and Migliore, and of Cooper on Hilbert functions, of Clark on minimal poset resolutions and of Mermin on simplicial resolutions. One can also utilize algebraic invariants to understand combinatorial structures like graphs, hypergraphs, and simplicial complexes such as in the paper of Morey and Villarreal on edge ideals. Homological techniques have become indispensable tools for the study of noetherian rings. These ideas have yielded amazing levels of interaction with other fields like algebraic topology (via differential graded techniques as well as the foundations of homological algebra), analysis (via the study of D-modules), and combinatorics (as described in the previous paragraph). The homological articles the editors have included in this volume relate mostly to how homological techniques help us better understand rings and singularities both noetherian and non-noetherian such as in the papers by Roberts, Yao, Hummel and Leuschke.

My attention was first drawn to Chuquet' s mathematical manuscript whilst undertaking the necessary research for the preparation of the Open University's History of Mathematics course, presented initially in 1974. It was whilst editing the English edition of Math~matiques et Math~maticiens (P. Dedron and J. Itard, trans. J. Field) that I noted that it was stated that "the whole manuscript *** comprises 324 folios, i. e. 648 pages", and that, in addition to the Triparty (by which the work is generally known) the manuscript includes sections on problems, on the application of algebraic methods to geometry, and on conunercial

In recent years nobody could have failed to notice the frequent and often sensati- alist media headlines warning of the latest global disease threat to humankind. But behind all the hyperbole lie real challenges related to dealing with the increasing incidence of emerging zoonotic disease events, the majority of which are thought to originate in wildlife (Jones et al. 2008). There are also many important diseases of domestic livestock which also occur in wildlife (e. g. foot and mouth disease and classical swine fever in wild boar, bovine tuberculosis in deer, badgers or possums), some of which can have a devastating impact on the farming industry, the wider rural economy and ultimately the public purse. But we should also not forget that wildlife diseases may have serious implications for the conservation of biodiversity. For some of the rarest, most endangered species (such as the Ethiopian wolf) d- ease may pose the greatest threat to their survival. If we are to avoid or reduce these impacts then we must improve our ability to detect and manage the risks associated with disease in wildlife populations. This is a challenge that will require expertise from many different disciplines: veterinary, ecological, medical, economic, poli- cal and zoological. In such an interdisciplinary field it is difficult to stay up to date with contemporary ideas and with techniques that may be rapidly evolving.