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.

Glass shards dance about excitedly, as bullets blaze passed Karol Shult's shoulder. Lying perfectly still on the floor more terrified of the phone ringing in her pocket than the murderous thugs shooting indiscriminately from outside the window, Karol takes the call only to find out she's not being paid for this job. What was supposed to be a quick hit and an easy payday turns out to be a thankless skirmish... no matter, Karol always finishes the job. Money, however, is not something from which the young assassin can so easily walk away. Shult, Karol's family of assassins, tracks down Hituuri, Karol's dead beat client, in a small town less than four hours from their estate. Overly eager to pay him a visit, Karol comes to town only to find Hituuri buying shots at a bar. With no way to answer for his bounced check, Karol squeezes the trigger taking Hituuri's life as payment. Thinking her day is over; Karol takes ease, until a big ass Siddian mothership pulls across the sky blocking out the sun brandishing a weapon capable of destroying the city. Completely caught off guard, Karol begs Erika, her master and confidant to get her out of the city. When Erika reveals the payday this new threat presents, however, Karol's cowardice turns to bravery. With dollar signs flashing in her eyes, Karol summons the indomitable strength to do whatever it takes to bring the alien menace to its knees. With action scenes that pay homage to R. A. Salvatore, a story as massive as World of Warcraft, and characters as memorable as Die Hard's John McClane, Rapture of Worlds is a sci-fi epic intended for a mature audience but intriguing to readers of all ages.

In the past fifteen years a new field of research has emerged in economics: the application of control theory methods to macroeconomics and to microeconomics. The papers and books which have resulted from this research are important to the development of theoretical and applied economics. However, they are inaccessible to many with interest in economics because of the technical nature of the discussion. This book attempts to make the macro economic portion of this literature more accessible by providing a discussion of the key issues using words and figures rather than mathematical symbols. I would like to thank my mentors and colleagues in control theory and economics for their help over the years: Masanao Aoki, Michael Athans, Yaakov Bar-Shalom, Jeremy Bray, Arthur Bryson, Gregory Chow, Ray Fair, Laurie Henrikson, David Livesey, Raman Mehra, Alfred Norman, Robert Pindyck, Franklin Shupp, John Taylor, Lance Taylor, Peter Tinsley, Edison Tse, and Stephen Turnovsky."

The Swiss Reformed Theologian Emil Brunner was one of the key figures in the early 20th century theological movement of Dialectical Theology. In this monograph David Gilland offers an account of Bruner's earlier theology in relation to one of the central themes of the Protestant Reformation: Law and Gospel.He examines Brunner's early relationship with fellow Swiss Reformed theologian, Karl Barth and provides a detailed reading of a variety of Brunner's essays from the early to mid-1920s, centering on Brunner's efforts to use the law-gospel relationship to establish a basis for Christian theology. After analyzing the influence this has on Brunner's theological method, Gilland examines Brunner's earliest text on Christology, The Mediator (1927). In light of the preceding analysis, the fourth chapter provides a careful reading of Brunner's controversial polemic against Karl Barth, Nature and Grace (1934).The monograph concludes with reflections on Brunner's earlier theological work and his turbulent relationship with Karl Barth.

Luke and the Jewish Other takes up the debated question of the orientation of Luke towards the Jewish people. Building on recent studies in the social history of early Jewish-Christian relations, it offers an analysis of Luke’s portrayal of Jewish and Christian identities that challenges the common assumption that the construction of religious identity in antiquity necessarily depended upon antagonistic relations with others. Taking account of the deep and often divisive difference that belief in Jesus made in Luke’s community, the author argues that Luke hoped to bring about both a rapprochement with and the conversion of contemporary Jews. Through this account of identity and alterity in the Gospel of Luke, the book cuts across boundaries of biblical studies, history, theology, and social theory, proposing a way forward for the study of Luke’s relation to Judaism and of the "parting of the ways" between Jews and Christians in the early Common Era.

Recent economic history suggests that a key element in economic growth and development for many countries has been an aggressive export policy and a complementary import policy. Such policies can be very effective provided that resources are used wisely to encourage exports from industries that can be com petitive in the international arena. Also, import protection must be used carefully so that it encourages infant industries instead of providing rents to industries that are not competitive. Policy makers may use a variety of methods of analysis in planning trade policy. As computing power has grown in recent years increasing attention has been give to economic models as one of the most powerful aids to policy making. These models can be used on the one hand to help in selecting export industries to encourage and infant industries to protect and on the other hand to chart the larger effects ofttade policy on the entire economy. While many models have been developed in recent years there has not been any analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of models. Therefore, this monograph provides a review and analysis of the models which can be used to analyze dynamic comparative advantage."

Why do the arts matter so much in rural areas? The arts are needed now more than ever to heal the social fabric, grow the population, drive the local economy and, in some cases, replace lost industries. Post-pandemic, a significant portion of the population hungers for hands-on, in-person arts experiences at a human scale. At the same time, rural areas are ripe with innovation, community connections, and an entrepreneurial spirit that fits well with creativity and arts-based community engagement. As rural areas continue to evolve past their previous ties to agriculture, industry, and mining, the arts offer new ways to enrich communities, spark local economies, and create tourist destinations, in tandem with their glorious surroundings. One goal of this book is to help dispel the myth of rural equaling white people. Six of the twelve arts organizations featured in this book are led by people of color and/or serve populations in which people of color are the majority. Eleven of the twelve organizations are led in part or entirely by female-identifying arts leaders. These numbers are happy accidents and not criteria of the selection or search process. It just turns out that, when you start looking for wonderful rural arts organizations, you find diversity. Managing the Arts in Rural Areas explores the challenges facing rural communities today and the positive impacts provided by the arts on economic development, diversity, equity, inclusion and access, fundraising, arts education, and community development. With dynamic case studies on arts organizations in rural areas from Alaska to Alabama and from Montana to Arizona, Managing the Arts in Rural Areas gives readers deep insights into how the arts are helping to define and grow rural areas today.

Things have changed, to say the least. The arts field is resizing, recombining, rethinking. Gone are the days of long term subscribers and reliable audiences. Arts organizations must become more flexible, adaptive, and nimble to survive and thrive in today's world. Arts managers must engage, adapt, and innovate. Great management invites creativity. Vibrant artistry welcomes strong management. Managing Arts Organizations can help. In Managing Arts Organizations, David Andrew Snider provides a playbook for navigating arts management in this new era and seeks to inspire a new generation of arts managers. Each chapter is focused on a specific topic, with principles, stories, exercises, advice, and best practices related to that topic. The appendix includes eight case studies, each illuminating issues in arts management via a real world scenario or organization. These narratives will enhance the reader's understanding of topics including financial management, marketing, programming, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, and accessibility across multiple disciplines. An instructor's manual is available for professors who adopt the book as a required textbook.

Things have changed, to say the least. The arts field is resizing, recombining, rethinking. Gone are the days of long term subscribers and reliable audiences. Arts organizations must become more flexible, adaptive, and nimble to survive and thrive in today's world. Arts managers must engage, adapt, and innovate. Great management invites creativity. Vibrant artistry welcomes strong management. Managing Arts Organizations can help. In Managing Arts Organizations, David Andrew Snider provides a playbook for navigating arts management in this new era and seeks to inspire a new generation of arts managers. Each chapter is focused on a specific topic, with principles, stories, exercises, advice, and best practices related to that topic. The appendix includes eight case studies, each illuminating issues in arts management via a real world scenario or organization. These narratives will enhance the reader's understanding of topics including financial management, marketing, programming, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion efforts, and accessibility across multiple disciplines. An instructor's manual is available for professors who adopt the book as a required textbook.

Saving endangered species presents a critical and increasingly pressing challenge for conservation and sustainability movements, and is also matter of survival and livelihoods for the world's poorest and vulnerable communities. In 1973, a global Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) was adopted to stem the extinction of many species. In 2015, as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 15) the United Nations called for urgent action to protect endangered species and their natural habitats. This volume focuses on the legal implementation of CITES to achieve the global SDGs. Activating interdisciplinary analysis and case studies across jurisdictions, the contributors analyse the potential for CITES to promote more sustainable development, proposing international and national regulatory innovations for implementing CITES. They consider recent innovations and key intervention points along flora and fauna value chains, advancing coherent recommendations to strengthen CITES implementation, including through the regulation of trade in endangered species globally and locally.

Well-connected in academia, business and government, John Maynard Keynes was one of the most influential economic theorists of the twentieth century. It appears that his theories will be just as important for the twenty-first. As Keynes himself explained, his ideas throughout his life were influenced by the moral philosophy he learned as an undergraduate. Nevertheless, the meaning and significance for Keynes of this early philosophy have remained largely unexplored. Keynes and the British Humanist Tradition offers an interpretation of Keynes's early philosophy and its implications for his later thought. It approaches that philosophy from the perspective of the nineteenth century intellectual context out of which it emerged. The book argues that roots of Keynes's early beliefs are to be found in the traditions of the Apostles, the very famous secret society to which he and most of his teachers belonged. The principles of Keynes's philosophy can be seen in such writers as John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick, but the underlying ideas have been obscured by changing fashions in philosophy and thus require excavation and reconstruction. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the history of economics, in particular the thought of John Maynard Keynes, especially his ethics, politics and economics.

This book raises critical questions about the explanatory framework guiding sports coaching research and presents a new conceptualization for research in the field. Through mapping and contextualizing sports coaching research within a corporatized higher education, the dominant or legitimate forms of sports coaching knowledge are problematized and a new vision of the field, which is socially and culturally responsive, communitarian and justice-oriented emerges.

Can renewable energy provide reliable power? Will it need extensive backup? The energy available from wind, waves, tides and the sun varies in ways that may not match variations in energy demand. Assimilating these fluctuations can affect the operation and economics of electricity networks, markets and the output of other forms of generation. Is this a significant problem, or can these new sources be integrated into the grid system without the need for extensive backup or energy storage capacity? This book examines the significance of the issue of variability of renewable electricity supplies, and presents technical and operational solutions to the problem of reconciling the differing patterns of supply and demand. Its chapters are authored by leading experts in the field, who aim to explain and quantify the impacts of variability in renewable energy, and in doing so, dispel many of the myths and misunderstandings surrounding the topic.

The Cold War spanned some five decades from the devastation that remained after World War Two until the fall of the Berlin wall, and for much of that time the perception was that only on the Eastern side were politics and sport inextricably linked. However, this assumption underestimates the extent to which sport was an important symbol for both power blocs in their ongoing ideological struggle.

This collection of essays from leading international authorities on sport, culture and ideology brings together an impressive body of work organized around key political themes and outstanding moments in sport, and is at once a political history of sport and an illuminating new perspective on the forces that shaped this unsettled time.

The Cold War spanned some five decades from the devastation that remained after World War Two until the fall of the Berlin wall, and for much of that time the perception was that only on the Eastern side were politics and sport inextricably linked. However, this assumption underestimates the extent to which sport was an important symbol for both power blocs in their ongoing ideological struggle.

This collection of essays from leading international authorities on sport, culture and ideology brings together an impressive body of work organized around key political themes and outstanding moments in sport, and is at once a political history of sport and an illuminating new perspective on the forces that shaped this unsettled time.

When American forces arrived in Vietnam, they found themselves embedded in historical village and frontier spaces already shaped by past conflicts. American bases and bombing targets followed spatial and political logics influenced by the footprints of previous wars in central Vietnam, and these militarized landscapes continue to shape postwar land-use politics. Footprints of War traces the long history of conflict-produced spaces in Vietnam, beginning with early modern wars and the French colonial invasion in 1885 and continuing through the collapse of the Saigon government in 1975. Drawing on extensive archival research and years of interviews and fieldwork in the hills and villages around the city of Hue, David Biggs integrates historical geographic information system (GIS) data and uses aerial, high-altitude, and satellite imagery to render otherwise inscrutable sites as living, multidimensional spaces. This personal and multilayered approach yields an innovative history of the lasting traces of war in Vietnam and a model for understanding other militarized landscapes.

This book raises critical questions about the explanatory framework guiding sports coaching research and presents a new conceptualization for research in the field. Through mapping and contextualizing sports coaching research within a corporatized higher education, the dominant or legitimate forms of sports coaching knowledge are problematized and a new vision of the field, which is socially and culturally responsive, communitarian and justice-oriented emerges.

Recent economic history suggests that a key element in economic growth and development for many countries has been an aggressive export policy and a complementary import policy. Such policies can be very effective provided that resources are used wisely to encourage exports from industries that can be com petitive in the international arena. Also, import protection must be used carefully so that it encourages infant industries instead of providing rents to industries that are not competitive. Policy makers may use a variety of methods of analysis in planning trade policy. As computing power has grown in recent years increasing attention has been give to economic models as one of the most powerful aids to policy making. These models can be used on the one hand to help in selecting export industries to encourage and infant industries to protect and on the other hand to chart the larger effects ofttade policy on the entire economy. While many models have been developed in recent years there has not been any analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the various types of models. Therefore, this monograph provides a review and analysis of the models which can be used to analyze dynamic comparative advantage."

In the past fifteen years a new field of research has emerged in economics: the application of control theory methods to macroeconomics and to microeconomics. The papers and books which have resulted from this research are important to the development of theoretical and applied economics. However, they are inaccessible to many with interest in economics because of the technical nature of the discussion. This book attempts to make the macro economic portion of this literature more accessible by providing a discussion of the key issues using words and figures rather than mathematical symbols. I would like to thank my mentors and colleagues in control theory and economics for their help over the years: Masanao Aoki, Michael Athans, Yaakov Bar-Shalom, Jeremy Bray, Arthur Bryson, Gregory Chow, Ray Fair, Laurie Henrikson, David Livesey, Raman Mehra, Alfred Norman, Robert Pindyck, Franklin Shupp, John Taylor, Lance Taylor, Peter Tinsley, Edison Tse, and Stephen Turnovsky."

Well-connected in academia, business and government, John Maynard Keynes was one of the most influential economic theorists of the twentieth century. It appears that his theories will be just as important for the twenty-first. As Keynes himself explained, his ideas throughout his life were influenced by the moral philosophy he learned as an undergraduate. Nevertheless, the meaning and significance for Keynes of this early philosophy have remained largely unexplored. Keynes and the British Humanist Tradition offers an interpretation of Keynes's early philosophy and its implications for his later thought. It approaches that philosophy from the perspective of the nineteenth century intellectual context out of which it emerged. The book argues that roots of Keynes's early beliefs are to be found in the traditions of the Apostles, the very famous secret society to which he and most of his teachers belonged. The principles of Keynes's philosophy can be seen in such writers as John Stuart Mill and Henry Sidgwick, but the underlying ideas have been obscured by changing fashions in philosophy and thus require excavation and reconstruction. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in the history of economics, in particular the thought of John Maynard Keynes, especially his ethics, politics and economics.