Two-movie collection featuring Disney's classic live-action/animation and the 2016 remake. In 'Pete's Dragon' (1977) lonely orphan Pete (Sean Marshall) finds a new friend in a surprising form: Elliott (voice of Charlie Callas), a 12-foot tall dragon that has the power to make itself invisible. Together they innocently cause chaos in their sleepy home town, but their partnership is put in jeopardy when visiting medicine seller Dr Terminus (Jim Dale) tries to kidnap Elliott. In 'Pete's Dragon' (2016) young boy Pete (Oakes Fegley) is found by forest ranger Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) after having lived in a forest for the last six years alongside his best friend, a dragon called Elliot (voice of John Kassir). After taking him home to try and find his family, Grace is shocked to learn of the dragon's existence. However, when Elliot comes under threat from a hunter (Karl Urban), Pete, Grace, her father Meacham (Robert Redford) and lumber mill owner Jack (Wes Bentley)'s daughter Natalie (Oona Laurence) set out to protect him.

Triple bill of Disney comedies following the adventures of Jim Henson's Muppets. In 'The Muppets' (2011), tycoon Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) plans to uproot the Muppet Theater to drill for oil prompting Walter (voice of Peter Linz) to team up with his brother, Gary (Jason Segel), and Gary's girlfriend, Mary (Amy Adams), to raise the ten million dollars required to save the vaudeville house. To get the money they hope to hold the Greatest Muppet Telethon Ever but they must help Kermit the Frog (voice of Steve Whitmire), who is now living alone in Hollywood, to bring all the Muppets back together for the first time since they parted company years previously. The film received an Academy Award for Best Original Song for 'Man Or Muppet'. In 'Muppet Treasure Island' (1996), based on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale, the Muppets take to the high seas. Jim Hawkins (Kevin Bishop) and his friends, Gonzo (voice of Dave Goelz) and Rizzo (voice of Whitmire), head out in search of hidden treasure after they are given a map of a secret island by dying seaman Billy Bones (Billy Connolly). The trio hire a ship captained by Abraham Smollett (Kermit the Frog - voice of Whitmire) but it soon becomes apparent there are mutinous pirates on board, led by one-legged cook Long John Silver (Tim Curry). In 'The Muppets' Wizard of Oz' (2005), a contemporary version of the classic novel by L. Frank Baum, Dorothy Gale (Ashanti) is a teenager with dreams of showbiz that seem far from coming true in the Kansas trailer park where she lives. When she's transported to the magical land of Oz, she and her sidekick, Toto (Pepe the King Prawn - voice of Bill Barretta), join forces with the Scarecrow (Kermit the Frog - voice of Whitmire), the Tin Thing (Gonzo - voice of Goelz) and the Lion (Fozzie Bear - voice of Erik Jacobson) to fight the Wicked Witch of the West (Miss Piggy - voice of Jacobson) and find the wizard who might make her a star.

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.

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.

Statistical concepts provide scientific framework in experimental studies, including randomized controlled trials. In order to design, monitor, analyze and draw conclusions scientifically from such clinical trials, clinical investigators and statisticians should have a firm grasp of the requisite statistical concepts. The Handbook of Statistical Methods for Randomized Controlled Trials presents these statistical concepts in a logical sequence from beginning to end and can be used as a textbook in a course or as a reference on statistical methods for randomized controlled trials. Part I provides a brief historical background on modern randomized controlled trials and introduces statistical concepts central to planning, monitoring and analysis of randomized controlled trials. Part II describes statistical methods for analysis of different types of outcomes and the associated statistical distributions used in testing the statistical hypotheses regarding the clinical questions. Part III describes some of the most used experimental designs for randomized controlled trials including the sample size estimation necessary in planning. Part IV describe statistical methods used in interim analysis for monitoring of efficacy and safety data. Part V describe important issues in statistical analyses such as multiple testing, subgroup analysis, competing risks and joint models for longitudinal markers and clinical outcomes. Part VI addresses selected miscellaneous topics in design and analysis including multiple assignment randomization trials, analysis of safety outcomes, non-inferiority trials, incorporating historical data, and validation of surrogate outcomes.

Statistical concepts provide scientific framework in experimental studies, including randomized controlled trials. In order to design, monitor, analyze and draw conclusions scientifically from such clinical trials, clinical investigators and statisticians should have a firm grasp of the requisite statistical concepts. The Handbook of Statistical Methods for Randomized Controlled Trials presents these statistical concepts in a logical sequence from beginning to end and can be used as a textbook in a course or as a reference on statistical methods for randomized controlled trials. Part I provides a brief historical background on modern randomized controlled trials and introduces statistical concepts central to planning, monitoring and analysis of randomized controlled trials. Part II describes statistical methods for analysis of different types of outcomes and the associated statistical distributions used in testing the statistical hypotheses regarding the clinical questions. Part III describes some of the most used experimental designs for randomized controlled trials including the sample size estimation necessary in planning. Part IV describe statistical methods used in interim analysis for monitoring of efficacy and safety data. Part V describe important issues in statistical analyses such as multiple testing, subgroup analysis, competing risks and joint models for longitudinal markers and clinical outcomes. Part VI addresses selected miscellaneous topics in design and analysis including multiple assignment randomization trials, analysis of safety outcomes, non-inferiority trials, incorporating historical data, and validation of surrogate outcomes.

This book is an interdisciplinary, multi-author work, based upon a recently completed international study by Brazilian and British experts and will prove a valuable reference to all those working in this field.

The study of heavy-tailed distributions allows researchers to represent phenomena that occasionally exhibit very large deviations from the mean. The dynamics underlying these phenomena is an interesting theoretical subject, but the study of their statistical properties is in itself a very useful endeavor from the point of view of managing assets and controlling risk. In this book, the authors are primarily concerned with the statistical properties of heavy-tailed distributions and with the processes that exhibit jumps. A detailed overview with a Matlab implementation of heavy-tailed models applied in asset management and risk managements is presented. The book is not intended as a theoretical treatise on probability or statistics, but as a tool to understand the main concepts regarding heavy-tailed random variables and processes as applied to real-world applications in finance. Accordingly, the authors review approaches and methodologies whose realization will be useful for developing new methods for forecasting of financial variables where extreme events are not treated as anomalies, but as intrinsic parts of the economic process.

Narratives of Environmental Challenges in Brazil and India: Losing Nature, edited by Zelia Bora and Murali Sivaramakrishnan, contextualizes the two subcontinents of India and Brazil and closely examines environmental issues from within and without. This collection focuses largely on the fate of forests and water in these two geographical terrains. This book explores narratives that reflect transformations: hitherto unprecedented demographic expansions, exploitation of natural resources, pollution and depletion of river and fresh water sources, uncontrollable demands on the energy front, waste and garbage disposal, drastic reduction of biodiversity. All of these are factors to research when one considers "losing nature." In philosophical as well as theoretical terms the question of what is nature, what is gained and lost in human-nature interaction, what is the essential "balance" of nature, are all important queries on a similar scale. Societal reality in present day Brazil and India is reconstructed and deconstructed at will by the powerful influence of the past alongside that of globalization and technocratic market structures. The volume contemplates the representation and interrogation of environmental issues in both subcontinents, Brazil and India.

Simulation and modeling using numerical methods is one of the key instruments in any scientific work. In the field of photonics, a wide range of numerical methods are used for studying both fundamental optics and applications such as design, development, and optimization of photonic components. Modeling is key for developing improved photonic devices and reducing development time and cost. Choosing the appropriate computational method for a photonics modeling problem requires a clear understanding of the pros and cons of the available numerical methods. Numerical Methods in Photonics presents six of the most frequently used methods: FDTD, FDFD, 1+1D nonlinear propagation, modal method, Green's function, and FEM. After an introductory chapter outlining the basics of Maxwell's equations, the book includes self-contained chapters that focus on each of the methods. Each method is accompanied by a review of the mathematical principles in which it is based, along with sample scripts, illustrative examples of characteristic problem solving, and exercises. MATLAB (R) is used throughout the text. This book provides a solid basis to practice writing your own codes. The theoretical formulation is complemented by sets of exercises, which allow you to grasp the essence of the modeling tools.

Business travel has become indispensable to the global economy, not only due to its necessity in the maintaining of corporate networks, but also because of the associated economies that cater to the daily requirements of the business traveller. Underlying these developments are concerns over the environmental impact of increasing air travel, which are likely to generate new challenges for the future of business travel. From a team of international experts comes this analysis of the role, nature and effects of modern business travel. Issues addressed include the relationships between airlines and business travellers, the role of mobility in business, and the opportunities and challenges created by mobile workforces. The study combines theoretical advances with comprehensive analysis, and will provoke debate across the social sciences on the nature, organization and space of work in the twenty-first century.

This is a comprehensive look at automobile manufacturing during its heyday in Cleveland and the remainder of Ohio, and illustrates what it took to succeed in an industry that was in the process of inventing itself. Over 550 early Cleveland and Ohio automobile manufacturers are given recognition, and the field is covered from A to Z: Abbott to Zent. Not surprisingly, there are familiar names such as Jordan, Baker, Peerless, and White of Cleveland, and well-known Ohio marques like Packard, Stutz, Crosley and Willys. Also noted are vehicles with such charming and unexpected names as the Auto-Bug, Darling, and Ben-Hur. These, and numerous other lesser-known automotive ventures, are all given attention, even though many of them never got beyond the concept stage. This is truly a researcher's source book. Substantial attention is also paid to the various ancillary industries, services and organizations which nurtured, evolved with, and in many cases endured after Cleveland's automotive industry. Liberally illustrated with over 100 historical images and conveniently presented in a dual-alphabetical arrangement which treats Cleveland and the remainder of Ohio separately, this is an eminently readable history of an important part of America's automobile heritage.

Simulation and modeling using numerical methods is one of the key instruments in any scientific work. In the field of photonics, a wide range of numerical methods are used for studying both fundamental optics and applications such as design, development, and optimization of photonic components. Modeling is key for developing improved photonic devices and reducing development time and cost. Choosing the appropriate computational method for a photonics modeling problem requires a clear understanding of the pros and cons of the available numerical methods. Numerical Methods in Photonics presents six of the most frequently used methods: FDTD, FDFD, 1+1D nonlinear propagation, modal method, Green's function, and FEM. After an introductory chapter outlining the basics of Maxwell's equations, the book includes self-contained chapters that focus on each of the methods. Each method is accompanied by a review of the mathematical principles in which it is based, along with sample scripts, illustrative examples of characteristic problem solving, and exercises. MATLAB (R) is used throughout the text. This book provides a solid basis to practice writing your own codes. The theoretical formulation is complemented by sets of exercises, which allow you to grasp the essence of the modeling tools.

"It's time to address the enormous cost of the strategy-sales gap."
The most crucial connection in an organization seeking to grow is between sales and strategy. But if your company is like most, instead of a strong connection there is a widening gap and too little bang for the buck. This book will help turn the tide for your organization.
US companies, for example, invest almost $900 billion annually in their sales forces--more than three times the amount they spend on all media advertising, and twenty times more than the total spent on digital marketing. Yet research indicates that, on average, companies deliver only about 50 to 60 percent of the financial performance their strategies promise. That's a lot of wasted money and managerial effort.
"Aligning Strategy and Sales" will help you close the gap, establish the needed connections, and improve both sales and strategy in your organization. From the author's research, practice, and years of work with firms across many industries, you'll learn how to improve performance by:
- Articulating strategy in ways that busy people can understand and embrace, and then translating strategic choices into sales tasks that bring results.
- Hiring, compensating, and measuring salespeople and performance in ways that are consistent with strategic goals.
- Selecting and developing people who can manage as well as sell, and finding practical ways to improve the coordination between sales and other functions required for profitable growth.
Usable, thoughtful, and clear, this book will help you drive performance, evaluate sales numbers, and hire or train the people who deal with your customers--from sales and functional heads to HR and the C-suite. Informed by the author's experience and research as a business manager, board member, consultant, and professor at Harvard Business School, "Aligning Strategy and Sales" provides the know-how and tools to do exactly what its title promises.

Reading the Boss: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Works of Bruce Springsteen, edited by Roxanne Harde and Irwin Streight, draws together close readings of Bruce Springsteen's lyrics by scholars across a range of academic disciplines. The editors first make a compelling comparison between Bruce Springsteen and William Shakespeare, carefully building the argument that both men offer profound insight into the hungry human heart. Springsteen, they argue, uses many Shakespearean themes such as the ties of blood and friendship, commitment to country and community, the monsters of lust and jealousy, vanity and power, and the hopeful pursuit of real love. These themes lift his music beyond stories of characters casing the Promised Land of America to universal matters of the heart's truth wherever it is found. Then, the twelve chapters of Reading the Boss, written by established and emerging scholars, engage readers both critically and enthusiastically with central issues in Bruce Springsteen's writing, as they read his explorations of gender, place, religion, philosophy, and other literary texts, notably the works of Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor. Driven by arguments grounded in a wide variety of theoretical and critical positions, these essays offer a comprehensive and accessible discussion of Springsteen's oeuvre, from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. to Working on a Dream that will appeal to both specialist readers and Springsteen fans alike.

Reading the Boss: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Works of Bruce Springsteen, edited by Roxanne Harde and Irwin Streight, draws together close readings of Bruce Springsteen's lyrics by scholars across a range of academic disciplines. The editors first make a compelling comparison between Bruce Springsteen and William Shakespeare, carefully building the argument that both men offer profound insight into the hungry human heart. Springsteen, they argue, uses many Shakespearean themes such as the ties of blood and friendship, commitment to country and community, the monsters of lust and jealousy, vanity and power, and the hopeful pursuit of real love. These themes lift his music beyond stories of characters casing the Promised Land of America to universal matters of the heart's truth wherever it is found. Then, the twelve chapters of Reading the Boss, written by established and emerging scholars, engage readers both critically and enthusiastically with central issues in Bruce Springsteen's writing, as they read his explorations of gender, place, religion, philosophy, and other literary texts, notably the works of Walker Percy and Flannery O'Connor. Driven by arguments grounded in a wide variety of theoretical and critical positions, these essays offer a comprehensive and accessible discussion of Springsteen's oeuvre, from Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. to Working on a Dream that will appeal to both specialist readers and Springsteen fans alike.

Business travel has become indispensable to the global economy, not only due to its necessity in the maintaining of corporate networks, but also because of the associated economies that cater to the daily requirements of the business traveller. Underlying these developments are concerns over the environmental impact of increasing air travel, which are likely to generate new challenges for the future of business travel. From a team of international experts comes this analysis of the role, nature and effects of modern business travel. Issues addressed include the relationships between airlines and business travellers, the role of mobility in business, and the opportunities and challenges created by mobile workforces. The study combines theoretical advances with comprehensive analysis, and will provoke debate across the social sciences on the nature, organization and space of work in the twenty-first century.

This exciting new book is a unique compilation of data from a wide range of chemical and spectroscopic instrumentation and the integration of nanostructure characterisation drawn from physical, chemical, electrochemical, spectroscopic and electron microscopic measurements. It fills a gap in the current nanomaterials literature by documenting the latest research from scientific journals and patent literature to provide a concise yet balanced and integrated treatment of an interesting topic: titanium oxide nanostructures within the emerging fashionable area of nanomaterials. Of particular interest are the following key chapters: * Modification and Coating Techniques - provides a unique summary and discussion of available techniques to coat surfaces with nanostructured materials * Chemical Properties - relates structure to surface chemistry and hence applications * Structural and Physical Properties - reviews the relationship between nanostructure and physical properties providing a basis for the rationalisation of applications The book, a valuable reference point, is aimed at professionals, postgraduates and industrial research workers in nanomaterials. Readers will gain a knowledge of the methods for synthesising nanomaterials as well as an understanding of their structure and resulting physical characteristics and a knowledge of their (existing and potential) applications.

The technological age has seen a range of catastrophic and preventable failures, often as a result of decisions that did not appropriately consider safety as a factor in design and engineering. Through more than a dozen practical examples from the author 's experience in nuclear power, aerospace, and other potentially hazardous facilities, Choosing Safety is the first book to bring together probabilistic risk assessment and decision analysis using real case studies. For managers, project leaders, engineers, scientists, and interested students, Michael V. Frank focuses on methods for making logical decisions about complex engineered systems and products in which safety is a key factor in design - and where failure can cause great harm, injury, or death.

The technological age has seen a range of catastrophic and preventable failures, often as a result of decisions that did not appropriately consider safety as a factor in design and engineering. Through more than a dozen practical examples from the author 's experience in nuclear power, aerospace, and other potentially hazardous facilities, Choosing Safety is the first book to bring together probabilistic risk assessment and decision analysis using real case studies. For managers, project leaders, engineers, scientists, and interested students, Michael V. Frank focuses on methods for making logical decisions about complex engineered systems and products in which safety is a key factor in design - and where failure can cause great harm, injury, or death.

American-German relations are in transition. A number of explanations have been given for this fact: some focusing on the personalities of politicians, some on political and attitudinal disparities, still others pointing to disagreements about foreign policy objectives since the end of the Cold War and 9/11. This volume, written by American and German scholarly experts, while not denying the relevance and validity of such explanations of the transatlantic estrangement, address the extent, resilience, and the causes of misconceptions, misunderstandings, and confrontations in the transatlantic relationship as well as highlighting commonalities and enduring ties between the U.S. and Germany. The chapters analyze domestic and foreign policies, political cultures, and compare trends in business relations, migration, culture, education, journalism, law, and religion. The authors contend that differences in political cultures, societal priorities, and national interests are inevitable, perhaps even desirable and not necessarily an obstacle to a continuous and mutually beneficial exchange or even the development of a special relationship. But first of all they need to be acknowledged, then understood, and finally dealt with in an atmosphere of mutual trust recognizing common ground. The book ends with suggestions about how to deal with different interpretations and perceptions in order to reclaim a strategic partnership for progressive changes in an increasingly multipolar world.

'[I] highly recommend the book to students and professionals in the energy policy and energy conversion fields...all energy specialists.' - Energy

Mechanics of Fatigue addresses the range of topics concerning damage, fatigue, and fracture of engineering materials and structures. The core of this resource builds upon the synthesis of micro- and macro-mechanics of fracture. In micromechanics, both the modeling of mechanical phenomena on the level of material structure and the continuous approach are based on the use of certain internal field parameters characterizing the dispersed micro-damage. This is referred to as continuum damage mechanics. The author develops his own theory for macromechanics, called analytical fracture mechanics. This term means the system cracked body - loading or loading device - is considered as a mechanical system and the tools of analytical (rational) mechanics are applied thoroughly to describe crack propagation until the final failure. Chapter discuss: opreliminary information on fatigue and engineering methods for design of machines and structures against failures caused by fatigue ofatigue crack nucleation, including microstructural and continuous models otheory of fatigue crack propagation ofatigue crack growth in linear elastic materials subject to dispersed damage ofatigue cracks in elasto-plastic material, including crack growth retardation due to overloading as well as quasistationary approximation ofatigue and related phenomena in hereditary solids oapplication of the theory fatigue crack growth considering environmental factors ounidirectional fiber composites with ductile matrix and brittle, initially continuous fibers olaminate composites Mechanics of Fatigue serves students dealing with mechanical aspects of fatigue, conducting research in fracture mechanics, structural safety, mechanics ofcomposites, as well as modern branches of mechanics of solids and structures.

There have been tremendous recent advances in the pharmacotherapy, dose regimens, and combinations used to treat cancer and for the treatment or prevention of the spread of disease. As a direct result of these advances, there are an increasing number of cancer survivors, although research dealing with chemotherapy-induced pain is still in its early years.

Written for pain management specialists, oncologists, pharmacologists, students, and primary care practitioners, Chemotherapy-Induced Neuropathic Pain provides insight into the important area of chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain. It reviews the basic and clinical research into the normal physiology of pain transmission pathways, neuropathic pain pathology, the chemotherapeutic drug mechanisms of action and adverse effects, chemotherapy-induced neuropathy, and drug discovery efforts for treatment.

The contributors comprise an impressive list of clinical and basic science experts in the fields of pain mechanisms and pain management. Included are clinical directors of pain clinics and clinical research facilities, directors of large academic pain research laboratories, analgesic drug developers, and presidents of the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), Association of Chronic Pain Patients (ACPP), and the British Pain Society (BPS). Through them, the book provides the reader with an exceptional opportunity to acquire a fundamental understanding of the basic concepts related to this topic.

This book offers a collection of papers presented at the V International Symposium "Biogenic - abiogenic interactions in natural and anthropogenic systems" that was held from 20-22 October 2014 in Saint Petersburg (Russia). Papers in this book cover a wide range of topics connected with interactions between biogenic and abiogenic components in the lithosphere, biosphere and technosphere. The main topics include: biomineralization in geosystems, geochemistry of biogenic-abiogenic systems, biomineral interactions in soil, minerals in living organisms and biomimetic materials, medical geology, bioweathering and destruction of cultural heritage.