Maya kings who failed to ensure the prosperity of their kingdoms were subject to various forms of termination, including the ritual defacing and destruction of monuments and even violent death. This is the first comprehensive volume to focus on the variedresponses to the failure of Classic period dynasties in the southern lowlands. The contributors offer new insights into the Maya "collapse," evaluating the trope of the scapegoat king and the demise of the traditional institution of kingship in the early ninthcentury AD-a time of intense environmental, economic, social, political, and even ideological change.

For more than a century researchers have studied Maya ruins, and sites like Tikal, Palenque, Copan, and Chichen Itza have shaped our understanding of the Maya. Yet the lowlands of Belize, which were once home to a rich urban tradition that persisted and evolved for almost 2,000 years, are treated as peripheral to these great Classic period sites. The hot and humid climate and dense forests are inhospitable and make preservation of the ruins difficult, but this oft-ignored area reveals much about Maya urbanism and culture. Using data collected from different sites throughout the Maya lowlands, including the Vaca Plateau and the Belize River Valley, Brett Houk presents the first synthesis of these unique monuments and discusses methods for mapping and excavating. Considering the sites through the theoretical lenses of the built environmentand ancient urban planning, Houk vividly reconstructs their political history, how they fit into the larger political landscape of the Classic Maya, and how the ancient cities fell apart over time.

This book offers a novel and parsimonious framework to help understand Hong Kong's lengthy democratic transition by analyzing the electoral dynamics of the city's competitive authoritarian political system, where pro-Beijing and pro-democracy parties have struggled to keep each other in check. The author demonstrates how a relatively liberal media environment has shaped the electoral incentives of the opposition and the pro-establishment elite differently, which has helped the latter improve its basis of electoral support. The political explanation the book puts forward seeks to shed new light on why many autocracies are interested in regularly holding elections that are considered somewhat competitive. This book will be of great interest not only to specialists in comparative studies of democratization, but also to all those concerned with Hong Kong's democratic transition.

K.N. Houk, D.J. Tantillo, C. Stanton, Y. Hu: What Has Theory and Crystallography Revealed About the Mechanism of Catalysis by Orotidine Monophosphate Decarboxylase?N. Wu, E.F. Pai: Crystallographic Studies of Native and Mutant Orotidine 5'Phosphate Decarboxylases; B.G.

"The greatest threat to the U.S.'s homeland security is not a terrorist attack with a dirty bomb; it is an unexpected nuclear Pearl Harbor." - Author "Taiwan's democratic achievement and vision of the future . . . are consistent with the American experience. Will Beijing eventually follow such a course? Decisions are still to be made, and there are limits to how effectively the U.S. can influence these decisions. But we can and we must continue to support Taiwan. Its security is ultimately our security. Of that we can be sure." - the late Congressman Gerald B. H. Solomon Li explains how America's security hinges on Taiwan's survival as an independent democracy.

The present monograph, primarily a collection of annotated translations of these recent studies, is neither a new appraisal of Li Chih drawing on these materials nor a critical evaluation of the current Chinese scholarship on his life and thought. In a modest way it is an attempt to make these new sources of information more readily accessible to the sinological community to faciliate research. The divisions of this study are: two sections consisting of translations of new materials on Li Chih, with an analytical introduction on the significance of these discoveries, and two appendices of bibliographical accounts of primary and secondary sources down to recent times.

This title was first published in 1980. The present monograph, primarily a collection of annotated translations of these recent studies, is neither a new appraisal of Li Chih drawing on these materials nor a critical evaluation of the current Chinese scholarship on his life and thought. In a modest way it is an attempt to make these new sources of information more readily accessible to the sinological community to faciliate research. The divisions of this study are: two sections consisting of translations of new materials on Li Chih, with an analytical introduction on the significance of these discoveries, and two appendices of bibliographical accounts of primary and secondary sources down to recent times.

Asia has long been a testing ground for efforts to augment financial and social security by developing assets that may support individuals and households and contribute to long-term social development. Rapid growth in the number and breadth of asset-based social policies has prompted Asian scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to share lessons from current efforts and chart future directions. This book offers a unique collection of macro- and micro-level analyses on asset-based social development and compares and contrasts national social policies across the Asia Pacific region. Many asset-building policies and programmes have been undertaken in Asia, and innovative proposals continue to emerge. The contributions in this book present and assess this broad, often nuanced, and evolving landscape, and offer an insightful analysis of the evolution of asset-building policies, innovative programmes in rural populations, asset-based interventions to facilitate the development and well-being of children, as well as case studies on new, ground-breaking asset-building projects. Asset-Building Policies and Innovation in Asia will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Asian social policy, social welfare, social development and social work.

For Nathan Hoks, a poem is a verbal nest, a weave of various scraps and strands inside of which something incubates. In Nests In Air, he makes this definition manifest by blending research of animals' nest making habits with poetic forms that create vivid imaginative spaces. Structured sets of four poems followed by suites of four images, the poems and images weave together, creating a nest of sorts. These poems are personal and political, social, and ecological, marked by conflict, contradiction, and uncertainty. Open the book and enter a space where "the slippery outline that haunts the soap / And the twisty timeline ghost-riding through me."

Asia has long been a testing ground for efforts to augment financial and social security by developing assets that may support individuals and households and contribute to long-term social development. Rapid growth in the number and breadth of asset-based social policies has prompted Asian scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to share lessons from current efforts and chart future directions. This book offers a unique collection of macro- and micro-level analyses on asset-based social development and compares and contrasts national social policies across the Asia Pacific region. Many asset-building policies and programmes have been undertaken in Asia, and innovative proposals continue to emerge. The contributions in this book present and assess this broad, often nuanced, and evolving landscape, and offer an insightful analysis of the evolution of asset-building policies, innovative programmes in rural populations, asset-based interventions to facilitate the development and well-being of children, as well as case studies on new, ground-breaking asset-building projects. Asset-Building Policies and Innovation in Asia will be an invaluable resource for students and scholars of Asian social policy, social welfare, social development and social work.

Thirty-years of economic transformation has turned China into one of the major players in the global capitalist economy. However, its economic growth has generated rising problems in inequality, alienation, and sustainability with the agrarian crises of the 1990s giving rise to real social outcry to the extent that they became the object of central government policy reformulations. Contributing to a paradigm-shift in the theory and practices of economic development, this book examines the concept of social economy in China and around the world. It offers to rethink space, economy and community in a trans-border context which moves us beyond both planned and market economies. The chapters address theoretical issues, critical reflections and case studies on the practice of social economy in the context of globalization and its attempt to create an alternative modernity. Through this, the book builds a platform for further cross-disciplinary and cross-boundary dialogue on the future of social economy in China and the world. With examples from Asia, North America, Latin America and Europe this book will not only appeal to students and scholars of Chinese and Asian social policy and development, but also those of social economy from an international perspective.

Published in 1999. A common theme linking these papers is that of the interaction of elite and popular traditions, as found in the writings and folktales of Yuan and Ming China. The first studies focus on historical writings, not just as topics of intellectual and cultural history, but as foundations for understanding the sources of that time and seeing how earlier periods were viewed - for example, in the composition of the Liao, Chin and Sung histories at the Mongol-Yuan court in the 1340s. A second cluster examines a number of popular legends in which Mongol and Chinese elements can be seen to mix: the use of a bowshot in choosing a site, as in the story of the founding of Peking; the legends of the foundation of the Ming dynasty; or the image and fictionalisation of the great Ming statesman, Liu Chi.

This second collection of studies by Hok-lam Chan focuses on the person and the image of Ming Taizu, the founder of the Ming dynasty, and a powerful, brutal and autocratic emperor who has had a significant impact not only in late imperial China, but also in East Asia, over the last six centuries. Individual studies look at the legitimation of the dynasty, particular military and religious figures, policies of persecution and punishment, and struggles over the succession.

Published in 1999. A common theme linking these papers is that of the interaction of elite and popular traditions, as found in the writings and folktales of Yuan and Ming China. The first studies focus on historical writings, not just as topics of intellectual and cultural history, but as foundations for understanding the sources of that time and seeing how earlier periods were viewed - for example, in the composition of the Liao, Chin and Sung histories at the Mongol-Yuan court in the 1340s. A second cluster examines a number of popular legends in which Mongol and Chinese elements can be seen to mix: the use of a bowshot in choosing a site, as in the story of the founding of Peking; the legends of the foundation of the Ming dynasty; or the image and fictionalisation of the great Ming statesman, Liu Chi.

Explains the most effective ways to discuss the legal and financial responsibilities that come with the end of life and tools for managing them—such as wills, trusts, estate planning, and cash management—in the context of financial psychology. Dying is complicated. It presents myriad challenges at a time when people are least prepared to deal with complexity. Typically, aging people turn to their adult children and grandchildren, their caregivers, and their professional advisors to guide them in their final years. This book is aimed directly at the children and grandchildren of aging parents to prepare them for meaningful conversations with their parents and among themselves. It gives them the tools they need to communicate knowledgeably with caregivers and professional advisors and to make important decisions with, or on behalf of, those who depend on them. The authors provide legal and financial tools and techniques, including wills and trusts, cash management, and investment planning, approaching each from both a financial and a psychological perspective. They recognize that some of the challenges that people face during their last few years of life cannot be controlled and describe not only what these tools and techniques can do but also what they can't. Those that cannot be controlled, however, can still be managed, and the authors explain with clarity and compassion how to deal with them through psychological and spiritual engagement.

Das erfolgreiche Arbeiten mit organischen Reaktionen erfordert Wissen uber Reaktivitat, Reaktionsmechanismen, Thermodynamik und weitere Grundlagen der physikalisch-organischen Chemie. Das Lehrbuch vermittelt dieses Wissen. Auch erhaltlich: das Arbeitsbuch zum Lehrbuch.

This book offers a novel and parsimonious framework to help understand Hong Kong’s lengthy democratic transition by analyzing the electoral dynamics of the city’s competitive authoritarian political system, where pro-Beijing and pro-democracy parties have struggled to keep each other in check. The author demonstrates how a relatively liberal media environment has shaped the electoral incentives of the opposition and the pro-establishment elite differently, which has helped the latter improve its basis of electoral support. The political explanation the book puts forward seeks to shed new light on why many autocracies are interested in regularly holding elections that are considered somewhat competitive. This book will be of great interest not only to specialists in comparative studies of democratization, but also to all those concerned with Hong Kong’s democratic transition.