A distinctively human aspect of the mind is its ability to handle both factual and counter factual scenarios. This brings enormous advantages, but we are far from infallible in monitoring the boundaries between the real, the imaginary and the pathological. In the early modern period, particularly, explorations of the mind's ability to roam beyond the factual became mainstream. It was an age of perspective art, anamorphism and optical illusions; of prophecy, apocalyptic dreams, and visions; and of fascination with the supernatural. This volume takes a fresh look at early modern understandings of how to distinguish reality from dream, or delusion from belief. Opening with cognitivist and philosophical perspectives, Cognitive Confusions then examines test cases from across European literature, providing an original documentation of the mind in its most creative and pathological states.

Fold 40 different, cute paper animals in just a few easy steps! This all-in-one origami kit is the perfect way to introduce kids to the joys of paper folding. It includes colorful papers and instructions for 40 different animal models. Paper engineer Sam Ita has designed each of these adorable animals so they can be folded in 10 steps or less. The charming models in this kit include: Penelope the Panda: an easy yet cuddly 3-step model Bert the Bunny: a friendly 4-step character with 3D ears Louis the Ladybug: a colorful model which comes together like magic! And 37 more! This kit includes a double-sided folding sheet for each animal--plus a full-color book with step-by-step folding instructions!

This kit will provide hours of fun and excitement for the whole family! Everything you need to create 36 exciting paper airplane dinosaurs is included in this kit. The airplanes range from simple models that can be folded up in a few minutes to slightly more complex ones with superior aerodynamics. Most of your favorite dinosaurs are included here: Stegosaurus--whose thick, bony plates double as wing stabilizers Velociraptor--a clever nose-lock dart that's designed for speed in flight! Tyrannosaurus Rex--whose muscular jaws provide ballast at the front of the plane Plesiosaurus--with a long, fuselage-like neck which is surprisingly stealthy in the air And many other impressive flying dinosaur airplanes! The full-color, step-by-step instructions in the accompanying book are very easy to follow and flying tips are also included to help you coax the best performance from each model. Paper airplanes have never looked this good!

This book focuses on the design, development, management, governance and application of evolving software processes that are aligned with changing business objectives, such as expansion to new domains or shifting to global production. In the context of an evolving business world, it examines the complete software process lifecycle, from the initial definition of a product to its systematic improvement. In doing so, it addresses difficult problems, such as how to implement processes in highly regulated domains or where to find a suitable notation system for documenting processes, and provides essential insights and tips to help readers manage process evolutions. And last but not least, it provides a wealth of examples and cases on how to deal with software evolution in practice. Reflecting these topics, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on software business transformation and addresses the questions of which process(es) to use and adapt, and how to organize process improvement programs. Subsequently, Part 2 mainly addresses process modeling. Lastly, Part 3 collects concrete approaches, experiences, and recommendations that can help to improve software processes, with a particular focus on specific lifecycle phases. This book is aimed at anyone interested in understanding and optimizing software development tasks at their organization. While the experiences and ideas presented will be useful for both those readers who are unfamiliar with software process improvement and want to get an overview of the different aspects of the topic, and for those who are experts with many years of experience, it particularly targets the needs of researchers and Ph.D. students in the area of software and systems engineering or information systems who study advanced topics concerning the organization and management of (software development) projects and process improvements projects.

"This standout survivor’s account will move and inform even those well versed in the inhumanity of the Shoah." — Publishers Weekly (starred review) Ita Dimant’s gripping diary is a detailed account of her experiences during the Holocaust. She describes the chaotic living conditions in the Warsaw ghetto and her dramatic escape to the ‘Aryan’ side. She wrestles repeatedly with the burden of losing close friends and family, revealing her emotional responses to the unfolding tragedy. As one ghetto after another is liquidated, she becomes a courier carrying vital information and supplies between Polish cities. Ita must rely on her wits, skillful deception, and a few trusted friends, as she seeks to evade the noose closing around her. 

'An adventure beyond social mobility' portrays the importance of human resource development as a life pursuit. One objective is to document for my family information about my roots, educational struggles, and my adult life. The account, a legacy to my family and Africa, sends a message to other children born into similar socio-economic and cultural environment that hard work ultimately yields dividends. Another objective is to share with scholars interested in African development efforts by the international community to foster such development focusing on the population sector. The contribution under reference is not limited to personal publications; it also includes the recommendations from conferences, meetings, seminars, studies, symposia, and workshops organized under varying auspices of the international community. A final objective is to highlight key factors accounting for my social mobility in relation to those reported in social science literature. In terms of content, chapter one outlines the way of life of people in my village, their survival strategies, their traditional beliefs and religion, and cultural background as aspects of "my roots." Chapter two discusses my educational training experiences. The focus of chapter three is the re-entry problems that I encountered on returning to Nigeria from studies overseas and my initial contribution to African population and development literature. Chapter four highlights the evolution of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the development of African regional population program within the framework of the African census program. The next three chapters (five-seven) capture details of the main activities within the region in the course of my working for the ECA. While chapter eight outlines factors that have facilitated my upward mobility and relates the latter to those generally reported in social science literature as influencing social mobility, chapter nine focusses on my ongoing retirement.

Explores the world of women's professional and amateur musical activity as it developed on and beyond the island of Ireland. In a story which spans several centuries, the book highlights representative composers and performers in classical music, Irish traditional music, and contemporary art music whose contributions have been marginalised in music narratives. As well as investigating the careers of public figures, this edited collection brings attention to women who engaged with and taught music in a variety of domestic settings. It also shines a spotlight on women who worked behind the scenes to build infrastructures such as festivals and educational institutions which remain at the heart of the country's musical life today. The book addresses and reconsiders ideas about the intersections of music, gender, and Irish society, including how the national emblem of the harp became recast as a symbol of Irish womanhood in the twentieth century. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 surveys women musicians in Irish society of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Part 2 discusses women and practice in Irish traditional music. Part 3 studies gaps and gender politics in the history of twentieth-century women composers and performers. Part 4 situates discourses of women, gender, and music in the twenty-first century. The book's contributors encompass musicologists, cultural historians, composers, and performers.

Following the death of the Austrian philosopher and spiritual scientist Rudolf Steiner in 1925, Ita Wegman - one of his closest esoteric pupils - began to publish regular letters to the members of the Anthroposophical Society. In Steiner's tradition, these letters were appended with 'leading thoughts' (or guiding principles). Esoteric Studies collects many of these 'letters to friends', together with various articles, reports and addresses by Ita Wegman on subjects such as the Christmas Foundation Conference, the Goetheanum building and the festival of Michaelmas. Featuring an informative foreword by Crispian Villeneuve and a commemorative study by George Adams, this book provides a fine introduction to the work of Ita Wegman, as well as a rousing call for courage and wakefulness in the spirit of the Archangel Michael!

This book investigates the languages of Renaissance Europe on seven keywords, such as allegory, discretion, disegno, grace, modern, scandal, and sense. It seeks alternative ways to understand a culture and society which produced conceptions of the self as much as it did art and science.

First published in 1971, this major bibliography devoted to Africa's most populous country - Nigeria - is therefore a timely contribution which must be welcomed by all. The Bibliography of Nigeria contains over 5,400 entries in archaeology, all branches of anthropology, linguistic and relevant historical and sociological studies. Many of the entries carry indicative or informative annotations which have greatly enhanced the usefulness of the work. The history and culture of Africa constitutes a rich area of study and research which is attracting an ever-increasing number of scholars the world over. The new impetus which African studies is receiving in the major centre of learning today has added urgency to the long-neglected problem of bibliographical control of the vast literature. The dearth of bibliographies in the field of African studies has been a main source of frustration to all those working in this area. The book is divided into two parts: part one deals with Nigeria as a whole, and lists general works or those concerned with several regions or several ethnic groups. Part two is devoted to the various ethnic groups. An analytical table of contents, a comprehensive ethnic index, an author index and an index of Islamic studies, together with generous cross-referencing, ensure ready and easy location of individual entries.

This is the first accessible and practical guide to using multilevel models in social research. Multilevel approaches are becoming increasingly important in social, behavioral, and educational research and it is clear from recent developments that such models are seen as being more realistic, and potentially more revealing, than ordinary regression models. While other books describe these multilevel models in considerable detail none focuses on the practical issues and potential problems of doing multilevel analyses that are covered in Introducing Multilevel Modeling.

Take an exciting manga pop-up journey across Japan with Chico and Neko the Cat! Pick up where Tokyo Pop-Up Book left off, as Chico and his mischievous cat Neko visit Japan's most famous landmarks. The chase is on as naughty Neko slips away yet again--this time becoming a stowaway on a Japanese bullet train! Using his phone to track his runaway cat, Chico follows Neko to some of Japan's most iconic places: Mt. Fuji and the Big Buddha at Kamakura Serene Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion Himeji Castle, an ancient Samurai fortress with its formidable stone ramparts A sushi train restaurant, where an endless parade of fish is truly a cat's dream! The Children's Peace Memorial in Hiroshima, where Chico pauses to reflect The famous "floating" Torii gate at Itsukushima "Cat Island" (Tashirojima), where Neko finds a few new friends and the adventure comes to a happy conclusion! Educational and entertaining in equal measure, this exciting manga pop-up book will be treasured by readers of all ages.

This book focuses on the design, development, management, governance and application of evolving software processes that are aligned with changing business objectives, such as expansion to new domains or shifting to global production. In the context of an evolving business world, it examines the complete software process lifecycle, from the initial definition of a product to its systematic improvement. In doing so, it addresses difficult problems, such as how to implement processes in highly regulated domains or where to find a suitable notation system for documenting processes, and provides essential insights and tips to help readers manage process evolutions. And last but not least, it provides a wealth of examples and cases on how to deal with software evolution in practice. Reflecting these topics, the book is divided into three parts. Part 1 focuses on software business transformation and addresses the questions of which process(es) to use and adapt, and how to organize process improvement programs. Subsequently, Part 2 mainly addresses process modeling. Lastly, Part 3 collects concrete approaches, experiences, and recommendations that can help to improve software processes, with a particular focus on specific lifecycle phases. This book is aimed at anyone interested in understanding and optimizing software development tasks at their organization. While the experiences and ideas presented will be useful for both those readers who are unfamiliar with software process improvement and want to get an overview of the different aspects of the topic, and for those who are experts with many years of experience, it particularly targets the needs of researchers and Ph.D. students in the area of software and systems engineering or information systems who study advanced topics concerning the organization and management of (software development) projects and process improvements projects.

*Winner of the Moonbeam Children's Book Award* Embark on an exciting manga pop-up adventure through Tokyo--the world's largest city! Follow Chico, a young American boy, and his mischievous cat Neko as they navigate the streets and famous sights of Tokyo. On arriving in Tokyo, while visiting the city's famous Senso-ji Temple, Chico nods off due to jetlag. Neko gets bored and decides to go sightseeing on her own. Then, the race is on--as a panicked Chico chases his cat across the city! In the process, they pass through Tokyo's most iconic landmarks, each with its own interactive and manga pop-up fun: POP-UP Senso-ji in Asakusa--Tokyo's ancient Buddhist temple, where the adventure begins. POP-UP A rousing Sumo match still in progress. POP-UP Bustling Shinjuku Station, where riders get stuffed into subway cars by professional "pushers." POP-UP Tokyo Skytree tower, the tallest structure in Japan, where poor Neko has a very close call! The base of iconic Mt. Fuji, where the adventure has a happy conclusion! Educational and entertaining in equal measure, this delightful manga pop-up book will be treasured by young and old readers alike. It makes a fantastic gift or carry-on for anyone planning a visit to Japan.

This book constitutes the refereed proceeding of the 13th European Software Process Improvement Conference, EuroSPI 2006, held in Joensuu, Finland in October 2006. The 18 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions.

This volume is intended for SPI (software process improvement) managers and researchers, quality managers, and experienced project and research managers. The papers constitute the research proceedings of the 12th EuroSPI (European Software Process Improvement, www.eurospi.net) conference held in Budapest, 9-11 November 2005, Hungary. Conferences have been held in 1994 in Dublin, 1995 in Vienna (Austria), 1997 in Budapest (Hungary), 1998 in Gothenburg (Sweden), 1999 in Pori(Finland), 2000 in Copenhagen(Denmark), 2001 in L- erick (Ireland), 2002 in Nuremberg (Germany), 2003 in Graz (Austria), and 2004 in Trondheim (Norway). EuroSPI established an experience library (- brary.eurospi.net) which will be continuously extended over the next years and will be made available to all attendees. EuroSPI also created an umbrella init- tive for establishing a European Quali?cation Network in which di?erent SPINs and national initiatives join mutually bene?cial collaborations. From 2005, through EuroSPI partners and networks, in collaboration with the European Union (supported by the EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme), a certi?cation body will be created for the IT and services sector so as to o?er SPI knowledge and certi? cates to industry, establishing close knowledge transfer links between research and industry. The biggest value of EuroSPI lies in its function as a European knowledgeand experience exchangemechanism between SPI research institutions and industry.

This unique collection presents Ita Wegman's principal writings and lectures on the Mysteries - both the Mysteries of the ancient world to which she felt personally connected, and the spiritual science of anthroposophy, which she saw as the contemporary form of Mystery wisdom. The volume begins with Ita Wegman's firsthand account of Rudolf Steiner's final days and hours on earth - written immediately after his death in 1925 - followed by several of her powerful letters 'To All Members' and their related 'Leading Thoughts'. Various longer studies are featured, including her lecture 'A Fragment from the History of the Mysteries' - delivered at the opening of the second Goetheanum in 1928 - articles on Ephesus and the Colchian Mysteries, and personal impressions of Columba's Iona, the island of Staffa (with its initiatory Fingal's Cave), and Palestine, the land where Christ once walked the earth. These writings - several composed specifically for an English readership - bring us closer to the inner being of Ita Wegman, offering insight into her knowledge, vision and understanding of anthroposophy. Her stimulating ideas throw light on the transformation of the ancient Mysteries to anthroposophical knowledge and activity today.

Microneedles explores the design, fabrication and use of microneedles for drug and vaccine delivery. This book discusses the contemporary status of the field, describing several areas in detail, including the distinct types of microneedles (dissolving, solid, coted, hollow and hydrogel-forming). The anatomy of the eye is also described to facilitate an understanding of microneedle-assisted ocular drug delivery. Finally, the book provides a detailed discussion of microneedle use in the field of diagnostics, with a chapter dedicated to the mathematical modeling of microneedle-mediated drug delivery. As microneedles can be used by research scientists in academia and in industry, this book will be ideal for regulatory scientists and graduate students who find the topic relevant to their area of study.

How grace shaped the Renaissance in Italy "Grace" emerges as a keyword in the culture and society of sixteenth-century Italy. The Grace of the Italian Renaissance explores how it conveys and connects the most pressing ethical, social and aesthetic concerns of an age concerned with the reactivation of ancient ideas in a changing world. The book reassesses artists such as Francesco del Cossa, Raphael and Michelangelo and explores anew writers like Castiglione, Ariosto, Tullia d'Aragona and Vittoria Colonna. It shows how these artists and writers put grace at the heart of their work. Grace, Ita Mac Carthy argues, came to be as contested as it was prized across a range of Renaissance Italian contexts. It characterised emerging styles in literature and the visual arts, shaped ideas about how best to behave at court and sparked controversy about social harmony and human salvation. For all these reasons, grace abounded in the Italian Renaissance, yet it remained hard to define. Mac Carthy explores what grace meant to theologians, artists, writers and philosophers, showing how it influenced their thinking about themselves, each other and the world. Ambitiously conceived and elegantly written, this book portrays grace not as a stable formula of expression but as a web of interventions in culture and society.