The central act of Christian worship is the Mass or Eucharist. This, however, is a formal public act, and generally a once-in-a-week event, which does not entirely answer the spiritual aspirations of the vast majority of Christians who express these through prayer and "devotional practices". The cult of relics and of saints in general; banding together into confraternities to foster a special devotion; going on pilgrimages, wearing medals, badges and scapulars - all these are forms of devotion. Where did they all come from? They have left their mark on the Church, in the history of books and in manuals of prayers, but relatively little is known about them. The idea for this book arose when, in the senior common room of a university theological faculty, it became clear that none of those present knew why there was an "Infant of Prague". The book is in a dictionary format. Mainly historical in its approach, it explains how a particular devotion arose, sets it in its context and explains the purpose it served in the life of the Church. It is critical without being judgemental on subjects such as the "truth" behind apparitions of the Virgin Mary. Some 600 entries range over topics such as relics, pilgrimages and the cult of the saints, as well as more specialized and local devotions. The work is designed to be of use to historians and those engaged in religious studies, as well as being of interest to the general public. The topics are confined to the Christian religion and, in effect, almost entirely to the Roman Catholic tradition. Tables provide a comparison of the Liturgical Calendar (fixed and moveable feasts) before and after the Reform of 1969. A comprehensive index enables readers to follow virtually any subject through its different aspects, as well as providing a quick guide to the contents of the dictionary. Michael Walsh is the editor of Bishop Butler's "Lives of the Saints" in one concise volume, and the author of a companion volume, "Patron Saints".

Sustainable development is a process to improve the quality of life of people, while maintaining the ability of social–ecological systems to continue to provide valuable ecological services that social systems require. In the Galapagos Islands, the maintenance of amenity resources to support tourism and the quality of life of residents is explicitly linked to ecosystem goods and services, particularly, the accessibility to high-quality natural environments and the terrestrial and marine visitation sites that showcase iconic species. On June 26-30, 2022, the Galapagos Science Center celebrated its 10-Year Anniversary. As the crowning event of the anniversary celebration, the World Summit on Island Sustainability was held on San Cristobal Island, Galapagos Archipelago of Ecuador. The intent of the World Summit was to bring together leading experts on island ecosystems and, particularly, on island sustainability from across the globe to represent a diversity of perspectives, approaches, and stakeholder groups. The World Summit was an exclusive event that featured an “expert convening� of scholars and practitioners to address the social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems of the Galapagos Islands and other similarly challenged island ecosystems from around the globe. The World Summit attracted 150 scientists to the Galapagos Islands to discuss projects conducted, for instance, in the Galapagos Islands, Hawaii, Guam, French Polynesia, Chile, Australia, and the Caribbean Islands. Island vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability were examined by scholars, for instance, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Catholic University of Chile, University of Guam, James Cook University, University of the Sunshine Coast, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, California Academy of Sciences, University of San Francisco, and the University of South Alabama as well as affiliated scientists from Exeter University, University of Edinburgh, University of Southampton, and the Galapagos National Park.  The World Summit also included scholars from Re:wild, World Wildlife Fund, EarthEcho, and the East-West Center, Hawaii.

Over 14 years of writing letters to my son, all inspiratioanal and positive. These words were used to guide him during tournaments, baseball and everyday life. It is important to always remember, it's not just who wins but how you handle yourself in life. When my son graduated from Seton Hall University in 2007, I presented this collection of letters with love and pride. I only hope the message in these letters not only continues to help him but also assist other families to realize the importance of effective communication and positive reinforcement.

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The alpine treeline ecotone (ATE) is an area of transition high on mountains where closed canopy forests from lower elevations give way to the open alpine tundra and rocky expanses above. Alpine tundra is an island biome and its ecotone with forest is subject to change, and like oceanic islands, alpine tundra is subject to invasion or the upward advance of treeline. The invasion of tundra by trees will have consequences for the tundra biome as invasion does for other island flora and fauna. To examine the invasibility of tundra we take a plant s-eye-view, wherein the local conditions become extremely important. Among these local conditions, we find geomorphology to be exceptionally important. We concentrate on aspects of microtopography (and microgeomorphology) and microclimate because these are the factors that matter: from the plant s-eye-view, but we pay attention to multiple scales. At coarse scales, snow avalanches and debris flows are widespread and create disturbance treelines whose elevation is well below those controlled by climate. At medium scales, turf-banked terraces create tread-and-riser topography that is a difficult landscape for a tree seedling to survive upon because of exposure to wind, dryness, and impenetrable surfaces. At fine scales, turf exfoliation of the fronts of turf-banked risers, and boulders, offer microsites where tree seedlings may find shelter and are able to gain a foothold in the alpine tundra; conversely, however, surfaces of needle-ice pans and frost heaving associated with miniature patterned ground production are associated with sites inimical to seedling establishment or survival. We explicitly consider how local scale processes propagate across scales into landscape patterns.
The objective of this book is to examine the controls on change at alpine treeline. All the papers are focused on work done in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA. Although any one place is limiting, we are able to examine the alpine treeline here in some detail and an advantage is that the treeline ecotone in Glacier National Park is quite variable in itself due to the underlying variability in geomorphology at multiple scales.
This book will provide insights into an important ecological phenomenon with a distinctly geomorphic perspective. The editors collectively have over 100 years of experience in working in geomorphology, biogeography, and ecology. They also have each worked on research in Glacier National Park for several decades. The book will be a reference for a variety of professionals and students, both graduate and undergraduate, with interests in Physical Geography, Geomorphology, Ecology, and Environmental Science. Because of the importance of the alpine treeline ecotone for recreation and aesthetic interests in mountain environments, wildland and park managers will also use this book.
* Subject matter: geomorphology at alpine treeline
* Expertise of contributors: each editor brings over 25 years of experience in studies of ecotones and geomorphology, and collectively over 100 years of experience in Glacier National Park
* Changing alpine treeline examines climate change"

This book highlights an unprecedented collaboration of environmental scientists, ecologists and physicians working together on this important new discipline, to the benefit of human health and ocean environmental integrity alike. Oceanography, toxicology, natural products chemistry, environmental microbiology, comparative animal physiology, epidemiology and public health are all long established areas of research in their own right and all contribute data and expertise to an integrated understanding of the ways in which ocean biology and chemistry affect human health for better or worse. This book introduces this topic to researchers and advanced students interested in this emerging field, enabling them to see how their research fits into the broader interactions between the aquatic environment and human health.
*Color illustrations of aquatic life and oceanic phenomena such as hurricanes and algal blooms
*Numerous case studies
*Socio-economic and Ethical Analyses place the science in a broader context
*Study questions for each chapter to assist students and instructors
* Risks and remedies sections to help define course modules for instruction

This book covers in depth the widespread and prolonged political struggle surrounding the Three Mile Island nuclear accident of 1979. Walsh documents the dynamics of the conflict between local communities and national nuclear elites in the wake of the worst nuclear power disaster to occur in the United States to date. How citizens living in the shadows of the Three Mile Island cooling towers have made their voices heard--particularly in their efforts to prevent the restart of Unit 1--is thoroughly analyzed. Extensive fieldwork over a period of six years, systematic survey data from activists and sympathizers, interviews with industry defenders, and reports of the accident reflecting both sides of the issues all were used to create this important book. In a preface that discusses Three Mile Island within the context of the Chernobyl nuclear accident in the U.S.S.R., Walsh provides a thoughtful perspective on the complex relationships between democracy, technology, and social movements. A historical overview of the nuclear power industry provides a framework for the analysis. Walsh addresses the accident and evacuation, early community mobilization, the formation of coalitions, targets of protest, the final court appeals, life in the shadows, and theoretical implications. Democracy in the Shadows is indispensable for students of sociology and political science, as well as community activists and others with significant interest in nuclear power issues.

Have we really heard the message of Colossians? Is this New Testament book just another religious text whose pretext is an ideological grab for dominating power? Reading Colossians in context, ancient and contemporary, can perhaps give us new ears to hear. In this innovative and refreshing book Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat explain our own sociocultural context to then help us get into the world of the New Testament and get a sense of the power of the gospel as it addressed those who lived in Colossae two thousand years ago. Their reading presents us with a radical challenge from the apostle Paul for today. Drawing together biblical scholarship with a passion for authentic lives that embody the gospel, this groundbreaking interpretation of Colossians provides us with tools to subvert the empire of our own context in a way that acknowledges the transforming power of Jesus Christ.

Narcissism and Its Discontents challenges the received wisdom that narcissism is only destructive of good social relations. By building on insights from psychoanalysis and critical theory it puts forward a theorisation of narcissistic sociability which redeems Narcissus from his position as the subject of negative critique.

What is the first question our parents asked about us after we were born? Probably, 'Is it a boy or a girl?' No single fact about us is more significant than our sex. In any human culture, it determines how others react to us and how they treat us. "Viva Le Difference", a light-hearted exploration of sex differences, shows how this view violates not only everyday experience and common sense, but the accumulating evidence of science that men and women are profoundly different creatures. Authors Anthony Walsh and Grace J. Walsh begin with a look at the genetic and hormonal bases of sex by viewing maleness and femaleness as a continuum based on the degree of masculisation of the brain. Next, they explore different sexual aspects of the human body other than the reproductive organs. They look at size, strength, and endurance, and many other differences in capacity, as well as sensory (eyes, nose, ears, etc.) differences. From there, the discussion focuses on differences in the brain and mind, health and illness among men and women, and the different ways in which men and women experience emotion, with an emphasis on that most intense emotion of all - love. Informative and entertaining, this book offers a fresh, insightful, and lively look at what makes men and women unique.

Although much has been written concerning labor relations and collective bargaining in the private sector, negotiators working in public sector employer-employee relations have been handicapped by the paucity of practical information relating to the specific demands of their field. Responding to an evident need, Dilts and Walsh supply detailed guidelines for the practicing negotiator and at the same time enlarge our knowledge of an area that is of increasing significance to academics and professionals alike. They provide in-depth explanations of the principles and practices of fact-finding, interest arbitration, mediation, contract negotiation, and impasse resolution procedures for the public sector, with particular emphasis on labor relations problems confronting state and local governments. The first four chapters outline the basics of public sector collective bargaining. Labor law, contract negotiations, impasse creation, negotiation strategies and tactics, and relevant economic and behavioral issues are discussed. The steps typically found in statutory impasse resolution procedures are examined. The authors next focus on mediation techniques, the situations in which they most often prove successful, and the procedures used in fact-finding and interest arbitration hearings. They explain the differing decisional standards employed by arbitrators and fact-finders in cases involving economic issues and language issues. Other topics covered are factors affecting impasse resolution, the effects of impasse resolution on labor relations, guidelines for utilizing fact-finding reports and interest arbitration awards, and experimental impasse resolution techniques that have been applied in the public sector. The most comprehensive, practitioner-oriented work in its field, this volume will be of value to professionals, e.g., union and management officials and representatives, and academics concerned with public sector labor-management relations, labor law, and human resources management.

This volume gathers together a representative set of examples from the many varied spatial techniques and analytical approaches being used by geographers, ecologists, and biogeographers to study plant and animal distributions, to assess processes affecting the observed patterns at selected spatial and temporal scales, and to discuss these examples within a strong conceptual spatial and/or temporal framework. Therefore, the aims of this volume are to: Identify the key spatial concepts that underpin Geographic Information Science (GISc) in biogeography and ecology; Review the development of these spatial concepts within geography and how they have been taken up in ecology and biogeography; Exemplify the use of the key spatial concepts underpinning GISc in biogeography and ecology using case studies from both vegetation science and animal ecology/biogeography that cover a wide range of spatial scales (from global to micro-scale) and different geographical regions (from arctic to humid tropical); and Develop an agenda for future research in GISc, which takes into account developments in biogeography and ecology, and their applications in GISc including remote sensing, geographic information systems, quantitative methods, spatial analysis, and data visualisation. B#/LISTB# The idea for GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology arose from two joint symposia organized by the Biogeography Study Group of the International Geographical Union; the Biogeography, Remote Sensing, and GIS Specialty Groups of the Association of American Geographers, and the Biogeography Research Group of the Royal Geographical Society-Institute of British Geographers and held in Leicester andHonolulu in 1999. These groups represent the majority of geographers conducting research in biogeography and ecology and teaching this material to geographers. While this material is increasingly being covered in a variety of disciplines and sub-disciplines (e.g., large-area ecology, landscape ecology, remote sensing and GIS), many researchers in these fields lack the training in spatial concepts behind the techniques that they utilize. The spatial concepts that are covered in this book are richer than those found within landscape ecology at the present time, and GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology will promote the use of many of these concepts among landscape ecologists.GIS and Remote Sensing Applications in Biogeography and Ecology is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

People and the Environment: Approaches for Linking Household and Community Surveys to Remote Sensing and GIS appeals to a wide range of natural, social, and spatial scientists with interests in conducting population and environment research and thereby characterizing (a) land use and land cover dynamics through remote sensing, (b) demographic and socio-economic variables through household and community surveys, and (c) local site and situation through resource endowments, geographical accessibility, and connections of people to place through GIS. Case studies are used to examine theories and practices useful in linking people and the environment. We also describe land use and land cover dynamics and the associated social, biophysical, and geographical drivers of change articulated through human-environment interactions.

The calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII is now the most widely used civil calendar in the world. The older calendar introduced by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C. underestimated the length of the year by about 11 minutes. As centuries passed, the accumulated error grew. By the late 1500s the Julian calendar was behind by twelve days. Set amid the backdrop of the Reformation and the Renaissance, a time of great schism in the Christian world, the story of the calendar reform is an intriguing one. A central part concerns the antagonistic relationship between two of the great intellectual figures of the 16th century: the pro-reform mathematician Christopher Clavius and the anti-reform literary scholar Joseph Scaliger. In this book, the author provides an accessible mathematical description of the old and new calendars as well as a detailed discussion of the historical context for, and the main players involved in the calendar reform.

Globalization is not a new phenomenon, but it is posing new challenges to humans and natural ecosystems in the 21st century. From climate change to increasingly mobile human populations to the global economy, the relationship between humans and their environment is being modified in ways that will have long-term impacts on ecological health, biodiversity, ecosystem goods and services, population vulnerability, and sustainability. These changes and challenges are perhaps nowhere more evident than in island ecosystems. Buffeted by rising ocean temperatures, extreme weather events, sea-level rise, climate change, tourism, population migration, invasive species, and resource limitations, islands represent both the greatest vulnerability to globalization and also the greatest scientific opportunity to study the significance of global changes on ecosystem processes, human-environment interactions, conservation, environmental policy, and island sustainability. In this book, we study islands through the lens of Land Cover/Land Use Change (LCLUC) and the multi-scale and multi-thematic drivers of change. In addition to assessing the key processes that shape and re-shape island ecosystems and their land cover/land use changes, the book highlights measurement and assessment methods to characterize patterns and trajectories of change and models to examine the social-ecological drivers of change on islands. For instance, chapters report on the results of a meta-analysis to examine trends in published literature on islands, a satellite image time-series to track changes in urbanization, social surveys to support household analyses, field sampling to represent the state of resources and their limitations on islands, and dynamic systems models to link socio-economic data to LCLUC patterns. The authors report on a diversity of islands, conditions, and circumstances that affect LCLUC patterns and processes, often informed through perspectives rooted, for instance, in conservation, demography, ecology, economics, geography, policy, and sociology.

This volume explores concepts of human sacrifice, focusing on its value – or multiplicity of values – in relative cultural and temporal terms, whether sacrifice is expressed in actual killings, in ideas revolving around ritualized, sanctioned, or sanctified violence or loss, or in transformed and (often sublimated) undertakings. Bridging a wide variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, it analyses a spectrum of sacrificial logics and actions, daring us to rethink the scholarship of sacrifice by considering the oft hidden, subliminal and even paradoxical values and motivations that underlie sacrificial acts. The chapters give needed attention to pivotal questions in studies of sacrifice and ritualized violence - such as how we might employ new approaches to the existing evidence or revise long-debated theories about what exactly ‘human sacrifice’ is or might be, or why human sacrifice seems to emerge so often and so easily in human social experience across time and in vastly different cultures and historical contexts. Thus, the volume will strike a chord with scholars of sociology, anthropology, archaeology, history, religious studies, political science and economics -- wherever interest is focused on critically rethinking questions of sacred and sanctified human violence, and the values that make it what it is.