Comprehensive and authoritative, this Handbook provides a nuanced description and analysis of educational systems, practices, and policies in Asian countries and explains and interprets these practices from cultural, social, historical, and economic perspectives.

Using a culture-based framework, the volume is organized in five sections, each devoted to educational practices in one civilization in Asia: Sinic, Japanese, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu. Culture and culture identities essentially are civilization identities; the major differences among civilizations are rooted in their different cultures. This framework offers a novel approach to capturing the essence of the diverse educational systems and practices in Asia.

Uniquely combining description and interpretation of educational practices in Asia, this Handbook is a must-have resource for education researchers and graduate students in international and comparative education, globalization and education, multicultural education, sociocultural foundations of education, and Asian studies, and for educational administrators and education policy makers.

The International Conference on Mechanical Design and Production has over the years established itself as an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas in these established fields. The first of these conferences was held in 1979. The seventh, and most recent, conference in the series was held in Cairo during February 15-17, 2000.

International engineers and scientists gathered to exchange experiences and highlight the state-of-the-art research in the fields of mechanical design and production. In addition a heavy emphasis was placed on the issue of technology transfer.

Over 100 papers were accepted for presentation at the conference. "Current Advances in Mechanical Design & Production VII" does not, however, attempt to publish the complete work presented but instead offers a sample that represents the quality and breadth of both the work and the conference.

Ten invited papers and 54 ordinary papers have been selected for inclusion in these proceedings. They cover a range of basic and applied topics that can be classified into six main categories: System Dynamics, Solid Mechanics, Material Science, Manufacturing Processes, Design and Tribology, and Industrial Engineering and its Applications.

This is a graphic novel about the contemporary architectural profession, in which it acts as the protagonist in the form of an imaginary city called Practiceopolis. The novel narrates quasi-realistic stories that exaggerate the architectural everyday and the tacit, in order to make them prominent and tangible. They depict and dramatise the value conflicts between the different cultures of practising architecture and between the architectural profession and other members of the building industry as political conflicts around the future of Practiceopolis. The book uses the metaphorical world of Practiceopolis to provoke big questions about everyday routines in the profession that practitioners may take for granted and to examine different ideologies at work among architects and other members of the construction industry. The novel ends in the tradition of dystopian worlds common in a certain strand of graphic novels. By vividly illustrating and narrating the critical issues he interrogates, the author has created a world which any architect, student or professional, will both instantly recognise and simultaneously reject, provoking the reader to challenge themselves and the profession at large.

This is a graphic novel about the contemporary architectural profession, in which it acts as the protagonist in the form of an imaginary city called Practiceopolis. The novel narrates quasi-realistic stories that exaggerate the architectural everyday and the tacit, in order to make them prominent and tangible. They depict and dramatise the value conflicts between the different cultures of practising architecture and between the architectural profession and other members of the building industry as political conflicts around the future of Practiceopolis. The book uses the metaphorical world of Practiceopolis to provoke big questions about everyday routines in the profession that practitioners may take for granted and to examine different ideologies at work among architects and other members of the construction industry. The novel ends in the tradition of dystopian worlds common in a certain strand of graphic novels. By vividly illustrating and narrating the critical issues he interrogates, the author has created a world which any architect, student or professional, will both instantly recognise and simultaneously reject, provoking the reader to challenge themselves and the profession at large.

Animal breeding is a branch of animal science that addresses the evaluation of the genetic value of domestic livestock. Selecting animals for breeding with superior the genetic value in growth rate, egg, meat, milk, or wool production, or have other desirable traits has revolutionized agricultural livestock production throughout the world. This handbook include scientific theory of animal breeding; population genetics, quantitative genetics, statistics, and molecular genomics. The Applied Animal Breeding and Genetics handbook provides knowledge on the role and sustainable use of genetic variation in animals by providing knowledge to support the adequate supply of safe and healthy food of animal origin, and to enhance welfare and productivity of animals. The handbook combines quantitative and molecular genetics related to the biological functioning of animals. Also, describe genetic variation in farm and companion animals, and examines opportunities to use naturally occurring genetic variation in selection schemes.

Two strains of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, were developed through mass and pedigreed selection techniques. Performance of the mass-selected line has been tested against a control and commercial lines used by the farmers. On station testing indicated an improvement of 35% over the control, the base population, from which the selected O. niloticus stock was developed. In an initial farm trial, the improved O. niloticus stock performed 51% better than the commercial line that is regularly distributed by a commercial hatchery to the local farmers. Additional farm testing of the mass-selected line is still in progress. The mass-selected line is currently being evaluated against the pedigree selected line. The best candidates will be identified and used in the pedigree selection program.

From the practical work and applied research work in the field of marine shrimp farming, this Standard Operating Procedure (S.O.P) was developed. This S.O.P. documents actual procedures being used at the time of its production. It will be used both as a guide for current hatchery and farm operations and as a tool to allow the identification of areas where improvements can be made. These improvements will gradually be incorporated into the updated S.O.P. All Hatchery and farm division staff should read and understand this S.O.P.It is hoped that this S.O.P will partly help solve the problems encountered in shrimp farming and contribute towards better marine shrimp management and a more sustainable farming industry.

"Banshee Born" is a military science fiction space opera in the tradition of Robert Heinlein and Alfred Bester. It is a coming of age story placed in a future where warring space empires vie for control of the known galaxy. Where a young man against all odds escapes the harshest prison planet in the galaxy, and changes the course of human history,