At the tail end of the 1960s, the thirteen-year-old Michelino spends his summers at his grandparents' modest estate in Nasca, near Lake Maggiore, losing himself in the tales of horror, adventure, and mystery shelved in his grandfather's library. The greatest mystery he's ever encountered, however, doesn't come from a book - it's the groundskeeper, Felice, a sometimes frightening, sometimes gentle, always colourful man of uncertain age who speaks an enchanting dialect and whose memory gets worse with each passing day. When Michelino volunteers to help the old man by providing him with clever mnemonic devices to keep his memory alive, the boy soon finds himself obsessed with piecing together the eerie hodgepodge of Felice's biography . . . a quest that leads to the uncovering of skeletons in Nazi uniforms in the attic, to Felice's admission that he can hear the voices of the dead, and to a new perspective on Felice's endless war against the insatiable local slugs, who are by no means merely a horticultural threat. And yet nothing could be more fascinating to Michelino than Felice's own secret origins. Where did he come from? Is he the victim or the villain of his story? Is he a noble hero, a holy fool, or perhaps the very thing that Michelino most wants and fears: a real-life monster.

Italy's great chronicler of the macabre and hilarious terrors of growing up geeky arrives in English at last. Long before the latest vogue for autofiction, Michele Mari, one of Italy's most beloved authors, cast his mind back to the days of his own childhood, and found it crawling with monsters. Raised on comic books and science fiction, the young Mari constructed an alternate universe for himself untouched by uncomprehending grownups or sadistic peers. Compared to the horrors of real life, Long John Silver and Cthulhu made for positively cuddly company; but little boys raised by beasts may well grow up beastly-or never grow up at all. Waking or sleeping, the obsessions of Mari's youth seem to color his every adult thought. You, Bleeding Childhood stands as his first attempt to catalog this cabinet of wonders. Cult classics since their first publication, these loosely connected stories stand as the ideal introduction to an encyclopedic fantasist on a par with Kafka, Poe, and Borges.

This British crime drama set in London's East End is the cinematic debut of TV director Alex Pillai. Ashley Madekwe stars as Tia, a middle class girl from the Home Counties who becomes caught up in a world of crime when she goes to stay in the London council flat of her cousin, Davina (Anna Nightingale). Much to her cousin's displeasure, Tia becomes increasingly involved with one of her friends, Tyson (Ashley Chin). As she becomes closer to Tyson, Tia discovers that he has his own complex and very personal reasons for turning to a life of crime.

This 4-th edition of the leading reference volume on distance metrics is characterized by updated and rewritten sections on some items suggested by experts and readers, as well a general streamlining of content and the addition of essential new topics. Though the structure remains unchanged, the new edition also explores recent advances in the use of distances and metrics for e.g. generalized distances, probability theory, graph theory, coding theory, data analysis. New topics in the purely mathematical sections include e.g. the Vitanyi multiset-metric, algebraic point-conic distance, triangular ratio metric, Rossi-Hamming metric, Taneja distance, spectral semimetric between graphs, channel metrization, and Maryland bridge distance. The multidisciplinary sections have also been supplemented with new topics, including: dynamic time wrapping distance, memory distance, allometry, atmospheric depth, elliptic orbit distance, VLBI distance measurements, the astronomical system of units, and walkability distance. Leaving aside the practical questions that arise during the selection of a 'good' distance function, this work focuses on providing the research community with an invaluable comprehensive listing of the main available distances. As well as providing standalone introductions and definitions, the encyclopedia facilitates swift cross-referencing with easily navigable bold-faced textual links to core entries. In addition to distances themselves, the authors have collated numerous fascinating curiosities in their Who's Who of metrics, including distance-related notions and paradigms that enable applied mathematicians in other sectors to deploy research tools that non-specialists justly view as arcane. In expanding access to these techniques, and in many cases enriching the context of distances themselves, this peerless volume is certain to stimulate fresh research.

The central theme of the present book is zigzags and central-circuits of three- or four-regular plane graphs, which allow a double covering or covering of the edgeset to be obtained. The book presents zigzag and central circuit structures of geometric fullerenes and several other classes of graph of interest in the fields of chemistry and mathematics. It also discusses the symmetries, parameterization and the Goldberg-Coxeter construction for those graphs. It is the first book on this subject, presenting full structure theory of such graphs. While many previous publications only addressed particular questions about selected graphs, this book is based on numerous computations and presents extensive data (tables and figures), as well as algorithmic and computational information. It will be of interest to researchers and students of discrete geometry, mathematical chemistry and combinatorics, as well as to lay mathematicians.

Sounds Irish, Acts Global critically examines both the history of Ireland's popular music industry as well as the current music scene in the country. By placing recent industry developments in the context of that history, the authors present a new way of examining any nation state's music industry - to understand the industry, the local scene must be examined. This approach highlights the multiple and changing ways by which the local scene prepares artists for both domestic and international success. In Ireland's case the scene, with its supportive network of friends, families and fans, has developed the artists who then sign with the major transnational music firms. This book is of interest to business students as well as popular music scholars in addition to non-academic readers.

Cuts and metrics are well-known objects that arise - independently, but with many deep and fascinating connections - in diverse fields: in graph theory, combinatorial optimization, geometry of numbers, combinatorial matrix theory, statistical physics, VLSI design etc. This book offers a comprehensive summary together with a global view, establishing both old and new links. Its treatment ranges from classical theorems of Menger and Schoenberg to recent developments such as approximation results for multicommodity flow and max-cut problems, metric aspects of Delaunay polytopes, isometric graph embeddings, and matrix completion problems. The discussion leads to many interesting subjects that cannot be found elsewhere, providing a unique and invaluable source for researchers and graduate students.

Short Stories and Political Philosophy: Power, Prose, and Persuasion explores the relationship between fictional short stories and the classic works of political philosophy. This edited volume addresses the innovative ways that short stories grapple with the same complex political and moral questions, concerns, and problems studied in the fields of political philosophy and ethics. The volume is designed to highlight the ways in which short stories may be used as an access point for the challenging works of political philosophy encountered in higher education. Each chapter analyzes a single story through the lens of thinkers ranging from Plato and Aristotle to Max Weber and Hannah Arendt. The contributors to this volume do not adhere to a single theme or intellectual tradition. Rather, this volume is a celebration of the intellectual and literary diversity available to students and teachers of political philosophy. It is a resource for scholars as well as educators who seek to incorporate short stories into their teaching practice.

Much progress has been made in recent years on the issue of asymptotic behavior of problems set in cylinders. This book goes one step further by presenting the latest accomplishments on asymptotic behavior in domains which become unbounded.It also investigates new issues which have emerged including existence and uniqueness of solution in unbounded domains, anisotropic singular perturbations, periodic behavior forced by periodic data. These new advances are treated with original techniques developed to investigate the asymptotic behavior of various problems.Theories investigated throughout the book can be applied to other problems related to partial differential equations, making it an important text for students and researchers within the discipline.Asymptotic Issues for Some Partial Differential Equations is an updated account of Goes to Plus Infinity, published by Birkhauser in 2002.

This book introduces oriented version of metrics and cuts and their multidimensional analogues, as well as partial metrics and weighted metrics. It is a follow-up of Geometry of Cuts and Metrics by Deza and Laurent which presents rich theory of classical binary and symmetric objects - metrics and cuts.Many research publications on this subject are devoted to different special aspects of the theory of generalized metrics. However, they are disconnected one from other, often written in different mathematical language, consider the same objects from different points of view without analysis of possible connections, etc. In this book we will construct full theory of main classes of finite generalized metrics and their polyhedral aspects.

Figurate numbers have a rich history with many applications. The main purpose of this book is to provide a thorough and complete presentation of the theory of figurate numbers, giving much of their properties, facts and theorems with full proofs. This book is the first of this topic written in unified systematic way. It also contains many exercises with solutions.

What happens when your body doesn't look how it's supposed to look, or feel how it's supposed to feel, or do what it's supposed to do? Who or what defines the ideals behind these expectations? How can we challenge them and live more peacefully in our bodies? Shameful Bodies: Religion and the Culture of Physical Improvement explores these questions by examining how traditional religious narratives and modern philosophical assumptions come together in the construction and pursuit of a better body in contemporary western societies. Drawing on examples from popular culture such as self-help books, magazines, and advertisements, Michelle Mary Lelwica shows how these narratives and assumptions encourage us to go to war against our bodies-to fight fat, triumph over disability, conquer chronic pain and illness, and defy aging. Through an ethic of conquest and conformity, the culture of physical improvement trains us not only to believe that all bodily processes are under our control, but to feel ashamed about those parts of our flesh that refuse to comply with the cultural ideal. Lelwica argues that such shame is not a natural response to being fat, physically impaired, chronically sick, or old. Rather, body shame is a religiously and culturally conditioned reaction to a commercially-fabricated fantasy of physical perfection. While Shameful Bodies critiques the religious and cultural norms and narratives that perpetuate external and internalized judgment and aggression toward "shameful" bodies, it also engages the resources of religions, especially feminist theologies and Buddhist thought/practice, to construct a more affirming approach to health and healing-an approach that affirms the diversity, fragility, interdependence, and impermanence of embodied life.

This 4-th edition of the leading reference volume on distance metrics is characterized by updated and rewritten sections on some items suggested by experts and readers, as well a general streamlining of content and the addition of essential new topics. Though the structure remains unchanged, the new edition also explores recent advances in the use of distances and metrics for e.g. generalized distances, probability theory, graph theory, coding theory, data analysis. New topics in the purely mathematical sections include e.g. the Vitanyi multiset-metric, algebraic point-conic distance, triangular ratio metric, Rossi-Hamming metric, Taneja distance, spectral semimetric between graphs, channel metrization, and Maryland bridge distance. The multidisciplinary sections have also been supplemented with new topics, including: dynamic time wrapping distance, memory distance, allometry, atmospheric depth, elliptic orbit distance, VLBI distance measurements, the astronomical system of units, and walkability distance. Leaving aside the practical questions that arise during the selection of a 'good' distance function, this work focuses on providing the research community with an invaluable comprehensive listing of the main available distances. As well as providing standalone introductions and definitions, the encyclopedia facilitates swift cross-referencing with easily navigable bold-faced textual links to core entries. In addition to distances themselves, the authors have collated numerous fascinating curiosities in their Who's Who of metrics, including distance-related notions and paradigms that enable applied mathematicians in other sectors to deploy research tools that non-specialists justly view as arcane. In expanding access to these techniques, and in many cases enriching the context of distances themselves, this peerless volume is certain to stimulate fresh research.

These powerful, contemporary monologues share the courage, conflicts and joys of characters facing difficult decisions. Developed through consultation with young people, they offer a range of authentic, memorable voices to stimulate discussion and participatory drama work.

This remarkable new guide is the first hybrid text of its kind that adopts the traditional method of medical education and fuses it with an evidence-based approach. It covers, in great detail, all of the common conditions seen in primary and secondary paediatrics. Skilfully designed for easy revision and reference, each chapter is devoted to a symptom, commencing with the objectives and essential relevant background material followed by history and examination. In the management section specific questions are posed and evidence based responses are offered, ensuring both patients and their parents are satisfied. Uniquely, in the majority of cases, evidence from randomized controlled trials is given. To facilitate comprehension, revision and examination preparation, chapter includes a series of multiple choice questions and meticulous answers. It also includes an invaluable clinical slide and X-ray collection outlining key radiological features of many of the clinical conditions described to further aid understanding, recognition and diagnosis. Diagnosing and Treating Common Problems in Paediatrics is a highly comprehensive primer of how to learn and evaluate knowledge and then translate that knowledge into practice. It provides paediatric consultants and students with the confidence, professionalism and unique communication skill required to work effectively with both children and parents, ensuring successful treatment and outcomes.