The convention of the royal burghs of Scotland was a national representative assembly of parliamentary towns that was unique in Europe. It met in plenary session at least once every year by the end of the sixteenth century, as well as convening in ad hoc sessions for specific business. It had a wide range of responsibilities, including defence of the burghs' collective and individual trading privileges, lobbying central government, promoting manufactures and trade, arbitrating in disputes between burghs, apportioning national taxes among its members, co-ordinating the raising of money for public building projects within burghs, and maintaining and regulating the Scottish staple port at Veere on what was then the island of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands. When much of its records were published in the nineteenth century, minutes from before the 1580s were fragmentary and a whole volume (covering the years 1631-1649) was lost. This volume goes some way to rectifying these deficiencies by making available in print, for the first time, the records of a convention at Perth in 1555, those of most of the conventions between 1631 and 1636, the minutes of a convention from 1647 and some other papers from the 1640s. They are presented here with an introduction and elucidatory notes. Alan MacDonald is senior lecturer in History at the University of Dundee; Mary Verschuur lectured in the department of History at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

This monograph arose from lectures at the University of Oklahoma on topics related to linear algebra over commutative rings. It provides an introduction of matrix theory over commutative rings. The monograph discusses the structure theory of a projective module.

Existing studies of early modern Scotland tend to focus on the crown, the nobility and the church. Yet, from the sixteenth century, a unique national representative assembly of the towns, the Convention of Burghs, provides an insight into the activities of another key group in society. Meeting at least once a year, the Convention consisted of representatives from every parliamentary burgh, and was responsible for apportioning taxation, settling disputes between members, regulating weights and measures, negotiating with the crown on issues of concern to the merchant community. The Convention's role in relation to parliament was particularly significant, for it regulated urban representation, admitted new burghs to parliament, and co-ordinated and oversaw the conduct of the burgess estate in parliament. In this, the first full-length study of the burghs and parliament in Scotland, the influence of this institution is fully analysed over a one hundred year period. Drawing extensively on local and national sources, this book sheds new light upon the way in which parliament acted as a point of contact, a place where legislative business was done, relationships formed and status affirmed. The interactions between centre and localities, and between urban and rural elites are prominent themes, as is Edinburgh's position as the leading burgh and the host of parliament. The study builds upon existing scholarship to place Scotland within the wider British and European context and argues that the Scottish parliament was a distinctive and effective institution which was responsive to the needs of the burghs both collectively and individually.

This monograph arose from lectures at the University of Oklahoma on topics related to linear algebra over commutative rings. It provides an introduction of matrix theory over commutative rings. The monograph discusses the structure theory of a projective module.

This book is the first detailed discussion of the political history of the Scottish Church in the reign of James VI (1567-1625). It offers a refreshing new perspective on the Reformed Kirk during the crucial period in its development. It is an examination of relations between Kirk and State based firmly on contemporary sources. Analysing the formation and evolution of clerical views, it argues for fluid patterns of opinion governed by events rather than fixed ideologies. As a result, it rejects the established notion of 'Melvillian' and 'Episcopalian' parties in the Kirk. Pivoting on the regal union of 1603, it explores the Scottish experience of the implementation of ecclesiastical policies under a multi-state monarchy in the light of recent British scholarship. It also assesses the significance of the regal union for the government of Scotland, for the status of the Kirk within Scotland and in relation to the Church of England. The result is a significant and challenging contribution to early modern Scottish and British historiography.

This graduate textbook introduces the com-putational techniques to study ultra-fast quantum dynamics of matter exposed to strong laser fields. Coverage includes methods to propagate wavefunctions according to the time dependent Schroedinger, Klein-Gordon or Dirac equation, the calculation of typical observables, time-dependent density functional theory, multi configurational time-dependent Hartree-Fock, time-dependent configuration interaction singles, the strong-field approximation, and the microscopic particle-in-cell approach. Contents How to propagate a wavefunction? Calculation of typical strong-field observables Time-dependent relativistic wave equations: Numerics of the Dirac and the Klein-Gordon equation Time-dependent density functional theory The multiconfiguration time-dependent Hartree-Fock method Time-dependent configuration interaction singles Strong-field approximation and quantum orbits Microscopic particle-in-cell approach

A complete and accessible explanation of the factors contributing to the onset of the 2007 financial and economic crisis. The myriad factors are explained in an orderly way with simple terms. The anticipation (or not) and reception of the crisis by mainstream economists and by Austrian economics leads to reflection on the state of economic theory.

How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they become a "lost generation" disconnected from society's mainstream? Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare-dependent underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the so-called "disaffected," "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach"? Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities suffering social exclusion in extreme form," Disconnected Youth? will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor neighborhoods.

How do young people get by in hard times and hard places? Have they become a "lost generation" disconnected from society's mainstream? Do popular ideas about social exclusion or a welfare-dependent underclass really connect with the lived experiences of the so-called "disaffected," "disengaged" and "difficult-to-reach"? Based on close-up research with young men and women from localities suffering social exclusion in extreme form," Disconnected Youth?" will appeal to all those who are interested in understanding and tackling the problems of growing up in Britain's poor neighborhoods.

In Tragedy and Irish Literature, McDonald considers the culture of suffering, loss, and guilt in the work of J.M. Synge, Sean O'Casey and Samuel Beckett. He applies external ideas of tragedy to the three dramatists and also discerns particular sorts of tragedy within their own work. While alert to the real differences between the three writers, the book also traces common themes and preoccupations. It identifies a conflict between form and content, between heightened language and debased reality as the hallmark of Irish tragedy.

In Tragedy and Irish Writing McDonald considers the culture of suffering, loss, and guilt in the work of Synge, O'Casey, and Beckett. He applies external ideas of tragedy to the three dramatists and also discerns particular sorts of tragedy within their own work. While alert to the real differences among the three, the book also traces common themes and preoccupations. It identifies a conflict between form and content, between heightened language and debased reality, as the hallmark of Irish tragedy.

Scotland: The Making and Unmaking of the Nation, c.1100-1707 aims to show the importance of Scotland's relationships to Europe and its part in a broader European story, as well as to dispel long-established myths and preconceptions which continue to exert a firm grip on public opinion. Especially in a post-devolution era, Scottish history and Scotland deserve better than this. Scotland: The Making and Unmaking of the Nation, c.1100-1707 is certainly designed to provoke but need not be taken to indicate a nationalist view of 1707 as a moment of eclipse. Scotland's history, like all histories, resists simple generalisations. Were it otherwise, its study would not be so rewarding.

A complete and accessible explanation of the factors contributing to the onset of the 2007 financial and economic crisis. The myriad factors are explained in an orderly way with simple terms. The anticipation (or not) and reception of the crisis by mainstream economists and by Austrian economics leads to reflection on the state of economic theory.

UNSUSTAINABLE frames the problem of cost and effectiveness in America s public schooling system, and provides a strategy to address it. It argues something that many education professionals and policy makers have come to believe but rarely mention: That this country s system of K-12 schooling is not sustainable and is becoming a poorer value each year that goes by. It argues for improving the cost and effectiveness of public schooling through a strategy of innovation that targets productivity. Addressing the question how to do this, the book provides policy recommendations to the state, district, and federal levels. In a final chapter it outlines uncommon strategies for overcoming some of the most difficult political, practical, and structural roadblocks to improvement.

"Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory 1945-2000" contains many of the most significant essays and book chapters published on Shakespeare in the second half of the twentieth century. It introduces students of Shakespeare to the variety of theoretical positions, thematic claims, methodologies, and modes of argument that have contributed to the current critical landscape. The collection consists of 49 essays written by a broad range of authors, from E. M. W. Tillyard and William Empson, who represent old-style historicism and a version of New Criticism respectively, to Stephen Greenblatt and Catherine Belsey, who respond to and refute the insights of their predecessors. The essays are organized into categories of critical thought and introduced in clear and accessible language. Taken together, they chronicle a particularly stimulating period in the history of literary study.