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From the Marine Corps recruiting office to the challenges of Officer Candidate School, from stateside training as a new Marine attack pilot to harrowing combat experiences during two combat tours of duty in Vietnam, from 3500 hours of jet flight instructor duty to three and a half years as a staff officer at Headquarters, Marine Corps, from nearly passing out while a running a sub-three hour marathon to looking back on it all after years of retirement, Major Gibson's recollections continue to rivet the reader's attention. The stories are absent of technical jargon and yet put the
reader into the cockpit during moments of triumph as well as those
of momentary fear. Possessing an easy-going and comfortable writing
style, the author easily holds the reader's attention while
relating a wide variety of experiences. The stories provide a
valuable insight into the world of a junior officer serving as a
combat attack pilot as well as assignment as an Air Liaison Officer
to a battalion of Marines in the jungles of Vietnam.
As governments, citizens and organizations have moved online there is an increasing need for academic enquiry to adapt to this new context for communication and political action. This adaptation is crucially dependent on researchers being equipped with the necessary methodological tools to extract, analyze and visualize patterns of web activity. This volume profiles the latest techniques being employed by social scientists to collect and interpret data from some of the most popular social media applications, the political parties' own online activist spaces, and the wider system of hyperlinks that structure the inter-connections between these sites. Including contributions from a range of academic disciplines including Political Science, Media and Communication Studies, Economics, and Computer Science, this study showcases a new methodological approach that has been expressly designed to capture and analyze web data in the process of investigating substantive questions.
In order to achieve optimal digestion, absorption, and nutritional health, we must have appropriate populations of positive microflora. Prebiotics are functional foods that improve health by fortifying indigenous probiotics within the gut. This fast-growing area of nutrition and microbiology is rapidly amassing data and answering many questions about the necessity and benefit of such functional foods. Gathering contributions from leading experts in a range of disciplines, Handbook of Prebiotics presents a balanced view of the current knowledge in many different areas of the field. It discusses concept, definition and criteria for classification of a food component as prebiotics It then describes interactions with gut microbiota. Highlighting varying levels of evidence and agreement, the book presents current arguments for and against prebiotic intake. Contributions discuss the biomechanics of prebiotics and their effects on immune status, serum lipid concentrations, mineral bioavailability, and satiety modulation. They consider the health implications of prebiotic intake such as reduced incidence of gastroenteritis and chronic pathogenic gut disorders, including intestinal cancers and inflammatory bowel diseases. Providing well-rounded coverage, the book explores the varying effects of prebiotics in different populations and age groups such as infants and the elderly, as well as livestock and pets. The final chapters describe food avenues and the safety implications for prebiotic use. Spanning several disciplines including food science, nutrition, microbiology, biotechnology, and the health sciences, this seminal work makes a point to include sound research science andwell-balanced views on the potential of prebiotics for promoting good health.
The nemerteans are a fascinating, common and often locally abundant group of invertebrates, yet for long have attracted the attention of only a handful of scientists. In recent years, however, increasing numbers of people have developed diverse research interests in the group with the result that our knowledge of these worms has rapidly advanced. Clearly there is a need for a regular series of international meetings where individuals working on these animals can meet to exchange ideas, review developments concerning nemertean biology and freely discuss future proposals. The first such meeting was held in Philadelphia during December 1983. Twenty-seven scientists from eight countries participated in the Second International Meeting on Nemertean Biology, held at the Tjarno Marine Biological Laboratory, Sweden, 11-15 August 1986. The meeting was divid ed into five sessions: two dealt with ecological studies, two with nemertean taxonomy, and the final session covered aspects of general biology. A total of 26 papers was presented; four, by N. Anadem, G. Berg, 1. Bierne, and 1.M. TurbeviIIe, were for different reasons not submitted for inclusion in this volume. Three additional presentations were made on behalf of B. Kulikova, E. N. WiIImer, and Z. Yin, all of whom were unable to participate in the meeting.
This book analyzes the ways in which US policy toward Iraq was dictated by America's broader Cold War strategy between 1958 and 1975. While most historians have focused on "hot" Cold War conflicts such as Cuba, Vietnam, and Afghanistan, few have recognized Iraq's significance as a Cold War battleground. This book argues that US decisions and actions were designed to deny the Soviet Union influence over Iraq and to create a strategic base in the oil-rich Gulf region. Using newly available primary sources and interviews, this book reveals new details on America's decision-making toward and actions against Iraq during the height of the Cold War and shows where Iraq fits into the broader historiography of the Cold War in the Middle East. Further, it raises important questions about widely held misconceptions of US-Iraqi relations, such as the CIA's alleged involvement in the 1963 Ba'thist coup and the theory that the US sold out the Kurds in 1975.
This book not only presents the overall development of quality function deployment (QFD) and what it has been used for to date but a new product support orientation by which it can be employed. It is product and service “system” focused and presents how blending the processes and elements of supportability and analysis into a QFD-modeled methodology can achieve optimal cost savings and performance efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, a working model is provided that will assist those that elect to use such an approach to current/new product and/or service development. QFD is widely spreading throughout the world because of its outstanding usefulness. It is aimed to fulfill the customer’s expectation of a product or service design. Organizations of all sizes are using it to (1) save product and service design and development time, (2) focus on how the product or service might satisfy the customer and (3) improve communication at all levels of an organization during the development process. Based on these three reasons, today's traditional QFD can be divided into three branches and analyzed. First, QFD can be implemented effectively for developing new products and designs by establishing the linkage between design stages through the manufacturing environment. However, research has found that traditional QFD is quite weak in implementing modifications to existing product and service design during its predicted lifecycle. Second, most research to this point has been squarely focused on the “voice of the customer” for prioritizing customer needs. While certainly needed, the “voice of the system” that is being used to produce the product/service and how they operate during its intended life cycle has been given less attention. Third, QFD is often viewed as overly labor-intensive and thus costly, and, because of its team-based development logic, manual in nature by those involved during its development and implementation. Research has shown that life cycle sustainment planning and support for current or proposed products and/or services requires a seamless and balanced life cycle support methodology. To achieve this type of support, twelve functional elements have been identified that form the product support infrastructure. A new approach, one that views product support as an integrative activity where all twelve product support elements are assessed over the entire product and/or service life cycle is being deployed. With this deployment comes a need to ensure Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) are achieved and functional alignment obtained by balancing supportability element cost and provisioning throughout the entire product and/or service lifecycle, not just during the development stage, and to view the system as the “customer” and thus listen to the “Voice of the System” when assessing supportability requirements. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is such a tool. This book contains four sections. Section 1 provides an initial overview of QFD origins, and history and highlights some of its use today. It addresses how QFD fits within the organization, increasing revenue, and reducing cost. It outlines a step-by-step strategy for successfully deploying QFD within the organization. Section 2 examines the evolving product and/or service requirement, creating the design solution using QFD, assessing supportability characteristics using QFD, and performing functional supportability analysis using QFD. Section 3 provides a guide for developing the life cycle supportability solution using QFD methodology on an ongoing basis, and managing processes throughout the systems lifecycle. Section 4 addresses using QFD in an imperfect world and will provide insight into how to use QFD beyond the standard “house of quality” concept.
This book not only presents the overall development of quality function deployment (QFD) and what it has been used for to date but a new product support orientation by which it can be employed. It is product and service “system” focused and presents how blending the processes and elements of supportability and analysis into a QFD-modeled methodology can achieve optimal cost savings and performance efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, a working model is provided that will assist those that elect to use such an approach to current/new product and/or service development. QFD is widely spreading throughout the world because of its outstanding usefulness. It is aimed to fulfill the customer’s expectation of a product or service design. Organizations of all sizes are using it to (1) save product and service design and development time, (2) focus on how the product or service might satisfy the customer and (3) improve communication at all levels of an organization during the development process. Based on these three reasons, today's traditional QFD can be divided into three branches and analyzed. First, QFD can be implemented effectively for developing new products and designs by establishing the linkage between design stages through the manufacturing environment. However, research has found that traditional QFD is quite weak in implementing modifications to existing product and service design during its predicted lifecycle. Second, most research to this point has been squarely focused on the “voice of the customer” for prioritizing customer needs. While certainly needed, the “voice of the system” that is being used to produce the product/service and how they operate during its intended life cycle has been given less attention. Third, QFD is often viewed as overly labor-intensive and thus costly, and, because of its team-based development logic, manual in nature by those involved during its development and implementation. Research has shown that life cycle sustainment planning and support for current or proposed products and/or services requires a seamless and balanced life cycle support methodology. To achieve this type of support, twelve functional elements have been identified that form the product support infrastructure. A new approach, one that views product support as an integrative activity where all twelve product support elements are assessed over the entire product and/or service life cycle is being deployed. With this deployment comes a need to ensure Key Performance Parameters (KPPs) are achieved and functional alignment obtained by balancing supportability element cost and provisioning throughout the entire product and/or service lifecycle, not just during the development stage, and to view the system as the “customer” and thus listen to the “Voice of the System” when assessing supportability requirements. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is such a tool. This book contains four sections. Section 1 provides an initial overview of QFD origins, and history and highlights some of its use today. It addresses how QFD fits within the organization, increasing revenue, and reducing cost. It outlines a step-by-step strategy for successfully deploying QFD within the organization. Section 2 examines the evolving product and/or service requirement, creating the design solution using QFD, assessing supportability characteristics using QFD, and performing functional supportability analysis using QFD. Section 3 provides a guide for developing the life cycle supportability solution using QFD methodology on an ongoing basis, and managing processes throughout the systems lifecycle. Section 4 addresses using QFD in an imperfect world and will provide insight into how to use QFD beyond the standard “house of quality” concept.
This modern study of the Iran-Iraq War utilizes newly available primary materials to analyze American policy towards the war and question the veracity of the United States' claims of strict neutrality. The Iran-Iraq War lasted from September 1980 to August 1988, dominating the landscape of the Middle East and polarizing many of the world's nations for nearly a decade. This new work analyzes the United States' policy towards this vicious and extremely costly war, and questions the veracity of America's claims of strict neutrality. The contents of Covert Relationship: American Foreign Policy, Intelligence, and the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988 can be broken down into five sections: the conflict's origins, the Carter administration's response to the war, the Reagan administration's actions, changes to American policy during the Iran-Contra Affair, and the collapse of neutrality in the final two years of the war. The author boldly refutes the arguments of other authors about the war, and provides timely and relevant insights regarding American-Iraqi relations in light of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
This anthology originally published in 1961 is of an unusual kind: a series of pronouncements on poetry by the great French poets of the last hundred years, arranged in a way which gives them a purposeful sequence, and linked by Professor Gibson's explanatory comment. It thus gave as no other book of the time did an ars poetica for modern poetry. Though it is in French, it is relevant to English because to place for instance T. S. Eliot's early work in a historical perspective, it must be related to the tradition of French poetry and critical writing. Professor Gibson shows what a rich tradition it was: there is hardly an important French poet who was not also deeply concerned with the nature and implications of his own work and of all poetry as well.
Health statistics have been an essential tool for improving the health of populations for centuries, yet no single book covers the key elements in developing, using, and improving them. This volume fills that crucial gap by providing a comprehensive account of the essential concepts and complex underpinnings of health statistics. It gives a broad and detailed view of the sources and uses of health statistics and explores contemporary issues confronting the health statistics enterprise, including privacy, technology, and the emergence of health data standards. It also proposes fundamental changes needed to improve health statistics that can be embraced by practitioners at all levels of government and the private sector. The book is guided throughout by a comprehensive model of population health that expands the traditionally held view of what factors influence health. The chapters are grouped into five sections: 1) defining health statistics-context, history, and organization; 2) collecting and compiling health statistics; 3) putting health statistics to use; 4) identifying current and forthcoming issues and 5) transforming health statistics through new conceptual frameworks. This logical organization helps make the book suitable for graduate courses in public health and public health surveillance, health services research, population health statistics, or population health information systems. It will be equally useful for the staff of the many organizations that comprise the health statistics enterprise, for health professionals seeking a broader context for their efforts, and for researchers aiming to advance the field of health statistics and their application to health policy or public health practice.
This activity book contains ideas for things to make and do for Easter. Each project is accompanied by simple step-by-step instructions and a photograph of the final creation. Projects include a pop-up chick card, decorating eggs, drawing Easter bunnies, printing lambs, and simple Easter recipes.
Disruption of a construction project is of key concern to the contractor as any delay to the project will involve the contractor in financial loss, unless those losses can be recovered from the employer. It is, however, acknowledged that disruption claims in construction are difficult to prove, usually the result of poor or inaccurate project records, but the cost of lost productivity or reduced efficiency to the contractor under these circumstances is very real. Practical Guide to Disruption and Productivity Loss on Construction & Engineering Projects is clearly written to explain the key causes of disruption and productivity loss. Disruption claims rest on proof of causation, so it discusses the project records that are necessary to demonstrate the causes of disruption, lost productivity and reduced efficiency in detail. Quantification of a disruption claim in terms of delay to activities and the associated costs are also fully discussed. With many worked examples throughout the text, this will be an essential book for anyone either preparing or assessing a disruption and loss of productivity claims, including architects, contract administrators, project managers and quantity surveyors as well as contractors, contracts consultants and construction lawyers.
As governments, citizens and organizations have moved online there is an increasing need for academic enquiry to adapt to this new context for communication and political action. This adaptation is crucially dependent on researchers being equipped with the necessary methodological tools to extract, analyze and visualize patterns of web activity. This volume profiles the latest techniques being employed by social scientists to collect and interpret data from some of the most popular social media applications, the political parties' own online activist spaces, and the wider system of hyperlinks that structure the inter-connections between these sites. Including contributions from a range of academic disciplines including Political Science, Media and Communication Studies, Economics, and Computer Science, this study showcases a new methodological approach that has been expressly designed to capture and analyze web data in the process of investigating substantive questions.
Studies of brain evolution have moved rapidly in recent years, building on the pioneering research of Harry J. Jerison. This book provides state-of-the-art reviews of primate (including human) brain evolution. The volume is divided into two sections, the first offers new perspectives on the developmental, physiological, dietary, and behavioral correlates of brain enlargement. However, it has long been recognized that brains do not merely enlarge globally as they evolve, but that their cortical and internal organization also changes in a process known as reorganization. Species-specific adaptations therefore have neurological substrates that depend on more than just overall brain size. The second section explores these neurological underpinnings for the senses, adaptations, and cognitive abilities that are important for primates. With a prologue by Stephen J. Gould and an epilogue by Harry J. Jerison, this is an important new reference work for all those working on primate brain evolution.
Studies of brain evolution have moved rapidly in recent years, building on the pioneering research of Harry J. Jerison. This book provides state-of-the-art reviews of primate (including human) brain evolution. The volume is divided into two sections, the first offers new perspectives on the developmental, physiological, dietary, and behavioral correlates of brain enlargement. However, it has long been recognized that brains do not merely enlarge globally as they evolve, but that their cortical and internal organization also changes in a process known as reorganization. Species-specific adaptations therefore have neurological substrates that depend on more than just overall brain size. The second section explores these neurological underpinnings for the senses, adaptations, and cognitive abilities that are important for primates. With a prologue by Stephen J. Gould and an epilogue by Harry J. Jerison, this is an important new reference work for all those working on primate brain evolution.
The question addressed by this volume is how human beings have evolved as creatures who can make and use more complex tools, communicate in more complex ways and engage in more complex forms of social life than any other species in the animal kingdom. Leading researchers from fields as diverse as biological and social anthropology, archaeology, linguistics, psychology, neurology and ethology have come together to present a unique interdisciplinary study of this central question in human evolution. The topics explored include the parallels between speech, manual gesture and other modes of communication; comparisons of the tool-using skills and imitative abilities of humans and non-human primates and the neurological links between the cognitive processes involved in language. This important volume will be essential reading for all those interested in human evolution, be they philosophers, humanists or scientists.
In the wake of Vladimir Lenin’s death in 1924, various protagonists grappled to become his successor, but it was not until 1928 that Joseph Stalin emerged as leader of the Russian Marxists’ Bolshevik wing. Surrounded by an increasingly hostile capitalist world, Stalin reasoned that Soviet Russia had to industrialize in order to survive and prosper. But domestic capital was scarce, so the country’s minerals, timber, and grain were sold abroad for hard currency for funding the development of heavy industry. Claiming total control of agricultural management and production, Stalin implemented the collectivization of farming, consolidating small peasant holdings into large collective farms and controlling their output. The program was economically successful, but it came at a high social cost as the state encountered intense resistance, and between 1928 and 1934 collectivization led to the deaths of at least ten million people from starvation and associated diseases. Hungry and Starving elicits the voices of both the culprits and the victims at the centre of this horrific process. Through primary accounts of collectivization as well as the eyewitness observations of ambassadors, reporters, tourists, fellow travellers, Russian emigrés, tsarist officials, aristocrats, scientists, and technical specialists, James Gibson engages the crucial notions and actors in the academic discourse of the period. He finds that the famine lasted longer than is commonly supposed, that it took place on a national rather than a regional scale, and that while the famine was entirely man-made – the result of the ruthless manner in which collectivization was executed and enforced – it was neither deliberate nor ethnically motivated, given that it was not in the Soviet state’s economic or political interest to engage in genocide. Highlighting the experiences of life and death under Stalin’s ruthless regime, Hungry and Starving offers a broader understanding of the Great Soviet Famine.
Before contact with white people, the Indigenous peoples of the Northwest Coast traded amongst themselves and with other Indigenous groups farther inland, but by the end of the 1780s, when Russian coasters had penetrated the Gulf of Alaska and British merchantmen were frequenting Nootka Sound, trade had become the dominant economic activity in the area. The Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Nootka, Salish, and Chinook spent much of their time hunting fur-bearing animals and trading their pelts to settler traders for metals, firearms, textiles, and foodstuffs. The Northwest Coast First Nations used their newly acquired goods in intertribal trade while the Euro-American traders dealt their skins in China for teas, silks, and porcelains that they then sold in Europe and America. While previous studies have concentrated on the boom years of the fur trade before the War of 1812, James Gibson reveals that the maritime fur trade persisted into the 1840s and that it was not solely or even principally the domain of American traders. He gives an account of Russian, British, Spanish, and American participation in the Northwest traffic, describes the market in South China, and outlines the evolution of the coast trade, including the means and problems. He also assesses the physical and cultural effects of this trade on the Northwest Coast and Hawaiian Islands and on the industrialization of the New England states. Uncovering many Russian-language sources, Gibson also consulted the records of the Russian-American, East India, and Hudson’s Bay Companies, the unpublished logs and journals of American ships, and the business correspondence of several New England shipowners. No more comprehensive or painstakingly researched account of the maritime fur trade of the Northwest Coast has ever been written.
In order to achieve optimal digestion, absorption, and nutritional health, we must have appropriate populations of positive microflora. Prebiotics are functional foods that improve health by fortifying indigenous probiotics within the gut. This fast-growing area of nutrition and microbiology is rapidly amassing data and answering many questions about the necessity and benefit of such functional foods. Gathering contributions from leading experts in a range of disciplines, Handbook of Prebiotics presents a balanced view of the current knowledge in many different areas of the field. It discusses concept, definition and criteria for classification of a food component as prebiotics It then describes interactions with gut microbiota. Highlighting varying levels of evidence and agreement, the book presents current arguments for and against prebiotic intake. Contributions discuss the biomechanics of prebiotics and their effects on immune status, serum lipid concentrations, mineral bioavailability, and satiety modulation. They consider the health implications of prebiotic intake such as reduced incidence of gastroenteritis and chronic pathogenic gut disorders, including intestinal cancers and inflammatory bowel diseases. Providing well-rounded coverage, the book explores the varying effects of prebiotics in different populations and age groups such as infants and the elderly, as well as livestock and pets. The final chapters describe food avenues and the safety implications for prebiotic use. Spanning several disciplines including food science, nutrition, microbiology, biotechnology, and the health sciences, this seminal work makes a point to include sound research science and well-balanced views on the potential of prebiotics for promoting good health.
Ever wonder where big, breakthrough ideas come from? How do innovators manage to spot the opportunities for industry revolution that everyone else seems to miss? Contrary to popular belief, innovation is not some mystical art that s forbidden to mere mortals. The Four Lenses of Innovation thoroughly debunks this pervasive myth by delivering what we ve long been hoping for: the news that innovation is systematic, it s methodical, and we can all achieve it. By asking how the world s top innovators Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and many others came up with their game-changing ideas, bestselling author Rowan Gibson identifies four key business perspectives that will enable you to discover groundbreaking opportunities for innovation and growth: * Challenging Orthodoxies What if the dominant conventions in your field, market, or industry are outdated, unnecessary, or just plain wrong? * Harnessing Trends Where are the shifts and discontinuities that will, now and in the future, provide the energy you need for a major leap forward? * Leveraging Resources How can you arrange existing skills and assets into new combinations that add up to more than the sum of their parts? * Understanding Needs What are the unmet needs and frustrations that everyone else is simply ignoring? Other books promise the keys to innovation this one delivers them. With a unique full-color design, thought-provoking examples, and features like the 8-Step Model for Building a Breakthrough, The Four Lenses of Innovation will teach you how to reverse-engineer creative genius and make radical business innovation an everyday reality inside your organization. Rowan Gibson has done a superb job of unpacking what it takes to innovate. Philip Kotler, S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University Can you develop an innovative mind? Yes, you can. And this book is the manual. John and Doris Naisbitt, authors of China s Megatrends and The Global Game Change An excellent piece of work for practitioners and organizations who seek to have innovation as part of their DNA. Camille Mirshokrai, Managing Director of Leadership Development, and Partner at Accenture Rowan Gibson s The Four Lenses of Innovation will inspire you to think big, look afresh at the challenges you face, and take bold action to change the world. Robert B. Tucker, author of Driving Growth Through Innovation
In The Oxford Handbook of Language Evolution, sixty leading
scholars present critical accounts of every aspect of the field.
Its five parts are devoted to insights from comparative animal
behavior; the biology of language evolution (anatomy, genetics, and
neurology); the prehistory of language (when and why did language
evolve?); the development of a linguistic species; and language
creation, transmission, and change.
Social learning commonly refers to the social transfer of information and skill among individuals. It encompasses a wide range of behaviours that include where and how to obtain food, how to interact with members of one's own social group, and to identify and respond appropriately to predators. The behaviour of experienced individuals provides natural sources of information, by which inexperienced individuals may learn about the opportunities and hazards of their environment, and develop and modify their own behaviour as a result. A wide diversity of species is discussed in this book, some of which have never been discussed in this context before, and particular reference is made to their natural life strategies. Social learning in humans is also considered by comparison with other mammals, especially in their technological and craft traditions. Moreover, a discussion is included of the social learning abilities of prehistoric hominids.
Social learning commonly refers to the social transfer of information and skill among individuals. It encompasses a wide range of behaviors that include where and how to obtain food, how to interact with members of one's own social group, and how to identify and respond appropriately to predators. Mammalian Social Learning discusses a wide diversity of species, some of which have never been discussed in this context before, with particular reference made to their natural life strategies. Expert chapters consider social learning in humans in comparison with other mammals, especially in their technological and craft traditions. Moreover, for the first time, attention is given to the social learning abilities of prehistoric hominids.
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