This collection offers new research findings, innovations, and industrial technological developments in extractive metallurgy, energy and environment, and materials processing. Technical topics included in the book are thermodynamics and kinetics of metallurgical reactions, electrochemical processing of materials, plasma processing of materials, composite materials, ionic liquids, thermal energy storage, energy efficient and environmental cleaner technologies and process modeling. These topics are of interest not only to traditional base ferrous and non-ferrous metal industrial processes but also to new and upcoming technologies, and they play important roles in industrial growth and economy worldwide.

Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in Research systematically outlines specific strategies to guide the student in designing and conducting empirical research. As with any undertaking that is based on skill development, the more you use the skill the more adept you become with the skill. The quality and usefulness of all research is only as good as the skills of the researcher and the clarity of the research study. This book is written primarily for graduate level producers of education and social science research. It is also appropriate for students who are proposing and conducting a research project as a culminating undergraduate requirement, and individuals and groups conducting research on topics independent of an informed means of assuming the role of researcher and embarking on a research study. It is written with the encouragement of learners who participated or will participate in research.

The first part of this new book concentrates on the office automation phenomenon. Chapter 1 sketches some of its disappointments and sets the stage for the chapters to follow. In Chapter 2, the author argues that images of organization incorporate what has been called a worldview and are thus inevitably relativistic in their orientation. This allows the author to criticize some common assumptions about the nature of organization, but it equally introduces a theme that is central to his theory, and that will be picked up again in a later chapter. Chapter 3 gets to the heart of his criticism of conventional theories of communication process, and in doing so allows the author to demonstrate the feet of clay of one of the sacred cows of our time: the concept of office work as information processing. The second part is concerned with theory and its implications. Chapter 4 describes the event of communication, in microcosm. Chapter 5 is an attempt to give this perception a more systematic presentation. Chapter 6 tries to understand the problem of operationalizing the theory, as a means to understanding, and studying the dynamics of conversation and of communication mediated through texts. Chapter 7 explores one implication of the theory, namely, the maintenance of requisite variety, within a conversational system. Chapter 8 concludes the presentation by a consideration of some of the implications of the theory for the conduct of research.

Publishing cross-national research is often a difficult endeavour as ensuring equivalence of method and measures can be challenging. Even though the importance of sound data and valid measures has long been an acknowledged, it is often problematic to follow required quality standards in concrete research situations. Against this background, this volume addresses issues pertaining to measurement and research methodology in an international marketing context. Written by a group of internationally renowned scholars, the papers address a broad range of subjects including response-bias in cross-cultural research, problems with cultural distance measures, and construct specification. Others focus on the development and application of novel research methods, for example in the context of marketing efficiency measurement or international market segmentation. Collectively, the papers in this volume substantially further marketing knowledge and provide fruitful avenues for future research. As such, this volume is an invaluable asset to researchers, students and practitioners in this particular field.

In the fall of 1357, a Flemish weaver travels around the countryside in England, at the request of the king, seeking apprentices to learn his trade. During this time, however, many Englishmen prefer the easy wealth gained from war and pillaging to learning to work diligently with their hands. Along the way the weaver meets a prosperous wool merchant with two sons-big, strong, sixteen-year-old Roger and small, crippled, thirteen-year-old Tom. The merchant is eager to advance his elder son but the weaver feels drawn to the intelligence of young Tom who is seen only as a burden and a curse. When Roger suddenly disappears one evening, the weaver sees his opportunity to help Tom, but Tom's father is not at all sure he should agree to the weaver's startling plan. Through many unexpected events, Tom must learn how even a crippled boy can serve God and be a true help to his family and his country.