Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Value Creation provides a detailed and insightful exploration of both the possibilities and the challenges that accompany widespread Artificial Intelligence. Providing a cutting edge analysis of the impact of AI in business and society, the editors offer an opportunity to assess what is known about managing other forms of information systems, strategy, and marketing, and to re-examine this knowledge in situations involving AI. This comprehensive book explores how human- centric AI systems create value inside organizations, distinguishing three main components: ethical value, societal value, and business value. Using a multidisciplinary perspective, this discerning book addresses the interests of a wide spectrum of practitioners, students, and researchers alike who are interested in identifying the value generated by AI systems in management.

Arch-criminal Gru (voice of Steve Carell) and his minions return in this Academy Award-nominated, computer-animated comedy sequel.

Now living a life of domestic bliss in suburbia with adopted daughters Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fisher) and Edith (Dana Gaier), Gru's world is turned upside down when he finds himself abducted by agent Lucy Wilde (Kristen Wiig) of the Anti-Villain League on the orders of boss Silas Ramsbottom (Steve Coogan).

All is not what it seems, however, for with the world threatened by the new and dastardly super-villain known as Eduardo (Benjamin Bratt), it falls to the unique talents of Gru and his minions to step up to the plate and finally save the day.

Brill's Companion to the Reception of Plato in Antiquity offers a comprehensive account of the ways in which ancient readers responded to Plato, as philosopher, as author, and more generally as a central figure in the intellectual heritage of Classical Greece, from his death in the fourth century BCE until the Platonist and Aristotelian commentators in the sixth century CE. The volume is divided into three sections: 'Early Developments in Reception' (four chapters); 'Early Imperial Reception' (nine chapters); and 'Early Christianity and Late Antique Platonism' (eighteen chapters). Sectional introductions cover matters of importance that could not easily be covered in dedicated chapters. The book demonstrates the great variety of approaches to and interpretations of Plato among even his most dedicated ancient readers, offering some salutary lessons for his modern readers too.

Historically, all societies have used comparison to analyze cultural difference through the interaction of religion, power, and translation. When comparison is a self-reflective practice, it can be seen as a form of comparatism. Many scholars are concerned in one way or another with the practice and methods of comparison, and the need for a cognitively robust relativism is an integral part of a mature historical self-placement. This volume looks at how different theories and practices of writing and interpretation have developed at different times in different cultures and reconsiders the specificities of modern comparative approaches within a variety of comparative moments. The idea is to reconsider the specificities, the obstacles, and the possibilities of modern comparative approaches in history and anthropology through a variety of earlier and parallel comparative horizons. Particular attention is given to the exceptional role of Athens and Jerusalem in shaping the Western understanding of cultural difference.

This volume analyses several recent evolutions in global defence activities. Since the 1990s the industry has gradually repositioned because of geostrategic transformations, spatial reorganisation, budgetary trends, and evolutions within the production of defence per se, which have disrupted its economic and social fabric. These changes widen the scope of industrial activities and modify the organization of relations between armed forces, firms and local economies as well as society. They deeply affect the footprints of defence in several dimensions and its impacts on local communities, public/private boundaries and evolving requirements of armed forces. This volume analyses key features of recent and ongoing transformations of defence issues, from four perspectives. The first section considers those factors which are redefining the boundaries of defence, with a focus on defence economics; part two focuses on the spatial footprint of defence and its transformations and analyses the insertion of defence activities within urban landscapes; the third part analyses how armed forces manage their human resources; and the final section considers the international landscape of defence.

A double bill of children's feature films. 'Hop' (2011), a state-of-the-art blend of CGI-animation and live action, follows E.B. (voice of Russell Brand), the teenage son of the Easter Bunny. When E.B. arrives in Hollywood with ambitions of finding fame, his dreams are almost cut short when he is hit by a car driven by unemployed slacker Fred (James Marsden). Deciding to get what he can out of the situation, E.B. convinces Fred to take him home while he recovers from his injuries. Fred finds himself with a very demanding house-guest and the duo embark on a battle of wills that may just teach them both something important. 'Despicable Me' (2010), a computer-animated feature, follows an arch criminal who has a change of heart. Trying to outdo his main rival Vector (voice of Jason Segel), serial villain Gru (Steve Carell) hatches a plan to steal the moon, aided by his army of genetically altered corn pops. All goes according to plan until the arrival at his door of three little orphan girls, Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Agnes (Elsie Fisher) and Edith (Dana Gaier), in search of a father figure.

This book about the Mekong Delta presents a unique collection of state-of-the-art contributions by international experts from different scientific disciplines about the characteristics and pressing water-related challenges of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. The Mekong Delta belongs to one of the areas, which are to expect the largest challenges concerning environmental change and climate change induced sea level rise . The Delta acts as the "rice bowl" of Southeast Asia and is home to over 17 Million people, who need to cope with ecologic as well as socio-economic changes linked to the rapid economic development of the country. Annual floods, severe droughts, salt water intrusion, degrading water quality, tropical cyclones, hydrologic changes due to hydropower projects in the upstream of the Mekong, coastal erosion, and the loss of biodiversity are some of the problems in the region. Heterogeneous resource management responsibilities, and the fact that the Mekong - and thus also the Delta - is influenced by six countries aggravate the situation. Integrated water resources management and fostered cooperation and information exchange are pressing needs for the sustainable development of the Delta.

How do various concepts of God impact the moral life? Is God ultimately required for goodness? In this edited collection, an international panel of contemporary philosophers and theologians offer new avenues of exploration from a theist perspective for these important questions. The book features several approaches to address these questions. Common themes include philosophical and theological conceptions of God with reference to human morality, particular Trinitarian accounts of God and the resultant ethical implications, and how communities are shaped, promoted, and transformed by accounts of God. Bringing together philosophical and theological insights on the relationship between God and our moral lives, this book will be of keen interest to scholars of the philosophy of religion, particularly those looking at ethics, social justice and morality.

Optical Microscanners and Microspectrometers using Thermal Bimorph Actuators shows how to design and fabricate optical microsystems using innovative technologies and and original architectures. A barcode scanner, laser projection mirror and a microspectrometer are explained in detail, starting from the system conception, discussing simulations, choice of cleanroom technologies, design, fabrication, device test, packaging all the way to the system assembly.

An advanced microscanning device capable of one- and two-dimensional scanning can be integrated in a compact barcode scanning system composed of a laser diode and adapted optics. The original design of the microscanner combines efficiently the miniaturized thermal mechanical actuator and the reflecting mirror, providing a one-dimensional scanning or an unique combination of two movements, depending on the geometry. The simplicity of the device makes it a competitive component.

The authors rethink the design of a miniaturized optical device and find a compact solution for a microspectrometer, based on a tunable filter and a single pixel detector. A porous silicon technology combines efficiently the optical filter function with a thermal mechanical actuator on chip. The methodology for design and process calibration are discussed in detail. The device is the core component of an infrared gas spectrometer.

Having indicators to assess the effect of zootechnical, sanitary, economic or political intervention or the impact of environmental risks makes it possible to draw up strategies for improving domestic animal populations. This handbook is a compilation of the main concepts relating to the definition and calculation of demographic rates for largely non-intensive tropical animal farms. It is intended to be educational, and should help students, technicians, engineers, researchers and development staff to understand the definitions and formulas encountered in the literature more clearly and make them more self-sufficient in terms of analyses.

Astrophysics is facing challenging aims such as deep cosmology at redshift higher than 10 to constrain cosmology models, or the detection of exoplanets, and possibly terrestrial exoplanets, and several others. It requires unprecedented ambitious R&D programs, which have definitely to rely on a tight cooperation between astrophysics and optics communities. The book addresses most of the most critical interdisciplinary domains where they interact, or where they will do. A first need is to collect more light, i.e. telescopes still larger than the current 8-10 meter class ones. Decametric, and even hectometric, optical (from UV to IR wavelengths) telescopes are being studied. Whereas up to now the light collecting surface of new telescopes was approximately 4 times that of the previous generation, now this factor is growing to 10 to 100. This quantum leap urges to implement new methods or technologies developed in the optics community, both in academic labs and in the industry. Given the astrophysical goals and technological constraints, new generation adaptive optics with a huge number of actuators and laser guide stars devices have to be developed, from theoretical bases to experimental works. Two other newcomers in observational astrophysics are interferometric arrays of optical telescopes and gravitational wave detectors. Up-to-date reviews of detectors and of spectrographs are given, as well as forefront R&D in the field of optical coatings and of guided optics. Possible new ways to handle photons are also addressed, based on quantum physics. More and more signal processing algorithms are a part and parcel of any modern instrumentation. Thus finally the book gives two reviews about wavefront processing and about image restoration and deconvolution algorithms for ill conditioned cases.