Pattern Classification Using Ensemble Methods

A notable surgeon and charismatic teacher himself, Professor Ellis has brought together in Operations that Made History a fascinating collection of renowned surgical procedures, each one illustrating a different aspect of the history of surgery. The first section of the book looks at examples of surgical procedures which have made a major contribution to the history of surgery, such as the first successful gastrectomy, performed in Vienna over a hundred years ago by Theodor Billroth. Some operations, whilst in themselves minor procedures, have nevertheless had a massive impact on the history of surgery. These are grouped together in the second section. In the final part of the book, Professor Ellis focuses on the famous patient, such as Nelson and George IV. In surgery, as in fields of human activity, history is forgotten at our peril. Operations that Made History gives its readers a unique insight into a remarkable speciality, using the lessons of history to instruct as well as amuse.

Thanks to high-speed computers and advanced algorithms, the important field of modelling multiphase flows is an area of rapid growth. This one-stop account – now in paperback, with corrections from the first printing – is the ideal way to get to grips with this topic, which has significant applications in industry and nature. Each chapter is written by an acknowledged expert and includes extensive references to current research. All of the chapters are essentially independent and so the book can be used for a range of advanced courses and the self-study of specific topics. No other book covers so many topics related to multiphase flow, and it will therefore be warmly welcomed by researchers and graduate students of the subject across engineering, physics, and applied mathematics.

English anatomist and biologist Richard Owen (1804–92), who in 1842 coined the word 'dinosaur', published this book in 1859, the year of On the Origin of Species. He reviews ancient and recent studies of mammals in Western science before going on to present his own updated categorisation of the class. Owen's eye for detail and range of scholarship are evident in this work, which is an extensive catalogue of mammals based on biological, geographical and anatomical characteristics. It incorporates, among other things, detailed classifications and sub-classifications of genus based on dental structures, food habits and cerebra. Owen's prose is lucid and precise and his investigations scrupulous, demonstrating the commitment that led him to become one of the foremost anatomists of his time. An appendix reveals Owen's views on the hotly debated theories of transmutation and extinction proposed by scientists such as Lamarck, Lyell and Darwin.

Initially published by the Linnean Society, this 1865 essay was Darwin's first foray into the study of climbing plants. He was inspired to produce this work by a paper on the tendrilled Cucurbitacean plant by American botanist Asa Gray, with whom he had a firm intellectual friendship. Darwin examines in detail those plants which climb using a twisting stem, such as the hop; leaf-climbers, such as the clematis; tendrilled plants such as the passion flower; and hook and root climbers such as ivy. The conclusions reached by his study are presented in terms of the adaptations of various species to their environments, a continuation of the theories that Darwin had propounded in his On the Origin of the Species six years earlier. His passion for the design of the plants and fascination with the diversity of their powers of movement are clear in this accessible example of the process of evolution.

How should historians read sources which record inquisitorial trials in the Middle Ages? How can we understand the fears felt by those on trial? By analysing six volumes of depositions in the trial of Cathar and Waldensian heretics in Languedoc between the late twelfth and the fourteenth century, in this book, Caterina Bruschi challenges old methodologies in the study of dissent. She examines the intrinsic narratological problems related to the sources and, using approaches from the social sciences, analyses the different fears felt by deponents and how those fears affected their actions and decisions. In so doing, she sheds light on itinerancy within the ecclesial structure of non-conformist movements and contextualises the problem of itinerancy as a benchmark for the definition of heresy. Focusing on the lives and attitudes of trial witnesses, this innovative account is a major contribution to our understanding of the nature of religious non-conformity in the Middle Ages.

In Emily Dickinson: The Poet on the Second Story Professor Jerome Loving provides an intuitive and 'interiorized' reading of the poet's most important works. Using biographical matters as a frame for his interpretations, Loving demonstrates how Dickinson's life is bound up with any series reading of her work. Literally, Dickinson wrote on the second storey of her father's house, but Loving argues that she also used that 'story' (or art) as both a retreat from the transitory nature of life and as a way of experiencing life in what might be termed the 'subjunctive' instead of the 'imperative'. Her persona, therefore, is as disembodied in the poems as was the reclusive poet to visitors to the Amherst 'Homestead'. Loving attempts to show that the voice we hear in the poems is that of the 'mind alone', as Dickinson herself said, 'without corporeal friend'. Of interest to students and scholars of American literature, this critical study will also interest more general readers who enjoy Dick

The book comprises six lectures delivered in the Divinity School, Cambridge in the Lent Term of 1964. The main concern of the author is the moral challenge to Christian theological ethics from the secular humanist who has a high sense of moral responsibility without any belief in God or in personal immortality. If these lectures only touch upon the ultimate questions about the nature and status of moral personal being, they will enable some secular humanists and some Christians to enter upon conversations which may prove useful to both. In his first chapter the author considers the contemporary challenge to theological ethics from highly moral secular humanism. In particular, he examines the vocabulary which the secular humanist and the Christian are using in speaking of the moral standard. In the five chapters which follow, he deals largely with the diversity of ethical judgement as applied to particular situations. He avoids the use of technical terms.

'Every person on earth uses, either directly or indirectly, ten metric tons of minerals each year.' So write Dr R. V. Dietrich and Dr Brian J. Skinner in their new book Gems, Granites, and Gravels. Minerals and mineral products are involved in all aspects of our lives; we depend on them to keep us alive and ensure the continuity of our society. As a consequence, they have been a source of fascination and study throughout human history. In this book, Drs Dietrich and Skinner consider not only the beauty of minerals and rocks, but also their utility and their roles in our everyday well-being. Gems, Granites and Gravels is a valuable introduction to mineralogy and to related specialities such as petrology (the study of rocks), crystallography (the study of crystals), and soil science. Discoveries in these fields are described in a historical context, while the authors explain what minerals and rocks are, how they are distributed around the world, how we depend on them, and where to see th

Despite its remote and seemingly rigorous environment, the Antarctic is the world's most important habitat for seals, currently supporting more seals than all other parts of the world combined. As various national Antarctic programmes were established to study these animals, the need to standardize techniques became apparent. This book, arising from work by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (Group of Specialists on Seals), gives a detailed account of well-tried and, where possible, agreed methodologies, techniques, procedures and rationale for the collection and initial analysis of data on the biology and population ecology of Antarctic seals. This volume will not only help facilitate comparisons between different regions of Antarctica, but will also provide a guide for those studying seals in other parts of the world and those carrying out research on other large mammal species.

Blake's late prophecies, The Four Zoas, Milton and Jerusalem, feature a conflict between the poet-prophet Los and a Spectre embodying all he most opposes: intellectual scepticism, religious despair and a systematic philosophical logic of contraries, which is for Blake an abstraction from, and negation of, his ideal of 'life'. In this 1991 book, Lorraine Clark traces the analogy between Blake's Spectre and Soren Kierkegaard's concept of 'dread', whose spirit of negation and irony he seeks to conquer, in both its philosophical and aesthetic manifestations. Using Kierkegaard's philosophy to illuminate Blake's prophecies, Lorraine Clark shows these concepts to offer the basis for a profound critique both of romanticism, as it has come to be identified with the spirit of dialectic, and of the postmodern irony which it has spawned. Their attempt to rescue an ideal of life from its abstraction within idealist dialectics is itself deeply romantic, and offers a dramatisation of tensions - betwe

This book is a guide to Chinese usage for students who have already acquired the basics of the language and wish to extend their knowledge. Unlike conventional grammars, it addresses many aspects of Chinese language usage, such as letter writing, idioms, proverbs, and riddles. It also provides new and recent words, including internet vocabulary, which enables students to understand and properly use the most up-to-date expressions alongside everyday language. Useful sections on common social interactions are included, along with an invaluable guide to the finer nuances of body language. Clear, readable, and easy to consult, this is an essential reference for learners seeking access to one of the world's most important languages.

In the 1870s Britain dominated the coast of east Africa by informal influence exerted from Zanzibar through the renowned consul-general, Sir John Kirk. This unchallenged position ended with the decision of Bismarck to back Carl Peters in his treaty-making activities and the mainland opposite Zanzibar was partitioned in 1886 into British and German spheres. The British government was not willing to assume the responsibility and expense involved in administration of its area of influence and it assigned control to the Imperial British East Africa Company headed by William Mackinnon. The company's life was short and inglorious. The government attributed its failure to the ineffectuality of Mackinnon and the Company's directors blamed the government for using the Company to advance political objects and not providing it with proper support. Professor Galbraith's book considers this episode in British Imperial History, the factors involved and Mackinnon's part in it. The book considers the

David Clarke was until his death in 1976 'the acknowledged leader in Britain of the 'new wave' of archaeological thinking'. His work concentrated on the establishment of explicit theory and logic in archaeological method and the contributions to this volume demonstrate how vital was his inspiration and reflect its diversity. The contributors follow his lead in searching for ways of discovering and interpreting patterns, including spatial, economic and social patterns in the archaeological record of past human life. The studies in this book were all commissioned and have not appeared elsewhere. The book will be of importance for archaeologists and of interest to anthropologists and those concerned with the general methodology of the social sciences.

This study provides a comprehensive description and analysis of the syntax and semantics of middle constructions in German, including those formed by using the auxiliary lassen 'let'. English and French middles are also treated in depth for comparative purposes. Sarah Fagan argues that middle constructions are not to be accounted for in the syntax, but rather in a bipartite lexicon consisting of Static and Dynamic components. This division of the lexicon helps to clarify the analysis in a number of ways. The author also considers middles in the context of recent work on generics, and examines Vendler's typology of aspectual verb classes in the light of middle formation in German and English. The study addresses a number of issues in the syntax of modern German relevant to our understanding of universal grammar: 1. the appearance of ergative predicates in German: 2. the implications of impersonal clauses in German: and 3. the use of reflexives in argument positions. The value of this st

Edward Dent was a prolific correspondent and hundreds of letters remain, many in the Rowe Library at Kings College, Cambridge, bearing witness that what he wrote was treasured by the recipients. Clive Carey was no exception: during a friendship that began in Cambridge in 1901 when he was an organ scholar at Clare and Dent a newly elected Fellow of King's and lasted till Dent's death in 1957, Carey kept every letter he received, more than four hundred in all. Using some of these letters as a framework, Carey's nephew has compiled an informal biography of Edward Dent. The book is illustrated throughout with pictures taken for the most part from personal sources. Production pictures, costume designs and sets will be of particular interest to the theatre and opera historian, while the period flavour of the book in general will appeal to anyone with interest in or nostalgia for an era that ended with the fifties.

This third volume of Short Reports from the International Council of Scientific Unions comprises the proceedings of the conference on bioenergetics held at Hannover in September 1984. The reports are divided into two sections. Those in the first section come from the symposia and colloquia lectures and are grouped under ten topics in microbial bioenergetics and the relation between protein structure and function. Those in the second section come from the poster sessions, covering a further ten topics ranging from electron transport and proton motive forces to metabolic regulation and energy transducing membrane components. The format of the short report makes it possible to present a great deal of information in compact and easily accessible form, which can be followed up in greater depth using the bibliographies included in each report. The comprehensiveness and convenience of this book makes it most useful to researchers interested in historical developments across the range of bioen

First published in 1987, this book describes tissue (cell and organ) culture techniques which could be used at a critical predevelopment stage to screen for drug-inducing toxicity or to analyse the molecular mechanisms of toxicity at a later stage in parallel with investigative studies. This type of research has important ethical, financial and scientific implications. In particular, less animals and compound are required in in vitro research and more detailed information at the cellular and subcellular levels can be obtained. The volume brings together the once disparate knowledge of cultural techniques and thus provides an important reference work for industrial and academic toxicologists. It could also form a framework for discussion of potential improvements and modification of toxicity testing.

The aim of Artefacts as Categories is to ask what we can learn about a society from the variability of the objects it produces. Dr Miller presents a comprehensive analysis of the pottery produced in a single village in central India, drawing together and analysing a whole range of aspects - technology, function, design, symbolism and ideology - that are usually studied separately. Using the concepts of 'pragmatics', 'framing' and 'ideology', the author points to the insufficiency of many ethnographic accounts of symbolism and underlines the need to consider both the social positioning of the interpreter and the context of the interpretation when looking at artefacts. His invigorating study cogently questions many assumptions in material culture studies and offers a whole range of fresh explanations. Archaeologists in particular will welcome the discussion of familiar materials such as pottery rim shapes, body forms and decoration. However, the book will have a broad appeal to researche

In 1978, when this book was first published, the provision of water services was a fundamental environmental issue. In England and Wales, organizations were created to protect and enhance the nation's water resources. This book considers the problems involved in achieving those objectives and attempts to assess the potential of the organizational arrangements to assist. Each type of water management problem is presented in the context of an actual example. The conflicts inherent in the need for surface reservoirs are discussed using the Lake District as an example. The Severn Trent river system is used as the basis for an examination of flood damage reduction. The Mersey and Trent river systems are used similarly when effluent disposal and river quality are discussed. Amongst other questions covered are spray irrigation and the control of groundwater resources. A final chapter deals with national aspects of water management including the proposal in 1973 for a 'national water grid'. Th

This study is the first of its kind to examine the history and organization of trans-Saharan trade in western Africa using original source material. It documents the internal dynamics of a trade network system based on a case study of 'Berber' traders from the Wād Nūn region, who specialized in outfitting camel caravans in the nineteenth century. Through an examination of contracts, correspondence, fatwas and interviews with retired caravaners, Professor Lydon shows how traders used their literacy skills in Arabic and how they had recourse to experts of Islamic law to regulate their long-distance transactions. The book also examines the strategies devised by women to participate in caravan trade. By embracing a continental approach, this study bridges the divide between West African and North African studies. The work will be of interest to historians of Africa, the Middle East, and the world and to scholars of long-distance trade, Muslim societies and Islamic law.

For over a century, scholars have recognized an 'orientalizing period' in the history of early Greek art, in which Greek artisans fashioned works of art under the stimulus of Near Eastern imports or resident foreign artisans. Previous studies have emphasized the role of Greek and Phoenician traders in bringing about these contacts with the civilizations of the ancient Near East and Egypt, debating their duration or intensity in the Greek world. In this study, Ann Gunter interrogates the categories of 'Greek' and 'Oriental' as problematic and shifts emphasis to modes of contact and cultural transfers within a broader regional setting. Her provocative study places Greek encounters with the Near East and Egypt in the context of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which by the 8th and 7th centuries BCE extended from southern Turkey to western Iran. Using an expanded array of archaeological and textual sources, she argues that crucial aspects of the identity and meaning of foreign works of art were co

Using real-life cases describing patients with neuro-ophthalmic disorders, this book is a case-based teaching tool that bridges the gap between textbook information and everyday clinical practice. Each case illustrates a particular area of frequent diagnostic confusion, and highlights the specific clinical features that should point to the correct diagnosis. Focusing on errors in this way serves as motivation to the clinician to master the material so that 'pitfalls' can be avoided. The level of the case discussions assumes that the reader has some familiarity with basic neuroanatomy, physiology and disease process but each case discussion furnishes a brief review of such information, always with an emphasis on those features that are clinically relevant. The case-histories are succinct and amply illustrated, including motility and fundus photographs, visual fields and radiographic studies. The narrative is moved along with questions to the reader, making it easy to follow the logic of

Investigation and Responsibility deals with the extension of social responsibility in the American states during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Lord Bryce questioned the reality of American belief in laissez faire, and recent work has reinforced these doubts. Professor Brock makes a substantial contribution to this reassessment, through an examination of the activities of the agencies established at a state level for the regulation of the social environment. Using the evidence provided by the published reports of the state agencies, he argues that these activities were far more extensive then has often been thought, and indicates the ways in which they laid the foundations for modern government activity in the fields of welfare, health, safety, labour law, and economic regulation. By a detailed examination of such agencies as boards of state charities and public health, bureaus of labour statistics, and railroad commissions, Professor Brock places the extension of state res

The popular image of the Kalahari is a romantic one of desert space and untouched Bushmen. The popular image of the Afrikaners is of a unique and vicious racialism. Yet Afrikaners have been living in the Kalahari for more than a hundred years, their presence often studiously ignored by writers; and since 1961 independent Botswana with its policy of scrupulous non-racialism has embraced both Afrikaner and Bushman in common citizenship. This book attempts to describe the complex and mundane reality of ethnic relations in the Kalahari, not only in the present, harried by relentless pressure to enter the cash economy of modernisation, but in the past. Using oral history as a source, the authors describe the 'Africanisation' of these poor white pastoralists of the interior, cut off by the thirstland from those influences which gave contemporary Afrikanerdom its particular cast. They describe the pragmatic relations developed by Afrikaners with other peoples of the interior, and how these ha

Using evidence drawn from archives in Moscow, Professor Bushkovitch challenges conventional analyses of trade and industry during this period. The Merchants of Moscow 1580–1650 examines the formation of the merchant class in Russia before the reforms of Peter the Great, focusing on the role of the Muscovite merchants in the establishment of foreign and domestic trade and commerce. Bushkovitch places the merchants of Moscow within the context of Eastern Europe, a region whose economic complexities and contradictions make it a more apt standard for comparison than the Western European nations against whom the merchants are usually measured. By shifting his focus to Eastern Europe, Bushkovitch is able to re-evaluate their position in the state and other branches of the Russian economy as well as their role in international commerce. Rather than presenting them as debilitated by an absolutist state whose demands depleted their time and wealth, Bushkovitch finds that the merchants of Moscow

The study of syllable quantity and vowel length raises issues of considerable importance for phonology and historical linguistics in general. Among Indo-European languages, the phonological structure of Modern Icelandic is of particular interest because of the so-called 'quantity shift', which is part of its historical background and which changed the inherited Old Icelandic structure. In this rich case-study Dr Arnason analyses the changes that led to the shift, using among other things the metrical works as evidence. He shows that in Modern Icelandic vowel length is determined by syllabic quantity, which is in turn defined by stress. Close attention is paid to related phenomena in other languages and, against this comparative background, Dr Arnason calls into question the validity and theoretical status of existing 'explanations' of linguistic change. This is then a study for those interested in Scandinavian languages but it has wider theoretical implications for all historical lingu

The Thirty Years War was the central political and military encounter of the seventeenth century. It drew in virtually all of Europe, with the exception of England, and by 1650 no European country had entirely escaped the experience of violent conflict. Since the end of the Second World War historians in western and eastern Europe have been engaged in the task of reassuring the significance of the seventeenth century in general and the Thirty Years War in particular. They have formulated questions and attempted to answer them by using fresh sources. One especially rich depository is the archival system of Czechoslovakia. The seventeenth-century generals and diplomats of the Imperial side preserved masses of papers which usually found their way into family archives, many of them housed on Bohemian and Moravian landed estates. With the transfer of private archives into public hands after 1945, much new material became available to scholars. This volume surveys the process of historical r

Did Mussolini invade Greece against Hitler's wishes? Were Fuhrer's plans for that country purely defensive? How did the German campaign in the Balkans affect their attack on Soviet Russia? These are a few of the questions to which Dr van Crevland provides provocative answers. Using Hitler's attitude to Greece and Yugoslavia as a vital clue, this book puts forward a novel interpretation of Germany's overall strategy in the years 1940–1. Rejecting 'traditional views', the author suggests that Hitler was in fact greatly interested in the Mediterranean and the possibilities it offered for conducting 'peripheral' warfare against Great Britain, that he authorized, or at least tolerated in silence, Mussolini's attack on Greece; that, after about 30 November 1940, he repeatedly made peaceful overtures to Greece but that these were rejected by Athens because of British Pressure; that Rumanians, Bulgarians and Yugoslavs put serious obstacles in the way of the planned German invasion of Greece; t

Peter Bolt explores the impact of Mark's Gospel on its early readers in the first-century Graeco-Roman world. His book focuses upon the thirteen characters in Mark who come to Jesus for healing or exorcism and, using analytical tools of narrative and reader-response criticism, explores their crucial role in the communication of the Gospel. Bolt suggests that early readers of Mark would be persuaded that Jesus' dealings with the suppliants show him casting back the shadow of death and that this in itself is preparatory for Jesus' final defeat of death in resurrection. Enlisting a variety of ancient literary and non-literary sources in an attempt to illuminate this first-century world, this book gives special attention to illness, magic and the Roman imperial system. This is a different approach to Mark, which attempts to break the impasse between narrative and historical studies and will appeal to scholars and students alike.

Conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and the State in Mexico became prominent soon after independence in 1821, and during the next three decades national and state governments made various attempts to reduce ecclesiastical influence in the social, economic and political life of the nation. Few of such efforts met with much success, and it was not until 1856 that a major reform was initiated. Legislation was issued which affected all spheres of clerical activity but the most vital and controversial aspect of the reform involved the measures adopted to dispossess the Church of its wealth. The extensive ecclesiastical holdings of urban and rural real estate and capital were nationalized and redistributed. Professor Bazant examines earlier attempts at nationalization, and describes in detail the implementations of the 1856 Lerdo Law and subsequent decrees. Using selected areas of the country, he traces the precise effects of the redistribution of Church property and capital, describi

How are our societies being transformed by internet and digital economics? This book provides an accessible introduction to the economics of the internet and a comprehensive account of the mechanisms of the digital economy. Leading scholars examine the original economic and business models being developed as a result of the internet system, and explore their impact on our economies and societies. Key issues are analysed, including the development of open source software and on-line communities, peer-to-peer and online sharing of cultural goods, electronic markets and the rise of new information intermediaries, e-retailing and e-banking. The volume examines how internet and digital economics have transformed the organization of firms, industries, markets, commerce, modes of distribution, money, finance, and innovation processes, and provides the analytical tools to understand both these recent transformations and the likely future directions of the 'New Economy'.

Using a vast range of primary sources, this substantial and important volume provides a comprehensive analysis of the division and near-collapse of Habsburg authority during the 1550s. The principal episodes of this period (the death of Charles V, the accession of Philip II, and the latter's marriage to Mary Tudor) are well known in outline, but Dr Rodriguez-Salgado provides much that is new and original, both on the internal history of Spain, and on the highly complex diplomacy of the period. Why did Charles V and Philip I go to war against France, and Papacy and Islam, and how did the multinational empire survive the huge financial demands such wars placed upon it? Spanish relations with England and France are examined in detail, and The Changing Face of Empire does a great deal to illuminate the breakdown in relations with the Netherlands that was to culminate in the Dutch Revolt.

Does a word mean what it says? Sometimes - but not always. Everyone thinks that meaning is contained within words - like sardines in a tin, or milk in a bottle. After all, words are nice stable things that you can look up in a dictionary aren't they? But dictionaries only take us so far… If you eavesdropped on a teenage conversation, rushing to a dictionary - with its definitions frozen in time - wouldn't help much. Who's using a word and to whom, in what context, for what purpose - all these influence the meaning of the language we use. The word's origins and history (its 'genetics') also help. Try teaching yourself another language from a phrasebook and you'll soon learn that you can be correct, in the formal sense, but still way behind the times in reality. In this book Wajnryb considers these and other questions to explore how and why our language works the way it does.

The arithmetic properties of modular forms and elliptic curves lie at the heart of modern number theory. This book develops a generalisation of the method of Euler systems to a two-variable deformation ring. The resulting theory is then used to study the arithmetic of elliptic curves, in particular the Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer (BSD) formula. Three main steps are outlined: the first is to parametrise 'big' cohomology groups using (deformations of) modular symbols. Finiteness results for big Selmer groups are then established. Finally, at weight two, the arithmetic invariants of these Selmer groups allow the control of data from the BSD conjecture. As the first book on the subject, the material is introduced from scratch; both graduate students and professional number theorists will find this an ideal introduction. Material at the very forefront of current research is included, and numerical examples encourage the reader to interpret abstract theorems in concrete cases.

G. I. Taylor was one of the most distinguished physical scientists of the last century, using his deep insight and originality and mathematical skill to increase greatly our understanding of phenomena such as the turbulent flow of fluids. His interest in the science of fluid flow was not confined to theory; he was one of the early pioneers of aeronautics, and designed a new type of anchor, now widely used in small boats throughout the world, that came about through his passion for sailing. Taylor spent most of his working life in the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where he investigated the mechanics of fluid and solid materials; his discoveries and ideas have had application throughout mechanical, civil and chemical engineering, meteorology, oceanography and material science. He was also a noted research leader, and his group in Cambridge became one of the most productive centres for the study of fluid mechanics. How was Taylor able to be innovative in so many different ways? Th

The decomposition of the space L2(G(Q)\G(A)), where G is a reductive group defined over Q and A is the ring of adeles of Q, is a deep problem at the intersection of number and group theory. Langlands reduced this decomposition to that of the (smaller) spaces of cuspidal automorphic forms for certain subgroups of G. This book describes this proof in detail. The starting point is the theory of automorphic forms, which can also serve as a first step towards understanding the Arthur–Selberg trace formula. To make the book reasonably self-contained, the authors also provide essential background in subjects such as: automorphic forms; Eisenstein series; Eisenstein pseudo-series, and their properties. It is thus also an introduction, suitable for graduate students, to the theory of automorphic forms, the first written using contemporary terminology. It will be welcomed by number theorists, representation theorists and all whose work involves the Langlands program.

This is a guide to Korean language usage for students who have already acquired the basics of the language and wish to extend their knowledge and organise accumulated bits of information into a comprehensive picture. It is designed to promote the fluency and accuracy vital to effective communication, provides excellent coverage of proverbs, idioms, and sound symbolism, is tailored to the needs of the English-speaking user, and will be invaluable to anyone requiring up-to-date guidance on points of grammar and vocabulary. Unlike conventional grammars, it highlights those areas of vocabulary and grammar which cause most difficulty to English speakers. Special attention is given throughout the book to the appropriateness of different language styles in various situational contexts. Clear, readable, and easy to consult, it is essential for all those who wish to take their Korean beyond the beginner's level.

The empire of the Qara Khitai, which was one of the least known and most fascinating dynasties in the history of Central Asia, existed for nearly a century before it was conquered by the Mongols in 1218. Arriving in Central Asia from China, the Qara Khitai ruled over a mostly Muslim population. Their history affords a unique window onto the extensive cross-cultural contacts between China, Inner Asian nomads and the Muslim world in the period preceding the rise of Chinggis Khan. Using an extensive corpus of Muslim and Chinese sources, Michal Biran comprehensively examines the political, institutional and cultural histories of the Qara Khitai. Her book explores a range of topics including the organization of the army, the position of women, the image of China in Muslim Central Asia,the religions of the Qara Khitai and the legacy they left for the Mongols. Crucially she asks why they did not, unlike their predecessors and successors in Central Asia, embrace Islam. The book represents a gr

The subject matter of this text is conference based and deals with the physiology, ecology and management of orchid conservation. It offers information not only to the orchid research scientist, but also to the orchid enthusiast curious about the scientific background to this topic. Interest and support for plant conservation has increased considerably and a great deal of attention has been focused on the plight of members of the orchid family. The development makes it desirable to collect existing information and to consider areas of research.

This is the only book actuaries need to understand generalized linear models (GLMs) for insurance applications. GLMs are used in the insurance industry to support critical decisions. Until now, no text has introduced GLMs in this context or addressed the problems specific to insurance data. Using insurance data sets, this practical, rigorous book treats GLMs, covers all standard exponential family distributions, extends the methodology to correlated data structures, and discusses recent developments which go beyond the GLM. The issues in the book are specific to insurance data, such as model selection in the presence of large data sets and the handling of varying exposure times. Exercises and data-based practicals help readers to consolidate their skills, with solutions and data sets given on the companion website. Although the book is package-independent, SAS code and output examples feature in an appendix and on the website. In addition, R code and output for all the examples are pro