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What is steampunk and why are people across the globe eagerly embracing its neo-Victorian aesthetic? Old-fashioned eye goggles, lace corsets, leather vests, brass gears and gadgets, mechanical clocks, the look appears across popular culture, in movies, art, fashion, and literature. But steampunk is both an aesthetic program and a way-of-life and its underlying philosophy is the key to its broad appeal. Steampunk champions a new autonomy for the individual caught up in today's technology-driven society. It expresses optimism for the future but it also delivers a note of caution about our human role in a world of ever more ubiquitous and powerful machines. Thus, despite adopting an aesthetic and lifestyle straight out of the Victorian scientific romance, steampunk addresses significant 21st-century concerns about what lies ahead for humankind. The movement recovers autonomy from prevailing trends even as it challenges us to ask what it is to be human today.

In this timely new book Wellmer intervenes in the highly topical debates on modernity and post-modernity. Discussing the work of Adorno, Habermas, Peter Burger and Jean-François Lyotard, among others, he offers a penetrating analysis of the aesthetic, ethical and philosophical dimensions of the modern era. In opposition to those who view post-modernity as a sign of post-enlightenment, Wellmer makes a reasoned plea for a re-examination of the goals of emancipatory Enlightenment and explores its implications for the appreciation of modern art forms.

Designed for teachers of 3- to 5-year-olds, this complete curriculum book focuses on how teachers can encourage, facilitate, and stimulate children's learning and growth. Each chapter discusses child development theory and relates theory to practice in ways that every teacher can understand and implement. It contains a comprehensive appendix, planning strategies, and an array of useful teaching tools.

Deborah is a real doll whose story begins in Deerfield, Massachusetts two hundred and fifty years ago.

Governments now routinely use AI-based software to gather information about citizens and determine the level of privacy a person can enjoy, how far they can travel, what public benefits they may receive, and what they can and cannot say publicly. What input do citizens have in how these machines think? In Political Automation, Eduardo Albrecht explores this question in various domains, including policing, national security, and international peacekeeping. Drawing upon interviews with rights activists, Albrecht examines popular attempts to interact with this novel form of algorithmic governance so far. He then proposes the idea of a Third House, a virtual chamber that legislates exclusively on AI in government decision-making and is based on principles of direct democracy, unlike existing upper and lower houses that are representative. Digital citizens, AI powered replicas of ourselves, would act as our personal emissaries to this Third House. An in-depth look at how political automation impacts the lives of citizens, this book addresses the challenges at the heart of automation in public policy decision-making and offers a way forward.

Originally published in 1958 this classic text is a comprehensive account of European relations from 1815 to the middle of the 20th Century, written in the light of World War II and the troubled period that followed it. An acclaimed historian, the author writes with the verve of a good political commentator. 70% of the book is devoted to the twentieth century and the focus of the book is on diplomatic history, while an introduction to each section provides the larger background of factors and forces in which diplomacy operates. Readable and accurate, with an emphasis on analysis and explanation, the book remains an excellent resource for students of history and international relations.

"A comprehensive treatment of thermodynamic processes operating in the atmosphere is presented with the core of the text focusing on water and its transformations. Four chapters lay the foundations, from energy conservation to the ideal gas law, specific heat capacities, adiabatic processes, and entropy. Applications of the first and second laws are presented, and the measurement of temperature, pressure, and moisture are described. An all-encompassing chapter treats phase transitions of water, including the effect of dissolved substances and size on water vapor pressure. The chapter on moist air and clouds discusses virtual temperature, isentropic ascent of saturated air, conserved parameters for moist processes, thermodynamic processes, thermodynamic diagrams, stability, and cloud formation. The final chapter covers energy, momentum, and mass transfer processes that are relevant to micrometeorology and biometeorology. Energy exchange between humans and their environments is treated with an emphasis on comfort in hot, humid conditions and cold windy conditions (wind chill). Assumptions and approximations are carefully laid out, derivations are detailed, and equations are interpreted physically, and applied. More than 400 thought-provoking problems are included along with about 350 references with annotations and suggestions for further reading"--