Everything will change. But the moment has been prepared for. Katherine Miles and David Belue, students at the first Federal University and Research Complex in central Florida, face a new and dangerous reality when the compound is sealed to keep the facilities out of the hands of a secessionist governor. Each will try in their own way to protect the community from threats without and within. That could cost them their lives… Slowpocalypse Book 1. The adventure continues with Book 2: Threat Multiplication, Book 3: Compromised Inside, and Book 4: Peripheral Encounters.
Charges of abandoned standards issue from government offices; laments for the loss of the best that has been thought and said resound through university corridors. While revisionists are perplexed by questions of value, critical theory--haunted by the heresy of relativism--remains captive to classical formulas. Barbara Herrnstein Smith's book confronts the conceptual problems and sociopolitical conflicts at the heart of these issues and raises their discussion to a new level of sophistication. Polemical without being rancorous, Contingencies of Value mounts a powerful critique of traditional conceptions of value, taste, judgment, and justification. Through incisive discussions of works by, among others, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, Northrop Frye, Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, Richard Rorty, and Jürgen Habermas, Smith develops an illuminating alternative framework for the explanation of these topics. All value, she argues, is radically contingent. Neither an objective property of things nor merely a subjective response to them, it is the variable effect of numerous interacting economies that is, systems of apportionment and circulation of "goods." Aesthetic value, moral value, and the truth-value of judgments are no exceptions, though traditional critical theory, ethics, and philosophy of language have always tried to prove otherwise. Smith deals in an original way with a wide variety of contemporary issues--from the relation between popular and high culture to the conflicting conception of human motives and actions in economic theory and classical humanism. In an important final chapter, she addresses directly the crucial problem of relativism and explains why a denial of the objectivity of value does not--as commonly feared and charged--produce either a fatuous egalitarianism or moral and political paralysis.
This volume presents a comprehensive, in-depth analysis of the theories, evidence and methodological issues of contingency theory - one of the major theoretical lenses used to view organizations.
Contingency planning and resilience are of prime importance to the late modern risk society, with implications for law and for governance arrangements. Our risk society continues to seek ever more complex and detailed risk mitigation responses by law, including the UK’s Civil Contingencies Act 2004 and the US Homeland Security Act 2002, which respond to counter-terrorism, natural catastrophes, and other risks. This book seeks to analyse and criticise the legal developments in contingencies and resilience on a comparative basis, which engages with not only law and constitutionalism but also political theory and policy, including relations between public and private, national and local, and civil and military. Two transcending themes are of interest. One is institutional or structural – what bodies and power relations should we establish in a late modern world where Critical National Infrastructure is mainly held in private hands? The second is dynamic and concerns the grant of powers and arrangements for live responses. Both aspects are subjected to a strong critical stance based in 'constitutionalism', which demands state legitimacy even in extreme situations by the observance of legality, effectiveness, accountability, and individual rights. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Human Rights.
The papers presented in this volume address diverse challenges in energy systems, ranging from operational to investment planning problems, from market economics to technical and environmental considerations, from distribution grids to transmission grids and from theoretical considerations to data provision concerns and applied case studies. The International Symposium on Energy System Optimization (ISESO) was held on November 9th and 10th 2015 at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS) and was organized by HITS, Heidelberg University and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Contains a six-stage plan for starting new warehouse projects and guiding programmers step-by-step until they become a world-class, Agile development team. It describes also how to avoid or contain the fierce opposition that radically new methods can encounter from the traditionally-minded IS departments found in many large companies.
Power system computing with neural networks is one of the fastest growing fields in the history of power system engineering. Since 1988, a considerable amount of work has been done in investigating computing capabilities of neural networks and understanding their relevance to providing efficient solutions for outstanding complex problems of the electric power industry. A principal objective of a power utility is to provide electric energy to its customers in a secure, reliable and economic manner. Toward this aim, utility personnel are engaged in a variety of activities in areas of supervisory control and monitoring, evaluation of operating conditions, operation planning and scheduling, system development, equipment testing, etc. Over the past decades significant advances have been made in the development of new concepts, design of hardware and software systems, and implementation of solid-state devices which all contributed to the steadily improving power system performance that we are experiencing today. Advanced information processing technologies played an important role in these development efforts. Members of the Special Interest Group for Power Engineering of the INNS recognized the need for bringing together leading researchers in the field of neurocomputing with experts from power utilities and manufacturing companies to assess the current state of affairs and to explore the directions of further research and practice. This book is based on The Summer Workshop on Neural Network Computing for the Electric Power Industry which brought together approximately forty specialists with backgrounds in power engineering, system operation and planning, neural network theory and AI systems design. An informal and highly inspiring atmosphere of the workshop facilitated open discussion and exchange of expertise between the participants.
Established as the foremost textbook on communication, the seventh edition of Owen Hargie’s Skilled Interpersonal Communication is thoroughly revised and updated with the latest research findings, theoretical developments and applications. The contribution of skilled interpersonal communication to success in both personal and professional contexts is now widely recognised and extensively researched. People have a deep-seated and universal need to interact with others, and the greater their communicative ability the more satisfying and rewarding will be their lives. The main focus of this book is on the identification, analysis and evaluation of the core skills needed in these interactions. The first two chapters provide details of the nature of interpersonal communication and socially skilled performance, respectively, with a review of the main theoretical perspectives pertaining to each. The book then offers detailed accounts of the fourteen main skill areas: nonverbal communication, reinforcement, questioning, reflecting, listening, explaining, self-disclosure, set induction, closure, assertiveness, influencing, negotiating and interacting in and leading group discussions. The book concludes with a discussion on the ethical issues in interpersonal communication. This new edition also features an extended section on groupthink and analyses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on aspects such as greeting patterns and the effectiveness of Project Fear by the UK government to secure citizen compliance. Written by one of the foremost international experts in the field, this is essential reading for students of interpersonal communication in general and to qualified personnel and trainees in many fields.
"Introduction to Explainable AI (XAI): Making AI Understandable" is an essential resource for anyone seeking to understand the burgeoning field of explainable artificial intelligence. As AI systems become integral to critical decision-making processes across industries, the ability to interpret and comprehend their outputs becomes increasingly vital. This book offers a comprehensive exploration of XAI, delving into its foundational concepts, diverse techniques, and pivotal applications. It strives to demystify complex AI behaviors, ensuring that stakeholders across sectors can engage with AI technologies confidently and responsibly. Structured to cater to both beginners and those with an existing interest in AI, this book covers the spectrum of XAI topics, from model-specific approaches and interpretable machine learning to the ethical and societal implications of AI transparency. Readers will be equipped with practical insights into the tools and frameworks available for developing explainable models, alongside an understanding of the challenges and limitations inherent in the field. As we look toward the future, the book also addresses emerging trends and research directions, positioning itself as a definitive guide to navigating the evolving landscape of XAI. This book stands as an invaluable reference for students, practitioners, and policy makers alike, offering a balanced blend of theory and practical guidance. By focusing on the synergy between humans and machines through explainability, it underscores the importance of building AI systems that are not only powerful but also trustworthy and aligned with societal values.
