The first comprehensive treatment of North American rodents of conservation concern. This action plan summarizes the rodent fauna of North America and provides available information on every rodent taxon that has been considered to be of conservation concern by state, provincial and private conservation agencies and regional experts. It is hoped that the survey provided in this action plan will serve as a common ground for all these parties in drawing up conservation strategies for rodents.
SOIL: beneath our feet / food and fiber / ashes to ashes, dust to dust / dirt!Soil has been called the final frontier of environmental research. The critical role of soil in biogeochemical processes is tied to its properties and place—porous, structured, and spatially variable, it serves as a conduit, buffer, and transformer of water, solutes and gases. Yet what is complex, life-giving, and sacred to some, is ordinary, even ugly, to others. This is the enigma that is soil. Soil and Culture explores the perception of soil in ancient, traditional, and modern societies. It looks at the visual arts (painting, textiles, sculpture, architecture, film, comics and stamps), prose & poetry, religion, philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, wine production, health & diet, and disease & warfare. Soil and Culture explores high culture and popular culture—from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to the films of Steve McQueen. It looks at ancient societies and contemporary artists. Contributors from a variety of disciplines delve into the mind of Carl Jung and the bellies of soil eaters, and explore Chinese paintings, African mud cloths, Mayan rituals, Japanese films, French comic strips, and Russian poetry.
Explores the roots of the human-cormorant conflict and assesses the federal policies that have been developed to manage the bird's population in the twenty-first century.
Integrate key information to facilitate optimal design solutions Essential for any working architect, Architectural Design Portable Handbook guides you through projects every step of the way, summarizing, synthesizing, and systematizing the core tasks of design. Developed by noted architect Andy Pressman, this handy take-along reference is certain to become an indispensable tool. You’ll find value-added features such as quick tips and case studies, quotes from leading architects, checklists, and a customizable layout that encourages you to add your own helpful notes and reminders. And that’s in addition to expert, time- and error-sparing information on: * Design strategies * Site analysis methods * The use of CAD and other graphics * Working with clients * User-needs evaluation * Data compilation * Concept development * Exploring design alternatives * Computing and design * Presentations * More!
With its humble beginnings as a small train junction in Virginias northern piedmont region, Manassas has evolved from a traditional rural community into a leading city of the New South, serving as a focal point for new businesses and growth outside of our nations capital. Though the Civil War left an indelible mark on the character of Manassas, the areas citizens and post-war newcomers were able to begin anew, building a progressive town, full of promise and hope, upon the four-year conflicts ashes and battle-scarred landscape. In Manassas: A Place of Passages, this historic town comes alive, allowing the reader to take an entertaining and educational visual journey from the early days of the Iron Horse at Manassas Junction in the mid-nineteenth century to a more prosperous Manassas in the early twentieth century, when the streets were newly paved and lined with family-owned businesses. This comprehensive volume touches upon every facet of community life: schools, such as the Manassas Institute and the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth; the towns many historic churches, which were acknowledged, at one time, by Ripleys Believe It or Not!; several prominent families and civic leaders; and general scenes of people participating in recreational activities, from piano lessons and plays to athletic teams and parades.
In Delta Empire: Lee Wilson and the Transformation of Agriculture in the New South Jeannie Whayne employs the fascinating history of a powerful plantation owner in the Arkansas delta to recount the evolution of southern agriculture from the late nineteenth century through World War II. After his father’s death in 1870, Robert E. “Lee” Wilson inherited 400 acres of land in Mississippi County, Arkansas. Over his lifetime, he transformed that inheritance into a 50,000-acre lumber operation and cotton plantation. Early on, Wilson saw an opportunity in the swampy local terrain, which sold for as little as fifty cents an acre, to satisfy an expanding national market for Arkansas forest reserves. He also led the fundamental transformation of the landscape, involving the drainage of tens of thousands of acres of land, in order to create the vast agricultural empire he envisioned. A consummate manager, Wilson employed the tenancy and sharecropping system to his advantage while earning a reputation for fair treatment of laborers, a reputation—Whayne suggests—not entirely deserved. He cultivated a cadre of relatives and employees from whom he expected absolute devotion. Leveraging every asset during his life and often deeply in debt, Wilson saved his company from bankruptcy several times, leaving it to the next generation to successfully steer the business through the challenges of the 1930s and World War II. Delta Empire traces the transition from the labor-intensive sharecropping and tenancy system to the capital-intensive neo-plantations of the post–World War II era to the portfolio plantation model. Through Wilson’s story Whayne provides a compelling case study of strategic innovation and the changing economy of the South in the late nineteenth century.
The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape has evolved significantly from 1950 when Alan Turing first posed the question of whether machines can think. Today, AI is transforming societies and economies. It promises to generate productivity gains, improve well-being and help address global challenges, such as climate change, resource scarcity and health crises.
