Books on the topic 'Line Profile Analysis'

The tutorial discusses the design features of information systems (is) involved in the implementation of CALS technologies: MRP/MRPII/ERP systems, e-Commerce systems (B2B), supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), and decision support systems (OLAP). The issues of choosing the design technology, software tools for project development, building functional and information models in the environment of Business Studio, MS Visio, Elma, AllFusion Modeling Suite and Oracle Designer 10g, as well as the development of technical and operational documentation are highlighted. The characteristics of CASE technologies and their implementation in the Oracle Designer 10g environment are considered. A comparative analysis of the standards of the organization of the life cycle of creating and using IP, practical recommendations for the development of standard profiles, examples of the development of an IP project based on a cascading model of the life cycle, including using a process approach in the management and automation of processes. The models of the client — server architecture and the structure of cloud computing are considered. Modern approaches to the selection of ready-made is and their implementation in automated enterprises are studied in detail. Meets the requirements of the Federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. It is intended for students (bachelors and specialists) and masters of higher educational institutions studying in the direction of "Applied Informatics". It is also recommended for teachers and specialists working in the field of information technology.

This chapter examines how the multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto has attempted to re-brand itself from a chemical company to a food company through the elaboration of a highly interlaced, multi-platform on-line media strategy. This image enhancement operation is a response to its many critics—from citizen-based groups in India and Mexico to prominent food security activists like Michael Pollan and Vandana Shiva. At the center of analysis is how Monsanto has used the trope of “sustainability” to craft a proactive profile that is responsive to the challenges that the planet is facing. Foregrounding the issue of environmental agency, the chapter provides an assessment of what kinds of environmental discourses the company privileges through its media operations, and how these have been produced as a means to combat those who have challenged Monsanto’s vision of food production and “responsible” environmental stewardship.

The choice of first-line antipsychotic treatment for patients with schizophrenia should balance considerations of differential efficacy of antipsychotics against the relative risk of different side effects. In terms of efficacy, recent meta-analyses have shown that antipsychotics are not equivalent in efficacy. Clozapine, amisulpride, olanzapine, and risperidone show small to moderate, but statistically significant, differences, indicating greater efficacy compared to a number of other antipsychotics on some primary efficacy outcome measures. Amisulpride and cariprazine have the strongest evidence for greater efficacy for treating negative symptoms relative to other antipsychotics. In terms of side effects, clozapine and olanzapine have among the highest weight gain potential and amisulpride has more effects on QTc prolongation and prolactin elevation than other commonly used antipsychotics. Adjunctive treatment with an antidepressant drug may improve response in patients with schizophrenia who also have severe depressive or negative symptoms. For a patient with an inadequate response to an adequate dose and duration of the initial antipsychotic choice, switching to another antipsychotic with a different receptor profile may improve response, although evidence is limited. There is little evidence to support using doses above the therapeutic range other than in exceptional circumstances.

This chapter focuses on Detroit’s Jewish community, first taking up its complex, many-layered internal musical life, from religious to politically radical, across a range of initiatives and institutions. Next comes an analysis of how the group used music as a mode of outreach to mainstream Detroit, impacting the city’s cultural life, especially through intense engagement with classical music. The role of the Jews in the survival of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra is outlined. Profiles of key activists’ careers—Julius Chajes, Mischa Mischakoff, Mischa Kottler, Emma Schaver--and the development of institutional life illustrate these practices of “border traffic.”

This chapter introduces the basic intertemporal problem faced by a consumer who has to choose between consumption and saving when future incomes and interest rates are known with certainty. First we consider a model with only two periods and a fixed demographic structure; next we extend the analysis to a more realistic multi-period, finite-horizon model in which family composition changes over the life cycle; and finally we present the continuous-time version of the model and introduce the limiting case in which individuals have an infinite horizon. With appropriate assumptions about the individual income profile and productivity growth, we can derive the life-cycle model of Modigliani and Brumberg (1954) as a special case, and study how demographic variables and productivity growth affect national saving.

Vortex solutions in cyclo-geostrophic equilibrium are described and their geostrophic and ageostrophic barotropic and baroclinic instabilities are studied along the lines of Chapter 10. Special attention is paid to centrifugal instability which, as the inertial instability of jets, is due to modes trapped in the anticyclonic shear in the vortex, and has asymmetric counterparts. Saturation of this instability is shown to exhibit some specific patterns. Instabilities of intense hurricane-like vortices are analysed and shown to be sensitive to fine details of the vortex profile. Nonlinear saturation of such instabilities exhibits typical secondary meso-vortex structures, and leads to intensification of the vortex. Special attention is paid to instabilities in laboratory flows in rotating cylindrical channels. Classification of these instabilities is given, and their nature, in terms of resonances between different wave modes, is established. Rigid-lid and free-surface configuration with topography are considered and compared with experiments.

This chapter examines the use of platforms such as Twitter to link to news articles about favored political issues and argues that the selective sharing of journalism on social media positions citizens in a public relations–like capacity, helping raise awareness for some truths and narratives over others. In the contemporary environment of information surplus, the grassroots curation of news serves as an entry point for citizens to participate in agenda-setting processes that are subtly, yet undeniably, persuasive in intention. The increasingly partisan character of political information itself, from ideologically charged news and satire to activist-oriented citizen journalism, fuels the marketing-like orientation of citizens who publicize and promote this content to peers. The chapter concludes with an analysis of for-profit news sites that depend on social sharing for their financial livelihood and addresses broader risks of political trivialization as journalistic content is shaped to “go viral” across like-minded peer networks.

Niemann-Pick disease type B (NPDB) is caused by deficient activity of sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase leading to the accumulation of sphingomyelin and other lipids, primarily within macrophages. The disease is characterised by hepatosplenomegaly, a bleeding tendency, interstitial lung disease and an atherogenic lipid profile. The diagnosis of NPDB is usually made in childhood after organomegaly is noted, and patients often survive into adulthood. The diagnostic work up includes enzymatic determination of sphingomyelinase activity, mutational analysis and screening and/or quantification for target organ involvement. NPDB has a variable clinical expression and may be a life-limiting disorder with significant morbidity and mortality. There is no disease specific therapy yet and hence management is symptomatic with particular attention to treating the long term complications of the disease.

Incorporating a reassessment of John Hill Burton, a significant figure in Nineteenth-century Scottish thought, the book presents a revision of the predominant interpretation of how nineteenth-century Scotland perceived its past. It traces Burton’s diverse social and intellectual acquaintance, and equally varied literary endeavours, from his early life and education in 1820s Aberdeen to his increasingly prominent profile in the Edinburgh of Scott, Jeffrey and Cockburn. A detailed assessment of Burton’s History of Scotland(1873) uncovers prominent themes captured in the terms of Utilitarian History, Romantic History, Gothic History and History as Theatre. In chapters analysing these discourses the relation of historiography and biography is maintained in examining Burton’s immersion in the social and cultural world of his time. An analysis of the highly positive reception of Burton’s historical efforts deals firstly with the impact of his initial, more limited 1853 History since this was published at a particular juncture – the height of the ‘Scottish Rights’ agitation of the early 1850s – and functioned, it is argued, to charge that discontent with a new historical dimension centring on the 1707 Union. An extended analysis of the reception of his later multi-volume History includes a comparison with the characteristics of contemporary national histories across Europe. The response to his magnum opus is viewed as overturning orthodox assumptions of the ‘death’ of Scottish history in the nineteenth century; and together with the contemporary development of Scottish cultural institutions, as evidencing a revival of national identity founded on a new engagement with the nation’s past.

More people today get news via Facebook and Google than via any news organization in history, and platforms like Twitter serve news to more people than all but the biggest media companies. This book draws on interviews and other data to analyze the platform power a few technology companies as a consequence have come to exercise in public life, the reservations publishers have about platforms—as well as the reasons why they often embrace them nonetheless. Most of the news content we rely on is still produced by journalists working for news organizations. But the way in which we discover it, how it is distributed, where decisions are made on what to display (and what not), and who profits from our behavior—all this is changing rapidly as people increasingly rely on social media, search engines, and aggregators offered by large platform companies to access news, and publishers in turn seek to reach people via the platforms they rely on. To understand the new, distinct relational and generative forms of power that platforms exercise, this book analyzes how they have evolved from the early days of Google’s first forays into news. Examining the different ways publishers have responded and how various platform companies have in turn handled the increasingly important and controversial role they play, it draws out the implications of a fundamental feature of our world we all need to understand: the news media are simultaneously empowered by and dependent on a few powerful private, for-profit technology companies.

Could the trajectory of economic modernization that has expanded China’s global profile over the last three decades run off the rails due to internal conflict? This chapter analyzes an important link in the censorship chain: social media companies that must monitor citizens’ communication, thus assisting in keeping a lid on social activism, its organization, and mobilization. The chapter then analyzes the well-known 2011 social protest that occurred in the village of Wukan. The findings point to “thin” loyalty to government rules and institutions inside the system of censorship and at the lowest level of the polity. The chapter argues if a profound economic or political crisis in which “thin” loyalty and weak legitimacy at both the top of the censorship system and at the bottom of society would have serious implications, then China’s system of censorship could crumble. This scenario would destabilize domestic rule and China’s rise to global preeminence.

This chapter explores Japanese Zen material culture and materialism in a contemporary American monastic context. It examines the adaptation of mainstream business operations by The Monastery Store at Zen Mountain Monastery, established by John Daido Loori near Woodstock, New York, in 1980. It provides a visual and critical analysis of The Monastery Store’s mail-order catalogue, website, and brick-and-mortar facility on the monastery grounds, and it contrasts “retail Zen” (i.e., the mass marketing of vaguely Zen-like articles by multinational distribution chains for maximum profit) and “Zen retail” (i.e., the selective sale of sustainably sourced Zen items by nonprofit Zen monasteries to support adherents’ practice). In so doing, this analysis contributes to our understanding of Buddhist economics, practice, ethics, and other Zen matters.

The animal agriculture industry, like other profit-driven industries, aggressively seeks to shield itself from public scrutiny. To that end, it uses a distinct set of rhetorical strategies to deflect criticism. These tactics are fundamental to modern animal agriculture but have long evaded critical analysis. In this collection, academic and activist contributors investigate the many forms of denialism perpetuated by the animal agriculture industry. What strategies does the industry use to avoid questions about its inhumane treatment of animals and its impact on the environment and public health? What narratives, myths and fantasies does it promote to sustain its image in the public imagination?

Trump, Wilders, Salvini, Le Pen—during the last decades, radical right-wing leaders and their parties have become important political forces in most Western democracies. Their growing appeal raises an increasingly relevant question: who are the voters that support them and why do they do so? Numerous and variegated answers have been given to this question, inside as well as outside academia. Yet, curiously, despite their quantity and diversity, these existing explanations are often based on a similar assumption: that of homogeneous electorates. Consequently, the idea that different subgroups with different profiles and preferences might coexist within the constituencies of radical right-wing parties has thus far remained underdeveloped, both theoretically and empirically. This ground-breaking book is the first one that systematically investigates the heterogeneity of radical right-wing voters. Theoretically, it introduces the concept of electoral equifinality to come to grips with this diversity. Empirically, it relies on innovative statistical analyses and no less than 125 life-history interviews with voters in France and the Netherlands. Based on this unique material, the study identifies different roads to the radical right and compares them within a cross-national perspective. In addition, through an analysis of almost 1,400 tweets posted by Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen, the book shows how the latter are able to appeal to different groups of voters. Taken together, the book thus provides a host of ground-breaking insights into the heterogeneous phenomenon of radical right support.

Chapter two considers Irwin’s career during her years of greatest popularity. Her appearance in vitascope’s “The Kiss” from The Widow Jones enhanced her fame. The author analyzes Irwin’s string of successes in comic farce and her use of scenes of intoxication during a time of temperance crusades. Irwin’s style as a major female comic elicited positive middle class audience response as she used her performance skills to help make the audience identify with her even as she profited from the nineteenth century growth of the “cult of personality.” Like other fat comics, she used her size as a source of humor–but maintained an image of personal attractiveness.

Tourism is a characteristic component of modern global life, and is thus intertwined with religion, a similarly central component. Scholars of religion seeking to understand phenomena in which acts of travel and religions are combined need ways to think about the interactions of these two major social and historical forces. While historically the study of acts of travel and the practice of religions tended to focus on dichotomies of pilgrim/tourist and sacred/profane, contemporary scholars recognize the problematic nature of such concepts in analysis. With the rise of secularization, tourists interact with religions for their own purposes, rather than solely institutional ones. This chapter sets out the theoretical and methodological problems of the study of religions and tourism, and discusses how the prominence of leisure in Western societies drives interactions between tourists and religions, giving scholars important access points for the study of religions and cross-cultural interaction.

When and why does international order change? Easy to take for granted, international governing arrangements shape our world. They allow us to eat food imported from other countries, live safely from nuclear war, travel to foreign cities, profit from our savings, and much else. New threats, including climate change and simmering US-China hostility, lead many to worry that the “liberal order,” or the US position within it, is at risk. Theorists often try to understand that situation by looking at other cases of great power decline, like the British Empire or even ancient Athens. Yet so much is different about those cases that we can draw only imperfect lessons from them. A better approach is to look at how the United States itself already lost much of its international dominance, in the 1970s, in the realm of oil. Only now, with several decades of hindsight, can we fully appreciate it. The experiences of that partial decline in American hegemony, and the associated shifts in oil politics, can teach us a lot about general patterns of international order. Leaders and analysts can apply those lessons when seeking to understand or design new international governing arrangements on topics ranging from climate change to peacekeeping, and nuclear proliferation to the global energy transition.

This chapter examines the role of jazz presenters in connecting artists and audiences in the here and now of improvised performances. It first provides an overview of the business of live jazz performances that take place in concert halls and clubs and in less formal performance spaces, along with the challenges faced by presenters running their venues as for-profit businesses. It then analyzes the attitudes and activities of venue operators and concert producers in the context of their professional endeavors and particularly in their interactions with musicians and fans. It also considers the presenters' relationship with jazz musicians and audiences and shows that they are part of the unseen scene whose role in providing a place and time is vital to collective expressions of music.

The examination of the life cycle, institutional structure, and governance and policy environment of co-operatives in the argan oil sector, in south-west Morocco, outlines the successes and setbacks of the co-operative model as a suitable tool for economic and social development in rural areas. Despite the positive development outcomes argan oil co-operatives attained, they strayed from four basic co-operative tenets: democratic decision-making, equitable profit distribution, open membership, and member education on co-operatives. Starting from this analysis, this chapter argues that the success of argan oil co-operatives is to be attributed to their abandonment of the basic co-operative principles. Furthermore, it seeks to understand the conditions that make co-operatives feasible and effective in particular environments and how co-operatives, or employee-centric firms, can be adapted to their environments, or vice versa, through e-commerce and financial transparency in order to generate economic and social development.

Pollution is one of the most pressing issues facing contemporary China and among the most prominent causes for unrest. Much of industry and mining takes place in rural areas, yet we know little about how rural communities affected by severe pollution make sense of it and the diverse form of activism they embrace. This book describes some of these engagements with pollution through three in-depth case studies based on the author’s fieldwork and an analysis of “cancer villages” examined in existing social science accounts. It challenges assumptions that villagers are ignorant about pollution or fully complicit with it and it looks beyond high-profile cases and beyond single strategies. It examines how villagers’ concerns and practices evolve over time and how pollution may become normalised. Through the concept of “resigned activism”, it advocates rethinking conventional approaches to activism to encompass less visible forms of engagement. It offers insights into the complex dynamics of popular contention, environmental movements and their situatedness within local and national political economies. Describing a likely widespread scenario across much of industrialised rural China, this book provides a window onto the staggering human costs of development and the deeply uneven distribution of costs and benefits. It portrays rural environmentalism and its limitations as prisms through which to study key issues surrounding contemporary Chinese culture and society, such as state responsibility, social justice, ambivalence towards development and modernisation and some of the new fault lines of inequality and social conflict which they generate.

Apart from non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), there are only two categories of systemic analgesics, namely paracetamol (acetaminophen) and opioids, that are currently available worldwide for clinical use. Paracetamol is poorly effective in relieving pain and improving function in patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA). Furthermore, its safety profile is less favourable than classically thought. In fact, there is evidence paracetamol acts as a weak inhibitor of the cyclooxygenase enzymes. Given that paracetamol poses a lower risk of severe adverse events than NSAIDs while being better tolerated than opioids, it is usually considered as the first-line systemic analgesic for OA. Commonly prescribed opioids are primarily agonists of the mu receptors, thereby producing similar desirable (analgesia) and untoward effects. Meta-analyses of short-term clinical trials showed that, on average, the modest clinical benefits of opioids did not outweigh the side effects in patients with knee or hip OA. Accordingly, most current guidelines support the use of opioids for selected OA patients only (e.g. patients who have not had an adequate response to other treatment modalities and are not candidates for total joint arthroplasty). In view of the limited efficacy and/or potential harms of available analgesics, particular attention was paid to novel painkillers, especially nerve growth factor (NGF) antagonists. Although these agents provided clinically meaningful improvements in pain and physical function in patients with hip or knee OA, they lead to severe side effects, including rapidly destructive arthropathies and neuropathies. Thus, if approved for marketing, NGF antagonists would be reserved for selected and well-defined patients with OA.

Robert Altman and the Elaboration of Hollywood Storytelling reveals an Altman barely glimpsed in previous critical accounts of the filmmaker. This re-examination of his seminal work during the “Hollywood Renaissance” or “New Hollywood” period of the early 1970s (including M*A*S*H, Brewster McCloud, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Images, The Long Goodbye, Thieves Like Us, California Split, and Nashville) sheds new light on both the films and the filmmaker, reframing Altman as a complex, pragmatic innovator whose work exceeds, but is also grounded in, the norms of classical Hollywood storytelling rather than someone who rejected those norms in favor of modernist art cinema. Its findings and approach hold important implications for the study of cinematic authorship. Largely avoiding thematic exegesis, it employs a historical poetics approach, robust functionalist frameworks, archival research, and formal and statistical analysis to demystify the essential features of the standard account of Altman’s filmmaking history and profile—lax narrative form, heavy reliance on the zoom, sound design replete with overlapping dialogue, improvisational infidelity to the screenplay, and a desire to subvert based in his time in the training grounds of industrial filmmaking and filmed television. The book provides a clear example of how a filmmaker might work collaboratively and pragmatically within and across media institutions to elaborate on their sanctioned practices and aims. We misunderstand Altman’s work, and the creative work of Hollywood filmmakers in general, when we insist on describing innovation as opposition to institutional norms and on describing those norms as simply assimilating innovation.

In 1831 Virginia, Nat Turner led a band of Southampton County slaves in a rebellion that killed fifty-five whites, mostly women and children. After more than two months in hiding, Turner was captured, and quickly convicted and executed. This book penetrates the historical caricature of Turner as befuddled mystic and self-styled Baptist preacher to recover the haunting persona of this legendary American slave rebel, telling of his self-discovery and the dawning of his Christian faith, of an impossible task given to him by God, and of redemptive violence and profane retribution. Much about Turner remains unknown. His extraordinary account of his life and rebellion, given in chains as he awaited trial in jail, was written down by an opportunistic white attorney and sold as a pamphlet to cash in on Turner's notoriety. But the enigmatic rebel leader had an immediate and broad impact on the American South, and his rebellion remains one of the most momentous episodes in American history. This book provides a luminous account of Turner's intellectual development, religious cosmology, and motivations, and offers an original and incisive analysis of the Turner Rebellion itself and its impact on Virginia politics. The book also undertakes a critical examination of William Styron's 1967 novel, The Confessions of Nat Turner, which restored Turner to the American consciousness in the era of civil rights, black power, and urban riots. A speculative history that recovers Turner from the few shards of evidence we have about his life, the book is also a unique speculation about the meaning and uses of history itself.

In The Design Process, Fourth Edition author Karl Aspelund takes readers on a guided tour through the seven stages of design: from the initial Inspiration to Identification, Conceptualization, Exploration/Refinement, Definition/Modeling, Communication, and all the way through Production. This book focuses on developing a solid foundation in design critical thinking, no matter the discipline. The author highlights the all important factors of sustainability, teamwork, and how to best communicate with client or manufacturer. Each chapter is followed by an exercise that allows you to work on one full cross-disciplinary project continuously from brainstorm to a physical product. The appendices provide key references to further readings, artist profiles, design elements and principles, trend analysis, and history of modern design (from the 1800s through to the 21st century). This is the perfect book to make your design dreams into design reality. New to This Edition: -Updated examples, exercises, bibliography, and timelines -Revised coverage of sustainability reflects the newest findings in the field -New and revised Perspectives offer real life examples from artists and designers across fashion, interior design, public arts projects, and industrial and consumer products Instructor Resources -Instructor's Guide provides suggestions for planning the course and using the text in the classroom, supplemental assignments, and lecture notes -Test Bank includes sample test questions for each chapter -PowerPoint® presentations include images from the book and provide a framework for lecture and discussion STUDIO Includes: -Study smarter with self-quizzes featuring scored results and personalized study tips -Review concepts with flashcards of essential vocabulary

Propelled by structural conditions of violence and everyday insecurity, each year tens of thousands of people from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador leave their homes in search of a more secure future. For those en route to the United States, they must first cross Mexico where transnational and state security regimes funnel them into clandestine routes where they encounter abuse, injury, extortion, police profiling, sexual violence and kidnapping. As unauthorized gendered and racialized others, migrants become implicated within a state-criminal nexus that profits from their plight. Moving beyond scholarship focused on fixed sending and receiving communities or borderlands, Lives in Transit focuses on the liminal spaces between these zones as crucial sites of ethnographic analysis to understand the complexity of contemporary mobilities and the ways structural forms of violence are rearticulated at the local level. Through the powerful testimonies of migrants still in the midst of their journeys and the people on the ground who care for them, this book provides a rare look into the everyday and often gendered logics of mobility, violence, security and intimacy within spaces of transit. From the intimate perspective of daily life in migrant shelters and local communities, it illuminates the strategies, social relations and economies of care that people engage as they negotiate their movements and their lives. It also bears witness to the emerging social movement around migrant rights that connects the intimate labors of individuals and families between and across borders.

This book started from a desire to contribute scientifically with the knowledge about photovoltaic solar energy – an art promoted and developed by members of School of Sun and the NTEEL Solar. It has been possible through the research groups from School of Sun Project and the Electric Energy Technological Nucleus – Solar (NTEEL Solar). The School of Sun is a project from Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC) which promotes scientific knowledge by the promotion of the information. The NTEEL Solar is a group which develops projects and scientific research in Photovoltaic Solar Energy and its applications. This work presents topics about the Brazilian electrical sector and its commercialization of energy, concepts about the reasoning and measurement of the solar radiation, characteristics and technologies of photovoltaic cells and modules; characteristics and technologies of inverters; monitoring and analysis of the photovoltaic systems; consumptions and generation profiles, rules and law, operation and maintenance of systems, softwares to dimension and simulate systems, and energy efficiency at buildings. It is a pleasure to share these research results from projects and scientific researches with you, dear reader. We would like to thank all the people that have been helping us with research so far, especially with this book. We are also thankful for the organizations which have been supporting us: the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), the School of Sun (UFSC), the Electric Energy Technological Nucleus – NTEEL Solar, Graduate Program in Energy and Sustainability (PPGES), the Undergraduate Program in Energy Engineering, the Coordination of Personnel Improvement of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies (CAPES), The National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) and the Foundation of Support to Scientific Research and Innovation from Santa Catarina State (FAPESC). This book contributes scientifically to the promotion of renewable technology, reliable, competitive; towards sustainable development. We hope that you appreciate it and have a great reading.

In Canada, an unacceptable number of women live below the poverty threshold. Some subgroups of women, such as Indigenous, visible minorities, immigrants and refugees, older adults, and single mothers are more likely to live in poverty, as they face multiple systemic barriers preventing their financial stability. Further, socioeconomic status, employment, gender, and access to healthcare and social services negatively impact women’s well-being and health. Yet little is known about how these factors affect healthcare behaviours and experiences for women living on a low income. Our goal is to describe and understand how gender and income influence access to healthcare and social services for women living on a low income. Methods: Partnered with a not-for-profit organization, we explored the experiences of women living on a low income in Kingston, Canada. Using participatory, art-based research and hermeneutic phenomenological approaches, our data collection methods included photovoice, semi-structured interviews and culture circles. A purposive sample was recruited. Analysis was conducted following the social determinants of health framework by Loppie-Reading and Wien. Results: Participants perceived the healthcare and social services systems as unnecessarily complex, disrespectful, and dismissive–one where they are mere spectators without voice. They do not feel heard. They also identified problematic issues regarding living conditions, housing, and fresh food. Despite these experiences, participants are resilient and optimistic. Implications: Learning from participants has indicated priority issues and potential, pragmatic solutions to begin incremental improvements. Changing system design to enable self-selection of food items is one example. Conclusion: For an individual to feel others view them as unworthy of care, especially if those ‘others’ are the care providers, is ethically and morally distressing–and it certainly does not invite system-use. While our early findings reveal considerable system improvements are required, we are inspired by and can learn from the strength of the participants.

In Canada, an unacceptable number of women live below the poverty threshold. Some subgroups of women, such as Indigenous, visible minorities, immigrants and refugees, older adults, and single mothers are more likely to live in poverty, as they face multiple systemic barriers preventing their financial stability. Further, socioeconomic status, employment, gender, and access to healthcare and social services negatively impact women’s well-being and health. Yet little is known about how these factors affect healthcare behaviours and experiences for women living on a low income. Our goal is to describe and understand how gender and income influence access to healthcare and social services for women living on a low income. Methods: Partnered with a not-for-profit organization, we explored the experiences of women living on a low income in Kingston, Canada. Using participatory, art-based research and hermeneutic phenomenological approaches, our data collection methods included photovoice, semi-structured interviews and culture circles. A purposive sample was recruited. Analysis was conducted following the social determinants of health framework by Loppie-Reading and Wien. Results: Participants perceived the healthcare and social services systems as unnecessarily complex, disrespectful, and dismissive–one where they are mere spectators without voice. They do not feel heard. They also identified problematic issues regarding living conditions, housing, and fresh food. Despite these experiences, participants are resilient and optimistic. Implications: Learning from participants has indicated priority issues and potential, pragmatic solutions to begin incremental improvements. Changing system design to enable self-selection of food items is one example. Conclusion: For an individual to feel others view them as unworthy of care, especially if those ‘others’ are the care providers, is ethically and morally distressing–and it certainly does not invite system-use. While our early findings reveal considerable system improvements are required, we are inspired by and can learn from the strength of the participants.

TOWARDS THE NEW LIFE Theology and Importance of Christian Initiation for the Life of Faith The book is in equal parts a presentation and an invitation. The subject matter of both is the mystagogical initiation leading to the personal encounter with God and eventually to the union within the Church in Christ, which happens initially and particualry in the sacramental liturgy. Mystagogy was the essential experience of life in the early Church and now is being so intensely discussed and postulated by the ecclesial Magisterium and through the teaching of the recent popes and synods. Within the ten chapters of this book the reader proceeds through the aspects strictly associated with Christian initiation, noticeable in catechumenate and suggestive for further Christian life. It is not surprising then, that the study begins with answering the question about the sense of dealing with catechumenate at all. The response developed in the first chapter covers four key points: the contemporary state of our faith, the need for dialogue in evangelization, the importance of liturgy in the renewal of faith and the obvious requirement of follo- wing the Church’s Magisterium, quite explicit in the subject undertaken within this book. The introductory chapter is meant to evoke interest in catechumenate as such and encourage comprehension of its essence, in order to keep it in mind while planning contemporary evangelization. For doing this with success and avoiding pastoral archeology, we need a competent insight into the main message and goal of Christian initiation. Catechumenate is the first and most venerable model of formation and growth in faith and therefore worth knowing. The second chapter tries to cope with the reasons and ways of the present return to the sources of catechumenate with respect to Christian initiation understood to be the building of the relationship with God. The example of catechumenate helps us to discover, how to learn wisely from the history. This would definitely mean to keep the structure and liturgy of catechumenate as a vehicle of God’s message, which must be interpreted and adapted always anew and with careful and intelligent consideration of the historical flavour on particular stages within the history of salvation and cultural conditions of the recipients. For that reason we refer to the Biblical resources and to the historical examples of catechumenate including its flourishing and declining periods, after which we are slowly approaching the present reinterpretation of the catechumenal process enhanced by the official teaching of the Church. As the result of the latter, particularly owing to the Vatican Council II, we are now dealing with the renewed liturgy of baptism displayed in two liturgical books: The Rite of Baptism for Children and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). This version for adults is the subjectmatter of the whole chapter, in which a reader can find theological analyses of the particular rites as well as numerous indications for improving one’s life with Christ in the Church. You can find interesting associations among the rites of initiation themselves and astounding coherence between those rites and the sacraments of the Eucharist, penance and other sacraments, which simply means the ordinary life of faith. Deep and convincing theology of the process of initiation proves the inspiring spiritual power of the initial and constitutive sacraments of baptism and confirmation, which may seem attractive not only for catechumens but also for the faithful baptized in their infancy, and even more, since they might have not yet had a chance to see what a plausible treasure they have been conveying in their baptismal personality. How much challenge for further and constant realization in life may offer these introductory events of Christian initiation, yet not sufficiently appreciated by those who have already been baptized and confirmed! We all should submit to permanent re-evangelization according to this primary pattern, which always remains essential and fundamental. Very typical and very post-conciliar approach to Christian formation appears in the communal dimension, which guards and guarantees the ecclesial profile of initiation and prepares a person to be a living member of the Church. The sixth chapter of the book is dealing with ecclesial issues in liturgy. They refer to comprehending the word of God, especially in the context of liturgy, which brings about a peculiar theological sense to it and giving a special character to proclaiming the Gospel, which the Pope Francis calls “liturgical proclamation”. The ecclesial premises influence the responsibility for the fact of accompanying the candidates, who aim at becoming Christ’s disciples. As the Church is teaching also in the theological and pastoral introduction to the RCIA, this is the duty of all Christians, which means: priests, religious and the lay, because the Church is one organism in whose womb the new members are conceived and raised. As this fact is strongly claimed by the Church the method of initiation arises to great importance. The seventh chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the catechumenal method stemming from Christ’s pedagogy and His mystery of Incarnation introducing a very important issue of implementing the Divine into the human. The chapter concerning this method opens a more practical part of the book. The crucial message of it is to make mystagogy a natural and obvious method which is the way of building bonds with Christ in the community of the people who already have these bonds and who are eager to tighten them and are aware of the beauty and necessity of closeness with Christ. Christian initiation is the process of entering the Kingdom of God and meeting Christ up to the union with Him – not so much learning dogmas and moral requirements. This is a special time when candidates-catechumens-elected mature in love and in their attitude to Christ and people, which results in prayer and new way of life. As in the past catechumenate nowadays inspires the faithful in their imagination of love and mercy as well as reminds us about various important details of the paschal way of life, which constitute our baptismal vocation, but may be forgotten and now with the help of catechumenate can be recognized anew, while accompanying adults on their catechumenal way. The book is meant for those who are already involved in catechumenal process and are responsible for the rites and formation as well as for those who are interested in what the Church is offering to all who consciously decide to know and follow Christ. You can learn from this book, what is the nature and specificity of the method suggested by the Rite itself for guiding people to God the Saviour and to the community of His people. The aim of the study is to present the universal way of evangelization, which was suggested and revealed by God in His pedagogy, particularly through Jesus Christ and smoothly adopted by the early Church. This way, which can be called a method, is so complete, substantial and clear that it deserves rediscovery, description and promotion, which has already started in the Church’s teaching by making direct references to such categories as: initiation, catechumenate, liturgical formation, the rereading the Mystery of Christ, the living participation in the Mystery and faith nourished by the Mystery. The most engaging point with Christian initiation is the fact, that this seems to be the most effective way of reviving the parish, taking place on the solid and safe ground of liturgy with the most convincing and objective fact that is our baptism and our new identity born in baptismal regenerating bath. On the grounds of our personal relationship with God and our Christian vocation we can become active apostles of Christ. Evangelization begins with ourselves and in our hearts. Thinking about the Church’s mission, we should have in mind our personal mission within the Church and we should refer to it’s roots – first to our immersion into Christ’s death and resurrection and to the anointment with the Holy Spirit. In this Spirit we have all been sent to follow Christ wherever He goes, not necessarily where we would like to direct our steps, but He would. Let us cling to Him and follow Him! Together with the constantly transforming and growing Church! Towards the new life!

The unprecedented economic growth in many East Asian societies in the few past decades have placed the region center stage, and increasing globalization have made East-West cultural understanding of even greater importance today. This book is the most comprehensive on East Asian cognition and thinking styles to date, and is the first to bring together a large body of empirical research on “naïve dialecticism” (Peng & Nisbett, 1999; Peng, Spencer-Rodgers, & Nian, 2006) and “analytic/holistic thinking” (Nisbett, 2003), theories in cultural psychology that stem from Richard Nisbett’s (2003) highly influential and successful book on The Geography of Thought: How Asians and Westerners Think Differently … and Why. More specifically, the current book examines the psychological, philosophical, and cultural underpinnings and consequences of “dialectical thinking” (Peng & Nisbett, 1999) and cognitive holism (Nisbett, 2003) for human thought, emotion, and behaviour. Since the publication of Peng and Nisbett’s (1999) seminal article, research on this topic has flourished, and East-West cultural differences have been documented in almost all aspects of the human condition and life, from the manner in which people reason and make decisions, conceptualize themselves and others, to how they cope with stress and mental illness, and interact with others, including romantic partners and social groups. Twenty-one chapters written by leading experts in psychology and related fields cover such diverse topics as cultural neuroscience and the brain, lifespan development, attitudes and group perception, romantic relationships, extracultural cognition (the adoption of foreign mind-sets and perspectives), creativity, emotion, the self-concept, racial/ethnic identity, psychopathology, and coping processes and wellbeing. This research has practical implications for business and organizational management, international relations and politics, education, and clinical and counselling psychology, and may be of particular interest to business professionals, managers in government and non-profit sectors, as well as educators and clinicians working with East Asians and Americans of East Asian descent.