Why is there something, rather than nothing? This simple yet confounding question resonates with almost every curious person. In this thoughtful and provocative book, Stephen A. Simon surveys five answers that have been offered to this question from a variety of perspectives: science, religion, philosophy, and even mathematics. Framed by a careful explication of the history and meaning of its central question as well as a critical discussion of its legitimacy and significance, this book of...

The core idea underlying human rights is that everyone is inherently and equally worthy of respect as a person. The emergence of that idea has been one of the most significant international developments since the Second World War. But it is one thing to embrace something as an aspirational ideal and quite another to recognize it as enforceable law. The continued development of the international human rights regime brings a pressing question to the fore: What role should international human...

Innovative examination of the tensions between universal and more uniquely American definitions of cherished rights.Are constitutional rights based exclusively in uniquely American considerations, or are they based at least in part on principles that transcend the boundaries of any particular country, such as the requirements of freedom or dignity? By viewing constitutional law through the prism of this fundamental question, Universal Rights and the Constitutio...

Every Child Matters represents the most radical change to education and welfare provision in almost two decades. This book moves beyond a descriptive ‘how to’ framework to examine the underlying political and social aims of this policy agenda.The authors’ analysis reveals that Every Child Matters represents the Government’s attempt to codify perceived risks in society and to formulate their responses. In doing so, children are made the strategic focus of much wider social policy re...

This new edition of A Student’s Guide to Education Studies is an essential resource for any undergraduate making their first explorations into the fascinating world of education. It explores a wide range of alternative visions of education encouraging students to challenge the perceived notions about learning and knowledge.Offering new perspectives and powerful ideas for discussion on a variety of long-standing topics such as class, race and gender, the book is organised a...

The first three volumes of The Best Horror of the Year have been widely praised for their quality, variety, and comprehensiveness. Editor Ellen Datlow has now explored the entirety of the diverse horror market, distilling it into the fourth anthology in the series and providing an overview of the year in terror.Fear is the oldest human emotion, the most primal. We like to think we're civilized. We tell ourselves we're not afraid. And every year, we skim our fingers across ...

Mechanisms of Taste Transduction introduces a number of topics essential to a complete understanding of taste. These topics range from the control of food intake to the biophysical mechanisms of transduction and the design of food flavors in the food industry. The responses and organization of special sensory pathways are described in regard to the

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 5th International Workshop, PMBS 2014 in New Orleans, LA, USA in November 2014.The 12 full and 2 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 53 submissions. The papers cover topics on performance benchmarking and optimization; performance analysis and prediction; and power, energy and checkpointing.

John Owen is widely regarded as one of the most influential English Puritans. As a pastor, he longed to see the glory of Christ take root in people’s lives. As a writer, he continues to encourage us toward discipline and communion with God. His high view of God and deep theological convictions flowed naturally into practical application and a zeal for personal holiness.In Owen on the Christian Life, Barrett and Haykin guide us through the seventeenth-century theologian’s life and d...

The Princeton Guide to Ecology is a concise, authoritative one-volume reference to the field's major subjects and key concepts. Edited by eminent ecologist Simon Levin, with contributions from an international team of leading ecologists, the book contains more than ninety clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics within seven major areas: autecology, population ecology, communities and ecosystems, landscapes and the biosphere, conservation biology, ecos...

The early development of life, a fundamental question for humankind, requires the presence of a suitable planetary climate. Our understanding of how habitable planets come to be begins with the worlds closest to home. Venus, Earth, and Mars differ only modestly in their mass and distance from the Sun, yet their current climates could scarcely be more divergent. Only Earth has abundant liquid water, Venus has a runaway greenhouse, and evidence for life-supporting conditions on Mars points t...

Precision medicine is a rapidly-evolving field in the management of cancer. The use of novel molecular or genetic signatures in local-regional management is still in its infancy. Precision Radiation Oncology demystifies this state-of-the-art research and technology.By describing current existing clinical and pathologic features, and focusing on the ability to improve outcomes in cancer using radiation therapy, this book discusses incorporating novel genomic- or biology-bas...