The Geographic South Pole is a place of paradox. It is a point around which the earth quite literally pivots; yet it has a habit of falling off the edge of our maps. An invisible spot on a high, featureless ice plateau, the Pole has no obvious material value, but is nonetheless a much sought-after location. The endpoint of exploration’s most famous ‘race’, between teams led by Robert F. Scott and Roald Amundsen, the Pole has more recently become a favoured destination of ‘extreme’ tourists...

This comprehensive analysis of literary responses to Antarctica examines the rich body of literature that the continent has provoked over the last three centuries, focussing particularly on narrative fiction. Novelists as diverse as Edgar Allan Poe, James Fenimore Cooper, Jules Verne, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula Le Guin, Beryl Bainbridge and Kim Stanley Robinson have all been drawn artistically to the far south. The continent has also inspired genre fiction, including a Mills and Boon novel, a...

Reading Popular Physics is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the nature and implications of physics popularizations. A literary critic trained in science, Elizabeth Leane treats popular science writing as a distinct and significant genre, focusing particularly on five bestselling books: Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, Steven Weinberg's The First Three Minutes, James Gleick's Chaos, M. Mitchell Waldrop's Complexity, and Gary Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters. Leane ...

Prior to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the Arctic and Antarctic regions were experiencing significant growth in tourist arrivals. In the aftermath of this global crisis, the tourism industry has rebounded and the number of tourists visiting the polar regions is expected to keep growing significantly in the coming years. Remote regions are increasingly accessible as tourism actors develop technologies, diversify activities and itineraries, and climate change worsens. In ...

Dogs have been part of motion pictures since the movies began. They have been featured onscreen in various capacities, from any number of “man’s best friends” (Rin Tin Tin, Asta, Toto, Lassie, Benji, Uggie, and many, many more) to the psychotic Cujo. The contributors to Cinematic Canines take a close look at Hollywood films and beyond in order to show that the popularity of dogs on the screen cannot be separated from their increasing presence in our lives over the past century.The ...

From airport bookstores to deckchairs, as audiobooks downloaded by commuters, and on Kindles and other portable devices, twenty-first century bestsellers move in old and new ways. This Element examines the locations and mobilities of the contemporary bestseller as a multi-format commercial object. It employs paratextual, textual, and site-based analysis of the spatiality of bestsellers and considers the centrality of geography to the commercial promise of these books. Space, Place, and Bes...

In Ireland, recent social, cultural and political changes combined with globalisation, commercialisation and new technologies have re-shaped how we understand and think about sexuality. There is now a multiplicity of ways in which individuals can experience their sexuality, negotiate their sexual identities and advocate for sexual rights. Meanwhile, sexualities continue to be denied, problematised and subjected to regulation. The ongoing exchanges between real-life sexualities and the soci...

Design for Lean Six Sigma (DFLSS) is a powerful methodology adopted by many world-class companies today. It aims to build quality into products or services at the very early stages of the product development process. Ten Commandments of Design for Lean Six Sigma brings together the experience of six authors with more than 50 years of cumulative DFLSS deployment in the field.The book covers key topics such as alignment of DFLSS with organizational strategy; top management s...

We stand at the threshold of a transformative era where the convergence of Lean methodologies and artificial intelligence (AI) is redefining operational excellence. This book is a pioneering exploration of this integration, offering a roadmap for organizations seeking to harness AI’s potential while preserving the human-centric values at the heart of Lean. It provides a deep dive into how Lean principles – focused on efficiency, waste reduction, and continuous improvement – can be enhanced...

Traditional accounting systems have become inadequate for today‘s increasingly competitive global manufacturing environment. They are too complex and too focused on past performance. As manufacturing techniques change and become less labor intensive, accounting methods must also evolve. Regardless of what you call it, Lean accounting is a managemen

This book is an implementation guide for creating a Lean Culture from the ground up while gaining buy-in from key stakeholders and being able to sustain the results. Everyone talks about implementing a Lean Culture, but only provides Lean Tools for the implementation. This book discusses implementing the entire system from three main aspects. It will cover the people (structural and cultural), the operation system, and the tools. Also included is a full set of case studies to show real-lif...

Politics and the Past offers an original, multidisciplinary exploration of the growing public controversy over reparations for historical injustices. Demonstrating that "reparations politics" has become one of the most important features of international politics in recent years, the authors analyze why this is the case and show that reparations politics can be expected to be a major aspect of international affairs in coming years. In addition to broad theoretical and philosophica...