Forthcoming Books


Book Description




A Prehistory of the Cloud


Book Description

The militarized legacy of the digital cloud: how the cloud grew out of older network technologies and politics. We may imagine the digital cloud as placeless, mute, ethereal, and unmediated. Yet the reality of the cloud is embodied in thousands of massive data centers, any one of which can use as much electricity as a midsized town. Even all these data centers are only one small part of the cloud. Behind that cloud-shaped icon on our screens is a whole universe of technologies and cultural norms, all working to keep us from noticing their existence. In this book, Tung-Hui Hu examines the gap between the real and the virtual in our understanding of the cloud. Hu shows that the cloud grew out of such older networks as railroad tracks, sewer lines, and television circuits. He describes key moments in the prehistory of the cloud, from the game “Spacewar” as exemplar of time-sharing computers to Cold War bunkers that were later reused as data centers. Countering the popular perception of a new “cloudlike” political power that is dispersed and immaterial, Hu argues that the cloud grafts digital technologies onto older ways of exerting power over a population. But because we invest the cloud with cultural fantasies about security and participation, we fail to recognize its militarized origins and ideology. Moving between the materiality of the technology itself and its cultural rhetoric, Hu's account offers a set of new tools for rethinking the contemporary digital environment.




Speak Truth to Power


Book Description

Contains primary source material.




Volunteering As Leisure/leisure As Volunteering


Book Description

Volunteerism is a topic of increasing importance in this age of budget cuts, declining employment and amid the threat posed by other competing leisure pursuits. There are both social and economic benefits of volunteering. As we are becoming more reliant on volunteers, there is a need for a better understanding of why people take up volunteering, and how to recruit, manage, motivate, and support volunteers most effectively. In order for organisations that host volunteers to achieve the most from their volunteers, they must understand how to give them the best "leisure" experience. This book examines critical aspects of contemporary volunteerism, from the perspective of a variety of volunteering contexts. It will appeal to academic researchers and students in disciplines such as leisure, recreation, tourism, management and sociology as well as practitioners in the voluntary sector (including volunteers), National and Local Government and those organising special events that depend on voluntary support.




City Bountiful


Book Description

"The social history of American cities would not be complete without a full account of the rise of community open spaces. Lawson does exactly this by providing a compelling and poetic account of the history and making of urban gardens. Combining solid scholarship with engaging images of the gardens and stories of their makers, this book sheds new light on the value of urban open space. More important, it explains why community gardens need to stand alongside city parks as permanent open spaces. Essential reading for community developers and landscape architects as well as anyone who ventures outside, enthusiasm and shovel in hand, to improve their local environment.—Mark Francis, author of Urban Open Space and Village Homes "The definitive history of the past hundred years of America's experience with community gardens. A labor of love by a garden activist, the book appears at a most appropriate time—today our city dwellers and suburbanites are retreating onto carpets of passive open space tended by homeowner associations and lawn care outfits. Lawson thoughtfully analyzes the weaknesses of community gardens when used as a response to social crises and, by contrast, investigates community gardens as an alternative to today's managed care of open space. Her history clearly presents a way of community living that we can elect if we choose her wisdom."—Sam Bass Warner, Jr, author of To Dwell Is to Garden "An important book about how the urban gardening movement is transforming our landscape and reconnecting us to the land."—Alice Waters, Owner, Chez Panisse




Dependency Injection Principles, Practices, and Patterns


Book Description

Summary Dependency Injection Principles, Practices, and Patterns teaches you to use DI to reduce hard-coded dependencies between application components. You'll start by learning what DI is and what types of applications will benefit from it. Then, you'll work through concrete scenarios using C# and the .NET framework to implement DI in your own projects. As you dive into the thoroughly-explained examples, you'll develop a foundation you can apply to any of the many DI libraries for .NET and .NET Core. Purchase of the print book includes a free eBook in PDF, Kindle, and ePub formats from Manning Publications. About the Technology Dependency Injection (DI) is a great way to reduce tight coupling between software components. Instead of hard-coding dependencies, such as specifying a database driver, you make those connections through a third party. Central to application frameworks like ASP.NET Core, DI enables you to better manage changes and other complexity in your software. About the Book Dependency Injection Principles, Practices, and Patterns is a revised and expanded edition of the bestselling classic Dependency Injection in .NET. It teaches you DI from the ground up, featuring relevant examples, patterns, and anti-patterns for creating loosely coupled, well-structured applications. The well-annotated code and diagrams use C# examples to illustrate principles that work flawlessly with modern object-oriented languages and DI libraries. What's Inside Refactoring existing code into loosely coupled code DI techniques that work with statically typed OO languages Integration with common .NET frameworks Updated examples illustrating DI in .NET Core About the Reader For intermediate OO developers. About the Authors Mark Seemann is a programmer, software architect, and speaker who has been working with software since 1995, including six years with Microsoft. Steven van Deursen is a seasoned .NET developer and architect, and the author and maintainer of the Simple Injector DI library. Table of Contents PART 1 Putting Dependency Injection on the map The basics of Dependency Injection: What, why, and how Writing tightly coupled code Writing loosely coupled code PART 2 Catalog DI patterns DI anti-patterns Code smells PART 3 Pure DI Application composition Object lifetime Interception Aspect-Oriented Programming by design Tool-based Aspect-Oriented Programming PART 4 DI Containers DI Container introduction The Autofac DI Container The Simple Injector DI Container The Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection DI Container




Emergency Vehicle Safety Initiative


Book Description

From Book's Introduction: As traffic volume increases and the highway and interstate system becomes more complex, emergency responders face a growing risk to their personal safety while managing and working at highway incidents. The purpose of this report is to identify practices that have the potential to decrease that risk, as well as to reduce the number of injuries and deaths that occur while responding to and returning from incidents.




Transient Techniques in Electrochemistry


Book Description

The study of electrochemical reactions by relaxation or transient techniques has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. The impetus for the develop ment of these techniques has been the desire to obtain quantitative data on the rates of "fast" electrochemical processes, including those coupled to homogeneous chemical reactions in solution. This has necessarily meant the development of techniques that are capable of delineating the effects of mass transport and charge transfer at very short times. The purpose of this book is to describe how the various transient techniques may be used to obtain the desired information. Emphasis is placed upon the detailed mathematical development of the subject, since this aspect is the most frequently ignored in other texts in this field. In any relaxation or transient technique for the study of rate processes, it is necessary to disturb the reaction from equilibrium or the steady state by applying a perturbing impulse to the system. The system is then allowed to relax to a new equilibrium or steady-state position, and. the transient (i. e. , the response as a function of time) is analyzed to extract the desired kinetic information. In electrochemical studies the heterogeneous rate constants are, in general, dependent upon the potential difference across the interface, so that the perturbing impulse frequently takes the form of a known variation in potential as a function of time.




The African Diaspora and the Study of Religion


Book Description

This book focuses on the location of the religious heritage of Africa within the academic study of religion - including indigenous African religions, African Christianities, African/American forms of Islam, the religions of African Americans, Afro-Caribbean religions, and Afro-Brazilian religions.




The New Breed


Book Description

Across the country, volunteer ranks continue to grow, but people are volunteering differently. They're working online, seeking flexible schedules, and pursuing a role in defining how projects should be completed. They want to feel a sense of responsibility for your organization's overall mission. Put simply, these volunteers don't want to simply make a contribution; they want to make a difference! Help to recruit, manage, and lead the new breed of volunteers. Authors guide you to a clearer understanding of what today's volunteers look like, how they want to get involved, and how you can most effectively attract, train, and unleash them within your organization.