Ivory Eb


Book Description

Ivory Eb is a short story about interracial couples. The first part deals with a couple during the pre-Civil War era and their joys and sorrows from a tragedy. Parts Two and Three pertain to another couple and it is set from the turbulent 1960’s up to the present day. It’s tied to Part One by a twist of fate. They are dealing with their trials and tribulations, and their ultimate triumph over their adversity, won by an unshakeable love. Ivory Eb is a short, but endearingly




Ivory


Book Description

Half of Tanzania's elephants have been killed for their ivory since 2007. A similar alarming story can be told of the herds in northern Mozambique and across swathes of central Africa, with forest elephants losing almost two-thirds of their numbers to the tusk trade. The huge rise in poaching and ivory smuggling in the new millennium has destroyed the hope that the 1989 ivory trade ban had capped poaching and would lead to a long-term fall in demand. But why the new upsurge? The answer is not simple. Since ancient times, large-scale killing of elephants for their tusks has been driven by demand outside Africa's elephant ranges - from the Egyptian pharaohs through Imperial Rome and industrialising Europe and North America to the new wealthy business class of China. And, who poaches and why do they do it? In recent years lurid press reports have blamed mass poaching on rebel movements and armed militias, especially Somalia's Al Shabaab, tying two together two evils - poaching and terrorism. But does this account stand up to scrutiny? This new and ground-breaking examination of the history and politics of ivory in Africa forensically examines why poaching happens in Africa and why it is corruption, crime and politics, rather than insurgency, that we should worry about.




The Clarinet in the Classical Period


Book Description

A comprehensive study of the clarinet in use through the classical period, 1760 to 1830, a period of intensive musical experimentation. The book provides a detailed review and analysis of construction, design, materials, and makers of clarinets. Rice also explores how clarinet construction and performance practice developed in tandem with the musical styles of the period.




Wildlife Resources


Book Description

The general interest and attention paid to the use of the renewable natural resources of the world have increased greatly during the last decades. This is due to the environmental dilemma into which mankind has got itself by the total disregard of ecological facts and laws, the underprizing of natural resources and the overemphasis on economic develop ment, coupled with unimpeded rapid population growth and the preponderance of material istic consumption-oriented attitudes. The management and use of natural resources such as forests, grasslands, rivers and lakes were formerly considered purely in a financial context, whereas latterly, a consciousness of their social function and the indirect economic benefits which can be derived from them has developed. Thus, as regards these traditional resources, multi-use concepts comprising eco nomically oriented utilisation as well as recreational, educational and social use have be come widely accepted. Conservation of natural resources for sustainable consumptive as well as non-consumptive uses has been recognised as a key element for maintaining eco nomic development all over the world. Fortunately, the industrialised countries have started to apply this principle themselves and in their technical and financial aid to the developing Third World countries. This is manifest from policy documents such as the World Bank Policy on Development of Wild Lands, issued in 1987.










Early Bronze Age Goods Exchange in the Southern Levant


Book Description

The Southern Levant was a thriving centre of religious and cultural exchange during the Bronze Age. 'Early Bronze Age Goods Exchange in the Southern Levant' provides an overview of the sources and distribution of commodities. The book presents a study of key production centres and the process of purchase and exchange. The book establishes a theoretical framework - based in political economy, ethnoarchaeology and economic anthropology - for understanding the exchange of commodities in a precapitalist society. 'Early Bronze Age Goods Exchange in the Southern Levant' is unique in presenting archaeological sources and prehistoric economics through modern, notably Marxist, theories of human development.




The Cosmopolitan


Book Description




The Exploitation of Mammal Populations


Book Description

Human exploitation of other mammals has passed through three histori cal phases, distinct in their ecological significance though overlapping in time. Initially, Homo sapiens was a predator, particularly of herbivores but also of fur-bearing predators. From about 11 000 years ago, goats and sheep were domesticated in the Middle East, rapidly replacing gazelles and other game as the principal source of meat. The principal crops, including wheat and barley, were taken into agriculture at about the same time, and the resulting Neolithic farming culture spread slowly from there over the subsequent 10 500 years. In a few places such as Mexico, Peru and China, this Middle Eastern culture met and merged with agricultural traditions that had made a similar but independent transition. These agricultural traditions provided the essential support for the industrial revolution, and for a third phase of industrial exploita tion of mammals. In this chapter, these themes are drawn out and their ecological signifi cance is investigated. Some of the impacts of humans on other mammals require consideration on a world-wide basis, but the chapter concen trates, parochially, on Great Britain. What have been the ecological consequences of our exploitation of other mammals? 2. 2 HISTORICAL PHASES OF EXPLOITATION 2. 2. 1 Predatory man Our nearest relatives - chimpanzees, orang utans and gorillas - are essentially forest species, deriving most of their diet from the fruits of forest trees and the shoots and leaves of plants.




Improving Urban Science Education


Book Description

This book is a result of my childhood questions about myself as I wondered how did I appear to be myself suddenly with hardly any past recollection and I wondered about my understanding of my own experiences in my life and things of that nature. I wanted to look beyond the 'Creator's wish' part, a prevalent mode of resignation of the thought process, to find a logical and scientific explanation by myself through reading. Eventually I developed the wisdom that the answer lies in the understanding of the brain. When I realized that it is my brain that is somehow generating all my experiences for me, it led to a pretty engrossing experience trying to understand it since. Since this is a book about the brain, I thought it was necessary to discuss the fundamental aspect of its structure. However, I only laid a gross picture with broad strokes only after briefly discussing the highlights of the history of evolution of the brain. Then I tried to address some of the big questions like the consciousness and the generation of the mind and self from a neurological point of view. I went ahead and discussed the mechanism of some of the attributes of self as well. Some of the functional aspects are elucidated as how we fall in love or how we navigate directions and so forth. Computation is the basis by which the brain derives its conclusions. The plasticity of the brain enables us to learn new skills. The genetic aspect cannot be overemphasized. I have included some fascinating data that has recently been found out in these regards. Psychiatric illnesses always fascinated me. I have discussed the genetic basis and pathophysiology of a few of them, like Depression, Alzheimer's disease, etc. The whole book is written on the basis of the latest findings by dedicated professionals. Here I am like a collector who has put all this in a concise deliberation to share my own understandings regarding what it takes for each of us to be the way we are.