Channel coding lies at the heart of digital communication and data storage, and this detailed introduction describes the core theory as well as decoding... algorithms, implementation details, and performance analyses. Known for their writing clarity, Professors Ryan and Lin provide the latest information on modern channel codes, including turbo and low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes. They also present detailed coverage of BCH codes, Reed-Solomon codes, convolutional codes, finite geometry codes, and product codes, providing a one-stop resource for both classical and modern coding techniques. Assuming no prior knowledge in the field of channel coding, the opening chapters begin with basic theory to introduce newcomers to the subject. Later chapters then extend to advanced topics such as code ensemble performance analyses and algebraic code design. 250 varied and stimulating end-of-chapter problems are also included to test and enhance learning, making this an essential resource for students and practitioners alike.

Blackness has always played a central role in the American imagination. Therefore, it should not be surprising that popular television--a medium that... grew up with the Civil Rights Movement--has featured blackness as both a foil and a key narrative theme throughout its sixty-year existence. Ironically, in modern "colorblind" times, we are faced with a unique turn of events--blackness is actually overrepresented in television sitcoms and dramas. Channeling Blackness: Studies on Television and Race in America presents fifteen classic and contemporary studies of the shifting, complex relationship between popular television and blackness. Using a variety of methodological and theoretical approaches, these essays examine four key issues that have framed popular and scholarly inquiries into the nature of race on television: * The black-white binary * The power of media * Distinguishing between "negative" and "positive" images * The relative importance of markets versus racial motives in television Firmly establishing popular television as a central cultural forum in our society, Channeling Blackness looks at how television has profoundly shaped and been shaped by America's ambivalent relationship with blackness. It provides numerous examples of how our current interaction with television distinguishes the lived experiences of today from those of the past. The book also shows how the entertainment function of television often masks its ideological purpose, particularly its role in reflecting and reproducing America's racial order. A useful supplement in any number of courses on race and society, Channeling Blackness is an ideal text for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on race and media, media and society, television studies, television criticism, communication studies, and African American and ethnic studies.

"If it bleeds, it leads." The phrase captures television news directors' famed preference for opening newscasts with the most violent stories they can... find. And what is true for news is often true for entertainment programming, where violence is used as a product to attract both viewers and sponsors. In this book, James Hamilton presents the first major theoretical and empirical examination of the market for television violence.Hamilton approaches television violence in the same way that other economists approach the problem of pollution: that is, as an example of market failure. He argues that television violence, like pollution, generates negative externalities, defined as costs borne by others than those involved in the production activity. Broadcasters seeking to attract viewers may not fully bear the costs to society of their violent programming, if those costs include such factors as increased levels of aggression and crime in society. Hamilton goes on to say that the comparison to pollution remains relevant when considering how to deal with the problem. Approaches devised to control violent programming, such as restricting it to certain times and rating programs according to the violence they contain, have parallels in zoning and education policies designed to protect the environment.Hamilton examines in detail the microstructure of incentives that operate at every level of television broadcasting, from programming and advertising to viewer behavior, so that remedies can be devised to reduce violent programming without restricting broadcasters' right to compete.

Since its original publication in 1987, Channels of Discourse has provided the most comprehensive consideration of commercial television, drawing on... insights provided by the major strands of contemporary criticism: semiotics, narrative theory, reception theory, genre theory, ideological analysis, psychoanalysis, feminist criticism, and British cultural studies.The second edition features a new introduction by Robert Allen that includes a discussion of the political economy of commercial television. Two new essays have been added—one an assessment of postmodernism and television, the other an analysis of convergence and divergence among the essays—and the original essays have been substantially revised and updated with an international audience in mind. Sixty-one new television stills illustrate the text.Each essay lays out the general tenets of its particular approach, discusses television as an object of analysis within that critical framework, and provides extended examples of the types of analysis produced by that critical approach. Case studies range from Rescue 911 and Twin Peaks to soap operas, music videos, game shows, talk shows, and commericals.Channels of Discourse, Reassembled suggests new ways of understanding relationships among television programs, between viewing pleasure and narrative structure, and between the world in front of the television set and that represented on the screen. The collection also addresses the qualities of popular television that traditional aesthetics and quantitative media research have failed to treat satisfactorily, including its seriality, mass production, and extraordinary popularity.The contributors are Robert C. Allen, Jim Collins, Jane Feuer, John Fiske, Sandy Flitterman-Lewis, James Hay, E. Ann Kaplan, Sarah Kozloff, Ellen Seiter, and Mimi White.

Kate Moss wears a sexual pout in a Calvin Klein ad. Kurt Cobain’s suicide is held aloft as the archetypal example of teen alienation. What truth, if... any, is contained in these depictions of today’s youth? What message about our children is being transmitted? In Channel Surfing, Henry Giroux turns his gaze to this barrage of media images and sees a message that sells our children short by damning them to the preconceived role of alienated outcast. Surfing from one channel of communication to the next, Giroux builds up a complex web of associations between characters in films, tarnished real-life teen idols, and sexualized presentations of nubile young clothing models to show us the dark vision of our children that rides the airwaves and inhabits the print media. Channel Surfing, Henry Giroux’s most fascinating and intriguing book yet, is sure to create controversy and debate at the same time that it calls for a more ethical attitude towards the prospect of our children’s future.

DK Eyewitness Travel's full-color guidebooks to hundreds of destinations around the world truly show you what others only tell you. They have become... renowned for their visual excellence, which includes unparalleled photography, 3-D mapping, and specially commissioned cutaway illustrations. DK Eyewitness Travel Guides are the only guides that work equally well for inspiration, as a planning tool, a practical resource while traveling, and a keepsake following any trip. All DK Eyewitness Travel Guides to cities now include a new durable, oversized pull-out map with useful transportation information, a distance chart, a street and sight index, and practical information for getting around the city.

This anthology explores Rastafari religion, culture, and politics in Jamaica and other parts of the African diaspora. An Afro-Caribbean religious and... cultural movement that sprang from the streets of Kingston, Jamaica, in the 1930s, today Rastafari has close to one million adherents. The basic message of Rastafari the dismantling of all oppressive institutions and the liberation of humankind even has strong appeal to non-believers who are captivated by reggae music, the lyrics, and the 'immortal spirit' of its enormously popular practitioner, Bob Marley. Probing into Rastafari's still evolving belief system, political goals, and cultural expression, the contributors to this volume emphasize the importance of Africana history and the Caribbean context. Author note: Nathaniel Samuel Murrell is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and Visiting Professor at the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology in Kingston, Jamaica. William David Spencer serves as Pastor of Encouragement at Pilgrim Church in Beverly, MA, and was an Adjunct Professor of Theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary's Center for Urban Ministerial Education in Boston. He has authored, co-authored, or edited "The Prayer of Life of Jesus", "Mysterium and Mystery: The Clerical Crime Novel", "God through the Looking Glass", "Joy through the Night", "2 Corinthians: Bible Study Commentary", and "The Global God". Adrian Anthony McFarlane is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Hartwick College in Oneonta, NY. He is author of "A Grammar of Fear and Evil: A Husserlian-Wittgensteinian Hermeneutic".

Since its publication in 1984, Chants Democratic has endured as a classic narrative on labor and the rise of American democracy. In it, Sean Wilentz... explores the dramatic social and intellectual changes that accompanied early industrialization in New York. He provides a panoramic chronicle of New York City's labor strife, social movements, and political turmoil in the eras of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. Twenty years after its initial publication, Wilentz has added a new preface that takes stock of his own thinking, then and now, about New York City and the rise of the American working class.

Includes: Over fifty chants and fingerplays. Things to make out of paper. Dolls, animals & stuff you make with a handkerchief or towel. And fourteen... of our best-loved stories from over the years of working with families and young children.

Chào Ban! is an interactive language program of introductory Vietnamese intended for use by non-native students, as well as students of Vietnamese... heritage without a solid knowledge of the language. The entire program uses the communicative approach, which focuses on teaching the language for the ultimate purpose of using it in everyday settings. Chào Ban! consists of a textbook and workbook manual that adhere to the following practical objectives: to make the whole program straightforward in presentation, user-friendly, practical, interesting to students, and most importantly culture-based.

Chào Ban! is an interactive language program of introductory Vietnamese intended for use by non-native students, as well as students of Vietnamese... heritage without a solid knowledge of the language. The entire program uses the communicative approach, which focuses on teaching the language for the ultimate purpose of using it in everyday settings. Chào Ban! consists of a textbook and workbook manual that adhere to the following practical objectives: to make the whole program straightforward in presentation, user-friendly, practical, interesting to students, and most importantly culture-based.

Developed and class-tested by a distinguished team of authors at two universities, this text is intended for courses in nonlinear dynamics in either... mathematics or physics. The only prerequisites are calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra. Along with discussions of the major topics, including discrete dynamical systems, chaos, fractals, nonlinear differential equations and bifurcations, the text also includes Lab Visits -- short reports that illustrate relevant concepts from the physical, chemical and biological sciences. There are Computer Experiments throughout the text that present opportunities to explore dynamics through computer simulations, designed for use with any software package. And each chapter ends with a Challenge, guiding students through an advanced topic in the form of an extended exercise.