Spanning ten thousand years of social change, this book examines the ways in which world-systems evolve. A comparative study of stateless societies,... state-based regional empires, and the modern global capitalist political economy, it reveals the underlying processes at work in the reproduction and transformation of social, economic, and political structures.Christopher Chase-Dunn and Thomas Hall show that stateless societies developed in the context of regional intersocietal networks that differed significantly from larger and more hierarchical world-systems. The processes by which chiefdoms rose and fell are similar to the ways in which states, empires, and modern hegemonic core states have experienced uneven development. Most world-systems exhibit a pattern of political centralization and decentralization, but the mechanisms and processes of change can vary greatly.Looking at the systematic similarities and differences among small scale, middle-sized, and global world-systems, the authors address such questions as: Do all world-systems have core/periphery hierarchies in which the development of one area necessitates the underdevelopment of another? How were kin-based logics of social integration transformed into state-based tributary logics, and how did capitalism emerge within the interstices of tributary states and empires to eventually become the predominant logic of accumulation? How did the rise of commodity production and the eventual dominance of capitalist accumulation modify the processes by which political centers rise and fall?Rise and Demise offers far-reaching explanations of social change, showing how the comparative study of world-systems increases our understanding of early history, the contemporary global system, and future possibilities for world society.

An introduction to the aims and format of biological writing, designed primarily for undergraduates but also useful for postgraduate students preparing... dissertations or journal contributions. This is a self-help manual offering straightforward solutions to common problems, and an overview of the diversity of writing tasks faced by professional biologists.

Building and maintaining a successful team is no simple task. Even people who have taken their teams to the highest level in their field have difficulty... recreating what accounted for their successes. Is it a strong work ethic? Is it "chemistry"? What tools can you wrap your hands around to build-or rebuild-your team? In The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork, leadership expert and New York Times bestselling author John C. Maxwell shares the vital principles of team building that are necessary for success in your business, family, church, or organization. In his practical, down-to-earth style, Dr. Maxwell shows how:  The Law of High Morale inspired a 50 year-old man who couldn't even swim to train for the toughest triathlon in the world.  The Law of the Big Picture prompted a former U.S. president to travel crosscountry by bus, sleep in a basement, and do manual labor. Playing by The Law of the Scoreboard enabled one Web-based company to keep growing and making money while thousands of other Internet businesses failed. Ignoring The Law of the Price Tag caused one of the world's largest retailers to close its doors after 128 years in business. The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork will empower you-whether coach or player, teacher or student, CEO or non-profit volunteer-with the "how-tos" and attitudes for building a successful team. John C. Maxwell, known as America's expert on leadership, is a best-selling author and the founder of INJOY Stewardship Services, EQUIP, and Maximum Impact, dedicated to helping people reach their leadership potential. For more information, visit www.MaximumImpact.com.

Each book contains an assortment of graded reading material for systematic sight reading development. These carefully constructed books make great... additions to any piano method.

This book addresses the emergence of a new kind of architecture, in which building performance is a guiding design principle, adopting new... performance-based priorities for the design of cities, buildings, landscape and infrastructures. This emerging architecture places broadly defined performance above form making; it uses digital technologies of quantitative and qualitative performance-based simulation to offer a comprehensive approach to the design of the built environment. The emphasis on building performance is now redefining expectations of the building design, its process and practice.

Whether for computer evaluation of otherworldly terrain or the latest high definition 3D blockbuster, digital image processing involves the acquisition,... analysis, and processing of visual information by computer and requires a unique skill set that has yet to be defined a single text. Until now. Taking an applications-oriented, engineering approach, Digital Image Processing and Analysis provides the tools for developing and advancing computer and human vision applications and brings image processing and analysis together into a unified framework.Providing information and background in a logical, as-needed fashion, the author presents topics as they become necessary for understanding the practical imaging model under study. He offers a conceptual presentation of the material for a solid understanding of complex topics and discusses the theory and foundations of digital image processing and the algorithm development needed to advance the field. With liberal use of color through-out and more materials on the processing of color images than the previous edition, this book provides supplementary exercises, a new chapter on applications, and two major new tools that allow for batch processing, the analysis of imaging algorithms, and the overall research and development of imaging applications. It includes two new software tools, the Computer Vision and Image Processing Algorithm Test and Analysis Tool (CVIP-ATAT) and the CVIP Feature Extraction and Pattern Classification Tool (CVIP-FEPC).Divided into five major sections, this book provides the concepts and models required to analyze digital images and develop computer vision and human consumption applications as well as all the necessary information to use the CVIPtools environment for algorithm development, making it an ideal reference tool for this fast growing field.

This is the unbound, loose-leaf version of the standard 4th edition of Kerin's Marketing: the Core. It comes bundled together with an access card for.... Connect+. This book continues a tradition of leading the market with contemporary, cutting-edge content presented in a conversational student-oriented style, supported by the most comprehensive, innovative, and useful supplement package available. This text and package is designed to meet the needs of a wide spectrum of faculty-from the professor who just wants a good textbook and a few key supplements, to the professor who wants a top-notch fully integrated multimedia program. Marketing: the Core utilizes a unique, innovative, and effective pedagogical approach developed by the authors through the integration of their combined classroom, college, and university experiences. The elements of this approach have been the foundation for each edition of Marketing: the Core and serve as the core of the text and its supplements as they evolve and adapt to changes in student learning styles, the growth of the marketing discipline, and the development of new instructional technologies. This is a shrink-wrapped loose-leaf edition that contains a Connect Plus access code card. This item is nonreturnable if shrink wrap is opened.