Library: Best sellers

The book investigates efforts of the international community to keep peace and rebuild states after these have overcome internal war. Over the past 20+ years, UN peace missions have gradually become more ambitious, with an increasing number of military and civilian peacebuilders on the ground who take on a wide range of responsibilities. Contradicting calls for ever more international commitment to post-war countries, the author argues that more of everything is not in all cases the adequate approach and does not necessarily produce better outcomes in terms of security and statehood in war-tor...

Growth Associated Protein 43 (GAP-43), isolated from rat brain and considered a neuronal marker, is involved in neurite branching, cytoskeleton remodelling, neuronal development and protection. However, GAP-43 mRNA was found in embryonic chicken cells positive to meromyosin, as well as in human satellite cells, myoblasts and myotubes deriving from healthy or dystrophic muscles. Despite these findings, there is no clear evidence about its localization or relationship with other muscle proteins. The aim of this study was to investigate GAP-43 protein expression and localization in C2C12 cells a...

This study aimed at getting an insight to the practices of dialogic oriented shared book reading, as one potential language promotion activity for children with migration backgrounds in German kindergartens. Shared book reading in Germany itself has been one common daily activity in kindergartens, yet it has unfortunately not been so much of a specific research focus to be explored. One of the notable studies to refer to when discussing shared book reading in the German context is the study conducted by Wieler (1997). On the other hand, there are a number of internationally recognized studi...

This dissertation is an evaluative research study of supportive intervention tools for tackling anti-social behaviour implemented by a large housing association, since the Home Office Respect Agenda Action Plan was launched in 2006. The dissertation set out to explore the use and evaluate the effectiveness of supportive interventions as compared to enforcement interventions, and especially where people with mental health problems are involved The phenomenological theoretical underpinning of the research is informed by the philosophy of reaching far beyond the facts to identify the meaning a...

The operational aspects of Lambda Calculus are studied as a fundamental basis for high-order functional computation. We consider systems having full reduction semantics, i.e., equivalence-preserving transformations of functions. The historic lineage from Eval-Apply to SECD to RTNF/RTLF culminates in the techniques of normal-order graph Head Order Reduction (HOR). By using a scalar mechanism to artificially bind relatively free variables, HOR makes it relatively effortless to reduce expressions beyond weak normal form and to allow expression-level results while exhibiting a well-behaved linear ...

The dissertation describes the processes surrounding the production of investigative knowledge within the Danish Police based on in-depth analyses of how investigators seek out, discover, and produce knowledge that can assist in the production of evidence for identification and prosecution. The central question informing the dissertation is the question of how knowledge comes about, and how such processes of knowledge can be studied anthropologically. The dissertation develops a theoretical frame for the study of knowledge, which addresses the becoming of knowledge as the effect of the inte...

Internationally adopted persons confront multiple challenges in constructing their identities. This study of the narrative burden of self looks at and interprets the dynamic process in which internationally adopted people develop, coordinate and manage their sense of self, identity and cultural/racial personhood. Drawing on the theory of the Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM), the study focuses on their use of orphaning and adoption stories to most skillfully position and tell one's origin story in concert with one's internal sense of self, and the pressures and forces found in interpers...

For centuries, we have known that our dynamic universe is adorned by cosmic fireworks: energetic and ephemeral beacons of light from a single star that are a million (nova) to a billion (supernova) times brighter than our sun. However, it had been an age-old conundrum that the brightest nova is approximately 1000 times fainter than the faintest supernova; why should nature leave such a wide "gap"? In search of an answer, I undertook three systematic surveys for my thesis. Since I was looking for transients fainter, faster and rarer than supernovae, I focused my search on galaxies in the loc...

A great deal of literature confirms the fact that small family-owned businesses rarely extend beyond the founder of the business. This study explored and identified factors that helped to create a successful family business transition for two African American family-owned businesses in the San Antonio area. One family experienced working through a well thought-out succession plan that successfully passed the mantel from one generation to the next, while the other family experienced going through an unexpected, unplanned business succession that was also successful. Understanding the factors th...

This thesis analyses how and why culture and geography influence the allocation and licensing of the radio frequency (RF) spectrum in different nations. Based on a broad comparative study of 235 countries, an inter-disciplinary approach is used to explore regulatory frameworks and attitudes toward risk. In addition, detailed case studies of the UK, France, the US and Ecuador provide deeper insights into the main contrasting regulatory styles. Three alternative sociological theories are used to analyse and explain the results for both the in-depth and broad brush studies. The Cultural Theory...