A unique and personal insight into the ecology and evolution of pollinators, their relationships with flowers, and their conservation in a rapidly changing world. The pollination of flowers by insects, birds and other animals is a fundamentally important ecological function that supports both the natural world and human society. Without pollinators to facilitate the sexual reproduction of plants, the world would be a biologically poorer place in which to live, there would be an impact on food security, and human health would suffer. Written by one of the world’s leading pollination ecologists, this book provides an introduction to what pollinators are, how their interactions with flowers have evolved, and the fundamental ecology of these relationships. It explores the pollination of wild and agricultural plants in a variety of habitats and contexts, including urban, rural and agricultural environments. The author also provides practical advice on how individuals and organisations can study, and support, pollinators. As well as covering the natural history of pollinators and flowers, the author discusses their cultural importance, and the ways in which pollinator conservation has been portrayed from a political perspective. The book draws on field work experiences in South America, Africa, Australia, the Canary Islands and the UK. For over 30 years the author has spent his career researching how plants and pollinators evolve relationships, how these interactions function ecologically, their importance for society, and how we can conserve them in a rapidly changing world. This book offers a unique and personal insight into the science of pollinators and pollination, aimed at anyone who is interested in understanding these fascinating and crucial ecological interactions.
Bible reading notes based on the Common Worship Lectionary, ideal for anyone seeking a structured quiet time. This volume covers the church year 2012/2013.
A Short History of England. This book takes you from the Roman conquest, through Magna Carta, The Tudors, the Civil war and on past the two world wars. Ot tracks England quest to build Jerusalem in this green and pleasant land.
Reflections for Lent is designed to enhance your spiritual journey through the forty days from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday (1 March - 15 April 2017). Covering Monday to Saturday each week, it offers reflections on readings from the Common Worship Lectionary, written by some of today's leading spiritual and theological writers. Each day includes: • Full lectionary details for Morning Prayer • A reflection on one of the Bible readings • A Collect for the day This volume offers daily material for 1 March to 15 April 2017, taken from the Reflections for Daily Prayer 2016/17 annual edition. It is ideal for individuals and groups seeking Lectionary-based reflections for use during Lent and Holy Week, or for anyone wishing to try Reflections for Daily Prayer before committing to a year's worth of material. It also features a simple form of morning and night prayer and a guide to keeping a good Lent.
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO LAOS is the most comprehensive handbook to one of Southeast Asia's least-known destinations. Features include: Detailed coverage of all the sights, from the Buddhist temples of Louang Phabang to the French colonial architecture of Vientiane. Up-to the-minute listings of the best places to eat and stay. Practical guidance on exploring the remote northern hill villages, navigating the Mekong River and elephant-back trekking in the jungle. Lively and informed accounts of Laos's history, culture, ethnic minorities and wildlife. Full-colour photos and more than 30 maps.
The course of history has taken many turns. What would the world be like if events had happened differently? What if JFK had never visited Dallas on November 22, 1963? What if Germany had won the First World War? How would life be different in America if the Southern states had beaten the North? What would a world without The Beatles sound like? Find out the potential answers to all these questions and many more in What If...:Book of Alternative History.With great full-color photos and compelling narratives, historical experts take a look at these and many more intriguing questions in this fascinating look at what might have been. Perfect for browsing, this title will have readers speculating on the events and people that shaped history and make our lives what they are today.
The first edition of Bayesian Methods: A Social and Behavioral Sciences Approach helped pave the way for Bayesian approaches to become more prominent in social science methodology. While the focus remains on practical modeling and basic theory as well as on intuitive explanations and derivations without skipping steps, this second edition incorporates the latest methodology and recent changes in software offerings. New to the Second Edition Two chapters on Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) that cover ergodicity, convergence, mixing, simulated annealing, reversible jump MCMC, and coupling Expanded coverage of Bayesian linear and hierarchical models More technical and philosophical details on prior distributions A dedicated R package (BaM) with data and code for the examples as well as a set of functions for practical purposes such as calculating highest posterior density (HPD) intervals Requiring only a basic working knowledge of linear algebra and calculus, this text is one of the few to offer a graduate-level introduction to Bayesian statistics for social scientists. It first introduces Bayesian statistics and inference, before moving on to assess model quality and fit. Subsequent chapters examine hierarchical models within a Bayesian context and explore MCMC techniques and other numerical methods. Concentrating on practical computing issues, the author includes specific details for Bayesian model building and testing and uses the R and BUGS software for examples and exercises.
Hummingbirds, and the balletic ways in which they feed on flowers, are familiar to most people. But they belong to just one of at least 74 bird families that are known, or suspected, to be pollinators. Relationships between plants and birds first emerged at least 50 million years ago and over time have influenced the evolution of both groups. This groundbreaking book is the first to deal with pollinating birds in all their diversity, involving almost 1,390 avian species interacting with tens of thousands of different plants. It rescues them from being novelties of natural history and explores these interactions in all their evolutionary and ecological significance. Pollinating birds have intricate lives that are often highly dependent on flowers, and the plants themselves are at the whim of birds for their reproduction. This makes them important players within many ecosystems, including tropical rainforests, dry grasslands, temperate woodlands, coastal mangroves and oceanic islands. Bird–flower relationships are threatened by disease, habitat destruction and climate change. Some of the birds are already extinct. Yet there are optimistic stories to be told about conservation and restoration projects that reveal the commitment of people to preserving these vital ecological connections. In addition, as a source of cultural inspiration with a history stretching back millennia, pollinating birds and their flowers are part of the ongoing relationship between humanity and the rest of nature.
This encyclopedia provides numerous entries covering world religions including gods and other holy figures, concepts, historical figures, places, rites, and festivals. Entries cover major and less prominent religions around the world, describing their histories, tenets, customs, and world views. Readers will view entries that describe the lives of fifty significant figures in the histories of various religions. Also presented are excerpts from eighteen religious writings, speeches, and sacred texts.
An accessible textbook for all engaging with Christian doctrine for the first time. A valuable resource and suitable for all clergy and all training for ministry.
PROSE AWARDS MEDIA ADN CULTURAL STUDIES FINALIST 2024 The Gutenberg Parenthesis traces the epoch of print from its fateful beginnings to our digital present – and draws out lessons for the age to come. The age of print is a grand exception in history. For five centuries it fostered what some call print culture – a worldview shaped by the completeness, permanence, and authority of the printed word. As a technology, print at its birth was as disruptive as the digital migration of today. Now, as the internet ushers us past print culture, journalist Jeff Jarvis offers important lessons from the era we leave behind. To understand our transition out of the Gutenberg Age, Jarvis first examines the transition into it. Tracking Western industrialized print to its origins, he explores its invention, spread, and evolution, as well as the bureaucracy and censorship that followed. He also reveals how print gave rise to the idea of the mass – mass media, mass market, mass culture, mass politics, and so on – that came to dominate the public sphere. What can we glean from the captivating, profound, and challenging history of our devotion to print? Could it be that we are returning to a time before mass media, to a society built on conversation, and that we are relearning how to hold that conversation with ourselves? Brimming with broader implications for today's debates over communication, authorship, and ownership, Jarvis' exploration of print on a grand scale is also a complex, compelling history of technology and power.
The focus of this study is on Oecolampadius's 1534 commentary on the biblical book of Hebrews, which derived from his theology lectures at the University of Basel in 1529-1530. Jeff Fisher compares his exegesis with more than twenty-five of the most relevant interpreters from the early church to the Reformation. He shows that by recovering and adapting an Alexandrian interpretive notion of Christ as the goal of Scripture, Oecolampadius's Christoscopic reading of Scripture served as an essential step in the shift toward Reformed interpretative approaches, such as that of John Calvin.
It has been said that next to the biblical writers, the most quoted person in American pulpits, churches, and educational institutions, hands down, is C. S. Lewis. He has become such a part of the speaking and thinking rhythm of those of us in the West, that without him, well . . . who would we quote? Peter Kreeft sums it up quite nicely: "[Lewis] is read with enormous affection and loyalty by a wide and diversified audience today. . . . In fact, more of his books are sold today than those of any other Christian writer in history" (Kreeft, Lewis and the Two Roads to God, The Washington Times, in The World & I, February 1987, 354). Why Lewis? is a primer, designed especially to stimulate thinking about Lewis and offer at least seven reasons why he has made such an indelible impact upon so many. Quotes, references, anecdotes, and footnotes are provided in easily accessible fashion to assist the budding Lewis scholar into elements of deeper study, while at the same time offering the most seasoned aficionado some fresh perspectives as well.
What would Newton see if he looked out his bedroom window? This book describes the world around the important mathematicians of the past, and explores the complex interaction between mathematics, mathematicians, and society. It takes the reader on a grand tour of history from the ancient Egyptians to the twentieth century to show how mathematicians and mathematics were affected by the outside world, and at the same time how the outside world was affected by mathematics and mathematicians. Part biography, part mathematics, and part history, this book provides the interested layperson the background to understand mathematics and the history of mathematics, and is suitable for supplemental reading in any history of mathematics course.
This book was written for both the new churchgoer and the senior churchgoer. It begins with a history of the church and leads into how the church leadership of today operates. This book was written to show that there is no such thing as a perfect church, but there is a church that should be striving toward perfection. This book allows its readers to test their church to ensure that sound Christian doctrine is being taught and put to the test. As stated earlier, there is no perfect church; every church has issues that must be dealt with, and this book covers many of those issues through a firsthand account and gives actions that can help eliminate these troublesome areas. It also deals with what a healthy church looks like and how to get to that point. As the church body, our greatest job is to share the good news of Jesus with everyone that we can. This book includes a chapter on evangelism and easy methods that can be used by individuals and the church as a whole. In summary, this book is about the history of the church and what God intended the church to be and how many times we fall short. The good news is that there is hope for our churches today; we just need our members to be on fire for Jesus and become servant-hearted workers in the church.
Reflections for Daily Prayer has nourished thousands of Christians for a decade with its inspiring and informed weekday Bible reflections. Now, in response to demand, Reflections for Sundays combines material from over the years with new writing to provide high-quality reflections on the Principal Readings for Sundays and major Holy Days. Contributors include some of the very best writers from across the Anglican tradition who have helped to establish it as one of the leading daily devotional volumes today. For each Sunday and major Holy Day in Year B, Reflections for Sundays offers: • full lectionary details for the Principle Service • a reflection on the Old Testament reading • a reflection on the Epistle • a reflection on the Gospel It also contains a substantial introduction to the Gospels of Mark and John, written by renowned Bible teacher Paula Gooder.
This core textbook, edited by five leading scholars of the subject, provides a comprehensive overview of the key topics, debates and themes in this increasingly important field. Balancing research-led theory with industry best-practice to provide students with a definitive overview of HRD, the book draws on the international experience of its authors to tackle topics as diverse as leadership and managing development, change and diversity, workplace learning, and graduate employability. The book's approachable yet thorough writing style and lively presentation helps students to understand the topic from a critical perspective while also demonstrating how HRD plays out in reality. This is an essential textbook for undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students of Human Resource Development on HRD or Business and Management degree programmes. New to this Edition: - New contributors and revised content, including additional coverage of careers, career management and employability - More international coverage, especially of the EU - Inclusion of topical subjects including employee engagement, skills shortage and business partnering - Improved student-friendly pedagogy and updated figures and diagrams to appeal to different learning styles - Thoroughly updated references and web links
County guides The Shire county guides introduce the reader, whether tourist or resident, to villages and towns, areas of outstanding beauty, museums and other tourist attractions, archaeological sites, churches and cathedrals, coast and countryside, historic buildings and gardens and famous local people. Each guide is illustrated in colour and black and white and there are cross-references for easy use. Each includes a location map, clear directions and grid references, a guide to opening days, telephone numbers for pre-checking and a quick-find index. There is also a list of tourist information centres within the county.
New Zealand is a great country for travelers--New Zealanders are friendly; getting around is a breeze; finding accommodations is easy and relatively inexpensive; the food is fresh and the wine is excellent. This practical guide will help travelers discover the very best that New Zealand has to offer. Color photos.
Here, at last, is the real story of a star whose early life reads more like a Greek tragedy than a TV sitcom. Grammer's father was murdered when Kelsey was 13 years old, and Kelsey suddenly became man the man of the family. His sister was raped and murdered when he was 21, and his two half-brothers drowned a few years later. Includes 8-page photo insert.
LIQUID is a DVD-based experience featuring five 10-minute episodes in each series, as well as a 112-page Reflection Guide with questions and leader's tips. Each episode introduces present-day characters whose problems and struggles mirror biblical stories, illustrating that God's Word is as true today as it was when it was written. With emotionally provoking videos, introspective questions and tips for leading a small group, LIQUID is the perfect experience for individual growth or small group study. These participant's guides are companions to the DVDs.
We’re an “instant gratification” generation—but most change happens gradually. Many of us spend our lives searching and longing for something more than what is in front of us. Whether it’s traveling abroad or chasing cheap (or expensive) thrills, we’re all looking for the medicine to satisfy our restlessness. And so often we're looking in the wrong place. The In-Between is a call to accept the importance that waiting plays in our lives. Can we embrace the extraordinary nature of the ordinary and enjoy the daily mundane—what lies in between the “major” moments? Learning to live in this tension, to be content in these moments of waiting, may be our greatest struggle—and our greatest opportunity to grow.
In this Ebook edition of The Land Between, author Jeff Manion uses the biblical story of the Israelites’ journey through Sinai desert as a metaphor for being in undesired, transitional space. After enduring generations of slavery in Egypt, the descendants of Jacob travel through the desert (the land between) toward their new home in Canaan. They crave the food of their former home in Egypt and despise their present environment. They are unable to go back and incapable of moving forward. The Land Between explores the way in which the Israelites’ reactions can provide insight and guidance on how to respond to God during our own seasons of difficult transition. It also provides fresh biblical insight for people traveling through undesired transitions—foreclosure, unemployment, parents in declining health, post-graduate uncertainty, business failure—who are looking for hope, guidance, and encouragement. While it is possible to move through transitions and learn little, they provide our greatest opportunity for spiritual growth. God desires to meet us in our chaos and emotional upheaval, and he intends for us to encounter his goodness and provision during these upsetting seasons.
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