The backbone of the Roman army was the infantry, armed with a javelin, or pilum, and sword, or gladius. This study investigates not just the weapon itself, and its design and manufacture, but how the sword was originally conceived and how it was employed on the battlefield as an expression of the Roman state. The authors start examining the early swords employed across the Italian Peninsula during the Bronze Age and how these evolved into the gladius, which itself changed in the period of Monarchy with the introduction of the cross-hilt. During Rome’s Consular period, the gladius changed again, and, over time, both the length of the blade and its width were altered. Relying exclusively on historical and archaeological evidence, The Roman Gladius and the Ancient Fighting Techniques shows how the Roman army developed into a highly disciplined body and how fundamental the gladius was to its method of fighting. It also shows how the combat techniques of the Romans evolved as did those of their enemies. The training methods and tactics of the Roman infantry are fully explored and its performance at some of the great battles of the monarchical and consular periods are examined as the area under Roman rule fluctuated with victory or defeat. For the Roman people, the gladius was the object that better than any other showed their identity, since it was a weapon that accompanied the history of the Roman people from its earliest days, changing in shape and design as it was adapted to the varying social, political and military needs. The Roman Gladius and the Ancient Fighting Techniques is the most comprehensive study of this hugely important weapon, which also provides the reader with a complete overview of Roman society, which in this first volume is treated until the end of the Consular period. The book is richly illustrated throughout with drawings and photographs of original weapons and equipment.
The backbone of the Roman army was the infantry, armed with a javelin, or pilum, and sword, or gladius. This study investigates not just the weapon itself, and its design and manufacture, but how the sword was originally conceived and how it was employed on the battlefield as an expression of the Roman state. The authors start examining the early swords employed across the Italian Peninsula during the Bronze Age and how these evolved into the gladius, which itself changed in the period of Monarchy with the introduction of the cross-hilt. During Rome’s Consular period, the gladius changed again, and, over time, both the length of the blade and its width were altered. Relying exclusively on historical and archaeological evidence, The Roman Gladius and the Ancient Fighting Techniques shows how the Roman army developed into a highly disciplined body and how fundamental the gladius was to its method of fighting. It also shows how the combat techniques of the Romans evolved as did those of their enemies. The training methods and tactics of the Roman infantry are fully explored and its performance at some of the great battles of the monarchical and consular periods are examined as the area under Roman rule fluctuated with victory or defeat. For the Roman people, the gladius was the object that better than any other showed their identity, since it was a weapon that accompanied the history of the Roman people from its earliest days, changing in shape and design as it was adapted to the varying social, political and military needs. The Roman Gladius and the Ancient Fighting Techniques is the most comprehensive study of this hugely important weapon, which also provides the reader with a complete overview of Roman society, which in this first volume is treated until the end of the Consular period. The book is richly illustrated throughout with drawings and photographs of original weapons and equipment.
The long-standing informality debate in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region has taken on a new urgency as it looks for a pathway to more socially inclusive growth that is less reliant on fossil fuels. This is occurring against a backdrop of subpar labor market outcomes, further growth setbacks, and deteriorating fiscal and current account deficits in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic--and in the wake of high inflation and supply chain disruptions triggered by the Russian Federation-Ukraine war. 'Informality and Inclusive Growth in the Middle East and North Africa' aims to better understand the characteristics and incentive structure that have led to the prevalence of informal employment in three MENA countries--the Arab Republic of Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. The report breaks new ground by adopting a comprehensive perspective to focus on the features of, and interrelationships among, different aspects of these countries' institutional landscapes to make sense of the complex incentive structure that workers and firms face when deciding between formal and informal options. Specifically, the report groups these issues in three broad realms: (1) entrepreneur-worker relations, (2) taxes and transfers, and (3) market conditions. 'This report is an extremely welcome addition to the literature on MENA labor markets. By analyzing the incentive structure and institutional factors that have led to the prevalence of informal employment in Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia, it points the way to policy actions that can be taken to reduce informality and increase social protection for workers. It is a must-read for anyone who cares about greater economic inclusion in MENA.' --Ragui Assaad, Professor, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota 'A compelling account of the implications of informality in the workforce and how economies of MENA can design appropriate policy responses. This timely report comes amid multiple social reforms in MENA and is a must-read for policy practitioners and economists in the region.' --Karim El Aynaoui, Executive President, Policy Center for the New South 'This report is particularly timely given the negative impact the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent crises have had on living standards and poverty rates around the world and especially in MENA countries. While the focus on boosting growth and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals has revolved around financing, the report sheds new light on the benefits that tackling informality through institutional, regulatory, and policy changes could present to achieving these goals.' --Mahmoud Mohieldin, Executive Director, International Monetary Fund
This book deals with the creation of local innovation systems (LIS) in emerging countries. The authors analyze the role of the government, firms and research centers in the formation of LIS. Special attention is paid to the manner in which different leading actors implement their LIS development strategies. The book presents detailed case studies on different strategies used to implement LIS in Singapore, Dubai, Taiwan and Iran.
The local sourcing of intermediate products is one the main channels for foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers. This paper investigates whether and how participation and positioning in the global value chains (GVCs) of host countries is associated to local sourcing by foreign investors. Matching two firm-level data sets of 19 Sub-Saharan African countries and Vietnam to country-sector level measures of GVC involvement, we find that more intense GVC participation and upstream specialization are associated to a higher share of inputs sourced locally by foreign investors. These effects are larger in countries with stronger rule of law and better education.
Introduction to Abelian Model Structures and Gorenstein Homological Dimensions provides a starting point to study the relationship between homological and homotopical algebra, a very active branch of mathematics. The book shows how to obtain new model structures in homological algebra by constructing a pair of compatible complete cotorsion pairs related to a specific homological dimension and then applying the Hovey Correspondence to generate an abelian model structure. The first part of the book introduces the definitions and notations of the universal constructions most often used in category theory. The next part presents a proof of the Eklof and Trlifaj theorem in Grothedieck categories and covers M. Hovey’s work that connects the theories of cotorsion pairs and model categories. The final two parts study the relationship between model structures and classical and Gorenstein homological dimensions and explore special types of Grothendieck categories known as Gorenstein categories. As self-contained as possible, this book presents new results in relative homological algebra and model category theory. The author also re-proves some established results using different arguments or from a pedagogical point of view. In addition, he proves folklore results that are difficult to locate in the literature.
The authors consider the Hodge Laplacian \Delta on the Heisenberg group H_n, endowed with a left-invariant and U(n)-invariant Riemannian metric. For 0\le k\le 2n+1, let \Delta_k denote the Hodge Laplacian restricted to k-forms. In this paper they address three main, related questions: (1) whether the L^2 and L^p-Hodge decompositions, 1
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