Father Francesco Rucelli awakens in a Florence hospital after the explosion that injured him and killed his twin, Dominican monk Piero. Piero, custodian of the vast Rucelli fortune, had become increasingly erratic since finding a relic of fellow Dominican Girolamo Savonarola, a fanatical monk who subjected Florence to a "bonfire of the vanities" in 1496. Piero may be connected to an outbreak of arson and violence eerily similar to tragedies during Savonarola's reign. Inspector Stefano Berti, head of Florence's major crime unit, wants Father Francesco to shed some light on the crimes, but that proves impossible. Trauma from the explosion has left Francesco with no memory of recent events. As Berti continues digging, Francesco finds himself in control of the Rucelli family finances, including a charitable foundation worth a hundred million euros. Quickly rising in the Church hierarchy, Francesco must choose between his religion and the allure of Florentine Gold. He may not have much time: someone wants him dead to prevent his lost memories from ever resurfacing.
This series provides an unequalled source of information on an area of chemistry that continues to grow in importance. Divided into sections mainly according to the particular spectroscopic technique used, coverage in each volume includes: NMR (with reference to stereochemistry, dynamic systems, paramagnetic complexes, solid state NMR and Groups 13-18); nuclear quadrupole resonance spectroscopy; vibrational spectroscopy of main group and transition element compounds and coordinated ligands; and electron diffraction. Reflecting the growing volume of published work in the field, researchers will find this an invaluable source of information on current methods and applications.
This book, which focuses on the study of curvature, is an introduction to various aspects of pseudo-Riemannian geometry. We shall use Walker manifolds (pseudo-Riemannian manifolds which admit a non-trivial parallel null plane field) to exemplify some of the main differences between the geometry of Riemannian manifolds and the geometry of pseudo-Riemannian manifolds and thereby illustrate phenomena in pseudo-Riemannian geometry that are quite different from those which occur in Riemannian geometry, i.e. for indefinite as opposed to positive definite metrics. Indefinite metrics are important in many diverse physical contexts: classical cosmological models (general relativity) and string theory to name but two. Walker manifolds appear naturally in numerous physical settings and provide examples of extremal mathematical situations as will be discussed presently. To describe the geometry of a pseudo-Riemannian manifold, one must first understand the curvature of the manifold. We shall analyze a wide variety of curvature properties and we shall derive both geometrical and topological results. Special attention will be paid to manifolds of dimension 3 as these are quite tractable. We then pass to the 4 dimensional setting as a gateway to higher dimensions. Since the book is aimed at a very general audience (and in particular to an advanced undergraduate or to a beginning graduate student), no more than a basic course in differential geometry is required in the way of background. To keep our treatment as self-contained as possible, we shall begin with two elementary chapters that provide an introduction to basic aspects of pseudo-Riemannian geometry before beginning on our study of Walker geometry. An extensive bibliography is provided for further reading. Math subject classifications : Primary: 53B20 -- (PACS: 02.40.Hw) Secondary: 32Q15, 51F25, 51P05, 53B30, 53C50, 53C80, 58A30, 83F05, 85A04 Table of Contents: Basic Algebraic Notions / Basic Geometrical Notions / Walker Structures / Three-Dimensional Lorentzian Walker Manifolds / Four-Dimensional Walker Manifolds / The Spectral Geometry of the Curvature Tensor / Hermitian Geometry / Special Walker Manifolds
The Weimar Moment’s evocative assault on closure and political reaction, its offering of democracy against the politics of narrow self-interest cloaked in nationalist appeals to Volk and “community” – or, as would be the case in Nazi Germany, “race” – cannot but appeal to us today. This appeal –its historical grounding and content, its complexities and tensions, its variegated expressions across the networks of power and thought – is the essential context of the present volume, whose basic premise is unhappiness with Hegel’s remark that we learn no more from history than we cannot learn from it. The challenge of the papers in this volume is to provide the material to confront the present effectively drawing from what we can and do understand.
Differential Geometry is a wide field. We have chosen to concentrate upon certain aspects that are appropriate for an introduction to the subject; we have not attempted an encyclopedic treatment. Book III is aimed at the first-year graduate level but is certainly accessible to advanced undergraduates. It deals with invariance theory and discusses invariants both of Weyl and not of Weyl type; the Chern‒Gauss‒Bonnet formula is treated from this point of view. Homothety homogeneity, local homogeneity, stability theorems, and Walker geometry are discussed. Ricci solitons are presented in the contexts of Riemannian, Lorentzian, and affine geometry.
The ten essays published in this volume were written over the space of a decade, but they were conceived from the start as a coherent whole, presenting Peiresc's study of discrete languages and literatures of the Near East and North Africa. For Peiresc the student of the Classical past, this described the eastern and southern space in which the Greeks and Romans lived and strove. For Peiresc the Christian, this was the world of the Bible that impacted upon the Greeks and Romans. And for Peiresc of the Mediterranean (for he was born in Aix, spent much time in Marseille, and lived outside of the region for only 6 of his 57 years), this was the territory that his friends and colleagues sailed to, lived in and, usually, came back from. The convergence of these axes in the life of one man, and a man of singular intellectual power and charm whose vast personal paper arsenal had survived, makes this such a compelling project. The essays are arranged in a roughly chronological order. They follow the course of Peiresc’s own projects from his early encounter with the ancient Near East in Greek and Roman literature, through his engagement with Arabic to his deepening kowledge of rabbinic texts to the wider world of the new oriental studies of the seventeenth century which he helped create: Samaritan, Coptic and Ethiopic.
Book IV continues the discussion begun in the first three volumes. Although it is aimed at first-year graduate students, it is also intended to serve as a basic reference for people working in affine differential geometry. It also should be accessible to undergraduates interested in affine differential geometry. We are primarily concerned with the study of affine surfaces {which} are locally homogeneous. We discuss affine gradient Ricci solitons, affine Killing vector fields, and geodesic completeness. Opozda has classified the affine surface geometries which are locally homogeneous; we follow her classification. Up to isomorphism, there are two simply connected Lie groups of dimension 2. The translation group R2 is Abelian and the + group\index{ax+b group} is non-Abelian. The first chapter presents foundational material. The second chapter deals with Type surfaces. These are the left-invariant affine geometries on R2. Associating to each Type surface the space of solutions to the quasi-Einstein equation corresponding to the eigenvalue =-1$ turns out to be a very powerful technique and plays a central role in our study as it links an analytic invariant with the underlying geometry of the surface. The third chapter deals with Type surfaces; these are the left-invariant affine geometries on the + group. These geometries form a very rich family which is only partially understood. The only remaining homogeneous geometry is that of the sphere 2. The fourth chapter presents relations between the geometry of an affine surface and the geometry of the cotangent bundle equipped with the neutral signature metric of the modified Riemannian extension.
This volume introduces techniques and theorems of Riemannian geometry, and opens the way to advanced topics. The text combines the geometric parts of Riemannian geometry with analytic aspects of the theory, and reviews recent research. The updated second edition includes a new coordinate-free formula that is easily remembered (the Koszul formula in disguise); an expanded number of coordinate calculations of connection and curvature; general fomulas for curvature on Lie Groups and submersions; variational calculus integrated into the text, allowing for an early treatment of the Sphere theorem using a forgotten proof by Berger; recent results regarding manifolds with positive curvature.
As part of the Jesuits' programme of introduction to European culture, in 1607 the Elements of Euclid (d.300 B C) were translated for the first time into Chinese. The translation of this epoch-making ancient Greek textbook on deductive geometry meant a confrontation of contemporary Chinese and European cultures. This work explores in depth and at various levels the circumstances and mechanisms that shaped the transmission of a key work of science from one language and cultural context onto another. Consequently it offers often surprising insights into the ways of intercultural exchange and misunderstandings.
The Mongols had a huge impact on medieval Europe and the Islamic world. This book provides a comprehensive survey of contacts between the Catholic West and the Mongol world-empire from the first appearance of Chinggis Khan’s armies in 1221 down to the death of Tamerlane (1405) and the battle of Tannenberg (1410). This book considers the Mongols as allies as well as conquerors; the perception of them in the West; the papal response to the threat (and opportunity) they presented; the fate of the Frankish principalities in the Holy Land in the path of the Mongol onslaught; Western European embassies and missions to the East; and the impact of the Mongols on the expanding world view of the maturing Middle Ages. For courses in crusading history and medieval European history.
This book covers recent advances in several important areas of geometric analysis including extremal eigenvalue problems, mini-max methods in minimal surfaces, CR geometry in dimension three, and the Ricci flow and Ricci limit spaces. An output of the CIME Summer School "Geometric Analysis" held in Cetraro in 2018, it offers a collection of lecture notes prepared by Ailana Fraser (UBC), André Neves (Chicago), Peter M. Topping (Warwick), and Paul C. Yang (Princeton). These notes will be a valuable asset for researchers and advanced graduate students in geometric analysis.
This volume provides the first comparative survey of the relations between the two most active book worlds in Eurasia between 1450 and 1850. Prominent scholars in book history explore different approaches to publishing, printing, and book culture. They discuss the extent of technology transfer and book distribution between the two regions and show how much book historians of East Asia and Europe can learn from one another by raising new questions, exploring remarkable similarities and differences in these regions’ production, distribution, and consumption of books. The chapters in turn show different ways of writing transnational comparative history. Whereas recent problems confronting research on European books can instruct researchers on East Asian book production, so can the privileged role of noncommercial publications in the East Asian textual record highlight for historians of the European book the singular contribution of commercial printing and market demands to the making of the European printed record. Likewise, although production growth was accompanied in both regions by a wider distribution of books, woodblock technology’s simplicity and mobility allowed for a shift in China of its production and distribution sites farther down the hierarchy of urban sites than was common in Europe. And, the different demands and consumption practices within these two regions’ expanding markets led to different genre preferences and uses as well as to the growth of distinctive female readerships. A substantial introduction pulls the work together and the volume ends with an essay that considers how these historical developments shape the present book worlds of Eurasia. “This splendid volume offers expert new insight into the ways of producing, financing, distributing, and reading printed books in early modern Europe and East Asia. This is comparative history at its best, which leaves us with a better understanding of each context and of the challenges common to book cultures across space and time.” —Ann Blair, author of Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information before the Modern Age and professor of history, Harvard University “This engrossing account of the history of the book by leading specialists on the European and East Asian publishing worlds takes stock of what we know—and how much we still need to know—about the places that books had in the lives of our early modern forebears. Each chapter is masterful state-of-the-field coverage of its subject, and together they set a new standard for future studies of the book, East and West.” —Timothy Brook, author of The Troubled Empire: China in the Yuan and Ming Dynasties
Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc (1580-1637) was, during his lifetime, one of Europe's most famous men. A friend of Pope Urban VIII and Galileo, of Peter-Paul Rubens and Hugo Grotius, of Tommaso Campanella and Marin Mersenne, Peiresc played an important role in the intellectual culture of his time. This book is the first study in English of this extraordinary man, as well as a vivid portrait of his whole circle. Looking through the lens of Peiresc's life, Peter N. Miller brings into focus the early-seventeenth-century world of learning--its people, places, and ideas. Drawing on the extensive Peiresc archive (more than 50,000 pieces of paper), Miller brilliantly evokes the lives of antiquaries, philosophers, theologians, and politicians of Peiresc's day, only some of whom remain known today. He explores the age in which Peiresc's toleration and sociability, his political action and cosmopolitanism, and his serious scholarship without dogmatism were identified as a set of virtues and practices by which to live. Peiresc's notion of scholarship as a moral exercise, the sweep of his interests, and the cross-Continental reach of his intellectual life show with new clarity what it meant to be a man of learning during the decades around 1600.
The book contains the basics of tensor algebra as well as a comprehensive description of tensor calculus, both in Cartesian and curvilinear coordinates. Some recent developments in representation theorems and differential forms are included. The last part of the book presents a detailed introduction to differential geometry of surfaces and curves which is based on tensor calculus. By solving numerous exercises, the reader is equipped to properly understand the theoretical background and derivations. Many solved problems are provided at the end of each chapter for in-depth learning. All derivations in this text are carried out line by line which will help the reader to understand the basic ideas. Each figure in the book includes descriptive text that corresponds with the theoretical derivations to facilitate rapid learning.
This cutting-edge, standard-setting text explores the spectral geometry of Riemannian submersions. Working for the most part with the form valued Laplacian in the class of smooth compact manifolds without boundary, the authors study the relationship-if any-between the spectrum of Dp on Y and Dp on Z, given that Dp is the p form valued Laplacian and pi: Z ® Y is a Riemannian submersion. After providing the necessary background, including basic differential geometry and a discussion of Laplace type operators, the authors address rigidity theorems. They establish conditions that ensure that the pull back of every eigenform on Y is an eigenform on Z so the eigenvalues do not change, then show that if a single eigensection is preserved, the eigenvalues do not change for the scalar or Bochner Laplacians. For the form valued Laplacian, they show that if an eigenform is preserved, then the corresponding eigenvalue can only increase. They generalize these results to the complex setting as well. However, the spinor setting is quite different. For a manifold with non-trivial boundary and imposed Neumann boundary conditions, the result is surprising-the eigenvalues can change. Although this is a relatively rare phenomenon, the authors give examples-a circle bundle or, more generally, a principal bundle with structure group G where the first cohomology group H1(G;R) is non trivial. They show similar results in the complex setting, show that eigenvalues can decrease in the spinor setting, and offer a list of unsolved problems in this area. Moving to some related topics involving questions of positive curvature, for the first time in mathematical literature the authors establish a link between the spectral geometry of Riemannian submersions and the Gromov-Lawson conjecture. Spectral Geometry, Riemannian Submersions, and the Gromov-Lawson Conjecture addresses a hot research area and promises to set a standard for the field. Researchers and applied mathematicians interested in mathematical physics and relativity will find this work both fascinating and important.
Drawing on an impressive roster of experts in the field, Fundamentals of Computer Graphics, Fourth Edition offers an ideal resource for computer course curricula as well as a user-friendly personal or professional reference. Focusing on geometric intuition, the book gives the necessary information for understanding how images get onto the screen by using the complementary approaches of ray tracing and rasterization. It covers topics common to an introductory course, such as sampling theory, texture mapping, spatial data structure, and splines. It also includes a number of contributed chapters from authors known for their expertise and clear way of explaining concepts. Highlights of the Fourth Edition Include: Updated coverage of existing topics Major updates and improvements to several chapters, including texture mapping, graphics hardware, signal processing, and data structures A text now printed entirely in four-color to enhance illustrative figures of concepts The fourth edition of Fundamentals of Computer Graphics continues to provide an outstanding and comprehensive introduction to basic computer graphic technology and theory. It retains an informal and intuitive style while improving precision, consistency, and completeness of material, allowing aspiring and experienced graphics programmers to better understand and apply foundational principles to the development of efficient code in creating film, game, or web designs. Key Features Provides a thorough treatment of basic and advanced topics in current graphics algorithms Explains core principles intuitively, with numerous examples and pseudo-code Gives updated coverage of the graphics pipeline, signal processing, texture mapping, graphics hardware, reflection models, and curves and surfaces Uses color images to give more illustrative power to concepts
In this wide-ranging consideration of intellectual diasporas, historian Peter Burke questions what distinctive contribution to knowledge exiles and expatriates have made. The answer may be summed up in one word: deprovincialization. Historically, the encounter between scholars from different cultures was an education for both parties, exposing them to research opportunities and alternative ways of thinking. Deprovincialization was in part the result of mediation, as many ŽmigrŽs informed people in their "hostland" about the culture of the native land, and vice versa. The detachment of the exiles, who sometimes viewed both homeland and hostland through foreign eyes, allowed them to notice what scholars in both countries had missed. Yet at the same time, the engagement between two styles of thought, one associated with the exiles and the other with their hosts, sometimes resulted in creative hybridization, for example, between German theory and Anglo-American empiricism. This timely appraisal is brimming with anecdotes and fascinating findings about the intellectual assets that exiles and immigrants bring to their new country, even in the shadow of personal loss.
A central area of study in Differential Geometry is the examination of the relationship between the purely algebraic properties of the Riemann curvature tensor and the underlying geometric properties of the manifold. In this book, the findings of numerous investigations in this field of study are reviewed and presented in a clear, coherent form, including the latest developments and proofs. Even though many authors have worked in this area in recent years, many fundamental questions still remain unanswered. Many studies begin by first working purely algebraically and then later progressing onto the geometric setting and it has been found that many questions in differential geometry can be phrased as problems involving the geometric realization of curvature. Curvature decompositions are central to all investigations in this area. The authors present numerous results including the Singer-Thorpe decomposition, the Bokan decomposition, the Nikcevic decomposition, the Tricerri-Vanhecke decomposition, the Gray-Hervella decomposition and the De Smedt decomposition. They then proceed to draw appropriate geometric conclusions from these decompositions.The book organizes, in one coherent volume, the results of research completed by many different investigators over the past 30 years. Complete proofs are given of results that are often only outlined in the original publications. Whereas the original results are usually in the positive definite (Riemannian setting), here the authors extend the results to the pseudo-Riemannian setting and then further, in a complex framework, to para-Hermitian geometry as well. In addition to that, new results are obtained as well, making this an ideal text for anyone wishing to further their knowledge of the science of curvature.
Pseudo-Riemannian geometry is, to a large extent, the study of the Levi-Civita connection, which is the unique torsion-free connection compatible with the metric structure. There are, however, other affine connections which arise in different contexts, such as conformal geometry, contact structures, Weyl structures, and almost Hermitian geometry. In this book, we reverse this point of view and instead associate an auxiliary pseudo-Riemannian structure of neutral signature to certain affine connections and use this correspondence to study both geometries. We examine Walker structures, Riemannian extensions, and Kähler--Weyl geometry from this viewpoint. This book is intended to be accessible to mathematicians who are not expert in the subject and to students with a basic grounding in differential geometry. Consequently, the first chapter contains a comprehensive introduction to the basic results and definitions we shall need---proofs are included of many of these results to make it as self-contained as possible. Para-complex geometry plays an important role throughout the book and consequently is treated carefully in various chapters, as is the representation theory underlying various results. It is a feature of this book that, rather than as regarding para-complex geometry as an adjunct to complex geometry, instead, we shall often introduce the para-complex concepts first and only later pass to the complex setting. The second and third chapters are devoted to the study of various kinds of Riemannian extensions that associate to an affine structure on a manifold a corresponding metric of neutral signature on its cotangent bundle. These play a role in various questions involving the spectral geometry of the curvature operator and homogeneous connections on surfaces. The fourth chapter deals with Kähler--Weyl geometry, which lies, in a certain sense, midway between affine geometry and Kähler geometry. Another feature of the book is that we have tried wherever possible to find the original references in the subject for possible historical interest. Thus, we have cited the seminal papers of Levi-Civita, Ricci, Schouten, and Weyl, to name but a few exemplars. We have also given different proofs of various results than those that are given in the literature, to take advantage of the unified treatment of the area given herein.
A History of Italian Cinema, 2nd edition is the much anticipated update from the author of the bestselling Italian Cinema - which has been published in four landmark editions and will celebrate its 35th anniversary in 2018. Building upon decades of research, Peter Bondanella and Federico Pacchioni reorganize the current History in order to keep the book fresh and responsive not only to the actual films being created in Italy in the twenty-first century but also to the rapidly changing priorities of Italian film studies and film scholars. The new edition brings the definitive history of the subject, from the birth of cinema to the present day, up to date with a revised filmography as well as more focused attention on the melodrama, the crime film, and the historical drama. The book is expanded to include a new generation of directors as well as to highlight themes such as gender issues, immigration, and media politics. Accessible, comprehensive, and heavily illustrated throughout, this is an essential purchase for any fan of Italian film.
This thesis describes the application of state-of-the-art high-energy X-ray studies to the astronomical quest for understanding obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN). These AGN are supermassive black holes growing by accretion of matter located in the nuclei of galaxies. The material that feeds these black holes also obscures them from view, rendering them challenging to study. It is possible to study them by effectively 'X-raying' galactic nuclei to peer through these obscuring veils. Beginning with the proof-of-concept application of novel X-ray Monte Carlo codes to the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope ARray (NuSTAR) spectrum of a known heavily obscured AGN, the thesis establishes the relevant parameters that characterise the AGN spectrum and central black hole growth rate. Next the largest sample of known heavily obscured AGN is compiled, finding the strength of a prominent iron spectral feature to weaken with AGN power. This is puzzling, and suggests that there may be more hidden AGN than previously thought. Finally by combining an all-sky infrared selection with NuSTAR follow-up, new heavily obscured AGN are identified. Obscuration emits infrared radiation, meaning that the infrared-selected AGN catalogue should be representative of the underlying AGN population. The absence of such representative catalogues has continually plagued cosmological studies, and the resultant obscured AGN fraction will be strongly constraining for AGN models.
Who is to be the primary evangelizer of Asia? What Asian forms of worship and prayer are both authentically Christian and culturally appropriate? In Our Own Tongues is reading for anyone interested in the emergence of "world Christianity" and its future in the 21st century.--From publisher's description
In this established textbook, Wallace provides a succinct overview of the European Reformation, interweaving the influential events of the religious reformation with the transformations of political institutions, socio-economic structures, gender relations and cultural values throughout Europe. Examining the European Reformation as a long-term process, he reconnects the classic 16th century religious struggles with the political and religious pressures confronting late medieval Christianity, and argues that the resolutions proposed by reformers such as Luther were not fully realised for most Christians until the early 18th century. This new edition features a brand new chapter on the Reformation from a global perspective, updated historiography, a new chronology, and updated material throughout, including on the interrelationship between religion and politics after 1648.The Long European Reformation provides an even-handed and detailed account of this complex topic, providing a clear overview that is perfect for undergraduate and postgraduate students of history and religious studies. New to this Edition: - New chapter on the Reformation in global perspective - Incorporates new perspectives and current debates on Luther and the place of the Reformation within Western history, including consideration of how people lived with their religious differences - Expanded conclusion with references to the 500th anniversary and religious continuities
He takes only what he needs, nothing more . . . yet for his great size and strength he lives in peace with other creatures. The moose uses his size and power not to dominate but to protect, not to spoil but to preserve. He is a fierce protector, a loyal companion, and a generous provider who brings comfort and security to those within his defending circle. It is these characteristics of the moose in the wild - its keen sense of awareness, knowing how to survive, and its protective instinct for its members in its herd- that the human members of a business have to achieve in the establishment and operation of a High Performing Organization! Motivating Organizational Development Owned Hierarchy Outrageous Customer Service Superior Knowledge Transfer Empowering Mission, Vision, and Strategy
With contributions by Michael Ashikhmin, Michael Gleicher, Naty Hoffman, Garrett Johnson, Tamara Munzner, Erik Reinhard, Kelvin Sung, William B. Thompson, Peter Willemsen, Brian Wyvill. The third edition of this widely adopted text gives students a comprehensive, fundamental introduction to computer graphics. The authors present the mathematical fo
The first textbook to present world history via social history, drawing on social science methods and research. This interdisciplinary, comprehensive, and comparative textbook is authored by distinguished scholars and experienced teachers, and offers expert scholarship on global history that is ideal for undergraduate students. Volume 2 takes us from the early modern period to speculation about the world in 2050, visiting diverse civilizations, nation-states, ecologies, and people along the journey through time and place. The book pays particular attention to the ways in which ordinary people lived through the great changes of their times, and how everyday experience connects to great political events and the commercial exchanges of an interconnected world. With 75 maps, 65 illustrations, timelines, boxes, and primary source extracts, the book enables students to use historical material and social science methodologies to analyze the events of the past, present, and future.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.