A novel of profound insight about the complexity of human relationships, morality and the transformative power of art, set in New York’s glittering world of galleries and high-end fashion. Magazine editor Henry Calder’s ordered life has unravelled. He lost his wife, Martha, less than a year ago, and he’s just been ousted from the glamorous job that gave his life meaning. Then he meets Maggie, a rebellious young artist working as a bartender. When Maggie is evicted, Henry offers her a place to stay. But there is something about the young woman and her work that disturbs him, and before long Henry is facing a crisis neither of them could ever have foreseen. The Benefactor is about art’s power to alter our view of ourselves and our world. It asks how we construct meaning in our lives—and how we react when the foundations we have built our identities upon are knocked out from beneath us. Sebastian Hampson has studied and written on the history of modern art and urban design. He has lived in Europe and the United States and is currently based in Auckland, New Zealand. His first novel, The Train to Paris, was also published by Text. ‘Hampson’s talent is obvious...once The Benefactor gets into its stride, the novel becomes a crisp characters study, where the actions and philosophies of the past are propelled towards and unexpected crisis.’ Dominion Post ‘Sebastian Hampson keeps his focus, pares down the action and the feelings to a close study of Henry and Martha...At the same time the reader is treated to a glimpse of the high striders in Manhattan’s art and fashion world from the 1980s to the present that make googling them an interactive pleasure. To be enjoyed with sparkling wine and Beluga caviar.’ Otago Daily Times ‘Sebastian Hampson’s second novel is marked by expertise in style and structure...Accomplished and interesting.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘Sebastian Hampson...writes with an assurance that belies his years. A perceptive and thoughtful love story in the tradition of Brief Encounter, inspired by Hampson’s travels in Europe, the novel is immediately engrossing. The reader is swept along by the fluidity of the writing.’ Australian on The Train to Paris ‘This book will charm and engage.’ Books + Publishing on The Train to Paris
She entered the station, wearing a white leopard-print dress that was short enough to show off her legs. Her hair slid down the back of her neck in a curtain of gold, which shimmered as it passed through the updraught. There was a conspicuous ring on her finger. Her head turned and her eyes almost met with mine. I looked away. After a disastrous holiday with his girlfriend in Madrid, Lawrence Williams takes the train back to Paris where he is studying art history. Lawrence is twenty years old and discovering how to see the world, which means he doesn't mind too much when he gets stranded at the border. That's when Elodie Lavelle enters his field of vision. She might be twice his age but she's amused by the boy's earnest charm. She decides to entertain herself by educating him in the rules of her society, treating him to an unforgettable evening in Biarritz. But Elodie has not counted on what Lawrence might teach her in return, or how much their unlikely encounter will mark them both. The Train to Paris is a surprising and compelling love story. Sebastian Hampson has studied and written on the history of modern art and urban design. He has lived in Europe and the United States and is currently based in Auckland, New Zealand. His first novel is The Train to Paris. 'Sebastian Hampson is that rare thing: a writer of ideas who is also compulsively readable.' Nicholas Edlin, author of The Widow's Daughter 'Sebastian Hampson...writes with an assurance that belies his years. A perceptive and thoughtful love story in the tradition of Brief Encounter, inspired by Hampson's travels in Europe, the novel is immediately engrossing. The reader is swept along by the fluidity of the writing.' Weekend Australian 'Lyrical and elegant.' Waikato Times 'Hilarious at times, sad too, and sometimes slightly shocking, the story grips from the beginning...The dialogue is sharp, and the changes in himself the young man experiences are both touching and realistic...This is a remarkable and sophisticated piece of writing for a young man in his early 20s. Sebastian Hampson is a writer to keep an eye open for.' Otago Daily Times 'This book will charm and engage.' Books and Publishing 'Hampson's prose superbly renders the atmosphere of summer in Biarritz and winter in Paris. His self-absorbed Lawrence is very believable, and some of the ancillary characters are also well-portrayed. This is a remarkable debut novel, and it will be interesting to see what Hampson comes up with next.' BookMooch
A novel of profound insight about the complexity of human relationships, morality and the transformative power of art, set in New York’s glittering world of galleries and high-end fashion. Magazine editor Henry Calder’s ordered life has unravelled. He lost his wife, Martha, less than a year ago, and he’s just been ousted from the glamorous job that gave his life meaning. Then he meets Maggie, a rebellious young artist working as a bartender. When Maggie is evicted, Henry offers her a place to stay. But there is something about the young woman and her work that disturbs him, and before long Henry is facing a crisis neither of them could ever have foreseen. The Benefactor is about art’s power to alter our view of ourselves and our world. It asks how we construct meaning in our lives—and how we react when the foundations we have built our identities upon are knocked out from beneath us. Sebastian Hampson has studied and written on the history of modern art and urban design. He has lived in Europe and the United States and is currently based in Auckland, New Zealand. His first novel, The Train to Paris, was also published by Text. ‘Hampson’s talent is obvious...once The Benefactor gets into its stride, the novel becomes a crisp characters study, where the actions and philosophies of the past are propelled towards and unexpected crisis.’ Dominion Post ‘Sebastian Hampson keeps his focus, pares down the action and the feelings to a close study of Henry and Martha...At the same time the reader is treated to a glimpse of the high striders in Manhattan’s art and fashion world from the 1980s to the present that make googling them an interactive pleasure. To be enjoyed with sparkling wine and Beluga caviar.’ Otago Daily Times ‘Sebastian Hampson’s second novel is marked by expertise in style and structure...Accomplished and interesting.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘Sebastian Hampson...writes with an assurance that belies his years. A perceptive and thoughtful love story in the tradition of Brief Encounter, inspired by Hampson’s travels in Europe, the novel is immediately engrossing. The reader is swept along by the fluidity of the writing.’ Australian on The Train to Paris ‘This book will charm and engage.’ Books + Publishing on The Train to Paris
In Everyday Food Practices, Tarunna Sebastian explores the teaching and learning dimensions of people’s food choices and practices as they are played out in their everyday lives and local community. Using multi-sited critical ethnographic methodology, Sebastian followed people on their journeys while planning, shopping, preparing, cooking, and eating food. These journeys reveal that supermarket corporations play a hegemonic role, creating and sustaining class-based diets and cultural dynamics which undermine individual agency. Rebuking corporate hegemony, food education at counter-cultural sites—such as farmers’ markets, food cooperatives, and community gardens—seeks to empower people with knowledge and skills derived from socially and environmentally sustainable food curricula. However, class and ethnicity-based patterns of engagement compromise learning at these sites. Sebastian argues that, by contrast, the embodied experiences of inter-generational, home-based food practices are more effective in teaching sustainable cooking skills and the production of healthy meals.
Microwave dielectric materials play a key role in our global society with a wide range of applications, from terrestrial and satellite communication including software radio, GPS, and DBS TV to environmental monitoring via satellite. A small ceramic component made from a dielectric material is fundamental to the operation of filters and oscillators in several microwave systems. In microwave communications, dielectric resonator filters are used to discriminate between wanted and unwanted signal frequencies in the transmitted and received signal. When the wanted frequency is extracted and detected, it is necessary to maintain a strong signal. For clarity it is also critical that the wanted signal frequencies are not affected by seasonal temperature changes. In order to meet the specifications of current and future systems, improved or new microwave components based on dedicated dielectric materials and new designs are required. The recent progress in microwave telecommunication, satellite broadcasting and intelligent transport systems (ITS) has resulted in an increased demand for Dielectric Resonators (DRs). With the recent revolution in mobile phone and satellite communication systems using microwaves as the propagation media, the research and development in the field of device miniaturization has been a major challenge in contemporary Materials Science. In a mobile phone communication, the message is sent from a phone to the nearest base station, and then on via a series of base stations to the other phone. At the heart of each base station is the combiner/filter unit which has the job of receiving the messages, keeping them separate, amplifying the signals and sending then onto the next base station. For such a microwave circuit to work, part of it needs to resonate at the specific working frequency. The frequency determining component (resonator) used in such a high frequency device must satisfy certain criteria. The three important characteristics required for a dielectric resonator are (a) a high dielectric constant which facilitates miniaturization (b) a high quality factor (Qxf) which improves the signal-to-noise ratio, (c) a low temperature coefficient of the resonant frequency which determines the stability of the transmitted frequency. During the past 25 years scientists the world over have developed a large number of new materials (about 3000) or improved the properties of known materials. About 5000 papers have been published and more than 1000 patents filed in the area of dielectric resonators and related technologies. This book brings the data and science of these several useful materials together, which will be of immense benefit to researchers and engineers the world over. The topics covered in the book includes factors affecting the dielectric properties, measurement of dielectric properties, important low loss dielectric material systems such as perovskites, tungsten bronze type materials, materials in BaO-TiO2 system, (Zr,Sn)TiO4, alumina, rutile, AnBn-1O3n type materials, LTCC, ceramic-polymer composites etc. The book also has a data table listing all reported low loss dielectric materials with properties and references arranged in the order of increasing dielectric constant. Collects together in one source data on all new materials used in wireless communication Includes tabulated properties of all reported low loss dielectric materials In-depth treatment of dielectric resonator materials
The second edition of The Lateralized Brain provides for readers a volume detailing the functional and structural differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, highlighting how the widespread use of modern neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and DTI have completely changed the way hemispheric asymmetries are currently investigated. In this new edition, all chapters have been updated with recent advances in the field, and a new chapter on hemispheric asymmetries in development and aging has been integrated. Also featured is a new, larger section on laterality in social behavior, alongside a comprehensive overview about key topics in laterality research, including its history, evolutionary perspectives, brain structure, and the role of the corpus callosum. Chapters cover functional hemispheric asymmetries in language processing, motor behavior, spatial attention, self- and face-perception, emotion processing, and social behavior. Additional topics include the ontogenesis of hemispheric asymmetries and their development over the life span, as well as sex differences and associations with clinical syndromes. This volume can be used by anyone working on hemispheric biology or in courses on hemispheric asymmetries. Provides a comprehensive overview about key topics in laterality research, including its history, evolutionary perspectives, the corpus callosum, and brain structure Includes references to key articles, books, protocols, and online resources for additional, detailed study Discusses classic studies that helped define the field of laterality research and presents introductory short stories (e.g. famous classic clinical cases in laterality research) as a starting point for each chapter Covers key concepts and methods in separate call-out boxes for quick overview Newly integrates a chapter on laterality in social behavior, as well as various smaller new sections covering recent advances in the field
This book explores the challenges of conflict resolution in protracted conflicts and conceptualises and analyses the practice of engagement without recognition in de facto states. Increasingly, engagement without recognition is seen as a promising approach to conflict resolution in de facto states, but little is known about its implementation and results. This book addresses that lacuna and develops an analytical model to assess international engagement, focusing on implementation on the ground. This model enables a comprehensive analysis of international engagement's scope, areas, and methods. Further, the book also explores the context of engagement in de facto states, which has a significant impact on its implementation and results. In this way, the book also advances our understanding of the opportunities, obstacles, and limitations of engagement without recognition. The analysis is based on the current EU engagement in Abkhazia and draws from other cases in the Caucasus, Eastern Europe, and beyond and finds that international engagement with de facto states is more comprehensive and multifaceted than previously known. However, it also faces some distinct challenges and produces modest results. Finally, the book provides practical recommendations on how to better utlilise the peacebuilding potential of engagement without recognition. This book will be of much interest to students of conflict resolution, statehood, peace and conflict studies, and international relations.
Toward A Grand Strategy Against Terrorism is a cohesive series of essays prepared by noted academics and counterterrorism practitioners within and associated with the counterterrorism program of the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies. These chapters address both the use of military force and the employment of non-military tools, the role of international cooperation, and the importance of the ideological contest. Collectively, they push toward a grand strategy against terrorism. This volume makes the prudence and research and experience of the Program on Terrorism and Security Studies available to all who want to help in countering terrorism: students; those at military graduate schools; private experts on security in the business world; members of police forces and defense departments; conflict resolution experts; and many other sorts of practitioners seeking a sober and highly international approach.
The present book proposes a systematic understanding about the conditions, mechanisms, influences, and processes evolving into a creative behavior in music, based on interdisciplinary perspectives of the cognitive sciences, In his research study, Sebastian Schmidt focuses on so-called musical extrapolations’ processes which bring the elusive quality of music into mental existence by creating extrapolations about possible future occurring events, their musical meanings, and the interrelations of their meanings. These processes, involved while music is being listened to and composed, are defined as the result of implicit and explicit problem-solving processes which are guided in tangible ways by factors of intrinsic activities and motivation, pre-disposed and experience-based structures, and environmental pressure.
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