Frog

Frog
Author: Mo Yan
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2015-01-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0698182669

A NEW YORK TIMES TOP BOOK OF 2015 WASHINGTON POST NOTABLE BOOK The author of Red Sorghum and China’s most revered and controversial novelist returns with his first major publication since winning the Nobel Prize In 2012, the Nobel committee confirmed Mo Yan’s position as one of the greatest and most important writers of our time. In his much-anticipated new novel, Mo Yan chronicles the sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nation’s controversial one-child policy. Frog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu—the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist—is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu’s own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant. In sharply personal prose, Mo Yan depicts a world of desperate families, illegal surrogates, forced abortions, and the guilt of those who must enforce the policy. At once illuminating and devastating, it shines a light into the heart of communist China.

Frog

Frog
Author: Yan Mo
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 398
Release: 2015
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0525427988

The sweeping history of modern China through the lens of the nation's controversial one-child policy. Frog opens with a playwright nicknamed Tadpole who plans to write about his aunt. In her youth, Gugu-- the beautiful daughter of a famous doctor and staunch Communist-- is revered for her skill as a midwife. But when her lover defects, Gugu's own loyalty to the Party is questioned. She decides to prove her allegiance by strictly enforcing the one-child policy, keeping tabs on the number of children in the village, and performing abortions on women as many as eight months pregnant.--

Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians

Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians
Author: Harold Heatwole
Publisher: CSIRO PUBLISHING
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2018-06
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1486308392

Amphibians are among the most threatened groups of animals on earth. In part due to their highly permeable skin, amphibians are highly sensitive to environmental changes and pollution and provide an early-warning system of deteriorating environmental conditions. The more we learn about the impact of environmental changes on amphibians, the better we as humans will be able to arrest their demise, and our own. Status of Conservation and Decline of Amphibians brings together the current knowledge on the status of the unique frogs of Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific. Although geographically proximate, each region presents unique challenges and opportunities in amphibian research and conservation. This book contributes to an understanding of the current conservation status of the amphibians of each region, aims to stimulate research into halting amphibian declines, and provides a better foundation for making conservation decisions. It is an invaluable reference for environmental and governmental agencies, researchers, policy-makers involved with biodiversity conservation, and the interested public.

How to Thrive in Professional Practice

How to Thrive in Professional Practice
Author: Stephen J Mordue
Publisher: Critical Publishing
Total Pages: 170
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1913063925

This engaging book pulls together the individual strains of self-care, spirituality and common sense. It is a one-stop ‘bible’ to give social workers and other professionals an uncomplicated, easy to read resource that empowers them to manage and maintain their well-being through personal responsibility and self-care. The world today is fast paced and societal expectations for impeccable service are high. We cannot always alter the demands of our professional or personal lives, but by actively pursuing well-being we can enhance skills to support open discussion in supervision (or in personal reflection) so that individuals (and organisations) can successfully rise to meet challenges head on and reduce the risks associated with burnout. Building on the authors’ years of personal experience, this book Brings together everything professionals need for their own self-care through a range of practical activities Gives you tried and tested self-care ideas backed by the latest research Allows you as professionals to take a holistic approach to a range of subjects that people usually explore in isolation.

The Frog Princess

The Frog Princess
Author: E. D. Baker
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014-08-26
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1619636174

After reluctantly kissing a frog, an awkward, fourteen-year-old princess suddenly finds herself a frog, too, and sets off with the prince to seek the means--and the self-confidence--to become human again.

Frogs of the United States and Canada

Frogs of the United States and Canada
Author: C. Kenneth Dodd Jr.
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 991
Release: 2023-06-20
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1421444917

"The premiere reference book on the 108 species of frogs inhabiting North America north of Mexico. An unparalleled synthesis of the biology and behavior of all native and nonindigenous species, this two-volume, extensively referenced resource has been called the most important book ever published on North American anura. Color photographs and range maps accompany species accounts detailing information on etymology, nomenclature, identification, distribution, fossil record, systematics and geographic variation, life history and ecology, behavior, population and community biology, and conservation. This new edition of the text contains the following updates: Literature citations have been added from 2012 to 2021, now spanning from 1709 to 2021. Distribution maps have been updated, recording the decreased ranges due to declining amphibian populations. Photographs have been revised to ensure the highest digital quality. Anaxyrus williamsi and Lithobates kauffeldi, newly described species, have been included. An account is also included for Gastrophryne mazatlanensis, now recognized as occurring within the United States. Generic keys have been added. A brief section on N.A. frogs in history and art have been added. Nomenclature has been updated (Incilius for Ollotis). Now the only up-to-date and comprehensive resource for those trying to protect amphibians in the US and Canada, as well as for researchers and wildlife managers who study biodiversity"--

Business Planning for Affordable Housing Developers

Business Planning for Affordable Housing Developers
Author: R.M. Santucci
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 263
Release: 2013-01-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 147975272X

Using a seven step process, real estate developers will be mentored through the path to creating a three to five year business plan. It includes a template outlining the narrative and spreadsheet format for administrative and capital projections. It also includes examples of real estate plans from successful operations. The seven steps to create a fundable plan are: Describe the Business, Evaluate the Environment, Plan Organization, Management, and Personnel, The Financial System, Marketing Strategy, Identify and Defeat Risk, and Develop and Sell Your Plan. This niche guidance is targeted to Real Estate Developers and nonprofit organizations who are actively pursuing a successful path to long term sustainability.

Artificial Intelligence for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Applications

Artificial Intelligence for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Applications
Author: Ahmad Taher Azar
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2023-05-15
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3031287150

This book addresses many applications of artificial intelligence in robotics, namely AI using visual and motional input. Robotic technology has made significant contributions to daily living, industrial uses, and medicinal applications. Machine learning, in particular, is critical for intelligent robots or unmanned/autonomous systems such as UAVs, UGVs, UUVs, cooperative robots, and so on. Humans are distinguished from animals by capacities such as receiving visual information, adjusting to uncertain circumstances, and making decisions to take action in a complex system. Significant progress has been made in robotics toward human-like intelligence; yet, there are still numerous unresolved issues. Deep learning, reinforcement learning, real-time learning, swarm intelligence, and other developing approaches such as tiny-ML have been developed in recent decades and used in robotics. Artificial intelligence is being integrated into robots in order to develop advanced robotics capable of performing multiple tasks and learning new things with a better perception of the environment, allowing robots to perform critical tasks with human-like vision to detect or recognize various objects. Intelligent robots have been successfully constructed using machine learning and deep learning AI technology. Robotics performance is improving as higher quality, and more precise machine learning processes are used to train computer vision models to recognize different things and carry out operations correctly with the desired outcome. We believe that the increasing demands and challenges offered by real-world robotic applications encourage academic research in both artificial intelligence and robotics. The goal of this book is to bring together scientists, specialists, and engineers from around the world to present and share their most recent research findings and new ideas on artificial intelligence in robotics.

Space and planning in secondary cities

Space and planning in secondary cities
Author: Lochner Marais
Publisher: UJ Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2019-09-01
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 192842435X

Much of the urban research focuses on the large metropolitan areas in South Africa. This book assesses spatial planning in the second-tier cities of the country. Secondary cities are vital as they perform essential regional, and in some cases, global economic roles and help to distribute the population of a country more evenly across its surface. Apartheid planning left South African cities fragmented segregated and with low densities. Post-apartheid policies aim to reverse these realities by emphasising integration, higher densities and upgrading. Achieving these aims has been challenging and often the historical patterns continue. The evidence shows that two opposing patterns prevail, namely increased densities and continued urban sprawl. This book presents ten case studies of spatial planning and spatial transformation in secondary cities of South Africa. The book frames these case studies against complexity theory and suggests that the post-apartheid response to apartheid planning represents a linear deviation from history. The ten case studies then reveal how difficult it is for local decision-makers to find appropriate responses and how current responses often result in contradictory results. Often these cities are highly vulnerable and they find it difficult to plan in the context of uncertainty. The book also highlights how these cities find it difficult to stand on their own against the influence of interest groups (property developers, mining companies, traditional authorities, other spheres of government). The main reasons include weak municipal finance statements, the dependence on national and provincial government for capital expenditure, limited investment in infrastructure maintenance, the lack of planning capacity, the inability to implement plans and the unintended and sometimes contrary outcomes of post-apartheid planning policies.

How to Thrive at Work

How to Thrive at Work
Author: Stephen J Mordue
Publisher: Critical Publishing
Total Pages: 180
Release: 2021-01-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1913453723

An essential read for anyone experiencing low level anxiety or stress, this book pulls together the various individual strands of business logic, scientific research, self-care, spirituality and common sense to provide a one-stop guide to thriving at work. The widespread ‘more for less’ attitude is creating a dramatic rise in work-related stress and a higher ratio of staff sickness. Not only does this create a fiscal impact upon the organisation and the broader economy but it has the potential to create significant long-term mental health issues for employees. You cannot always alter the demands of your professional or personal lives but, by understanding more about how your brain functions and by actively pursuing well-being techniques, you can enhance the skills that help you manage and succeed at the challenges thrown at you and reduce the risks associated with burnout. With a focus on improving mindfulness, motivation and productivity, this book offers sound, practical advice and strategies for self-care whatever your working environment and whatever stage you are at in your career.