As more parts of the world outside Europe became accessible =– and in the wake of social and technological developments in the 18th century – a growing number of exotic artefacts entered European markets. The markets for such objects thrived, while a collecting culture and museums emerged. This book provides insights into the methods and places of exchange, networks, prices, expertise, and valuation concepts, as well as the transfer and transport of these artefacts over 300 years and across four continents. The contributions are from international experts, including Ting Chang, Nélia Dias, Noëmie Etienne, Jonathan Fine, Philip Jones, Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, Léa Saint-Raymond, and Masako Yamamoto.

As more parts of the world outside Europe became accessible =– and in the wake of social and technological developments in the 18th century – a growing number of exotic artefacts entered European markets. The markets for such objects thrived, while a collecting culture and museums emerged. This book provides insights into the methods and places of exchange, networks, prices, expertise, and valuation concepts, as well as the transfer and transport of these artefacts over 300 years and across four continents. The contributions are from international experts, including Ting Chang, Nélia Dias, Noëmie Etienne, Jonathan Fine, Philip Jones, Sylvester Okwunodu Ogbechie, Léa Saint-Raymond, and Masako Yamamoto.

Until the 70s and 80s anthropologists studying different cultures had mainly confined themselves to the behaviour and idea systems of adults. Psychologists, on the other hand, working mainly in Europe and America, had studied child development in their own settings and simply assumed the universality of their findings. Thus both disciplines had largely ignored a crucial problem area: the way in which children from birth onwards learn to become competent members of their culture. This process, which has been called 'the quintessential human adaptation', constitutes the theme of this volume, originally published in 1988. It derives from a workshop held at the London School of Economics which brought together fieldworkers who in their studies had paid more than usual attention to children in their cultures. Their experience and foci of interest were varied but this very diversity serves to illuminate different facets of the acquisition of culture by children, ranging in age from pre-verbal infants to adolescents. Evolutionarily primed for culture-learning, children are responsive to a rich web of influences from subtle and indirect as in their music and dance to direct teaching in the family guided by culture-specific ideas about child psychology. Some of the salient things they learn relate to gender, status and power, critical for the functioning of all societies. The introductory essay provides the necessary historical background of the development of child study in both anthropology and psychology and outlined how future research in the ethnography of childhood should proceed. The book concludes with an annotated bibliography providing a guide to the literature from 1970 onwards.

Leverage today's most complete and practical framework for driving superior business value from mergers and acquisitions -- both domestic and international. A Comprehensive Guide to Mergers and Acquisitions Management focuses on critical success factors across every stage of the process, including planning, screening, negotiation, due diligence, transition management structures, post-merger integration, leadership and trust, cultural integration, HR practices, control, monitoring, and more. Authored by Yaakov Weber, an international expert in M&A management, strategic alliances, and strategic management, this book's uniquely interdisciplinary approach fully addresses both operational and cultural requirements, supporting participants in every role. Replete with recent examples and cases, it pays special attention to crucial strategic and behavioral linkages between pre- and post-merger stages, explaining why they are so important and how they can be managed to create maximum value. Throughout, Weber provides practical tools, tables, and figures that can help M&A implementers ensure best performance and achieve success where others have failed. As just one example, he provides proven instruments for analyzing cultural differences and the potential for synergy, and translating that potential into reality. For multiple audiences, including board members and top executives who must evaluate the strategic and financial issues associated with M&A; investment bankers, VCs, and other investors who must screen and select acquisitions; managers who must execute business combinations; consultants in strategy, HR, culture, and other areas; and faculty and students in executive education, MBA, and BA-level business programs.

The critically acclaimed laboratory standard, Methods in Enzymology, is one of the most highly respected publications in the field of biochemistry. Since 1955, each volume has been eagerly awaited, frequently consulted, and praised by researchers and reviewers alike. The series contains much material still relevant today - truly an essential publication for researchers in all fields of life sciences.

In the Western imagination, Islamic cultures are dominated by dogmatic religious norms that permit no nuance. Those fighting such stereotypes have countered with a portrait of Islam’s medieval “Golden Age,” marked by rationality, tolerance, and even proto-secularism. How can we understand Islamic history, culture, and thought beyond this dichotomy? In this magisterial cultural and intellectual history, Thomas Bauer reconsiders classical and modern Islam by tracing differing attitudes toward ambiguity. Over a span of many centuries, he explores the tension between one strand that aspires to annihilate all uncertainties and establish absolute, uncontestable truths and another, competing tendency that looks for ways to live with ambiguity and accept complexity. Bauer ranges across cultural and linguistic ambiguities, considering premodern Islamic textual and cultural forms from law to Quranic exegesis to literary genres alongside attitudes toward religious minorities and foreigners. He emphasizes the relative absence of conflict between religious and secular discourses in classical Islamic culture, which stands in striking contrast to both present-day fundamentalism and much of European history. Bauer shows how Islam’s encounter with the modern West and its demand for certainty helped bring about both Islamicist and secular liberal ideologies that in their own ways rejected ambiguity—and therefore also their own cultural traditions. Awarded the prestigious Leibniz Prize, A Culture of Ambiguity not only reframes a vast range of Islamic history but also offers an interdisciplinary model for investigating the tolerance of ambiguity across cultures and eras.

An introductory text covering all the major groups of microbes with an emphasis on bacteria and fungi.