Based on years of research and thousands of notes left by John Bennett, Mr. Skylark is an unusually intimate biography of a pivotal figure in the Charleston Renaissance, the brief period between the two World Wars that first witnessed many of the cultural and artistic changes soon to sweep the South. The book not only examines Bennett's life but also reveals the rich tapestry of the literary and social history of Charleston. An outsider who became an insider by marrying into the local aristocracy, Bennett was perfectly placed to observe social and artistic change and to prompt it. He published the first scholarly treatise on Gullah, the language of the coastal Southern blacks, and collected African American spirituals and tales. But after breaking several racial taboos of the time, he was publicly condemned, and it was only through mentoring such writers as Hervey Allen and DuBose Heyward that he was eventually welcomed back into the heart of the city. Today, the Charleston aesthetic, which mourned the loss of beauty in a modernizing South, is often overlooked in the study of Southern literature, but Bennett, through his extensive private correspondence and notes, offers insight into the forces that shaped this cultural movement. Restored to us in all his complexity and humor, Bennett is important for his own accomplishments, but also for providing a lens through which to view southern literary history and the complexities of a changing South.

Between 1990 and 2006, more than 76,000 children born in Eastern Europe were adopted into American families. Almost two-thirds of these children came from Russia. And in contrast to children adopted from Korea, China, Central America, and South America, most of the Russian children were not infants, but between one and four years old. This volume addresses adoption policies and practices as they pertain to adopted children from Eastern Europe, children who have histories of "pre-adoption adversity." Drawing on her decade-long experience as an adoptive parent of siblings born in Russia and her expertise as an applied sociologist, Josephine Ruggiero examines the central issues involved in international adoptions, focusing on older children as well as siblings, and suggesting needed changes in policy and practice. Regardless of whether children are adopted domestically or internationally, age is a significant factor in their ability to adjust to and function well in their new families. Only about three in ten Russian adoptees joined their new families as infants. Pre-adoption experiences are also significant factors in a child's ability to adjust and function well in a new family. Countries differ in risk factors that may figure into the likelihood of adoptees adapting to life in a new family. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, serious medical conditions, emotional problems, behavioral problems, attachment issues, learning disabilities, and exposure to family violence must be considered as potential risk factors in adoptions. Pre-adoption adversity is less likely when children come from birth families that are economically poor but have bonded with them. At a time when adoption has finally "come out of the closet" and the definition of the family is changing dramatically, Eastern European Adoption takes a much-needed look at current adoption policies and practices and how well they do or do not work. Ruggiero draws on the literature on older-child and sibling adoption, and data from a questionnaire survey she designed and conducted with 121 adoptive parents. Ruggiero's examples from real adoptive families give a human face to the issues, needs, and strategies she discusses.

A comprehensive treatment of cognitive radio networks and the specialized techniques used to improve wireless communications The human brain, as exemplified by cognitive radar, cognitive radio, and cognitive computing, inspires the field of Cognitive Dynamic Systems. In particular, cognitive radio is growing at an exponential rate. Fundamentals of Cognitive Radio details different aspects of the human brain and provides examples of how it can be mimicked by cognitive dynamic systems. The text offers a communication-theoretic background, including information on resource allocation in wireless networks and the concept of robustness. The authors provide a thorough mathematical background with data on game theory, variational inequalities, and projected dynamic systems. They then delve more deeply into resource allocation in cognitive radio networks. The text investigates the dynamics of cognitive radio networks from the perspectives of information theory, optimization, and control theory. It also provides a vision for the new world of wireless communications by integration of cellular and cognitive radio networks. This groundbreaking book: Shows how wireless communication systems increasingly use cognition to enhance their networks Explores how cognitive radio networks can be viewed as spectrum supply chain networks Derives analytic models for two complementary regimes for spectrum sharing (open-access and market-driven) to study both equilibrium and disequilibrium behaviors of networks Studies cognitive heterogeneous networks with emphasis on economic provisioning for resource sharing Introduces a framework that addresses the issue of spectrum sharing across licensed and unlicensed bands aimed for Pareto optimality Written for students of cognition, communication engineers, telecommunications professionals, and others, Fundamentals of Cognitive Radio offers a new generation of ideas and provides a fresh way of thinking about cognitive techniques in order to improve radio networks.