This volume documents how sexual practices and fictions infiltrate and are influenced by a person's feelings about the self and the body. Using paradigms derived from self and body image theory, Fisher combines research from the past several decades dealing with sexual behavior to test major theories concerning diverse sexual phenomena. The book integrates, within a broad conceptual scheme, research findings concerning major aspects of sexual behavior such as the development of sexual competence, orgasm consistence, clitoral versus vaginal preference, and homosexuality.

Is everything that goes on in your mind really you? Perhaps not, says Australian psychic researcher Robert Bruce. Drawing on more than two decades of firsthand research and experience, Bruce reports that our minds are subject to influences from many unseen spiritual sources. Some of these can influence how we think, feel, act, and even how our bodies function. They can make us unhappy, irritable, confused, sick, unstable, even crazy. This is why we need practical tools and countermeasures for psychic self-defense, all of which Bruce provides. This is the ultimate guide to combating the influences of earthbound spirits, deranged ghosts, astral snakes and spiders, demonic spirits, and poltergeists. This is a highly anecdotal and comprehensive practical guide to the dark side of the psychic universe.

This cutting-edge study of linguistic theory by one of the world's leading authors in the field of semiotics will be of interest to academics and postgraduates researching applied linguistics and advanced semiotics. In his foreword M. A. K. Halliday explains the importance of Paul J. Thibault's work to linguistics. Book jacket.

This book demonstrates how a radical version of physicalism (‘No-Self Physicalism’) can offer an internally coherent and comprehensive philosophical worldview. It first argues that a coherent physicalist should explicitly treat a cognitive subject merely as a physical thing and should not vaguely assume an amorphous or even soul-like subject or self. This approach forces the physicalist to re-examine traditional core philosophical notions such as truth, analyticity, modality, apriority because our traditional understandings of them appear to be predicated on a cognitive subject that is not literally just a physical thing. In turn, working on the assumption that a cognitive subject is itself completely physical, namely a neural network-based robot programmed by evolution (hence the term ‘No-Self’), the book proposes physicalistic theories on conceptual representation, truth, analyticity, modality, the nature of mathematics, epistemic justification, knowledge, apriority and intuition, as well as a physicalistic ontology. These are meant to show that this No-Self Physicalism, perhaps the most minimalistic and radical version of physicalism proposed to date, can accommodate many aspects that have traditionally interested philosophers. Given its refreshingly radical approach and painstakingly developed content, the book is of interest to anyone who is seeking a coherent philosophical worldview in this age of science.

Apple’s iOS SDK provides an amazingly powerful collection of frameworks. But it has been difficult to find detailed and useful knowledge about them–until now. With this book’s practical insights and tested code, you can use Apple’s frameworks to create apps that are more innovative and usable...faster and more reliable...more successful and profitable. Kyle Richter and Joe Keeley focus on intermediate-to-advanced techniques that professional iOS developers can use every day. Their far-reaching coverage ranges from social support to security, Core Data to iCloud–even Apple Watch. Organized as a convenient modular reference, nearly every chapter contains a complete Objective-C sample project. A multi-chapter Game Center case study shows how multiple iOS features can be combined to do even more. All source code may be downloaded at https://github.com/dfsw/icf. Coverage includes: Adding physics-like animation and behaviors to UIViews Using Core Location to determine device location, display customized maps, and implement geofencing Making games and apps social with Leaderboards Accessing music and image collections Building health/fitness apps with HealthKit Integrating with home automation via HomeKit Passing data between platforms using JSON Setting up local and remote notifications Remotely storing and syncing data with CloudKit Accessing app functionality with extensions Effortlessly adding AirPrint support Providing Handoff continuity between iOS 8 and Yosemite devices Getting productive with Core Data Integrating Twitter and Facebook via Social Framework Performing resource-intensive tasks with Grand Central Dispatch Securing user data with Keychain and Touch ID Customizing collection views Making the most of gesture recognizers Creating and distributing “passes” Debugging, instrumenting, and profiling apps

Core Animation is the technology underlying Apple's iOS user interface. By unleashing the full power of Core Animation, you can enhance your app with impressive 2D and 3D visual effects and create exciting and unique new interfaces. In this in-depth guide, iOS developer Nick Lockwood takes you step-by-step through the Core Animation framework, building up your understanding through sample code and diagrams together with comprehensive explanations and helpful tips. Lockwood demystifies the Core Animation APIs, and teaches you how to make use of Layers and views, software drawing and hardware compositing Layer geometry, hit testing and clipping Layer effects, transforms and 3D interfaces Video playback, text, tiled images, OpenGL, particles and reflections Implicit and explicit animations Property animations, keyframes and transitions Easing, frame-by-frame animation and physics Performance tuning and much, much more! Approximately 356 pages.

Discover Sociology: Core Concepts explores sociology as a discipline of curious minds, with the theoretical, conceptual, and empirical tools needed to understand, analyze, and even change the world—all in a more streamlined format. It is adapted from Discover Sociology, Third Edition and offers in-depth coverage of 12 high-priority topics that are at the core of almost all introductory sociology courses. Core Concepts maintains its reader-friendly narrative and the hallmark themes of the parent book, including the unequal distribution of power in society (“Inequality Matters”), the sociological imagination (“Private Lives, Public Issues”), and career skills (“What Can I Do With a Sociology Degree?”). A new feature, “Discover and Debate,” shows students how to take effective, evidence-based positions on important social issues, and how to argue in a respectful manner that recognizes the value of different perspectives. Also available as a digital option (courseware). Contact your rep to learn more about Discover Sociology: Core Concepts - Vantage Digital Option.