This unprecedented anthology asks thirty-six leading literary and cultural critics to elaborate on the nature of their profession. With the humanities feeling the pinch of financial and political pressures, and its disciplines resting on increasingly uncertain conceptual ground, there couldn't be a better time for critics to reassert their widespread relevance and purpose. These credos boldly defend the function of criticism in contemporary society and showcase its vitality in the era after theory. Essays address literature and politics, with some focusing on the sorry state of higher education and others concentrating on teaching and the fate of the humanities. All reflect the critics' personal, particular experiences. Deeply personal and engaging, these stories move, amuse, and inspire, ultimately encouraging the reader to develop his or her own critical credo with which to approach the world. Reflecting on the past, looking forward to the future, and committed to the power of productive critical thought, this volume proves the value of criticism for today's skeptical audiences. Contributors: Andrew Ross, Amitava Kumar, Lisa Lowe, Vincent B. Leitch, Craig Womack, Jeffrey J. Williams, Marc Bousquet, Katie Hogan, Michelle A. Massé, John Conley, Heather Steffen, Paul Lauter, Cary Nelson, David B. Downing, Barbara Foley, Michael Bérubé, Victor Cohen, Gerald Graff, William Germano, Ann Pellegrini, Bruce Robbins, Kenneth Warren, Diana Fuss, Lauren Berlant, Toril Moi, Morris Dickstein, Rita Felski, David R. Shumway, Mark Bauerlein, Devoney Looser, Stephen Burt, Mark Greif, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Mark McGurl, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Judith Jack Halberstam

There are many conferences, workshops and meetings annually around the world, each emphasizing a specialty area for scientific exploration and research. Yet in very few instances, if at all, do the multidisciplinary aspects of science get presented so one may see the diversity of dependencies these seemingly disparate disciplines actually have. The Explorers Club and the U. S. National Park Service collaborated to make a first attempt at what will continue to be an "ocean pulse'" effort; conferences combining the aquaculture sciences; the search for underwater antiquities and the marinelbio-technologies utilized to explore these areas. The purpose has been to bring together not just academicians to talk about their finding in the field or the laboratory, but to provide a forum for the practical applications of "technology" to expanding our worlds fisheries as well as to continue to explore our world's oceans; the earth's truly last frontier. After everything is said and done, we still know precious little about our ocean environments. Their influences on our lives are monumental and yet we continue to be very parochial and conservative in our dedication to exploring their depths and resources. We feel confident that this initial effort by our respective groups to awaken a realization in the public and private sectors of the need for a cross-disciplinary approach to scientific research in the marine environment, is a necessity as we approach the 21 st century. Kevin C.

Understanding business performance and financial data in terms of trends and forecasts changes everything. Even though the science of predictive analytics is complex, the Corelytics Financial Dashboard makes the power of this information easy to use by all business owners and managers. When the dashboard is combined with a management process, and even better when assisted by a professional advisor, business leaders can achieve a much greater precision in setting and achieving goals. Corelytics uses business intelligence (BI) concepts, combining external market metrics and benchmarks in combination with internal ratios, trends and metrics to show business leaders exactly how their company or organization is performing in comparison to market averages and to internal goals. Corelytics uses data directly from the company?s accounting system so that no data entry is required. Corelytics is used by small and medium-sized businesses in North America, Europe, Australia, and in approximately 30 other countries around the world. Corelytics is used by service companies, retailers, not for profit organizations, manufactures, in a large and growing list of industries. The goal of this book is to help business owners and managers take advantage of new financial management tools and disciplines in order to improve their survival rate and to build economic value that will benefit business owners and the general public.

The ultimate guide to mining the Internet for real-time assessment of trends and data Showing how the Internet can be an incredible tool for businesses and others to measure trends in real time, Pulse describes tools for inexpensive and real time measurement methodologies businesses can start using right away. This timely book also puts this emerging science in perspective and explains how this new measurement instrument will profoundly change decision making in business and government. Shows how the Internet can be used as an incredibly powerful measurement tool Reveals how to mine the Internet to measure and forecast business progress Written by leading expert in business analytics and performance management Pulse reveals how the Internet is evolving into a tool for measuring and forecasting trends in society, the economy, public opinion and even public health and security. It is an absolutely essential book for every business leader to turn a powerful, underutilized tool to its complete potential.

Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom is now widely regarded as a classic of contemporary philosophy. Written by the renowned founder of the philosophy of critical realism, first published in 1993, this book sets itself three main aims: the development of a general theory of dialectic – of which Hegelian dialectic can be seen to be a special case; the dialectical enrichment and deepening of critical realism – into the system of dialectical critical realism; and the outline of the elements of a totalizing critique of Western philosophy.

This resource provides a comprehensive treatment of the methods, analysis, and practice of impulse and ultrawideband (UWB) systems. Sources, antennas, propagation, electromagnetic theory, and actual practical systems are explored.This book provides novel perspective on impulse and short-pulse wireless engineering along with practical guidance on how to build antennas and radio hardware for high-power impulse signals. Theoretical and experimental results in the time-frequency domain are presented. The book explains and discusses the scattering of UWB electromagnetic pulses by conducting and dielectric objects. Impulse responses of objects and propagation channels are explored with details of signal models and their spectral characteristics and uses of regularization of a Kramers-Kroning type relation for estimating transfer functions. Readers gain insight into the development of high-power sources of UWB radiation with megavolt effective potential on the base of combined antenna arrays excited with bipolar voltage pulses. This in-depth volume includes chapters on receiving antennas, transmitting antennas, and antenna arrays along with details on high-power UWB radiation sources as well as problem sets.