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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        November 2019

        Jacopo da Varagine's Chronicle of the city of Genoa

        by C. E. Beneš, Rosemary Horrox

        This book offers the first English translation of the Chronicle of the city of Genoa by the thirteenth-century Dominican Jacopo da Varagine, an author best known for his monumental book of saints' lives, the Golden legend. Jacopo's Chronicle presents a coherent vision of Genoa's place in history, the cosmos and Creation as written by the city's own archbishop - mixing eyewitness accounts with scholarly research about the city's origins and didactic reflections on the proper conduct of public and private life. Accompanied by an extensive introduction, this complete translation provides a unique perspective on a dynamic medieval city-state from one of its most important officials, broadening the available literature in English on medieval Italian urban life.

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        Geography & the Environment
        October 2019

        The Himalayan Soap Pod Tree (Gymnocladus assamicus)

        An Ecologically and Economically Important Tree on the Brink of Extinction

        by Baharul I Choudhury, Mohammed Latif Khan

        Extinction of species has alarmingly increased in recent decades due to anthropogenic activities, natural calamities and climate change. The life history, ecology and evolution of such species have often not been well studied. Gymnocladus assamicus is an archaic tree endemic to the Eastern Himalayan region of Northeast India. Locally known as 'Menangmanba-shi' by the Monpa tribe of Arunachal Pradesh (India), mature G. assamicus pods contain high saponin and are used traditionally for cleansing purposes and rituals. We rediscovered the species after more than 70 years from high altitude areas in the Himalayas through extensive field explorations and employing an ecological niche modeling approach. Our study revealed a very few actively reproducing mature G. assamicus trees surviving in unique microclimatic conditions. The species is classified as 'critically endangered' (IUCN red list). The book contains detailed information about G. assamicus and discusses its current distribution, population status, ethnobotanical uses and other ecological parameters. Major intrinsic and extrinsic factors that might be responsible for population decline are described. More importantly, we reported a very rare mating system known as 'androdioecy' in which male and hermaphrodite individuals co-exist in the natural population. Overall, the book highlights the story of a critically endangered tree species with a unique biological and socio-cultural importance and will serve as a case study and referencefor other similar species both locally and globally.

      • Trusted Partner
        September 2023

        Medicinal Plants used in Traditional Persian Medicine

        by Hartwig Schulz, Seyed Ahmad Emami, Farsad Nadjafi

        Medicinal plants and the natural products within them, still remain the starting point for breakthroughs in the development of safe, pharmacologically active synthetic molecules for use in a wide variety of clinical situations. Traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) is one of the most ancient medical doctrines, and is well-documented in terms of information about diseases, diagnoses and treatments, especially by the application of medicinal plants. TPM has been used for centuries worldwide, and many of these methods are still used in Iran today. This book introduces the basics of TPM, and describes the key medicinal plants which are used for the treatment of different diseases. It also creates possible new targets for research activities in drug discovery of natural products. The book is richly illustrated with coloured figures of historic drawings from old Persian pharmacopoeia and photos of plants in their natural habitats. References to Ayurvedic, Traditional Chinese Medicine and to monastic medicine in Europe are also made. Knowledge about medicinal plants used in TPM still exists in Iran, however, there is a risk that the detailed expertise provided by the older generation will be lost in the near future. It is therefore important that this cultural heritage of humanity is properly preserved. This book provides a valuable, evidence-based resource on TPM for researchers, practitioners and students in medicinal plants, ethnobotany and herbal medicine.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        2019

        Frontier Identity: Odesa in 20th century

        by Yaroslav Polishchuk

        Flipping through the pages of the cultural history of Odesa in the 20th century, the author of the book analyses the frontier identity that developed in this peculiar city. In the first part of the book, the general processes that determined the cultural face of Odesa are analysed, in the second, portraits of prominent artists are presented - Volodymyr Zhabotynskyi, Petro Leshchenko, Mykhailo Zhuk, Boris Necherda, Boris Khersonskyi. Each of them in their own way embodied the image of the beach and sea city in its changing identity and constant charm. And if the above personalities are forgotten today, then we have a good opportunity to get to know and appreciate them more deeply, at the same time rethinking the phenomenon of Odesa in the 20th century.

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        June 2018

        The Lady in White

        by Donald Willerton

        Mogi Franklin is a typical eighth-grader–except for the mysterious things that keep happening in his life. And the adventures they lead to as he and his sister, Jennifer, follow Mogi's unique problem-solving skills–along with dangerous clues from history and the world around them–to unearth a treasure of unexpected secrets.In The Lady in White, Mogi is working as a cowboy over the summer vacation on one of the largest ranches in New Mexico when hundreds of cattle start mysteriously dying there. Trying to understand the cause, he finds himself embroiled in the life of a boy who was kidnapped by Comanche Indians in 1871. In this seventh book of the exciting Mogi Franklin Mysteries, Mogi comes face-to-face with the ghost of the boy's mother, and must face the reality of the past to save the ranch from the enemies of the present.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        February 2024

        Sir Philip Sidney: The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

        The New Arcadia, Second Revised Edition

        by Victor Skretkowicz, Elisabeth Chaghafi, J. B. Lethbridge

        Shipwrecks, gory battle scenes, cross-dressing, toxic relationships, abduction, torture (psychological and physical), comical country bumpkins, and, of course, love and poetry -Sir Philip Sidney's witty pastoral romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia is the classic that has it all in terms of entertainment factors. Modern readers mostly know Arcadia in its complete 'old' version, but it is the New Arcadia (published in 1590) that was the most influential and most widely imitated literary text of the sixteenth century. While preserving the basic plot - a ruler attempts to escape an alarming oracle by moving his family to the countryside and engaging in shepherd-cosplay until the arrival of two foreign princes triggers a chain of events leading to the fulfilment of the oracle - this version adds further narrative strands and introduces ambitious revisions that showcase Sidney's stylistic brilliance as a prose writer.

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        Science & Mathematics
        April 2022

        Nematodes as Model Organisms

        by Itamar Glazer, David I Shapiro-llan, Paul W. Sternberg

        Nematodes, which are small multi cellular organisms have been used as biological models since the 1960's. The nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living nematode, about 1mm in length, that lives in temperate soil environments. It is made up of about 1000 cells, and has a short life cycle of only 2 weeks. It was the first multicellular organism to have its whole genome sequenced. The book includes chapters that summarize the importance of nematodes as model organisms in the fields of genetics, developmental biology, neurobiology, pharmacology, nutrition, ecology and parasitology. Of interest to a broad audience across a wide spectrum of disciplines, the book is useful for biologists working on comparative studies to investigate biological processes across organisms; medical scientists and pharmacologist for exploration of drugs and medicine (including the use of genome editing to eliminate diseases); ecologists considering nematodes as indicators for environment changes; and parasitologists for host-parasite interactions. Many other researchers can use this book as a benchmark for the broad implications of nematology research on other aspects of science.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        December 2022

        The heat of Beowulf

        by Daniel C. Remein

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        January 2013

        Eleventh-century Germany

        The Swabian chronicles

        by I. Robinson

        Three of the most important chronicles of eleventh-century Germany were composed in the south-western duchy of Swabia. The chronicles reveal how between 1049 and 1100 the centripetal attraction of the reform papacy became the dominant fact of intellectual life in German reformed monastic circles. In the abbey of Reichenau Herman 'the Lame' composed a chronicle of the reign of Emperor Henry III (1039-56). His pupil, Berthold of Reichenau, continued his master's work, composing a detailed account of 1076-1079 in Germany. Bernold, a clergyman of Constance, continued the work of Herman and Berthold in a text containing the fullest extant account of 1080-1100. Herman's waning enthusiasm for the monarchy and growing interest in the newly reformed papacy were intensified in Berthold's chronicle, and writing in the new context of the reformed monasteries of south-western Germany, Bernold preached total obedience to the Gregorian papacy. The Swabian chronicles are an indispensable resource to the student of the changing loyalties and conflicts of eleventh-century Germany.

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        Adventure
        April 2024

        I love you…

        by Julien Tănase

        The book "I Love You..." is part of the trilogy..., "I love you, till death..." and "I love you, as long as my heart beats”, autobiographical love novels which include chapters from life in a couple of the writer Julien Tănase and his wife, Magdi, with whom he has been in a relationship for 30 years, all against the background of the events that Romania has gone through in recent decades, after the Revolution of '89. A trilogy about the endurance over time of a young couple in love, who have gone through events that are out of touch with reality in Romania where sleeping with a gun under the pillow, the fear of having their child kidnapped, and even the "wars" waged against the corruption of magistrates, politicians and the information systems of a civil society gripped by the widespread corruption in Romania, including the lawsuit invented by the DNA (National Anticorruption Directorate) to stop his work as a journalist and finally won by the writer, makes the autobiography of writer Julien Tănase a fascinating one that leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth and a big question mark; ... "such things have happened and continue to happen in Romania"?... The writer Julien Tănase: "A friend in the Italian Police told me, and I quote him: "... if you had done in Italy what you did for your country, today a street would bear your name! But you had been dead!"

      • Trusted Partner
        2020

        Vitamin D

        The healing power of the sunshine vitamin

        by Uwe Gröber and Prof. Dr. Michael F. Holick

        Vitamin D deficiency is a global health problem that puts the quality of life and life expectancy of more than a billion children and adults at risk worldwide. Many lifestyle diseases may be associated with vitamin D deficiency: myocardial infarction, infections, cancer, neurological diseases, stroke, type 2 diabetes, to name just a few. This 4th updated edition incorporates numerous new insights into the therapeutic effect of vitamin D, including its importance for a healthy pregnancy, prenatal imprinting, optimum sporting performance, diabetes mellitus and autoimmune diseases such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis or multiple sclerosis. Since the metabolism and the effect of vitamin D are supported by a complex network of micronutrients – for example, magnesium, vitamin A or vitamin K – a specific chapter is devoted to this network. Here, the reader can discover how vitamin D successfully protects against diseases, improves the quality of life and optimises medication and treatment!

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        January 2013

        The Papal Reform of the Eleventh Century

        Lives of Pope Leo IX and Pope Gregory VII

        by I. Robinson

        The eleventh-century papal reform transformed western European Church and society and permanently altered the relations of Church and State in the west. The reform was inaugurated by Pope Leo IX (1048-54) and given a controversial change of direction by Pope Gregory VII (1073-85). This book contains the earliest biographies of both popes, presented here for the first time in English translation with detailed commentaries. The biographers of Leo IX were inspired by his universally acknowledged sanctity, whereas the biographers of Gregory VII wrote to defend his reputation against the hostility generated by his reforming methods and his conflict with King Henry IV. Also included is a translation of Book to a Friend, written by Bishop Bonizo of Sutri soon after the death of Gregory VII, as well as an extract from the violently anti-Gregorian polemic of Bishop Benzo of Alba (1085) and the short biography of Leo IX composed in the papal curia in the 1090s by Bishop Bruno of Segni. These fascinating narrative sources bear witness to the startling impact of the papal reform and of the 'Investiture Contest', the conflict of empire and papacy that was one of its consequences. An essential collection of translated texts for students of medieval history.

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      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        November 2021

        Encountering The Book of Margery Kempe

        by Laura Kalas, Laura Varnam, David Matthews, Anke Bernau, James Paz

        This innovative critical volume brings the study of Margery Kempe into the twenty-first century. Structured around four categories of 'encounter' - textual, internal, external and performative - the volume offers a capacious exploration of The Book of Margery Kempe, characterised by multiple complementary and dissonant approaches. It employs a multiplicity of scholarly and critical lenses, including the intertextual history of medieval women's literary culture, medical humanities, history of science, digital humanities, literary criticism, oral history, the global Middle Ages, archival research and creative re-imagining. Revealing several new discoveries about Margery Kempe and her Book in its global contexts, and offering multiple ways of reading the Book in the modern world, it will be an essential companion for years to come.

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