Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa.
Since America's founding, the diversity of American writers has shaped its literature. Authors and poets of the past have created a colorful collection of works that are still studied today alongside contemporary works. Writing the Nation: A Concise Introduction to American Literature 1865 to Present, is designed to continue the preservation of famous American literary works in the minds of col…
This volume on Ultrafast Magnetism is a collection of articles presented at the international “Ultrafast Magnetization Conference” held at the Congress Center in Strasbourg, France, from October 28th to November 1st, 2013. This first conference, which is intended to be held every two years, received a wonderful attendance and gathered scientists from 27 countries in the field of Femtomagnet…
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Communication Technologies for Ageing Well and e-Health, ICT4AgeingWell 2015, held in Lisbon, Portugal, in May 2015. The 11 full papers and two invited papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 45 submissions. The papers cover five main topic areas, covering different aspects, includin…
This thesis presents a highly innovative study of the ultrafast structural and vibrational dynamics of hydrated phospholipids, the basic constituents of cell membranes. As a novel approach to the water-phospholipid interface, the author studies phosphate vibrations using the most advanced methods of nonlinear vibrational spectroscopy, including femtosecond two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy.…
This book focuses on increasing the energy-efficiency of electronic devices so that portable applications can have a longer stand-alone time on the same battery. The authors explain the energy-efficiency benefits that ultra-low-voltage circuits provide and provide answers to tackle the challenges which ultra-low-voltage operation poses. An innovative design methodology is presented, verified, a…
This book provides readers with a state-of-the-art description of techniques to be used for ultra-low-power (ULP) and ultra-low-cost (ULC), short-range wireless receivers. Readers will learn what is required to deploy these receivers in short-range wireless sensor networks, which are proliferating widely to serve the internet of things (IoT) for “smart cities.” The authors address key chall…
This book explores the design of ultra-low-power radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), with communication distances ranging from a few centimeters to a few meters. The authors describe leading-edge techniques to achieve ultra-low-power communication over short-range links. Many different applications are covered, ranging from body-area networks to transcutaneous implant communications an…
This thesis examines laser generation from the ultraviolet to the short edge of the mid-infrared band by exploiting the nonlinear effects in photonic crystal fibers (PCFs). Several different physical mechanisms are investigated by using homemade PCFs with elaborately customized dispersion profiles. A particular focus is on the development of fiber optical parametric amplifiers (FOPAs) and oscil…
Ultra Low Bit-Rate Speech Coding" focuses on the specialized topic of speech coding at very low bit-rates of 1 Kbits/sec and less, particularly at the lower ends of this range, down to 100 bps. The authors set forth the fundamental results and trends that form the basis for such ultra low bit-rates to be viable and provide a comprehensive overview of various techniques and systems in literature…