This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Natural Computing, TPNC 2015, held in Mieres, Spain, in December 2015. The 12 revised full papers presented together with 20 invited talks in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 30 submissions. The scope of TPNC is rather broad, containing topics of either theoretical,…
Report on the Agrarian Law" (1795) and Other Writings is the first modern English translation of perhaps the greatest work of the Spanish Enlightenment, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos's 'Informe sobre la Ley Agraria' (1795). A major work of political economy and a beautifully crafted philosophical history of Spain’s political development until the eighteenth century, 'Informe sobre la Ley Agrar…
Ritual deposition is not an activity that many people in the Western world would consider themselves participants of. The enigmatic beliefs and magical thinking that led to the deposition of swords in watery places and votive statuettes in temples, for example, may feel irrelevant to the modern day. However, it could be argued that ritual deposition is a more widespread feature now than in the …
This book is the result of an ethnographic study on the impact of Black cultural diversity on social action. The ethnography has three important characteristics. First, it incorporates the multiple perspectives of the ethnographer with the diverse voices of the people through an unusual form of reflexivity that provides additional insight for the descriptions, analyses, and conclusions of the b…
This book collects contributions by Richard T. Griffiths on the history of European integration, some published for the first time in English. The essays range in chronology from the early experiences with the Marshall Plan to the difficulties and opportunities for the EFTA countries afforded by association with the EEC in the 1970s and 80s. The book interprets European integration far wider th…
The Ai Chiang-nan fu by the sixth-century poet Yu Hsin is one of the most famous and difficult of all Chinese medieval poems. It relates in a highly allegorical and elliptical manner the fall of the Liang dynasty, which the poet served. The poem belongs to the genre of the fu; rhapsodical, elegiac works written in an irregular metre. It is, however not at all typical of the genre, which is more…
This gracefully written and well thought-out study deals with a neglected collection of poems by Spenser, which was issued in 1591 at the height of his career. While there has been a good deal written in recent years on two of the poems in the collection, ‘Mother Hubberd’s Tale’ and ‘Muiopotmos’, Brown innovatively addresses the collection in its entirety. He urges us to see it as a p…
The relationship between people and parish in the late medieval ages illuminated by this study of a remarkable survival from the period
This Brief is concerned with the connection between food packaging and the chemical composition of packaging materials. In terms of the food packaging hygiene, the influence of the containers on the contained foods is discussed. The book explores new and emerging risks related to food packaging materials in connection with the contained commodities. It also discusses the technology of productio…
Nanoscience and nanotechnology have had a great impact on the food industry. They have increased the nutritional and functional properties of a number of food products and have aided in food preservation through the addition of antimicrobials or the reduction of water activity. These and many other applications have emerged in recent years to transform food science and technology. This book pro…