Author: Mary Attenborough File Type: pdf Mathematics for Electrical Engineering and Computing embraces many applications of modern mathematics, such as Boolean Algebra and Sets and Functions, and also teaches both discrete and continuous systems - particularly vital for Digital Signal Processing (DSP). In addition, as most modern engineers are required to study software, material suitable for Software Engineering - set theory, predicate and prepositional calculus, language and graph theory - is fully integrated into the book.Excessive technical detail and language are avoided, recognising that the real requirement for practising engineers is the need to understand the applications of mathematics in everyday engineering contexts. Emphasis is given to an appreciation of the fundamental concepts behind the mathematics, for problem solving and undertaking critical analysis of results, whether using a calculator or a computer.The text is backed up by numerous exercises and worked examples throughout, firmly rooted in engineering practice, ensuring that all mathematical theory introduced is directly relevant to real-world engineering. The book includes introductions to advanced topics such as Fourier analysis, vector calculus and random processes, also making this a suitable introductory text for second year undergraduates of electrical, electronic and computer engineering, undertaking engineering mathematics courses.The book is supported with a number of free online resources. On the companion website readers will find* over 60 pages of Background Mathematics reinforcing introductory material for revision purposes in advance of your first year course* plotXpose software (for equation solving, and drawing graphs of simple functions, their derivatives, integrals and Fourier transforms)* problems and projects (linking directly to the software)In addition, for lecturers only, httptextbooks.elsevier.com features a complete worked solutions manual for the exercises in the book.Dr Attenborough is a former Senior Lecturer in the School of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering at South Bank University. She is currently Technical Director of The Webbery - Internet development company, Co. Donegal, Ireland. * Fundamental principles of mathematics introduced and applied in engineering practice, reinforced through over 300 examples directly relevant to real-world engineering* Over 60 pages of basic revision material available to download in advance of embarking on a first year course* Free website support, featuring complete solutions manual, background mathematics, plotXpose software, and further problems and projects enabling students to build on the concepts introduced, and put the theory into practice

Author: Edward Komara File Type: pdf This comprehensive two-volume set brings together all aspects of the blues from performers and musical styles to record labels and cultural issues, including regional evolution and history. Organized in an accessible A-to-Z format, the Encyclopedia of the Blues is an essential reference resource for information on this unique American music genre.For a full list of entries, contributors, and more, visit the Encyclopedia of the Blues website.From BooklistThis encyclopedia is devoted to covering the blues as a musical form while also exploring its historical and cultural foundations. The 2,100 entries, written by 140 scholars and musicians, are arranged alphabetically and range in length from brief definitions (a couple of sentences) to long, analytical articles (5,000 words). Access is aided by both an alphabetical and a thematic list of entries as well as a comprehensive subject, people, and song-title index. There is also some cross-referencing between related entries. Although the text is occasionally supplemented with black-and-white photographs, the aesthetic appeal would have been greater with more pictures, particularly given the large number of biographical entries. The majority of entries are indeed biographical, covering performers, historians, songwriters, and label owners. Coverage is also heavily weighted toward record labels ( Irma, Matchbox). Other, less-represented areas of coverage include musical styles, forms, techniques, and instruments ( Field hollers, Funk, Scales) specific regions ( Africa, Chicago) the historiography of the blues ( Libraries, Periodicals) cultural aspects of the blues ( Racial issues and the blues, Women and the blues) business aspects ( Chitlin Circuit, Marketing) and individual songs ( Mustang Sally, Stormy Monday). Each entry ends with a bibliography of further reading, and each biographical entry also has a discography. In the case of major musicians, a list of selected recordings and reissues is also included. References rely heavily on a short list of frequently cited sources that wisely includes the All Music Guide to the Blues (Backbeat, 2003) and Robert Santellis The Big Book of Blues A Biographical Encyclopedia (Penguin, 1993). Libraries with access to the above-referenced blues titles or the Grove Music Online database already offer basic coverage for mainstream questions about the blues, but this encyclopedia clearly fills a gap by offering multifaceted coverage in one place. The blues, when treated as an encyclopedic subject, often gets lumped together with jazz, folk, or gospel it is rare to see it stand on its own. This encyclopedia is more comprehensive than the last attempt at a solely blues encyclopedia, the same-titled Encyclopedia of the Blues (University of Arkansas, 1997). Recommended for all music libraries and all libraries supporting blues scholars. Susan Gardner American Library Association. ltReviewAn impressive list of contributors ... Besides being rich with biographical entries, this Encyclopedia also includes entries for important record labels, instruments, styles, geographic regions, aspects of the business, and additional topics that have been lacking in other encyclopedic efforts ... This is a valuable addition to the reference shelf of blues literature ... Highly recommended. - ChoiceThis two-volume A-to-Z set effectively categorizes the history of the blues. A great benefit is that the book features blues artists from all time periods, and the number of obscure blues artists listed in remarkable. Essential for any library collecting the history of the blues. -- Library JournalIn this two-volume Encyclopedia, Komara provides about 2100 entries, both brief and extensive, on the blues, its history, culture, roots, contemporary styles, artists, historians, songwriters, record labels, forms, characteristics, instruments, songs, regions, historiography, music business, and related forms. Discographies and bibliographiesfor each entry are included, as well as a thematic list of entries and an index in each volume. --Reference & Research Book NewsA great deal of useful material is enclosed within the two sets of covers. It spreads a broader and deeper net than the late Sheldon Harriss *Blues Whos Who *(1979), going beyond individual musicians, and it includes broader headings such as regionsstates musical styles and techniques instruments points of cultural interest historiography record labels related art forms specific major songs. These longer entries are quite good, well-researched and well-written, worth knowing about and using. --Peter B. Lowry, Western Folklore, volume 68, nos. 2-3 (2009)

Author: David Bordwell File Type: pdf In the 1940s, American movies changed. Flashbacks began to be used in outrageous, unpredictable ways. Soundtracks flaunted voice-over commentary, and characters might pivot from a scene to address the viewer. Incidents were replayed from different characters viewpoints, and sometimes those versions proved to be false. Films now plunged viewers into characters memories, dreams, and hallucinations. Some films didnt have protagonists, while others centered on anti-heroes or psychopaths. Women might be on the verge of madness, and neurotic heroes lurched into violent confrontations. Combining many of these ingredients, a new genre emergedthe psychological thriller, populated by women in peril and innocent bystanders targeted for death. If this sounds like todays cinema, thats because it is. In Reinventing Hollywood, David Bordwell examines for the first time the full range and depth of trends that crystallized into traditions. He shows how the Christopher Nolans and Quentin Tarantinos of today owe an immense debt to the dynamic, occasionally delirious narrative experiments of the Forties. With verve and wit, Bordwell examines how a booming movie market during World War II allowed ambitious writers and directors to push narrative boundaries. Although those experiments are usually credited to the influence of Citizen Kane, Bordwell shows that similar impulses had begun in the late 1930s in radio, fiction, and theatre before migrating to film. And despite the postwar recession in the industry, the momentum for innovation continued. Some of the boldest films of the era came in the late forties and early fifties, as filmmakers sought to outdo their peers. Through in-depth analyses of films both famous and virtually unknown, from Our Town and All About Eve to Swell Guy and The Guilt of Janet Ames, Bordwell assesses the eras unique achievements and its legacy for future filmmakers. The result is a groundbreaking study of how Hollywood storytelling became a more complex art. Reinventing Hollywood is essential reading for all lovers of popular cinema. **Review Bordwell is our soldier of the cinema, the guy up on the wall telling us whats out there and, in this case, how and why it got there. Reinventing Hollywood is a deep and wide look into a period of creative fervor and storytelling innovation in the movies that hasnt been matched by any other art form since. This book is bracing and encyclopedic and has real heft, but its still a breezy read. Its not just that you can read it, you can see it. And if modern filmmakers cant find any inspiring ideas in here, theyre just not trying. (David Koepp, screenwriter, Jurassic Park and War of the Worlds director, Ghost Town and Premium Rush) As our premier analyst of cinematic storytelling, Bordwell plunges us into Hollywood movies in the 1940s, brilliantly opening up the eras productive innovations in narrative and narration. Along the way, he explains experiments with devices such as amnesia, cine-portraiture, converging-fates and episode plots, focused space, ghost-movie rules, hooks, impression management, interruptive flashbacks, the omnibus format, polyphonic voice-overs, rhythms of replacement, the switcheroo, and the traveling object. What a treasure for lovers of cinema. (Janet Staiger, University of Texas at Austin) With Reinventing Hollywood, Bordwell pulls off the near impossible. His book, which is meticulously researched, somehow has the ability to inform, to contextualize, and to entertain in equal measures. He is able to demystify arguably the most mature decade of American films in a way that explains patterns and influences but also recognizes those unique, inexplicable masterpieces that somehow came from out of nowhere. (Mark Johnson, producer, Rain Man, Galaxy Quest, and Breaking Bad) No other critic or historian comes close to the sort of comprehensive discussion of the period that Bordwell gives in Reinventing Hollywood. With an encyclopedic knowledge of movie history, he seems to have seen everything. His research is prodigious, filled with fascinating details about how specific scripts were written and revised. Despite this, there isnt a whiff of pretention in his writing, which is not only lucid but also witty and engaging. (James Naremore, Indiana University Bloomington) In addition to the almost unparalleled breadth and depth of his research, Bordwells love of and admiration for the periods experimentation and risk-taking comes through on every page. His exuberance is infectious, and again and again I found myself writing down titles of filmsmany of which I had not heard of beforeI now want to see due to his impassioned account of their innovations. This is a singularly important book that powerfully brings to life a rich period of experimentation in Hollywoods history. (Malcolm Turvey, Tufts University) Situating Hollywood film among other popular arts of the times, such as theater or the novel or radio drama, Bordwell convincingly shows how movies were key cases of what he terms moderate modernism and explored and expanded storytelling possibilities. Having seen everything, read everything, and thought brilliantly about everything, Bordwell delivers the definitive poetics of American cinema as narrative act and narrative art. (Dana Polan, New York University) About the Author David Bordwell is the Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the University of WisconsinMadison. With Kristin Thompson, he is coauthor of Film Art An Introduction and Film History An Introduction and the blog Observations on Film Art, which can be found at httpwww.davidbordwell.netblog.

Author: Harry Daniels File Type: pdf Lev Vygotsky provided the twentieth century with an enticing mix of intellectual traditions within an attempt to provide an account of the social formation of the mind. His legacy is an exciting, but at times chaotic fusion of ideas. An Introduction to Vygotsky, Second Edition provides students with an accessible overview of his work, combining reprints of key journal and text articles with editorial commentary and helpful suggestions for further reading.Harry Daniels considers the evolution of Vygotskys work against a backdrop of political turmoil in the developing USSR. Major elements discussed include the use of the culture concept in social development theory and the implications of Vygotskys theories for teaching, learning and assessment.This second edition is revised and up-dated to provide a refreshing introduction to Vygotskys work and the multi-disciplinary contribution he has made to twentieth century intellectual life. Academics and students at all levels will find this an essential key source of information.Review...a valuable addition to any library. -- Choice...place[s] Vygotskys theory and related interpretations and debates in their historical and cultural contexts. -- Anthropology and Education Quarterly, March 1998...provides a set of interesting readings that does introduce readers to some of the debates and interpretations surrounding Vygotskys original writings... -- Anthropology & Education QuarterlyAbout the AuthorHarry Daniels is Professor of Education Culture and Pedagogy, in the Department of Education at the University of Bath