Edwin L. Battistella
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367126
- eISBN:
- 9780199867356
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367126.003.0016
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language
Chapter 16 takes stock of Sherwin Cody as an entrepreneur, social critic, and educator, framing his legacy as silent mentor who encourage people to take responsibility for their own education through ...
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Chapter 16 takes stock of Sherwin Cody as an entrepreneur, social critic, and educator, framing his legacy as silent mentor who encourage people to take responsibility for their own education through on‐going study and reading.Less
Chapter 16 takes stock of Sherwin Cody as an entrepreneur, social critic, and educator, framing his legacy as silent mentor who encourage people to take responsibility for their own education through on‐going study and reading.
William J. Talbott
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195173482
- eISBN:
- 9780199872176
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195173482.003.0015
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter retraces the history of moral development to show how it is possible for us to have discovered a meta-theoretical principle of moral improvement, the main principle. The main principle ...
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This chapter retraces the history of moral development to show how it is possible for us to have discovered a meta-theoretical principle of moral improvement, the main principle. The main principle explains why guarantees of the fourteen human rights on the chapter’s list would be moral improvements in any human society. The fourteen rights on the chapter’s list include almost all of the rights in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also include a number of rights not in the UNUDHR. So the main principle helps to unify the rights in that document and points to future improvements. The chapter concludes with a reminder that the possibility of future moral improvement depends on there being lots of reasonable disagreement in the ongoing social process of the free give-and-take of opinion.Less
This chapter retraces the history of moral development to show how it is possible for us to have discovered a meta-theoretical principle of moral improvement, the main principle. The main principle explains why guarantees of the fourteen human rights on the chapter’s list would be moral improvements in any human society. The fourteen rights on the chapter’s list include almost all of the rights in the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also include a number of rights not in the UNUDHR. So the main principle helps to unify the rights in that document and points to future improvements. The chapter concludes with a reminder that the possibility of future moral improvement depends on there being lots of reasonable disagreement in the ongoing social process of the free give-and-take of opinion.
Kazuhiro Ōmori
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780198292746
- eISBN:
- 9780191603891
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292740.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, South and East Asia
This chapter focuses on the role of trade and manufacturers’ associations in Japan’s industrialization. Focusing on two typical traditional industries, pottery and straw goods manufacturing, the ...
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This chapter focuses on the role of trade and manufacturers’ associations in Japan’s industrialization. Focusing on two typical traditional industries, pottery and straw goods manufacturing, the various activities of associations such as quality control, technological improvement, material purchasing, and product marketing are investigated. The associations made significant contributions to the development of traditional industries, especially the industries dominated by small manufacturing firms.Less
This chapter focuses on the role of trade and manufacturers’ associations in Japan’s industrialization. Focusing on two typical traditional industries, pottery and straw goods manufacturing, the various activities of associations such as quality control, technological improvement, material purchasing, and product marketing are investigated. The associations made significant contributions to the development of traditional industries, especially the industries dominated by small manufacturing firms.
Peter Taylor‐Gooby
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199546701
- eISBN:
- 9780191720420
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546701.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
Chapters 8 and 9 seek to anchor the analysis of the previous three chapters in a concrete policy context by considering the impact of recent reforms in the field of UK health care. The NHS is the ...
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Chapters 8 and 9 seek to anchor the analysis of the previous three chapters in a concrete policy context by considering the impact of recent reforms in the field of UK health care. The NHS is the flagship of the British welfare state and at the heart of public sector reform. A New Public Management system (quasi-markets, strict targets and strong incentives for managers, regulation of quality from the centre, and better information for users) has transformed the service. Comparisons of changes in provision over time and between regions of the UK indicate considerable improvement at a time of increasing pressure on health care. However, these gains rest on substantially increased resources and there has been little improvement in cost-efficiency and productivity. Improvements for disadvantaged minorities are much less impressive. Public attitudes and responses display considerable disquiet with the reform programme, particularly in relation to confidence and trust.Less
Chapters 8 and 9 seek to anchor the analysis of the previous three chapters in a concrete policy context by considering the impact of recent reforms in the field of UK health care. The NHS is the flagship of the British welfare state and at the heart of public sector reform. A New Public Management system (quasi-markets, strict targets and strong incentives for managers, regulation of quality from the centre, and better information for users) has transformed the service. Comparisons of changes in provision over time and between regions of the UK indicate considerable improvement at a time of increasing pressure on health care. However, these gains rest on substantially increased resources and there has been little improvement in cost-efficiency and productivity. Improvements for disadvantaged minorities are much less impressive. Public attitudes and responses display considerable disquiet with the reform programme, particularly in relation to confidence and trust.
R. Ford Denison
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139500
- eISBN:
- 9781400842810
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139500.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. This book ...
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As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. This book presents an entirely new approach to these challenges, one that draws on the principles of evolution and natural selection. It shows how both biotechnology and traditional plant breeding can use Darwinian insights to identify promising routes for crop genetic improvement and avoid costly dead ends. It explains why plant traits that have been genetically optimized by individual selection—such as photosynthesis and drought tolerance—are bad candidates for genetic improvement. Traits like plant height and leaf angle, which determine the collective performance of plant communities, offer more room for improvement. Agriculturalists can also benefit from more sophisticated comparisons among natural communities and from the study of wild species in the landscapes where they evolved. The book reveals why it is sometimes better to slow or even reverse evolutionary trends when they are inconsistent with our present goals, and how we can glean new ideas from natural selection's marvelous innovations in wild species.Less
As human populations grow and resources are depleted, agriculture will need to use land, water, and other resources more efficiently and without sacrificing long-term sustainability. This book presents an entirely new approach to these challenges, one that draws on the principles of evolution and natural selection. It shows how both biotechnology and traditional plant breeding can use Darwinian insights to identify promising routes for crop genetic improvement and avoid costly dead ends. It explains why plant traits that have been genetically optimized by individual selection—such as photosynthesis and drought tolerance—are bad candidates for genetic improvement. Traits like plant height and leaf angle, which determine the collective performance of plant communities, offer more room for improvement. Agriculturalists can also benefit from more sophisticated comparisons among natural communities and from the study of wild species in the landscapes where they evolved. The book reveals why it is sometimes better to slow or even reverse evolutionary trends when they are inconsistent with our present goals, and how we can glean new ideas from natural selection's marvelous innovations in wild species.
David Albert Jones
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199213009
- eISBN:
- 9780191707179
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199213009.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Church History
This chapter investigates evidence for the level of clergy incomes, and compares the results with evidence for the income-levels of other professional groups. Attention is paid to the evidence for ...
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This chapter investigates evidence for the level of clergy incomes, and compares the results with evidence for the income-levels of other professional groups. Attention is paid to the evidence for the incomes of curates and ‘perpetual curates’. Initiatives to augment the endowments of benefices to increase the incomes of clergy are investigated and evaluated. The sources of clergy incomes are investigated: from fees, cultivating or letting glebe land and collecting tithes, and the difficulties that might be involved in collecting tithes. The very significant increase in incomes from glebe, and especially from tithes, over much of England and Wales from 1770 onwards as a result of agricultural improvements, is discussed.Less
This chapter investigates evidence for the level of clergy incomes, and compares the results with evidence for the income-levels of other professional groups. Attention is paid to the evidence for the incomes of curates and ‘perpetual curates’. Initiatives to augment the endowments of benefices to increase the incomes of clergy are investigated and evaluated. The sources of clergy incomes are investigated: from fees, cultivating or letting glebe land and collecting tithes, and the difficulties that might be involved in collecting tithes. The very significant increase in incomes from glebe, and especially from tithes, over much of England and Wales from 1770 onwards as a result of agricultural improvements, is discussed.
Helen O'Connell
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199286461
- eISBN:
- 9780191713361
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286461.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century Literature and Romanticism, European Literature
This book studies Irish improvement fiction, a neglected genre of 19th-century literary, social, and political history. The book shows how the fiction of Mary Leadbeater, Charles Bardin, Martin ...
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This book studies Irish improvement fiction, a neglected genre of 19th-century literary, social, and political history. The book shows how the fiction of Mary Leadbeater, Charles Bardin, Martin Doyle, and William Carleton attempted to lure Irish peasants and landowners away from popular genres such as fantasy, romance, and ‘radical’ political tracts as well as ‘high’ literary and philosophical forms of enquiry. These writers attempted to cultivate a taste for the didactic tract, an assertively realist mode of representation. Accordingly, improvement fiction laboured to demonstrate the value of hard work, frugality, and sobriety in a rigorously realistic idiom, representing the contentment that inheres in a plain social order free of excess and embellishment. Improvement discourse defined itself in opposition to the perceived extremism of revolutionary politics and literary writing, seeking (but failing) to exemplify how both political discontent and unhappiness could be offset by a strict practicality and prosaic realism. This book demonstrates how improvement reveals itself to be a literary discourse, enmeshed in the very rhetorical abyss it sought to escape. In addition, the proudly liberal rhetoric of improvement is shown to be at one with the imperial discourse it worked to displace. The book argues that improvement discourse is embedded in the literary and cultural mainstream of modern Ireland and has hindered the development of intellectual and political debate throughout this period. These issues are examined in chapters exploring the career of William Carleton; peasant ‘orality’; educational provision in the post-Union period; the Irish language; secret society violence; Young Ireland nationalism; and the Irish Revival.Less
This book studies Irish improvement fiction, a neglected genre of 19th-century literary, social, and political history. The book shows how the fiction of Mary Leadbeater, Charles Bardin, Martin Doyle, and William Carleton attempted to lure Irish peasants and landowners away from popular genres such as fantasy, romance, and ‘radical’ political tracts as well as ‘high’ literary and philosophical forms of enquiry. These writers attempted to cultivate a taste for the didactic tract, an assertively realist mode of representation. Accordingly, improvement fiction laboured to demonstrate the value of hard work, frugality, and sobriety in a rigorously realistic idiom, representing the contentment that inheres in a plain social order free of excess and embellishment. Improvement discourse defined itself in opposition to the perceived extremism of revolutionary politics and literary writing, seeking (but failing) to exemplify how both political discontent and unhappiness could be offset by a strict practicality and prosaic realism. This book demonstrates how improvement reveals itself to be a literary discourse, enmeshed in the very rhetorical abyss it sought to escape. In addition, the proudly liberal rhetoric of improvement is shown to be at one with the imperial discourse it worked to displace. The book argues that improvement discourse is embedded in the literary and cultural mainstream of modern Ireland and has hindered the development of intellectual and political debate throughout this period. These issues are examined in chapters exploring the career of William Carleton; peasant ‘orality’; educational provision in the post-Union period; the Irish language; secret society violence; Young Ireland nationalism; and the Irish Revival.
Laurent Lellouch, Rainer Sommer, Benjamin Svetitsky, Anastassios Vladikas, and Leticia F. Cugliandolo (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199691609
- eISBN:
- 9780191731792
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199691609.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Theoretical, Computational, and Statistical Physics
The book is based on the lectures delivered at the XCIII Session of the ´Ecole de Physique des Houches, held in August, 2009. The aim of the event was to familiarize the new generation of Ph.D. ...
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The book is based on the lectures delivered at the XCIII Session of the ´Ecole de Physique des Houches, held in August, 2009. The aim of the event was to familiarize the new generation of Ph.D. students and postdoctoral Fellows with the principles and methods of modern lattice field theory, which Is set to resolve fundamental, non-perturbative questions about QCD without uncontrolled approximations. The emphasis of the book is on the theoretical developments that have shaped the field in the last two decades and that have turned lattice gauge theory into a robust approach to the determination of low energy hadronic quantities and of fundamental parameters of the Standard Model. By way of introduction, the courses of the school began by covering lattice theory basics (P. Hernández), lattice renormalization and improvement (P. Weisz and A. Vladikas) and the many faces of chirality (D.B. Kaplan). A later course introduced QCD at finite temperature and density (O. Philipsen). A broad view of lattice computation from the basics to recent developments was offered in the corresponding course (M. Lüscher). The students learned the basics of lattice computation in a hands-on tutorial (S. Schaefer)---a first at Les Houches, Extrapolations to physical quark masses and a framework for the parameterization of the low-energy physics by means of effective coupling constants has been covered in the course on chiral perturbation theory (M. Golterman). A course in heavy-quark effective theories (R. Sommer), an essential tool for performing the relevant lattice calculations, covered HQET from its basics to recent advances. A number of shorter courses rounded out the school and broadened its purview. These included recent applications to flavour physics (L. Lellouch) the nucleon--nucleon interation (S. Aoki) and a course on physics beyond the Standard Model (T. Appelquist and E.T. Neil).Less
The book is based on the lectures delivered at the XCIII Session of the ´Ecole de Physique des Houches, held in August, 2009. The aim of the event was to familiarize the new generation of Ph.D. students and postdoctoral Fellows with the principles and methods of modern lattice field theory, which Is set to resolve fundamental, non-perturbative questions about QCD without uncontrolled approximations. The emphasis of the book is on the theoretical developments that have shaped the field in the last two decades and that have turned lattice gauge theory into a robust approach to the determination of low energy hadronic quantities and of fundamental parameters of the Standard Model. By way of introduction, the courses of the school began by covering lattice theory basics (P. Hernández), lattice renormalization and improvement (P. Weisz and A. Vladikas) and the many faces of chirality (D.B. Kaplan). A later course introduced QCD at finite temperature and density (O. Philipsen). A broad view of lattice computation from the basics to recent developments was offered in the corresponding course (M. Lüscher). The students learned the basics of lattice computation in a hands-on tutorial (S. Schaefer)---a first at Les Houches, Extrapolations to physical quark masses and a framework for the parameterization of the low-energy physics by means of effective coupling constants has been covered in the course on chiral perturbation theory (M. Golterman). A course in heavy-quark effective theories (R. Sommer), an essential tool for performing the relevant lattice calculations, covered HQET from its basics to recent advances. A number of shorter courses rounded out the school and broadened its purview. These included recent applications to flavour physics (L. Lellouch) the nucleon--nucleon interation (S. Aoki) and a course on physics beyond the Standard Model (T. Appelquist and E.T. Neil).
William Bain
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199260263
- eISBN:
- 9780191600975
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199260265.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The idea of trusteeship in international society originates in late 18th century British India. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the emergence of trusteeship as a justification of political ...
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The idea of trusteeship in international society originates in late 18th century British India. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the emergence of trusteeship as a justification of political power in territories administered by the East India Company. The chapter has five sections: From Merchant to Sovereign in British India; The Claim to Rule; The Relations of Ruler and Subject; The Purpose of the Office of Government; and Providing Protection, Directing Improvement.Less
The idea of trusteeship in international society originates in late 18th century British India. The purpose of this chapter is to examine the emergence of trusteeship as a justification of political power in territories administered by the East India Company. The chapter has five sections: From Merchant to Sovereign in British India; The Claim to Rule; The Relations of Ruler and Subject; The Purpose of the Office of Government; and Providing Protection, Directing Improvement.
John Prest
- Published in print:
- 1990
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198201755
- eISBN:
- 9780191675003
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201755.003.0007
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History
This chapter discusses the various methods employed by the localities and centre of the Isle of Wight to deal with problems of town improvement and public health. Four towns — Newport, West Cowes, ...
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This chapter discusses the various methods employed by the localities and centre of the Isle of Wight to deal with problems of town improvement and public health. Four towns — Newport, West Cowes, Ryde, and Ventnor — possessed local Acts. In Whippingham and West Cowes, ratepayers took advantage of the Health of Towns Act of 1848 and petitioned the General Board to establish a Local Board of Health, and West Cowes secured one. The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted by meetings of ratepayers of in East Cowes, Sandown, and Shanklin. Finally, the elected Commissioners at Ventnor and the elected Town Council at Newport adopted the Act hesitantly in stages.Less
This chapter discusses the various methods employed by the localities and centre of the Isle of Wight to deal with problems of town improvement and public health. Four towns — Newport, West Cowes, Ryde, and Ventnor — possessed local Acts. In Whippingham and West Cowes, ratepayers took advantage of the Health of Towns Act of 1848 and petitioned the General Board to establish a Local Board of Health, and West Cowes secured one. The Local Government Act of 1858 was adopted by meetings of ratepayers of in East Cowes, Sandown, and Shanklin. Finally, the elected Commissioners at Ventnor and the elected Town Council at Newport adopted the Act hesitantly in stages.
Derek B. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195309461
- eISBN:
- 9780199871254
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195309461.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Nineteenth-century bourgeois values were abundant, as were their ideological functions (thrift set against extravagance, self-help against dependence, hard work against idleness) but, where art and ...
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Nineteenth-century bourgeois values were abundant, as were their ideological functions (thrift set against extravagance, self-help against dependence, hard work against idleness) but, where art and entertainment were concerned, the key value in asserting moral leadership was respectability. It was something within the grasp of all, unlike the aristocratic notion of “good breeding”. It followed that recreation should be rational, designed to be improving, and not merely idle amusement. The rational and the recreational were linked together in the sight-singing movement. There were, of course, other kinds of musical activities to worry about: for instance, the moral propriety of the waltz, or the innuendo to be found in songs of the café-concert and music hall, or political songs. Yet, not even Gilbert and Sullivan are morally unimpeachable. A respectable moral tone is at its strongest in the drawing-room ballad, but even sterner moral fiber is found in temperance ballads.Less
Nineteenth-century bourgeois values were abundant, as were their ideological functions (thrift set against extravagance, self-help against dependence, hard work against idleness) but, where art and entertainment were concerned, the key value in asserting moral leadership was respectability. It was something within the grasp of all, unlike the aristocratic notion of “good breeding”. It followed that recreation should be rational, designed to be improving, and not merely idle amusement. The rational and the recreational were linked together in the sight-singing movement. There were, of course, other kinds of musical activities to worry about: for instance, the moral propriety of the waltz, or the innuendo to be found in songs of the café-concert and music hall, or political songs. Yet, not even Gilbert and Sullivan are morally unimpeachable. A respectable moral tone is at its strongest in the drawing-room ballad, but even sterner moral fiber is found in temperance ballads.
Edwin L. Battistella
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367126
- eISBN:
- 9780199867356
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367126.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language
In the early 1900s, the language of America was becoming colloquial English — the language of the businessman, manager, and professional. Since college and high school education were far from ...
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In the early 1900s, the language of America was becoming colloquial English — the language of the businessman, manager, and professional. Since college and high school education were far from universal, many people turned to correspondence education — that era's distance learning — to learn the art of speaking and writing. By the 1920s and 1930s, thousands were ordering Sherwin Cody's 100% Self‐correcting Course in the English Language, a patented mail‐order course in English that was taken by over 150,000 people. This book tells the story of Sherwin Cody and his famous English course, situating both the man and the course in early 20th century cultural history. The book recounts how Cody became a businessman — a writer, grammatical entrepreneur, and mass‐marketer whose ads proclaimed “Good Money in Good English” and asked “Is Good English Worth 25 Cents to You?” and “Do You Make These Mistakes in English?” Sherwin Cody's home‐study approach was perhaps the most widely‐advertised English education program in history, and it provides a unique window into popular views of language and culture and their connection to ideas of success. Cody's work was also part of a larger shift of attitudes about self‐improvement and success. Using Cody's course as a reference point, this book examines the self‐improvement ethic reflected in such products as the Harvard Classics, The Book of Etiquette, the Book‐of‐the‐Month Club, the U.S. School of Music, and the Charles Atlas and Dale Carnegie courses to illustrate how culture became popular and how self‐reliance evolved into self‐improvement.Less
In the early 1900s, the language of America was becoming colloquial English — the language of the businessman, manager, and professional. Since college and high school education were far from universal, many people turned to correspondence education — that era's distance learning — to learn the art of speaking and writing. By the 1920s and 1930s, thousands were ordering Sherwin Cody's 100% Self‐correcting Course in the English Language, a patented mail‐order course in English that was taken by over 150,000 people. This book tells the story of Sherwin Cody and his famous English course, situating both the man and the course in early 20th century cultural history. The book recounts how Cody became a businessman — a writer, grammatical entrepreneur, and mass‐marketer whose ads proclaimed “Good Money in Good English” and asked “Is Good English Worth 25 Cents to You?” and “Do You Make These Mistakes in English?” Sherwin Cody's home‐study approach was perhaps the most widely‐advertised English education program in history, and it provides a unique window into popular views of language and culture and their connection to ideas of success. Cody's work was also part of a larger shift of attitudes about self‐improvement and success. Using Cody's course as a reference point, this book examines the self‐improvement ethic reflected in such products as the Harvard Classics, The Book of Etiquette, the Book‐of‐the‐Month Club, the U.S. School of Music, and the Charles Atlas and Dale Carnegie courses to illustrate how culture became popular and how self‐reliance evolved into self‐improvement.
Edwin L. Battistella
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195367126
- eISBN:
- 9780199867356
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195367126.003.0009
- Subject:
- Linguistics, English Language
Chapter 9 looks at the advertising and cultural positioning of mail‐order book culture, focusing on the Harvard Classics and the Book‐of‐the Month Club.
Chapter 9 looks at the advertising and cultural positioning of mail‐order book culture, focusing on the Harvard Classics and the Book‐of‐the Month Club.
R. Ford Denison
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139500
- eISBN:
- 9781400842810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139500.003.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This book proposes new approaches to improving agriculture based on the principles of evolutionary biology and natural selection. It argues that two popular approaches to improving agriculture, ...
More
This book proposes new approaches to improving agriculture based on the principles of evolutionary biology and natural selection. It argues that two popular approaches to improving agriculture, biotechnology and traditional plant breeding, have tended to ignore evolutionary tradeoffs—that is, cases where an evolutionary change that is positive in one context is negative in another—and that both of them would benefit from greater attention to evolution. Whether we focus on genetic improvement of crops or better management of agricultural ecosystems, the book emphasizes the need to identify (and sometimes accept) tradeoffs that constrained past evolution in order to find new solutions to agricultural problems. It also considers some of the challenges facing agriculture, such as resource-use efficiency and food security. This chapter provides an overview of the book.Less
This book proposes new approaches to improving agriculture based on the principles of evolutionary biology and natural selection. It argues that two popular approaches to improving agriculture, biotechnology and traditional plant breeding, have tended to ignore evolutionary tradeoffs—that is, cases where an evolutionary change that is positive in one context is negative in another—and that both of them would benefit from greater attention to evolution. Whether we focus on genetic improvement of crops or better management of agricultural ecosystems, the book emphasizes the need to identify (and sometimes accept) tradeoffs that constrained past evolution in order to find new solutions to agricultural problems. It also considers some of the challenges facing agriculture, such as resource-use efficiency and food security. This chapter provides an overview of the book.
R. Ford Denison
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139500
- eISBN:
- 9781400842810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139500.003.0004
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter introduces the three core principles of Darwinian agriculture. First, natural selection is fast enough, and has been improving plants and animals for long enough, that it has left few ...
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This chapter introduces the three core principles of Darwinian agriculture. First, natural selection is fast enough, and has been improving plants and animals for long enough, that it has left few simple, tradeoff-free opportunities for further improvement. Therefore, implicit or explicit acceptance of tradeoffs has been and will be key to crop genetic improvement, through biotechnology or traditional plant breeding methods. Second, competitive testing of individual adaptations by natural selection is more rigorous than nature's testing of natural ecosystems merely by endurance. Although testing by endurance shows sustainability, there may still be considerable room for improvement. Third, we should hedge our bets against future uncertainty with a greater variety of crops and of research approaches. The chapter argues that this bet-hedging will require allocating some land and other resources to crops and research programs that seem less promising today but may outperform today's winners if conditions change.Less
This chapter introduces the three core principles of Darwinian agriculture. First, natural selection is fast enough, and has been improving plants and animals for long enough, that it has left few simple, tradeoff-free opportunities for further improvement. Therefore, implicit or explicit acceptance of tradeoffs has been and will be key to crop genetic improvement, through biotechnology or traditional plant breeding methods. Second, competitive testing of individual adaptations by natural selection is more rigorous than nature's testing of natural ecosystems merely by endurance. Although testing by endurance shows sustainability, there may still be considerable room for improvement. Third, we should hedge our bets against future uncertainty with a greater variety of crops and of research approaches. The chapter argues that this bet-hedging will require allocating some land and other resources to crops and research programs that seem less promising today but may outperform today's winners if conditions change.
R. Ford Denison
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691139500
- eISBN:
- 9781400842810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691139500.003.0012
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This chapter summarizes the book's main conclusions and cautions against exclusive reliance on any single approach. The book's central thesis is that nature's wisdom is found primarily in ...
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This chapter summarizes the book's main conclusions and cautions against exclusive reliance on any single approach. The book's central thesis is that nature's wisdom is found primarily in competitively tested individual adaptations, in wild species and sometimes still in cultivated ones, rather than in the overall structure of natural ecosystems. It notes how some biotechnology advocates underestimate the perfection of existing individual adaptations and suggests that most near-term opportunities for genetic improvement of crops or livestock will involve tradeoffs that had constrained natural selection in the past. The chapter considers two basic approaches to the problem of varying environments: phenotypic plasticity and bet-hedging. It also discusses bet-hedging in food production, the bet-hedging benefits of organic farming and animal agriculture, and the use of diversity for bet-hedging in agricultural research. Finally, it describes traditional agricultural sciences that have been more receptive to input from evolutionary biology than biotechnology has.Less
This chapter summarizes the book's main conclusions and cautions against exclusive reliance on any single approach. The book's central thesis is that nature's wisdom is found primarily in competitively tested individual adaptations, in wild species and sometimes still in cultivated ones, rather than in the overall structure of natural ecosystems. It notes how some biotechnology advocates underestimate the perfection of existing individual adaptations and suggests that most near-term opportunities for genetic improvement of crops or livestock will involve tradeoffs that had constrained natural selection in the past. The chapter considers two basic approaches to the problem of varying environments: phenotypic plasticity and bet-hedging. It also discusses bet-hedging in food production, the bet-hedging benefits of organic farming and animal agriculture, and the use of diversity for bet-hedging in agricultural research. Finally, it describes traditional agricultural sciences that have been more receptive to input from evolutionary biology than biotechnology has.
Elinor S. Shaffer
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263181
- eISBN:
- 9780191734595
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263181.003.0008
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
By the end of the eighteenth century, European countries sought new functions for biographies. As the appetite and scope for more facts increased, and the need for reshaping them into a matter of ...
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By the end of the eighteenth century, European countries sought new functions for biographies. As the appetite and scope for more facts increased, and the need for reshaping them into a matter of national pride became the imperative, the writing of life found new models. This chapter discusses the formation of new models of Victorian biography. In the early nineteenth century, James Field Stanfield wrote a full-scale book on biography and Karl von Morgenstern coined the term Bidungsroman. Both formulated the terms in which biography and novel were to be in close proximity, both in likeness and difference. According to Stanfield, biography must assist in understanding the human character. It should aim to elucidate the range of human possibilities and to impart improvements in education and conduct. Stanfield argued that biography is a serious history wherein the historian is obliged to tell the truth, although at the same time there is a need for censorship in order to protect certain parts of the audience who should be edified by their reading. In these Victorian biographies, the aim was for the improvement of the individual and of the human race; hence certain latitude for the discussion of negative examples is allowed to impart moral illustrations. However, the dominant theme in Victorian biographies was negative representations of living persons. As the Victorian biographies dwindled, a new ideal form, Bidungsroman, unified the clash of unvarnished fact and edification, and closed the gap between novel and biography.Less
By the end of the eighteenth century, European countries sought new functions for biographies. As the appetite and scope for more facts increased, and the need for reshaping them into a matter of national pride became the imperative, the writing of life found new models. This chapter discusses the formation of new models of Victorian biography. In the early nineteenth century, James Field Stanfield wrote a full-scale book on biography and Karl von Morgenstern coined the term Bidungsroman. Both formulated the terms in which biography and novel were to be in close proximity, both in likeness and difference. According to Stanfield, biography must assist in understanding the human character. It should aim to elucidate the range of human possibilities and to impart improvements in education and conduct. Stanfield argued that biography is a serious history wherein the historian is obliged to tell the truth, although at the same time there is a need for censorship in order to protect certain parts of the audience who should be edified by their reading. In these Victorian biographies, the aim was for the improvement of the individual and of the human race; hence certain latitude for the discussion of negative examples is allowed to impart moral illustrations. However, the dominant theme in Victorian biographies was negative representations of living persons. As the Victorian biographies dwindled, a new ideal form, Bidungsroman, unified the clash of unvarnished fact and edification, and closed the gap between novel and biography.
Denis J. Murphy
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199207145
- eISBN:
- 9780191708893
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199207145.003.0014
- Subject:
- Biology, Plant Sciences and Forestry
The Renaissance provided some stimulus to European agriculture but a far more profound phenomenon after 1550 CE was a ‘neonaissance’ involving the creation and publishing de novo of reliable ...
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The Renaissance provided some stimulus to European agriculture but a far more profound phenomenon after 1550 CE was a ‘neonaissance’ involving the creation and publishing de novo of reliable knowledge based on systematic observation. This was paralleled by the emergence of an entrepreneurial culture, especially in the maritime nations of England and the Netherlands, that encouraged exploration and agrarian innovation for private profit. In England, land enclosure began as a way to establish farming as a profitable business venture rather than as a socially based subsistence activity. Practical scientific breeding began to emerge in the 17th century with a newly united Britain and the independent Netherlands as major centres. This process was assisted by improved literacy and the establishment of agricultural and scientific societies, such as the Royal Society in London.Less
The Renaissance provided some stimulus to European agriculture but a far more profound phenomenon after 1550 CE was a ‘neonaissance’ involving the creation and publishing de novo of reliable knowledge based on systematic observation. This was paralleled by the emergence of an entrepreneurial culture, especially in the maritime nations of England and the Netherlands, that encouraged exploration and agrarian innovation for private profit. In England, land enclosure began as a way to establish farming as a profitable business venture rather than as a socially based subsistence activity. Practical scientific breeding began to emerge in the 17th century with a newly united Britain and the independent Netherlands as major centres. This process was assisted by improved literacy and the establishment of agricultural and scientific societies, such as the Royal Society in London.
David Royse, Michele Staton‐Tindall, Karen Badger, and J. Matthew Webster
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195368789
- eISBN:
- 9780199863860
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:royes/9780195368789.003.0006
- Subject:
- Social Work, Research and Evaluation
This chapter discusses the application of the needs assessment process within an organizational context. Social workers frequently assume administrative responsibilities soon after obtaining their ...
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This chapter discusses the application of the needs assessment process within an organizational context. Social workers frequently assume administrative responsibilities soon after obtaining their Master of Social Work degrees. As social work managers, it is necessary at times to determine what skills or knowledge staff have or need. A staff training needs assessment is a specialized application of needs assessment that requires good familiarity and experience with the organization, its personnel, and programs. A needs assessment planning framework for identifying and discussing the key elements of the staff training needs assessment is presented. Factors to consider when designing the process, strategies for assessing staff training needs, as well as precipitants for conducting a staff needs assessment are examined.Less
This chapter discusses the application of the needs assessment process within an organizational context. Social workers frequently assume administrative responsibilities soon after obtaining their Master of Social Work degrees. As social work managers, it is necessary at times to determine what skills or knowledge staff have or need. A staff training needs assessment is a specialized application of needs assessment that requires good familiarity and experience with the organization, its personnel, and programs. A needs assessment planning framework for identifying and discussing the key elements of the staff training needs assessment is presented. Factors to consider when designing the process, strategies for assessing staff training needs, as well as precipitants for conducting a staff needs assessment are examined.
Gilles Saint-Paul
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691128177
- eISBN:
- 9781400838899
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691128177.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, History of Economic Thought
This chapter presents the post-utilitarian paradigm, which is defined as the attempt to reconstruct social preferences when individuals have behavioral issues. It highlights four possibilities, each ...
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This chapter presents the post-utilitarian paradigm, which is defined as the attempt to reconstruct social preferences when individuals have behavioral issues. It highlights four possibilities, each of which is a potential solution to the problem of defining an objective for public policy in a world without well-defined preferences. First, one may want to reinterpret behavioral biases so as to make them compatible with the standard framework by interpreting them as rational phenomena or as a subjective form of an externality. A second approach considers each individual as made up of multiple selves and then simply aggregates the utility of all incarnations in society. A third possibility is to give up on aggregating utility and consider as legitimate only policies that improve the welfare of all incarnations, that is, Pareto-improving policies. Finally, a fourth possibility is to redefine the social welfare function as the total flow of happiness in society, irrespective of any notion of individual choice.Less
This chapter presents the post-utilitarian paradigm, which is defined as the attempt to reconstruct social preferences when individuals have behavioral issues. It highlights four possibilities, each of which is a potential solution to the problem of defining an objective for public policy in a world without well-defined preferences. First, one may want to reinterpret behavioral biases so as to make them compatible with the standard framework by interpreting them as rational phenomena or as a subjective form of an externality. A second approach considers each individual as made up of multiple selves and then simply aggregates the utility of all incarnations in society. A third possibility is to give up on aggregating utility and consider as legitimate only policies that improve the welfare of all incarnations, that is, Pareto-improving policies. Finally, a fourth possibility is to redefine the social welfare function as the total flow of happiness in society, irrespective of any notion of individual choice.
