Peer research is increasingly used in international academic, policy and practice environments. It engages members of a group or social network as trusted members of a research team working in communities and settings they are familiar with.Critics, however, point to methodological concerns with peer research. These include the extent to which peer researchers genuinely represent the populations under study; data confidentiality; the emotional burden of enquiring into sensitive iss...

Banking on Growth Models contends that China's rapid economic rise from the late 1970s to today has been built on and shaped by a highly politicized and inefficient bank-centric financial system. Stephen Bell and Hui Feng argue that if the Chinese growth model drives how key economic sectors interact, no amount of incremental reform can have much impact on the financial system—meaningful reform can stem only from a revised growth model.For...

New approaches are needed to monitor and evaluate health and social development. Existing strategies tend to require expensive, time-consuming analytical procedures. The growing emphasis on results-based programming has resulted in evaluation being conducted in order to demonstrate accountability and success, rather than how change takes place, what works and why. The tendency to monitor and evaluate using log frames and their variants closes policy makers’ and practitioners’ eyes to the s...

French naturalist and medical doctor Aimé Bonpland (1773–1858) was one of the most important scientific explorers of South America in the early nineteenth century. From 1799 to 1804, he worked alongside Alexander von Humboldt as the latter carried out his celebrated research in northern South America, but he later returned to conduct his own research farther south. A Life in Shadow accounts for the entire span of Bonpland's remarkable and diverse career in South America—in Argenti...

Genome Duplication provides a comprehensive and readable overview of the underlying principles that govern genome duplication in all forms of life, from the simplest cell to the most complex multicellular organism.Using examples from the three domains of life - bacteria, archaea, and eukarya - Genome Duplication shows how all living organisms store their genome as DNA and how they all use the same evolutionary-conserved mechanism to duplicate it: semi-conservative...

This account of the financial crisis of 2008–2009 compares banking systems in the United States and the United Kingdom to those of Canada and Australia and explains why the system imploded in the former but not the latter. Central to this analysis are differences in bankers’ beliefs and incentives in different banking markets.A boom mentality and fear of being left behind by competitors drove many U.S. and British bank executives to take extraordinary risks in creating new financia...

The Hunter Region, between the Hawkesbury and Manning rivers in eastern New South Wales, hosts a rich diversity of vegetation, with many species found nowhere else. Spanning an area from the coast to the tablelands and slopes, its rainforests, wet and dry sclerophyll forests, woodlands, heathlands, grasslands and swamps are known for their beauty and ecological significance. Flora of the Hunter Region describes 54 endemic trees and large shrubs, combining art and science in a manner rarely...

No subject causes more irritation, frustration, and confusion than issues concerning government. God has timeless truths in the Bible for resolving the conflict between world politics and the righteousness of Gods kingdom. Misunderstanding these truths results in the actions of well-meaning Christians being viewed by the world as offensive, unloving, and hypocritical. The result causes major doubts in the credibility of the Church and limits belief in the loving message of the cross.

With $4.5 trillion in total assets, the People’s Bank of China now surpasses the U.S. Federal Reserve as the world’s biggest central bank. The Rise of the People’s Bank of China investigates how this increasingly authoritative institution grew from a Leninist party-state that once jealously guarded control of banking and macroeconomic policy. Relying on interviews with key players, this book is the first comprehensive and up-to-date account of the evolution of the central banking ...

This account of the financial crisis of 2008–2009 compares banking systems in the United States and the United Kingdom to those of Canada and Australia and explains why the system imploded in the former but not the latter. Central to this analysis are differences in bankers’ beliefs and incentives in different banking markets.A boom mentality and fear of being left behind by competitors drove many U.S. and British bank executives to take extraordinary risks in creating new financia...

This book describes and analyses necessities for a more resource-efficient world. It discusses solutions for a more sustainable use of natural resources, addressing decision-makers and experts from the fields of policy development, industry, academia, civil society, and the media. The book presents strategies, concrete ways and examples of achieving more sustainable resource use in practice.Following on from two previous titles published on Factor X by the Umweltbundesamt (German E...

While desired, the idea of spiritual intimacy is scary and even threatening to some couples. They've tried those other couples devotional books, but sharing Bible study and prayer time together just doesn't come naturally. And when these sharing times seem awkward and manipulated, many couples put the book back on the shelf and simply go on as they were before. If this sounds all too familiar, Made to Be Loved is the sip of cool water for your thirsty marriage. Steve and Valerie B...