Investigating the rich architecture of post-Mao China and its broad cultural impact In the years following China's Cultural Revolution, architecture played an active role in the country's reintegration into the global economy and capitalist world. Looking at the ways in which political and social reform transformed Chinese architecture and how, in turn, architecture gave structure to the reforms, Cole Roskam underlines architecture's unique ability to shape space as well as behavior. Roskam traces how foreign influences like postmodernism began to permeate Chinese architectural discourse in the 1970s and 1980s and how figures such as Kevin Lynch, I. M. Pei, and John Portman became key forces in the introduction of Western educational ideologies and new modes of production. Offering important insights into architecture's relationship to the politics, economics, and diplomacy of post-Mao China, this unprecedented interdisciplinary study examines architecture's multivalent status as an art, science, and physical manifestation of cultural identity.
Can the economics of Eastern Europe make the dramatic transition from centrally-planned to market-led economics? This book tries to understand the intellectual background behind this change and the problems of managing it.
As part of the wave of liberalisation sweeping most parts of the world, power sectors around the globe are coming under intense scrutiny, with some being restructured. This book presents six-country-case studies to examine the process and implementation experiences of power sector reform in Subsaharan Africa.
This 5-volume set (CCIS 214-CCIS 218) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Science, Environment, Ecoinformatics, and Education, CSEE 2011, held in Wuhan, China, in July 2011. The 525 revised full papers presented in the five volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on information security, intelligent information, neural networks, digital library, algorithms, automation, artificial intelligence, bioinformatics, computer networks, computational system, computer vision, computer modelling and simulation, control, databases, data mining, e-learning, e-commerce, e-business, image processing, information systems, knowledge management and knowledge discovering, mulitimedia and its apllication, management and information system, moblie computing, natural computing and computational intelligence, open and innovative education, pattern recognition, parallel and computing, robotics, wireless network, web application, other topics connecting with computer, environment and ecoinformatics, modeling and simulation, environment restoration, environment and energy, information and its influence on environment, computer and ecoinformatics, biotechnology and biofuel, as well as biosensors and bioreactor.
"Land Law Reform examines the wide-spread efforts to reform land law in developing countries and countries in transition, drawing in particular upon the experience of the World Bank and the Rural Development Institute. The book considers the role of land law reform in the development process and analyzes how the World Bank has sought to support these legal changes in client countries. It reviews the experience with reform of laws affecting land access and rights in achieving gender equity, identifies opportunities for reinforcing environmentally sustainable development through land law reform, and examines from both growth and poverty alleviation perspectives the effectiveness of reforms to formalize property rights and liberalize land markets. The concluding chapter recommends some basic priorities for land law reforms. John W. Bruce is a senior counsel in the Legal Vice-Presidency of the World Bank, and a former director of the Land Tenure Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has published extensively on land law and land policy in developing countries. Renee Giovarelli, David Bledsoe, Leonard Rolfes, and Robert Mitchell are staff attorneys with the Rural Development Institute of Seattle, Washington, a nonprofit organization that promotes and advises on land-related policy and legal reform in developing and transition countries. All have done fieldwork and advised extensively on land law reform and have published widely on this topic."
Drastic reform measures are being implemented in growing numbers of urban communities as the public’s patience has finally run out with perpetually nonperforming public schools. This authoritative and eye-opening volume examines governance changes in six cities during the 1990s, where either mayoral control of schools has occurred or where noneducators have been appointed to lead school districts. Featuring up-close, in-depth case studies of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Boston, San Diego, and Seattle, this book explores the reasons why these cities chose to alter their traditional school governance structures and analyzes what happened when the reforms were implemented and whether or not teachers and students performed better because of them. “Provides useful perspectives on the complexities of educational change that is relevant to all kinds of school systems . . . of interest to elected officials, other policymakers, business leaders, and educators.” —Richard W. Riley, Former U.S. Secretary of Education “A ‘must-read’ for policymakers intent on improving the academic performance of children in America’s urban centers . . . offers important insight and an excellent overview of the reforms being tested in the six urban centers.” —Ted Sanders, President, Education Commission of the States “Every urban political official, indeed, every governor, business leader, and state legislator should study the urban school reforms described in this book” —James B. Hunt, Jr., Former Governor of North Carolina and Chairman, James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy “A ‘must-read’ for educators. This book clearly defines what it takes to make significant changes in urban districts” —Floretta McKenzie, Former Superintendent, District of Columbia Public Schools
This work focuses on the efforts toward reforming women's dress that took place in Europe and America in the latter half of the 18th century and the first decade of the 20th century, and the types of garments adopted by women to overcome the challenges posed by fashionable dress. It considers the many advocates for reform and examines their motives, their arguments for change, and how they promoted improvements in women's fashion. Though there was no single overarching dress reform movement, it reveals similarities among the arguments posed by diverse groups of reformers, including especially the equation of reform with an ideal image of improved health. Drawing on a variety of primary and secondary sources in the USA and Europe - including the popular press, advice books for women, allopathic and alternative medical literature, and books on aesthetics, art, health, and physical education - the text makes a significant contribution to costume studies, social history, and women's studies.
Power sector reforms across Latin America in the 1990s based on privatization, liberalization and market forces were largely unavoidable. This book argues that while there is no turning back from this process, many reforms may not prove sustainable without further efforts to build a stronger institutional platform to support them. The analytical framework presented in Keeping the Lights On: Power Sector Reform in Latin America establishes a baseline for the sustainability of reforms and identifies additional areas for exploration, analysis and inquiry. This analysis is critical to setting the stage for the next generation of reforms -- or mid-course corrections -- that will be necessary to enhance the sustainability of changes in progress. The book includes case studies of power sector reforms in Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as a timely section on the security of supply.
The linkage between inflation and economic growth has been the subject of considerable interest and debate. The 18 papers included in this volume comprise the proceedings of a conference on inflation and growth in China that brought together academics, officials and IMF staff members. The papers edited by Manuel Guitián and Robert Mundell, examine issues in international exeperiences with inflation and growth, long-run and short-run structural problems related tgo growth and inflation in China, and the framework in which monetary, fiscal, and exchange rate policies are formulated in China.
This book describes the recent activities of the Foreign Investment Advisory Service (a joint facility of the IFC and the World Bank) to help governments in developing and transition economies to identify and remove administrative barriers to investment. Lessons learned include the critical need for political will to implement reforms, leadership from center of government, and capacity to ensure sound implementation of legislative and regulatory reform over an extended period of time, including regular monitoring and evaluation.
