The Periodic Table: Nature’s Building Blocks: An Introduction to the Naturally Occurring Elements, Their Origins and Their Uses addresses how minerals and their elements are used, where the elements come from in nature, and their applications in modern society. The book is structured in a logical way using the periodic table as its outline. It begins with an introduction of the history of the periodic table and a short introduction to mineralogy. Element sections contain their history, how they were discovered, and a description of the minerals that contain the element. Sections conclude with our current use of each element. Abundant color photos of some of the most characteristic minerals containing the element accompany the discussion. Ideal for students and researchers working in inorganic chemistry, minerology and geology, this book provides the foundational knowledge needed for successful study and work in this exciting area. Describes the link between geology, minerals and chemistry to show how chemistry relies on elements from nature Emphasizes the connection between geology, mineralogy and daily life, showing how minerals contribute to the things we use and in our modern economy Contains abundant color photos of each mineral that bring the periodic table to life

To meet the demands of today's highly competitive market, analog electronics designers must develop their IC designs in a minimum of time. The difference between first- and second-time right seriously affects a company's share of the market. Analog designers are therefore in need for structured design methods together with the theory and tools to support them, especially when pushing the performance limits in high-performance designs. Systematic Modeling and Analysis of Telecom Frontends and Their Building Blocks aims to help designers in speeding up telecommunication frontend design by offering an in-depth understanding of the frontend's behavior together with methods and algorithms that support designers in bringing this understanding to practice. The book treats topics such as time-varying phase-locked loop stability, noise in mixing circuits, oscillator injection locking, oscillator phase noise behavior, harmonic oscillator dynamics and many more. In doing so, it always starts from a theoretical foundation that is both rigorous and general. Phase-locked loop and mixer analysis, for example, are grounded upon a general framework for time-varying small-signal analysis. Likewise, analysis of harmonic oscillator transient behavior and oscillator phase noise analysis are treated as particular applications of a general framework for oscillator perturbation analysis. In order to make the book as easy to read as possible, all theory is always accompanied by numerous examples and easy-to-catch intuitive explanations. As such, the book is suited for both computer-aided design engineers looking for general theories and methods, either as background material or for practical implementation in tools, as well as for practicing circuit designers looking for help and insight in dealing with a particular application or a particular high-performance design problem.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on Oxford Academic and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. This is a broad and authoritative study of one of the central topics in the study of the mind: the origins of concepts. The authors survey the debate between rationalists and empiricists which stretches back to the very beginnings of philosophy, and has been at the centre of some of the most exciting research in cognitive science. Many have charged that the debate is riddled with confusion or that rationalist approaches, in particular, are deeply problematic. The Building Blocks of Thought offers a comprehensive rethinking of the foundations of this debate, showing that these negative appraisals are based on misunderstandings. Stephen Laurence and Eric Margolis argue that the debate should be understood to concern the nature of the unlearned psychological traits that provide the foundation for learning all concepts. They go on to argue for a version of concept nativism according to which there is a rationalist account of the origins of many concepts across many different conceptual domains. This rationalist view is developed around seven distinct arguments, drawing on a wealth of data across the cognitive sciences, which are shown to come together to form a unified large-scale argument to the best explanation for a rationalist account of the origins of concepts. Rounding out the case for concept nativism, the book contrasts this view with the most important and influential empiricist views, as well as alternative rationalist views, including Fodor's infamous radical concept nativism and his claim that concept learning is impossible. The Building Blocks of Thought argues for the enormous importance of learning and culture, showing how a thoroughly rationalist approach facilitates and enhances cultural learning and provides the foundations for the best overall account of the origins of concepts.

This book explains the concepts, history, and implementation of IT infrastructures. Although many of books can be found on each individual infrastructure building block, this is the first book to describe all of them: datacenters, servers, networks, storage, operating systems, and end user devices. The building blocks described in this book provide functionality, but they also provide the non-functional attributes performance, availability, and security. These attributes are explained on a conceptual level in separate chapters, and specific in the chapters about each individual building block. Whether you need an introduction to infrastructure technologies, a refresher course, or a study guide for a computer science class, you will find that the presented building blocks and concepts provide a solid foundation for understanding the complexity of today's IT infrastructures. This book can be used as part of IT architecture courses based on the IS 2010.4 curriculum.

Spiritual Building Blocks takes the greatest commandment and uses it as the cornerstone in building a spiritual foundation to help notice Gods presence in our everyday lives. Part 1 begins by unpacking the greatest commandment into six essential parts: God, the self, our neighbor, our head, our heart, and our hands. The opening chapters answer common questions about spirituality and its relationship with religion. Part 2 presents a variety of spiritual practices and exercises using our head, heart, and hands as building blocks to nurture our spiritual lives as we love God, the self, and our neighbors. Some of these practices may be new while others may be familiar but reframed in a new way. Personal stories by everyday people illustrate many of these exercises. Spiritual Building Blocks was written for individuals or small groups interested in deepening their spiritual lives.

"If games were lands to be explored, they would be far too large for one explorer to master. Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design is a much-needed atlas for the explorer—giving a framework of what to look for in a game, and a focus for game play that will be useful for understanding the whole. The game scholar will find this invaluable." —Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering "People talk about the art of game design or the craft of game design. Engelstein and Shalev hone in on the science of game design with a razor-sharp scalpel. This book will be within arm’s reach as I work on games and I expect it to be consulted often." —Rob Daviau, creator of Risk: Legacy and Chief Restoration Officer of Restoration Games "The most comprehensive and well-researched encyclopedia of game mechanisms that I’ve seen to date." —Matt Leacock, creator of Pandemic Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms, Second Edition compiles hundreds of game mechanisms, organized by category. The book can be read cover-to-cover and used as a reference to solve a specific design problem or for inspiration and research on new designs. This second edition collects even more mechanisms, expands on and updates existing entries, and includes color images. Building Blocks is a great starting point for new designers, a handy guidebook for the experienced, and an ideal classroom reference. Each Game Mechanisms Entry Contains: The definition of the mechanism An explanatory diagram of the mechanism Discussion of how the mechanism is used in successful games Considerations for implementing the mechanism in new designs Geoffrey Engelstein is a game designer and educator. His designs include the Space Cadets series, The Dragon & Flagon, The Expanse, and Super Skill Pinball. He has published several books on game design, including GameTek: The Math and Science of Gaming, Achievement Relocked, and Game Production. He is on the faculty of the NYU Game Center as an adjunct professor for Board Game Design and has been invited to speak about game design at PAX, GenCon, Metatopia, and the Game Developers Conference. Isaac Shalev is a game designer, author, and educational games consultant. He has designed tabletop titles including Seikatsu, Waddle, and Show & Tile. He runs Sage70, Inc., a data strategy and games-based learning consultancy that serves nonprofit organizations. He lives in Cary, North Carolina with his wife, three children, and a dog.

This practical book provides school staff with lots of LEGO activities to use with children of all ages (5-16) to improve communication skills. Whether it is whole class doing group building activities to encourage collaborative working or paired work to target specific communication difficulties, this book is packed full of engaging, fun activities to suit all ages and abilities. LEGO never fails to entertain. Designed to look like play, each activity is structured to target the development of particular skills needed for successful learners, including many that focus on basic literacy and numeracy vocabulary.

Improvements in Bio-Based Building Blocks Production Through Process Intensification and Sustainability Concepts discusses new information on the production and cost of bio-based building blocks. From a technical point-of-view, almost all industrial materials made from fossil resources can be substituted using bio-based counterparts. However, the cost of bio-based production in many cases exceeds the cost of petrochemical production. In addition, new products must be proven to perform at least as good as their petrochemical equivalents, have a lower environmental impact, meet consumer demand for environmentally-friendly products, factor in population growth, and account for limited supplies of non-renewables. This book outlines the application of process intensification techniques which allow for the generation of clean, efficient and economical processes for bio-based chemical blocks production. - Includes synthesis and process design strategies for intensified processes - Describes multi-objective optimization applied to the production of bio-based building blocks - Presents the controllability of processes where the production of bio-based building blocks is involved - Provides examples using aspen and MATLAB - Introduces several sustainable indexes to evaluate production processes - Presents process intensification techniques to improve performance in productive processes

The Ultimate Sales Framework for Achieving Business Success Sales enablement is no longer the new kid on the block. Having grown rapidly in recent years, it’s now considered a best practice at many sales organizations. But there’s little alignment across the sales profession on what sales enablement is or how to achieve it, nor is there a formalized strategy on what a sales enablement practice is or requires. In his new book The Building Blocks of Sales Enablement, sales enablement expert Mike Kunkle addresses these issues and presents a proven approach that both supports sales talent and achieves true business results. Kunkle lays out an easy-to-follow structure through the concept of building blocks, interconnected by systems thinking and supported by a consistent cadence of training, coaching, and content. Comprehensive and versatile, this book is for senior sales leaders and sales enablement leaders who are starting or evolving a sales enablement function as well as for struggling sales practitioners to use as a diagnostic tool and road map. Chapters detail how to use each building block, with reflective questions and guidance for creating your own analysis and tools. The book also includes a chapter on sales onboarding, separate chapters on how to integrate communication and support services, and recommended resources. Impactful sales enablement projects are basically change management initiatives in disguise. Use the building blocks framework to navigate challenges, measure successes, and determine a path forward to improving business outcomes.