Explorations: Studies in Culture and Communication, principally edited by Edmund Carpenter and Marshall McLuhan, was the first postwar journal to engage directly with the new "grammars" of mid-century new media of communication. Launched in Toronto in 1953, at the very moment that television made its national debut in Canada, Explorations presented a mosaic of approaches to contemporary media culture and became the site in which McLuhan and Carpenter first formulated their most striking insights about new media in the electric age. The extraordinary breadth of contributions to Explorations from leading thinkers across the arts, humanities, social and natural sciences makes this journal a founding publication in the now burgeoning field of media studies. Originally funded by a Ford Foundation grant, the eight coedited issues of Explorations ran from 1953 to 1957 and are reprinted here for the first time in sixty years. For a listing of all articles in this series, refer to the Summaries at the end of the series introduction.

This is the first volume of a two volume set which presents the results of the 31st International Symposium on Shock Waves (ISSW31), held in Nagoya, Japan in 2017. It was organized with support from the International Shock Wave Institute (ISWI), Shock Wave Research Society of Japan, School of Engineering of Nagoya University, and other societies, organizations, governments and industry. The ISSW31 focused on the following areas: Blast waves, chemical reacting flows, chemical kinetics, detonation and combustion, ignition, facilities, diagnostics, flow visualization, spectroscopy, numerical methods, shock waves in rarefied flows, shock waves in dense gases, shock waves in liquids, shock waves in solids, impact and compaction, supersonic jet, multiphase flow, plasmas, magnetohyrdrodynamics, propulsion, shock waves in internal flows, pseudo-shock wave and shock train, nozzle flow, re-entry gasdynamics, shock waves in space, Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, shock/boundary layer interaction, shock/vortex interaction, shock wave reflection/interaction, shock wave interaction with dusty media, shock wave interaction with granular media, shock wave interaction with porous media, shock wave interaction with obstacles, supersonic and hypersonic flows, sonic boom, shock wave focusing, safety against shock loading, shock waves for material processing, shock-like phenomena, and shock wave education. These proceedings contain the papers presented at the symposium and serve as a reference for the participants of the ISSW 31 and individuals interested in these fields.

More than ten years have passed since the first edition was published. During that period there have been a substantial number of changes in geotechnical engineering, especially in the applications of foundation engineering. As the world population increases, more land is needed and many soil deposits previously deemed unsuitable for residential housing or other construction projects are now being used. Such areas include problematic soil regions, mining subsidence areas, and sanitary landfills. To overcome the problems associated with these natural or man-made soil deposits, new and improved methods of analysis, design, and implementation are needed in foundation construction. As society develops and living standards rise, tall buildings, transportation facilities, and industrial complexes are increasingly being built. Because of the heavy design loads and the complicated environments, the traditional design concepts, construction materials, methods, and equipment also need improvement. Further, recent energy and material shortages have caused additional burdens on the engineering profession and brought about the need to seek alternative or cost-saving methods for foundation design and construction.

In recent years, a growth in dance and wellbeing scholarship has resulted in new ways of thinking that place the body, movement, and dance in a central place with renewed significance for wellbeing. The Oxford Handbook of Dance and Wellbeing examines dance and related movement practices fromthe perspectives of neuroscience and health, community and education, and psychology and sociology to contribute towards an understanding of wellbeing, offer new insights into existing practices, and create a space where sufficient exchange is enabled. The handbook's research components includequantitative, qualitative, and arts-based research, covering diverse discourses, methodologies, and perspectives that add to the development of a complete picture of the topic. Throughout the handbook's wide-ranging chapters, the objective observations, felt experiences, and artistic explorations ofpractitioners interact with and are printed alongside academic chapters to establish an egalitarian and impactful exchange of ideas.