Francis Books

Teddlie and Reynolds have managed to put together one of the most comprehensive anthologies of current effectiveness research I have ever seen. Focusing on current issues and the implications of multi-layer modeling, it is a must read for policy makers, educators and researchers alike.

The book "the international handbook of school effectiveness" is written by Charles Teddlie and David Reynolds who are two leading names in the field of quality international education both being professors of education and educational research. The book is a result of extensive research on the most emerging topic and world is going through the stage when effectiveness of schools is the focus of current research in many countries. As schools affect directly to the development of children at a very early stage, the schools are to follow the patterns made available to them through research. This book is all out to influence the lead teams of school improvement and effectiveness. Highly practical and applicable in academic and research institutions offering, teachers training programs affecting teachers and school heads.A MUST READ for teacher educators, teachers, educational leaders and school improvement teams.

This book is quite useful for the student of international studies. Very clear and informative.

This book provides an excellent introduction to International Relations through an examination of concise essays concerning such areas as Terrorism, the Cold War, Human Rights and Globalisation among others. For a better understanding of the complexities of world events and to be well informed about historical concepts, this book is an excellent read. The subjects are placed in the broad sweep of history, pointing to relationships that will encourage discursive reading. International Relations - The Key Concepts, will remain the pre-eminent reference work, that in my view will be unsurpassed.

Very much liked the author's writing style. Easy to follow, and yet still goes into fairly deep technical detail. Best Human Factors/Ergonomics textbook I've read.

I want to receive information about ergonomic-chair. Please, can you give me it?

The review appears in Journal of Optics, Vol. 27, No. 1, 1998 Reviewed by Mina Ray

The book is dedicated to the undergraduates and undoubtedly, it seems to be an ideal book for an electrical engineering student to get familiar with the basic concepts of modern optical engineering. The book provides an excellent coverage of basic phenomena encountered in optics together with technical advances in the field of telecommunication, signal processing, fiber optics, optical detectors and spatial light modulators.

There are 12 chapters and each chapter has its own list of references as well as problems related to the topics concerned. Moreover, almost every chapter includes a few worked-out examples in tune with the theoretical principles explained so as to guide the reader to solve the problems supplied at the end of the chapter.

... (Review chapter by chapter is omitted here) ...

As a whole, despite some minor proof reading errors, this book is introductory as well as informative with a well-balanced comprehensive coverage. The authors have presented the chapters in a very useful and simple manner well suited for undergraduate course. The cover photograph is very well designed and it reflecs the "optical sense" in quite an impressive manner. The book, in this revised version, is a welcome and useful addition to the optics and optoelectronics literature.

The review appears in Journal of Optics, Vol. 27, No. 1, 1998 Reviewed by Mina Ray

The book is dedicated to the undergraduates and undoubtedly, it seems to be an ideal book for an electrical engineering student to get familiar with the basic concepts of modern optical engineering. The book provides an excellent coverage of basic phenomena encountered in optics together with technical advances in the field of telecommunication, signal processing, fiber optics, optical detectors and spatial light modulators.

There are 12 chapters and each chapter has its own list of references as well as problems related to the topics concerned.Moreover, almost every chapter includes a few worked-out examples in tune with the theoretical principles explained so as to guide the reader to solve the problems supplied at the end of the chapter.

... (Review chapter by chapter is omitted here) ...

As a whole, despite some minor proof reading errors, this book is introductory as well as informative with a well-balanced comprehensive coverage. The authors have presented the chapters in a very useful and simple manner well suited for undergraduate course. The cover photograph is very well designed and it reflecs the "optical sense" in quite an impressive manner. The book, in this revised version, is a welcome and useful addition to the optics and optoelectronics literature.

Wish I had read this one 30 years ago. A practical guide to living life to its fullest. It's fascinating to note that 17th century distractions were not as technical, but nevertheless as real and as abundant a hindrance to the devout life. St. Francis tells us how to put into practice those virtues that we already know, but think we are too busy to use 24/7.

(Based on the original French version shown in the following link)

http://www.amazon.fr/Introduction-d%C3%A9vote-Sales-saint-Fran%C3%A7ois/dp/2020236109/ref=sr_1_1/403-9387809-3938065?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188580998&sr=8-1

Saint François de Sales originally wrote this text for one person alone, and subsequently adapted it for the many, addressing the reader as "Philothée", in French, probably translated as Philothea in English, I wouldn't know, meaning "lover of God". This book is a sort of guide to devotion, in case the title wasn't self-explanatory enough.

This work was reprinted over 40 times during the life of its author and was a success for both Catholics and Protestants. Everyone liked it and as a Protestant it's equally useful, you just have to remove the parts about the Sacraments and that's just as good for Protestant usage.

I'd say this book isn't only a good read for Christians, but for anyone interested in wisdom and the likes. I personally didn't agree with everything there, as I am prone not to do with Catholic beliefs, but on the whole it's a very good read. And while I can't say anything of the English translation presented here, I can assure you that the original French is splendidly written and very witty; reminiscent of Montaigne, who wrote at the same period of time (late 16th to early 17th).

A very intelligent, pragmatic, and witty guide to religious behaviour.

This may be the greatest Catholic spiritual guide for lay people ever written. First published in 1609, its message is still entirely fresh and apropos today, and this popular abridgement which only deletes some extra language and multiple examples, renders it more powerful still. This great Doctor of the Church walks the beginner through several important decisions which lead to choosing the devout life. He then explains all the purifications we must go through and the rejection of mortal and venial sin. Finally he shows us how we are to fulfill our religious obligations and how we are to conduct ourselves in the world as devout Catholics. Covers prayer, how to meditate, Confession, frequent Communion, recreation, dancing, dress, poverty (both actual and spiritual), chastity, obedience, humility, slander, rash judgement, good and evil friendships, etc. Includes special instructions for husbands and wives on marriage. Great Catholic wisdom and one of the Church's best-loved spiritual classics!

This book by St Francis De Sales is very readable and inspiring for anyone wanting to be a lover of God. Written in the 1600's it is as relevant today as then. Aimed not at Religious or Priests but at Lay men and women it explains how to build your faith and prayer life. The abridgement enables today's reader to clearly follow the teachings of this French Bishop. Excellent reading.

Steganography is the hidding of messages in plain sight, it hides a message within another message that looks like a normal message. This is different from Cryptography in which the secret message is converted to what looks like a meaningless jumble of characters.

Example: You mail a letter. It currently takes 37 cents in postage. Instead of using a 37 cent stamp you use stamps of the following values: 9 cents, 2 cents, 3 cents, 1 cent, 9 cents, 4 cents, 9 cents. That's the right amount of postage so the letter goes through. But the letter is meaningless. The message you sent is 9-2-3-1-9-4-9. Perhaps this means September 23, 1949, or perhaps it's comething else that the receiver understands. Or perhaps the message is in the green ink that you used to address the envelope.

When you get to computers you can be far, far more secretive. A movie or audio file can be millions of bytes long. Changing a few bits here or there would be completely undetectable but could incorporate a huge message.

This book is intended to be a guide to law enforcemtn investigators and cyber-forensics. It describes the techniques and the literally dozens of programs that exist (usually free on the web) for hiding messages and several programs for detecting these messages. This is an area that has received little attention in the past and this book does a very good job of bringing this field out into the open.

As a security focused manager the more I learn about steganography, the art of hiding messages, the more concerned I become about its security implications. These techniques allow an individual to use secrecy in communications.

I am sure the book aids the investigator, but it helps a manager understand how secrecy has been used in the past and the present as well. A tremendous amount of research must have gone into the book to be so comprehensive. I was already familiar with S-tools and a few other picture file related techniques, but had never considered slight alterations of the space between letters and had never heard of Civil war quilts. The beginning of the book is packed with technique after technique.

The author, Greg Kipper is to be congratulated for such clear writing especially considering how complex the subject gets.

The publisher, CRC Press, went the extra mile to create a very detailed table of contents so the reader can find what they need fast.

The bottom line, this book is an excellent coverage of the subject and yet they packed it into about 200 pages so it is 100% fluff free.

One concern and one wish. The coverage of tools is a bit spotty, the links to stego tools seem to change rapidly and some of the tools do not even have a link. If you can't find a tool you might try: http://www.stegoarchive.com/ that is what I use. I hope this goes to second edition and if so, my wish is that the author will beef up the detection chapter. Greg does such a great job of showing how stego can and has been used in the real world, I would love more information about how I can protect myself and apply detective controls in my organization's network.

AN ASTONISHING "READ".IF YOU BELIEVE IN GOD ORNOT YOU WILL FACE QUESTIONSYOU NEVER EVEN DREAMED YOUWOULD PONDER...

I really enjoyed this little book, it was packed full
of interesting facts that are found in the Word of God!
Let me wet your appetite a little bit, do you think a library
is mentioned in the Bible, if so why was it mentioned and where is the reference to it? Here is another one, do you know
that Jesus sang and when He did? Or how about this one, who
dedicated horses to the sun? Interested?
My family and I sat around for hours discussing the words
in this book, looking up the Scriptures and just having a
really great time with all the information we learned.
If you can get a hold of this read I feel you will enjoy it!
Keep it handy, it makes a great conversational opportunity!

Robinson's book gives a fascinating perspective into the political dynamics behind both Saudi Arabia and OPEC. For anyone interested in the human aspects to energy policy, a must read.

shows thorough research and an in depth understanding of his subject, as well as of the economics of the world of oil at the time, which is clearly explained at different points

Is terrorism a possible threat to society? Of course. Right now, we're seeing some carefully organized terrorism from Muslim fanatics. Raphael Israeli explains the nature of it and has some recommendations.

I find this topic interesting, given that I feel that there is plenty at stake. The United States and Europe are Western democracies that are relatively free and rich. We have plenty of strength as well as plenty we can lose. The Arabs have a huge amount of land and resources, so they have plenty to lose as well. By the way, Israel is small and has rather little land or resources, so it has less at stake, but it is threatened as well.

The author chooses the term "Islamikaze" rather than "suicide bomber." He explains that suicidal people plan to take their own lives and carry out their own plans to do that. On the contrary, Islamikazes follow the plans of others to kill a perceived enemy. In any case, I see their actions as manifestly counterproductive and therefore I think they merit serious study.

Israeli starts by sampling Muslim reactions to the horrors of 9/11/2001. These reactions are clearly a cause for concern. The author is suspicious of the long-term loyalty of Muslim immigrants to Western nations. While I am not quite so concerned about loyalty of Muslims in general, I do think we need to separate the sheep from the goats here. I take sedition seriously. And the author does demonstrate that there is a serious cultural intent on the part of many Muslims not to cooperate with the West but to wreck it.

Reading this book, I could see from the wild misrepresentations of the West and of Zionism that the Enemy of Islamist fantasies is very different than real-life Westerners and Zionists. That is not a good sign. Now, what about our views of the terrorists? Do they really seek to impose an arbitrary tyranny on everyone? Israeli shows that for the most part, that's exactly their plan.

Israeli shows that just as the Germans used extravagant libels, incitement, and aggression against the Jews to start their attacks on their neighbors, Muslim fanatics are using libels, incitement, and aggression against Jews to start similar attacks on the West. I can see that support for such libels and incitement have become a litmus test of sorts for some terrorist sympathizers. But Israeli turns that litmus test around, quite properly in my opinion. He shows that once we refuse to support the antizionist libels and taunts, we've taken a decisive step towards opposing the Islamikazes.

Well, what is to be done about the Islamikaze attacks on the West? The author recommends truth and reciprocity. His specific recommendations include:

* Forming an alliance of Western and Democratic States (AWADS)
* Having AWADS adopt an iron-clad definition of terror
* Importing books and culture to the West from Muslim nations only to the extent that these nations allow free flow of similar Western assets into their lands
* Forbidding by law the dissemination of hate and acting upon that law
* Accepting support from Saudi Arabia in building mosques in the West only if there is parallel permission from Saudi Arabia to build churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia without incitement or hatred there
* Stopping transfer of military supplies from AWADS nations to non-AWADS nations
* Basing economic aid to non-AWADS states on human rights in those states
* Controlling immigration of anti-Western immigrants to non-AWADS states

Do these ideas sound politically incorrect or extreme? Well, so does a big war! I think these are ideas we need to consider now, when we have a chance to reflect on them somewhat dispassionately.

In FrontPageMag, Andrew Bostom's review of this book explains the weird title:
"At the end of June 1996, an article which had originally appeared in the London Arabic publication Al-Watan al-Arabi, was translated into English and cited by Ha'aretz, describing a slogan proudly displayed at the main entrance to a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan, which became known as the 'Kamikaze Barracks'. The proclamation was: 'Jihad-Istishhad-Paradise-Islamic Kamikaze-Human Bombs', meaning, 'The Holy War of Islam-Death in Martyrdom-The Promised Hereafter-By Means of Muslim Kamikaze-who are Human Bombs'. This banner captures the essential elements embodied by Raphael Israeli's designation, 'Islamikaze'. . . .

To understand why it's important to read this book you just have to know what jihad is. Here is the definition by Robert Spencer, author of Onward Muslim Soldiers:
Jihad is a central duty of every Muslim. Modern Muslim theologians have spoken of many things as jihads: defending the faith from critics, supporting its growth and defense financially, even migrating to non-Muslim lands for the purpose of spreading Islam. But violent jihad is a constant of Islamic history. Many passages of the Qur'an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad are used by radical Muslims today to justify their actions and gain new recruits. No major Muslim group has ever repudiated the doctrines of armed jihad. The theology of jihad, which denies unbelievers equality of human rights and dignity, is available today for anyone with the will and means to bring it to life.
Bostom goes on to say:
"Islamikaze is an uncompromising, and meticulously documented work. The author first traces the development and largely unchallenged proliferation of Islamikaze to two unique Islamic institutions - jihad war, and its corollary institution dhimmitude. He summarizes elegantly the salient features of Bat Ye'or's conception of dhimmitude as, ' ...not only a subservient status...in political, social, economic, and judicial terms, conferred on Jews and Christians...from which they could not disengage unless they converted to Islam, but it also became a state of mind..which dictated caution, surreptitious maneuvering in order to survive and a self-humiliating sycophancy towards the Muslim ruler in the hope of gaining his favor...[amounting] in the final analysis, after many centuries of oppression and contempt by the rule of Islam, to self-diminution of the dhimmis...self-flagellation...and a total distortion of their self-image and the image of their oppressors. So much so that many Christians and Jews, years after being liberated from dhimmitude continued to think and act as dhimmis, namely to hold themselves grateful to their Muslim masters who beat, humiliated and mistreated them. What is more , the spirit of dhimmitude has been adopted, or taken over, by many Western societies today which for reasons hard to understand or explain, pretend not to hear or comprehend Muslim threats, smile and evince `understanding' in the face of those threats, and seem to be marching foolishly towards spiritual and cultural capitulation and enslavement.'"

"Israeli also maintains that a widespread societal dhimmitude renders the West susceptible to wanton acts of terror by Muslim perpetrators, sanctioned by jihad - an institution Islamic societies have never abrogated. And, he notes, it '...remains only a question of practicability whether [jihad] is enforced or postponed to better days.'

"The specific ideology and basic goals of Islamikaze can be gleaned from various Islamist writings presented by the author, including those of the prominent Muslim Brotherhood cleric (and Al-Jazeera 'television personality') Yusuf Qaradawi, and Umar al-Bakri, leader of the Islamic Movement in Britain. In various fatwas, Qaradawi sanctions 'martyrdom operations', murderous Islamikaze attacks, particularly against Israelis, all of whom are considered legitimate targets. Despite the Qur'anic prohibition against 'suicide', Qaradawi argues cogently, that Islamikaze attacks, as acts of 'martyrdom', are sanctioned, and in fact, sacred. . . . "

We need to be aware of where these fundamentalist radicals are coming from and what their intentions are because they seek to affect all our lives in some very deep ways. The Muslim invasions of Europe which were only halted at Vienna in 1643 were a jihad and this "War on Terror" is really a defense against jihad.

Israeli also gives some specific recommendations as to how western civilization should go about defending itself without riding roughshod over other civilizations.