Critical Shift

American Civil War–era art critics James Jackson Jarves, Clarence Cook, and William J. Stillman classified styles and defined art in terms that have become fundamental to our modern periodization of the art of the nineteenth century. In Critical Shift, Karen Georgi rereads many of their well-known texts, finding certain key discrepancies between their words and our historiography that point to unrecognized narrative desires. The book also studies ruptures and revolutionary breaks between “old” and “new” art, as well as the issue of the morality of “true” art. Georgi asserts that these concepts and their sometimes loaded expression were part of larger rhetorical structures that gainsay the uses to which the key terms have been put in modern historiography. It has been more than fifty years since a book has been devoted to analyzing the careers of these three critics, and never before has their role in the historiography and periodization of American art been analyzed. The conclusions drawn from this close rereading of well-known texts challenge the fundamental nature of “historical context” in American art history.

Although many would today argue that the onetime dominance of the phenomenology of religion has receded, and with it the traditional approach to studying religion as a unique and deeply-felt experience that defies explanation, the essays collected here take quite the opposite stand: that this approach has merely been re-branded and continues to characterize much work being done in the field today. Offering a different way forward—one that is based on experiences gained by the members of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Alabama, a program that has successfully reinvented itself over the past 20 years—the book includes a variety of practical suggestions for how members of Religious Studies departments can revise their approach to studying and teaching about religion. Seeing religion instead as mundane but always exemplary of basic social elements found all across cultures, the volume argues that the way forward for this field lies not in the specialness of its object of study but, instead, the fact that thinking and acting as if something is special is itself an ordinary aspect of history and culture. Making just this shift helps the scholar of religion to contribute to wide, interdisciplinary conversations all across the Humanities and Social Sciences, demonstrating the practical relevance of their work.

American Civil War–era art critics James Jackson Jarves, Clarence Cook, and William J. Stillman classified styles and defined art in terms that have become fundamental to our modern periodization of the art of the nineteenth century. In Critical Shift, Karen Georgi rereads many of their well-known texts, finding certain key discrepancies between their words and our historiography that point to unrecognized narrative desires. The book also studies ruptures and revolutionary breaks between “old” and “new” art, as well as the issue of the morality of “true” art. Georgi asserts that these concepts and their sometimes loaded expression were part of larger rhetorical structures that gainsay the uses to which the key terms have been put in modern historiography. It has been more than fifty years since a book has been devoted to analyzing the careers of these three critics, and never before has their role in the historiography and periodization of American art been analyzed. The conclusions drawn from this close rereading of well-known texts challenge the fundamental nature of “historical context” in American art history.

Futurist David Houle and educational strategist Jeff Cobb assert that we already have the information and capabilities to make the necessary changes, and challenges us to take action now.

Nuclear Magnetic Shift Reagents presents the proceedings of the Symposium on the Chemistry of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Shift Reagents, held in Dallas, Texas, on April 9–11, 1973. This book discusses the fundamental aspects of shift reagent chemistry as well as the physical and chemical properties of shift reagents. Comprised of 16 chapters, this compilation of papers starts with an overview of the deuterium isotope effect in lanthanide shifts. This text then examines the variations in coordination geometries for chemically equivalent molecules of shift reagent-substrate complexes in the solid state, which illustrate the ease with which changes occur in the coordination sphere of lanthanide complexes. Other chapters discuss the dipolar nature of proton resonance shifts in lanthanide shift reagent systems. This book considers as well the feasibility of using chiral shift reagents. The final chapter deals with the effects of chemical equilibrium and adduct stoichiometry in studies of shift reagent. Chemists, biochemists, and molecular physicists will find this book useful.

Despite the best of intentions, the busyness of life and endless distractions frequently cause parents to put their family's development on the back burner. FAMILY SHIFT shows parents how to realign their families with easy but critical steps to follow to start living intentionally. Author Rodney Gage and his wife, Michelle, saw a drift start to threaten their own family's well-being and set out to stop it in its tracks. They wanted to defy the alarming statistics of the decline of the family unit and share with families everywhere that they can learn to thrive as a family, not merely survive. Every family gets off track at some point, but that's not a major problem as long as you know your destination. FAMILY SHIFT has families working together to create a family vision, mission statement, and core values family members will be better equipped to help one another navigate the unexpected twists and turns of life. Each chapter concludes with questions to answer as a family and additional resources to work through together.

Making the Healthcare Shift is a practical guide for healthcare leaders across the globe who have the fortitude to transform their organizations to both compete and win in the age of healthcare consumerism. Healthcare organizations finally have both the motive and means to engage and empower consumers. While healthcare organizations have recognized the need to change, they often don’t know where or how to begin. As the industry sits on the edge of transformation, marketing strategists, Scott Davis and Jeff Gourdji, reveal how traditional healthcare organizations (payers, providers, pharma companies) can prepare for the changes to come and re-invent how they engage with consumers. Making the Healthcare Shift includes over 60 executive interviews with the biggest names in healthcare and a quantitative research study. Some of these names include Mayo Clinic, Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, and Pfizer. Scott and Jeff identify five shifts organizations can make to better compete and win in this evolving landscape and offer practical advice on how to make those shifts become a reality.

Critical Infrastructure: Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Fifth Edition represents a continuation of research and recommendations from the past editions that spans nearly twenty years of focusing on critical infrastructure (CI) protection. Over that time, the operating, threat, and technical environments have changed drastically. The doctrines that have guided practitioners across various domains have also evolved due to changing demands. This is a natural result when doctrines collide and gradually evolve toward, and coalesce into, a singular understanding of an issue. Those who have practiced in this domain have seen these collisions in the past - an example being the convergence of physical security and cyber information and operational) technologies security. It is with this backdrop and understanding of the domain that the authors not only describe the current state of affairs, but also provide a means through which researchers and participants - such as practitioners, students, industry stakeholders, owners, and operators in various government and private CI sectors - can look at trends and changes the in the domain that may not be apparent elsewhere. The authors identify shifts in today’s environment that move the thinking away from simply the robustness of systems to their adaptability and resilience. They outline design processes that, likewise, are evolving away from the simple adoption of best practices to risk-based management and even towards structures based on engineering-driven principles. These changes are not occurring at a unified pace and the differences can result in tensions between certain communities. However, the debate itself is indicative of the critical thinking that is beginning to take hold within each infrastructure domain. Critical Infrastructure, Fifth Edition continues to critically examine the evolving importance of our critical infrastructure to our society - recognizing the underpinning value of cyber technology and how physical infrastructures and delivery models impact and affect people and society.