The Ladybird Code

Minnie is kept busy planning four secret clues to her birthday party, and figuring out a mysterious heart-shaped riddle. Suggested level: primary.

Harmonia axyridis has been described as the “most invasive ladybird on Earth”. It has a long history of use as a classical biological control agent in the USA and more recently in Europe. This beetle has been effective at controlling pest insects in a variety of crop systems but it poses unacceptable risks by impacting on non-target species as both an intraguild predator and competitor. Written by renowned scientists, this book is a synthesis of recent research on H. axyridis and provides informative insights into current perspectives and future directions. Biological control is an essential component of sustainable agriculture but the distinction between a successful biological control agent and an invasive species can be narrow. We hope that lessons can be learnt from H. axyridis.

Can you imagine a world where there aren't just the thirty-two Ladybird Books for Grown-Ups you've seen in your local bookshop or downstairs toilet but hundreds and hundreds more? If you can't, then this book is here to imagine it for you. Here is an enormous collection of helpful guides to everything from worryingly high cholesterol to worryingly high mortgages - from teenagers you can't understand to prizewinning novels you can't understand - all presented simply and colourfully, in a way that even the most jaded, exhausted, baffled grown-up can enjoy. 'This is such a good idea I'm currently experiencing all the physical sensations of anger because I didn't think of it, whereas Jason and Joel did, the shits.' Charlie Brooker 'I do not hasten to say that these books are the new Da Vinci Code.' Aisling Bea 'These books are small masterpieces. They make me glad I learned to read.' David Quantick 'HILARIOUS. Beserkly brilliant.' Mel Giedroye

10-year-old Minnie Piper, constantly pestered by her younger cousin Dot, is attempting to crack a code, set as a homework exercise, by her teacher Mr Impey. In particular, she wants to beat her arch rival and the 'brainiac' Jenny to the prize.

The present book analyses critically the tripartite mimicry model (consisting of the mimic, model and receiver species) and develops semiotic tools for comparative analysis. It is proposed that mimicry has a double structure where sign relations in communication are in constant interplay with ecological relations between species. Multi-constructivism and toolbox-like conceptual methods are advocated for, as these allow taking into account both the participants’ Umwelten as well as cultural meanings related to specific mimicry cases. From biosemiotic viewpoint, mimicry is a sign relation, where deceptively similar messages are perceived, interpreted and acted upon. Focusing on living subjects and their communication opens up new ways to understand mimicry. Such view helps to explain the diversity of mimicry as well as mimicry studies and treat these in a single framework. On a meta-level, a semiotic view allows critical reflection on the use of mimicry concept in modern biology. The author further discusses interpretations of mimicry in contemporary semiotics, analyses mimicry as communicative interaction, relates mimicry to iconic signs and focuses on abstract resemblances in mimicry. Theoretical discussions are illustrated with detailed excursions into practical mimicry cases in nature (brood parasitism, eyespots, myrmecomorphy, etc.). The book concludes with a conviction that mimicry should be treated in a broader semiotic-ecological context as it presumes the existence of ecological codes and other sign conventions in the ecosystem.

Copyright law, digital content and the Internet in the Asia-Pacific provides a unique insight into the key issues facing copyright law and digital content policy in a networked information world.

" Two switch lights twinkled; one at the east, and one at the west end of the siding. For the rest all was blackness. Half way between the switch lights, snuggled close against the single-tracked main line, the station, little more than a shanty and too insignificant to boast a night operator, loomed up shadowy and indistinct. Away to the westward, like jagged points sticking up into the night and standing out in relief against the skyline, the Rockies reared their peaks. And the spell of the brooding mountains seemed to lie over all the desolate, butte-broken surrounding country—for all was utter silence. And then there came a sound, low at first, like a strange muttering from somewhere to the westward. It died away, grew louder, was hushed again—and broke into a sustained roar. Came then the quick, short gasps of the exhaust—it was a freight, and a heavy one. And suddenly, from up the track, circling an intervening butte, an electric headlight cut streaming through the black. It touched the little station in a queerly inquisitive way in the sweep of its arc, lingered an instant over the platform, then swung to the right of way, and held there, the metals glistening like polished silver ribbons under the flood of light..."

“Remember, you will never be alone; you will always have people there to be friends with you. You’re not always alone!” This book is about a little ladybird named Zoe. She doesn’t really have any friends, so sets off on a journey to make friends. When you read this book, it is modernised such as you would feel when you have no friends. Picture her as to how she really feels deep down inside. As she goes on a very good journey, she makes a lot of friends. Please read the book — imagine things and dream among the noise. I hope you will enjoy!