Ghosts have made an unexpected reappearance in German literature since 1989. Catherine Smale reads this as symptomatic of writers' attempts to renegotiate their personal and collective identity in the wake of German reunification. Focusing on two major authors from the former GDR, Christa Wolf and Irina Liebmann, Smale examines the ways in which their work adopts notions of haunting in its creative engagement with the double legacy of Socialism and National Socialism. The ghost has long been regarded as a vehicle for making manifest taboo or unauthorized memories. However, Smale goes further, demonstrating how the human subject is destabilized by the return of the phantom and is itself rendered insecure and spectral. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical reference, from the psychoanalytic concept of intergenerational phantoms to Derridean hauntology, Smale's study highlights the particular challenge which Wolf and Liebmann pose to the familiar understanding of how German writers have confronted their country's troublesome past.Catherine Smale is Lecturer in German at King's College London.

He is a cyber dweller. A gamer who's grown up in the web of virtual illusion woven from hundreds of phantom worlds. His biggest dream is to dump the real world for good. His desperate hunger of new experiences forces him to take a risk and become one of the first proud owners of a neuronet implant. The new gadget becomes part of him - but soon it's not enough. If only he could finally burn all his bridges and make a step beyond the real world! He soon gets this opportunity. A new universe, overflowing with mystery and unimaginable, mind-blowing authenticity, opens up before him. This is Phantom Server. The game of the future where your pursuit of an adrenaline rush soon turns into a battle for survival. But the most terrifying mystery lies ahead when you gradually start to realize: this is a road of no return. Your every decision may become your last. Your every step leads you further along the abyss between life and death.

This book discusses the current trends in nursing and healthcare in relation to the integration of information technological interventions across the care continuum. The use of such interventions in healthcare has increased rapidly in recent years, partly due to the rise in technological gadgets/applications used in daily routines (e.g. actigraphy bracelets, smartphones) and their unique properties that can be utilized in assessing, monitoring and managing a patient’s condition remotely. This book highlights the areas and the ways in which these interventions can facilitate patient assessment and monitoring and complement conventional treatments in the management of disease-induced or treatment-induced side effects. Furthermore, the book describes the development of such interventions and examines how they are designed to promote adherence and acceptance by the user. To this end, the book also discusses the need for personalizing the technological experience according to the user’s preferences and needs. Drawing on the latest studies in these areas, it not only provides suggestions for undertaking research in this context, but also offers insights into how these technologies impact patients’ clinical outcomes. Lastly, it addresses the challenges of utilizing such technologies and future directions. Providing multiple perspectives on the topic, the book appeals to a wide range of readers, including nurses, clinicians, researchers, technology experts and students, making them familiar with a broad selection of technological interventions and their application in clinical practice. Moreover, it highlights the factors that need to be considered in the development (and testing) of future interventions, in particular in nursing, and provides inspiration for future studies.

Everything in nature evolves. This process is usually slow, taking millions of years. But every couple hundred millennia or so, an entire species takes a giant leap forward. Currently, 17,500 nuclear warheads on Planet Earth are considered operational and at least 4,000 of them are on hair-trigger alert. The nations of North Korea and Iran are scrambling to add their own warheads to the list. The human race now has but one option for world peace: evolution. As we venture beyond the end of the Mayan Calendar at the end of 2012, a small percentage of humanity is evolving from an egoic, codependent, emotionally violent, self-destructive state of suffering into a heart-centered, egoless, Self-reliant, creative state of being. Ethereally connected to Gaia, Mother Earth, this burgeoning, spiritually enlightened, highly intuitive, and compassionate species of humanity will actualize the protective and balancing nature of the sacred feminine. Ultimately, there is no way out of these current problems that we face together, only a way through. The way begins and ends with the personal evolution of the Self. Non-conformity to the current system of control through peaceful, spiritual revolution, both individually and collectively, is what is needed now if we are going to move beyond the social injustice, oppression, pollution, poverty, famine, and incessant wars that pervade our planet. As we learn to honor the body's divine intelligence, an entirely new system of drug-free health care will emerge, as opposed to the disease care model that exists today. The time has come for us to look to solutions from higher levels of intelligence, higher levels of consciousness. Now is the time for us to draw a line in the sand and stand up for our divine Selves, to stop playing the victim as a species. Your evolutionary journey begins and ends with Self-mastery, through the transformation of the Seven Selves. When you change your little me who means nothing to the universe perspective to an I am the center of all creation perspective, your whole existence and reason for living transforms.

An international journal of general philosophy.

Though there have been many developments in sensory/motor prosthetics, they have not yet reached the level of standard and worldwide use like pacemakers and cochlear implants. One challenging issue in motor prosthetics is the large variety of patient situations, which depending on the type of neurological disorder. To improve neuroprosthetic performance beyond the current limited use of such systems, robust bio-signal processing and model-based control involving actual sensory motor state (with biosignal feedback) would bring about new modalities and applications, and could be a breakthrough toward adaptive neuroprosthetics. Recent advances of Brain Computer Interfaces (BCI) now enable patients to transmit their intention of movement. However, the functionality and controllability of motor prosthetics itself can be further improved to take advantage of BCI interfaces. In this Research Topic we welcome contribution of original research articles, computational and experimental studies, review articles, and methodological advances related to biosignal processing that may enhance the functionality of sensory motor neuroprosthetics. The scope of this topic includes, but is not limited to, studies aimed at enhancing: 1) computational biosignal processing in EMG (Electromyography), EEG (Electroencephalography), and other modalities of biofeedback information; 2) the computational method in modeling and control of sensory motor neuroprosthetics; 3) the systematic functionality aiming to provide solutions for specific pathological movement disorders; 4) human interfaces such as BCI - but in the case of BCI study, manuscripts should be experimental studies which are applied to sensory/motor neuroprosthetics in patients with motor disabilities.

Neuropathic pain is one of the most common, most debilitating, most costly, and most difficult to treat categories of chronic pain conditions that are characterized by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. Managing neuropathic pain is challenging and requires skillful assessment and comprehensive and integrated treatment strategies that are mechanism-guided, evidence-based, and individualized. However, these critical and integral elements are very fragmented in the current literature. The mechanistic understanding of neuropathic pain is typically found in basic research articles. Clinical research evidence is presented in forms of clinical trials with emphasis on minimizing biases such as those from patient selection and assessment. Individualized considerations for each patient are usually presented in case reports and problem-based learning discussions. This book overcomes these barriers and integrates all the critical elements around individual patient care into a coherent management strategy that is practical and applicable to daily clinical practice. Rather than compiling what have been published in the literature, this work emphasizes on identifying and highlighting the key points or findings that guide decision-making in clinical practice. It integrates the key points around a typical case scenario that not only represents the core of the diagnostic and therapeutic processes but also allows introduction and differentiation of painful conditions that bare similarities with the case in hand. The overarching goal is to improve clinical outcomes through better understanding of the mechanisms, more accurate diagnosis, and wiser and more comprehensive treatment strategies.

Much philosophical work on pop culture apologises for its use; using popular culture is a necessary evil, something merely useful for reaching the masses with important philosophical arguments. But works of pop culture are important in their own right--they shape worldviews, inspire ideas, change minds. We wouldn't baulk at a book dedicated to examining the philosophy of The Great Gatsby or 1984--why aren't Star Trek and Superman fair game as well? After all, when produced, the former were considered pop culture just as much as the latter. This will be the first major reference work to right that wrong, gathering together entries on film, television, games, graphic novels and comedy, and officially recognizing the importance of the field. It will be the go-to resource for students and researchers in philosophy, culture, media and communications, English and history and will act as a springboard to introduce the reader to the other key literature in the field.

The book covers the research on economic inequality, including the social construction of racial categories, the uneven and stalled gender revolution, and the role of new educational forms and institutions in generating both equality and inequality.