Umami is described as a pleasant savory taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid which occurs naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables, and dairy products. As the taste of umami itself is subtle and blends well with other tastes to expand and round out flavors, most people don't recognize umami when they encounter it, but it plays an important role in making food taste delicious. Umami is considered the fifth taste, in addition to sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.

In Umami, ten of today's most renowned chefs explain how they discovered this fifth taste and the ways in which it has had an impact on their cooking. Two of the chefs are Japanese (Nobu and Murata), but the others come from around the world: the U.S. (Anthony and Kinch), the U.K. (Blumenthal and Cursan,), France (Bourdas and Nagae), and Peru (Martinez and Schiaffiano). Despite their diverse backgrounds and locations, however, they all have in common an understanding and appreciation of umami, and the unique ways in which they're able to use it to maximize the exquisite flavors of their culinary creations.

For each of the eight main contributors, there's a two-page color spread featuring a personal essay about umami, and photos of the chef and his restaurant. Then the chef presents four recipes that showcase the fabulous umami-rich dishes that have earned his establishment its Michelin star(s). The recipes incorporate fresh, local ingredients and use no butter or oil, so they are healthy as well as sublimely delicious.

An additional section of the book showcases pastry, as two of today's leading pastry chefs weigh in on how umami plays a role in their baking. Recipes for both savory and sweet treats are included. The book also includes information about the history and science of umami, written by two leading experts on the subject, John Prescott, Ph.D. of Taste Matters Research and Consulting, and Ole Mouritsen, Ph.D., of the University of Southern Denmark and author of Seaweeds and Sushi: Food for the Eye, the Body, and the Soul.

The gorgeous photos throughout are by Akira Saito, the photographer for Edomae Sushi, published by Kodansha in 2010.

What if we woke up one morning all of the dinosaur bones in the world were gone? How would we know these iconic animals had a165-million year history on earth, and had adapted to all land-based environments from pole to pole? What clues would be left to discern not only their presence, but also to learn about their sex lives, raising of young, social lives, combat, and who ate who? What would it take for us to know how fast dinosaurs moved, whether they lived underground, climbed trees, or went for a swim?

Welcome to the world of ichnology, the study of traces and trace fossils—such as tracks, trails, burrows, nests, toothmarks, and other vestiges of behavior—and how through these remarkable clues, we can explore and intuit the rich and complicated lives of dinosaurs. With a unique, detective-like approach, interpreting the forensic clues of these long-extinct animals that leave a much richer legacy than bones, Martin brings the wild world of the Mesozoic to life for the twenty-first century reader.

More and more students in the world now decide to undertake their university studies in another country to their own. They see advantages of quality, value and experience in studying abroad and rightly see the experience as a preparation for life and a big plus for their CVs in an increasingly inter-connected world and job market. The world language is now undisputedly English and even universities in non-English speaking countries such as Holland and Denmark, universities that are wanting to attract international students, are switching to teaching university programmes in English. This makes for an unparalleled opportunity for UK students these days, just at a time when UK university fees are increasing significantly. This guide gives an overview of the opportunities available to UK students across the world, from the English speaking counties of the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, to Asia (India, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore), to offers nearer home, in Europe. As well as information on what is available - the education systems and academic cultures and demands of the different destination countries are explained, application procedures and information on living (accommodation, food, entertainment) are provided and there are self-development exercises that will help with the process of cultural readjustment that you as a UK student are likely to undergo and need to understand.

The book covers information for both undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and recommends ideal destination countries for these. Tips and advice on how to avoid certain pitfalls while being an international student living abroad are provided.

A completely updated edition of the guide to modern bond analysis

First published in 1972, Inside the Yield Book revolutionized the fixed-income industry and forever altered the way investors looked at bonds. Over forty years later, it remains a standard primer and reference among market professionals. Generations of practitioners, investors, and students have relied on its lucid explanations, and readers needing to delve more deeply have found its explication of key mathematical relationships to be unmatched in clarity and ease of application.

This edition updates the widely respected classic with new material from Martin L. Leibowitz. Along the way, it skillfully explains and makes sense of essential mathematical relationships that are basic to an understanding of bonds, annuities, and loans—in fact, any securities or investments that involve compound interest and the determination of present value for future cash flows. The book also includes a new foreword.

• Contains information that is more instructive, important, and useful than ever for mastering the crucial concepts of time, value, and return
• Combines the clear fixed-income insights found in the original edition with completely new knowledge to help you navigate today's dynamic market
• Includes over one hundred pages of new material on the role of bonds within the total portfolio

In an era of calculators and computers, some of the important underlying principles covered here are not always grasped thoroughly by market participants. Investors, traders, and analysts who want to sharpen their ability to recall and apply these fundamentals will find Inside the Yield Book the perfect resource.

Have you ever wondered what left behind those prints and tracks on the seashore, or what made those marks or dug those holes in the dunes? Life Traces of the Georgia Coast is an up-close look at these traces of life and the animals and plants that made them. It tells about the how the tracemakers lived and how they interacted with their environments. This is a book about ichnology (the study of such traces), a wonderful way to learn about the behavior of organisms, living and long extinct. Life Traces presents an overview of the traces left by modern animals and plants in this biologically rich region; shows how life traces relate to the environments, natural history, and behaviors of their tracemakers; and applies that knowledge toward a better understanding of the fossilized traces that ancient life left in the geologic record. Augmented by numerous illustrations of traces made by both ancient and modern organisms, the book shows how ancient trace fossils directly relate to modern traces and tracemakers, among them, insects, grasses, crabs, shorebirds, alligators, and sea turtles. The result is an aesthetically appealing and scientifically accurate book that will serve as both a source book for scientists and for anyone interested in the natural history of the Georgia coast.

"Any student studying linear algebra will welcome this textbook, which provides a thorough, yet concise, treatment of key topics in university linear algebra courses. Blending practice and theory, the book enables students to practice and master the standard methods as well as understand how they actually work. At every stage the authors take care to ensure that the discussion is no more complicated or abstract than it needs to be, and focuses only on the fundamental topics. Hundreds of examples and exercises, including solutions, give students plenty of hands-on practice End-of-chapter sections summarise material to help students consolidate their learning Ideal as a course text and for self-study Instructors can use the many examples and exercises to supplement their own assignments Both authors have extensive experience of undergraduate teaching and of preparation of distance learning materials"--

A cutting-edge look at the endowment model of investing

Many larger endowments and foundations have adopted a broadly diversified asset allocation strategy with only a small amount of traditional U.S. equities and bonds. This technique, known as the "endowment model of investing," has demonstrated consistent long-term performance and attracted the attention of numerous institutional and individual investors.

With The Endowment Model of Investing Leibowitz, Bova, and Hammond take a closer look at the endowment model with customary research sophistication and attention to detail. Throughout the book, they examine how the model provides truly outstanding real returns, while keeping a close eye on the risks associated with this method of investing. Along the way, the authors offer practical advice on incorporating the endowment model into your own investment endeavors and reveal what it takes to make this method work in the real world.

• Details the growing debate about the endowment model of investing and discusses how to use it successfully
• Written by an authority on endowment investing and non-traditional asset allocation strategies
• Offers expert insights on understanding risk and return in non traditional asset allocation

If you want to gain a better grasp of one of the most successful forms of investing, then The Endowment Model of Investing is a book you need to read.

Active 130/30 Extensions is the newest wave of disciplined investment strategies that involves asymmetric decision-making on long/short portfolio decisions, concentrated investment risk-taking in contrast to diversification, systematic portfolio risk management, and flexibility in portfolio design. This strategy is the building block for a number of 130/30 and 120/20 investment strategies offered to institutional and sophisticated high net worth individual investors who want to manage their portfolios actively and aggressively to outperform the market.

This important work describes recent theoretical advances in the study of artificial neural networks. It explores probabilistic models of supervised learning problems, and addresses the key statistical and computational questions. Chapters survey research on pattern classification with binary-output networks, including a discussion of the relevance of the Vapnik Chervonenkis dimension, and of estimates of the dimension for several neural network models. In addition, Anthony and Bartlett develop a model of classification by real-output networks, and demonstrate the usefulness of classification with a "large margin." The authors explain the role of scale-sensitive versions of the Vapnik Chervonenkis dimension in large margin classification, and in real prediction. Key chapters also discuss the computational complexity of neural network learning, describing a variety of hardness results, and outlining two efficient, constructive learning algorithms. The book is self-contained and accessible to researchers and graduate students in computer science, engineering, and mathematics.

This two-volume handbook is a comprehensive account of the rapidly emerging and vibrant science of the ecological restoration of habitats and species. Ecological restoration aims to achieve complete structural, functional, self-maintaining biological integrity following disturbance. In practice, any theoretical model is modified by a number of economic, social, and ecological constraints. Consequently, material that might be considered as rehabilitation, enhancement, re-construction, or re-creation is also included. Principles of Restoration defines the underlying principles of restoration ecology in relation to manipulations and management of the biological, geophysical, and chemical framework.

Restoration Practice details state-of-the-art restoration practices in a range of biomes within terrestrial and aquatic (marine, coastal, and freshwater) ecosystems. Policy and legislative issues on all continents are outlined and discussed. The Handbook of Ecological Restoration is an invaluable resource to everyone concerned with the restoration, rehabilitation, enhancement or creation of habitats in aquatic or terrestrial systems throughout the world.

Along with extensive chapters on the fundamentals, this includes material suitable for upper-level undergraduates and others with exposure to abstract algebra and analysis. The result is a nicely adaptable text useful at both the theoretical and application levels that is both interactive and suitable for use with current software. In a clever and logical system that builds from previous knowledge, this covers such core topics as divisibility and primes, congruences, cryptography, and quadratic residues, then addresses arithmetic functions, large primes, continued fractions, and diophantine equations, closing with advanced topics such as analytic number theory, elliptic curves, and the relationship between logic and number theory. The authors provide information on interfacing with Mathematica and Maple and provide web resources along with their references. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

If "slavery" is defined broadly to include bonded child labor and forced prostitution, there are upward of 25 million slaves in the world today. Individuals and groups are freeing some slaves by buying them from their enslavers. But slave redemption is as controversial today as it was in pre-Civil War America. In Buying Freedom, Kwame Anthony Appiah and Martin Bunzl bring together economists, anthropologists, historians, and philosophers for the first comprehensive examination of the practical and ethical implications of slave redemption.

While recognizing the obvious virtue of the desire to buy the freedom of slaves, the contributors ask difficult and troubling questions: Does redeeming slaves actually increase the demand for--and so the number of--slaves? And what about cases where it is far from clear that redemption will improve the material condition, or increase the real freedom, of a slave?

Buying Freedom includes essays by the editors and by Dean Karlan and Alan Krueger, Carol Ann Rogers and Kenneth Swinnerton, Arnab Basu and Nancy Chau, Stanley Engerman, Jonathan Conning and Michael Kevane, Jok Madut Jok, Ann McDougall, Lisa Cook, Margaret Kellow, John Stauffer, and Howard McGary.

Focusing on capabilities rather than intentions, the authors (both of the Center for Strategic and International Studies) analyze the current status of the military and security forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. They provide analysis of military spending and manpower and the material strength and organization structures of the Iranian Army, the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Air Force, and the Navy. They also review Iran's paramilitary, security, and intelligence forces and its long-range missile arsenal. Various estimates of chemical and biological weapons programs are provided, alongside consideration of a possible nuclear weapons program (for which the International Atomic Energy Agency has found no evidence). A final chapter reviews strategic capabilities in a variety of scenarios of confrontation between Iran and the US and/or Israel. Annotation ©2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

This highly accessible introduction to dinosaurs places scientific method at the crux of the studies, teaching students about scientific research and principles as they learn about dinosaurs. Now in its second edition, the text includes updates on recent finds, increased coverage of evolution and physiology, and an expanded and improved illustration program.

• Balances scientific rigour with real world examples.
  
• This new edition includes updates on recent finds and an increased coverage of evolution and physiology.
  
• Also features end of chapter discussion questions, easy reference glossary, new references at the end of each chapter, and high-quality, full color figures and photographs throughout.
  
• Supplemented by a dedicated web page, www.blackwellpublishing.com/dinosaurs with interactive material and all art in downloadable form (art also available to instructors on CD-Rom).

When Reverend Josiah Crawley, the impoverished curate of Hogglestock, is accused of theft it causes a public scandal, sending shockwaves through the world of Barsetshire. The Crawley family desperately try to remain dignified while they are shunned by society, but the scandal threatens to tear them, and the community, apart.
Drawing on his own childhood experience of genteel poverty, Trollope gives a painstakingly realistic depiction of the trials of a family striving to maintain its standards at all costs. With its sensitive portrayal of the proud and self-destructive figure of Crawley, this final volume in the Barsetshire series is the darkest and most complex of all.

Cats of Africa celebrates the power and grandeur of the three large cats, but it also offers fascinating introductions to their smaller relatives. Here we discover that the diminutive sand cat has feet covered with long hair on the undersides for better grip on loose, hot sand. We marvel at the enigmatic African golden cat of the rainforests, the caracal, the serval, the African wild cat, the swamp cat, and the secretive, reputedly ferocious black-footed cat, the smallest of all.

Bringing together Paul Bosman's eloquent paintings and drawings and the extensive scientific knowledge of Anthony Hall-Martin, Cats of Africa depicts the cats' fascinating daily lives while advocating the conservation and proper management of the complex ecosystems that support them. For each species, the book provides a distribution map and biological data—including habitat, size, diet, reproduction, behavior, and conservation status. With a glossary of terms, an extensive index, and an international list of interest groups, this volume will serve as an indispensable reference to anyone with an interest in Africa's cats—from armchair game viewers to students of natural history and professional conservationists.

Without expecting any particular background of the reader, this book covers graphs and relations, sequences and limits, partial derivatives, optimization, vectors, and matrix algebra. Throughout, the stress is firmly on how the mathematics relates to economics, and this is illustrated with copious examples and exercises that will foster depth of understanding.