Alexander Thomas

The essential tabletop accessory for the Valiant Adventures Gamemaster. The Gamemaster’s Kit is a key accessory for your Valiant Adventures RPG campaign. It features a sturdy and practical 3-panel hardback screen with all the reference material you need to run the game. The kit also includes 4 quick reference cards and a combat tracker that you can write on with wet or dry erase markers. The Valiant Adventures Gamemaster’s Kit is the perfect complement to the Hero’s Handbook and Worlds of Valiant.

The Valiant Adventures Hero’s Handbook gave you the rules to make characters and play the game. Now, its companion volume presents worlds from the Valiant Universe for your games. The Worlds of Valiant sourcebook details eight iconic settings and includes character write-ups for over 80 heroes and villains. These characters are also usable in any Mutants & Masterminds RPG campaign. Gamemasters can run their adventures and campaigns in these Valiant settings: Britannia, The Deadside, Earth, The Faraway, New Japan, Space, The Stalinverse, or The Unknown. Worlds of Valiant also makes a great reference book for comic readers. Jump into the Valiant Universe today! Eight worlds and over 80 characters from the comics for the Valiant Adventures RPG.

The Valiant Adventures Hero’s Handbook is a standalone RPG that brings together the Mutants & Masterminds rules and the Valiant Universe of Bloodshot, Shadowman, and X-O Manowar. Comic fans know the Valiant Universe is home to classic characters like Bloodshot, Shadowman, Faith, Dr. Mirage, and X-O Manowar. Gamers know Mutants & Masterminds is the World’s Greatest Superhero RPG. Now these titanic forces combine to bring you the Valiant Adventures Roleplaying Game. If you’ve ever wanted to be part of the Valiant Universe, now you can! Create your own character or play one from the comics. Adventure in Britannia, The Deadside, Earth, The Faraway, New Japan, Space, The Stalinverse, or The Unknown. The Mutants & Masterminds rules, renowned for their adaptability, have been customized to reflect Valliant’s signature gritty realism and give you an easy way to create your own character. Pick an archetype, make a few quick customization choices, choose a power set, and you’re ready to play! The Valiant Adventures Hero’s Handbook is your starting point, a core rulebook with all the rules you need to play. Pair it with the Worlds of Valiant sourcebook (available separately) to complete the experience.

All that is required for evil to flourish is for good folk to do nothing. When society fails—when corruption or hatred or apathy take root—the helpless and the marginalized suffer first. And all too often heroes must rise from the ranks of the dispossessed, not to impose their will on others, but to provide the same safety and justice so many others take for granted. The Vigilante’s Handbook is a sourcebook of street-level action and adventure for your Mutants & Masterminds campaign. This book provides everything you need to stand up and push back against the overwhelming corruption and inequality that threatens so many, often without the deep pockets or impressive powers the four-color heroes rely on. This sourcebook features guidelines for creating street-level vigilantes, from low-powered brawlers to high-powered but maligned heroes who work from the shadows, and optional rules for overwhelming enemies with your menacing presence or fearsome reputation and for gauging and tracking your hero’s reputation. Vigilante’s Handbook also looks at what kinds of predators prowl the urban jungle, from corrupt cops and politicians to criminal masterminds and assassins, and introduces a flexible template system, separating your villains’ role from their powers. The world of Earth-Prime is also expanded with a gazetteer of Ferroburg, a city of corruption and struggle in desperate need of heroes. Welcome to a world where your compassion, your human decency, and your ability to take a punch mean more than your satellite headquarters and fancy costumes. Welcome to the streets.

A sociological phenomenon afflicts sociology itself: academics think of themselves as the vanguard of the working class despite the fact that they are not working class, as the noble willingness to side with the oppressed contrasts scholars’ reliance on authority to bolster their politics. While there are no simple solutions to this contradiction, a necessary beginning is for sociologists (and other academics) to acknowledge the reality of their own class privilege as members of the professional-managerial class. The Sociological Predicament is then a conscious and deliberate work of professional self-loathing that traces the evolution of ideologies found in academia from the mid-twentieth century to today, which demonstrates the ways in which biases around class have given short shrift to the concerns of working class Americans in deindustrialized cities and towns that have ultimately turned away from and then against them. Intellectuals have not historically been on the side of the oppressed but have been instrumental in developing ideologies that sustain the status quo, and this book crucially asks whether academics’ presence on the left ultimately serves conservative ends.

A sociological phenomenon afflicts sociology itself: academics think of themselves as the vanguard of the working class despite the fact that they are not working class, as the noble willingness to side with the oppressed contrasts scholars’ reliance on authority to bolster their politics. While there are no simple solutions to this contradiction, a necessary beginning is for sociologists (and other academics) to acknowledge the reality of their own class privilege as members of the professional-managerial class. The Sociological Predicament is then a conscious and deliberate work of professional self-loathing that traces the evolution of ideologies found in academia from the mid-twentieth century to today, which demonstrates the ways in which biases around class have given short shrift to the concerns of working class Americans in deindustrialized cities and towns that have ultimately turned away from and then against them. Intellectuals have not historically been on the side of the oppressed but have been instrumental in developing ideologies that sustain the status quo, and this book crucially asks whether academics’ presence on the left ultimately serves conservative ends.

Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND licence Transhumanism is a philosophy which advocates for the use of technology to radically enhance human capacities. This book interrogates the promises of transhumanism, arguing that it is deeply entwined with capitalist ideology. In an era of escalating crisis and soaring inequality, it casts doubt on a utopian techno-capitalist narrative of unending progress. In critiquing the transhumanist project, the book offers an alternative ethical framework for the future of life on the planet. As the debates around the advancement of AI and corporate-led digital technologies intensify, this is an important read for academics as well as policy makers .

Country Teachers in City Schools: The Challenge of Negotiating Identity and Place explores what it’s like to be a country teacher in a city school. Through conversations with teachers who grew up one place and ended up teaching in another, Chea Parton investigates the role of place on the personal and professional identity building of teachers as well as the way their identities influence their teaching practice. To conclude, Parton highlights important considerations for teacher education programs as they work to support and prepare teachers to be successful no matter where they land. She also provides concrete teaching strategies that classroom teachers and teacher educators can use to foster place-conscious identity work.

Danger Zones details 35 different urban backdrops for your Mutants & Masterminds campaign. These ready-to-use locations range from city staples like the bank, coffee shop, and hotel to more colorful sites like the amusement park, parade route, and science center. And of course, highways to take you there! Every location includes a map, as well as useful as advice on how to get the most from its unique features in a cunning plot or superhero slugfest. Danger Zones also includes a catalog of colorful characters ready to populate your urban sprawl. Heroes, get ready for danger!

Fit für das Leben und erfolgreiches Arbeiten in einer globalen Welt! Dieses Buch hilft Ihnen in internationalen und interkulturellen Kontexten - sowohl im beruflichen Arbeitsalltag wie auch in privaten Lebensbereichen - verständnisvoller, toleranter und effizienter zusammenarbeiten zu können. Das Buch basiert auf empirischen Befunden und praxisnahen Fallbeispielen, die aus der Zusammenarbeit zwischen 40 Ländern weltweit entstanden sind. Gespickt mit vielen Anregungen eröffnet es Ihnen ein Verständnis dafür, welche Fallstricke es bei der Interaktion mit Menschen aus fremden Kulturen zu vermeiden gilt. Dadurch können kulturspezifische Missverständnisse reduziert und das Verständnis untereinander verbessert werden. Dazu erfahren Sie, welche Persönlichkeitseigenschaften für den Aufbau und die Wirkungen interkultureller Handlungskompetenz besonders förderlich sind. Dadurch erhalten Sie wertvolle Einblicke und Strategien zur Vermeidung und Bewältigunginterkulturell bedingter Problemstellungen um Irritationen, Frustration und Verärgerung auf beiden Seiten zu vermeiden und die Ergebnisse der Zusammenarbeit zu verbessern. Zielgruppen:Fach- und Führungskräfte aus den Bereichen Wirtschaft und Verwaltung, Fort- und Weiterbildung, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Lehre, soziale Arbeit, berufliche Auslandseinsätze und die Zusammenarbeit in internationalen Unternehmen. Zum Autor: Professor Dr. Dr. h. c. Alexander Thomas war bis zu seiner Pensionierung Professor für Sozialpsychologie und Angewandte Psychologie an der Universität Regensburg und ist Honorarprofessor an der Ostbayerischen Technischen Hochschule in Regensburg (OTH). Die Konzepte „interkulturelle Handlungskompetenz“ und „Kulturstandards“ sind vom Autor auf der Basis der Ergebnisse empirischer Forschungsarbeiten im In- und Ausland entwickelt worden.?

The tremendous loss of groundwater has been a longstanding concern in Kansas, where areas of the High Plains aquifer have plummeted. Groundwater Citizenship: Well Owners, Environmentalism, and the Depletion of the High Plains Aquifer investigates water conservation efforts, environmental priorities, and water supply awareness among private water well owners, a key social group whose water usage is pivotal to safeguarding aquifers. This book discusses how reliance on private and public water supplies influences watering practices by asking if owning a well changes the propensity to conserve water. To explore how water supplies shape environmental actions and beliefs, sociologist Brock Ternes constructed a one-of-a-kind dataset by surveying over 850 well owners and non-well owners throughout Kansas. His analyses reveal that well ownership influences several dimensions of water consumption, and he identifies how Kansans’ notions of environmentalism are recalibrated by their systems of water provision. This book frames well owners as unique conservationists whose water use is shaped by larger structures—aquifers, water laws, and food systems. Groundwater Citizenship takes a sociological look at water systems to facilitate adaptive approaches to sustainable resource management.

Für erfolgreiches internationales Handeln ist die interkulturelle Handlungskompetenz mehr und mehr zu einer unverzichtbaren Schlüsselqualifikation geworden. Dieses Buch, nun in der 2., aktualisierten Auflage, zeigt auf, was es bedeutet, wenn Menschen unterschiedlicher kultureller Herkunft einander begegnen, für einander bedeutsam werden und kooperieren. Nur durch eine funktionierende und effektive internationale Zusammenarbeit sind gesellschaftliche und global wirksame Probleme zu bearbeiten und zu lösen. Hier schärft das Buch durch konkrete Fallbeispielen aus der direkten interkulturellen Praxis unseren Blick für das Wesentliche. Es beschreibt typische Situationen aus der Arbeitswelt, beleuchtet ihre kulturspezifischen Merkmale und vermittelt Lösungswege zur optimalen Bewältigung.

Dieses essential zeigt praxisnah, wie eine gelungene Unterstützung von Flüchtlingen und Migranten bei deren Bewältigung der integrationsbedingten Anforderungen in eine für sie neue und unbekannte Kultur und Gesellschaft geleistet werden kann. Es werden die Herausforderungen auf Seiten der Flüchtlinge und Migranten einerseits, und der aufnehmenden Gesellschaft andererseits sowie der Fachkräfte, Helfer und Unterstützer in der Flüchtlings- und Migrantenarbeit aus psychologischer Sicht behandelt. Hilfestellungen zur Bewältigung dieser Herausforderungen werden präsentiert und analysiert, verbunden mit Hinweisen zur Entwicklung entsprechender interkultureller Kompetenzen.

Dieses essential bietet einen Zugang zur interkulturellen Thematik für Techniker und Ingenieure anhand von Fallbeispielen aus der Praxis deutscher Fach- und Führungskräfte im Auslandseinsatz. Es werden die wichtigsten Komponenten interkultureller Handlungskompetenz benannt und näher analysiert. Zudem werden Methoden beschrieben, mit denen es gelingt, unterschiedliche kulturelle Einflussfaktoren frühzeitig zu erkennen und entsprechend zu bearbeiten. Der erfahrene Autor Alexander Thomas sensibilisiert für kulturell bedingte Problemlagen und zeigt Wege auf, wie eine eigenständige Entwicklung interkultureller Handlungskompetenz gelingen kann.

In 1956 Stella Chess and Alexander Thomas launched the pioneering New York Longitudinal Study, a systematic investigation into the concept of temperament that has been pursued to the present decade. The findings from this study - that temperamental profiles of infants, children, adolescents, and adults show specific individual behavioral characteristics - are accepted as basic to the psychological mechanism of behavioral functioning. Now, these two preeminent authorities and teaches in the field of child and adolescent psychiatry present an essential introduction to their internationally recognized work. This volume takes the reader from concept - including the definition of temperament and the studies that support and expand upon that definition - to specific explorations of temperament and its impact across various practice settings and special populations.