Best Selling Books by Stjepan

Malovic and Selnow examine the evolution of the press-government relationship in Croatia from the Tito era to the present. Their story is one of three interacting players: the Croatian government which until recently has sat firmly in control, the compliant press which seemed little motivated to change, and the largely quiescent public which demanded little from its press or its government. A provocative, often first-hand account that will be of interest to scholars and researchers involved with Balkan current affairs, journalism, and politics.

This book proposes a new representation of Emile Durkheim, as the philosopher and moralist who wanted to renovate rationalism, challenge positivism, reform sociology, and extend Schopenhauer''s philosophy to the new domain of sociology. Above all, it highlights Durkheim''s vision of sociology as the ''science of morality'' that would eventually replace moralities based on religion.

With a foreword by David Riesman, author of The Lonely Crowd. Introducing a new term to the sociological lexicon: ′postemotionalism′, Stjepan Mestrovic argues that the focus of postmodernism has been on knowledge and information, and he demonstrates how the emotions in mass industrial societies have been neglected to devastating effect. Using contempoary examples, the author shows how emotion has become increasingly separated from action; how - in a world of disjointed and synthetic emotions - social solidarity has become more problematic; and how compassion fatigue has increasingly replaced political commitment and responsibility. Mestrovic discusses the relation between knowledge and the emotions in thinkers as diverse as Durkheim, Baudrillard, Ritzer, Riesman, and Orwell. This stimulating and provocative work concludes with a discussion of the postemotional society, where peer groups replace the government as the means of social control.

Almost as soon as Communism fell in Eastern Europe in 1989, Western politicians and intellectuals concluded that the West had "won" the Cold War and that liberal democracy had triumphed over authoritarianism in the world. Euphoria spread with the expectation of a New World Order. Within months, the giddy optimism began to fade, especially in the face of what soon became a brutal war in former Yugoslavia. Why did Serbia choose to replicate many of Germany''s methods and aims from World Wars I and II, including ethnic cleansing (read "genocide") and a campaign to establish a Greater Serbia? Sociologist Stjepan Mestrovic, writing with Slaven Letica and Miroslav Goreta, argues that the social and political character of the Dinaric herdsmen--which dominates Serbian culture and politics, even though it is found in all Balkan nations--accounts for the form Communism took there, the fall of Communism, and the savagery and brutality of the post-Communist war. With carefully reasoned analysis, the authors show how sociological theories of social character--propounded by such thinkers as de Tocqueville, Veblen, and Bellah--can shed light on the conflicts in the Balkans, which, according to conventional wisdom, were not supposed to occur when Communism fell. They demonstrate that ancient, traditional ethnic, social, and nationalistic tendencies--"habits of the heart"--of the various people of the Balkans have taken precedence over pressures for democracy in the political and cultural vacuum left by the end of Communism in the region. Unfortunately, the difficulties in the Balkans will persist for a long time to come, and similar conflicts could break out in the former Soviet Union. This thought-provoking book has much new to say about the causes of such ethnic and class conflicts in the region, and the feasibility of policies for dealing with these sores. If democracy is to be achieved in post-Communist East Europe, the authors argue, it must be based on the "good" habits of the heart that coexist there with "bad" or authoritarian social character.

In a spontaneous-combustion theory of war crimes, Jeremy Morlock and 11 other soldiers were charged with having murdered 3 Afghans, as if they just spontaneously did monstrous things. But in an extraordinary court-martial the Defense showed that in fact the atrocities originated in a failure of leadership and a dysfunctional brigade climate. Dr. Stjepan Mestrovic, a professional sociologist who has testified in the trial, explains.

The 1989 fall of communism in Eastern Europe occurred in a period when Western intellectuals were involved in a confusing discourse on a number of other dramatic endings: the end of modernity, the end of the century, even the possible end of sociology. Against this backdrop, the authors focus on continuities based on the "habits of the heart" of those who threw off communism in Eastern Europe, contrasting them with Western modes of thought. Their cultural explanation draws on theories of Tocqueville, Durkheim, and others to examine positive as well as negative aspects of the nations that survived communism. While focusing on the Balkans, they also make cautious prognoses for the rest of Eastern Europe.

This text is a thorough treatment of the rapidly growing area of aerial manipulation. It details all the design steps required for the modeling and control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) equipped with robotic manipulators. Starting with the physical basics of rigid-body kinematics, the book gives an in-depth presentation of local and global coordinates, together with the representation of orientation and motion in fixed- and moving-coordinate systems. Coverage of the kinematics and dynamics of unmanned aerial vehicles is developed in a succession of popular UAV configurations for multirotor systems. Such an arrangement, supported by frequent examples and end-of-chapter exercises, leads the reader from simple to more complex UAV configurations. Propulsion-system aerodynamics, essential in UAV design, is analyzed through blade-element and momentum theories, analysis which is followed by a description of drag and ground-aerodynamic effects. The central part of the book is dedicated to aerial-manipulator kinematics, dynamics, and control. Based on foundations laid in the opening chapters, this portion of the book is a structured presentation of Newton–Euler dynamic modeling that results in forward and backward equations in both fixed- and moving-coordinate systems. The Lagrange–Euler approach is applied to expand the model further, providing formalisms to model the variable moment of inertia later used to analyze the dynamics of aerial manipulators in contact with the environment. Using knowledge from sensor data, insights are presented into the ways in which linear, robust, and adaptive control techniques can be applied in aerial manipulation so as to tackle the real-world problems faced by scholars and engineers in the design and implementation of aerial robotics systems. The book is completed by path and trajectory planning with vision-based examples for tracking and manipulation.

This book takes the lid off the confused Western response to the Balkan war. The author raises a series of timely and acute questions about the future of postmodernism and postcommunism.

Fuzzy control methods are critical for meeting the demands of complex nonlinear systems. They bestow robust, adaptive, and self-correcting character to complex systems that demand high stability and functionality beyond the capabilities of traditional methods. A thorough treatise on the theory of fuzzy logic control is out of place on the design bench. That is why Fuzzy Controller Design: Theory and Applications offers laboratory- and industry-tested algorithms, techniques, and formulations of real-world problems for immediate implementation. With surgical precision, the authors carefully select the fundamental elements of fuzzy logic control theory necessary to formulate effective and efficient designs. The book supplies a springboard of knowledge, punctuated with examples worked out in MATLAB®/SIMULINK®, from which newcomers to the field can dive directly into applications. It systematically covers the design of hybrid, adaptive, and self-learning fuzzy control structures along with strategies for fuzzy controller design suitable for on-line and off-line operation. Examples occupy an entire chapter, with a section devoted to the simulation of an electro-hydraulic servo system. The final chapter explores industrial applications with emphasis on techniques for fuzzy controller implementation and different implementation platforms for various applications. With proven methods based on more than a decade of experience, Fuzzy Controller Design: Theory and Applications is a concise guide to the methodology, design steps, and formulations for effective control solutions.

Die Psychologin Dr. Harleen Quinzel ist dem Joker verfallen, dem gefährlichsten Insassen der Irrenanstalt Arkham Asylum. Harleen beschützt den eingesperrten Killerclown sogar vor Batman. Doch dann plant der irre Harvey Dent einen Überfall auf Arkham, und Harleen und der Joker müssen zeigen, wie weit sie für ihre verbotene Liebe zu gehen bereit sind ...

Gifted? Join the Death Vigil in their ongoing war against the ever-growing power of the Primordial Enemy! The only catch is you have to die first. Become a corporeal immortal Death Knight, and obtain reality-altering weaponry in the neverending battle between Good and Evil. Collects DEATH VIGIL #1-8.

Forty pages of story and art in this contemporary fantasy adventure series written and painted by STJEPAN SEJIC. Gifted? Join the Death Vigil in their ongoing war against the ever-growing power of the Primordial Enemy! The only catch is you have to die first. Become a corporeal immortal Death Knight and obtain reality-altering weaponry in the never-ending battle between good and evil.

SPECIAL ISSUE: THE SEXIEST COMEDY OF 2022 TURNS PINK! Infernum Press’ sexy CCO, created by Harvey Award-winning superstar MIRKA ANDOLFO, returns with some all-new stories for a special in black, white, and…pink! A selection of fun and spicy adventures set within the SWEET PAPRIKA universe, presented by an outstanding array of talent from across the comics and entertainment industry, including KATANA COLLINS (Batman: White Knight Presents: Harley Quinn, Soul Stripper), STJEPAN ŠEJIĆ (Harleen, SUNSTONE), RETSU TATEO (Full Metal Panic), KIM KRIZAN (Before Sunrise), STEVE ORLANDO (Marauders, Scarlet Witch, COMMANDERS IN CRISIS), and more!

Anthony Giddens is arguably the world''s leading sociologist. In this controversial contribution to the Giddens debate, Stjepan Mestrovic takes up and criticizes the major themes of his work - particularly the concept of ''high modernity'' as opposed to ''postmodernity'' and his attempted construction of a ''synthetic'' tradition based on human agency and structure. Testing Giddens'' theories against what is happening in the real world from genocide in Africa to near secession in Quebec, Mestrovic discerns in the construction of synthetic traditions not the promise of freedom held out by Giddens but rather the ominous potential for new forms of totalitarian control.

Stjepan Sejic continues the critically acclaimed Sunstone series with Volume 4. A classy, sexy, fun, and emotional look at two women and the alternative lifestyle they live. It''s all fun and games until someone falls in love! But the fun and games carry on!

This book covers all the steps from identification of operations and resources to the transformation of virtual models into real-world algorithms. The matrix-based approach presented here is a solution to the real-time application of control in discrete event systems and flexible manufacturing systems (FMS), and offers a sound practical basis for the design of controllers for manufacturing systems.

A crafted collection detailing western responses to the Balkan War We didn''t know. For half a century, Western politicians and intellectuals have so explained away their inaction in the face of genocide in World War II. In stark contrast, Western observers today face a daily barrage of information and images, from CNN, the Internet, and newspapers about the parties and individuals responsible for the current Balkan War and crimes against humanity. The stories, often accompanied by video or pictures of rape, torture, mass graves, and ethnic cleansing, available almost instantaneously, do not allow even the most uninterested viewer to ignore the grim reality of genocide. And yet, while information abounds, so do rationalizations for non-intervention in Balkan affairs—the threshold of real genocide has yet to be reached in Bosnia; all sides are equally guilty; Islamic fundamentalism in Bosnia is a threat to the West; it will only end when they all tire of killing each other—to name but a few. In This Time We Knew, Thomas Cushman and Stjepan G. Mestrovic have put together a collection of critical, reflective, essays that offer detailed sociological, political, and historical analyses of western responses to the war. This volume punctures once and for all common excuses for Western inaction. This Time We Knew further reveals the reasons why these rationalizations have persisted and led to the West''s failure to intercede, in the face of incontrovertible evidence, in the most egregious crimes against humanity to occur in Europe since World War II. Contributors to the volume include Kai Erickson, Jean Baudrillard, Mark Almond, David Riesman, Daniel Kofman, Brendan Simms, Daniele Conversi, Brad Kagan Blitz, James J. Sadkovich, and Sheri Fink.

First Published in 1991, this book attempts to show the relevance of Durkheim’s sociology to the debate on modernity and postmodernism. It does so by examining how Durkheim’s ideas can be applied to current social issues. The author argues that there are striking parallels between the social context of the 1890s, when Durkheim began to publish in book form, and today. The book will appeal to the readers of sociology, as well as the related disciplines of philosophy, psychology, cultural studies and history. It is also intended for anyone interested in the issues and questions that were being raised as humanity approached the end of the twentieth century and the end of the millennium.

An expert witness in legal cases involving rules of engagement and the US military murder of prisoners, Prof. Mestrovic exposes profound contradictions and systemic flaws that confuse criminal brutality and heroism, making victims of soldiers like Sergeant Michael Leahy who won a purple heart but also was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009.

Blackwater, Abu Ghraib and other scandals in Iraq were presaged by the murderous Operation Iron Triangle in May 2006 when US soldiers were ordered to kill all Iraqis of military age. The soldiers were imprisoned; the officer was merely reprimanded. Mestrovic details the American leadership''s fake commitment to the Geneva Conventions and the rule of law, fake due process for defendants, fake goals of promoting democracy, and compulsion to repeat our errors in Vietnam. The Blackwater scandal involved killing unarmed Iraqis in accordance with "rules of engagement" that were apparently similar to the case analyzed in these pages.

Im fantastischen Land Ravine will Nebezial Asheri seine Frau und seine Tochter auf magische Weise wieder zum Leben erwecken. Die Kräfte der gesamten Stadt Palladia tun sich zusammen, um ihn zu stoppen, doch seine größten Feinde sind ein verstoßener Zauberer, eine Drachenreiterin und ihre Gefährten! Epische Fantasy at its best!

Witnesses play a crucial role in the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of serious and organised crimes, and a range of protection measures are needed to ensure that witnesses can testify freely and without intimidation and receive protection before, during and after trial. This publication contains recently adopted Council of Europe and other standards in this field, as well as a compendium of national laws and practices in the countries which participated in the joint Council of Europe and European Commission CARPO regional police project from 2004 to 2006.

A tale of gods, mortals, love, lust, death, and bad decisions-that all starts with a simple bite of a golden apple. When Lauren signs the divine contract promising bliss for the price of love, she expects to be granted the services of the highest ranking god of desire. To everyone''s surprise this is a contested title and what was supposed to be a simple routine transaction becomes a mess of divine legalities, competitiveness and harsh decisions that involve a higher power, and the higher power is not happy about it. In this game of carnal delights and absolute stubbornness lives may be at stake, especially when an ex-fury is put in an uncomfortable position that compromises the well being of her family. Welcome to FINE PRINT, VOLUME 2—this is where it gets weird.

The topics of bullying and hazing have sparked interest and discussion in recent years. Hazing is a crime in the United States, and Western nations have made efforts to stamp out bullying in schools, the workplace, and institutions. However, for the most part, bullying and hazing are ill-defined and lack theoretical perspective. Mestrovic brings classical as well as contemporary social theory to bear on this discussion. Thorstein Veblen defined the predatory barbarian as the social type, enshrined by modernity, who prefers to use force over peacable means to achieve ends. On the other extreme, Marcel Mauss wrote about the spirit of the gift and its obligations - to give, to receive, and to reciprocate - as the fundamental basis of social life. Yet, he argued that the spirit of modernity was disappearing with the progress of modernity. Mestrovic traces this fundamental opposition between barbaric force or bullying versus benign obligation that is the spirit of the gift through a host of modernist and postmodernist thinkers and theories. He introduces the concept of the ′postemotional bully′ as an alternative to both of these major bodies of social theory. The postemotional bully, as a social type, is fungible, beset by screen-images on media and social media that are isolating, and is at the mercy of the peer-group. Case studies focus on bullying and hazing, specifically the cases of an American solider who committed suicide in Afghanistan, instances of torture at Abu Ghraib, and the murder of a 23-year-old African-American inmate in a Southern state prison in the US.

The present work is an elaboration of the author''s previous efforts in Emile Durkheim and the Reformation of Sociology (1988) and The Coming Fin de Sibcle (1991) to demonstrate Durkheim''s neglected relevance to the postmodern discourse. The aims include finding affinities between our fin de sibcle and Durkheim''s fin de sibcle, and connecting the contemporary themes of rebellion against Enlightenment narratives found in postmodern culture with similar concerns found in Durkheim''s sociology as well as in his fin de sibcle culture, contributing to Durkheimian scholarship as well as to the postmodern discourse. The distinctive aspects of the present study flow from the focus on culture, communication, and the feminine voice in culture. Durkheim is approached as a fin de sibcle student of culture, and his insights applied to our fin de sibcle culture. Furthermore, because Durkheim claimed that culture is comprised primarily of collective representations, he was a forerunner of the current, postmodern concerns with communication. Because Durkheim shall be read in the context of his fin de sibcle, this book shall lead to the conclusion that Durkheim was a kind of psychoanalyst such that society is the patient, culture comprises the symptoms, and the sociologist must decipher, decode, and even deconstruct collective representations. Yet, the Durkheimian deconstruction proposed here is unlike the postmodern deconstructions, which criticize and tear apart a text without substituting a better meaning or interpretation. Postmodern discourse has made respectable again the synthesis of multidisciplinary insights that was fashionable in Durkheim''s fin de sibcle. In following this postmodern strategy, this book is more than a book about Durkheim. It is also a book about his contemporaries, among them, Carl Justav Jung, Thorstein Veblen, Henry Adams, Georg Simmel, and Max Weber. The author does not follow the postmodern strategy completely, because he f

Ally and Lisa''s budding relationship is threatened by a new friend, Anne.

After millions of views on DeviantArt, this popular web comic finally gets its own series. A teenage girl gets a mighty artifact that grants her immense powers...the catch? It''s a bit haunted! This self-contained "universe" includes Artifacts and characters from other series (with permission!) in a delectably STJEPAN SEJIC fashion!

The Pashtrovich Story of the 15th Century Translated, Edited, and Commented by V. Alexander Stefan

COME SI CURA UN CUORE INFRANTO? La vita di Lauren Thomas, finora, è stata una sequenza senza fine di scelte sbagliate. Ha perso l’amore della sua vita, il sorriso, forse addirittura la sua stessa anima. E cosa è disposta a fare una donna per distogliere il suo cuore dall’unico uomo che, solamente per colpa propria, probabilmente non potrà mai riavere? Tra piaceri terrestri ed escursioni in campo divino, Lauren è pronta a tutto. Da Stjepan Sejic, autore di Sunstone, una storia deliziosamente sensuale che colpirà dritto al cuore chiunque si sia innamorato almeno una volta nella vita.

A tale of gods, mortals, love, lust, death, and bad decisions-that all starts with a simple bite of a golden apple. When Lauren signs the divine contract promising bliss for the price of love, she expects to be granted the services of the highest ranking god of desire. To everyoneÕs surprise this is a contested title and what was supposed to be a simple routine transaction becomes a mess of divine legalities, competitiveness and harsh decisions that involve a higher power, and the higher power is not happy about it. In this game of carnal delights and absolute stubbornness lives may be at stake, especially when an ex-fury is put in an uncomfortable position that compromises the well being of her family. Welcome to FINE PRINT, VOL. 2Ñthis is where it gets weird.