They call them the “rat-catchers.” They’re the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which an economically destitute Earth has dispatched on a mission to re-establish contact with its far-flung, long-lost colonies in space. Alex Alexander, the ship’s biologist, together with his staff, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that he encounters light-years from home. Dendra is a stable world, covered by a huge, unchanging forest—except that nothing living can really be free of change. The planet has no seasons, but its animal life still undergoes life-cycles involving birth, maturation, metamorphosis, and death. The Earth colony sent to tame the world has failed, at least in the terms expected of it, and seems beyond redemption; but the crew of the Daedalus still has to find out exactly why and how the program has gone wrong. Provided, of course, that they can survive the investigation itself!
They call them the “rat-catchers.” They’re the crew of the spaceship Daedalus, which an economically destitute Earth has dispatched on a mission to re-establish contact with its far-flung, long-lost colonies in space. Alex Alexander, the ship’s biologist, together with his staff, must help solve the mysteries of human and alien ecosystems that he encounters light-years from home. Dendra is a stable world, covered by a huge, unchanging forest—except that nothing living can really be free of change. The planet has no seasons, but its animal life still undergoes life-cycles involving birth, maturation, metamorphosis, and death. The Earth colony sent to tame the world has failed, at least in the terms expected of it, and seems beyond redemption; but the crew of the Daedalus still has to find out exactly why and how the program has gone wrong. Provided, of course, that they can survive the investigation itself!
This book aims to provide threshold models to help physicians to make optimal diagnostic, therapeutic and predictive decisions. Readers will not only find theoretical information but also practical examples illustrating how these decisions should be made. Poor decision-making is considered a leading cause of death in contemporary medicine. Decisions, however, have to be made - at a given threshold of risk and unfortunately physicians are not trained on how to make decisions. This book provides help to all those who want to improve their decision-making for a better patient outcome. With its examples from hematology and oncology the book will not only benefit haematologists and oncologists but physicians from all disciplines, hence the threshold model is applicable to all fields in medicine. This book will be useful to experienced physicians as well as trainees alike.
Threshold Concepts in Problem-based Learning provides a critical discussion and guidance for educational researchers, teachers, innovators and policy makers wanting to explore the interrelationship of PBL and threshold concepts. Beginning with an introduction to both areas and offering an overview of the current issues, this volume delivers 11 innovative, research-based chapters from around the world. It outlines the major threshold concepts faced by those disciplines that have adopted PBL, and then examines the impact of threshold concepts on student learning. What is unique about this text is the way it examines PBL as a pedagogy in which students get stuck in the learning process and the thresholds they encounter as they learn to adapt.
This Companion provides an engaging account of the postcolonial novel, from Joseph Conrad to Jean Rhys. Covering subjects from disability and diaspora to the sublime and the city, this Companion reveals the myriad traditions that have shaped the postcolonial literary landscape.
This research proposes and empirically tests the impact of brand personality dimensions on brand desirability in a cross-cultural context. Further, the concept of brand-self-congruity is tested on its mediating role between brand personality dimensions and brand desirability. The results reveal that certain brand personality dimensions can have a direct and/ or indirect impact on brand desirability. Yet, this effect mechanism has not only been found to be brand-dependent but also culture-dependent. In this context, the mediating role of brand-self-congruity was confirmed across all cultures and brands investigated. Important implications are derived for research and brand management. In different countries, different brand personality dimensions lead to brand desirability. Therefore, brand managers should know their markets, understand cultural differences and adjust their brand strategy accordingly in order to attain brand desirability.
"One of the most productive of all laboratory animals, Drosophila has been a key tool in genetics research for nearly a century. At the center of Drosophila culture from 1910 to 1940 was the school of Thomas Hunt Morgan and his students Alfred Sturtevant and Calvin Bridges, who, by inbreeding fruit flies, created a model laboratory creature - the 'standard' fly. By examining the material culture and working customs of Morgan's research group, [the author] brings to light essential features of the practice of experimental science. [This book] takes a broad view of experimental work, ranging from how the fly was introducted into the laboratory and how it was physically redesigned for use in genetic mapping, to how the 'Drosophilists' organized an international network for exchanging fly stocks that spread their practices around the world"--Back cover.
This volume collects ten surveys on the modeling, simulation, and applications of active particles using methods ranging from mathematical kinetic theory to nonequilibrium statistical mechanics. The contributing authors are leading experts working in this challenging field, and each of their chapters provides a review of the most recent results in their areas and looks ahead to future research directions. The approaches to studying active matter are presented here from many different perspectives, such as individual-based models, evolutionary games, Brownian motion, and continuum theories, as well as various combinations of these. Applications covered include biological network formation and network theory; opinion formation and social systems; control theory of sparse systems; theory and applications of mean field games; population learning; dynamics of flocking systems; vehicular traffic flow; and stochastic particles and mean field approximation. Mathematicians and other members of the scientific community interested in active matter and its many applications will find this volume to be a timely, authoritative, and valuable resource.
Critical Infrastructure: Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Fifth Edition represents a continuation of research and recommendations from the past editions that spans nearly twenty years of focusing on critical infrastructure (CI) protection. Over that time, the operating, threat, and technical environments have changed drastically. The doctrines that have guided practitioners across various domains have also evolved due to changing demands. This is a natural result when doctrines collide and gradually evolve toward, and coalesce into, a singular understanding of an issue. Those who have practiced in this domain have seen these collisions in the past - an example being the convergence of physical security and cyber information and operational) technologies security. It is with this backdrop and understanding of the domain that the authors not only describe the current state of affairs, but also provide a means through which researchers and participants - such as practitioners, students, industry stakeholders, owners, and operators in various government and private CI sectors - can look at trends and changes the in the domain that may not be apparent elsewhere. The authors identify shifts in today’s environment that move the thinking away from simply the robustness of systems to their adaptability and resilience. They outline design processes that, likewise, are evolving away from the simple adoption of best practices to risk-based management and even towards structures based on engineering-driven principles. These changes are not occurring at a unified pace and the differences can result in tensions between certain communities. However, the debate itself is indicative of the critical thinking that is beginning to take hold within each infrastructure domain. Critical Infrastructure, Fifth Edition continues to critically examine the evolving importance of our critical infrastructure to our society - recognizing the underpinning value of cyber technology and how physical infrastructures and delivery models impact and affect people and society.
