This collection of stories begins with Esther, an elderly woman who like many migrated from the South to the North. Esther weathered life gracefully living in the housing projects and dreamed of taking a cruise with her savings. In Which Way Is Out, Tonya has a lot of responsibilities helping her Mother with the care of her siblings in the housing projects, while she ponders over solutions for a successful life. From Feminism To Islam is about the life of a young woman who fought for the rights of women in the factory and later accepted Islam. Rasheeda, AKA, Sherry shocked her family and friends by wearing the veil and marrying again. Rasheeda travels to India with her husband and finds her inner self again.
Almost five million tonnes of cocoa produced annually drives the US$100 billion global chocolate industry. To sustain the industry, cacao planting materials (seeds and clones) have been successfully moved from the Amazon forests in America to the humid tropical forests of Africa, Asia, and Australia. In more than 150 years of commercial cacao cultivation, smallholder farmers that supply the bulk of cocoa beans still face several production constraints that impede their efficiency. Scientific technologies have therefore been deployed to remove these constraints by ensuring a continuous supply of good quality cocoa beans to meet growing global demand. This book provides insight into these scientific advances to address these current and emerging problems and to assure the sustainability of the global cocoa industry.
From Morgan Rice, #1 Bestselling author of THE VAMPIRE JOURNALS, comes the first book in a new trilogy of dystopian fiction. New York. 2120. American has been decimated, wiped out from the second Civil War. In this post-apocalyptic world, survivors are far and few between. And most of those who do survive are members of the violent gangs, predators who live in the big cities. They patrol the countryside looking for slaves, for fresh victims to bring back into the city for their favorite death sport: Arena One. The death stadium where opponents are made to fight to the death, in the most barbaric of ways. There is only one rule to the arena: no one survives. Ever. Deep in the wilderness, high up in the Catskill Mountains, 17 year old Brooke Moore manages to survive, hiding out with her younger sister, Bree. They are careful to avoid the gangs of slaverunners who patrol the countryside. But one day, Brooke is not as careful as she can be, and Bree is captured. The slaverunners take her away, heading to the city, and to what will be a certain death. Brooke, a Marine’s daughter, was raised to be tough, to never back down from a fight. When her sister is taken, Brooke mobilizes, uses everything at her disposal to chase down the slaverunners and get her sister back. Along the way she runs into Ben, 17, another survivor like her, whose brother was taken. Together, they team up on their rescue mission. What follows is a post-apocalyptic, action-packed thriller, as the two of them pursue the slaverunners on the most dangerous ride of their lives, following them deep into the heart of New York. Along the way, if they are to survive, they will have to make some of the hardest choices and sacrifices of their lives, encountering obstacles neither of them had expected—including their unexpected feelings for each other. Will they rescue their siblings? Will they make it back? And will they, themselves, have to fight in the arena? ARENA ONE is Book #1 in the Survival Trilogy, and is 85,000 words.
Grand Fir Mosaic habitats are difficult to regenerate because of pocket gophers (Thomomys talpoides) and successional plant communities dominated by bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum) and western coneflower (Rudbeckia occidentalis). This study tested reforestation practices recommended by previous research, tested hypotheses about the effects of overstory shade on regeneration success, and documented secondary succession. Natural regeneration is not a reliable reforestation method on Grand Fir Mosaic sites. Clearcut and planting was the best regeneration method if pocket gophers are controlled. Partial cutting and planting was the best regeneration method if pocket gophers were not controlled. Most gopher-caused seedling mortality occurred the first summer, first winter, and second winter after planting. The clearcut treatment resulted in the loss of shrub species and the dominance of bracken fern and/or western coneflower. In the partial cut treatment, shrubs were retained and there was less bracken fern and/or western coneflower than in the clearcut treatment.
