Where would churches, ministries or businesses be without the administrators, the directors of departments, or the executive secretaries and administrative assistants? Those organizations who have them know their value. Those who don't may or may not realize what they are missing. It has been my desire to share a bit of what I have experienced, and learned, over 40 years. Each one of you who now serves in this capacity is very important to the "visionaries." The work that you do, and the support that you consistently give, enables the top leaders of the organization to do what they have been given by the Lord to do. I like to think of our role as similar to that of my Biblical heroes. Joshua assisted Moses and Timothy served with Paul. May the Lord encourage you as you read my thoughts and what has worked for me. I hope the stories and suggestions will impart to you further measures of blessing, for those you support and also to those you give direction to. Steve Martin

The interaction of microorganisms with geological activities results in processes influencing development of the Earth's geo- and biospheres. In assessing these microbial functions, scientists have explored short- and longterm geological changes attributed to microorganisms and developed new approaches to evaluate the physiology of microbes including microbial interaction with the geological environment. As the field of geomicrobiology developed, it has become highly interdisciplinary and this book provides a review of the recent developments in a cross section of topics including origin of life, microbial-mineral interactions and microbial processes functioning in marine as well as terrestrial environments. A major component of this book addresses molecular techniques to evaluate microbial evolution and assess relationships of microbes in complex, natural c- munities. Recent developments in so-called 'omics' technologies, including (meta) genomics and (meta)proteomics, and isotope labeling methods allow new insights into the function of microbial community members and their possible geological impact. While this book summarizes current knowledge in various areas, it also reveals unresolved questions that require future investigations. Information in these chapters enhances our fundamental knowledge of geomicrobiology that contributes to the exploitation of microbial functions in mineral and environmental biotechn- ogy applications. It is our hope that this book will stimulate interest in the general field of geomicrobiology and encourage others to explore microbial processes as applied to the Earth.

Your kids love Harry Potter and Twilight - but what else will keep young bookworms reading? Whether you're on the hunt for classic kids' books or best sellers, our "best books" lists are full of stories that are bound to spark kids' imagination and keep the pages turning. Parents often ask to suggest good books for their kids - ones that will engage, entertain, and maybe even enlighten them. So we've scoured our recommendation lists and consulted with teachers, librarians, and book critics to assemble what we consider essential titles for your home bookshelves. Our goal in creating this guide was to choose books that are proven to click with kids 9-12. Book genres listed in this guide: Adventure, Biography, Contemporary Fiction, Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Holiday, Humor, Literary Fiction, Magic and fantasy, Mystery, Non-Fiction, School and Science Fiction. The guide also provides advice, reviews and comments to help parents.

Recent improvements in the performance of light sources, i.e., reduction in pulse length and increases in wavelength range and power levels, have led toultrafast technology becoming a basic tool in a wide variety of scientific fields. This book presents the very latest developments in the rapidly rxpanding field of ultrashofrt lase pulses and their applications in physics, chemistry, biology, and artificial devices. It provides the most up-to-date record of current research and references in the field of ultrafast phenomena. Contents: Elementary Dynamics: Chemistry, Biology and Physics - Spectrospcopy and Advances in Measurements - Tools: Sources and Amplifiers - High Intensity and Nonlinear Effects - Semiconductors, Confinement and Opto-Electronics - Biology: Primary Dynamics, Electron and Energy Transfer - Chemistry: Electron and Energy Transfer, and Solvation Dynamics.