Contemporary accounts of welfare state change have produced conflicting findings and incompatible theoretical explanations. To a large extent this is due to a 'dependent variable problem' within comparative research, whereby there is insufficient consideration of how to conceptualize, operationalize and measure change. With contributions from leading international scholars, this important book presents a comprehensive examination of conventional indicators (such as social spending), available alternatives (including social rights and conditionality), as well as principal concepts of how to capture change (for example convergence and de-familization). By providing an in-depth discussion of the most salient aspects of the 'dependent variable problem', the editors aim to enable a more cumulative build-up of empirical evidence and contribute to constructive theoretical debates about the causes of welfare state change. The volume also offers valuable suggestions as to how the problem might be tackled within empirical cross-national analyses of modern welfare states. The focus on the methodology of conceptualizing and measuring welfare state change in a comparative perspective gives this unique book widespread appeal amongst scholars and researchers of social policy and sociology, as well as students at both the advanced undergraduate and post-graduate level studying comparative social policy, research methods and welfare reform.

This book approaches the subject from a mechanistic perspective that pitches the language at a level that is understandable to those entering the field and who are not familiar with its common phrases or complex terms. It provides a simple encapsulation of concepts and expands on them. In each chapter the basic concept is explained as simply and clearly as possible without a great deal of detail, then in subsequent sections additional material, exceptions to the general rule, examples, etc., is introduced and built up. Such material was generously supplemented with diagrams; conceptually elegant line diagrams in two or three colors. The artwork was well thought out and able to condense the scientific principles into a novel and visually exciting form. The diagrams encourage browsing or draw the reader to salient points. In addition, the technique of highlighting key concepts in a separate box is used throughout each chapter.

Cyber Strategy: Risk-Driven Security and Resiliency provides a process and roadmap for any company to develop its unified Cybersecurity and Cyber Resiliency strategies. It demonstrates a methodology for companies to combine their disassociated efforts into one corporate plan with buy-in from senior management that will efficiently utilize resources, target high risk threats, and evaluate risk assessment methodologies and the efficacy of resultant risk mitigations. The book discusses all the steps required from conception of the plan from preplanning (mission/vision, principles, strategic objectives, new initiatives derivation), project management directives, cyber threat and vulnerability analysis, cyber risk and controls assessment to reporting and measurement techniques for plan success and overall strategic plan performance. In addition, a methodology is presented to aid in new initiative selection for the following year by identifying all relevant inputs. Tools utilized include: Key Risk Indicators (KRI) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cyber Security Framework (CSF) Target State Maturity interval mapping per initiative Comparisons of current and target state business goals and critical success factors A quantitative NIST-based risk assessment of initiative technology components Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed (RACI) diagrams for Cyber Steering Committee tasks and Governance Boards' approval processes Swimlanes, timelines, data flow diagrams (inputs, resources, outputs), progress report templates, and Gantt charts for project management The last chapter provides downloadable checklists, tables, data flow diagrams, figures, and assessment tools to help develop your company's cybersecurity and cyber resiliency strategic plan.

The Handbook of Forensic Drug Analysis is a comprehensive chemical and analytic reference for the forensic analysis of illicit drugs. With chapters written by leading researchers in the field, the book provides in-depth, up-to-date methods and results of forensic drug analyses. This Handbook discusses various forms of the drug as well as the origin and nature of samples. It explains how to perform various tests, the use of best practices, and the analysis of results. Numerous forensic and chemical analytic techniques are covered including immunoassay, gas chromatography, and mass spectrometry. Topics range from the use of immunoassay technologies for drugs-of-abuse testing, to methods of forensic analysis for cannabis, hallucinogens, cocaine, opioids, and amphetamine. The book also looks at synthetic methods and law enforcement concerns regarding the manufacture of illicit drugs, with an emphasis on clandestine methamphetamine production. This Handbook should serve as a widely used reference for forensic scientists, toxicologists, pharmacologists, drug companies, and professionals working in toxicology testing labs, libraries, and poison control centers. It may also be used by chemists, physicians and those in legal and regulatory professions, and students of graduate courses in forensic science.

Cyber Strategy: Risk-Driven Security and Resiliency provides a process and roadmap for any company to develop its unified Cybersecurity and Cyber Resiliency strategies. It demonstrates a methodology for companies to combine their disassociated efforts into one corporate plan with buy-in from senior management that will efficiently utilize resources, target high risk threats, and evaluate risk assessment methodologies and the efficacy of resultant risk mitigations. The book discusses all the steps required from conception of the plan from preplanning (mission/vision, principles, strategic objectives, new initiatives derivation), project management directives, cyber threat and vulnerability analysis, cyber risk and controls assessment to reporting and measurement techniques for plan success and overall strategic plan performance. In addition, a methodology is presented to aid in new initiative selection for the following year by identifying all relevant inputs. Tools utilized include: Key Risk Indicators (KRI) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cyber Security Framework (CSF) Target State Maturity interval mapping per initiative Comparisons of current and target state business goals and critical success factors A quantitative NIST-based risk assessment of initiative technology components Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed (RACI) diagrams for Cyber Steering Committee tasks and Governance Boards' approval processes Swimlanes, timelines, data flow diagrams (inputs, resources, outputs), progress report templates, and Gantt charts for project management The last chapter provides downloadable checklists, tables, data flow diagrams, figures, and assessment tools to help develop your company's cybersecurity and cyber resiliency strategic plan.

By every measure, Hurricane Sandy was a disaster of epic proportions. The deadliest storm to strike the East Coast since Hurricane Diane in 1955, Sandy killed thirty-seven people and caused more than $30 billion in damages in 2012 to New Jersey alone. But earlier centuries experienced their own catastrophes. In "Disaster , " Alan A. Siegel brings readers face-to-face with twenty-eight of the deadliest natural and human-caused calamities to strike New Jersey between 1821 and 1906, ranging from horrific transportation accidents to uncontrolled fires of a kind rarely seen today. As Siegel writes in his introduction, "None of the stories end well--there are dead and injured by the thousands as well as millions in property lost." Accounts of these fires, steamboat explosions, shipwrecks, train wrecks, and storms are told in the words of the people who experienced the events firsthand, lending a sense of immediacy to each story. Disasters bring out the worst as well as the best in people. Siegel focuses on the bravest individuals, including harbor pilot Thomas Freeborn who drowned while attempting to save fifty passengers and crew of a ship foundering on the Jersey Shore, and Warwicke Greene, a fourteen-year-old schoolboy who rescued the injured "like the hero of an epic poem" after a train wreck in the Hackensack Meadows. These and many other stories of forgotten acts of courage in the face of danger will make "Disaster " an unforgettable read.FiresNewark -- October 27, 1836Cape May City -- September 5, 1856Cape May City -- August 31, 1869Cape May City -- November 9, 1878Newton -- September 22, 1873Caven Point, Jersey City Refinery Fire -- May 10, 1883The Standard Oil Fire, Bayonne -- July 5, 1900
Steamboat Disasters"New Jersey," Camden -- March 15, 1856"Isaac Newton," Fort Lee -- December 5, 1863
Train WrecksBurlington -- August 29, 1855Hackensack Meadows -- January 15, 1894May's Landing -- August 11, 1880Absecon Island -- July 30, 1896Bordentown -- February 21, 1901The Thoroughfare -- October 28, 1906
Shipwrecks"John Minturn," South of Mantoloking -- February 15, 1846"Powhattan," Beach Haven -- April 15, 1854"New Era," Deal Beach -- November 13, 1854"New York," North of Barnegat Inlet -- December 20, 1856"Vizcay"a and "Cornelius Hargraves," Off Barnegat Bay -- October 30, 1890"Delaware," Barnegat Bay -- July 8, 1898
Natural DisastersBlizzard of '88 -- March 11-14, 1888The Great September Gale -- September 3, 1821Statewide Hurricane -- September 10, 1889New Brunswick Tornado -- June 19, 1835Camden Tornado -- July 26, 1860Camden Tornado -- August 3, 1885Cherry Hill Tornado -- July 13, 1895

This book approaches the subject from a mechanistic perspective that pitches the language at a level that is understandable to those entering the field and who are not familiar with its common phrases or complex terms. It provides a simple encapsulation of concepts and expands on them. In each chapter the basic concept is explained as simply and clearly as possible without a great deal of detail, then in subsequent sections additional material, exceptions to the general rule, examples, etc., is introduced and built up. Such material was generously supplemented with diagrams; conceptually elegant line diagrams in two or three colors. The artwork was well thought out and able to condense the scientific principles into a novel and visually exciting form. The diagrams encourage browsing or draw the reader to salient points. In addition, the technique of highlighting key concepts in a separate box is used throughout each chapter.

Forensic Science: The Basics, Fourth Edition is fully updated, building on the popularity of the prior editions. The book provides a fundamental background in forensic science, criminal investigation and court testimony. It describes how various forms of evidence are collected, preserved and analyzed scientifically, and then presented in court based on the analysis of the forensic expert. The book addresses knowledge of the natural and physical sciences, including biology and chemistry, while introducing readers to the application of science to the justice system. New topics added to this edition include coverage of the formation and work of the NIST Organization of Scientific Area Committees (OSACs), new sections on forensic palynology (pollen), forensic taphonomy, the opioid crisis, forensic genetics and genealogy, recent COVID-19 fraud schemes perpetrated by cybercriminals, and a wholly new chapter on forensic psychology. Each chapter presents a set of learning objectives, a mini glossary, and acronyms. While chapter topics and coverage flow logically, each chapter can stand on its own, allowing for continuous or selected classroom reading and study. Forensic Science, Fourth Edition is an ideal introductory textbook to present forensic science principles and practices to students, including those with a basic science background without requiring prior forensic science coursework.

Political science and sociology increasingly rely on mathematical modeling and sophisticated data analysis, and many graduate programs in these fields now require students to take a "math camp" or a semester-long or yearlong course to acquire the necessary skills. Available textbooks are written for mathematics or economics majors, and fail to convey to students of political science and sociology the reasons for learning often-abstract mathematical concepts. A Mathematics Course for Political and Social Research fills this gap, providing both a primer for math novices in the social sciences and a handy reference for seasoned researchers. The book begins with the fundamental building blocks of mathematics and basic algebra, then goes on to cover essential subjects such as calculus in one and more than one variable, including optimization, constrained optimization, and implicit functions; linear algebra, including Markov chains and eigenvectors; and probability. It describes the intermediate steps most other textbooks leave out, features numerous exercises throughout, and grounds all concepts by illustrating their use and importance in political science and sociology. * Uniquely designed and ideal for students and researchers in political science and sociology * Uses practical examples from political science and sociology * Features "Why Do I Care?" sections that explain why concepts are useful * Includes numerous exercises * Complete online solutions manual (available only to professors, email david.siegel at duke.edu, subject line "Solution Set") * Selected solutions available online to students

Most theories of elections assume that voters and political actors are fully rational. While these formulations produce many insights, they also generate anomalies--most famously, about turnout. The rise of behavioral economics has posed new challenges to the premise of rationality. This groundbreaking book provides a behavioral theory of elections based on the notion that all actors--politicians as well as voters--are only boundedly rational. The theory posits learning via trial and error: actions that surpass an actor's aspiration level are more likely to be used in the future, while those that fall short are less likely to be tried later.

Based on this idea of adaptation, the authors construct formal models of party competition, turnout, and voters' choices of candidates. These models predict substantial turnout levels, voters sorting into parties, and winning parties adopting centrist platforms. In multiparty elections, voters are able to coordinate vote choices on majority-preferred candidates, while all candidates garner significant vote shares. Overall, the behavioral theory and its models produce macroimplications consistent with the data on elections, and they use plausible microassumptions about the cognitive capacities of politicians and voters. A computational model accompanies the book and can be used as a tool for further research.

Fundamentals of Forensic Science, Third Edition, provides current case studies that reflect the ways professional forensic scientists work, not how forensic academicians teach. The book includes the binding principles of forensic science, including the relationships between people, places, and things as demonstrated by transferred evidence, the context of those people, places, and things, and the meaningfulness of the physical evidence discovered, along with its value in the justice system. Written by two of the leading experts in forensic science today, the book approaches the field from a truly unique and exciting perspective, giving readers a new understanding and appreciation for crime scenes as recent pieces of history, each with evidence that tells a story.

Hallucinogens: A Forensic Drug Handbook is a comprehensive reference for everyone involved in the identification, investigation, and forensic analysis of hallucinogenic drugs. The text begins with a review of the history of these drugs and their abuse, and then takes an in-depth look at the many different types of hallucinogens, their chemical make-up, how they affect users, how they are manufactured and distributed, and how they can be detected and analyzed.
Hallucinogens covers the most commonly abused drugs such as LSD, MDMA ("Ecstasy"), and PCP ("Angel Dust"), as well as many lesser-known chemical substances that cause similar effects. Chapters have been contributed by leading analysts and investigators around the world, and are highlighted with numerous illustrations. This unique handbook will serve is a cross-disciplinary source of information for forensic toxicologists, law enforcement officers, and others involved in the fight against drugs.
* Brings together comprehensive information on hallucinogenic drugs in one convenient source
* Covers everything from abuse of these drugs to pharmacology, effects, forms, manufacturing methods, distribution, and forensic analysis
* Contains numerous illustrations, chemical structures, and analytic spectra for each drug
* Includes contributions from many of the world's leading investigators and analysts

Durch die in elektrischen Kraftwerken und auf den neuzeitlichen Ozeandampfern manchmal schon wenige Wochen nach del' Inbetriebsetzung vorkommenden, spateI' be schriebenen, eigenartigen kraterformigen Korrosionserscheinungen an den mit einer Fhissigkeit in Beriihrung befindlichen verschiedensten Metallen entstehen haufig betracht liche Betriebstorungen und kostspielige Instandsetzungsarbeiten. Besonders werden die Kondensator- und Olkiihlerrohre aus Messing und anderen Kupferlegierungen oft zerstort. Manchmal zeigen sich abel' auch die gleichen Anfressungen an den Rohrboden del' Ober flachenkondensatoren und Olkiihler, sowie an den verschiedenen Pumpen nebst den zugehOrigen Rohrleitungen usw. Diese Korrosionen sind in den letzten drei J ahrzehnten von den Interessenten aller Industriestaaten eingehend untersucht und in den Fachzeitungen aller Erdteile ausfiihrlich erortert worden, jedoch sind einwandfreie, jeden Zweifel ausschlieBende Erklarungen iiber die eigentlichen Ursachen und wirksame MaBnahmen zur Verhiitung diesel' raschen Korrosionen nicht bekannt geworden; infolgedessen gehen auch die Ansichten iiber die Entstehung diesel' Korrosionen bis zum heutigen Tage noch weit auseinander. Da sich gezeigt hatte, daB einzelne chemische und metallographische Kondensator rohruntersuchungen sowie einzelne Beobachtungen aus del' Praxis nicht geniigten, urn die sehr verwickelt erscheinende Korrosionsfrage zu klaren, ist del' Verfasser davon aus gegangen, daB bei derartigen Untersuchungen VOl' allem die gesamten Betriebsverhaltnisse beriicksichtigt und insbesondere eine moglichst groBe Anzahl verschiedener Rohre zu Vergleichszwecken nach einheitlichen Gesichtspunkten untersucht werden miissen, ent wedel' Rohre, die sich im Betriebe besonders gut bewahrt hatten odeI' abel' solche, die in ganz kurzer Zeit zerstort wurden. Dabei haben auch elektrische Spannungsmessungen zwecks Feststellung etwaiger von Gleichstromanlagen herriihrender vagabundierender Strome sehr haufig wertvolle Hinweise auf die Ursachen derartiger Korrosionen gegeben."

In 1919 the Soviet government directed Ludwig Martens to open a trade bureau in New York. Before his deportation two years later, Martens had established contact with nearly one thousand American firms and conducted trade in the face of a stiff Allied embargo. His work planted the seeds for growing commercial ties between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. throughout the 1920s. Because the United States did not recognize the Soviet Union until 1933, historians have viewed the early Soviet--American relationship as an ideological stand-off. Katherine Siegel, drawing on public, private, and corporate documents as well as newly opened Soviet archives, paints a different picture. She finds that business ties flourished between 1923 and 1930, American sales to the Soviets grew twentyfold and American firms supplied Russians with more than a fourth of their imports. American businesses were only too eager to tap into huge Soviet markets. Under the Soviets' New Economic Policy and first Five Year Plan, American firms invested in the U.S.S.R. and sold technical processes, provided consulting services, built factories, and trained Soviet engineers in the U.S. Most significantly, Siegel shows, this commercial relationship encouraged policy shifts at the highest levels of the U.S. government. Thus when Franklin D. Roosevelt opened diplomatic relations with Russia, he was building on ties that had been carefully constructed over the previous fifteen years. Siegel's study makes an important contribution to a new understanding of early Soviet-American relations.

THE RESCUE is a young adult fantasy novel and book #3 in the Olivia Hart and the Gifted Program series. Olivia Hart believes there is no governing body or diabolical force that can keep her and Justin Benz apart. She loves him. Of course, that was before she regains consciousness in Prometheus's Fort Bliss and discovers her friends have been hauled off to the Meta's prison. Olivia is forced to pacify Mr. Dimon and conform to normal high school life in Pandora, but she knows as long as the only female Elste in the world lives there, it is a dangerous place.

THE RETREAT is a young adult fantasy novel and book #2 in the Olivia Hart and the Gifted Program series. Just a few months ago, Olivia Hart and Jaime Forte were shy girls, entering another high school year with apprehension. Discovering their special Gifts changes everything. They approach the spring of their junior year more confidently, as independent and self-sufficient young adults. Olivia has even managed to snag Justin Benz as a secret boyfriend. The kids in the Gifted Program quickly realize there were many things their ex-teacher, Ms. Magos, wasn't completely honest about. With no one left to answer their questions, Jaime speculates that a relative chooses the most worthy descendant to pass on their Gift. She convinces her friends that her great Aunt Evelyn can reveal the details of their jewelry's past and teach them about their Gifts. Olivia's insecurities have her wondering why a relative from the charming Elste family would pick her to receive a Gift instead of her charismatic brother. Then she learns the immense strength of her Gift. Once again, Prometheus will force this tight-knit group of exceptional teenagers to face their true feelings about themselves and each other.

THE CHARM is a young adult fantasy novel and book #1 in the Olivia Hart and the Gifted Program series. Imagine what high school would be like if your ex-boyfriend fired lightning when he was angry, the sporty girl in your class had enough strength to lift a flatbed truck, and you could charm your way out of trouble. When shy, sixteen year old, Olivia Hart, witnesses the actual rainstorm her ex-boyfriend, Max Smarr, creates in Pandora high school's cafeteria, she's convinced she's lost her mind. Nothing will prepare her, however, for the discovery of her own special Gift. Olivia Hart has always been satisfied living in the shadows of her peers, and so high school doesn't get any easier when her charismatic brother goes off to college and her relationship with her edgy boyfriend comes to an end. When she comes across an antique charm, she finds out that she can compel people with her mind and hiding is no longer an option. With the help of her friends in the Gifted Program and each of their special Gifts, what happens next in this young love and coming of age story will force Olivia into the spotlight, test her friendships, and cause her to question her role in a society. The Retreat, book #2 in the Olivia Hart and the Gifted Program series, is available NOW