THIS BOOK SHARES the struggle of a couple who faced the onset of dementia early in their marriage. Like many of us, Mel and Aleta had visions of a full life, filled with possibilities. They had dreams of growing old together and traveling the world. They believed in education and raised their children emphasizing how education was the one gift that no one could steal. Little did they know that dementia was a thief that could take their dreams away. The book portrays their life story from the beginning and how Mel continues to keep his promise, "Till death do us part."

This book provides insight into rural poverty in Latin America. It draws on six case studies of recent rural household surveys for Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, and Peru and several thematic studies examining land, labor, rural financial markets, the environments, and disadvantaged groups. Recognizing the heterogeneity within the rural economy, the studies characterize three important groups--small farmers, landless farm workers, and rural non-farm workers--and provide quantitative and qualitative analyses of the determinants of household income.

This book is devoted to the mathematical methods of metamodeling that can be used to speed up the valuation of large portfolios of variable annuities. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and practitioners. It is the goal of this book to describe the computational problems and present the metamodeling approaches in a way that can be accessible to advanced undergraduate students and practitioners. To that end, the book will not only describe the theory of these mathematical approaches, but also present the implementations.

This book is devoted to the mathematical methods of metamodeling that can be used to speed up the valuation of large portfolios of variable annuities. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and practitioners. It is the goal of this book to describe the computational problems and present the metamodeling approaches in a way that can be accessible to advanced undergraduate students and practitioners. To that end, the book will not only describe the theory of these mathematical approaches, but also present the implementations.

The main goal of the second edition of this book is to update the content on the rapidly growing field of lymphoscintigraphy, a radionuclide-based imaging procedure that provides information on the functional status of the lymphatic system. Although the technique was originally introduced to identify the cause of peripheral edema (i.e., blockage of the venous or lymphatic circulation), more recent and widespread applications include radioguided biopsy of the sentinel lymph node in patients with solid cancers. This procedure is crucial for the adequate planning of oncologic surgery in a growing number of cancers, most notably breast cancer, cutaneous melanoma, head and neck cancers, penile cancer, and cervical cancer. The book focuses on the latest advances in lymphoscintigraphy techniques, including both novel tracers recently approved for clinical use (especially in the field of sentinel lymph node mapping) and the expanding role of hybrid imaging with SPECT/CT - and in sentinel node detection using hybrid tracers (radiolabeled and fluorescent) for dual-signature guidance. Each chapter addresses the clinical application of lymphoscintigraphy in different anatomic areas or disease conditions. After an introductory section concerning the pathophysiology of the specific site/disease, the clinical relevance and impact of lymphoscintigraphy is demonstrated by a collection of richly illustrated teaching cases describing the lymphoscintigraphic patterns most commonly observed, as well as anatomic variants and technical pitfalls. Emphasis is placed on tomographic multimodality imaging. The book gathers contributions by experts in nuclear oncology, who have revised their chapters by updating the didactic material and adding clinical cases. Regarding sentinel lymph node biopsy in particular, a major distinction of this text is the incorporation of the staging guidelines of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (8th edition) into the didactic material.

Although lymphoscintigraphy was originally introduced into clinical routine for identification of the cause of peripheral edema, more recently it has been widely applied for radioguided biopsy of the sentinel lymph node in patients with solid cancers. The procedure is now considered crucial for adequate planning of oncologic surgery in a growing number of cancers. This atlas presents a collection of richly illustrated teaching cases that demonstrate the clinical relevance and impact of lymphoscintigraphy in different pathologic conditions. After introductory chapters on the anatomy, physiology, and pathophysiology of lymphatic circulation, the role of lymphoscintigraphy in differential diagnosis of peripheral edema and characterization of intracavitary lymph effusions is addressed. The principal focus of the book, however, is on the use of lymphoscintigraphic mapping for radioguided sentinel node biopsy in cutaneous melanoma and cancers at a range of anatomic sites. The most commonly observed lymphoscintigraphic patterns are depicted, and anatomic variants and technical pitfalls of the procedure receive careful attention. The role of tomographic multimodality imaging is also considered. The atlas will be an excellent learning tool for residents in nuclear medicine and other specialists with an interest in the field.

This book provides fresh insight into rural poverty in Latin America. It draws on six case studies of recent rural household surveys - for Chile, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, and Peru - and several thematic studies examining land, labour, rural financial markets, the environments, and disadvantaged groups. Recognizing the heterogeneity within the rural economy, the studies characterize three important groups - small farmers, landless farm workers, and rural non-farm workers - and provide quantitative and qualitative analyses of the determinants of household income.

THIS BOOK SHARES the struggle of a couple who faced the onset of dementia early in their marriage. Like many of us, Mel and Aleta had visions of a full life, filled with possibilities. They had dreams of growing old together and traveling the world. They believed in education and raised their children emphasizing how education was the one gift that no one could steal. Little did they know that dementia was a thief that could take their dreams away. The book portrays their life story from the beginning and how Mel continues to keep his promise, "Till death do us part."

No One Makes It Alone, is a true story of how a fatherless, westside Latino paperboy -destined to be a respected judge -is plucked off a cold, wintery street corner by an Anglo businessman who mentors and fathers him. It was Jack Keller's love and caring -and the game of tennis- that taught Andy Valdez about honesty, competition, honor and fair play. Tennis opened the door to a new world of possibilities- and Andy walked through. Nearly forty years later, Judge Andrew A. Valdez, returns the favor when he finds Keller on the street, alone and destitute, a victim of Alzheimer's Disease. No One Makes It Alone comes full circle and offers hope to each of us. No matter who we are, what color our skin, what side of the tracks we call home or what our country of origin, there are far more similarities than differences between us.

Mollusks have been important to humans since our earliest days. Initially, when humans were primarily interested in what they could eat or use, mollusks were important as food, ornaments, and materials for tools. Over the centuries, as human knowledge branched out and individuals started to study the world around them, mollusks were important subjects for learning how things worked. In this volume, the editors and contributors have brought together a broad range of topics within the field of malacology. It is our expectation that these topics will be of interest and use to amateur and professional malacologists.