Geography teachers and school library media specialists will find this resource indispensable for providing classroom lessons and activities in critical thinking for geography students in grades 7-12. It is filled with over 75 primary source Internet sites covering such topics as Places and Regions, Physical Systems, Human Systems, Environment and Society, and the Uses of Geography, and will be an invaluable tool in helping teachers and librarians meet the standards set forth in the 1994 publication "Geography for Life: National Geography Standards."

Each site is accompanied by a site summary that describes the site contents and usefulness to geography teachers and school library media specialists. Site subjects include: Urban Landscapes, Volcanoes and Earthquakes, Weather, The U.S. Census, and the World Wildlife Fund Global Network. The questions and activities that follow are designed to develop critical thinking skills for both oral and written presentations. An appendix of additional geography resources includes Internet addresses for approximately 25 sites relating to maps, primary sources, and critical thinking. This will provide teachers and librarians with even more resources for developing lessons to help each student meet all 18 of the National Geography Standards.

This book is intended to be an introductory text for engineers and physicists who are likely to be involved in the area of optical fiber communications. Its purpose is to provide the student with an explanatory text that can al so be used for "self-study." Thus, key theoretical resul ts have been rather thoroughly derived, and detailed explanations have been given wherever cer tain steps have been excluded. Some of the derivations are in new form, which the reader will hopefully find stimulating. In addition, some of the ex perimental and theoretical results are based on the research of the authors, and they are published here for the first time. However, references are given for all those cases involving equivalent results obtained by others. Although a large number of monographs are available for the specialist or the knowledgeable scientist, most of these are inadequate for teaching pur poses. This aspect served as a major motivation for writing a book that ex plains the basic phenomena and techniques. The required material was partly developed in earlier courses on integrated optics and optical fiber commu nications, and partly resulted from the authors' close cooperation with in dustry. To assess the suitability of the material, the manuscript of the book was used with encouraging results for a graduate course (spring sem ester, 1980) at the Communications Laboratory of the Helsinki University of Technology."

Chronic pancreatitis (CP), a worldwide disease, is primarily recognised as a long-standing inflammation of the pancreas that alters the organ's normal structure and functions. CP reflects the end-stage pathology of inflammation-associated diseases. It presents episodes of acute inflammation or chronic damage of pancreas with symptoms of persistent abdominal pain or malabsorption, weight loss, pain related to the intake of food containing a high percentage of fats and protein. The health conditions of diabetics have been found to deteriorate due to pancreatic damage in CP. A plethora of information has emerged in recent years in the area of pancreatitis research. The frontiers of current pancreatic research reflected its newer definitions, classifications, tools for investigations, animal models, insight into the molecular mechanisms of the initiation of the earliest pancreatic injury, the role of cytokines and inflammation; and attributes of genetic mutations in SPINK1 CFTR, CTSB, MTHFR and ACE etc. during pancreatitis. The topological variations of patients have been found to be associated to a different trend of pathogenesis and severity of the disease, which might be associated to relatively poor nutritional uptake and other environmental factors. Keeping these facts in view, we envisaged to bring out an updated overview on this subject in general and to present the experiment based information on tropical chronic pancreatitis (TCP) in the patients from northern part of India in particular.

Bhakti is a real, genuine search after God, a search beginning, continuing and ending in love. One single moment of madness of extreme love to God brings us eternal freedom. Devotional service is a process of spiritual understanding. Wherever devotional service exists, the material contamination cannot coexist. The book "Bhakti - Devotion" discusses Bhakti using various approaches. These include: a) Collection of "Sayings" from the Shastras. The ancient Hindu Shastras such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Bhagavad Gita, Shrimad Bhagavata, etc., contain invaluable 'Sayings' which are a source of enlightenment. b) Sage Narada's Bhakti-aphorisms. Sage Narada describes Bhakti as "intense love to God; when a man gets it, he loves all, hates none; he becomes satisfied for ever." c) A discussion of "Bhakti-Yoga - The Path of Devotion," Chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita. This chapter takes us deeper into the concept of Bhakti. d) "Bhaktas - Devotees" of the Lord. Their lives are a source of inspiration and instill in us a sense of devotion. e) Shri Adi Shankaracharya's devotional song "Bhaja Govindam." It is enchanting and elevates the mind to a higher plane. f) Sanskrit Epithets of Lord Krishna and Arjuna used in the Bhagavad Gita. There is great depth in their meanings.

The Bhagavad Gita is a comprehensive spiritual guide of Hinduism, which includes the essence of the Vedas, the Upanishads, and all the other systems of Hindu philosophy. It therefore incorporates infinite wisdom in 700 verses. The Gita has noble philosophy, art and literature. The subject matter is in the form of a dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna. The thoughts expressed by Krishna are quite deep. Mahatma Gandhi said that "when disappointment stares me in the face and all alone I see not one ray of light, I go to the Bhagavad Gita. I read a verse here and there, I immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming tragedies - and my life has been full of tragedies - and if they have left no visible, no indelible scar on me, I owe it all to the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita."

"Wisdom from Ages" contains selected articles from Hindu Scriptures. The ancient Hindu Scriptures such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas, Bhagavad Gita, Shrimad Bhagavata, etc., are the very foundation of Hindu spiritual tradition. The Vedas house the earliest poetry and prose literature and incorporate a vast body of Sanskrit poetry, ritual treatises, dialogues, and philosophical discourses, which are the oldest surviving literature of India and among the oldest literature anywhere in the world. They have no date or human author. They were composed over a period of many centuries by inspired Seers or Rishis. A spirit of enquiry dominated the minds of the Sages and they were urged by a compelling thirst for Truth of the secret of the Universe.