An exciting look at the essential roles that parasites play in Earth's ecosystems This book looks at the weird and wonderful world of parasites, the most abundant form of life on Earth. Parasites come in all forms and sizes and inhabit every free-living organism. Parasitism is now, and always has been, a way to survive under changing environmental conditions. From arctic oceans to tropical forests, Scott Gardner, Judy Diamond, and Gabor Racz investigate how parasites survive and evolve, and how they influence and provide stability to ecosystems. Taking readers to the open ranges of Mongolia, the Sandhills of north-central Nebraska, the Andes of Bolivia, and more, the authors examine the impact parasites have on humans and other animals. Using examples of parasites from throughout the tree of life, the authors describe parasite-host relationships as diverse as those between trematodes and snails and tapeworms and whales. They even consider the strange effects of thorny-headed worms on their hosts. Parasites offer clues to the evolutionary history of particular regions, and they can provide insights into the history of species interactions. Through parasites, biologists can weave together a global knowledge of the past to predict the challenges that we will face in the future. Revealing that parasites are so much more than creepy-crawlies, this book gives up-to-date context for these critical members of the biological diversity of our planet.

This book discusses the issue of academic misconduct and publication ethics in general and plagiarism in particular, with a focus on case studies in various universities around the world (notably in Japan, Singapore, Australia, USA, and Canada). We are especially interested in students' and teachers' perception of academic misconduct and their definition and understanding of plagiarism. Most chapters discuss undergraduates' understanding of academic dishonesty and students' experiences using plagiarism softwares. The book also analyzes teachers' perception of cheating and how they respond to it. Writing is perceived by all of the teachers to be the most important form of assessment that required preventative measures in order to reduce the occurrence of academic dishonesty among students. Each chapter recommends strategies to fight plagiarism, such as establishing guidelines and regulations concerning academic integrity, awareness of the scale of the issue (scandals at all levels in most countries, even including famous scholars, administrators, and elected officials), assessing the damage done to academic reputation and credibility, developing trust and credibility on social media (especially with the recent disturbing growth of fake news and data), minimizing the proliferation of dishonest accreditation, of identity theft, of fake peer-reviews, and fighting the growing number of fake papers, with or without the use of computer-generated academic works.

"Value Assumptions in Risk Assessment" is a case study of the Alachlor Controversy of 1985 in which the Canadian Minister of Agriculture cancelled the registration of the herbicide alachlor. This book demonstrates the opinion that risk assessments by scientific experts as well as ordinary citizens are guided by dominant values held by the assessors. It examines what these values typically are, how they work within a risk assessment, and some implications of reconsidering risk debates as primarily debates about values.

Throughout, the book draws the conclusion that such debates are not primarily debates about science itself, but rather consist of political debate among different value frameworks, different ways of thinking about moral values, different conceptions of society, and different attitudes toward technology and toward risk-taking itself. The larger question in the analysis of these risk assessments is which set of values will ultimately prevail.