This collection of intertwined essays results from writer George Ellison's thirty-year fascination with Western North Carolina and its Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Gathered into three broad sections--Natural History, Cherokees and Mountaineers--these insightful essays provide a wealth of historic detail and offer a unique perspective on the rich cultural heritage of this stunning and oft-misunderstood part of the country. Through a diverse cast of characters including early explorers and European plant hunters, a Cherokee shaman or two, weather sharps, a hermit, a moonshiner, several writers of note, ornithologists and naturalists, we hear stories in a distinctly Appalachian tone and gain an understanding of mountain life and lore. We develop a new language fit for mountain life, speaking of balds, knobs, gaps, seeps, springheads and shoals, and begin to understand the roots of the names Crooked Arm, Deeplow Gap and the Boogerman Trail. We see the world through the eyes of the ancient Cherokees, for whom the Nantahala Gorge, for example, was a "chasm of horrors" associated with the "uktena," a mythic serpent from the dreaded Under World. From his home in a 46-acre cove surrounded on three sides by the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and from a studio he shares with his watercolorist wife, Elizabeth, in Bryson City, George Ellison writes and lectures about the natural and human history of Western North Carolina. His work appears in the Asheville Citizen-Times, the Smoky Mountain News, and Chinquapin: The Newsletter of the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society.

Police procedure and evidence brought to life! A key text for all those on policing degree or other pre-join routes, this book examines police procedure and evidence in the criminal justice system, providing clear and accessible information while encouraging analysis and reflection. Chapters cover police powers, stop and search, arrest and custody, disposals, court procedures and disclosure, and rehabilitation. Uniquely it follows the journey of a fictional family who all in one way or another become involved in the criminal justice system, allowing students to consider a range of possible options and outcomes and bringing the theory to life.

The consequences of childhood obesity are serious and far reaching, with both physical and psychological components that add to its complexity. Childhood Obesity: Contemporary Issues provides an up-to-date account of the increase of obesity in children, its causes, and its prevention. The expert editorial panel has chosen contributors with considerable practical and research experience. They explore why childhood obesity is so difficult to prevent and treat. Focusing less on clinical issues and more on environmental factors, the book brings together social, psychological, biological, and socio-biological approaches to the experience and problem of obesity. Delineating the scope and impact of childhood obesity, the book provides a unique view of the obese child. It examines the link between food intake and physical activity, which are the immediate determinants of energy balance, and discusses how to measure and assess them. The World Health Organization describes obesity as one of today's most blatantly visible - yet most neglected - public health problems. This book highlights obesity in children and discusses the need to develop multifactorial and multi-agency strategic plans to contain this epidemic.

This study brings together health-care professionals and scholars from a variety of disciplines who seek to understand, and prevent, the transmission of HIV. The biological and social factors concerned with the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS has resulted in dedicated research from each of the disciplines and provided unique insights into the disease. By assembling their insights in one multidisciplinary volume, this book provides a more complete picture of the complex disease, and demonstrates why preventing the spread of HIV will require interdisciplinary collaboration.