For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. New Chinese President Li Jian Jun is done fooling around. He's devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only one man knows how to stop Li's bloody plan for reunification: Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West.

To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she's under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders' plan for her father to exploit.

For his part, President Jack Ryan may have the power of the entire US military at his disposal, but what he really needs are Li's secret plans from Defense Minister Qin so he can stave off a war. Because America's Defense Protocol could lead to a game of mutual destruction that could cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, special operators . . . and his daughter.

Towards Sustainable Well-Being examines existing efforts and emerging possibilities to improve upon gross domestic product as the dominant indicator of economic and social performance. Contributions from leading international and Canadian researchers in the field of beyond-GDP measurement offer a rich range of perspectives on alternative ways to measure well-being and sustainability, along with lessons from around the world on how to bring those metrics into the policy process. Key topics include the policy and political impacts of major beyond-GDP measurement initiatives; the most promising possibilities and policy applications for beyond-GDP measurement; key barriers to introducing beyond-GDP metrics; and complementary measures to ensure new measurements are not merely calculated but taken into account in policymaking. The book highlights a distinction between a reformist beyond-GDP vision, which seeks to improve policymaking and quality of life within existing political and economic institutions, and a transformative vision aiming for more fundamental change including a move beyond economic growth. Illustrating the many advances that have occurred in Canada and internationally, Towards Sustainable Well-Being proposes next steps for both the reformist and transformative visions, as well as possible common ground between them in the pursuit of sustainable well-being.

For decades, Taiwan has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese government. New Chinese President Li Jian Jun is done fooling around. He's devised a secret military operation to take the island. Only one man knows how to stop Li's bloody plan for reunification: Minister of Defense Qin Haiyu. Fearing for his life and the safety of his family, Qin covertly makes contact with the CIA in Beijing and signals his desire to defect to the West.

To get Qin out, John Clark creates an international task force reminiscent of Rainbow Six and goes undercover in mainland China. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Katie Ryan is deployed to the tip of the spear on the destroyer USS Jason Dunham to defend Taiwan. Threatened by an encircling Chinese armada, she's under pressure to find a flaw in the invaders' plan for her father to exploit.

For his part, President Jack Ryan may have the power of the entire US military at his disposal, but what he really needs are Li's secret plans from Defense Minister Qin so he can stave off a war. Because America's Defense Protocol could lead to a game of mutual destruction that could cost the lives of thousands of young soldiers, sailors, special operators . . . and his daughter.

This book is aimed to compile typical fundamental to advanced statistical methods to be used for health data sciences. This book promotes the applications to health and health-related data. However, the models in this book can be used to analyse any kind of data. The data are analysed with the commonly used statistical software of R/SAS (with online supplementary on SPSS/Stata). The data and computing programs will be available to facilitate readers' learning experience. There has been considerable attention to making statistical methods and analytics available to health data science researchers and students. This book brings it all together to provide a concise point-of-reference for most commonly used statistical methods from the fundamental level to the advanced level. We envisage this book will contribute to the rapid development in health data science. We provide straightforward explanations of the collected statistical theory and models, compilations of a variety of publicly available data, and illustrations of data analytics using commonly used statistical software of SAS/R. We will have the data and computer programs available for readers to replicate and implement the new methods. The primary readers would be applied data scientists and practitioners in any field of data science, applied statistical analysts and scientists in public health, academic researchers, and graduate students in statistics and biostatistics. The secondary readers would be R&D professionals/practitioners in industry and governmental agencies. This book can be used for both teaching and applied research.

One of the apparent contradictions which has puzzled observers of East Asian politics is why, despite the region's considerable economic integration, economic governance institutions remain largely underdeveloped. This book stems from the observation that the study of actual forms of economic governance in Asia has been impeded by the dominance of a 'regionalism' problematique. Scholars have focused on the emergence - or not - of regional multilateral institutions, seeking to evaluate these institutions' capacities to enforce disciplines on Asian states. However, they have also neglected prior, and more pertinent, questions regarding the causal determinants of regional economic governance, which animate the contributions to this collection: What factors shape the scale and instruments of economic governance in Asia; and how and why is economic governance being rescaled between the sub-national, national and regional levels? In the chapters of this book, the contributors explore the social and political struggles over the scale and instruments of economic governance. They identify and explain the emergence of a wide variety of regional modes of economic governance, explain the factors shaping the spatial scale of economic governance in Asia, and discern the patterns of regional integration to which they give rise. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Australian Journal of International Affairs.

In a world violated by terror, the old lines have blurred. Meet the next generation of covert ops. John Dempsey's life-as an elite Tier One Navy SEAL named Jack Kemper-is over. A devastating terrorist action catapults him from a world of moral certainty and decisive orders into the shadowy realm of espionage, where ambiguity is the only rule. His new mission: hunt down those responsible for the greatest tragedy in the history of the US Special Ops and bring them to justice. But how does a man torn between duty and revenge walk the line and preserve his soul? As Dempsey struggles with the games of spies, the case propels him across the globe in a desperate effort to prevent a new, horrifying attack on American soil. Once, John Dempsey followed orders blindly. Now he sees behind the curtain, and the security of the civilized world rests on one question: Can a Tier One Navy SEAL adapt and become the world's most lethal spy?

It's strike-and counterstrike-as John Dempsey takes the fight to the Russians in a riveting Tier One Thriller by the Wall Street Journal bestselling authors of American Operator. When shadow warrior and former Tier One Navy SEAL John Dempsey goes undercover to meet with a Vory arms dealer, he thinks he's laying the groundwork to penetrate the Russian criminal underground. Instead, he walks into a trap orchestrated by Zeta, the secret Russian task force behind a recent assassination attempt on the US President. For Dempsey and his team, the only way out is to lay waste to the Russians, putting a target on Ember's back. With Ember pitted against Zeta, a dangerous game of strike and counterstrike ensues-sanctioned in the halls of the Kremlin and the White House but disavowed to the world. As the line between espionage, counterterrorism, and spec ops blurs, Ember is ordered to eliminate their ultimate adversary, which means taking the fight against Zeta to Russian soil. But like a phoenix risen from the Cold War embers, Zeta is more capable than anyone imagines, and the Russians retaliate with an operation that will find Dempsey and task force Ember battling for survival.

One of the apparent contradictions which has puzzled observers of East Asian politics is why, despite the region's considerable economic integration, economic governance institutions remain largely underdeveloped. This book stems from the observation that the study of actual forms of economic governance in Asia has been impeded by the dominance of a 'regionalism' problematique. Scholars have focused on the emergence - or not - of regional multilateral institutions, seeking to evaluate these institutions' capacities to enforce disciplines on Asian states. However, they have also neglected prior, and more pertinent, questions regarding the causal determinants of regional economic governance, which animate the contributions to this collection: What factors shape the scale and instruments of economic governance in Asia; and how and why is economic governance being rescaled between the sub-national, national and regional levels? In the chapters of this book, the contributors explore the social and political struggles over the scale and instruments of economic governance. They identify and explain the emergence of a wide variety of regional modes of economic governance, explain the factors shaping the spatial scale of economic governance in Asia, and discern the patterns of regional integration to which they give rise. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Australian Journal of International Affairs.

A curious young girl who asks her grandmother to tell her a bedtime story about her Metis ancestors goes on an adventure of a lifetime back in time. In her dream, she learns about Metis traditions, the Michif language, accompanies her great-great grandfather on a fur trade and brings back and very special souvenir from the past.

Jack is a young man caught between two terrifying worlds. In one, he is Marine Sergeant Casey Stillmam, locked in combat in the streets of Fallujah, Iraq. He is lying next to his dead and dying friends, bleeding in the street - until he wakes up at home, in bed with his wife. In this other world, Jack is a high school science teacher, husband, and devoted father to his little girl. But the nightmares of war continue to haunt him, and to Jack/Casey they feel in many ways more real than his life at home with his family. When news of killed Marines in Fallujah surface, Jack realizes he knows far more about these men then he should. But, when the dead Marines begin visiting him while he is awake-he realizes he is in serious trouble. Faced with the possibility of losing his mind, or far worse, the nightmares being real, Jack knows he must somehow find a way to bridge the two realities and fight his way back from the nightmares to save his wife and little girl.

This is one damn unique blend of fantasy, horror and military fiction. - Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Author of the Bram Stoker Award winning Novel Black and Orange It's a story that reminds me of old-school King and Koontz, you know, that classic supernatural thriller style that is character driven - Ash Arceneaux, Lead Reviewer, Swamp Dweller Dark Fiction Book Reviews There are no other stories like this out there-this is totally an original idea. It is both creative and explosive. - WH McDonald Jr., lead reviewer, author, and founder of the Military Writers Society of America A man who has spent his life defending his country discovers that fate has presented him with an even higher calling. Ben Morvant is not what you would call ordinary and as a Navy SEAL, he never expected an ordinary life. But when a routine mission to protect a local village in a war-torn region of Africa goes terribly wrong, Ben is presented with truths beyond what his military training and experience have prepared him to accept. With his dying breath, a village elder passes to Ben a gift a simple ring, unremarkable except for its ever changing color and the feeling of power emanating from within. Soon after accepting the ring dark visions begin to haunt Ben s dreams. Images of pain and death, of evil and destruction. But some of the visions are hauntingly familiar. Soon Ben must return to his childhood home in Louisiana to face a dark secret from his past, one that may explain why he has the power to heal with a touch of the hand . . . or kill with a single thought. After discovering the truth about his family and himself, he comes to realize that he is a soldier in a greater battle than he could ever have imagined. And if he cannot find a way to wield the power concealed within him, the forces that prey on mankind s anger and fear will destroy not only him, but everything he holds dear.

An evil force is at work at the Hospital where Nathan is recovering from injuries he received at the hands of his Mom's abusive ex-boyfriend. Demonic looking men with pale faces and glowing eyes lurk in the shadows. Someone is harvesting skin and organs from living donors against their will. In his dreams, Nathan can see these demons in their true form -- evil creatures who feed on the fear and hatred they create in their victims. Nathan's only ally is the Doctor who cares for him. Bound together by their common legacy, they alone seem to share the ability to see the demons for what they truly are. Together they must find a way to stop these creatures before they, and their loved ones, become the next victims.

Sauropod dinosaurs were the largest animals ever to walk the earth, and they represent a substantial portion of vertebrate biomass and biodiversity during the Mesozoic Era. The story of sauropod evolution is told in an extensive fossil record of skeletons and footprints that span the globe and 150 million years of earth history. This generously illustrated volume is the first comprehensive scientific summary of sauropod evolution and paleobiology. The contributors explore sauropod anatomy, detail its variations, and question the myth that life at large size led to evolutionary stagnation and eventual replacement by more "advanced" herbivorous dinosaurs. Chapters address topics such as the evolutionary history and diversity of sauropods; methods for creating three-dimensional reconstructions of their skeletons; questions of sauropod herbivory, tracks, gigantism, locomotion, reproduction, growth rates, and more. This book, together with the recent surge in sauropod discoveries around the world and taxonomic revisions of fragmentary genera, will shed new light on "nature's greatest extravagances."

Towards Sustainable Well-Being examines existing efforts and emerging possibilities to improve upon gross domestic product as the dominant indicator of economic and social performance. Contributions from leading international and Canadian researchers in the field of beyond-GDP measurement offer a rich range of perspectives on alternative ways to measure well-being and sustainability, along with lessons from around the world on how to bring those metrics into the policy process. Key topics include the policy and political impacts of major beyond-GDP measurement initiatives; the most promising possibilities and policy applications for beyond-GDP measurement; key barriers to introducing beyond-GDP metrics; and complementary measures to ensure new measurements are not merely calculated but taken into account in policymaking. The book highlights a distinction between a reformist beyond-GDP vision, which seeks to improve policymaking and quality of life within existing political and economic institutions, and a transformative vision aiming for more fundamental change including a move beyond economic growth. Illustrating the many advances that have occurred in Canada and internationally, Towards Sustainable Well-Being proposes next steps for both the reformist and transformative visions, as well as possible common ground between them in the pursuit of sustainable well-being.

This book provides a model which offers guidance on effective and appropriate therapeutic interventions and services for vulnerable children and young people (commonly children who have experienced trauma, abuse, domestic violence or neglect). By addressing practice, theory and policy, the book enables professionals working with vulnerable children to choose the right intervention for each individual child. Contributors examine best practice across the UK, the US and Europe and compile the findings in a way that can be incorporated into everyday practice. Mental Health Interventions and Services for Vulnerable Children and Young People will be an invaluable tool for those working with vulnerable children and young people including child mental health and welfare professionals and agencies, as well as social workers, policy makers and academics teaching or studying child mental health.