The clinical laboratory plays a critical role in the diagnosis and management of endocrine and related metabolic disorders, which are leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children and adults. The Handbook of Diagnostic Endocrinology, Third Edition, provides a ready reference for the evaluation, diagnosis, and monitoring of such disorders. This revision incorporates translational medicine, connecting what clinicians need to know with those in research providing a clinical context to which they can relate their molecular findings. This book solves the needs of clinicians and researchers by bringing together in one book endocrinology at the molecular and clinical levels. As the intricacies of intracellular signaling have become better understood, states of hormone resistance are now increasingly recognized. The most common endocrinopathy in westernized countries, the metabolic syndrome, results, to a large extent, from insulin resistance. The complexity of the circulating forms of various hormones are acknowledged in this revision.

Many believers have a hard time accepting transformation is a part of God's plan for their lives. Changes happen every day. We accept address changes, income changes, management changes, and we even agree that our physical appearance changes, but we do not embrace that God wants to change our sinful nature to that of a Holy people. Change is something we all need; however, few are willing to make the change from mediocre to greatness. Prophetess Lori McKenney shares about the 4 stages a caterpillar must achieve before it transforms into a beautiful butterfly. In correlation, she imparts how the heart and mind is connected to the complete metamorphosis process. The powerful scriptures and motivational quotes found in "Transformation" also reveal the treasures of how God wants you to have a successful life. A must have for your personal library and chat groups. "Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." (Psalm 37:5)

Over the last 50 years, drug development and clinical trials have resulted in successful complete responses in diseases such as childhood leukemia, testicular cancer and Hodgkin's disease. We are still, however, confronted with over 500,000 cancer-related deaths per year. Clearly, the phenomenon of drug resistance is largely responsible for these failures and continues to be an area of active investigation. Since the last volume in this series, we have learned that the energy-dependent drug efflux protein, p-glycoprotein, encoded by the MDR 1 gene, is a member of a family of structurally related transport polypeptides, thus allowing us to explore the relationship between structure and function. In addition to ongoing well designed clinical trials aimed at reversing MDR mediated drug resistance, the first gene therapy studies with the MDR 1 gene retrovirally transduced into human bone marrow cells are about to be initiated. Although MDR is currently the most understood mechanism of drug resistance, we are uncovering increasing knowledge of alternative molecular and biochemical mechanisms of drug resistance to antimetabolites, cisplatin and alkylating agents and developing new strategies for circumventing such resistance. It is clear that drug resistance is complex, and many mechanisms exist by which cancer cells may overcome the cytotoxicity of our known chemotherapeutic agents. As our understanding of each of these mechanisms expands, well designed models will be necessary to test laboratory hypotheses and determine their relationship to drug resistance in humans. It is this integration of basic science and clinical investigation that will both advance our scientific knowledge and result in the improvement of cancer therapy.

We hear a lot about the necessity of meeting needs of changing markets by developing people, but we hear less about ways implement change. How can we design effective ways to implement change and maintain and build job satisfaction? James and Lori Spina illustrate how a strategic system aligns workplace transitions with the organizational vision, mission, and top level strategies to meet the needs of all stakeholders, ensure a steady flow of talent from within, and anticipate abilities and skills for jobs not yet created. They provide a road map for how to carry this out and propose a cutting-edge leadership style to complement this strategic approach and beat the competition. They demonstrate in detail on how to meet the emerging learning needs of high potential people who are striving to obtain new levels of responsibility. This book is crucial reading for executives who make strategic business decisions to ensure the sustainability and growth of their organizations.

Success is envisioned as beating the competition to generate a financially strong and profitable organization while building stakeholder satisfaction. "C" Leadership style is a new management theory derived from the research and science leading to the unification of conflicting traditional leadership models. Presenting a unique approach to address the needs of all stakeholders as they contribute to the success of the organization, "C" Leadership unifies task-centered styles with people-centered styles for managing talent. Authors Jim and Lori Spina bring a track record of success and achievement in the fields of Education, Consulting and Business. Their "C" Leadership: A New Way to Beat the Competition and Manage Organization Stakeholders introduces this revolutionary and unique leadership style management system, offering a strategy geared to beat the competition by addressing the needs of all stakeholders who contribute to the success of the organization.

HR departments endeavour to occupy strategic roles in organizations, a goal that is seldom or ever realized. James and Lori Spina bring their academic and corporate backgrounds together to analyse and direct on how strategic human resources cohesively contribute towards gaining competitive advantage, above average profits, building and retaining talent, sustaining financial strength, and addressing challenges of stakeholder satisfaction. Stepping beyond unclear discussions about strategy that fail to satisfy the needs of all departments, The New HR instead illustrates how human resource leaders can constructively create and nurture teams that think strategically and produce harmony between HR activities and the wider organization. The New HR is essential reading for human resources executives who desire to make strategic business decisions that ensure the sustainability and growth of the organization and, at the same time, look for new ways to develop the business, strategic, and critical thinking skills of current employees.

Listeners do love their pastors and they agree with the sermon content they hear, ' Lori Carrell once explained to a group of pastors, 'but most sermons don't ask for change, and most listeners don't experience spiritual growth as a result of the sermon.' A participant responded: 'Let's get practical. I want my preaching to make a difference. What changes are worth making, and how do I make them?' In Preaching that Matters, Lori Carrell shares answers to that question, drawing on the experiences of thousands of people preachers and their listeners whose effort she has studied over many years. In each chapter of this book, she offers research revelations about high impact preaching that will encourage and challenge readers to continue to grow as preachers. She then links these principles with Reflective Practice Challenges (RPCs), exercises that honor the rich experiences of pastors while opening opportunities for self-analysis, spiritual introspection, conversation with a trusted other, or implementation of research-based preaching recommendations. The activities have been used by hundreds of other pastors, and each RPC has been carefully selected for its demonstrated contribution to the process of transforming sermon communication. A selection of the RPCs are available as a downloadable file. See the Features tab for more information. As a communication expert, Carrell approaches preaching from a 'sermon communication' paradigm. She begins with the task of identifying the spiritually transformative purpose of the sermon and then explores exegeting, organizing, deepening, and delivering the sermon, as well as listening to the listeners and planning for continued transformation. Her own goal is simple: to inspire and equip clergy to make changes that will enhance the transformative power of their preaching. To connect with others reading Preaching That Matters and to find an onlne accountability partner, join the book's Google+ communities."

Cosmopolitanism and the Arab Spring: Foundations for the Decline of Terrorism analyzes the role of social media in the Arab Spring within a specific philosophical framework. Kantian cosmopolitanism, enhanced by social media and Internet communications technologies, offers a solid explanation of the political evolution of the Arab Spring. These technologies have given rise to a new cosmopolitanism that rejects alternating dichotomies in favor of an evolving consciousness of our status as citizens of a global commonwealth with a tiered set of duties to everyone within our sphere of influence. Cosmopolitanism as extended through social media has the potential to break down barriers to aid those who suffer under unjust governmental systems and to yield real and sustainable progress toward the amelioration of both tyranny and terrorism. Cosmopolitanism and the Arab Spring is recommended for political philosophy courses as well as interdisciplinary capstone courses exploring problems in the modern world.

Beginning with an introduction that examines the portrayal of Lancelot and Guinevere from their origins to the present day, the sixteen essays in this collection deal with varied topics including feminist readings of the characters' representations and the depiction of the lovers in medieval manuscript illuminations, in film, and in other visual arts.

Cultivating Empire charts the connections between missionary work, capitalism, and Native politics to understand the making of the American empire in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. It presents American empire-building as a negotiated phenomenon that was built upon the foundations of earlier Atlantic empires, and it shows how U.S. territorial and economic development went hand-in-hand. Lori. J. Daggar explores how Native authority and diplomatic protocols encouraged the fledgling U.S. federal government to partner with missionaries in the realm of Indian affairs, and she charts how that partnership borrowed and deviated from earlier imperial-missionary partnerships. Employing the terminology of speculative philanthropy to underscore the ways in which a desire to do good often coexisted with a desire to make profit, Cultivating Empire links eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century U.S. Indian policy-often framed as benevolent by its crafters-with the emergence of racial capitalism in the United States. In the process, Daggar argues that Native peoples wielded ideas of philanthropy and civilization for their own purposes and that Indian Country played a critical role in the construction of the U.S. imperial state and its economy. Rather than understand civilizing missions simply as tools for assimilation, then, Cultivating Empire reveals that missions were hinges for U.S. economic and political development that could both devastate Indigenous communities and offer Native peoples additional means to negotiate for power and endure.

* Invites the reader behind the scenes of Bible stories * Opens new perspectives for individuals, study groups, and sermon writers What was the reaction of the head waiter at the wedding at Cana when he realized the wine had run out? What gave the man the idea to lower his paralyzed friend through the roof to see Jesus? What were the young men who accompanied Abraham and Isaac on the journey to the mountain thinking? Much of scripture is comprised of individuals who are unnamed but have important roles to play in biblical stories. This illustrated book offers first person accounts of twenty-one Bible stories (Old Testament, New Testament, and apocrypha) from the perspectives of bystanders or "sup-porting" characters, giving us an opportunity to imagine: how would we react? What would we say or do given similar circumstances today? This imaginative collection includes thought-provoking discussion questions for congregational or individual reflection, and can be invaluable for fresh perspectives in sermons and study groups.

Over the last 50 years, drug development and clinical trials have resulted in successful complete responses in diseases such as childhood leukemia, testicular cancer and Hodgkin's disease. We are still, however, confronted with over 500,000 cancer-related deaths per year. Clearly, the phenomenon of drug resistance is largely responsible for these failures and continues to be an area of active investigation. Since the last volume in this series, we have learned that the energy-dependent drug efflux protein, p-glycoprotein, encoded by the MDR 1 gene, is a member of a family of structurally related transport polypeptides, thus allowing us to explore the relationship between structure and function. In addition to ongoing well designed clinical trials aimed at reversing MDR mediated drug resistance, the first gene therapy studies with the MDR 1 gene retrovirally transduced into human bone marrow cells are about to be initiated. Although MDR is currently the most understood mechanism of drug resistance, we are uncovering increasing knowledge of alternative molecular and biochemical mechanisms of drug resistance to antimetabolites, cisplatin and alkylating agents and developing new strategies for circumventing such resistance. It is clear that drug resistance is complex, and many mechanisms exist by which cancer cells may overcome the cytotoxicity of our known chemotherapeutic agents. As our understanding of each of these mechanisms expands, well designed models will be necessary to test laboratory hypotheses and determine their relationship to drug resistance in humans. It is this integration of basic science and clinical investigation that will both advance our scientific knowledge and result in the improvement of cancer therapy.

There is a great deal of popular belief in the connection between religious extremism and terrorism. There are also numerous statistical analyses that reject that connection. Upon a deeper analysis, however, both of these approaches are oversimplifications. To adequately answer the question of whether there is a significant causal relationship between organizational religions and terrorism, it is necessary to take a closer and more critical look at the ideologies and practices of both religious practitioners and terrorists. It is important to focus on the causality of the relationship, because, if there is no causal relationship between religion and terrorism, then removing adherence to religion will do nothing to ameliorate the problem of terrorism. The Root of All Evil? Religious Perspectives on Terrorism conducts this kind of analysis.

Lars von Trier's intense, disturbing, and sometimes funny films have led many to condemn him as misogynist or misanthropic. The same films inspire this collection's reflections on how our fears and desires regarding gender, power, race, finitude, family, and fate often thwart - and sometimes feed - our best democratic aspirations. The essays in this volume attend to von Trier's role as provocateur, as well as to his films' techniques, topics, and storytelling. Where others accuse von Trier of being cliched, the editors argue that he intensifies the "cliches of our times" in ways that direct our political energies towards apprehending and repairing a shattered world. The book is certainly for von Trier lovers and haters but, at the same time, political, critical, and feminist theorists entirely unfamiliar with von Trier's films will find this volume's essays of interest. Most of the contributors tarry with von Trier to develop new readings of major thinkers and writers, including Agamben, Bataille, Beauvoir, Benjamin, Deleuze, Euripides, Freud, Kierkegaard, Ranciere, Nietzsche, Winnicott, and many more. Von Trier is both central and irrelevant to much of this work. Writing from the fields of classics, literature, gender studies, philosophy, film and political theory, the authors stage an interdisciplinary intervention in film studies.

This book will take an in-depth look at the technologies, processes, and capabilities to develop and produce "next generation" energetic materials for both commercial and defense applications, including military, mining operations, oil production and well perforation, and construction demolition. It will serve to highlight the critical technologies, latest developments, and the current capability gaps that serve as barriers to military fielding or transition to the commercial marketplace. It will also explain how the processing technologies can be spun out for use in other non-energetics related industries.

Lars von Trier's intense, disturbing, and sometimes funny films have led many to condemn him as misogynist or misanthropic. The same films inspire this collection's reflections on how our fears and desires regarding gender, power, race, finitude, family, and fate often thwart - and sometimes feed - our best democratic aspirations. The essays in this volume attend to von Trier's role as provocateur, as well as to his films' techniques, topics, and storytelling. Where others accuse von Trier of being cliched, the editors argue that he intensifies the "cliches of our times" in ways that direct our political energies towards apprehending and repairing a shattered world. The book is certainly for von Trier lovers and haters but, at the same time, political, critical, and feminist theorists entirely unfamiliar with von Trier's films will find this volume's essays of interest. Most of the contributors tarry with von Trier to develop new readings of major thinkers and writers, including Agamben, Bataille, Beauvoir, Benjamin, Deleuze, Euripides, Freud, Kierkegaard, Ranciere, Nietzsche, Winnicott, and many more. Von Trier is both central and irrelevant to much of this work. Writing from the fields of classics, literature, gender studies, philosophy, film and political theory, the authors stage an interdisciplinary intervention in film studies.

New editor, new directions: the series broadens its scope to encompass European literatures other than French and English; still, however, "an indispensable component of any historical or Arthurian library". NOTES AND QUERIES This new volume of Arthurian Literature, the first under its new editor Keith Busby, is devoted to the Roman van Walewein(The Romance of Walewein [Gawain]) by Penninc and Pieter Vostaert, an undisputed gem of Middle Dutch literature which has recently become accessible to an English-speaking audience through translation. Essentially a fairy-tale written into Arthurian romance, it presents a Gawain quite different to the man found in the English Sir Gawain and the Green Knightor the French Gauvain. Expert readings of the Walewein, especially commissioned and collected by BART BESAMUSCA and ERIK KOOPERof the University of Utrecht are provided by a group of renowned scholars, contributing to the on-going critical appraisal of the Walewein. KEITH BUSBY is George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the Center for Medieval and Renaissane Studies, University of Oklahoma. Contributors: BART BESAMUSCA, ERIK KOOPER, WALTER HAUG, DOUGLAS KELLY, NORRIS J. LACY, MATHIAS MEYER, AD PUTTER, FELICITY RIDDY, THEA SUMMERFIELD, JANE H.M. TAYLOR, BART VELDHOEN, NORBERT VOORWINDEN, LORI WALTERS

A queen who helped define the cultural landscape of her era. As duchess of Brittany [1491-1514] and twice queen of France [1491-98; 1498-1514], Anne de Bretagne set a benchmark by which to measure the status of female authority in Europe at the dawn of the Renaissance. Although at times a traditional political pawn, when men who ruled her life were involved in reshaping European alliances, Anne was directly or indirectly involved with the principal political and religious European leaders of her time and helped define the cultural landscape of her era. Taking a variety of cross-disciplinary perspectives, these ten essays by art historians, literary specialists, historians, and political scientists contribute to the ongoing discussion ofAnne de Bretagne and seek to prompt further investigations into her cultural and political impact. At the same time, they offer insight of a broader nature into related areas of intellectual interest - patronage, the history of the book, the power and definition of queenship and the interpretation of politico-cultural documents and court spectacles - thereby confirming the extensive nature of Anne's legacy. CYNTHIA J. BROWN is Professor of French at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Developing talent is at the heart of any successful business, but in an age of changing technology and social needs, how can you best adapt to a new world and develop the talent your company needs? Harnessing Change to Develop Talent and Beat the Competition explores how organizations can formulate effective corporate level and business level strategies to achieve competitive advantage, earn above average profits, build and retain talent, and sustain financial strength. Fitting into the gaps left by existing books, expert authors James and Lori Spina explore the ideas and actions business can take to meet local needs. For executives making strategic business decisions, and for practitioners and researchers across the business industry, this exciting new guide helps people striving to obtain new levels of responsibility within an organization, reinvigorate existing processes, and implementing a new strategic management system.

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has undergone wide-ranging changes since 2006, when it was given a new maritime warning mission and the NORAD Agreement was signed in perpetuity. Andrea Charron and James Fergusson trace NORAD's recent history, marked by innovations in technology and in command and control, but also by unprecedented threats. The shared defence of North America remains an important issue that should extend to other areas, such as the joint defence of the maritime and cyber domains. Fuelled by a deep curiosity about the command and its decisions made in the face of inevitable geopolitical and technological changes, this book uses a functional lens to evaluate NORAD's options and the technological and organizational solutions needed to defend North America. The authors investigate the ways in which the NORAD command might adapt in the future as it struggles to modernize and keep ahead of new threats. This book comes at a critical time. The rise of new peer competitors requires a fundamental reconsideration of North American defence. As one of very few contemporary analyses of the command and its future, NORAD will be a vital tool for scholars and practitioners.