This is the Author's first book. Truthful and far reaching, he portrays himself in a no holds barred narrative. A totally open book highlighting many humorous moments that he wants to share with others. To some he will appear bizarre, which in a sense he is, his actions bordering on a Saturday Night Live skit. This is a fast paced book that keeps the reader wondering what zany incident is lurking around the corner. He is curious to see how many others will share his thoughts and emotions that may take them back to similar experiences in their childhood and adult life. This book highlights his strong family orientation and is intended to provide a testimony to his daughters, sons-in-law, granddaughters and future generational family members.

This volume is a comprehensive Handbook of Russian thought that provides an in-depth survey of major figures, currents, and developments in Russian intellectual history, spanning the period from the late eighteenth century to the late twentieth century. Written by a group of distinguished scholars as well as some younger ones from Russia, Europe, the United States, and Canada, this Handbook reconstructs a vibrant picture of the intellectual and cultural life in Russia and the Soviet Union during the most buoyant period in the country's history. Contrary to the widespread view of Russian modernity as a product of intellectual borrowing and imitation, the essays collected in this volume reveal the creative spirit of Russian thought, which produced a range of original philosophical and social ideas, as well as great literature, art, and criticism. While rejecting reductive interpretations, the Handbook employs a unifying approach to its subject matter, presenting Russian thought in the context of the country's changing historical landscape. This Handbook will open up a new intellectual world to many readers and provide a secure base for its further exploration.

Risen Among Wisdom.A A new collection of poetry by Michele N. Alford, This collection of poems talks reflectively about the author's journey through life. Her frankness and down-to-earth writing style is sure to earn the reader's attention. Opening this collection of poetry is like a breath of fresh air, it's heart-filled, sentimental, deep and passionate.A An enjoyable read that would appeals to people of all walks of life.AA This collection has a little something for everyone. "I entitled the collection "Risen Among Wisdom" because writing these poems have helped me rise above everything that was going on around me and to find within it wisdom to survive and grow.A My life has not been an easy one, but learning to express myself in poetry as a means of "telling my story" has helped me.A It is my hope to encourage others by reading my story and to help them understand that regardless of what they are going through, they are strong, can achieve anything, and have within them the will and wisdom to survive."

When Virginia and Michael begin recovery from alcoholism in Alcoholics Anonymous, they correspond several times a week. They view letter writing and their deepening relationship as a lifeline in the chaos of change. Letters selected from over 2000 written during the next five years chronicle the raw material of their recovery. As their recovery becomes increasingly mired in conflict between the deception required to maintain their relationship and "rigorous honesty" required to attain lasting sobriety, Hoot and Gin (alter egos) spontaneously emerge in the writing. With the mobility of mental apparitions, these "kids" are traded back and forth by their adult counterparts, nurturing, modeling new behaviors, broaching sensitive subjects, and teaching the healing art of laughing at self. They help the adults move through stuck places and give up stubborn resistance to change. For anyone contemplating recovery or living with an alcoholic, who is questioning how Twelve Steps can have any practical application to a situation as complicated as theirs, Hoot 'n Gin reveals how two skeptical people eventually find all twelve are gifts, not punishment. This trip through the Twelve Steps demonstrates how the act of letter writing can augment a recovery program by encouraging introspection, lending support, and measuring progress.

This book offers a multidisciplinary treatment of targeting. It is intended for use by the military, government legal advisers and academics. The book is suitable for use in both military training and educational programs and in Bachelor and Master degree level courses on such topics as War Studies and Strategic Studies. The book first explores the context of targeting, its evolution and the current targeting process and characteristics. An overview of the legal and ethical constraints on targeting as an operational process follows. It concludes by surveying contemporary issues in targeting such as the potential advent of autonomous weapon systems, 'non-kinetic' targeting, targeting in multinational military operations and leadership decapitation in counter-terrorism operations. The deep practical experience and academic background of the contributors ensures comprehensive treatment of current targeting and use of force issues. Paul Ducheine is Professor for Cyber Operations and Cyber Security, Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands; and Professor of Law of Military Cyber Operations and Cyber Security at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Michael Schmitt is Charles H. Stockton Professor & Director, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, and Professor of Public International Law, University of Exeter, UK. Frans Osinga is Chair of the War Studies Department, Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands, and Professor of Military Operational Art and Sciences.

This book proposes another unique basis for the origins of religion from disturbances in brain function. It proposes the novel idea that near-death and out-of-body experiences (ND/OBE) engendered "a sense of the divine" in ancient man. As the author points out, key aspects of ND/OBE are thematic of all later established religions. These include journeys to heaven, sightings of brightly-lit godlike figures, and dead people now alive. Thus, ND/OBE could be the originating source of these spiritual motifs. To this, the author adds a fourth factor: various brain influences contribute to or modulate ND/OBE. Such cognate neurological disorders include REM-sleep intrusions, sleep paralysis, narcolepsy, and the Guillain-Barre syndrome. Errors due to aberrant switching between key neural control centers disrupt critical state-boundaries between consciousness and dreaming. This may induce NDE. Thus, in this state, subjects temporarily fail to understand where they are, undergo loss of self, and detached from the world. They imagine a "union with Gods." Here, then, is the biological basis of ineffability. Ancient humans gained beliefs about the "supernatural" through day-to-day existence. This book argues that near death experiences and cognate neurological conditions, some genetically-determined, could have facilitated, even augmented such beliefs. Hence, in configuring another realm of "spiritual" experience beyond the known environment, these neurological possibilities offer effective traction.

Essential for students, science and medical graduates who want to understand the basic science of Positron Emission Tomography (PET), this book describes the physics, chemistry, technology and overview of the clinical uses behind the science of PET and the imaging techniques it uses. In recent years, PET has moved from high-end research imaging tool used by the highly specialized to an essential component of clinical evaluation in the clinic, especially in cancer management. Previously being the realm of scientists, this book explains PET instrumentation, radiochemistry, PET data acquisition and image formation, integration of structural and functional images, radiation dosimetry and protection, and applications in dedicated areas such as drug development, oncology, and gene expression imaging. The technologist, the science, engineering or chemistry graduate seeking further detailed information about PET, or the medical advanced trainee wishing to gain insight into the basic science of PET will find this book invaluable.

This book is primarily repackaged content from the Basic Science section of the 'big' Valk book on PET. It contains new, completely revised and unchanged chapters covering the "basic sciences" section of the main book - total 18 chapters:

• 2 new (chapters 1, 16)
• 8 completely revised (chapters 4, 5, 8, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18)
• 3 minor corrections (chapters 2, 6, 11)
• 5 unchanged (chapters 3, 7, 9, 10, 12)