Local governments throughout the West are undergoing a transformation of their leadership styles and structures. Some countries have abandoned traditional systems of collective or committee based decision-making in favour of Cabinet models or, more radically, a directly-elected executive mayor, while others have strengthened existing mayoral systems. There are a few exceptions to this trend. Based on original research in eleven countries the book assesses these changes in terms of their implications for political accountability, the role of lay politicians, political recruitment, the professionalization of leadership, and relations with the bureaucracy.

This book of critical essays explores new thinking and new evidence on the role of locally-elected representatives in Western democracies. The book is topical in the light of the intense political and popular interest in the problems of making local government representative and responsive. The contributors, drawn from the UK, US, France, Denmark and Norway, deal with two principal themes: political recruitment and representativeness; and the processes of political representation, and highlight the dilemmas of open and accessible local government.

Modern technology using state-of-the-art equipment can now identify almost any toxin relevant to a legal issue. Techniques include gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, high-pressure liquid chromatography, and the combination of these methods. Forensic Toxicology: Medico-legal Case Studies demonstrates how the science of forensic toxicology acts as a bridge between medicine and law. Tracking the progression of toxicology findings from the laboratory to the courtroom, it prepares practicing toxicologists to write reports and testify at depositions and in court. The book explains the organization of clinical laboratories and includes sections on accreditation, quality control, method validation, and other critical topics. It provides an overview of the U.S. legal system, describes the process of writing a toxicology report, and offers techniques for deposition and courtroom testimony. Covering a broad range of topics, the book offers detailed analysis of situations ranging from the rare and unusual to those that toxicologists most often confront, including: Determining serum/blood ethanol levels Ethylene glycol poisoning Plant and animal toxins Alcohol intoxication and breathalyzer tests Synergistic effects of alcohol and drugs Prescription drug overdose Toxic torts Workers' compensation issues Written in an accessible and well-organized style, this volume is an essential guide for forensic toxicologists at all levels who need to understand how to best present the science of toxicology in the forensic arena.

Modern technology using state-of-the-art equipment can now identify almost any toxin relevant to a legal issue. Techniques include gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, high-pressure liquid chromatography, and the combination of these methods. Forensic Toxicology: Medico-legal Case Studies demonstrates how the science of forensic toxicology acts as a bridge between medicine and law. Tracking the progression of toxicology findings from the laboratory to the courtroom, it prepares practicing toxicologists to write reports and testify at depositions and in court.

The book explains the organization of clinical laboratories and includes sections on accreditation, quality control, method validation, and other critical topics. It provides an overview of the U.S. legal system, describes the process of writing a toxicology report, and offers techniques for deposition and courtroom testimony.

Covering a broad range of topics, the book offers detailed analysis of situations ranging from the rare and unusual to those that toxicologists most often confront, including:

• Determining serum/blood ethanol levels
• Ethylene glycol poisoning
• Plant and animal toxins
• Alcohol intoxication and breathalyzer tests
• Synergistic effects of alcohol and drugs
• Prescription drug overdose
• Toxic torts
• Workers compensation issues

Written in an accessible and well-organized style, this volume is an essential guide for forensic toxicologists at all levels who need to understand how to best present the science of toxicology in the forensic arena.

Local governments throughout the west are undergoing a transformation of their leadership styles and structures. Some countries have abandoned traditional systems of collective or committee based decision-making in favour of Cabinet models or, more radically, a directly-elected executive mayor, while others have strengthened existing mayoral systems. There are a few exceptions to this trend. Based on original research in eleven countries the book assesses these changes in terms of their implications for political accountability, the role of lay politicians, political recruitment, the professionalization of leadership, and relations with the bureaucracy.

While news is anything that is new happening in the world that interests people and impacts their lives either directly or indirectly, features deal with subjects which have wide ranging human interest value and arrest the attention of the reade In this compact and concise book, Meera Raghavendra Rao, whose long and rich experience is a harmonious blend of teaching and writing, offers an overview of Feature Writing in its many-splendored aspects. Features are necessarily laden with humour, drama, suspense and irony and these come live in the book. The author covers different types of features found in newspapers Brights, Humour and Satire, Human Interest Features, Travel Features and News Features and gives illustration for each of these. Besides, the text gives a clear analysis of feature writing techniques. The concluding chapters provide a detailed description of Profiles and Interviews and Online Features. Intended as a text for students of Journalism, this book would also be extremely useful for anyone who has a flair for writing.

The need and demand to feed the ever-increasing global population pose major challenges for increasing crop productivity in an eco-friendly manner. The cultivation of crops under input-intensive conditions has however resulted in an enhanced vulnerability of high-yielding cultivars to a multitude of pests and pathogens at all phenological stages. The disease spectrum and intensity are continuously changing because of the dynamic nature of crop systems, pests and pathogens. Disease management has therefore become the major functional component of the crop production systems. This reference volume and manual covers the complete spectrum of current issues in pest and pathogen disease management: Insect pests: pathogens of rice, sorghum, chickpea and castor and their management; Molecular marker-assisted breeding and transgenic crops for disease management; Management of forest insect pests; Effect of climate change on insects, pathogens, plants and pesticide usage; Botanicals & microbial pesticides and insect resistance to synthetic pesticides, and Integrated pest management and bioinformatics' solutions. The text is supported by a full color photograph section. Most chapters represent studies down in India and South East Asia. Scientists and practitioners working in other subtropical and tropical areas will also benefit from the information and strategies provided in this volume. Edited by three experienced specialists, this volume will benefit researchers and professionals in crop science, plant diseases and bioinformatics.