This book contains contributions from friends of Ben Stevens, remembering and celebrating his life and his work. Following his untimely death, a set of special sessions were organized for the program of the November 1998 meetings of the Regional Science Association International, held in Sante Fe, New Mexico.

In all 41 papers were presented in 11 of these sessions. Those invited to participate included former colleagues and students from Ben's days on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania as well as friends and collaborators from the economics and regional science community at large - academic, private and government.

It is the intention of the editors to make available with this book a selection of current work in regional economics and regional science. Some of the papers reflect on aspects of Ben's legacy, suggesting how his early work (in the 1960s) served as a basis for subsequent theoretical advances or applied developments - for example, in residential choice theory, in land-use and transportation modeling and in regional econometric modeling in general and regional input-output analysis in particular (which remained one of Ben's primary interests throughout his life). The variety of topics covered by the papers in this volume is a testament to the breadth and depth of Ben's active curiosity.

Kimberly Rae Miller is an immaculately put-together woman with a great career, a loving boyfriend, and a beautifully tidy apartment in Brooklyn. You would never guess that behind the closed doors of her family's idyllic Long Island house hid teetering stacks of aging newspaper, broken computers, and boxes upon boxes of unused junk festering in every room -- the product of her father's painful and unending struggle with hoarding.

In this dazzling memoir, Miller brings to life her experience growing up in a rat-infested home, hiding her father's shameful secret from friends for years, and the emotional burden that ultimately led to her suicide attempt. In beautiful prose, Miller sheds light on her complicated yet loving relationship with her parents, which has thrived in spite of the odds.

"Coming Clean "is a story about recognizing where you come from and understanding the relationships that define you. It is also a powerful story of recovery and redemption.

A thorough and highly accessible resource for analysts in a broad range of social sciences.

Optimization: Foundations and Applications presents a series of approaches to the challenges faced by analysts who must find the best way to accomplish particular objectives, usually with the added complication of constraints on the available choices. Award-winning educator Ronald E. Miller provides detailed coverage of both classical, calculus-based approaches and newer, computer-based iterative methods.

Dr. Miller lays a solid foundation for both linear and nonlinear models and quickly moves on to discuss applications, including iterative methods for root-finding and for unconstrained maximization, approaches to the inequality constrained linear programming problem, and the complexities of inequality constrained maximization and minimization in nonlinear problems. Other important features include:

• More than 200 geometric interpretations of algebraic results, emphasizing the intuitive appeal of mathematics
• Classic results mixed with modern numerical methods to aid users of computer programs
• Extensive appendices containing mathematical details important for a thorough understanding of the topic

With special emphasis on questions most frequently asked by those encountering this material for the first time, Optimization: Foundations and Applications is an extremely useful resource for professionals in such areas as mathematics, engineering, economics and business, regional science, geography, sociology, political science, management and decision sciences, public policy analysis, and numerous other social sciences.

In the years following the destructive Long Winter, when half the world's population perished, the State remains locked in battle against the Sensitives: humans born with extra abilities. As one of the last descendants of the State's Founders, seventeen-year-old Lark Greene knows her place: study hard and be a model citizen so she can follow in her family's footsteps. Her life's been set since birth, and she's looking forward to graduating and settling down with Beck, the boy she's loved longer than she can remember. However, after Beck is accused of being Sensitive and organizing an attack against Lark, he disappears. Heartbroken and convinced the State made a mistake, Lark sets out to find him and clear his name. But what she discovers is more dangerous and frightening than Sensitives: She must kill the boy she loves, unless he kills her first.

Depressed and confused after her rescue from Summer Hill, Lark Greene trusts no one-not even herself. Cut off from Beck, all she wants to do is fade away and forget everything, but her mother has other plans: she wants to teach Lark how to master her Dark magic and pair her off with a new mate. Lark is desperate to keep herself from going completely Dark, while also keeping Beck safe, so she allows herself to be drawn deeper into the dangerous, yet glamorous, world of the State. But as the Splinter Group launches attacks to wrest governmental control from the Dark witches, Lark finds herself drawing on her Dark magic more and more. As her magic spirals out of control, no one around Lark is safe. Certainly not Beck. And not even Lark herself.