The present century has been a disappointing one for comets, but past centuries often featured spectacular, unforgettable comet shows that dominated the night (and even daytime) sky for months: comets that outshone Venus or even the Moon, whose spectacular tails stretched more than halfway across the sky or were weirdly split, and whose apparition was held responsible for everything from wars to unusually good wine vintages. Published to coincide with the first naked-eye appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp, perhaps our own "comet of the century", this book is a guide to comet facts and lore throughout history.

The essays collected in this volume apply an interdisciplinary approach to explore aspects of the relationship between animal and human in late antiquity. With a focus on ways that anthropozoological connections were defined in the emergent Christian religious discourse of the epoch, the authors contribute to our understanding of a thematic area largely neglected in previous research.

Laser materials processing has made tremendous progress and is now at the forefront of industrial and medical applications. The book describes recent advances in smart and nanoscaled materials going well beyond the traditional cutting and welding applications. As no analytical methods are described the examples are really going into the details of what nowadways is possible by employing lasers for sophisticated materials processing giving rise to achievements not possible by conventional materials processing.

Mossbauer spectroscopy is uniquely able to probe hyperfine interactions by looking at the short-range order of resonant atoms. Materials containing an appropriate isotope as one of their constituent atoms, such as iron or tin, are readily investigated. But even materials that do not contain Mossbauer-active atoms can be investigated if the probe atoms are incorporated in minor quantities (ca. 0.1 at.-%) to act as molecular-level indicators.

These 35 papers collected here represent a state-of-the-art description of Mossbauer spectroscopy techniques applied to advanced materials. The topics covered comprise investigations of nanomaterials, nanoparticles, and quasicrystals, artificially structured materials as well as applications of Mossbauer spectroscopy in chemistry, mineralogy and metallurgy. The main aim of is the dissemination of information on research and recent developments of the method in materials science as obtained in leading Mossbauer laboratories. "

A dynamic conversation on the power of women's spiritual leadership and its emerging patterns of transformation.

"We invite you to come with curiosity into this living community of spiritual women, listening deeply as they share their personal stories of how their spiritual journeys have shaped and honed them as leaders.... We do not offer answers to all of the complex questions facing us as a human family, but we invite you to join us as we surrender to the mystery of being open, present and engaged together in these uncertain times." from the Introduction

This empowering resource engages women in an interactive exploration of the challenges and opportunities on the frontier of women s spiritual leadership.

Through the voices of North American women representing a matrix of diversity ethnically, spiritually, religiously, generationally and geographically women will be inspired to new expressions of their own personal leadership and called into powerful collaborative action."

Learner Choice, Learner Voice offers fresh, forward-thinking supports for teachers creating an empowered, student-centered classroom. Learner agency is a major topic in today's schools, but what does it mean in practice, and how do these practices give students skills and opportunities they will need to thrive as citizens, parents, and workers in our ever-shifting climate? Showcasing authentic activities and classrooms, this book is full of diverse instructional experiences that will motivate your students to take an agile, adaptable role in their own learning. This wealth of pedagogical ideas - from specific to open-ended, low-tech to digital, self-expressive to collaborative, creative to critical - will help you discover the transformative effects of providing students with ownership, agency, and choice in their learning journeys.

The importance of magnesium in the element cycling of forest ecosystems has only been fully recognized since the widespread symptoms of forest magnesium deficiency were identified to be a major component in the damage phenomena. The intensive research during the last 15 years revealed not only details on the role of magnesium as a nutrient in forest ecosystems, but led also to a more comprehensive understanding of these ecosystems themselves and their functioning. This book tries to summarize the knowledge of magnesium and its role in forest ecosystems gathered from recent studies as well as from historical experiences and findings. The results of these studies in most cases point to the activity of man and his influence on the ecosphere. Therefore, when we understand the processes and effects described in this book, perhaps we can learn not only about a single nutrient like magnesium and forest ecosystems but also about ourselves.

A dynamic conversation on the power of women's spiritual leadership and its emerging patterns of transformation.

"We invite you to come with curiosity into this living community of spiritual women, listening deeply as they share their personal stories of how their spiritual journeys have shaped and honed them as leaders.... We do not offer answers to all of the complex questions facing us as a human family, but we invite you to join us as we surrender to the mystery of being open, present and engaged together in these uncertain times." from the Introduction

This empowering resource engages women in an interactive exploration of the challenges and opportunities on the frontier of women s spiritual leadership.

Through the voices of North American women representing a matrix of diversity ethnically, spiritually, religiously, generationally and geographically women will be inspired to new expressions of their own personal leadership and called into powerful collaborative action."

Learner Choice, Learner Voice offers fresh, forward-thinking supports for teachers creating an empowered, student-centered classroom. Learner agency is a major topic in today's schools, but what does it mean in practice, and how do these practices give students skills and opportunities they will need to thrive as citizens, parents, and workers in our ever-shifting climate? Showcasing authentic activities and classrooms, this book is full of diverse instructional experiences that will motivate your students to take an agile, adaptable role in their own learning. This wealth of pedagogical ideas - from specific to open-ended, low-tech to digital, self-expressive to collaborative, creative to critical - will help you discover the transformative effects of providing students with ownership, agency, and choice in their learning journeys.

Handbook of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is a concise but broad reference dedicated to the day-to-day needs of those in physiatric practice, including trainees and other clinicians faced with rehabilitation problems. Contributors from leading rehabilitation programs and centers come together in this unique handbook to provide expert guidance into management techniques for a variety of diagnoses and clinical problems. Structured in its approach and focused on clinical care delivery, this essential resource is designed to help practitioners navigate the PM&R landscape with insight into conditions and issues encountered in everyday practice regardless of setting.Designed for on-the-go reference, chapters are organized within sections from A to Z, beginning with management by diagnosis to address topics spanning the spectrum of practice from amputations and prosthetics, cardiac rehabilitation, multiple sclerosis, and stroke to traumatic brain injury plus more. A dedicated section focusing on musculoskeletal management of common injuries throughout the body is followed by reviewing management for a range of problems, including but not limited to anxiety, bladder and bowel, fatigue, infections, pain management, and seizures. A final section evaluates diagnostics, modalities, equipment, and technology to explore topics of EEG, EMG, neuropsychological evaluation, tracheostomy, and more. Throughout, chapters feature core definitions for the disorder or problem, its etiology and pathophysiology, diagnostic approaches, treatment methods, functional prognosis and outcomes, and suggested order sets in a systematic manner for targeted access. Complete with flow charts, diagrams, and tables, Handbook of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation is the essential manual to all topics PM&R. Key Features: Addresses management by diagnosis and problem for the full range of physiatric conditions and injuries Portable size and format for quick point-of care problem-solving Provides inpatient rehabilitation and outpatient clinic order sets for the most common diagnoses Loaded with need-to-know assessment and rating scales, practice guidelines, and more Purchase includes digital access for use on most mobile devices or computers

Drylands have been cradles to some of the worlda (TM)s greatest civilizations, and contemporary dryland communities feature rich and unique cultures. Dryland ecosystems support a surprising amount of biodiversity. Desertification, however, is a significant land degradation problem in the arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid regions of the world. Deterioration of soil and plant cover has adversely affected 70% of the worlda (TM)s drylands as a result of extended droughts as well as mismanagement of range and cultivated lands. The situation is likely to worsen with high population growth rates and accompanying land-use conflicts.

The contributions to The Future of Drylands a" an international scientific conference held under the leadership of UNESCO a" address these issues and offer practical solutions for combating desertification along with conserving and sustainably managing dryland ecosystems. Major themes include the conservation of dryland biological and cultural diversity and the human dryland interface. This volume documents how our improved understanding of drylands provides insight into the health and future prospects of these precious ecosystems that should help ensure that dryland communities enjoy a sustainable future.

The ideal book for the amateur astronomer or anyone curious about our place in the universe, "A Year of the Stars" takes the reader on a fascinating journey of discovery through the seasons of the starry night sky. Complete with beautiful maps, drawings, photos, and a very useful glossary, this is the perfect book for savouring the experience of skywatching the whole year through.

In Musical Maryland, the first comprehensive survey of the music emanating from the Old Line State, David K. Hildebrand and Elizabeth M. Schaff explore the myriad ways in which music has enriched the lives of Marylanders. From the drinking songs of colonial Annapolis, the liturgical music of the Zion Lutheran Church, and the work songs of the tobacco fields to the exuberant marches of late nineteenth-century Baltimore Orioles festivals, Chick Webb's mastery on drums, and the triumphs of the Baltimore Opera Society, this richly illustrated volume explores more than 300 years of Maryland's music history. Beginning with early compositions performed in private settings and in public concerts, this book touches on the development of music clubs like the Tuesday Club, the Florestan Society, and H. L. Mencken's Saturday Night Club, as well as lasting institutions such as the Peabody Institute and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO). Yet the soundscape also includes militia quicksteps, sea chanteys, and other work songs. The book describes the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner"-perhaps Maryland's single greatest contribution to the nation's musical history. It chronicles the wide range of music created and performed by Maryland's African American musicians along Pennsylvania Avenue in racially segregated Baltimore, from jazz to symphonic works. It also tells the true story of a deliberately integrated concert that the BSO staged at the end of World War II. The book is full of musical examples, engravings, paintings, drawings, and historic photographs that not only portray the composers and performers but also the places around the state in which music flourished. Illuminating sidebars by William Biehl focus on late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century song of the kind evoked by the USS Baltimore or inspired by the state's history, natural beauty, and romantic steamboats. The book also offers a sampling of the tunes that Maryland's more remarkable composers and performers, including Billie Holiday, Eubie Blake, and Cab Calloway, contributed to American music before the homogenization that arrived in earnest after World War II. Bringing to life not only portraits of musicians, composers, and conductors whose stories and recollections are woven into the fabric of this book, but also musical scores and concert halls, Musical Maryland is an engaging, authoritative, and bold look at an endlessly compelling subject.

Continuing debates over the meaning of development and awareness of the persistence of poverty have resulted in increasing concern over how to do development. There are growing numbers of development organizations, undertaking different activities, at different scales, with different motivations, and differing levels of success. It is necessary to identify and evaluate these varied organizations, in order to recognize their successes and failures.

"

Development Organizations" is the first introductory text to focus specifically on the variety of organizations involved in development policy and practice. It explores the range and role of organizations, including community-based organizations and civil society actors, international non-governmental organizations, state and other national-based actors, global forms of governance, international financial institutions and transnational corporations. The historical and contemporary role of each of these actors is considered, with analysis of complex theoretical debates surrounding their existence and their activities. The book also explores the political and contested nature of development activities promoted by these organizations, and their effects on society, the economy and the environment. These issues are also considered in context of the Millennium Development Goals; the agenda which currently impacts on the operation and outcomes of the broad range of development organizations.

This is an invaluable text is richly complimented throughout with case studies to help illustrate the operations of development organizations; from the impact of multinational oil companies in the Niger delta to the impact of IMF reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. This clearly written and user friendly text contains a wealth of features to assist student learning, including start of chapter learning outcomes, and end of chapter summaries, discussion topics, and suggestions for further reading and relevant websites.

Powerful narratives of suffering, love and hope that inspire both personal and collective transformation. "Our spiritual stories are full of missteps and unabashed celebration. They are narratives of suffering and of hope; lessons in shedding fear and learning to love ourselves. Ours are embodied stories that begin with emptying so that we can glimpse the Holy Other, this Light who appears in ways unplanned, unexpected and unsettling. Our lives are the surprise that begins with the response, 'Let it be.'" —from Part 1 In Birthing God, forty women relate Spirit-filled moments: a grieving pastor walks a labyrinth and rediscovers the Rock of her existence; a human rights advocate re-encounters Allah in an intensely visceral moment in the sun; an educator, moved by an ancestral vision, launches a global tree-planting project to heal the wounds of slavery; a revolutionary awakens from a coma and realizes that all of life is infused with Spirit; a peasant woman under fire discovers within herself the God who gives her courage; and a disabled doctor, embraced by Shekhinah, turns her heart to rabbinical studies. Grounded in raw experience and ideal for spiritual seekers and leaders of all faiths, these engaging and powerful stories invite you to consider the origins of your own spirituality and to deepen your relationship with God.

"Fred Schaaf is one of the most experienced astronomical observers of our time. For more than two decades, his view of the sky--what will be visible, when it will be visible, and what it will look like--has encouraged tens of thousands of people to turn their eyes skyward."
--David H. Levy, Science Editor, "Parade" magazine, discoverer of twenty-one comets, and author of "Starry Night and Cosmic Discoveries"

"Fred Schaaf is a poet of the stars. He brings the sky into people's lives in a way that is compelling, and his descriptions have all the impact of witnessing the stars on a crystal clear dark night."
--William Sheehan, coauthor of "Mars: The Lure of the Red Planet" and "The Transits of Venus"

The night sky holds endless fascination for anyone who chooses simply to look up and observe, but with so much to see, it can be difficult to know where to start. This remarkable book introduces you to the fifty best sights in astronomy and tells you exactly how to see them. In no time at all, you will learn how to find and appreciate the Orion group of constellations; the Summer Triangle; Venus, Jupiter, and Mars; the best meteor showers; man-made satellites; star clusters; novae; variable stars; and more.

The sights are presented according to the field of view necessary to see them. Your eyes and a clear night sky are all you need to view the sights in the first part of the book, before moving on to those that can be observed through binoculars and, finally, a telescope. Concise descriptions and explanations of these spectacular visual wonders will deepen your appreciation of them and spur further exploration. You will also find the essential basic information onastronomical observation you need to get started, including observing conditions, techniques, telescopes, and astronomical measurements.

Once you start gazing, you'll see that the sky really is the limit--and discovering its amazing treasures will become your lifetime passion.

Continuing debates over the meaning of development and awareness of the persistence of poverty have resulted in increasing concern over how to do development. There are growing numbers of development organizations, undertaking different activities, at different scales, with different motivations, and differing levels of success. It is necessary to identify and evaluate these varied organizations, in order to recognize their successes and failures.

"

Development Organizations" is the first introductory text to focus specifically on the variety of organizations involved in development policy and practice. It explores the range and role of organizations, including community-based organizations and civil society actors, international non-governmental organizations, state and other national-based actors, global forms of governance, international financial institutions and transnational corporations. The historical and contemporary role of each of these actors is considered, with analysis of complex theoretical debates surrounding their existence and their activities. The book also explores the political and contested nature of development activities promoted by these organizations, and their effects on society, the economy and the environment. These issues are also considered in context of the Millennium Development Goals; the agenda which currently impacts on the operation and outcomes of the broad range of development organizations.

This invaluable text is richly complimented throughout with case studies to help illustrate the operations of development organizations; from the impact of multinational oil companies in the Niger delta to the impact of IMF reforms in Latin America and the Caribbean. This clearly written and user friendly text contains a wealth of features to assist student learning, including start of chapter learning outcomes, and end of chapter summaries, discussion topics, and suggestions for further reading and relevant websites.

Overview xiii COMETS IN PERSON 1 A Comet Passes 3 COMETS IN GENERAL 2 Anatomy of a Ghost 27 3 Dirty Snowballs and the Nurseries of Leviathans 51 4 The Spectacular Deaths of Comets 61 5 Swords of Damocles 86 6 Observing and Discovering Comets 110 HALLEY AND THE SHORT PERIOD COMETS 7 Halley and Its Periodic Kin 133 8 Through the Ages with Halley's Comet 157 COMETS WILD 9 What Makes a Comet Great? 197 10 The Comets Before 1700 204 11 The Comets from 1700 to 1995 229 vii viii COMET OF THE CENTURY THE LATEST GREATS 12 The Grand Approach of Comet Hale-Bopp 273 13 Hyakutake Lightning 291 14 A Narrative Calendar for Observing Hale-Bopp 305 15 Comet of the Century 328 Appendix A: Periodic Comet Numbers 331 Appendix B: Great Comets in History 335 AppendixC: Closest Comets in History 339 Appendix D: Celestial Coordinates 344 Appendix E: Orbital Elements 346 Appendix F: Comet Brightness Formula and Estimating Brightness 348 AppendixG: How to Report a Comet Discovery 351 AppendixH: Ephemeris for Comet Hale-Bopp 354 Glossary 359 Sources of Information 367 Credits 371 Generaiindex 373 Comet Index 381 PRtl7ACt This book may be loaded with a richness of facts, but what it's about, through and through, is simple and blazing: the way comets, throughout history, and up to the present, have stirred the human spirit.

R. F. HUTTL AND W. SCHAAF Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus, Chair of Soil Protection and Recultivation, P.O. Box 10 13 44, 03013 Cottbus, Germany The health status of forest trees and stands is determined by numerous site factors such as chemical, physical, and biological soil factors, water supply, climate, weather conditions, management history as well as atmospheric deposition impacts. In this context, the nutrient supply is an important evaluation parameter. Forest trees well supplied with nutrients are more resistant to stresses that affect the forest ecosystem than other trees. This is true for both biotic and abiotic influences. Therefore the investigation of the so-called 'new type forest damage' was aimed at the exact determination of the health status of damaged trees. When considering the complete forest ecosystem, health (=vitality) means the sustainable ability to withstand negative environmental influences and still remain stable and productive. From this viewpoint, an optimal nutritional status is a prerequisite for an optimal health status. The term 'new type forest damage' comprises a number of damage symptoms which have been observed in various tree species on very different sites since the mid-1970s, particularly in Europe and North America. However, they occurred much more intensively in the 1980s. Generally, this forest damage was thought to be related to negative impacts of air pollutants.

Laser materials processing has made tremendous progress and is now at the forefront of industrial and medical applications. The book describes recent advances in smart and nanoscaled materials going well beyond the traditional cutting and welding applications. As no analytical methods are described the examples are really going into the details of what nowadways is possible by employing lasers for sophisticated materials processing giving rise to achievements not possible by conventional materials processing.

Mossbauer spectroscopy is uniquely able to probe hyperfine interactions by looking at the short-range order of resonant atoms. Materials containing an appropriate isotope as one of their constituent atoms, such as iron or tin, are readily investigated. But even materials that do not contain Mossbauer-active atoms can be investigated if the probe atoms are incorporated in minor quantities (ca. 0.1 at.-%) to act as molecular-level indicators.

These 35 papers collected here represent a state-of-the-art description of Mossbauer spectroscopy techniques applied to advanced materials. The topics covered comprise investigations of nanomaterials, nanoparticles, and quasicrystals, artificially structured materials as well as applications of Mossbauer spectroscopy in chemistry, mineralogy and metallurgy. The main aim of is the dissemination of information on research and recent developments of the method in materials science as obtained in leading Mossbauer laboratories. "