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Magnesium Alloys for Biomedical Applications: Advances and Challenges
by Deepak Kumar Nooruddin AnsariMagnesium alloys have enormous potential for use in biomedical implants. Magnesium Alloys for Biomedical Applications delves into recent advances and prospects for implementation and provides scientific insights into current issues posed by Mg alloy materials. It provides an overview of research on their mechanical and tribological characteristics, corrosion tendencies, and biological characteristics, with a particular emphasis on biomedical implants. Details the fundamentals of Mg alloys as well as necessary surface modifications of Mg alloys for biomedical use. Discusses emerging Mg alloys and their composites. Covers mechanical, tribological, and chemical properties, as well as fatigue and corrosion. Highlights emerging manufacturing methods and advancements in new alloy design, composite manufacturing, unique structure design, surface modification, and recyclability. Helps readers identify appropriate Mg-based materials for their applications and select optimal improvement methods. Summarizes current challenges and suggests a roadmap for future research. Aimed at researchers in materials and biomedical engineering, this book explores the many breakthroughs achieved with these materials and where the field should concentrate to ensure the development of safe and reliable Mg alloy-based implants.
Multimodal Methods in Anthropology
by Samuel Gerald Collins Matthew S. DuringtonMultimodal Methods in Anthropology develops several goals simultaneously. First, it is an introduction to the ways that multimodality might work for students and practitioners of anthropology, using multiple examples from the authors’ research and from the field. Second, the book carefully examines the ethics of a multimodal project, including the ways in which multimodality challenges and reproduces “digital divides.” Finally, the book is a theoretical introduction that repositions the history of anthropology along axes of multimodality and reframes many of the essential questions in anthropology alongside collaboration and access. Each chapter introduces new methods and techniques, frames the ethical considerations, and contextualizes the method in the work of other anthropologists. Multimodal Methods in Anthropology takes both students and practitioners through historical and contemporary sites of multimodality and introduces the methodological and theoretical challenges of multimodal anthropology in a digital world. Like multimodality itself, readers will come away with new ideas and new perspectives on established ideas, together with the tools to make them part of their practice. It is an ideal text for a variety of methods-based courses in anthropology and qualitative research at both the undergraduate and the graduate level.
Transformative AI: Responsible, Transparent, and Trustworthy AI systems (River Publishers Series in Computing and Information Science and Technology)
by Ahmed BanafaTransformative Artificial Intelligence provides a comprehensive overview of the latest trends, challenges, applications, and opportunities in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The book covers the state of the art in AI research, including machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision, and robotics, and explores how these technologies are transforming various industries and domains, such as healthcare, finance, education, and entertainment.The book also addresses the challenges that come with the widespread adoption of AI, including ethical concerns, bias, and the impact on jobs and society. It provides insights into how to mitigate these challenges and how to design AI systems that are responsible, transparent, and trustworthy.The book offers a forward-looking perspective on the future of AI, exploring the emerging trends and applications that are likely to shape the next decade of AI innovation. It also provides practical guidance for businesses and individuals on how to leverage the power of AI to create new products, services, and opportunities.Overall, the book is an essential read for anyone who wants to stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving field of Artificial Intelligence and understand the impact that this transformative technology will have on our lives in the coming years.
Advancement of Data Processing Methods for Artificial and Computing Intelligence (River Publishers Series in Computing and Information Science and Technology)
by Seema Rawat V. Ajantha Devi Praveen KumarThis book emphasizes the applications of advances in data processing methods for Artificial Intelligence in today's fast-changing world, as well as to serve society through research, innovation, and development in this field. This book is applicable to a wide range of data that contribute to data science concerns and can be used to promote research in this high-potential new field. People's perceptions of the world and how they conduct their lives have changed dramatically as a result of technological advancements. The world has been gripped by technology, and the advances that are being made every day are undeniably transforming the planet. In the domains of Big Data, engineering, and data science, this cutting-edge technology is ready to support us.Artificial intelligence (AI) is a current research topic because it can be applied to a wide range of applications and disciplines to solve complicated problems and find optimal solutions. In research, medicine, technology, and the social sciences, the benefits of AI have already been proven. Data science, also known as pattern analytics and mining, is a technique for extracting useful and relevant information from databases, enabling better decision-making and strategy formulation in a range of fields. As a result of the exponential growth of data in recent years, the combined notions of big data and AI have given rise to many study areas, such as scale-up behaviour from classical algorithms. Furthermore, combining numerous AI technologies from other areas (such as vision, security, control, and biology) in order to build efficient and durable systems that interact in the real world is a new problem. Despite recent improvements in fundamental AI technologies, the integration of these skills into larger, trustworthy, transparent, and maintainable systems is still in its development. Both conceptually and practically, there are a number of unanswered issues.
Model-Driven Software Systems Development Using the Meta-Artifact Process
by Wayne O'BrienThe importance of architecture for software systems is widely accepted, but the role of architecture in the overall development process is not so clear. Presenting an architecture-centric process, Model-Driven Software Systems Development Using the Meta-Artifact Process makes the role of architecture clear. At its core, this book is about developing software systems and, more specifically, software code. It describes three major innovations for making software, which are combined with five widely used enabling technologies, to provide a complete, hypothesis-driven software development process known as Meta-Artifact Process (MAP). Having complete requirements is essential for making good software and supports the hypothesis-driven MAP.MAP offers properties, qualities, and capabilities that help stakeholders and developers understand and reason about a domain and target systems of interest. MAP, through the central role of the Meta-Artifact and incorporating the view that a computer program is a hypothesis about the requirements, offers new ways to look at systems and their development, even changing the roles of developers and stakeholders.Recommending agile methods wherever appropriate while supporting the OMG Essence standard and working within an overarching architecture, MAP presents ways to ensure that the requirements are complete and correct. It helps to identify likely points during development to form alternative hypotheses about them. Because MAP requires an underlying software development process, it can provide that clarity to existing processes in which the organization’s developers are already proficient.This book provides concrete examples from two broad but diverse areas—Accounting Information Systems in the commercial area and a military command and control system—to show the wide applicability of MAP in both commercial and defense domains.
Leader Work: Using Insight, Intuition and Imagination to Develop Leadership Practice
by Paul HibbertLeader Work offers an accessible and engaging introduction to the power of reflection to support leaders in their development and professional practice. The book does not present a tick-box toolkit to being a better leader, instead it provides the prompts and deeper reflexive space for leaders to consider their own self-development.Written by a leading management researcher and consultant, the book draws on reflexive practice, but goes beyond this method to guide the reader on how to consider both inward and outward work, and provides useful suggestions for application. The inward work involves developing our knowledge of ourselves, our capabilities and our limitations through self-examination and connecting with others, and so building up our capacity for judgment, and gaining confidence in using intuition and imagination thoughtfully in situations of complexity and uncertainty. The outward work involves learning to express a leader identity that is both true to ourselves and recognized by relevant groups and the organizations in which we work, so that we are trusted to help navigate and narrate a path through uncertainty.This book has been written for leaders and would-be leaders looking to develop and shape their practice, as well as scholars studying and teaching leadership classes.
Accessory to Murder (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #3)
by Elaine VietsA secret shopper turns amateur sleuth when her best friend’s husband is accused of murder in this mystery by the Anthony and Agatha Award–winning author.Josie Marcus has an eye for the finer things in life. Unfortunately, her wallet can’t keep up—as a single mom and mystery shopper, she won’t be moving out of St. Louis’s suburbs anytime soon. Good thing her best friend, Alyce Bohannon, doesn’t mind sharing a taste of the high life in her posh gated community, Wood Winds. But the refined neighborhood turns ugly with gossip when Alyce’s neighbor, the well-heeled scarf designer Halley Hardwicke, is murdered.Talk is cheap . . . until the detectives begin questioning Alyce’s husband, Jake, about the crime. So Josie decides to do a little sleuthing of her own, going undercover to unravel the secrets of the cliquey Wood Winds wives. Hopefully she can clear Jake’s name and uncover the truth before the killer snags another victim.
Lieutenant (Dirigent Mercenary Corps Ser. #2)
by Rick ShelleyThe year is 2804 AD. Humanity has colonized the universe. But the authority of the Confederation of Human Worlds is spread thin. Where the Army of planet Earth cannot reach, mercenaries must keep the peace--and the Dirigent Mercenary Corps are the best of the best. Kicked out of the prestigious North American Military Academy, Lon Nolan had only a few choices left to him. He chose the hardest one: serving with the Dirigent Mercenary Corps, an elite fighting squad where respect is earned not in the classroom but on the battlefield.Nolan proved himself on the battlefield on Norbank. But now he’s commanding men of his own, and the stakes are higher. He’s going to learn sooner or later that leadership always comes with a cost...The Dirigent Mercenary Corps books are classics of military science fiction. Rick Shelley was himself a veteran of the U.S. Army, and his experience and knowledge shine through on every page.
Fixing to Die (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #9)
by Elaine VietsMystery shopper Josie Marcus unlocks a DIY murder case when her new house’s “good bones” takes on multiple meanings…Josie’s been busy with a personal shopping project—scouring suburban St. Louis for a starter home for her and her newlywed husband, Dr. Ted Scottsmeyer. So she’s thrilled when Ted’s veterinary partner, Dr. Christine Cormac, hooks them up with a beautiful house, which her flaky sister, Rain, inexplicably abandoned months earlier. But before they’ve even picked out the paint, Josie and Ted discover Rain’s body beneath their backyard gazebo and Christine is immediately boxed up for murder.Now, Josie’s new home is a crime scene and Christine is headed for the big house…unless Josie steps in. Good thing she’s handy around a murder investigation, because she’ll need all her sleuthing skills to unpack the clues, flip the case, and nail the real killer.
The Last App: A brand new psychological family drama
by Tom AlanMick wants to know when he&’s going to die. Luckily—or unluckily—there&’s an app for that . . . Dr. Mick Strong has bought himself something unusual for his seventy-fifth birthday: a LifeTime projection. This new tech crunches data including your medical history, diet, and lifestyle to predict how much—or little—time you&’ve got left. That&’s all well and good, but he&’s also bought them for his daughter, his grandchildren, and even his eleven-year-old great-grandson. He wants them each to wait until their next birthday to use the app. But whether they scoff at it, sneak an early look, desperately turn into a health nut, or die before their appointed time, the gift is wreaking havoc on the whole family. This dark, insightful novel about hope, fear, and stubborn curiosity reminds us that we never quite know what lies ahead—and that when it comes to love and family, there&’s no time like the present.
Against Extraction: Indigenous Modernism in the Twin Cities
by Matt HooleyIn Against Extraction Matt Hooley traces a modern tradition of Ojibwe invention in Minneapolis and St. Paul from the mid-nineteenth century to the present as that tradition emerges in response to the cultural legacies of US colonialism. Hooley shows how Indigenous literary and visual art modernisms challenge the strictures of everyday life and question the ecological, political, and cultural fantasies that make multivalent US colonialism seem inevitable. Hooley analyzes literature and art by Louise Erdrich, William Whipple Warren, David Treuer, George Morrison, and Gerald Vizenor in relation to histories of Indigenous dispossession and occupation, enslavement and Black life, and environmental harm and care. He shows that historical narratives of these cities are intimately bound up with the violence of colonial systems of extraction and that concepts like Indigeneity and sovereignty extend beyond treaty-granted promises of political control. These works, created in opposition and proximity to the extraction of cultural, political, and territorial resources, demonstrate how Indigenous claims to life and land matter to rethinking and unmaking the social and ecological devastations of the colonial world.
Nandini Satpathy: The Iron Lady of Orissa
by Pallavi RebbapragadaObliterated from the pages of history, as women often are, Odisha&’s first woman Chief Minister, Nandini Satpathy, known also as the Iron Lady of Orissa, was born to a family of revolutionaries and intellectuals. During her teenage years in the &‘40s, this petite girl in a starchy cotton saree was jailed for pulling down the Union Jack from atop the edifice of Ravenshaw College. Thus began the makings of a force to be reckoned with. Coming up through the ranks to ultimately reach the hallowed halls of the Rajya Sabha at the mere age of 31, this grassroots student politician went on to become the I&B minister in Indira Gandhi&’s first government, where she facilitated the working of the Free Bangla Radio that played a key role in the information war that was &’71. She hobnobbed with the likes of Raj Kapoor, Nargis, and Meena Kumari as India produced films around socialist films and warmed up to Russia. And still, in Delhi circles, she is best remembered as &‘Indira Gandhi&’s friend&’. Nandini&’s political career was as tumultuous as her friendship with Indira Gandhi. They were a close-knit duo, brought together by circumstances and kept together by a strong sense of affection and loyalty. That was until the Emergency. Where once she had enjoyed the proximity to the PMO and all the privileges that it came with, Nandini&’s opposition to the Emergency led to a fall from grace. This loss was not just the loss of a friend; it also meant the loss of her political career. During her chief-ministerial tenure, she implemented radical land reforms and tore down the tobacco trade mafia. These were actions that made her a lot of enemies. Once protected by her friendship with the prime minister, she was now subjected to brutal vendetta. In the twilight years of her life, Nandini succumbed to the deep grief of losing her husband and the ignominy of political obscurity. This is the story of Nandini Satpathy.
Artificial Intelligence in Music, Sound, Art and Design: 13th International Conference, EvoMUSART 2024, Held as Part of EvoStar 2024, Aberystwyth, UK, April 3–5, 2024, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #14633)
by Colin Johnson Sérgio M. Rebelo Iria SantosThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Music, Sound, Art and Design, EvoMUSART 2024, held as part of EvoStar 2024, in Aberystwyth, UK, April 3–5, 2024. The 17 full papers and 8 short papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 55 submissions. The main purpose of this conference proceedings was to bring together practitioners who are using Artificial Intelligence techniques for artistic tasks, providing the opportunity to promote, present, and discuss ongoing work in the area.
Guide du clinicien pour aborder l'obésité avec les patients
by Sandra ChristensenCet ouvrage pratique, traduit de l’anglais, offre des stratégies efficaces, applicables dans n’importe quel cadre de pratique, pour amorcer et entretenir une conversation constructive sur le poids avec un patient. Il est destiné aux praticiens, infirmiers de pratique avancée, assistants médicaux, médecins, qu’ils soient étudiants ou professionnels expérimentés, pour les aider à prendre en charge le suivi de l'obésité ou pour orienter leurs patients vers d'autres professionnels.Ce guide aborde les nombreux obstacles que les praticiens rencontrent lorsqu'ils abordent la question du poids et propose des stratégies pour les contourner et les surmonter. Il accompagne les cliniciens pas à pas dans l’acquisition des concepts et compétences nécessaires à mener une discussion qui conduira à améliorer la santé du patient. Chaque chapitre fournit des outils et informations sur la manière de faire habilement progresser une conversation, de façon respectueuse. Des cas cliniques réels fournissent des exemples de conversations courtes et concrètes qui intègrent ces outils dans la pratique clinique. De nombreux praticiens sont conscients de l'importance d'aborder la question du poids avec leurs patients, mais ne se sentent pas suffisamment préparés pour le faire. Beaucoup n’ont pas été formés à la question de l'obésité, ni à la meilleure manière d’en parler et n'ont que peu d'accès à la formation continue. Sans les connaissances et compétences nécessaires pour aborder une conversation constructive, beaucoup évitent le sujet, ce qui impacte négativement la santé des personnes souffrant d'obésité et de pré-obésité. Le suivi et le traitement de cette pathologie donnant de bons résultats, il est impératif que les praticiens soient capables d'aborder cette question en connaissance de cause et avec sensibilité. A ce titre, ce guide pratique comble cette lacune.
Slow Planning?: Timescapes, Power and Democracy
by Mark Dobson Gavin ParkerA deep exploration on how questions of time and its organisation affect planning practice, this book questions ‘project speed’: where time to think, deliberate and plan has been squeezed. The authors demonstrate the many benefits of slow planning for the key participants, multiple interests and planning system overall.
Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music beyond Humanity
by Gavin SteingoA surprising study reveals a plethora of attempts to communicate with non-humans in the modern era. In Interspecies Communication, music scholar Gavin Steingo examines significant cases of attempted communication beyond the human—cases in which the dualistic relationship of human to non-human is dramatically challenged. From singing whales to Sun Ra to searching for alien life, Steingo charts the many ways we have attempted to think about, and indeed to reach, beings that are very unlike ourselves. Steingo focuses on the second half of the twentieth century, when scientists developed new ways of listening to oceans and cosmic space—two realms previously inaccessible to the senses and to empirical investigation. As quintessential frontiers of the postwar period, the outer space of the cosmos and the inner space of oceans were conceptualized as parallel realities, laid bare by newly technologized “ears.” Deeply engaging, Interspecies Communication explores our attempts to cross the border between the human and non-human, to connect with non-humans in the depths of the oceans, the far reaches of the universe, or right under our own noses.
The Composition Commons: Writing a New Idea of the University
by Jessica YoodThe Composition Commons delivers a timely take on invigorating higher education, illustrating how college composition courses can be dynamic sites for producing a democratic, just, and generally educated public. Jessica Yood traces the century-long origins of a writing-centered idea of the American university and tracks the resurgence of this idea today. Drawing on archival and classroom evidence from public colleges and universities and written in a lively autoethnographic voice, Yood names “genres of the commons”: intimate, informal writing activities that create peer-to-peer knowledge networks. She shows how these unique genres create collectivity—an academic commons—and calls on scholars to invest in composition as a course cultivating reflective, emergent, shared knowledge. Yood departs from movements that divest from the first-year composition classroom and details how an increasingly diverse student population composes complex, evolving cultural literacies that forge social bonds and forward innovation and intellectual and civic engagement. The Composition Commons reclaims the commons as critical idea and writing classroom activities as essential practices for remaking higher education in the United States.
Shop Till You Drop (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #1)
by Elaine VietsBIMBOS, BUSTIERS, AND BOTOX! MURDER MOST FASHIONABLE…Author Elaine Viets kicks off this funny and fresh cozy series—about a woman on the run from her ex—with a rollicking tale of crime and vanity in the shadow world of wannabe molls. When unlikely sleuth Helen Hawthorne flees St. Louis, she fetches up in Fort Lauderdale, suddenly surrounded by the beautiful and the Botoxed.They all shop at the same place—Juliana’s, the overpriced boutique where Helen works. And they’re all looking for a wealthy wise guy to take to the cleaners.It’s a dead-end job with no perks—but one that pays in cash. A little shady, but it beats leaving a paper trail. Turns out shady’s only the beginning.Juliana’s holds more secrets than a confessional, beginning with theft and drug sales, progressing to ever more ambitious scams, and inevitably, given the escalating level of crime, the murder of a felonious fashionista. The good news is there’s a reward—and Helen needs money. The bad is that she could die before she collects it.Readers will find Helen the perfect cozy protagonist—an ordinary woman squeezed by circumstance, feeling her way as she takes control of her life whatever way she has to do it, innocent yet growing savvier by the second. You root hard for her as she settles into the role of amateur detective because you just can’t help identifying with her and hoping you’d rise to the occasion as well. And you’ll laugh out loud at the sly way author Viets skewers the South Florida culture of vanity and money.Fans of everywoman heroines like those created by Joanna Campbell Slan, Donna Andrews, Joanne Fluke, CeeCee James, Jana DeLeon, and Janet Evanovich will fall in love with this plucky investigator. And they can settle in for a long and beautiful relationship. The best news is the series is fifteen books strong, and counting!
Murder with All the Trimmings (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #4)
by Elaine Viets‘Tis the season for sleuthing when secret shopper Josie Marcus’s ex falls victim to a festive fiend…Josie’s latest mystery shopper report won’t help business at Naughty or Nice, Maplewood’s raunchy year-round Christmas store. But she can’t worry about work when her ex-dealer, ex-convict, ex-boyfriend, Nate Weekler, just came home for the holidays, prepared to fight Josie for custody of their daughter. Josie wishes he’d catch the next sleigh out of town, but instead, Nate is poisoned…and suddenly Josie is a person of interest.With Nate’s criminal past, he’d never make Santa’s “Nice” column, but his own list of enemies also includes plenty of “Naughties” who might want him dead. Josie will need her team of little helpers to wrap up this case, before the killer commits another holiday homicide.
Clubbed to Death (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #7)
by Elaine VietsFrom Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while other people are making a killing.The Superior Club is where Fort Lauderdale’s wealthiest—and snobbiest—come to play. But for Helen Hawthorne, it’s all work and no play. As a customer care clerk, it’s her job to cater to the clients’ every little whim and take care of their every little problem.But Helen has a very big problem of her own. After an acrimonious reunion with her ex-husband Rob, she ends up belting the bum in the mouth—which invites suspicion when Rob goes ominously missing. And when a club employee and a philandering member are found beaten to death with a golf club, the police assume Helen was the deadly duffer.With her freedom—and yet another job—on the line, Helen has no choice but to prove that someone else at the high-class club is a low-down killer…
Final Sail (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #11)
by Elaine VietsFrom Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while other people are making a killing.As one half of Coronado Investigations in sunny Fort Lauderdale, Helen Hawthorne is working full time alongside her handsome hubby Phil. And after the surprising number of murders Helen helped solve while earning low pay on off the books jobs, anything else should be smooth sailing, right?Unfortunately, Helen’s unique work history also makes her a natural for undercover work—and in this case that means she’s going right back to scrubbing and cleaning while acting as a “yacht stewardess” to catch some smugglers. And even more annoying is the fact that Phil must stay on shore to figure out if a wealthy man has fallen victim to his gold-digging trophy wife.But after a member of the yacht crew disappears, Helen’s case quickly goes from simple smuggling to maritime murder. And if she doesn’t find out who pitched the man overboard, she might end up lost at sea herself…
Just Murdered (The Dead-End Job Mysteries #4)
by Elaine VietsFrom Anthony and Agatha Award-winning author Elaine Viets—the thrilling mystery series about one woman trying to make a living... while other people are making a killing.After all she’s endured with her own marriage, divorce, and subsequent flight from alimony, Helen Hawthorne getting a job at Millicent’s Bridal Salon is ironic in the extreme. But the pay is in cash and that’s what matters for Helen to stay incognito.But there’s no amount of cash worth having to deal with the abominable Kiki—a wealthy witch who’s lording it over her daughter’s wedding plans with the aim of making the day all about Kiki, not the bride. She also thinks her money makes her invulnerable…but she’s proven wrong when she’s found smothered to death with her daughter’s wedding dress. And worse, the cops seem to think Helen is responsible.Now, Helen has to keep her identity secret and prove her innocence before the bride and groom read their wedding vows—and the police read Helen her rights…
Until Relieved (Lucky 13th #1)
by Rick ShelleyThe first thrilling novel in Rick Shelley’s sci-fi military action trilogy following the exploits of The Lucky 13th—in which a simple diversionary tactic may well end in the death of every soldier in the outfit.Three thousand years ago, humanity expanded its presence by settling hundreds of worlds across the galaxy. Yet even as technology allowed them to boldly travel light years, the nature of humanity changed very little. Over time, countless regimes and governments rose and fell in a quest for power. In the end, only two remained—the industrial dictatorship of the Schlinal Hegemony, and the feudal-based Dogel Worlds. The last independent worlds of the Terran Cluster finally united as the Accord of Free Worlds—and fought back against the conquerors as no one had before.So, the war continues…When the Schlinal Hegemony goes on the offensive, the Accord decides to send their forces to several other planets to disperse the Hegemony forces. The planet Porter is where Sgt. Joe Baerclau and his 13th Spaceborne Assault Team are deployed. Unfortunately, what begins as a holding action soon becomes a brutal battle against a relentless foe. And it soon becomes clear that they only have three options left: keep the enemy at bay until backup arrives, hope the enemy decides to quit the fight in frustration, or be buried on Porter…
Major (Dirigent Mercenary Corps #4)
by Rick ShelleyThe year is 2804 AD. Humanity has colonized the universe. But the authority of the Confederation of Human Worlds is spread thin. Where the Army of planet Earth cannot reach, mercenaries must keep the peace--and the Dirigent Mercenary Corps are the best of the best.Lon Nolan is skyrocketing through the ranks of the DMC, proving time and again that he’s got what it takes to be one of the most elite fighters in the galaxy. But as his family grows, he grows less certain that the mercenary life is for him. With one kid at home and another on the way, he grows more reluctant to march off to battle.But when duty calls, he must answer. In Major, Nolan is off to the mining planet of Bancroft on a routine security mission. Of course, this is the DMC, so it won’t stay routine for long ...The Dirigent Mercenary Corps books are classics of military science fiction. Rick Shelley was himself a veteran of the U.S. Army, and his experience and knowledge shine through on every page.
The Fashion Hound Murders (Josie Marcus, Mystery Shopper #5)
by Elaine VietsMystery shopper Josie Marcus is on the hunt for a killer when a pet store employee mysteriously dies after blowing the whistle on possible puppy mill connections…Josie’s latest assignment is one for the dogs—literally! Pets 4 Luv, a national pet store chain, has hired Josie to mystery shop its St. Louis suburban locations and she discovers possible puppy mill suppliers. When an employee tipster is killed in a suspicious hit-and-run, Josie’s job suddenly gets a lot hairier.Posh pets are a million dollar business for puppy mills; even so, Josie is staggered to think that her sniffing around led to an innocent woman’s murder and may have put her own life at risk. But she’s not ready to tuck her tail and run just yet. Using every bit of her secret shopper savvy, Josie must follow the designer dog trail to expose the illegal breeders, shutter the puppy mills, and finally collar the vicious killer on the loose.