The basement regions constitute more than two-thirds of outcropping bedrock material across our planet's continents. During the past 30 years French geomorphologists have contributed greatly to the characterization of some of the laws and patterns of landform evolution in shields and crystaliine areas with changing bioclimatic environments. This volume reflects the search for a better understanding of landscapes and landforms in igneous and metamorphic terrains at different latitudes. Furthermore, it covers a wide field of investigation gathered on four continents and addresses the issue at a wide range of spatial and timescales. It is an ideal volume not only for post-graduate geomorphology students but also for geoscience scholars concerned with igneous petrology, quaternary geology, physical geography, soil science and land use planning.

The Eleventh International Conference on Basement Tectonics was held at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam in Germany 25-29 July 1994. It was the first time that a meeting of this series took place in the centre of Europe and the first such meeting in this area after the recent political changes in eastern Europe. Consequently, the main theme of the meeting focussed on the structure and history of the entire European continent. Further themes were grouped around topics of current interest. Keynote lectures on these topics were given by A. Berthelsen, St. Mueller, A. Green, and D. Fountain. The technical sessions were arranged with support of the Scientific Committee on the following topics: 1. Continental scale features of basement rocks of phanerozoic cratons - with emphasis on Europe 2. Extrapolation and correlation of geological and geophysical data from basement rocks: an assessment 3. Mechanisms of basement exhumation in the evolution of orogenic belts 4. Structure and intraplate deformation of the North-American craton Papers submitted to this volume have however all been collected in one part since all of them deal with different aspects of deformation of the continental basement. A second part contains a complete list of all papers and posters presented at the meeting. Field trips to study some of the above mentioned aspects in the Harz mountains, the Granulite Massif, and the Erzgebirge were organized by P. Bankwitz, P. Frischbutter, 1. Rotzler, K. Rotzler, and B. Mingram. Their assistance is gratefully acknowledged.

A collection of Courtney's columns from the Texas Monthly, curing the curious, exorcizing bedevilment, and orienting the disoriented, advising "on such things as: Is it wrong to wear your football team's jersey to church? When out at a dancehall, do you need to stick with the one that brung ya? Is it real Tex-Mex if it's served with a side of black beans? Can one have too many Texas-themed tattoos?"--Amazon.com.

Groundwater has provided great benefits to agriculture irrigation in semi-arid OECD countries, but its intensive use beyond recharge in certain regions has depleted resources and generated significant negative environmental externalities.

Because skin blisters are the initial manifestation of epidermolysis bullosa (EB), patients invariably present to the dermatologist for diagnosis and treatment. However, EB is a systemic disease whose management requires input from clinicians in virtually all fields of medicine, including pediatri cians, surgeons, dentists, gastroenterologists, hematologists, otorhinolaryn gologists, dietitians, and physical therapists, to name a few. Because EB is a rare disease, few clinicians are familiar with it, and many recoil at the pros pect of caring for individuals covered with blisters caused by a disease they know little about. For patients, insult is thus added to injury and they feel abandoned, neglected, and frustrated. One way to remedy this deplorable situation is to provide clinicians with a compact source of information de tailing the principles of EB diagnosis and treatment. This text seeks to fulfill this role. From 1986-1991, The Rockefeller University Hospital has been the co ordinating center of the National EB Registry. Supported by The National Institutes of Health, this Registry consists of four university centers* commit ted to collecting clinical data concerning diagnosis, treatment, and epidemio logy on all American EB patients. As of April 1992, nearly 1,799 EB patients have enrolled nationwide. The Registry is now in its second five-year phase of operation.