This book relates some of our experiences during 30 years as foster parents. The reality of what these children endured before and after placement in the foster care system is heartbreaking. After all these years, my husband Ron and I cling stubbornly to our belief that time and man can change, but God and truth will not.My goal is to inform the public, about the foster care system. I hope to sound the alarm loud and clear, that the current foster care system is not working. I want to bring attention to the powerless children, within the system, being tossed about in the waves of loophole laws, uninformed policy makers, non-committed decision-makers, and non-motivated and often disinterested birth parents. Court mandated and enforced accountability must take place at all levels involved!

Naturally fractured reservoirs constitute a substantial percentage of remaining hydrocarbon resources; they create exploration targets in otherwise impermeable rocks, including under-explored crystalline basement; and they can be used as geological stores for anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Their complex behaviour during production has traditionally proved difficult to predict, causing a large degree of uncertainty in reservoir development. The applied study of naturally fractured reservoirs seeks to constrain this uncertainty by developing new understanding, and is necessarily a broad, integrated, interdisciplinary topic. This book addresses some of the challenges and advances in knowledge, approaches, concepts, and methods used to characterize the interplay of rock matrix and fracture networks, relevant to fluid flow and hydrocarbon recovery. Topics include: describing, characterizing and identifying controls on fracture networks from outcrops, cores, geophysical data, digital and numerical models; geomechanical influences on reservoir behaviour; numerical modelling and simulation of fluid flow; and case studies of the exploration and development of carbonate, siliciclastic and metamorphic naturally fractured reservoirs.

In this standard reference of the field, theoretical and experimental approaches to flow, hydrodynamic dispersion, and miscible displacements in porous media and fractured rock are considered. Two different approaches are discussed and contrasted with each other. The first approach is based on the classical equations of flow and transport, called 'continuum models'. The second approach is based on modern methods of statistical physics of disordered media; that is, on 'discrete models', which have become increasingly popular over the past 15 years. The book is unique in its scope, since (1) there is currently no book that compares the two approaches, and covers all important aspects of porous media problems; and (2) includes discussion of fractured rocks, which so far has been treated as a separate subject. Portions of the book would be suitable for an advanced undergraduate course. The book will be ideal for graduate courses on the subject, and can be used by chemical, petroleum, civil, environmental engineers, and geologists, as well as physicists, applied physicist and allied scientists that deal with various porous media problems.

When pretty, popular, sixteen-year-old Cindy Band returns from a party late one night she finds her luxurious home teeming with police. Her mother lies dead at the bottom of the basement stairs, supposedly the victim of an accidental fall.Devastated by the loss of her mother and an autopsy which cannot confirm the cause of death, Cindy turns to her father for support but, tearful and seemingly distraught, he ignores her. Nevertheless, in the days that follow, Cindy begins to see signs that he is not the grieving husband he professes to be. Though Cindy is traumatized by the growing suspicions she harbors about her father's role in the death, she goes to the lead detective in the case.Together, Cindy and Detective Sharkey gather evidence. However, when her father learns that she is helping the police, he adamently denies his guilt. Yet Cindy is soon beset by new terrors as she becomes the target of a series of dangerous and insidious real-life nightmares.This is the gripping story of a young woman who bravely perseveres in her quest to achieve justice for her murdered mother -- even though her own life is at stake.

The International Conference on Computational Science (ICCS 2004) held in Krak ́ ow, Poland, June 6–9, 2004, was a follow-up to the highly successful ICCS 2003 held at two locations, in Melbourne, Australia and St. Petersburg, Russia; ICCS 2002 in Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and ICCS 2001 in San Francisco, USA. As computational science is still evolving in its quest for subjects of inves- gation and e?cient methods, ICCS 2004 was devised as a forum for scientists from mathematics and computer science, as the basic computing disciplines and application areas, interested in advanced computational methods for physics, chemistry, life sciences, engineering, arts and humanities, as well as computer system vendors and software developers. The main objective of this conference was to discuss problems and solutions in all areas, to identify new issues, to shape future directions of research, and to help users apply various advanced computational techniques. The event harvested recent developments in com- tationalgridsandnextgenerationcomputingsystems,tools,advancednumerical methods, data-driven systems, and novel application ?elds, such as complex - stems, ?nance, econo-physics and population evolution.

The Mechanics of Adhesion shows that adhesion science and technology is inherently an interdisciplinary field, requiring fundamental understanding of mechanics, surfaces, and materials. This volume comprises 19 chapters. Starting with a background and introduction to stress transfer principles; fracture mechanics and singularities; and an energy approach to debonding, the volume continues with analysis of structural lap and butt joint configurations. It then continues with discussions of test methods for strength and constitutive properties; fracture; peel; coatings, the case of adhesion to a single substrate; elastomeric adhesives such as sealants. The role of mechanics in determining the locus of failure in bonded joints is discussed, followed by a chapter on rheology relevant to adhesives and sealants. Pressure sensitive adhesive performance; the principles of tack and tack measurements; and contact mechanics relevant to wetting and surface energy measurements are then covered. The volume concludes with sections on fibermatrix bonding and reinforcement; durability considerations for adhesive bonds; ultrasonic non-destructive evaluation of adhesive bonds; and design of adhesive bonds from a strength perspective. This book will be of interest to practitioners in the fields of engineering and to those with an interest in adhesion science.