Amy is going back to the place where she was born--Washington, D.C. It's a class trip to take in the historic sights of the nation's capital. Sure Amy's uneasy about traveling to the home turf of the people who funded Project Crescent--the reason she's alive--and is in constant fear of being captured. But it's a chance to connect with her roots. After all, what could go wrong? Well, Amy's mother is a class chaperon, and for her the trip stirs up memories. Memories of working in the top-secret government program to develop clones. Memories of a loved one battling a rare genetic disorder. Memories of betrayal, and a decision that would forever change her life. And now the trip back to where it all began pits mother and daughter against an enemy both old and new.

Amy never knew whom Mr. Devon worked for--the organization that's after her, or some other secret government agency. All she knew was that he seemed to be her ally. He always appeared just when she needed help or vital information. But ever since Mr. Devon's death, Amy has relied on her own smarts to survive. And she'll need them more than ever now that a new substitute teacher at school has it in for her. Ms. Heartshorn has a reputation for being demanding. She doesn't tolerate fools or careless work. And her feedback can be . . . well, a little harsh. Amy hates her. But when she learns why Ms. Heartshorn is really at school, Amy totally flips out.

This book presents original contributions to the theories and practices of emerging Internet, data, and Web technologies and their applicability in businesses, engineering, and academia. Internet has become the most proliferative platform for emerging large-scale computing paradigms. Among these, data and Web technologies are two most prominent paradigms, in a variety of forms such as Data Centers, Cloud Computing, Mobile Cloud, Mobile Web Services, and so on. These technologies altogether create a digital ecosystem whose corner stone is the data cycle, from capturing to processing, analysis, and visualization. The investigation of various research and development issues in this digital ecosystem is boosted by the ever-increasing needs of real-life applications, which are based on storing and processing large amounts of data. As a key feature, it addresses advances in the life cycle exploitation of data generated from the digital ecosystem data technologies that create value for the knowledge and businesses toward a collective intelligence approach. Researchers, software developers, practitioners, and students interested in the field of data and Web technologies find this book useful and a reference for their activity.

In 1970 a concrete replica of the St John’s Cross arrived in Iona sitting incongruously on the deck of a puffer delivering the island’s annual supply of coal. What is the story behind this intriguing replica? How does it relate to the world’s first ringed ‘Celtic cross’, an artistic and technical masterpiece, which has been at the heart of the Iona experience since the eighth century? What does it tell us about the authenticity and value of replicas? In this fascinating book, Foster and Jones draw on extensive interdisciplinary research to reveal the composite biography of the St John’s Cross, its concrete replica, and its many other scale copies. They show that replicas can acquire rich forms of authenticity and value, informed by social relations, craft practices, creativity, place and materiality. Thus, the book challenges traditional precepts that seek authenticity in qualities intrinsic to original historic objects. Replicas are shown to be important objects in their own right, with their own creative, human histories — biographies that people can connect with. The story of the St John’s Cross celebrates how replicas can ‘work’ for us if we let them, particularly if clues are available about their makers’ passion, creativity and craft.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the ACM/IFIP/USENIX 8th International Middleware Conference 2007, held in Newport Beach, CA, USA, in November 2007. The 22 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 108 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on component-based middleware, mobile and ubiquitous computing, grid and cluster computing, enhancing communication, resource management, reliability and fault tolerance.

Ever wondered how many aircraft were converted into Japanese Zeroes and torpedo bombers for Tora! Tora! Tora! or how French Gazelle helicopters were modified for the title role in Blue Thunder? This first of its kind reference book lists aircraft featured in 350 films and television shows, providing brief individual histories, film locations, serial numbers and registrations. Aircraft are also cross-referenced by manufacturer. Appendices provide brief bios on pilots and technicians, information on aircraft collections owned by Tallmantz Aviation and Blue Max Aviation and film credits for U.S. aircraft carriers.

The terms 'recombinant DNA technology', 'DNA cloning', 'molecular cloning' or 'gene cloning' all refer to the same process: the transfer of a DNA fragment of interest from one organism to a self-replicating genetic element such as a bacterial plasmid. The DNA of interest can then be propagated in a foreign host cell. This technology has been around since the 1970s, and it has become a common practice in molecular biology labs today. Reproductive cloning is a technology used to generate an animal that has the same nuclear DNA as another currently or previously existing animal. Dolly was created by reproductive cloning technology. In a process called 'somatic cell nuclear transfer' (SCNT), scientists transfer genetic material from the nucleus of a donor adult cell to an egg whose nucleus, and thus its genetic material, has been removed. The reconstructed egg containing the DNA from a donor cell must be treated with chemicals or electric current in order to stimulate cell division. Once the cloned embryo reaches a suitable stage, it is transferred to the uterus of a female host where it continues to develop until birth. Therapeutic cloning, also called "embryo cloning," is the production of human embryos for use in research. The goal of this process is not to create cloned human beings, but rather to harvest stem cells that can be used to study human development and to treat disease. Stem cells are important to biomedical researchers because they can be used to generate virtually any type of specialised cell in the human body. This new book presents an up-to-date Chronology of Cloning along with current and selected abstracts dealing with cloning as well as a guide to books on the topic. Access to the abstract and books sections is provided by title, subject and author indexes.