Will temperatures rise by 2�C or 8�C over the next hundred years? Will sea levels rise by 2 or 30 feet? The only way that we can accurately answer questions like these is by looking into the distant past, for a comparison with the world long before the rise of mankind.We may currently believe that atmospheric shifts, like global warming, result from our impact on the planet, but the earth's atmosphere has been dramatically shifting since its creation. This book reveals the crucial role that plants have played in determining atmospheric change - and hence the conditions on the planet we know today. Along the way a number of fascinating puzzles arise: Why did plants evolve leaves? When and how did forests once grow on Antarctica? How did prehistoric insects manage to grow so large? The answers show the extraordinary amount plants can tell us about the history of the planet -- something that has often been overlooked amongst the preoccuputations with dinosaur bones and animal fossils.David Beerling's surprising conclusions are teased out from various lines of scientific enquiry, with evidence being brought to bear from fossil plants and animals, computer models of the atmosphere, and experimental studies. Intimately bound up with the narrative describing the dynamic evolution of climate and life through Earth's history, we find Victorian fossil hunters, intrepid polar explorers and pioneering chemists, alongside wallowing hippos, belching volcanoes, and restless landmasses.

    From Agate to Zoisite, each crystal entry includes a color photo, description of properties, listing of associated herbs, oils, and incenses, and astrological significance. You'll not only learn how to identify crystals, but how to harness their powers for decision-making, protection, health, and well-being. Relieve a child's earache with rose quartz or rid the workplace of tension with an amethyst geode tucked in your desk. Whether you carry a core set of crystals, fashion an amulet for portable empowerment, or whip up a pitcher of energy-boosting crystalline water, these practical suggestions can help you face fears and soothe daily stresses.

    Aimed at accountants or readers of other career paths, this book helps them build their decision making skills and understand how to use accounting information to make quality business decisions.

    From the laws of libel and privacy to the regulation of advertising and telecommunications, Mass Media Law examines timely issues that are shaping the United States' legal system and the future of media content.

    The 5th edition has been completely updated and includes a Companion CD-ROM that contains animations, NCLEX(R) examination-style review questions, printable IV therapy and medication safety checklists, drug calculation problems, and convenient electronic calculators.A separate drug calculations section - Medications and Calculations - features 65 pages of math review and step-by-step instructions for dosage calculations using the four primary methods - basic formula, ratio and proportion, dimensional analysis, and fractional equation. Nursing Process sections relate nursing care to drug therapy. Each step of the nursing process includes concise actions for the plan of care in relation to treatment for selected drug prototypes.A chapter on Principles of Drug Administration features comprehensive coverage of the procedures for administering drugs. It addresses all routes of administration and various settings.Unit openers for drug therapy chapters include an illustrated overview of normal anatomy and physiology, giving readers the foundation for understanding how the drug works in that body system.Herbal Alert boxes highlight various herbal products and their interactions with drugs.More than 100 detailed Prototype Drug Charts list the following information: dosage, indication, contraindication, drug-lab-food interactions, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, therapeutic effects, side effects, and adverse reactions.Highlighted Client Teaching, Cultural Considerations, and Herbal Alerts are included in the Nursing Process sections to emphasize key implications for nurses.Client Teaching in the nursing process sections guide readers through instructions for teaching patients about medication, self-administration, dietary concerns, and side effects.Includes a separate Transcultural and Genetic Considerations chapter.Critical Thinking Case Studies and Study Questions at the end of each chapter present readers with a clinical scenario and several questions that reinforce key concepts and encourage critical thinking.A new chapter on substance abuse addresses this important aspect of the nurse's role in pharmacology. Preventing Medication Errors boxes draw attention to important safety considerations and present guidelines from the Institute for Safe Medication Practice (ISMP).Critical Thinking Case Study boxes provide clinical scenarios and questions to sharpen analytical and critical thinking skills.Now includes step-by-step instructions for dosage calculations using dimensional analysis.Web sites, organizations, and research database information are available at the end of clinical chapters for further review and research.The newest JCAHO guidelines for medication safety are applied throughout the text and the abbreviations appendix has been revised to reflect these updates.Includes a new Herb/Drug Interaction chart, as well as new sugar-free and alcohol-free drug lists.Features updated coverage of pain as the fifth vital sign.Look-alike/sound-alike drugs are highlighted throughout to promote safe drug administration.Includes a list of the 200 most frequently prescribed drugs.Electronic Resources boxes at the beginning of each chapter direct readers to additional learning activities available on the Companion CD and the Evolve website.

    Taking as territory everything from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization, Bryson seeks to understand how we got from there being nothing at all to there being us. To that end, he has attached himself to a host of the world’s most advanced (and often obsessed) archaeologists, anthropologists, and mathematicians, travelling to their offices, laboratories, and field camps. He has read (or tried to read) their books, pestered them with questions, apprenticed himself to their powerful minds. A Short History of Nearly Everything is the record of this quest, and it is a sometimes profound, sometimes funny, and always supremely clear and entertaining adventure in the realms of human knowledge, as only Bill Bryson can render it. Science has never been more involving or entertaining.

    It Combines Comprehensive Medical Content With Dynamic New Features And Interactive Technology To Better Support Instructors And To Help Prepare Students For The Field. An Interactive Skills DVD Is Also Packaged Free With Each Copy Of The Text.

    College Writing Skills With Reading features John Langan's clear writing style and his wide range of writing assignments and activities that effectively reinforce the four essentials of good writing: unity, support, coherence, and sentence skills. This alternate version provides 25 entertaining and informative essays by professional writers.

    Relevant psychological principles will help you predict your viewer's emotional reaction to your photographic images, giving you more power, control, and tools for communicating your desired message. Knowing how our minds work helps photographers, graphic designers, videographers, animators, and visual communicators both create and critique sophisticated works of visual art. Benefit from this insight in your work. Topics covered in this book: gestalt grouping, memory and association, space, time, color, contours, illusion and ambiguity, morphics, personality, subliminals, critiquing photographs, and rhetoric.

    Williams any rock used as building material can tell a fascinating story. All he has to do is look at building stone in any urban center to find a range of rocks equal to any assembled by plate tectonics. In Stories in Stone, he takes you on his explorations to find 3.5-billion-year-old rock that looks like swirled pink and black taffy, a gas station made of petrified wood, and a Florida fort that has withstood 300 years of attacks and hurricanes, despite being made of a stone that has the consistency of a granola bar.In Stories in Stone, Williams also weaves in the cultural history of stone. He shows why a white, fossil-rich limestone from Indiana became the only building stone to be used in all 50 states; how in 1825, the construction of the Bunker Hill Monument led to America's first commercial railroad; and why when the same kind of marble used by Michelangelo was used on a Chicago skyscraper it warped so much after 19 years that all 44,000 panels of the stone had to be replaced. A love letter to building stone, from New England brownstone and Morton Gneiss of Minnsota to the limestone of Salem, Indiana; from granite and travertine to Carrara marble, David Willilams brings to life the stones you will see in the structures of every city, large and small. After reading his book, you will forever look at stone buildings with new eyes.

    Czerski provides the tools to alter the way we see everything around us by linking ordinary objects and occurrences, like popcorn popping, coffee stains, and fridge magnets, to big ideas like climate change, the energy crisis, or innovative medical testing. She provides answers to vexing questions: How do ducks keep their feet warm when walking on ice? Why does it take so long for ketchup to come out of a bottle? Why does milk, when added to tea, look like billowing storm clouds? In an engaging voice at once warm and witty, Czerski shares her stunning breadth of knowledge to lift the veil of familiarity from the ordinary.

    It covers topics ranging from personal responsibility and career development to architectural techniques for keeping your code flexible and easy to adapt and reuse. Read this book, and you'll learn how toFight software rot; Avoid the trap of duplicating knowledge; Write flexible, dynamic, and adaptable code; Avoid programming by coincidence; Bullet-proof your code with contracts, assertions, and exceptions; Capture real requirements; Test ruthlessly and effectively; Delight your users; Build teams of pragmatic programmers; and Make your developments more precise with automation. Written as a series of self-contained sections and filled with entertaining anecdotes, thoughtful examples, and interesting analogies, The Pragmatic Programmer illustrates the best practices and major pitfalls of many different aspects of software development. Whether you're a new coder, an experienced programmer, or a manager responsible for software projects, use these lessons daily, and you'll quickly see improvements in personal productivity, accuracy, and job satisfaction. You'll learn skills and develop habits and attitudes that form the foundation for long-term success in your career. You'll become a Pragmatic Programmer.

    The text is published in full color and contains striking sailing photography from well-known photographer Billy Black, and world-class illustrations from award-winning illustrator Peter Bull. One of the text's most distinguishing features is its user friendly "spreads" in which instructional topics are self-contained on opposing pages throughout the book. This easy to read learning tool follows the critically acclaimed Sailing Made Easy, which Sailing Magazine called "best in class" upon its release in 2010. Sailing Made Easy is the #1 resource in basic sailing education, and Coastal Cruising Made Easy is poised to become the industry standard in intermediate sailing education.