Most of us have heard the dire predictions about global warming. Some experts insist that warming has already started, and they warn of such impending disasters as the sea level rising to flood coastal cities. Others, however, have issued loud counterclaims, assuring us that global warming is a myth based on misleading data. How can we tell who is right, and how we should respond? And why is there no scientific consensus on a matter of such vital importance? George Philander addresses these questions in this book, as he guides the nonscientific reader through new ideas about the remarkable and intricate factors that determine the world's climate. In simple, nontechnical language, Philander describes how the interplay between familiar yet endlessly fascinating phenomena--winds and clouds, light and air, land and sea--maintains climates that permit a glorious diversity of fauna and flora to flourish on Earth. That interplay also creates such potent weather disrupters as El Niño and La Niña, translates modest fluctuations in sunlight into global climate changes as dramatic as the Ice Age, and determines the Earth's response to the gases we are discharging into the atmosphere, such as those that led to the ozone hole over Antarctica and those that are likely to cause global warming. In his discussion of these matters, Philander emphasizes that our planet is so complex that the scientific results will always have uncertainties. To continue to defer action on environmental problems, on the grounds that more accurate scientific results will soon be available, could lead to a crisis. To make wise decisions, it will help if the public is familiar with the geosciences, which explore the processes that make ours a habitable planet. The book is an excellent introduction to the basics of the Earth's climate and weather, and will be an important contribution to the debate about climate change and the relationship between scientific knowledge and public affairs.

BEDSIDE MANNERS AS A DOCTOR, HE KNEW HOW TO TREAT A FEVER…EXCEPT IT WAS HIM MAKING HER TEMPERATURE RISE! Dr. Jack Forrester: He certainly wasn't your average surgeon—Jack was laid-back, fun loving and the most eligible bachelor in town—but everyone in Moccasin Point adored him. Well…not quite everyone. Someone was out to ruin his reputation. Callie Marshall: Coming home to the Point was bittersweet for Callie—fond memories clashed with her duty to dig up dirt on the local doc. Even more disturbing was her heated reaction to Jack. Her old buddy had grown into an incredibly sexy man…with a wonderful bedside manner. But Jack was off-limits to her!

Marine Engineering Series: Marine Electrical Practice, Sixth Edition focuses on changes in the marine industry, including the application of programmable electronic systems, generators, and motors. The publication first ponders on insulation and temperature ratings of equipment, protection and discrimination, and AC generators. Discussions focus on construction, shaft-drive generators, effect of unbalanced loading, subtransient and transient reactance, protection discrimination, fault current, measurement of ambient air temperature, and basis of machine ratings. The text then examines AC switchgear, automatic voltage regulators, DC generators, and DC switchgear. Topics cover switchgear for parallel-operated generators, protection against short-circuit, field regulators and the effect of tropical temperatures, compound-wound generators, power generators, loading sharing, voltage comparison circuit, and amplifier and condition circuit. The manuscript surveys electric cables, motors, motor control gear, semiconductors, storage batteries, and battery control gear. Concerns include calculations to determine the size of battery required, types of storage batteries, rectifiers, tunnel diodes, maintenance of control gear, overload protection, insulation, sheathing, and flexible cords and cables. The publication is a dependable reference for marine engineers and researchers interested in marine engineering.