The 21st century will witness the collision of two powerful forces - burgeoning population growth, together with a changing climate. With population growth, water scarcity will proliferate to new areas across the globe. And with climate change, rainfall will become more fickle, with longer and deeper periods of droughts and deluges. This report presents new evidence to advance understanding on how rainfall shocks coupled with water scarcity, impacts farms, firms, and families. On farms, the largest consumers of water in the world, impacts are channeled from declining yields to changing landscapes. In cities, water extremes especially when combined with unreliable infrastructure can stall firm production, sales, and revenue. At the center of this are families, who feel the impacts of this uncertainty on their incomes, jobs, and long-term health and welfare. Although a rainfall shock may be fleeting, its consequences can become permanent and shape the destiny of those who experience it. Pursuing business as usual will lead many countries down a 'parched path' where droughts shape destinies. Avoiding this misery in slow motion will call for fundamental changes to water policy around the globe. Building resilience to rainfall variability will require using different policy instruments to address the multifaceted nature of water. A key message of this report is that water has multiple economic attributes, each of which entail distinct policy responses. If water is not managed more prudently--from source, to tap, and back to source--the crises observed today will become the catastrophes of tomorrow.

Disinfection by-products (DBPs) are potentially toxic compounds formed when drinking water is treated with disinfectants, such as chlorine or chloramine. A large proportion of the exposure to DBPs is still unknown and the health risks observed through epidemiological studies cannot be explained by DBPs known today. In this thesis, a part of the unknown DBP fraction is investigated, covering a wide range of non-volatile, chlorine/bromine-containing DBPs. The goals were to investigate how the compositions of these DBPs differ between water treatment plants, how their occurrence changes in the distribution system until reaching consumers and how new treatment techniques can reduce their formation and toxicity. To analyze unknown DBPs, a non-targeted approach adopting ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry, Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), was used, where the mass of molecules is measured with such accuracy that the elemental composition of individual DBPs can be calculated. A panel of bioassays was used to assess the combined toxic effects from these DBP mixtures. The results show that the formation of these DBPs to a large extent was specific to each water treatment plant and that local conditions influenced DBP formation, based on e.g., the abundance of organic material with certain chemical structures, bromide and disinfection procedure and agent (chlorine or chloramine). The DBPs were detected in both chlorinated and chloraminated water and in all tap water samples, demonstrating that they are part of human exposure. The number of DBP formulae decreased and the DBP composition changed between drinking water treatment and consumer taps, suggesting that DBP exposure to consumers is not necessarily resembling measurements at the treatment plants. Evaluation of new treatment techniques showed that suspended ion exchange and ozonation have potential to decrease the formation and toxic effects of DBPs and that the removal of organic matter can influence qualitative aspects of DBP formation, such as the proportions of chlorine-containing (less toxic) versus bromine-containing (more toxic) DBPs. Through increased knowledge about the role and relevance of non-volatile DBPs, this work can contribute to future monitoring and actions to reduce the health risks associated with DBPs in chlorinated or chloraminated drinking water. Desinfektionsbiprodukter (DBP:s) är potentiellt giftiga ämnen som bildas när dricksvatten renas med desinfektionsmedel såsom hypoklorit eller monokloramin. En stor del av exponeringen är ännu okänd och hittills kända DBP:s kan inte förklara de hälsorisker som förknippats med klorerat dricksvatten i epidemiologiska studier. I avhandlingen undersöks en relativt okänd fraktion av DBP:s som utgörs av icke-flyktiga, klor/brom-innehållande ämnen. Målen var att undersöka hur dessa DBP:s varierar mellan olika vattenverk, om de förekommer hos konsumenter och hur nya vattenreningstekniker kan minska dess bildandning och relaterad toxicitet. För att mäta okända DBP:s användes ultrahögupplöst masspektrometri (Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS)), med vilken massan hos molekyler kan bestämmas så exakt att atomsammansättningen för enskilda DBP:s kan räknas ut. En serie effektbaserade metoder som bygger på biologiska testsystem användes för att mäta kombinerade toxiska effekter från de studerade biprodukterna. Resultaten visar att största delen av bildade DBP:s var unik för varje vattenverk och att lokala förutsättningar påverkar vilka DBP:s som bildas, till exempel om det finns organiskt material med särskilda kemiska strukturer, bromid eller vilket desinfektionsmedel (klor eller kloramin) som används. De studerade biprodukterna detekterades både i klorerat och kloraminerat dricksvatten och i samtliga kranvatten, vilket innebär att de bidrar till konsumenters exponering. Antalet detekterade DBP:s minskade och sammansättningen ändrades mellan vattenverk och konsument, vilket innebär att DBP exponeringen hos konsumenter inte är densamma som mäts på vattenverken. En utvärdering av nya reningstekniker visade att suspenderat jonbyte och ozonering har potential att minska bildning och relaterad toxisk effekt från DBP:s och att borttagning av organiskt material kan påverka kvalitativa aspekter av DBP bildning, såsom proportionerna av klorerade (mindre toxiska) och bromerade (mer toxiska) DBP:s. Genom ökad insikt om icke-flyktiga DBP:s roll och relevans kan detta arbete bidra till att förbättra framtida uppföljning och insatser för att minska hälsorisker kopplade till DBP:s i klorerat eller kloraminerat dricksvatten.

Most teenage boys would love to spend a summer with a bachelor uncle in a seaside cabin. But not Jonah Lander. He has secrets—lots of them—and they weigh heavily on his mind. One deception leads to another, and he lies to his Uncle Nate about joining the local swim team, not wanting to explain his fear of the dark salt water. When Sumi, a budding marine biologist, asks him to be her research assistant, he jumps at the chance to make some money. But he gets into a lot more than he bargained for. Soon he will have to face his greatest fears and give up his secrets forever. Bulion's satisfying novel is further enhanced by a rich ensemble of supporting characters, interesting facts about marine life, and a text that perfectly captures the special rhythms of small town seaside living.

God wants to speak to us In life, sometimes things arent as they seem. The harbor looks so peaceful, so comfortable, but is it? We search for satisfaction anchored in the harbor, but God has called us for a life of bold adventure out in the uncharted waters. In opposition, the world distracts us with the illusion that material possessions, prestigious titles, and superficial beauty will deliver satisfaction. This distraction creates an insatiable thirst for peace that cant be quenched without a close relationship with God. When we leave the seemingly safe confines of the harbor and explore the deep, life-giving waters, we find truth and fulfillment of our identities in Him. Reducing the distractions of our busy lives, while connecting with God and other believers in community, will transform and transport us to our God-given destinations. These revelations provide us the peace we have been seeking all along. Are you ready to answer the call?

A forbidden love can no longer be denied in this reader favorite from New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo! Hardened hero Drew Evans thought his tragic past was behind him, until the woman he secretly loves—his best friend’s widow—steps back into his solitary life. But single mom Alison Myers is in need of his help to save her ailing son—and quench her own hidden longings. Alison never expected to see devastatingly handsome Drew again, the one man who makes her feel the forbidden stirrings of passion. But can she trust him with the two most precious things in her life…her son and her heart? Originally published in 2003

The purpose of this book is to give ChristaEUR"centered believers an objective look at how a community of believers has the ability to not just survive in the roughaEUR"andaEUR"tumble times that a postaEUR"financialaEUR"collapse world will inevitably lapse into, but actually thrive. ChristaEUR"centered leadership is the key. Honoring God the Father and His Son Yeshua in all aspects is something that the author strove to hear God's leading on, from start to finish. Over the last twenty years, many books, articles, and movies have been written and filmed about the postapocalyptic world, both fiction and non fiction howaEUR"to, centering on what to do and how to do it. Most, if not nearly all, have focused on a few major topics, with perhaps another one or two side issues. In this book, the author has endeavored to cover as many facets as possible that will come into play as given to him by God's Spirit. Financial collapse, firearms, selfaEUR"defense, breakdown of law and order, cannibalism, barter, invasion by the UN, the setting up of a retreat, basic survival skills, and medical care by amateurs have all been covered in other works, and usually quite well. But, as they say on TV, wait, there's more...much, much more. Also woven into this work are torture, suicide, homosexuality and the subsequent deliverance from it, along with the very real probability of Islamic terrorism. Then we get to, for the most part, the forgotten wild cards: a command structure for the leadership, unparalleled cataclysmic geological upheaval, pandemic outbreak, the setting up of a city of refuge for God's people, and without question, the most neglected yet, far and away, most important deciding factor in all this: the last days' move of God. Mix all these factors together, and there we will find ourselves in uncharted waters.

ASEAN has an abiding interest in peace and stability in this region and in freedom of navigation in and overflight above the South China Sea. Much of ASEANs commerce, including its members' traded food and energy resources, passes through or over the South China Sea. The stakes for ASEAN and its members in the South China Sea are very high.This book is the product of a conference on Entering Uncharted Waters? ASEAN and the South China Sea Dispute, initiated to remind all claimants to bring their claims as close as possible to the provisions of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. After all, ASEAN has sought to promote the rule of law in the region. The conference and this book were inspired by the following objectives: peace, stability, freedom of navigation and overflight, confidence building, cooperation, and the rule of law.

Have you ever had a secret so deep – even you didn’t know it? When Aveny discovers an old seal skin tucked amongst the bric-a-brac of her grandmother’s attic, she realizes something is amiss. After all, what is her kindly, midwestern grandmother doing with a seal skin? Is that really ethical? Or even legal?! Soon, the skin’s mysterious origin is the least of Aveny’s concerns. Strange occurrences start happening with increasing frequency, causing her to question her own sanity (which is especially concerning, considering what happened to her great aunt). But as the haunting nightmares and unexplainable occurrences accelerate, Aveny finds herself in a new and especially horrifying situation; she wakes one morning, not in the comfort of her own bed, but laying on a distant beach, clutching the sealskin, and *gasp* completely naked. Grappling with the possibility that she has finally succumbed to the insanity that has plagued her family for generations, Aveny discovers something even more extraordinary; the seal skin is more than a politically incorrect family heirloom – it's a Selkie skin, capable of transforming her into a mythological selkie. Or maybe she’s just crazy. Even she’s not sure which it is. And as she ventures deeper and further into the sea, she’s not even sure she cares. But when a nearly fatal close-call lands Aveny in the hospital with no explanation and no alibi, she finds herself caught in her own web of lies. Her closely guarded secret threatens to tear her family apart. Aveny must choose whether to trade her newfound liberation for safety – or risk everything by following her heart into Uncharted Waters. Are you ready to dive into the adventure? “Uncharted Waters: A Selkie Story” is available free of charge, one chapter or “episode” at a time at SelkieStory.com. You can also sign up for each chapter to be delivered straight to your email inbox. So, what’s a Selkie? Selkie stories have long been told throughout the emerald isles of Ireland and Scotland, extending as far as Iceland and Scandinavia. The ancient myths tell of “seal folk,” seals with the ability to transform into humans. These beings are so alluring, the rare person fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to stumble across one’s path often falls immediately and madly in love with them. However, these love stories are generally ill-fated. At their heart, these mythological adventurers are far too in love with the wild sea, to ever remain on land. The old Celtic tales are just myths, right? Maybe, maybe not. After all, some legends are true and the biggest of secrets are often hidden within. Visit SelkieStory.com to read the full book.

Roblox Cruise Story: Uncharted Waters takes you on an epic voyage of survival, camaraderie, and adventure. After the events of the original Roblox Cruise Story, the characters embark on another cruise, looking forward to a peaceful and fun-filled journey. Unbeknownst to them, they are sailing towards an adventure that will test their unity, resilience, and wits. Stranded on an unfamiliar island, the characters must uncover hidden secrets, confront fearsome challenges, and strive for survival while hoping for rescue. This thrilling sequel explores their journey as they navigate uncharted waters, both literal and figurative. Throughout the journey, the characters learn more about themselves and each other, forming bonds that transcend their virtual existence. They discover the strength of unity, the value of trust, and the importance of perseverance, providing an engaging narrative that is as much about personal growth as it is about thrilling adventure.

In the Edo period, Japan had its first experience of what one might call “intellectual life” in a pregnant sense of the word: a scene that combined serious intellectual pursuits, from poetry writing to the interpretation of the Confucian classics, with intense social interaction. Edo-period Japan was crisscrossed by networks of poets, scholars, artists and collectors who exchanged information, discussed each other’s work, cooperated in collaborative projects, and gossiped about each other. Intellectual life in Edo Japan was a seething cauldron of social interaction and competition, sometimes harmoniously productive, sometimes destructively vicious, but never stagnant. This volume, compiled in honour of Prof. W.J. Boot, offers eleven essays that explore the intellectual scene of Edo-period Japan from a variety of perspectives.