Best Selling Books by Dean Miller

The same number of mountain lion attacks has occurred in the past 10 years as had occured in the preceding 100 years. What''s happening? Cat Attacks is the first unflinching look at what happens when mountain lions and people cross paths. The riveting stories of heroes and victims tell readers what to fear, what to ignore and what to expect when encountering North America''s most effective large predator.

Dean Miller has been studying dog training and animal behavior his entire life. Through the years, he has developed a keen understanding of how dogs think and act. A Dog''s Way shares this knowledge with you. A Dog''s Way is not a training manual. Instead, Miller offers an unparalleled look into your dog''s mind. Dogs have simple, straightforward thought processes, with instincts capable of reacting in the blink of an eye. Their body language is eloquent and nuanced. They may not be able to do math or drive a car, but their skills and capabilities are breathtaking in their own right. Understanding your dog makes training easier and enhances your relationship with your pet. But more importantly, your dog can teach you as much about yourself as you teach your dog. To understand and love a dog is to see yourself reflected in your dog''s eyes. They are perfect little windows of insight into the soul. Whether you''re a longtime dog lover or you just welcomed a dog into your life, A Dog''s Way will help you understand and appreciate your canine friend. And in doing so, you will learn to better understand yourself.

The Purpose of the Study The central purpose of this study was to determine the professional education competencies of selected community college vocational instructors. Respondents in the study included instructors of business and distributive education. Major dimensions were the construction and validation of a questionnaire for community college vocational instructors; the analysis of data to determine if there were differences among the community colleges in their responses to the competencies contained in the questionnaire; a factor analysis of the professional education competencies and the community college respondents; and the formulation of implications to be considered in the development of teacher education curriculums. The Procedures The construction and validation of the instructor questionnaire was accomplished through a review of the literature, an evaluation by a jury of experts, and a field test. A mail survey questionnaire containing 99 professional education competencies together with a five-point Likert-type scale was used to gather data. The dependent variable was the score judgmentally assigned by respondents to denote the level of proficiency they felt was necessary for each of the 99 competencies. The study''s population utilized the four western states of California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington and was representative of business and distributive education instructors at the community college level. A random sample of 160 instructors provided data for the study. The Data The F statistic was used to analyze contrasts between the mean scores for each competency with the .01 level of significance being used to determine differences existing between the community colleges. A test of Least Significant Difference was used to determine where specific differences existed between means of community colleges which were rejected in the analysis of variance tests. Further analysis of the data was accomplished through the use of two factor analytic techniques, the Q-technique and the R-technique. The Q-technique ordered respondents according to the 99 competencies included in the study. The R-technique was used to cluster competencies according to respondents. Factors and subfactor names were assigned after the data were analyzed. Selected Findings Generally, the analysis of variance tests indicated that the community colleges were alike in their responses to the competencies contained in the questionnaire. The factor analysis of data revealed that the business and distributive education instructors resembled one another in their responses and demonstrated that it is possible to generate factors containing clusters of common professional education competencies. Competencies which clustered under the factors of Instructional Management and Teaching-Learning Process were judged by instructors to require the highest level of proficiency. In all, respondents indicated that 91 of the 99 professional education competencies required a moderate or higher level of proficiency in the performance of their job.

This research includes primarily computational chemistry modeling to develop a composite for future dental restorative materials. The studies include characterization of the reactivity of potential monomers for a low stress/low shrinkage material. One molecule contains a backbone structure which has shown potential to expand upon polymerization, and when combined with a durable monomer may result in such a material. Without a fundamental understanding of the simpler expanding monomer, modification of this compound to reach a final product with desirable properties would be more difficult without many more trials and fortuity. The primary intent of this dissertation was to use quantum mechanical calculations to predict thermodynamic properties for the homopolymerization and copolymerization of study molecules to understand the reaction mechanisms. A vast quantity of research has been published in the literature supporting different theoretical methods to reliably predict experimental work, and the present research includes modeling reactions involving molecules similar to those which have published experimental data. Comparison of the theoretical work to this data further validated the ability of semiempirical methods to predict thermodynamic properties with unpublished data. Following validation of the method for the study reactions, theoretical characterization of potential mechanisms was completed to predict the experimental polymer structure. The polymer was analyzed with various analytical techniques for structure identification, and analysis of the experimental data provided information which corroborates the plausible copolymerization product although the actual structure could not be determined. The results of semiempirical calculations were compared with the analytical data and enabled prediction of competing reactions for probable mechanisms which may not otherwise have been recognized. A second study in this dissertation included the development of the first published model using quantum mechanical descriptors to predict the sensitization potential for structures not tested experimentally, which corresponded to the understood mechanism. Statistical analysis of the model followed by testing with an external test set reinforced the predictive ability of this model. This was further confirmed by predicting the sensitization potential of candidate structures using the model and comparing to experimental tests performed utilizing the prediction for efficiently selecting test concentrations and sensitization potential.

This series introduces students to prospective careers in law enforcement disciplines. Books cover the various types of jobs and internships readers could pursue in a specific agency, detailing the education, training, and equipment candidates would need for different roles. Each book gives readers a complete picture of a law-enforcement agency, including its history, role in the community, and type of public service its officers provide. Each book features stories from real cases and members of the team.

Agricultural outlook baseline projections published by FAPRI, USDA and the OECD are intended as policy analysis tools. It is shown that projections have been used as forecasts. Therefore, users of baseline projections need information about the past performance of baseline projections. This thesis measures the projection errors of baseline projections using RMSE and MAPE and assesses the ability of models to predict directional movements. The baseline model results are compared to corresponding results of naive models. For projection errors, a mixed model is used to estimate the mean bias and confidence intervals about the mean. Projections of corn, soybean, wheat, beef and pork exports, corn, soybean and wheat farm prices and direct government farm payments are analyzed. Results from the baseline models are compared to the corresponding results from naive models. This analysis shows that baseline projections are not consistently superior to naive models in projecting the future export and price levels. For soybean, beef and pork exports and for corn, soybean and wheat prices, baseline projections have been shown to perform relatively well. However, baseline projections for corn and wheat exports and government payments models have relatively large RMSE and bias. It is important for the users of baseline projections to understand the assumptions and structure of the models. Projection users and funding agencies need to be aware of the magnitude and direction of projection errors and bias. Modelers need to update and refine models based on the results of past projection analyses to produce better projections given the baseline assumptions. Additionally, organizations should more strongly explain the proper use and limitations of baseline projections.

William Martin was born ca. 1760 in Virginia. He and his wife, Susannah Tuder, had nine children, 1784-1807, born in Virginia and Kentucky. Most descendants listed lived in Kentucky.

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