This extraordinary first collection of short stories covers the landscape of dysfunctional childhood, urban angst, and human disconnection with a wit and insight that keep you riveted to the page. The characters here have rich and imaginative interior lives, but grave difficulty relating to the outside world. The beginning story, "Ducklings," introduces the over-weight and over-enthusiastic Marjorie, the last twelve-year-old you would want babysitting your toddler. In "Wanted" we meet Eleanor, a single girl living in Chicago who may or may not be dating a serial killer. "Another Cancer Story" is an unsentimental account of two sisters whose beloved mother just won't seem to die, and "The Last Dead Boyfriend" gives us a recovering addict who keeps encountering her recently deceased boyfriend, an unpleasant man she wished she'd broken up with before he died. Always funny, often dark, and wholly satisfying, these stories explore the longing for connection among characters who are frequently stricken with anxiety. Each story is rendered in a way that is surreal, vivid, and entirely convincing. "Wonderful Girl is a smart, funny collection, by turns poignant, mysterious, terrifying, sexy, often just plain nuts (in a good way!). The characters in these stories are deliciously confused but …

Nanoporous open-cell foams are a rapidly growing class of high-porosity materials (porosity {ge} 70%). The research in this field is driven by the desire to create functional materials with unique physical, chemical and mechanical properties where the material properties emerge from both morphology and the material itself. An example is the development of nanoporous metallic materials for photonic and plasmonic applications which has recently attracted much interest. The general strategy is to take advantage of various size effects to introduce novel properties. These size effects arise from confinement of the material by pores and ligaments, and can range from electromagnetic resonances to length scale effects in plasticity. In this chapter we will focus on the mechanical properties of low density nanoporous metals and how these properties are affected by length scale effects and bonding characteristics. A thorough understanding of the mechanical behavior will open the door to further improve and fine-tune the mechanical properties of these sometimes very delicate materials, and thus will be crucial for integrating nanoporous metals into products. Cellular solids with pore sizes above 1 micron have been the subject of intense research for many years, and various scaling relations describing the mechanical properties have been developed.[4] …

Interview with Angela Bynum, veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Bynum's personal experiences of childhood and education in California and Texas, enlisting in the U.S. Army, basic and advanced training as a motor transport operator, training in avoidance of improvised explosive devices, and transport missions between Iraq and Kuwait. Bynum also discusses her inability to withstand Airborne training, the decision to leave active duty in 2002, her use of the GI Bill benefits to attend Tarrant Community College, the 2004 call-up from reserve duty and deployment to Iraq, her family's concerns regarding deployment, and aspects of daily life for American soldiers stationed in Iraq.

Interview with U.S. Marine Corps Pilot Richard Dale as part of the Tarrant County War Veterans Oral History Project. The interview includes Dale's personal experiences of childhood, education at Baylor University and Texas A&M, attending training at Camp Pendleton, California, Quantico, Virginia, and officer candidate school. Additionally, Dale talks about his decision to enter the Marines aviation program, his assignments to various naval air stations, the particulars of "tailhook" aviation, and his civilian career with Northwest Airlines. The interview also includes an appendix with a photograph and an active duty summary.

Business plan developed by the Texas Lottery Commission including organizational information about the Commission as well as the projected business plan with objects, strategies, and action plans.

A primary objective of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) is to provide the best possible scientific information to support public discussion, as well as government and private sector decision making, on key climate-related issues. To help meet this objective, the CCSP has identified an initial set of 21 Synthesis and Assessment Products (SAPs) that address its highest priority research, observation, and decision support needs. This report-CCSP SAP 2.2-addresses Goal 2 of the CCSP Strategic Plan: Improve quantification of the forces bringing about changes in the Earth's climate and related systems. The report provides a synthesis and integration of the current knowledge of the North American carbon budget and its context within the global carbon cycle. In a format useful to decision makers, it (1) summarizes our knowledge of carbon cycle properties and changes relevant to the contributions of and impacts upon North America and the rest of the world, and (2) provides scientific information for decision support focused on key issues for carbon management and policy. Consequently, this report is aimed at both the decision-maker audience and to the expert scientific and stakeholder communities.

Interview with Anna Robinson, a Women's Army Corps veteran from Fort Worth, Texas. Robinson discusses her family and childhood, joining the WAC, transfer to Germany as a supply clerk in 1946, life and work in that assignment, being in a car wreck, her sexuality and gays in the service, the Iraq War and George W. Bush, leaving the Army and work for the city of Forth Worth as an artist, her church involvement, and returning to Germany,

Handbook for court administrators including judges and clerks, providing an explanation of internal controls and practical information ragarding financial management operations to improve accounting and audit results.

Biweekly, comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

Biweekly, comprehensive compilation of decisions, reports, public notices, and other documents of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.