New Releases by Patrick Harris

We all have stories. We all have experiences to share. A memoir with a call-to-action, The First Five affirms the humanity of all teachers. Patrick inspires you to dream big about what you want for yourself, our students, our schools, and our educational system. In The First Five, Patrick brings to light the realities of teaching, especially in the first five years. He immerses you in his world with personal stories that lead to lessons, questions, and exercises to help you reflect on your own journey. Each chapter includes interviews with a diverse group of educators. Creating change in our education system is a process. It will happen from the ground up and the inside out. If we want to make a long-lasting impact we need to know more than just what to do; we need to start sharing our stories, not just our strategies. The work we do together throughout this book and beyond will leave you feeling hopeful, empowered, and challenged. No matter where you start, know that this work is ongoing. Give yourself grace. We are in this together, for the long haul. Here''s to the next five years.

The evening of July 27th, 1996 started out as just another pleasant, balmy summers night in the Hamptons, but soon turned into one of the worst nightmares in New York City history. TWA 800, a nonstop flight from New York to Paris, exploded spectacularly over the Atlantic, ten miles off the coast of Long Island. Many of the locals rushed to save survivors of the crash, but their efforts were in vain, because all on board had perished in the explosion and subsequent inferno. An investigation by the FBI and NTSB concluded that the plane had simply blown up on its own due to a spark in the center fuel tank. Others disagreed, largely because hundreds of eyewitnesses had seen a light rise from the ground to strike the plane, suggesting the likelihood of a missile attack. Conspiracy theories soon began circulating that the crash was the result of secretive military exercises being conducted in the Atlantic. The objective photographic, eyewitness report, and radar evidence, however, tell a different story, namely that TWA Flight 800 was brought down by a single missile launched from, or passing over, Long Island. This book lays out the evidentiary trail leading to this conclusion, but also focuses on the media propaganda wars that were spurred by the opposing viewpoints, particularly with regard to news organizations in the United States and in France.

“Neil Patrick Harris’s Choose Your Own Autobiography is one of the best celeb memoirs I’ve ever read.”—The Phoenix News Seeking an exciting read that puts the “u” back in “aUtobiography”? Look no further than Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography! In this entertaining and innovative memoir, Neil Patrick Harris shares intimate and hilarious stories about everything from his early days in LA, life on the How I Met Your Mother set, secrets from backstage at award shows, and family life with David, Harper, and Gideon. In a fresh spin on the typical celebrity narrative, he lets you, the reader, choose which path you want him to follow. All this plus magic tricks, cocktail recipes, embarrassing pictures from his time as a child actor, and even a closing song!

Tallgrass prairie in North America has been highly reduced and degraded by human activity (e.g. agriculture) and now human facilitated restoration is necessary to preserve and reestablish the biodiversity, structure and function of this system. In historical tallgrass prairie large ungulates (e.g. Bison bison) were keystone species that regulated many ecosystem properties and functions. Today, restored prairie often lacks these historical ungulates and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) have largely assumed the role of dominant ungulates in small, tallgrass prairie restorations. Little is known about how white-tailed deer affect the development of plant communities and ecosystem function during the onset of prairie restoration. In June 2012 an agricultural field was restored to native prairie species in Konza Prairie Biological Station (KPBS) near Manhattan, KS. Immediately following seeding, experimental plots were established and fences were constructed in half of the plots to excluded white-tailed deer. From 2012 to 2013 deer browse of forbs, aboveground biomass (total, sown forbs, sown grasses, volunteer forbs and volunteer grasses), light availability at the soil surface, soil nutrients, and plant community composition were measure inside and outside of exclosures. The first year of this study occurred during a severe drought which diminished in year two, presenting the opportunity to examine the interaction of climate and deer browse on restoration. In plots where deer had access, the percentage of forbs browsed ranged from 1.3 to 10.5%. The effect of deer browsing on aboveground biomass varied across years for each category of biomass. Total biomass appeared to be regulated more strongly by deer than climate, as unbrowsed plots produced similar biomass in each year despite major climatic variation, while browsed plots did not follow this trend. Across all sampling periods, deer browsing increased light availability by 20%. In year two inorganic N was 19% lower in browsed plots, though potential net N mineralization did not vary between treatments. Plant communities were significantly different between years and, between browsed and unbrowsed plots as time and browsing affected community composition, diversity and richness. Deer browsing increased diversity and richness by 24% and 22% respectively. Community composition was most greatly affected by browsing in year one corresponding to the highest rates of browsing and greatest differences in aboveground biomass. These results indicate that deer can have substantial effects on the initial establishment of prairie communities as well as resource availability from the onset of restoration.

This thesis creates an epidemiological foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) spread model for Ontario. Disease simulations are constructed to reflect three levels of the cattle identification and movement recording system. The outputs generated by the epidemiological model are used to calculate the direct disease control costs a FMD outbreak. In addition, welfare effects caused by a FMD outbreak are also calculated for each level of cattle traceability using an equilibrium displacement model. Parameter sensitivity was tested for both the epidemiological and economic model results. It is found that the benefits to the beef cattle industry of increasing the ability to trace direct animal contacts during a FMD disease outbreak in Ontario are less than the lowest annual cost estimate of a cattle traceability system as estimated by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada.