This visually rich course is designed to provide a nontechnical description of modern astronomy, including the structure and evolution of planets, stars, galaxies, and the Universe as a whole. It includes almost all of the material in my first two astronomy courses for The Teaching Company, produced in 1998 and 2003, but with a large number of new images, diagrams, and animations. The discoveries reported in the 2003 course are integrated throughout these new lectures, and more recent findings (through mid-2006) are included, as well. Much has happened in astronomy during the past few years; we will discuss the most exciting and important advances.

The last decade has been one of dramatic progress in the field of Natural Language Processing (NLP). This hitherto largely academic discipline has found itself at the center of an information revolution ushered in by the Internet age, as demand for human-computer communication and information access has exploded. Emerging applications in computer-assisted infor­ mation production and dissemination, automated understanding of news, understanding of spoken language, and processing of foreign languages have given impetus to research that resulted in a new generation of robust tools, systems, and commercial products.

Kaplan’s Nursing School Entrance Exams is comprehensive review of all tested material on major nursing school entrance assessments, including the TEAS, HESI, PAX-RN, Kaplan, and PSB-RN exams. With focused review and practice for math, reading comprehension, and science—plus quick-reference resources flagging common mistakes to avoid and important formulas to remember—this effective guide prepares you fully for the first test of your nursing career.

Harvard Medical School Comprehensive Examination (OSCE) assesses the ability of final year students to integrate and apply their knowledge, clinical skills, and professional attitudes in a standardized format. As a summative evaluation, successful completion of the examination is a prerequisite for graduation from HMS. As a formative experience, the examination provides objective data on which students can reflect and improve their abilities in a mentored fashion, as well as data on which the HMS curriculum and its processes can be continually evaluated and improved

African Women Writing Resistance is the first transnational anthology to focus on women’s strategies of resistance to the challenges they face in Africa today. The anthology brings together personal narratives, testimony, interviews, short stories, poetry, performance scripts, folktales, and lyrics. Thematically organized, it presents women’s writing on such issues as intertribal and interethnic conflicts, the degradation of the environment, polygamy, domestic abuse, the controversial traditional practice of female genital cutting, Sharia law, intergenerational tensions, and emigration and exile.