Weary but wise private-eye Matt Murdock is back, and he has met his match--a vital and attractive writer and cop's daughter, Helene Steinbeck. Helene is hiking in the hills of Taos when she happens upon the corpse of a young woman downed by an arrow. Murdock appears on the horizon just in time to prevent a team of archers from using Helene as target practice. Murdock has been scouring Angel Mountain and vicinity for evidence that will help him discover the whereabouts of Barbi Bellini, the missing daughter of a friend. Now that Helene has stumbled onto the scene, she has no choice but to join Murdock in his search for answers. Drawn to the detective's integrity and quiet strength, she becomes both his apprentice and his lover. Their quest leads them to a cult of locals whose charismatic leader believes the "weak" are fair game. But this unholy brotherhood is just the poisonous tip of the arrow. The hunters have forged deadly alliances with the rich and powerful of Taos. Who can Helene and Murdock trust? Will they be able to outthink--and outrun--their many adversaries? Murdock Tackles Taos is the all-new, much-anticipated sixth episode in the Matt Murdock Mystery Series, which began with Bloody Murdock.

A surprising number of rich guys in Sedona, AZ, are falling to their deaths. With so many similar "accidents," the victims had to have been pushed. Fearing that he too will take a fatal plunge, billionaire Ackerman hires Matt and Helene to investigate. To keep their client safe, the PIs will have to be on their best game. Too bad their last case in Taos took such a heavy toll.

Crusty but softhearted Matt Murdock is a damn fine private-eye, but being his client has its hazards. Especially when you're not straight with him. Insurance investigator Bruce Halliburton hires his old army buddy to check into what he suspects is a faked death and winds up on LA's Huntington Beach, dead for real. That leaves Roxanne, the lovely widow Bruce was "protecting"--the same Roxanne whose chubby husband, Emiliano Mendez-Madrid, died of a heart attack after insuring his life ten times over. How is Roxanne Mendez-Madrid connected to Claude Belker, the subject of Bruce's investigation? Claude is also officially "deceased," and he's one of several heavily insured, supposedly dead rich guys. Then there's Claude's girlfriend--Mary-Sue, aka Sheena, a glossy exotic dancer …. Who knows what about the case? What's Roxanne up to? And where are Emiliano's missing millions, the spoils of money-laundering for drug lords? Roxanne hires Matt to find the money and keep her safe. Now he smells trouble. If he falls too hard for the widow and connects all the dots, he might just end up decorated with a line of lead like his old pal Bruce.

A deadly killer has iced Rollie Nielsen, a smart college kid with a brain for chemistry, and his dad wants to know why. Enter Matt Murdock, a tough-and-tender PI who is willing to get his hands dirty in search of the truth. Rollie had a weakness for classy women and easy money, a combination that led him to found a drug lab. No one knows exactly where he was working and what he was cooking—presumably “ice,” the street name for methamphetamine hydrochloride. Rollie pissed off a lot of bad guys on both sides of the law, who are busy messing up Murdock’s already messy life. Leaving behind a few bodies—some of them friends—Murdock departs smoggy Newport Beach, California, for cloudy Seattle, Washington, where he hopes to unearth Rollie’s lab. With the help of wannabe detective Louie Chen and a sexy female acquaintance of Rollie’s, he just might succeed—and find a little romance along the way. That is, if he can keep his hide in one piece. Not easy, when you’ve got the biggest drug kingpin in Seattle on your tail.

PI and ex-cop Matt Murdock is hired to look into the suspicious death of Gayla Jean Kirkwood, a beautiful starlet and good-time girl. Who would want Gayla Jean dead? A scorned lover? Someone at the chic club where she worked? The men who paid to photograph her naked? As his investigation continues, Murdock will discover just how dirty deals in Hollywood can get.

Christmastime is here, and weary-but-wise private-eye Matt Murdock is short on funds and holiday spirit. There are no white Christmases in Newport Beach, California, but there are soggy ones. One rainy evening at the Xanadu Mall, a down-on-his-luck mystery writer named Marvin Holly meets a runaway teenager and autographs her book. As they exit the mall, they encounter the headlights of a speeding car. In the aftermath the author is missing and the girl is in a coma. On an earlier case, Murdock befriended a precocious teenager named Cindy. Cindy is the product of a broken home, a very wealthy one, and her people would rather break Murdock's face than accept his help finding out what happened to her biological father--the missing author from Xanadu mall. Meanwhile Murdock has been hired to find out why Heather, the daughter of a sexy but tightly wound senator named Jane Blasingame, was injured in a hit-and-run. Is she the teenager last seen with Cindy's father? And was Heather really a member of the notorious San Diego gang, a group of wholesome looking youngsters who prey on unsuspecting salesmen? Cindy's mother and the fabulously wealthy Duke family--the clan of Cindy's uncle--were not fans of Marvin Holly's work ... or the man himself. They certainly don't want Murdock to locate him. How are Holly's disappearance and the hit-and-run connected? Will the lovely senator fall for Murdock's rugged charms? If the holidays don't kill Murdock then this case will.

Building on advances in miniaturization and soft matter, surface tension effects are a major key to the development of soft/fluidic microrobotics. Benefiting from scaling laws, surface tension and capillary effects can enable sensing, actuation, adhesion, confinement, compliance, and other structural and functional properties necessary in micro- and nanosystems. Various applications are under development: microfluidic and lab-on-chip devices, soft gripping and manipulation of particles, colloidal and interfacial assemblies, fluidic/droplet mechatronics. The capillary action is ubiquitous in drops, bubbles and menisci, opening a broad spectrum of technological solutions and scientific investigations. Identified grand challenges to the establishment of fluidic microrobotics include mastering the dynamics of capillary effects, controlling the hysteresis arising from wetting and evaporation, improving the dispensing and handling of tiny droplets, and developing a mechatronic approach for the control and programming of surface tension effects. In this Special Issue of Micromachines, we invite contributions covering all aspects of microscale engineering relying on surface tension. Particularly, we welcome contributions on fundamentals or applications related to: Drop-botics: fluidic or surface tension-based micro/nanorobotics: capillary manipulation, gripping, and actuation, sensing, folding, propulsion and bio-inspired solutions; Control of surface tension effects: surface tension gradients, active surfactants, thermocapillarity, electrowetting, elastocapillarity; Handling of droplets, bubbles and liquid bridges: dispensing, confinement, displacement, stretching, rupture, evaporation; Capillary forces: modelling, measurement, simulation; Interfacial engineering: smart liquids, surface treatments; Interfacial fluidic and capillary assembly of colloids and devices; Biological applications of surface tension, including lab-on-chip and organ-on-chip systems.

Modern political anthropology began in 1940 with the first systematic comparative studies of how primitive societies maintained law and order. The focus was on government and the presence or absence of state institutions. Recently, interest has shifted to the study of power, to examining the manipulation of political relations, and to the task of elaborating a classification of governmental systems that will throw light on the important problems for research. First published in 1965.

It is impossible to imagine the modern world without sensors, or without real-time information about almost everything—from local temperature to material composition and health parameters. We sense, measure, and process data and act accordingly all the time. In fact, real-time monitoring and information is key to a successful business, an assistant in life-saving decisions that healthcare professionals make, and a tool in research that could revolutionize the future. To ensure that sensors address the rapidly developing needs of various areas of our lives and activities, scientists, researchers, manufacturers, and end-users have established an efficient dialogue so that the newest technological achievements in all aspects of real-time sensing can be implemented for the benefit of the wider community. This book documents some of the results of such a dialogue and reports on advances in sensors and sensor systems for existing and emerging real-time monitoring applications.

Intro -- About the Author pg204