Trusted Computing

Trusted Computing
unknown | 2007-12-31 00:00:00 | Vieweg Friedr. + Sohn Ver | 252 | Subjects

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MySQL and Java Developer's Guide

MySQL and Java Developer's Guide
Mark Matthews, Jim Cole, Joseph D. Gradecki | 2003-01-01 00:00:00 | Wiley Publishing | 410 | Java
* Shows Java developers everything they need to know to build Java database applications with MySQL.
* Takes a hands-on, code-intensive approach in which readers will learn how to build a sophisticated Web database management application.
* Begins with a review of the fundamentals of MySQL.
* Explains using Java's JDBC with MySQL, as well as servlet and JSP programming with MySQL.
* Provides a code-rich tutorial on how to build the sample Java database application using EJBs.
* The companion Web site provides the full code examples plus links to useful sites.

With more than three million users, MySQL is the most popular open source database server in the world. It is the most popular database server for Linux and also runs on Windows, Macintosh, FreeBSD, and many flavors of UNIX. Most developers have built MySQL applications using programming languages like C, PHP, and Perl, but three years ago the author of this book, Mark Matthews, created MM.MySQL, the Java driver for MySQL. Since then, MySQL AB has shown their support for Java developers by hiring Mark, adopting his driver, and re-releasing it as Connector/J. Now, Mark Matthews and team explain everything you need to build database applications with MySQL and Java.

This book is a complete and authoritative tutorial and reference on MySQL for Java and takes a hands-on, code-intensive approach so you can learn how to build sophisticated Web database applications. Matthews begins by reviewing the fundamentals of MySQL 3.x and 4.x, followed by:

* Details of how to use JDBC with MySQL for Java application, servlet, JSP, and EJB development
* Several sample database applications, including an Address and Fingerprint Management system that uses servlets, and an Advanced Account Management system that uses EJBs
* MySQL and JDBC tuning techniques
* MySQL administration advice
* JDBC API reference specific to MySQL and Connector/J
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Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment

Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment
Roger Stern | 1900-01-01 00:00:00 | Marvel Enterprises | 80 | Marvel
Reviews
Early graphic novel, only so so, but an obviously intriguing team-up. Doctor Doom of course has mystical bits lurking in his origin and background, and this is a meeting of two strong and idiosyncratic egos.


Reviews
The is a must have for any fan of Doom. Roger Stern's writing is simply brilliant, and Mignola's artwork is magnificant. The good Doctor is portrayed as ruthless and cunning, but with a shockingly noble goal. Dr. Strange plays second fiddle to Doom, yet his involvement is instrumental to the plot. The story is this: Doom competes in the contest of the Vishanti to receive a boon from the Sorceror Supreme. His wish? Only to free his mother's soul from the clutches of Mephisto, a fight that involves a journey to his realm which could cost them both their lives.

I can't say enough about this story. It is one of the best pieces of comic literature I have ever encountered and I have read it countless times. Buy it, you won't be disappointed!
Reviews
WITHOUT TAKING ANTHING AWAY FROM THE ORIGINAL ORIGINS, TRIUMPH AND TORMENT ADDS TO BOTH DOCTORS' PAST HISTORY, WHILST WEAVING AN INTRICATE STORY THAT INVOLVES BOTH MEN'S PASTS AND POWERS. IF YOU ARE A DOCTOR DOOM FAN, YOU MUST HAVE THIS BOOK! ITS DRAWN BETTER THAN THE "VILLANY" TPB, AND HAS BETTER WRITING.
Reviews
Very cool story, Doom and Strange journey to HELL and square off against Mephisto. The coolest parts though are the re-tellings of both origins...nothing is changed, but a LOT is added to both tales....nice detail throughout. And the art....WOW. This is a nice looking book, and one of the best characterizations of Victor VonDoom.

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Progress in Optics, Volume 49

Progress in Optics, Volume 49
Emil Wolf | 2006-10-17 00:00:00 | Elsevier Science | 612 | Engineering
In the thirty-seven years that have gone by since the first volume of Progress in Optics was published, optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of science. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of specialisation for many science and engineering students and numerous research workers and engineers throughout the world. Some of the advances in these fields have been recognized by awarding Nobel prizes to seven physicists in the last twenty years. The volumes in this series which have appeared up to now contain nearly 190 review articles by distinguished research workers, which have become permanent records for many important developments. They have helped optical scientists and optical engineers to stay abreast of their fields. There is no sign that developments in optics are slowing down or becoming less interesting.

- Gaussian apodization and beam propagation
- Electromagnetically-induced transparency
- Three-dimensional electromagnetic fields
- Quantum cryptography
- Optical quantum cloning

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Choosing and Using Audio and Music Software: A guide to the major software applications for Mac and PC

Choosing and Using Audio and Music Software: A guide to the major software applications for Mac and PC
Mike Collins | 2004-04-22 00:00:00 | Focal Press | 544 | Software
This comprehensive reference features all the major audio software: SONAR XL; Cubase SX; Logic Audio Platinum; Digital Performer; Nuendo; Pro Tools; Peak; Spark XL; SonicWorx; Audition (Cool Edit Pro); WaveLab; Sound Forge.

If you need advice on which systems to purchase, which are most suitable for particular projects, and on moving between platforms mid-project, this book should be your one-stop reference. Mike Collins is a trainer and consultant who has been tackling these issues for years and his expert advice will save you time and money.

Each section covers a specific system, providing a handy overview of its key features and benefits, including help with setup. "Hints" and "Tips" appear throughout these sections, addressing issues such as how to record drum loops using a virtual drum-machine, recording basslines and keyboard pads using virtual synthesizers, and adding strings, brass or other instruments using virtual samplers. Mike then illustrates how to convert these MIDI recordings into audio tracks to mix alongside vocals, guitars and any other real instruments. The many short tutorials provide both a source of comparison and means to get up to speed fast on any given software.

Mike Collins is a music technology consultant and writer who has been making music in London's recording studios variously as a MIDI programmer, session musician, recording engineer, producer and arranger since 1981. He offers freelance Pro Tools engineering, consultancy, troubleshooting and personal tuition, as well as presenting seminars and lectures on related music technology and audio recording topics. Mike has written over 500 articles for magazines such as Macworld (UK), Pro Sound News Europe, Sound on Sound and AudioMedia, and for Electronic Musician and MIX in the USA.

Mike's wide-ranging career and experience enables him to bring excellent insight from all sides into his writing, from technical detail to creative expression. Starting out as a musician and club DJ in the 1970's, Mike moved into professional recording in the 1980's, initially as a Songwriter/Producer for EMI Records. Later he worked as a Songwriter for Chappell Music; as a Film Sound Consultant for Dolby Labs; as a Music Producer for TV recordings; and as Senior Recording Engineer and Music Technology Specialist at Yamaha's London R & D Studio. Throughout the 1990's Mike worked as a MIDI Programmer on records, films and music tours with bands such as the Shamen and film composers such as Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Arnold. Mike was Executive Consultant to Re-Pro (The Guild of Record Producers and Engineers) between 1996 and 1999 and Technical Consultant to the Music Producers Guild (MPG), contributing to the Education Group and organising and presenting Technical Seminars between 1999 and 2002. He has a BSc in Electroacoustics and an MSc in Music Information Technology.

* A unique, colour-illustrated source of comparison between rival systems to help you determine future purchases or upgrades
* Packed with tutorials and no-nonsense advice including help with moving your projects more easily from one system to another
* Written by an experienced specialist who has spent many hours comparing the products available - so you don't have to!

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Gla1/4cksspiel in Deutschland: A-Konomie, Recht, Sucht

Gla1/4cksspiel in Deutschland: A-Konomie, Recht, Sucht
Ihno Gebhardt,Sabine Miriam Gra1/4sser-Sinopoli | 1900-01-01 00:00:00 | Walter de Gruyter | 718 | Law
Analyzes the legal, social and economic aspects of the decision of the German Federal Supreme Court on the character of gambling on March 28, 2006.

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Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey

Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey
Michael E. Robinson | 1900-01-01 00:00:00 | University of Hawaii Press | 220 | Korea
For more than half of the twentieth century, the Korean peninsula has been divided between two hostile and competitive nation-states, each claiming to be the sole legitimate expression of the Korean nation. The division remains an unsolved problem dating to the beginnings of the Cold War and now projects the politics of that period into the twenty-first century. Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey is designed to provide readers with the historical essentials upon which to unravel the complex politics and contemporary crises that currently exist in the East Asian region. Beginning with a description of late-nineteenth-century imperialism, Michael Robinson shows how traditional Korean political culture shaped the response of Koreans to multiple threats to their sovereignty after being opened to the world economy by Japan in the 1870s. He locates the origins of both modern nationalism and the economic and cultural modernization of Korea in the twenty years preceding the fall of the traditional state to Japanese colonialism in 1910.

Robinson breaks new ground with his analysis of the colonial period, tracing the ideological division of contemporary Korea to the struggle of different actors to mobilize a national independence movement at the time. More importantly, he locates the reason for successful Japanese hegemony in policies that included--and thus implicated--Koreans within the colonial system. He gives readers access as well to an understanding of the unique aspects of Japanese colonialism in Korea--in particular how the relatively intensive economic development of the colony in the mid-1930s laid the foundation for subsequent development of human resources as well as the economy of the postwar period. Robinson concludes with a discussion of the political and economic evolution of South and North Korea after 1948 that accounts for the valid legitimacy claims of both nation-states on the peninsula. He thus carefully analyzes the sources of authoritarianism in South Korea while detailing its relationship to stunning economic growth after 1960 and to the democracy movement through the 1970s and 1980s. He closes with a description of South Korean politics, noting that although procedural democracy triumphed after 1987, the development of a true pluralism representing all interest groups remains a work in progress.

Korea's Twentieth-Century Odyssey succinctly and deftly captures the key contours of the country's past. Its balanced analytical narrative of the historical forces that shaped the political, economic, and social dynamics of the two Koreas make it a first-rate introduction to modern Korea and an excellent companion to courses on modern Korean society, politics, and history.
Reviews
"Ironically, what was the Hermit Kingdom in the late 19th century is now where the major powers of the world are congregated, tied in a knot by their inability to find a new paradigm for stability in Northeast Asia." This brilliant sentence sums up the transformation and tragic history Korea went through in the 20th century. Michael Robinson does a very good job in reconstructing this transformation on less than 200 pages. The book is written in a very concise way, while covering many important issues related to politics, economics, geopolitics, international relations, social issues and culture. Given this wide range of issues, of course you can't expect much detail, but you'll still get a pretty good idea of most of the topics important in modern Korean history.



In the last few chapters, there is a strong focus on politics and geopolitics. Elections are described in some detail and nuclear crises are analyzed several times. The author also describes the Asian financial crisis and social issues, but neglects South Korea's recent economic transformation. While doing a pretty good job in explaining the developmental state under Park Chung-hee, Robinson almost completely misses the transformation of the developmental state in late 1980s and 1990s: The role of the state underwent a major transformation, responding to increasing domestic pressure from labor movements and students as well external pressure peaking during the Reagan administration and later democratization. Interventions in the economy became less strategic and more reactive, mitigating adverse effects of the market economy (as opposed to development planning). The South Korean state increasingly embraced free trade, free markets, reduced control over the chaebol, and reduced restrictions on labor movements, allowing employees to demand a larger share of the pie. Only the last point - increasing incomes and as a result consumption - and efforts to establish a welfare state are mentioned in the book. The author completely misses other important issues related to this transformation, such as the increasing and largely unchecked power of the chaebol.



If you're interested in politics and geopolitics, including relations between the Koreas and the USA, this book is perfect for you. If you're more interested in economic development (like me), I still recommend you to read it - It will give you great background on any aspect of modern South Korea you want to study.
Reviews
The wait for a succinct yet comprehensive history of modern Korea is over. This volume, deftly written by Michael Robinson (Indiana University), comes as a welcome alternative to histories of Korea too long or complex for the typical undergraduate. His book is divided into an introduction, eight chapters (none longer than twenty-five pages), and an epilogue, each of which may be profitably read or assigned on its own. The first chapter surveys traditional Korea, and argues that the seeds of Korean modernity were present even in the Choson dynasty. In Chapters Two through Four, Robinson -- a specialist in Korea's colonial period -- surveys the brutal decades of Japanese rule, elucidating the unique features of Japan's colonizing efforts from the 1910s to the 1940s. He also draws attention to the ideological divisions within Korean society during this period that led to the eventual bifurcation of the peninsula into two confrontational nation-states after WWII. The remaining chapters examine Korea's postwar split, devoting space to developments in both North and South Korea, while a thought-provoking epilogue explores the peninsula's role in East Asian geopolitics in the twenty-first century. Striking photographs throughout confirm this volume's status as the new standard in the field.

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The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications 2009 (Arrl Handbook for Radio Communications)

The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications 2009 (Arrl Handbook for Radio Communications)
Mark J. Wilson and Steven R. Ford | 2008-01-01 00:00:00 | Amer Radio Relay League; Pap/Cdr edition (October 1, 2008) | 1250 | Electrical Engineering
Must-Have
For the radio amateur...
For the technician and engineer...
For the newcomer...

This 86th edition of The ARRL Handbook for Radio Communications stays ahead of the pack taking its place as the most comprehensive source of applied electronics and communications know-how. First published in 1926, The Handbook has served generations of radio amateurs, professionals and students. This authoritative book features the most current material on the state-of-the-art:

Principles of electronics including basic theory, components, analog and digital circuit construction.
Radio communication fundamentals and design including modes and systems, filters, EMI, digital signal processing and software radio design, and RF power amplifiers.
Real-world applications and operating including practical projects, station setup, antennas, transmission lines, and methods for testing and troubleshooting.
References filled with hundreds of detailed tables, illustrations and photos. You will turn to The Handbook again and again!

CD-ROM Included! The CD-ROM at the back of the book includes all of the fully searchable text and illustrations in the printed book, as well as companion software, PC board templates and other support files.
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Is There a Single Right Interpretation? (Studies of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium)

Is There a Single Right Interpretation? (Studies of the Greater Philadelphia Philosophy Consortium)
Michael Krausz | 2002-06-01 00:00:00 | Pennsylvania State Univ Pr (Txt) | 423 | Philosophy
Is there a single right interpretation for such cultural phenomena as works of literature, visual artworks, works of music, the self, and legal and sacred texts? In these essays, almost all written especially for this volume, twenty leading philosophers pursue different answers to this question by examining the nature of interpretation and its objects and ideals.

The fundamental conflict between positions that universally require the ideal of a single admissible interpretation (singularism) and those that allow a multiplicity of some admissible interpretations (multiplism) leads to a host of engrossing questions explored in these essays: Does multiplism invite interpretive anarchy? Can opposing interpretations be jointly defended? Should competition between contending interpretations be understood in terms of (bivalent) truth or (multivalent) reasonableness, appropriateness, aptness, or the like? Is interpretation itself an essentially contested concept? Does interpretive activity seek truth or aim at something else as well? Should one focus on interpretive acts rather than interpretations? Should admissible interpretations be fixed by locating intentions of a historical or hypothetical creator, or neither? What bearing does the fact of the historical situatedness of cultural entities have on their identities?

The contributors are Annette Barnes, Noël Carroll, Stephen Davies, Susan Feagin, Alan Goldman, Charles Guignon, Chhanda Gupta, Garry Hagberg, Michael Krausz, Peter Lamarque, Jerrold Levinson, Rex Martin, Jitendra Mohanty, Joseph Margolis, David Novitz, Philip Percival, Torsten Pettersson, Robert Stecker, Laurent Stern, and Paul Thom.

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Norwegian Wood

Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami | 2000-09-12 00:00:00 | Vintage | 298 | Literary
First American Publication

This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time. It is sure to be a literary event.

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable. As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

A poignant story of one college student's romantic coming-of-age, Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man's first, hopeless, and heroic love.



In 1987, when Norwegian Wood was first published in Japan, it promptly sold more than 4 million copies and transformed Haruki Murakami into a pop-culture icon. The horrified author fled his native land for Europe and the United States, returning only in 1995, by which time the celebrity spotlight had found some fresher targets. And now he's finally authorized a translation for the English-speaking audience, turning to the estimable Jay Rubin, who did a fine job with his big-canvas production The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Readers of Murakami's later work will discover an affecting if atypical novel, and while the author himself has denied the book's autobiographical import--"If I had simply written the literal truth of my own life, the novel would have been no more than fifteen pages long"--it's hard not to read as at least a partial portrait of the artist as a young man.

Norwegian Wood is a simple coming-of-age tale, primarily set in 1969-70, when the author was attending university. The political upheavals and student strikes of the period form the novel's backdrop. But the focus here is the young Watanabe's love affairs, and the pain and pleasure and attendant losses of growing up. The collapse of a romance (and this is one among many!) leaves him in a metaphysical shambles:

I read Naoko's letter again and again, and each time I read it I would be filled with the same unbearable sadness I used to feel whenever Naoko stared into my eyes. I had no way to deal with it, no place I could take it to or hide it away. Like the wind passing over my body, it had neither shape nor weight, nor could I wrap myself in it.

This account of a young man's sentimental education sometimes reads like a cross between Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Stephen Vizinczey's In Praise of Older Women. It is less complex and perhaps ultimately less satisfying than Murakami's other, more allegorical work. Still, Norwegian Wood captures the huge expectation of youth--and of this particular time in history--for the future and for the place of love in it. It is also a work saturated with sadness, an emotion that can sometimes cripple a novel but which here merely underscores its youthful poignancy. --Mark Thwaite
Reviews
Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami is a novel about a boy in time right after high school to his twenty years old. I want to categorize this book as the second coming of age genre because many characters literally turn to real independent adults in the end. The story begins with the main character, Toro Watanabe, but he meets people around him and tells about their personal stories. Furthermore, the progress of the novel depends on more his people's stories than Watanabe. Also all the people around him are twenty years old, expect Reiko. In other words, through the book, Murakami might want to tell about Japanese young people.

The story begins with introducing Kizuki's death. Naoko and Watanabe have the same bond that Kizuki's death in high school gave them sadness. Both left their home town for their colleges in Tokyo to relieve the bad memories. Watanabe loves her, but she cannot get over his boyfriend's suicidal, even though she has sex with Watanabe. She chooses a mental hospital; that is, she makes a wall by herself to block society.

In the book, Murakami describes many different young Japanese people. For example, Storm Trooper and Nagasawa are very different, but they can be mirrors of Japanese society. Storm Trooper gets up early in the morning and does exercise every single day with the same music. He is neat and clean, and Watanabe makes jokes about him many times. But Storm Trooper's life pattern is very similar to the imagination when people think of Japanese people: neat, clean, and diligent for success. In fact, many Japanese men in good companies do exercise together with music in the morning, but it might be a very weird look for westerners.

On the other hand, Nagasawa has a very different personality. He is a student of one of top universities in Japan seeking for a bright future, unlike Storm Trooper, Murakami focuses on Nagasawa's wanton life. Nagasawa spends money to drink, hangs around to find girls for sex, even though he has a girl friend, Hatsume. She looks patient to her boyfriend's aimless sex with nameless girls, furthermore, she has hope that Nagasawa will stop that and come get her to ask marry. The couple is like exactly high class people in Japan: men to success and women to be patient. But she is ignored by her successful boyfriend and chooses suicidal.

The interesting things in the book are that suicidal and sex. They are the main issues for the characters and these things show over and over. Death and sex can be represented as winter and spring. The kids before twenty years old are dead that means that the human beings, before their real game in life, choose death; in other words, the flowers have never bloom.

Having sex for the characters sometimes are, on the hand, they seek a true love, on the other hand, they do because their physical desire. That is because of their age. The desire for offering for the age from18 to 20 years old people that is natural of human body. Most of the characters start to live by themselves, so they can have their own lives. They have to choose for their lives, to meet people, and to become selected by people. The first thing in independent life of human being is mating, having offering and making a new family.

When Watanabe turns to 20 years old, he goes out of a dorm and have real his own apartment, "The location was not exactly convenient, but it was a house: an independent house" (240). But his spring is not smooth like its character. Spring after cold winter has warm breeze with unexpected wind and harsh rain, like his spring. He gets news from Reiko told that Naoko's suicidal. He wanders here and there meaninglessly for a while. Midori, his friend, wants him to be her boyfriend, but he cannot decide to choose her as his girlfriend because of Naoko, his hoping girl friend. But after he goes through all sufferings, he finds that Midori is a realistic girlfriend. According to him, his spring term is, "This was the beginning of one weird spring" (243). This is true. Spring is a beginning of a transformation for a new year. Like Watanabe says the world around him on the verge great transformation (236).

Change is not only a new one, but it is also destruction of the old one. If one wants to keep an old one, like Naoko cannot get over her boyfriend's memories and chooses to die to stay with him. But Watanabe turns to the real world and chooses Midori.

I read this book about ten years ago in a Korean translation version. Whenever I went to a book store, I saw this book on a steady book stand. I wondered why Murakami's books appeal to westerners. Also I want to know how different English translation is from Korean's because the Korean version of a book is a thick one volume or two regular volumes. I think the main difference is the size of English words that much smaller than Koreans. Another thing I could notice is that Murakami likes western music and literature so westerners can have a similar code with the Japanese writer. Watanabe and Nagasawa become friends because they love Great Gatsby. Like the two men's friendship, literature can be a good tool to connect strangers easily.

The book seems tedious to readers because Watanabe doesn't have a certain personality of protagonist. He is the best friend of Naoko's boyfriend, Midori's friend, and he goes to a so-so university, isn't interested in a riot, and follows Nagasawa's choices. Watanabe describes his friends and their lives more than his own family and personal history. That is, the book is not only about Watanabe but is about his people. Because of that, the book looks unorganized. A reader meets as Watanabe meets people randomly, not he makes events as he needs. This is one of unique Japanese cultures: be polite and lower one's head to another. Also they regard a big community as himself; they act same so they feel safe in society, not like westerners argue with each other for a tiny different opinion. This can be shown as Asian culture's beauty, meditation, but inside the quiet tolerance, the main character's life is transformed to adult from boy having people dramatic changes. It looks like the main character doesn't do anything in his life, but he adopts his life modifying little by little as people act, so-called making a balance and harmony. This is a big difference between eastern and western society.
Reviews
Murakami really outdid himself creating the perverted Midori character in this. Gosh, I love her! One of the best characters ever written. That character alone makes this a must read. Can't wait for the Tran Anh Hung film adaptation of this coming soon :)
Reviews
I was very impressed with Norwegian Wood. Murakami brings to life Toru Watanabe in such a way that I, as a reader, felt I could reach into the pages and touch him. He's flawed. Man is he flawed. An introvert to the very core, Toru spends a lot of time reading the Great American Novels while everyone else is reading Japanese Bestsellers. He goes about his business without a care that the people he associates with are only there because of proximity and not any real meaning. Toru may be flawed, but the few people he comes to care about make him seem perfectly normal. Naoko is quiet and aloof, Reiko is to used to her protected life, Nagasawa is a perfect ass and Midori is a little to extroverted for the people she loves.





All at once a Coming of Age story, a story of first loves and eternal losses Norwegian Wood is a perfect story for all ages, beautifully translated (at least in my edition) and will stay with you for weeks after you put it down for the last time
Reviews
I want to put in my own two cents here. There are other reviews which cover the novel in more depth.



First: I find this translation pretty amazing. I read a lot of Asian literature and know that poor translation (Brothers ~ Yu Hua) can tarnish what is a sterling story. I have also read virtually every Murakami novel, many more than once. I do enjoy the variety of translations, but I find that Jay Rubin is the best, especially with the newer novels.



Unlike other Murakami works, this contains no mystical creatures, weird capitalist mascots, or alternate dimensions. I recommend this novel but remark that it differs greatly from his other works.
Reviews
I've decided to take on some of Murakami's works. I'm really interested in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but it's just too damn long. I was afraid of such an undertaking considering I've never read this author before, so I decided to test the waters with Norwegian Wood, which is far shorter.



The book takes place in Japan during the 1960's. Toru is a college student who is romantically involved with two very different girls, Midori and Naoko. He has a strange history with Naoko--she dated Toru's best friend since childhood, but then he commits suicide. Naoko is a character who is "beautifully broken"--mentally fragile, the kind of girl you just want to hold. She is unable to deal with her pain and begins to live in a colony where people try to heal themselves through farmwork, simple routine, and exercise. The patients and doctors are almost indistinguishable from each other. The place sounds like a kind of awesome Utopia. Scenes between this colony and "the real world" with Midori are very unsettling. Murakami plays with the reader's sense of reality, and at times it is difficult whether things are happening only in Toru's mind or in actuality.



I particularly liked the book's characters, especially Midori. She's an absolute gem. I don't remember the last time I've liked a character so much. Perhaps it was because I loved Midori so intensely, but Toru came off as a bit of an ass sometimes.



I think I will definitely read some more Murakami. I'm always hesitant about reading translations...I know that it's irrational, that translations are usually good, but there's always a part of me that's thinking, "but that's not the EXACT word the author wanted to use!" However, I have heard that Murakami's English translations are fantastic, and after reading Norwegian Wood I would have to agree.

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Army Combatives Hand to Hand Combat Fighting

Army Combatives Hand to Hand Combat Fighting
U.S. Army | 2006-07-01 00:00:00 | Pentagon Publishing | 228 | Martial Arts
Hand to Hand Combat with detailed moves on self defense and take out. Learn how to handle close range, medium range and long range combative techniques. Illustrated techniques for kicks, punches, angles of attack, throw and takedown procedures. Defensive and offensive techniques. Sentry removal and weapons removal, bayonet training are also covered.
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Encyclopedia Of Medieval Literature (Encyclopedia of World Literature)

Encyclopedia Of Medieval Literature (Encyclopedia of World Literature)
Jay Ruud | 2005-11-30 00:00:00 | Facts on File | 734 | Reference

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Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa

Physicians, Colonial Racism, and Diaspora in West Africa
Adell Patton | 1996-04-13 00:00:00 | University Press of Florida | 296 | Africa

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Teaching With The Brain In Mind

Teaching With The Brain In Mind
Eric Jensen | 1998-01-01 00:00:00 | | 133 | Medicine
Every year, millions of parents trust that the professionals who teach their children know something about the brain and processes of learning. But most schools of education offer psychology, not neurology, courses. At best, these psychology courses provide indirect information about the brain and how children actually learn. Teaching with the Brain in Mind fills this gap with the latest practical, easy-to-understand research on learning and the brain. Consider important questions such as - Biologically, can you truly expect to get and hold students' attention for long periods of time? - How has research on rewards been misinterpreted? - Do students actually "forget" what we teach them, or do we ask them to recall information in the wrong way? - What are the surprising benefits for learning across the board when students participate in some sort of physical education or movement? Teaching with the Brain in Mind balances the research and theory of the brain with successful tips and techniques for using that information in classrooms. From its primer on brain biology to in-depth discussions of emotion, memory, and recall, Teaching with the Brain in Mind is an invaluable tool for any educator looking to better reach students through truly brain-compatible teaching and learning.
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Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage (New Edition)

Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage (New Edition)
Kenneth S. Deffeyes | 2008-09-29 00:00:00 | Princeton University Press | 232 | Economics

In 2001, Kenneth Deffeyes made a grim prediction: world oil production would reach a peak within the next decade--and there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. Deffeyes's claim echoed the work of geophysicist M. King Hubbert, who in 1956 predicted that U.S. oil production would reach its highest level in the early 1970s. Though roundly criticized by oil experts and economists, Hubbert's prediction came true in 1970.

In this updated edition of Hubbert's Peak, Deffeyes explains the crisis that few now deny we are headed toward. Using geology and economics, he shows how everything from the rising price of groceries to the subprime mortgage crisis has been exacerbated by the shrinking supply--and growing price--of oil. Although there is no easy solution to these problems, Deffeyes argues that the first step is understanding the trouble that we are in.

Reviews
This book is written in a manner that plainly lays out the issues for those that are new or seasoned in looking at issues of fossil fuels. It was written some time ago, but is still valid today. It came highly recommended to me by one of the top energy investors in Wall Street. Later, one of my professors again recommended it in class.
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Quick and efficient service, book arrived in very good conditions (new book) and earlier than expected (based on requested shipping) - thank you!
Reviews
So you went to the pump today and you'd like to complain about the price of gasoline? In Massachusetts it was $4.03/gal (82 euro cents/L). [In Belgium they're laughing at our complaints since they paid $9.18/gal!] We're running out of oil and need new forms of energy. In fact, we've known about it for 30 years. I know we haven't done anything about it because we've been to involved with things of vital national interest (Whitewater, American Idol, blaming high unemployment on women in the workforce, finding ways so that the ultra-rich can leave all of their money to their no account kids, making ketchup a vegetable in poor kids' lunches, defending states' rights - unless it involves same sex marriage, Survivor, making sure today's immigrants don't get the same chances your great-grandparents did, defending South Carolina and Mississippi's right to continue flying symbols of rebellion against the United States, how to ignore black people stranded in a hurricane, how to prevent soldiers from getting adequate health care or a college education, instant replay, flag burning, sex in the Oval Office and, finally, how best to undermine national security: "by outing CIA agents or by ignoring memos stating that the US will be attacked? Oh, we'll just do both").



Now real American politicians realize these are the things most Americans want; but among the things that don't affect their lives, gas prices is near the top of that second tier. Gas prices - like all other prices - are ruled by the law of supply and demand. Demand has increased in recent years as nations like China grow and need more energy. Further, Americans - forgetting the mileage on their Chevy Caprice during the Oil Embargo - are insistent on driving gas-guzzling SUVs that get 13 mpg (18.1L/100km).



Supply, meanwhile, is decreasing. US reserves are being used faster than new discovery (and, have been since the early 70s). There was a decrease in supply after Hurricane Katrina when gas refineries were damaged. Further, in the nation with the second largest oil reserves, the Coalition of the Willing decided to expand the American Empire. While that war was officially declared over in May 2003, for some reason supplies from Iraq are still slow to recover.



But, the largest constraint on supply is its very finiteness. There are only 2.1 trillion or so barrels of oil in the world and we've used about half of them. In the 1970s, geologists and economists determined that the world oil production would peak in the early 2000s. In this work, Deffeyes argues that it will be in 2004 (the book was written in 2001). After that the production will decrease and price increase - thank the gods that didn't happen.



Despite its probable correctness, this book is awful! Deffeyes spends most of the book showing how oil goes from undiscovered to discovered to drilled to recovered. Then he writes a brief chapter in which he determines by his own math when peak oil will happen. Most of it is academic arguments over exact dates between 2004 and 2009 and whether to use a normal bell curve or a logistic bell curve. He then stymies alternative fuels as too far into the future and says we'll just have to live with high-energy prices for ten years. If you really want to know about Hubbert's peak and oil production read the wikipedia article "Peak Oil"; its way more informative!


Reviews
Taking a trip? Need a gift for that engineer or alternative-energy-green friend? Then get this book! For the professional AND the layman, Kenneth Deffeyes spans various disciplines with a good sense for explanation and storytelling. Quite a feat.



He starts with the origins of the oil business and knows what he is talking about. He makes statistics colorful AND engaging. His graphs are primo and easy to understand when he wishes to hammer home a point.



Deffeyes recounts Marion King Hubbert's sage predicition from the 1950s that oil supply and production has limits. And we had better learn about these limits, fast. No easy answers. Helluva history lesson in readable form. Makes one wants to read other book on the oil industry.



As a country and a culture, we've been riding the riches produced by the bounty of past eons. Our oil epoch will be just a blip on the long history of the earth and humanity. Read it and weep, or feel joyful. Your call.

Deffeyes lays out a coherent argument: the road ahead will not be all high speed and straight. We are in for some rough times and it is best that we engage in a realisitic national debate NOW.



He saves his best for last: meticulous explanations as to alternative energy sources. About time! Some have merit, most have gaping holes that will never payback their true energy investment. His section on "tar sands" is sobering and convincing.



Anyone who drives a car or lives in America oughta read this book.




Reviews
I have read a few other books about the oil industry, which brought this book my way. The book provides a lot of interesting insight into why/where oil fields exist, the exploration, drilling, etc. Hubbert's Peak provides a substantial education and not just trivial facts about the size and flow rates of the biggest Saudi fields. This is a great book if you ever wondered why oil is abundant in some places, but non-existent in others.

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Internet Multimedia Communications Using SIP

Internet Multimedia Communications Using SIP
Rogelio Martinez Perea | 2008-01-01 00:00:00 | Morgan Kaufmann | 600 | Internet
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was conceived in 1996 as a signaling protocol for inviting users to multimedia conferences. With this development, the next big Internet revolution silently started. That was the revolution which would end up converting the Internet into a total communication system which would allow people to talk to each other, see each other, work collaboratively or send messages in real time. Internet telephony and, in general, Internet multimedia, is the new revolution today and SIP is the key protocol which allows this revolution to grow.
The book explains, in tutorial fashion, the underlying technologies that enable real-time IP multimedia communication services in the Internet (voice, video, presence, instant messaging, online picture sharing, white-boarding, etc). Focus is on session initiation protocol (SIP) but also covers session description protocol (SDP), Real-time transport protocol (RTP), and message session relay protocol (MSRP). In addition, it will also touch on other application-related protocols and refer to the latest research work in IETF and 3GPP about these topics. (3GPP stands for "third-generation partnership project" which is a collaboration agreement between ETSI (Europe), ARIB/TTC (Japan), CCSA (China), ATIS (North America) and TTA (South Korea).) The book includes discussion of leading edge theory (which is key to really understanding the technology) accompanied by Java examples that illustrate the theoretical concepts.
Throughout the book, in addition to the code snippets, the reader is guided to build a simple but functional IP soft-phone therefore demonstrating the theory with practical examples.
This book covers IP multimedia from both a theoretical and practical point of view focusing on letting the reader understand the concepts and put them into practice using Java. It includes lots of drawings, protocol diagrams, UML sequence diagrams and code snippets that allow the reader to rapidly understand the concepts.

KEY FEATURES
* Focus on HOW multimedia communications over the Internet works to allow readers to really understand and implement the technology
* Explains how SIP works, including many programming examples so the reader can understand abstract concepts like SIP dialogs, SIP transactions, etc.
* It is not focused on just VoIP. It looks At a wide array of enhanced communication services related to SIP enabling the reader put this technology into practice.
* Includes nearly 100 references to the latest standards and working group activities in the IETF, bringing the reader completely up to date.
* Provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a basic, though functional, IP soft-phone allowing the reader to put concepts into practice.
* For advanced readers, the book also explains how to build a SIP proxy and a SIP registrar to enhance one's expertise and marketability in this fast moving area.
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Monte Zucker's Portrait Photography Handbook

Monte Zucker's Portrait Photography Handbook
Monte Zucker | 2007-01-01 00:00:00 | Amherst Media, Inc | 128 | Photography
Master of portraiture Monte Zucker presents page after page of essential photographic lessons to enable photographers to achieve and exceed their financial and artistic goals. Pring instructions on how to conduct a well-crafted client consultation, readers will learn which angles of the face to photograph, how to pose the body, where to place the camera, and the proper positioning of lighting equipment in order to cultivate an emotional connection with clients to produce an ideal image. Chapters with expert advice on digital imaging cleanup and finishing techniques, clothing and makeup selection, and location and studio backdrop options to reinforce portrait concepts are also included.
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Enterprise Unified Process,The : Extending the Rational Unified Process

Enterprise Unified Process,The : Extending the Rational Unified Process
| 2005-02-11 00:00:00 | | 408 | Software Engineering


This book describes the fundamentals of the Enterprise Unified Process(EUP), an extension of the IBM/Rational Unified Process (RUP) that helpsmake it a full IT lifecycle. The book is, above all, practical. It gives a short, tothe point description of what the EUP is and how it addresses the shortfalls ofthe RUP that most organizations will encounter. While there are several RUPbooks, no single book address organizationsal issues that the EUP addresses(namely, where the RUP falls short). With this in mind, the authors provide abrief overview of the RUP but focuses mainly on the issues that the RUP mostignores (e.g. cross-project and enterprise issues). This is a `how to` guide usingreal-world experiences and examples for the practitioner. This book is notproduct specific and it is tool agnostic. Enterprise Unified Process is built onbeing an add-on to the RUP, instead of a detractor.

User review
A solid IT methodology for the enterprise
If you are using the Rational Unified Process, or considering doing so, and worried about applying it to a whole IT department rather than separate projects then this book could well be useful. The book has four parts - From RUP to EUP, Beyond Development, Enterprise Management Disciplines and Putting it all Together. Each section has several chapters and the chapters all start with a nice reader ROI section (showing the payoff for reading that chapter). The writing is clear and there are plenty of diagrams, tables and helpful tips.


The book starts of with some background in the RUP. I particularly liked the description of RUP as serial in the large and iterative in the small. Within the RUP there are also nine disciplines (Business Modeling, Requirements, Analysis and Design, Implementation, Test, Deployment, Configuration and Change Management, Project Management, and Environment). The authors outline 10 best practices they see as core to the EUP (they extend the original 6 in RUP) - Develop iteratively, Manage requirements, Proven architecture, Modeling, Continuously verify quality, Manage change, Collaborative development, Look beyond deployment, Deliver working software regularly and Manage risk. Each is clearly described.


In addition to the change best practices, EUP adds a Production phase and a Retirement phase. They point out that the Production phase is not just maintenance or just operations and support but both and more. I think that any organization building systems should spend as much time and effort thinking about production and running their application in production (which includes maintaining it over time) as they do in building it and I was glad to see this so strongly proposed. They also added an operations and support discipline, mostly but not entirely in the production phase. This discipline includes running the system and making hot fixes. I think the Retirement phase is overkill for most organizations but some will find it useful.


They also added some `Enterprise Management` disciplines for use outside the context of a project and this too is a good idea. The disciplines are Enterprise business modeling, Enterprise Portfolio Management, Enterprise Architecture (I particularly liked the idea that `modifiability` should be considered as part of an enterprise architecture - far too few organizations do this well and fail to differentiate between stable services and much more changeable ones), Strategic Reuse (Again I liked the called-out focus on this - without a real plan no reuse is going to happen), People management , Enterprise Administration and Software Process Improvement (Another good one and a timely reminder to all that you should keep improving your software processes)


Overall I liked the book, though it was a somewhat dry subject (as methodologies often are). There was a lot of good advice, some nice tips and some clearly hard-won experience being shared!

User review
No application is an island
Many IT organizations still pursue pet projects and develop duplicate applications in isolation, only to address later crises in corporate reporting, portfolio management, IT infrastructure, business objectives, and other areas.


EUP gives a coherent roadmap of how to architect smarter and for the long term. For organizations that don't have a strong enterprise aptitude, this book is a lifesaver. The EUP provides the business case for implementing EUP that will help cut through the politics by addressing the benefits to the bottom line for pursuing an Enterprise Unified Process.


I will be referencing the EUP regularly, and passing it around to others in my organization!

User review
Uniting diverse disciplines,,.under an easy to follow framework
The Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) unites diverse disciplines, including development, enterprise architecture, operations, production and portfolio management, reuse and business process modeling, under an easy to follow framework. It was refreshing to find a book that recognizes the need to accommodate the installed base of existing software as part of the planning, development and deployment process. This is an excellent guide for any manager who wants to ensure that essential IT disciplines are addressed.


The focus of EUP is to enhance the commonly accepted Rational Unified Process (RUP). The authors have added new disciplines to RUP that include business modeling, portfolio management, enterprise administration, reuse, enterprise architecture and process improvement. The introduction of business modeling into the overall process is essential to weave IT processes and disciplines into the most essential driver of any systems initiative - the business. The enterprise architecture discussion was also refreshing given that many organizations have forgone this discipline and have created redundant, stovepipe applications and data structures that significantly stifle business agility.


The `Reuse` chapter raises the rarely deployed reuse strategy. It is critically important to not replicate business processes, models, systems, data structures, source code and interfaces. The costs and risks of trying to keep parallel assets synchronized have been written about extensively. This book promotes the idea that reuse is just another aspect of the enterprise unified process. It is also one of the few discussions about reuse that recognizes the value of harvesting existing assets.


Also of note is the portfolio management discussion that focuses attention on the need to incorporate project management with application management. It should be noted, however, that portfolio management has much less focus on applications than the traditional industry definition as promoted by Gartner, Inc.


Finally, this book makes great use of tips, tool references and citations to books or papers that readers can use to expand on their understanding of a given topic. The last chapter of the book takes a realistic and honest look at deploying the enterprise unified process, including its possible retirement.



User review
Must reading for any RUP organization
This book is must readying for any organization using -- or attempting to use -- the RUP. The EUP's additional disciplines completes the RUP in a necessary and sufficient manner.

The book is written in a straight-forward manner, is easy to read and is well-organized. Each chapter reminds you to be practical (the antipatterns), explains how the additional discipline relates to the others and provides software tools and suggested reading.

Don't RUPture your software development efforts without having the more comprehensive approach of the EUP!

User review
A good coverage of RUP plus useful extensions
The book provides a very readable coverage of IBM's Rational Unified Process, as well as useful extensions that address important aspects of enterprise systems planning, development, and management. The systematic and disciplined treatment is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of much useful, pragmatic advice that draws from the practical experience of the authors in building real systems.

I quite liked this book. Although it doesn't give enough emphasis to conceptual data analysis (something RUP has always been weak on), it has loads of useful, practical content that make it a worthwhile addition to the literature.

Transformer and Inductor Design Handbook (Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Vol 49)

Transformer and Inductor Design Handbook (Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Vol 49)
Colonel William T. McLyman | 1900-01-01 00:00:00 | CRC Press; 2 edition (June 9, 1988) | 432 | Electrical Engineering
Not only would the expert working on a specific design benefit from this handbook, but also the general reader would get a very good working knowledge on transformer design because the book covers fundamentals and magnetic material characteristics in a very clearly written, easy-to-read style. … Along with all of the practical design examples, the book is filled with clear and well-annotated illustrations and circuit schematics that provide great insight; the many references make this book a must have for anyone designing transformers or inductors.
-IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, Feb. 2005

Not only would the expert working on a specific design benefit from this handbook, but also the general reader would get a very good working knowledge on transformer design because the book covers fundamentals and magnetic material characteristics in a very clearly written, easy-to-read style. … Along with all of the practical design examples, the book is filled with clear and well-annotated illustrations and circuit schematics that provide great insight; the many references make this book a must have for anyone designing transformers or inductors.
-IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine, Feb. 2005 --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Product Description
This useful Second Edition gives an in-depth look at how the core geometry Kg approach affects power transformation regulation capability, transformer design, inductor energy-handling capability, gapped inductor design, and toroidal inductor design.
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Optimal Observation for Cyber-physical Systems: A Fisher-information-matrix-based Approach

Optimal Observation for Cyber-physical Systems: A Fisher-information-matrix-based Approach
Zhen Song,YangQuan Chen,Chellury R. Sastry,Nazif C. Tas | 2009-08-07 00:00:00 | Springer | 174 | Engineering

"Optimal Observation for Cyber-physical Systems" addresses the challenge, fundamental to the design of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), presented by the obligatory trade-off between precise estimates and system constraints. A unified theoretical framework, based on the well-established theory of optimal experimental design and providing consistent solutions to problems hitherto requiring a variety of approaches, is put forward to solve a large class of optimal observation problems. The Fisher information matrix plays a key role in this framework and makes it feasible to provide analytical solutions to some complex and important questions which could not be answered in the past.

Readers with an applied background in WSN implementation will find all the understanding of the key theory of optimal experimental design they need within this book. The use of multiple examples to illustrate the theoretical parts of the book brings the subject into sharper focus than would an abstract theoretical disquisition.

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Lehrbuch der Lebensmittelchemie (Springer-Lehrbuch) (German Edition)

Lehrbuch der Lebensmittelchemie (Springer-Lehrbuch) (German Edition)
H.-D. Belitz,Werner Grosch,Peter Schieberle | 2007-10-19 00:00:00 | Springer | 1119 | Nutrition

Das erfolgreiche und bewährte Standardwerk von H.-D. Belitz, W. Grosch und P. Schieberle: Studenten der Lebensmittelchemie und benachbarter Fachgebiete schätzen es als Lehrbuch, Praktiker in Industrie, Forschung und bei Überwachungsbehörden als Nachschlagewerk. Die gründlich überarbeitete und ergänzte 6. Auflage (u.a. Kontaminanten, phenolische Verbindungen, alkoholische Getränke, BSE-Nachweis) trägt aktuellen Entwicklungen Rechnung, ohne den Gesamtumfang wesentlich zu verändern. Die Autoren arbeiten die Zusammenhänge zwischen den makroskopischen Eigenschaften von Lebensmitteln und den Strukturen und Reaktionen der Inhaltsstoffe heraus.

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Lepton And Photon Interactions at High Energies

Lepton And Photon Interactions at High Energies
Richard Brenner,Carlos P de los Heros,Johan Rathsman | 2006-01-26 00:00:00 | World Scientific Publishing Company | 532 | Cosmology
The Lepton-Photon symposiums - as represented by the contributions in this volume - are among the most popular conferences in high energy physics since they give an in-depth snapshots of the status of the field as provided by leading experts. This volume covers the latest results on flavor factories, quantum chromodynamics (QCD), electroweak physics, dark matter searches, neutrino physics and cosmology, from a phenomenological point of view. It also offers a glimpse of the immediate future of the field through summaries on the status of the next generation of high energy accelerators and planned facilities for astroparticle physics. The review nature of the articles makes the volume particularly useful to students, as well as being of interest to established researches in high-energy physics and related fields.

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Flows in Networks

Flows in Networks
L. R. Ford, D. R. Fulkerson | 1962-01-01 00:00:00 | Princeton Univ Press | 198 | Mathematics
In this classic book, first published in 1962, L. R. Ford, Jr., and D. R. Fulkerson set the foundation for the study of network flow problems. The models and algorithms introduced in Flows in Networks are used widely today in the fields of transportation systems, manufacturing, inventory planning, image processing, and Internet traffic.

The techniques presented by Ford and Fulkerson spurred the development of powerful computational tools for solving and analyzing network flow models, and also furthered the understanding of linear programming. In addition, the book helped illuminate and unify results in combinatorial mathematics while emphasizing proofs based on computationally efficient construction. Flows in Networks is rich with insights that remain relevant to current research in engineering, management, and other sciences. This landmark work belongs on the bookshelf of every researcher working with networks.

Review
[Flows in Networks] should . . . be of great value to the expert and a standard reference source for many years to come.
(H. J. Ryser Management Science )

The book stands as the principal work on network flow theory. Its authors have performed almost as great a service in preparing this volume for publication as they did in originally developing much of its contents.
(Ronald A. Howard Proceedings of the IEEE )

The book should be of value not only to those interested in linear programming but also those who are concerned with graph theory.
(Arthur Ziffer Physics Today )

The book is a natural meeting ground for persons interested in communication engineering or combinatorial mathematics.
(Journal of Data Management )

The book is a very welcome addition to the literature and should be of extreme value to anyone interested in operations research, communication theory, or combinatorial mathematics.
(A. Newhouse Computing Review )
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Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines (IAU S250) (Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union Symposia and Colloquia)

Massive Stars as Cosmic Engines (IAU S250) (Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union Symposia and Colloquia)
Fabio Bresolin,Paul A. Crowther,Joachim Puls | 2008-09-01 00:00:00 | Cambridge University Press | 600 | Astronomy
Massive stars are short lived and rare, yet they help to shape our Universe. They shine brightly in ultraviolet light, die in supernova explosions which enrich galaxies in elements such as oxygen, and sometimes their demise is associated with intense bursts of gamma-rays. IAU Symposium 250 charts our current understanding of the life, evolution and death of massive stars, both within the local Universe and when the Universe was in its infancy. These proceedings comprise over 50 extensive review and contributed papers spanning five contemporary themes: atmospheres of massive stars; the physics and evolution of massive stars; massive stars in the nearby Universe; hydrodynamics and feedback from massive stars in galaxy evolution; and massive stars as probes of the early Universe. Summaries of special sessions on magnetic massive stars and massive stars at low metallicity are also included.

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The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World?, Second Edition

The Enemy of Nature: The End of Capitalism or the End of the World?, Second Edition
Joel Kovel | 2007-09-15 00:00:00 | Zed Books | 336 | Economics

Capitalism and its by-products -- imperialism, war, neoliberal globalization, racism, poverty and the destruction of community -- are all playing a part in the destruction of our ecosystem. Only now are we beginning to realize the depth of the crisis and the kind of transformation which will have to occur to ensure our survival. This second, thoroughly updated, edition of The Enemy of Nature speaks to this new environmental awareness. Joel Kovel argues against claims that we can achieve a better environment through the current Western "way of being". By suggesting a radical new way forward, an integration of "red" and "green" politics, Joel Kovel offers real hope and vision for a more sustainable future.

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Java Web Services Architecture (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)

Java Web Services Architecture (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems)
James McGovern,Sameer Tyagi,Michael Stevens,Sunil Mathew | 2003-05-12 00:00:00 | Morgan Kaufmann | 832 | Internet
Written by industry thought leaders, Java Web Services Architecture is a no-nonsense guide to web services technologies including SOAP, WSDL, UDDI and the JAX APIs. This book is the trusted advisor to systems architects and provides an unbiased look at many of the practical considerations for implementing web services including authorization, encryption, transactions and the future of Web Services.

* Covers all the standards, the JAX APIs, transactions, security, and more.
* Contains CD with author code and software from BEA, Sun, The Mind Electric, Altova, CapeClear, Systinet, Republica, Iona, Parasoft, Ipedo, and more.
* Web enhanced with additional material at http://www.webservicesarchitecture.com.
Reviews
This book is so long getting to the point, it really is a pain to read. It has 800+ pages, a lot too many. Verbose and repeating itself, just frustrating.
Reviews
I didn't like this book, but that doesn't mean it's a bad book. I had to write my first web service using Axis and the word "Axis" isn't even in the index. This book might be a good overall book for Java web services, but it's so full of information, I didn't know for sure which chapters applied to what I needed to do for my first web service, and I'm a 19 year veterin of code development. I have resold this book and plan to find another one on Java Web Services.
Reviews
Hi, I( masters in computer science with 7 yrs of experience on j2ee ) really enjoyed reading the book, though I am new to web services. As the book discussed with finance related terminologies and examples it helped me very much as I develop banking applns in j2ee. An excellent convincing explanation was given for allmost all the topics even considering the new guys to web services. Architects and programmers can read this book for a convincing explanation of the technology. all the best...
Reviews
I am involved in a project to determine the best practices for integrating web services into our applications. We purchased a handful of recommended books on the topic including this one. I have to say that I am disappointed in this book.



First off there is little coverage of web services from an architecture point of view. There are some decent chapters that introduce the concepts of web services and SOA and then the authors jump directly into reference mode on the dozen or so technologies that they think you must master to develop web services.



Maybe it is just a failure of the J2EE process, but this book does little to address the confusion and complexity involved with developing web services in Java. In fact this book just adds to the problem. Developers should not need to know all the details of SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, and all the JAX APIs in order to develop web services. For the most part, all this plumbing technology should be hidden from developers yet it is the focus of this book.
Reviews
This book disappointed me with belated material and using older java implementations. The content and examples needs lot of updates and confusing the readers. The book suggested website www.webservicesarchitecture.com is not working at all. I find no response from the publisher and author as well.

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Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military

Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military
Zoltan Barany | 2007-07-16 00:00:00 | Princeton University Press | 264 | Military

Why have Russian generals acquired an important political position since the Soviet Union's collapse while at the same time the effectiveness of their forces has deteriorated? Why have there been no radical defense reforms in Russia since the end of the cold war, even though they were high on the agenda of the country's new president in 2000? Democratic Breakdown and the Decline of the Russian Military explains these puzzles as it paints a comprehensive portrait of Russian military politics.

Zoltan Barany identifies three formative moments that gave rise to the Russian dilemma. The first was Gorbachev's decision to invite military participation in Soviet politics. The second was when Yeltsin acquiesced to a new political system that gave generals a legitimate political presence. The third was when Putin not only failed to press for needed military reforms but elevated numerous high-ranking officers to prominent positions in the federal administration. Included here are Barany's insightful analysis of crisis management following the sinking of the Kursk submarine, a systematic comparison of the Soviet/Russian armed forces in 1985 and the present, and compelling accounts of the army's political role, the elusive defense reform, and the relationship between politicians and generals.

Barany offers a rare look at the world of contemporary military politics in an increasingly authoritarian state. Destined to become a classic in post-Soviet studies, this book reminds us of the importance of the separation of powers as a means to safeguard democracy.

Reviews
This is a good read on what has happened with/to the Russian Army since the fall of the Soviet Union. Not too many new facts, but a good summary and analysis of the situation.

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ADVANCES IN HETEROCYCLIC CHEMISTRY V23, Volume 23 (v. 23)

ADVANCES IN HETEROCYCLIC CHEMISTRY V23, Volume 23 (v. 23)
Author Unknown | 1979-02-11 00:00:00 | Academic Press | 496 | Organic
Intended for organic chemists, this volume follows the format of previous volumes and provides up-to-date information on selected areas of heterocyclic chemistry.

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Desiring the Darkness

Desiring the Darkness
Shiela Stewart | 2008-01-01 00:00:00 | Linden Bay Romance | 200 | Romance Novels
With the cloak of darkness surrounding Jacob?s Cove, Dante Vega must work to protect the humans from the blood-thirsty vampires trying to take over the human race. When a half-naked young woman races into his arms begging him to protect her, he is compelled to help despite the fact that she is a vampire. Before all hell broke loose, Gypsy Dawn was an average woman carrying on with her ordinary life?until she?s turned into a vampire. With no family and no where to go, she clings to Dante. Aside from his dark, mysterious good looks, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him. And when his life is threatened she discovers just how protective she has become. Trying to bring back the sun is not easy, especially when the creature responsible has gone into hiding. With Dante?s long lost brother working with the enemy, one friend is killed and another is taken hostage. Will Dante be able to save him before it?s too late?
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NonProfits and Government (Field Guides to Finding a New Career)

NonProfits and Government (Field Guides to Finding a New Career)
Amanda Kirk | 2009-06-30 00:00:00 | Ferguson Publishing Company | 154 | Guides

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Building Grammar Skills

Building Grammar Skills
Hryhorij Dyczok | 2007-01-01 00:00:00 | Hryhorij Dyczok | 243 | English
A complete guide to English Grammar, which covers every part of speech, and is presented with people who are planning to take the iBT TOEFL exam in mind.Over 50 key grammar points which feature: clear, detailed explanations, over 115 exercises, and thousands of questions.
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Who Cares?: Public Ambivalence and Government Activism from the New Deal to the Second Gilded Age

Who Cares?: Public Ambivalence and Government Activism from the New Deal to the Second Gilded Age
Katherine S. Newman, Elisabeth S. Jacobs | 2010-01-01 00:00:00 | Princeton University Press | 248 | Management
Americans like to think that they look after their own, especially in times of hardship. Particularly for the Great Depression and the Great Society eras, the collective memory is one of solidarity and compassion for the less fortunate. Who Cares? challenges this story by examining opinion polls and letters to presidents from average citizens. This evidence, some of it little known, reveals a much darker, more impatient attitude toward the poor, the unemployed, and the dispossessed during the 1930s and 1960s. Katherine Newman and Elisabeth Jacobs show that some of the social policies that Americans take for granted today suffered from declining public support just a few years after their inception. Yet Americans have been equally unenthusiastic about efforts to dismantle social programs once they are well established. Again contrary to popular belief, conservative Republicans had little public support in the 1980s and 1990s for their efforts to unravel the progressive heritage of the New Deal and the Great Society. Whether creating or rolling back such programs, leaders like Roosevelt, Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan often found themselves working against public opposition, and they left lasting legacies only by persevering despite it.

Timely and surprising, Who Cares? demonstrates not that Americans are callous but that they are frequently ambivalent about public support for the poor. It also suggests that presidential leadership requires bold action, regardless of opinion polls.
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Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Themes in Islamic Law)

Crime and Punishment in Islamic Law: Theory and Practice from the Sixteenth to the Twenty-First Century (Themes in Islamic Law)
Rudolph Peters | 2006-04-03 00:00:00 | Cambridge University Press | 232 | Renaissance
In recent years some of the more fundamentalist regimes in the developing world (such as those of Iran, Pakistan, Sudan and the northern states of Nigeria) have reintroduced Islamic law in place of western criminal codes. Rudolph Peters presents a detailed account of the classical doctrine and traces the enforcement of criminal law from the Ottoman period to the present day. Accounts of actual cases, ranging from theft and banditry to murder, fornication and apostasy, shed light on the complexities of the law, and the sensitivity and intelligence of the qadis who implemented it.

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C++ in A Nutshell

C++ in A Nutshell
| 2003-05-01 00:00:00 | | 808 | C++


C++ in a Nutshell packs an enormous amount of information on C++ (and the many libraries used with it) in an indispensable quick reference for those who live in a deadline-driven world and need the facts but not the frills. The book's language reference is organized first by topic, followed by an alphabetical reference to the language's keywords, complete with syntax summaries and pointers to the topic references. The library reference is organized by header file, and each library chapter and class declaration presents the classes and types in alphabetical order for easy lookup. Cross-references link related methods, classes, and other key features. This is an ideal resource for students as well as professional programmers. When you're programming, you need answers to questions about language syntax, or parameters required by library routines quickly. C++ in a Nutshell is a concise desktop reference that answers these questions, putting the full power of this flexible, adaptable (but somewhat difficult to master) language at every C++ programmer's fingertips.

User review
Research and references
I would ask my old engineering mentor if it is ok to bring all my books to the job. His answer: `All engineers do research!` Thank god for the Nutshell books. This series [Nutshell] is not for language learners, although I still learn new things from these books. Like most object-oriented languages, C++ is a huge language with many constructs. The `C++ In A Nutshell` book documents nearly all the basic functionality and some esoterica.


Since all engineers do research, we have to have research materials. The Nutshell series does just that, it documents what is, without throwing-out to much design phylosophy. There are other books better suited for this purpose.


DC

User review
Overcomplicated
Hi,

I'm a recent graduate B.Sc CS and used this book extensively for a month+ as to prepare for a c++ job interviews.


Unfortunately I can't say I loved this book. I found the examples to be overcomplicated by irrelevant information and language to be ambiguous at the times.


As an example, from page 160 (classes/ covariant return types):

`In a derived class, a covariant return type is a pointer or reference to a class type that derives from the return type used in the base class` ?!


Code examples are contaminated by the irrelevant programming techniques and irrelevant code. Page 158, `declaring and using virtual functions`, the code example extends over two pages. In it, author uses concepts of templates, complicated operators overloading, constructor and destructor, pure virtual functions (its different topic in the book, much later) as well as a very complicated programming code. And all of this extra information used to explain a rather simple virtual functions.


If the reader is not very familiar with some concepts of programming language, reader might face a difficulty to understand the topic illustrated, as it would be polluted with much unrelated code technique.


I wouldn't recommend this book for the beginners, and would proceed with caution if you are an intermediate programmer. This is a great start but author need to maintain focus on the particular topic and not to make it more complicated then it's already is. After all it's a reference book and not the collection of the brain teasers.



User review
Best reference for the core language with plenty of examples
Many implementations of C++ extend the language and standard library. Except for brief mentions of language and library extensions in the appendixes, this book covers only the standard. The standard library is large, but it omits much that is common in computing today such as concurrency, network protocols, database access, graphics, and windowing. However, Appendix B contains some information about nonstandard libraries that provide additional functionality.


This book is a reference, not a tutorial, thus those unfamiliar with C++ might find portions of this book difficult to understand. Although each portion of the book contains some advice on idioms and the proper use of certain language constructs, the main focus is on the reference material. This book is divided into two interleaved sections that cover the language and the library, and a couple of appendixes. Roughly speaking, the language is the part of C++ that does not require any additional #include headers or files. The library is the part of C++ that is declared in the standard headers.


Chapter 1 through Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 12 cover the language itself. The first seven chapters form the main language reference, organized by topic. It is customary for a programming reference to contain a formal grammar, and this book does so in Chapter 12, which is organized alphabetically by keyword with some additional entries for major syntactic categories, such as expressions. Chapter 11 is a reference for the preprocessor. Chapter 13 is the library reference, organized alphabetically by header. Chapters 8 through 10 present an overview of the library and introduce the topics that span individual headers. A detailed accounting of each chapter follows:


Chapter 1. Language Basics - describes the basic rules for the C++ language.

1.1. Compilation Steps

1.2. Tokens

1.3. Comments

1.4. Character Sets

1.5. Alternative Tokens

1.6. Trigraphs


Chapter 2. Declarations - describes how objects, types, and namespaces are declared and how names are looked up.

2.1. Declarations and Definitions

2.2. Scope

2.3. Name Lookup

2.4. Linkage

2.5. Type Declarations

2.6. Object Declarations

2.7. Namespaces


Chapter 3. Expressions - describes operators, precedence, and type casts.

3.1. Lvalues and Rvalues

3.2. Type Conversions

3.3. Constant Expressions

3.4. Expression Evaluation

3.5. Expression Rules


Chapter 4. Statements - describes all the C++ statements.

4.1. Expression Statements

4.2. Declarations

4.3. Compound Statements

4.4. Selections

4.5. Loops

4.6. Control Statements

4.7. Handling Exceptions


Chapter 5. Functions - describes function declarations and definitions, overload resolution, argument passing, and related topics.

5.1. Function Declarations

5.2. Function Definitions

5.3. Function Overloading

5.4. Operator Overloading

5.5. The main Function


Chapter 6. Classes - describes classes, unions, structures, members, virtual functions, inheritance, accessibility, and multiple inheritance.

6.1. Class Definitions

6.2. Data Members

6.3. Member Functions

6.4. Inheritance

6.5. Access Specifiers

6.6. Friends

6.7. Nested Types


Chapter 7. Templates - describes class and function template declarations, definitions, instantiations, specializations, and how templates are used.

7.1. Overview of Templates

7.2. Template Declarations

7.3. Function Templates

7.4. Class Templates

7.5. Specialization

7.6. Partial Specialization

7.7. Instantiation

7.8. Name Lookup

7.9. Tricks with Templates

7.10. Compiling Templates


Chapter 8. Standard Library - introduces the standard library and discusses some overarching topics, such as traits and allocators.

8.1. Overview of the Standard Library

8.2. C Library Wrappers

8.3. Wide and Multibyte Characters

8.4. Traits and Policies

8.5. Allocators

8.6. Numerics


Chapter 9. Input and Output - introduces the I/O portion of the standard library. Topics include formatted and unformatted I/O, stream buffers, and manipulators.

9.1. Introduction to I/O Streams

9.2. Text I/O

9.3. Binary I/O

9.4. Stream Buffers

9.5. Manipulators

9.6. Errors and Exceptions


Chapter 10. Containers, Iterators, and Algorithms - introduces the suite of container class templates, their iterators, and generic algorithms. This is the portion of the library that has traditionally been called the Standard Template Library (STL).

10.1. Containers

10.2. Iterators

10.3. Algorithms


Chapter 11. Preprocessor Reference - an alphabetical reference for the preprocessor, which is part of the language, but with a distinct set of syntactic and semantic rules.


Chapter 12. Language Reference - an alphabetical reference for the language and grammar. Backus-Naur Form (BNF) syntax descriptions are given for each keyword and other language elements, with pointers to the first seven chapters for the main reference material.


Chapter 13. Library Reference - a reference for the entire standard library, organized alphabetically by header, and alphabetically by name within each header section.


Appendix A. Compiler Extension - describes ways that some compilers extend the language: to satisfy customer need, to meet platform-specific requirements, and so on.


Appendix B. Projects - describes a few interesting, open source C++ projects. You can find information about additional projects on the book's web site.


The book illustrates the descriptions and definitions it covers with plenty of examples - some quite short, and then some longer ones as you get further into the book. If you need a good desk reference on C++, this is definitely the one to buy and keep by your side.

User review
Great reference book
This is a great reference book. You definitely need to know something about c++ to get the full benefit of it. I would recommend it.

User review
Excellent reference
I always like O'Reilly books and are usually what I purchase. The `In A Nutshell` may be misleading to some. Just think of it as `C++ A Language & Library Reference.` If you are a beginner looking for a how to, this isn't the one for you. `Thinking in C++` by Bruce Eckel (great book), or `Practical C++ Programming` would be the one a beginner would want. However, when you are ready to explore the inter-details about what C++ classes provides, this would be a good one to add to your collection. The first half describes C++ in general, while the last half details the language reference. I like how the reference is structured, grouped by the easy to find header declaration at the bottom of the page. Quickly finding what you need is a great feature here. You can only do so much `std::cout