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Stephen Hawking: A Life Well Lived
By Kitty Ferguson. 2016
In 1963 Stephen Hawking was given two years to live. Defying all the odds, he died in March 2018 at…
age seventy-six as the most celebrated scientist in the world. This carefully researched and updated biography and tribute gives a rich picture of Hawking's remarkable life - his childhood, the heart-rending beginning of his struggle with motor neurone disease, his ever-increasing international fame, and his long personal battle for survival in pursuit of a scientific understanding of the universe. From more recent years, Kitty Ferguson describes his inspiring leadership at the London Paralympic Games, the release of the film The Theory of Everything, his continuing work on black holes and the origin of the universe, the discovery of 'supertranslations', and the astounding 'Starshot' program. Here also are his intense concern for the future of the Earth and his use of his celebrity to fight for environmental and humanitarian causes, and, finally, a ground-breaking paper he was working on at the time of his death, in which he took issue with some of his own earlier theories. Throughout, Ferguson summarizes and explains the cutting-edge science in which Hawking was engaged and offers vivid first-hand descriptions of his funeral in Cambridge and the interment of his ashes in Westminster Abbey. This is an amazing and revealing tribute, assessing Hawking's legacy in and out of science.Six Facets Of Light
By Ann Wroe. 2015
'She's a genius, I believe, because she lights up every subject she touches.' Hilary Mantel A Spectator Book of the…
YearGoethe claimed to know what light was. Galileo and Einstein both confessed they didn't. On the essential nature of light, and how it operates, the scientific jury is still out. There is still time, therefore, to listen to painters and poets on the subject. They, after all, spend their lives pursuing light and trying to tie it down.Six Facets of Light is a series of meditations on this most elusive and alluring feature of human life. Set mostly on the Downs and coastline of East Sussex, the most luminous part of England, it interweaves a walker's experiences of light in Nature with the observations, jottings and thoughts of a dozen writers and painters - and some scientists - who have wrestled to define and understand light. From Hopkins to Turner, Coleridge to Whitman, Fra Angelico to Newton, Ravilious to Dante, the mystery of light is teased out and pondered on. Some of the results are surprising.By using mostly notebooks and sketchbooks, this book becomes a portrait of the transitoriness, randomness, swiftness, frustrations and quicksilver beauty that are the essence of light. It is a work to be enjoyed, pondered over, engaged with, provoked by; to be packed in the rucksack of every walker heading for the sea or the hills, or to be opened to bring that outside radiance within four dark town walls.Lifescapes by Ann Wroe is coming in August 2023.Pirates: A New History, from Vikings to Somali Raiders
By Peter Lehr. 2019
A global account of pirates and their modus operandi, from the Middle Ages to the present day In the twenty-first…
century piracy has regained a central place in Western culture, thanks to a surprising combination of Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as well as the dramatic rise of modern-day piracy around Somalia and the Horn of Africa. In this global history of the phenomenon, maritime terrorism and piracy expert Peter Lehr casts fresh light on pirates. Ranging from the Vikings and Wako pirates in the Middle Ages to modern-day Somali pirates, Lehr delves deep into what motivates pirates and how they operate. He also illuminates the state’s role in the development of piracy throughout history: from privateers sanctioned by Queen Elizabeth to pirates operating off the coast of Africa taking the law into their own hands. After exploring the structural failures which create fertile ground for pirate activities, Lehr evaluates the success of counterpiracy efforts—and the reasons behind their failures.StarWords: The Celestial Roots of Modern Language (Springer Praxis Books)
By Daniel Kunth, Elena Terlevich. 2024
Unbeknownst to many, our modern language contains countless words that were inspired by human observations of the cosmos. We now…
use words like “zenith”, “Monday”, “disaster”, “dog days”, “starfish”, “lunatic”, flu, and so many others, without a second thought for their celestial roots. Famous French astrophysicist Daniel Kunth invites you on a linguistic and scientific journey through space and time to explore these forgotten origins. You will be astonished to rediscover cosmic language hidden in plain sight through this wonderful collection of historical and cultural stories, famous idioms and delightful puns, along with the real science behind each one. Elena Terlevich is a well known professional astronomer working at INAOE in Mexico, an honorary Professor at La Plata University in Argentina and a regular visitor at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge (UK). Requiring no prior knowledge in astronomy or linguistics, this book’s universal contentsinvite the reader to ponder how our observations of the night sky have shaped our modern tongue and customs.Fundamentals of Digital Forensics: A Guide to Theory, Research and Applications (Texts in Computer Science)
By Joakim Kävrestad, Marcus Birath, Nathan Clarke. 2024
This textbook describes the theory and methodology of digital forensic examinations, presenting examples developed in collaboration with police authorities to…
ensure relevance to real-world practice. The coverage includes discussions on forensic artifacts and constraints, as well as forensic tools used for law enforcement and in the corporate sector. Emphasis is placed on reinforcing sound forensic thinking, and gaining experience in common tasks through hands-on exercises.This enhanced third edition describes practical digital forensics with open-source tools and includes an outline of current challenges and research directions.Topics and features:Outlines what computer forensics is, and what it can do, as well as what its limitations areDiscusses both the theoretical foundations and the fundamentals of forensic methodologyReviews broad principles that are applicable worldwideExplains how to find and interpret several important artifactsDescribes free and open-source software toolsFeatures content on corporate forensics, ethics, SQLite databases, triage, and memory analysisIncludes new supporting video lectures on YouTubeThis easy-to-follow primer is an essential resource for students of computer forensics, and will also serve as a valuable reference for practitioners seeking instruction on performing forensic examinations.Trafficking Chains: Modern Slavery in Society
By Sylvia Walby, Karen Shire. 2024
Available open access digitally under CC-BY-NC-ND license. This book offers a theory of trafficking and modern slavery with implications for…
policy. Despite economic development, modern slavery persists all around the world. The issue is not only one of crime but the regulation of the economy, better welfare, and social protections. Going beyond polarized debates on the sex trade, an original empirical analysis shows the importance of profit-taking. Although individual experience matters, the root causes lie in intersecting regimes of inequality of gender regimes, capitalism, and the legacies of colonialism. This book shows the importance of coercion and the societal complexities that perpetuate modern slavery.Paleo-Geodynamics Peculiarities of the Arctic Ocean Eurasian Floor (Earth and Environmental Sciences Library)
By Anatoly Schreider, Mikhail Klyuev, Alexandra Sazhneva, Andrey Brekhovskikh. 2024
The book deals with some issues of paleo-geodynamics of the Eurasian floor of the Arctic Ocean.A comprehensive geological and geophysical…
analysis of information on the anomalous magnetic field in the Eurasian Basin was carried out using modeling of the inversion magnetically active layer of the oceanic crust. As a result of this analysis, the identification and spatial position of linear paleo-magnetic anomalies were refined, which made it possible to significantly update the geochronology of the bottom of the Eurasian Basin and identify a number of stages in its evolution.On this basis, the features and stages of the kinematics of the development of the bottom of the Eurasian Basin in the past were revealed.At the first Cretaceous–Paleogene stage, prior to the formation of the A26 paleo-anomaly on the Eurasian margin, extension processes developed significantly and turned into rifting. In the process of rifting, weakened zones and related fractures were formed, along which the Siberian continental margin began to be torn off about 60 Ma ago with the formation of the Lomonosov Ridge.At the second stage of evolution, rifting turned into spreading, and the growth rate of the new oceanic crust in the A26–A24 paleo-anomaly interval (59–53 Ma ago) was more than 2.5 cm/yr. At the same time, the northern flank of the Mid-Arctic Ridge grew more intensively than the southern one.The third stage was characterized by a further progressive slowdown in the process of bottom spreading, the minimum of which, with spreading rates of about 1 cm/year, fell on the formation of paleo-anomalies A13-A6 (30-20 million years ago).The fourth stage of growth of the new oceanic crust began later than the time of the A6 paleo-anomaly and is characterized by some intensification of growth at rates up to 1.2 cm/yr. The average rate of bottom growth over an interval of almost 60 Ma turned out to be close to 1.3 cm/yr, which makes it possible to classify the Mid-Arctic Ridge as a slow-growing one.On this basis, kinematic models of the development of bottom configurations were developed with the determination of the Euler poles, rotation angles, asymmetries, axes of spallation and paleo-bathymetry for the Eurasian Basin, the Polar part of the Lomonosov Ridge, the splitting of the Arlis Spura from the Lomonosov Ridge, the development of the Gakkel Ridge and the development of the Greenland region of the bottom.Coded Optical Imaging
By Jinyang Liang. 2024
This book provides a comprehensive survey of coded optical imaging. Illustrated with 386 figures, it takes readers from the fundamental…
concepts and theories to the latest research and applications in this field. It can be used in graduate-level courses in optics and photonics. It can also benefit scientists and engineers in optical imaging, computer graphics, and other related disciplines. This book starts from a brief history of coded optical imaging and key operations in its data acquisition and image reconstruction. It then presents the latest progress in technological development and applications in the areas of biomedicine, materials science, industrial inspection, optical physics, imaging science, information theory, and more. Chapters describe the most representative techniques, exposing readers to key research themes, including: · Optical signal encoding · Image reconstruction techniques · Compressed sensing · Artificial intelligence · Metasurface · Structured light · Lensless imaging · Holography · Tomography · Light-field imaging · Utrafast imaging · Hyperspectral imaging · Polarization imaging · Super-resolution imagingSecure Edge and Fog Computing Enabled AI for IoT and Smart Cities: Includes selected Papers from International Conference on Advanced Computing & Next-Generation Communication (ICACNGC 2022) (EAI/Springer Innovations in Communication and Computing)
By Ahmed A. Abd El-Latif, Lo’ai Tawalbeh, Yassine Maleh, Brij B. Gupta. 2024
This book gathers recent research in security and privacy to discuss, evaluate, and improve the novel approaches of data protection…
in IoT and edge and fog computing. The primary focus of the book addresses security mechanisms in IoT and edge/ fog computing, advanced secure deployments for large scaled edge/ fog computing, and new efficient data security strategy of IoT and edge/ fog computing. The book lays a foundation of the core concepts and principles of IoT and 5G security, walking the reader through the fundamental ideas. This book is aimed at researchers, graduate students, and engineers in the fields of secure IoT and edge/ fog computing. The book also presents selected papers from International Conference on Advanced Computing & Next-Generation Communication (ICACNGC 2022).The Problem of Coronal Heating: A Rosetta Stone for Electrodynamic Coupling in Cosmic Plasmas (Astrophysics and Space Science Library #470)
By Philip Judge, James A. Ionson. 2024
This book reflects on 8 decades of research on one of the longest-standing unsolved problems in modern astrophysics: why does…
the Sun form a hot corona? The authors give a critical overview of the field and offer suggestions on how to bridge the chasm between what we can measure, and what we can calculate. They go back to basics to explain why the problem is difficult, where we have made progress and where we have not, to help the next generation of scientists devise novel techniques to crack such a long-lasting problem. A way forward is formulated centered around refutation, using Bayesian methods to propose and to try to reject hypotheses and models, and avoiding seduction by ``confirmation bias’’.This book is aimed at physicists, students and researchers interested in understanding, learning from and solving the coronal heating problem, in an era of new dedicated facilities such as the Parker Solar Probe and the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope. Thebook will appeal to those interested in understanding research methods and how they are changing in the modern academic environment, particular in astrophysics and Earth sciences where remote sensing is essential.Planning for Equitable Urban Agriculture in the United States: Future Directions for a New Ethic in City Building (Urban Agriculture)
By Samina Raja, Marcia Caton Campbell, Alexandra Judelsohn, Branden Born, Alfonso Morales. 2023
This open access book, building on the legacy of food systems scholar and advocate, Jerome Kaufman, examines the potential and…
pitfalls of planning for urban agriculture (UA) in the United States, especially in how questions of ethics and equity are addressed. The book is organized into six sections. Written by a team of scholars and practitioners, the book covers a comprehensive array of topics ranging from theory to practice of planning for equitable urban agriculture. Section 1 makes the case for re-imagining agriculture as central to urban landscapes, and unpacks why, how, and when planning should support UA, and more broadly food systems. Section 2, written by early career and seasoned scholars, provides a theoretical foundation for the book. Section 3, written by teams of scholars and community partners, examines how civic agriculture is unfolding across urban landscapes, led largely by community organizations. Section 4, written by planning practitionersand scholars, documents local government planning tied to urban agriculture, focusing especially on how they address questions of equity. Section 5 explores UA as a locus of pedagogy of equity. Section 6 places the UA movement in the US within a global context, and concludes with ideas and challenges for the future. The book concludes with a call for planning as public nurturance – an approach that can be illustrated through urban agriculture. Planning as public nurturance is a value-explicit process that centers an ethics of care, especially protecting the interests of publics that are marginalized. It builds the capacity of marginalized groups to authentically co-design and participate in planning/policy processes. Such a planning approach requires that progress toward equitable outcomes is consistently evaluated through accountability measures. And, finally, such an approach requires attention to structural and institutional inequities. Addressing these four elements is more likelyto create a condition under which urban agriculture may be used as a lever in the planning and development of more just and equitable cities. This is an open access book.This is an open access book.The Serial Killers: A Study in the Psychology of Violence
By Colin Wilson, Donald Seaman. 2007
As the number of serial killers worldwide has risen steadily - from the emergence of Jack the Ripper in 1888…
to Harold Shipman and Ivan Milat, the backpacker killer of the Australian outback - the need to understand mass murder is becoming more urgent. Using privileged access to the world's first National Centre for the Analysis of Violent Crime, Colin Wilson and Donald Seaman bring you this incisive study of the psychology of serial killers and the motives behind their crimes. From childhood traumas to issues of frustration, fear and fantasy, discover what turns an ordinary human being into a compulsive killer.Scum Airways: Inside Football's Underground Economy
By John Sugden. 2002
Football is big business and it doesn't come much bigger than Manchester United – commercial giants and the richest club…
in the world. But in the shadow of Old Trafford a black economy is growing to rival the commercial power of the official sales channels. Scum Airways is an inside investigation of the Manchester grafters – touts, black marketeers and shady dealers – who, led by characters like 'Big Tommy', have come up with a remarkably successful money-making venture: Scum Airways. With the expansion of the Champions League came the opportunity for the grafters to move from ticket touting and producing 'unofficial' replica kits into the independent travel business. International Travel is the company for those who, through choice or because of their police records prohibit them, do not travel with the official clubs. Their customers include many 'straight' supporters of Leeds United, arch-rivals of Man U, but Tommy's core clients are the 'Lads' - die-hard 30-something football hooligans. Scum Airways follows the exploits and adventures of Big Tommy and his team of grafters as they continue to build their empire. John Sugden went along for the ride and provides startling insights into professional football's burgeoning black economy. From Munich to Madrid, Amsterdam to Bangkok, through to the streets and bars of Toyko and Sapporo during the 2002 World Cup, and beyond, Scum Airways reveals the dark side of the football business.Mathematics for Natural Scientists II: Advanced Methods (Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics)
By Lev Kantorovich. 2024
This textbook, the second in a series (the first covered fundamentals and basics), seeks to make its material accessible to…
physics students. Physics/engineering can be greatly enhanced by knowledge of advanced mathematical techniques, but the math-specific jargon and laborious proofs can be off-putting to students not well versed in abstract math. This book uses examples and proofs designed to be clear and convincing from the context of physics, as well as providing a large number of both solved and unsolved problems in each chapter. This is the second edition, and it has been significantly revised and enlarged, with Chapters 1 (on linear algebra) and 2 (on the calculus of complex numbers and functions) having been particularly expanded. The enhanced topics throughout the book include: vector spaces, general (non-Hermitian, including normal and defective) matrices and their right/left eigenvectors/values, Jordan form, pseudoinverse, linearsystems of differential equations, Gaussian elimination, fundamental theorem of algebra, convergence of a Fourie series and Gibbs-Wilbraham phenomenon, careful derivation of the Fourier integral and of the inverse Laplace transform. New material has been added on many physics topics meant to illustrate the maths, such as 3D rotation, properties of the free electron gas, van Hove singularities, and methods for both solving PDEs with a Fourier transform and calculating the width of a domain wall in a ferromagnet, to mention just a few. This textbook should prove invaluable to all of those with an interest in physics/engineering who have previously experienced difficulty processing the math involved.Running with the Krays: My Life in London's Gangland
By Billy Webb. 1993
Running with the Krays lifts the liid off London's underworld, from street gangs and race-course con games to protection rackets,…
beatings, maimings, intimidation and even murders. It reveals elements of police corruption and provides insights into the interdependence of both sides of the underworld scene - a compelling and gruesome account of how the other half of London lives.Born in wartime London's east end, Billy Webb grew up in the violence of air-raids and street warfare. His first weapon was a knuckleduster which he had made to measure for the price of five cigarettes when he was 11. When he first met the Krays they were scraping a living by doorknocking for old clothes to be sold in street markets. For three years he and the twins were on the run together as army deserters, and over the course of time, he was a friend, ally and foe of the Krays in their violent rise to fame.Ring of Death: Famous Kerry Murders
By Anthony Galvin. 2013
To all appearances, Kerry is an idyllic tourist destination. Yet scratch beneath its scenic surface and the sordid secrets of…
the county known as 'the Kingdom’ flow free like blood . . .Some of the most notorious murders in the history of Ireland have taken place in Kerry, including a two-day orgy of slaughter perpetrated by state forces during the Civil War. Another is the case of two farmers fighting over a patch of land not big enough to accommodate a picnic blanket, resulting in a killing that inspired the play and film The Field. The county’s most infamous case was the discovery of a baby stabbed to death on a beach, with another infant’s body found during the subsequent investigation. To this day, the identities of the children, their mothers and the murderer remain a mystery, but the case led to the government setting up a tribunal to investigate the Gardaí and how they had handled the inquiry.In Ring of Death, true-crime writer Anthony Galvin explores the bloody history of Kerry and the many fascinating murder cases that have occurred in the county over the past century.Quantum Mechanics (The Ladybird Expert Series #2)
By Jim Al-Khalili. 2017
What is quantum mechanics? Learn from the experts in the ALL-NEW LADYBIRD EXPERT SERIESA clear, simple and entertaining introduction to…
the weird, mind-bending world of the very, very small.Written by physicist and broadcaster Professor Jim Al-Khalili, Quantum Mechanics explores all the key players, breakthroughs, controversies and unanswered questions of the quantum world.You'll discover:- How the sun shines- Why light is both a wave and a particle- The certainty of the Uncertainty Principle- Schrodinger's Cat- Einstein's spooky action- How to build a quantum computer- Why quantum mechanics drives even its experts completely crazy'Jim Al-Khalili has done an admirable job of condensing the ideas of quantum physics from Max Planck to the possibilities of quantum computers into brisk, straightforward English' THE TIMESLearn about other topics in the Ladybird Experts series including The Big Bang, Gravity, Climate Change and Evolution.Written by the leading lights and most outstanding communicators in their fields, the Ladybird Expert books provide clear, accessible and authoritative introductions to subjects drawn from science, history and culture. For an adult readership, the Ladybird Expert series is produced in the same iconic small format pioneered by the original Ladybirds. Each beautifully illustrated book features the first new illustrations produced in the original Ladybird style for nearly forty years.Prisons of Light: Black Holes
By Kitty Ferguson. 1973
What is a black hole? Could we survive a visit to one? Perhaps even venture inside? What would we find?…
Have we yet discovered any real black holes? And what do black holes teach us about what physicist John Archibald Wheeler called “the deep, happy, mysteries of the universe”?These are just a few of the tantalizing questions examined in this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating topics in modern science. In search of the answers, we trace a star from its birth to its death throes, take a fabulous hypothetical journey to the border of a black hole and beyond, spend time with some of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and observational astronomers scanning the cosmos for evidence of real black holes, and take a whimsical look at some of the wild ideas black holes have inspired.Powder Wars: The Supergrass who Brought Down Britain's Biggest Drug Dealers
By Graham Johnson. 2004
Gangster Paul Grimes was a one-man crimewave with a breathtaking capacity to steal. Any villains who got in his way…
were made to pay - often with their blood. But when his son died of a drugs overdose, the old-school mobster swore revenge on the new generation of Liverpool-based heroin and cocaine dealers. Against all odds, he turned undercover informant. The first gangster to fall foul of Grimes' change of heart was Curtis Warren, aka 'Cocky', the wealthiest and most successful criminal in British history. Grimes infiltrated his cocaine cartel and led Customs to the largest narcotics seizure on record, putting Warren in the dock in the drugs trial of the twentieth century. After turning his attention to heroin baron John Haase, Grimes rose to become the boss of the villain's notoriously bloodthirsty 'security firm' - a professional gang of racketeers addicted to cocaine, explosive violence and non-stop criminality. But as his net began to tighten, Grimes was confronted with the ultimate dilemma. He discovered his second son was now a rising star in the drugs business. The life-or-death question was: should he shop him or not?Powder Wars also reveals the secrets behind one of the most controversial episodes in British judicial history - how former Home Secretary Michael Howard was duped into granting John Haase a Royal Pardon.Today, Paul Grimes has a £100,000 contract on his head and is a real-life dead man walking. Powder Wars is a riveting account of modern gangsters told in brutal detail.Positively Happy: Cosmic Ways To Change Your Life
By Noel Edmonds. 2011
'Throughout the many ups and downs, the successes and the failures in my life, there has been a consistent and…
all-embracing belief that a positive attitude produces results.'Acknowledged both as one of the most famous faces on British television and an astute businessman, Noel Edmonds knows what it's like to be hugely successful. In this book he talks about the high and low points of his career; how he dealt with major changes in his professional and personal life and how his belief in himself and the cosmos have brought him back to our screens in Deal or No Deal.Drawing on his own experiences he tells you how to:* Make your own luck* Stay focused when things are getting tough* Be positive in a negatively oriented world* Play to your strengths* Step outside your comfort zone...and ultimately develop practical strategies that will enable you to get the most out of your life.