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Agricultural Health and Safety: Recent Advances
By Kelley J. Donham, Risto Rautiainen, Stanley H Schuman, Jan Lay. 1997
Protect yourself from machinery accidents, skin cancer, pesticide exposure, and so much more!Maintaining safety on the farm is a greater…
challenge than ever. Farmers are trying to expand their farm size and increase production while coping with labor shortages, adverse weather, and equipment problems. Agricultural Health and Safety gives you an in-depth look at these issues and presents effective new approaches to intervention and education for farm health and safety problems. Agricultural Health and Safety discusses new research, education, and prevention programs that have been tested from Maine to California and from Australia to Sweden. These important scientific and analytical studies were presented at the 1996 National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Conference in Iowa. In addition to suggesting new ways to deal with the recognized physical hazards of farming, Agricultural Health and Safety discusses the often neglected role of mental health. It examines the role of stress in causing accidents and the risks of depression and suicide among agricultural workers. Agricultural Health and Safety considers a broad range of problems and effective interventions, including: insurance incentives for safe farms accident-prevention programs training for responding to farm emergencies cutting the risks of accident for farm children the ergonomics of milking teaching farm youth about sun safety the risks of exposure to pesticides, fertilizers, and other environmental hazardsAgricultural Health and Safety offers practical information on the broad spectrum of health and safety hazards in the farm setting and outlines effective strategies for eliminating them. In addition, it opens new avenues for further study and research. This comprehensive book is an essential resource for agricultural safety and health researchers, program professionals, health care providers in farming communities, professors and students in agromedicine and agricultural programs, and agricultural workers.The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture
By Andrew Kimbrell. 2002
This book takes an unprecedented look at our current ecologically destructive agricultural system and offers a compelling vision for an…
organic and environmentally safer way of producing the food we eat. It gathers together more than forty essays by leading ecological thinkers including Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, David Ehrenfeld, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, and Gary Nabhan. Providing a unique and invaluable antidote to the efforts by agribusiness to obscure and disconnect us from the truth about industrialized foods, it demonstrates that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest"--fatal to consumers, fatal to our landscapes, fatal to genetic diversity, and fatal to our farm communities. As it exposes the ecological and social impacts of industrial agriculture's fatal harvest, Fatal Harves t details a new ecological and humane vision for agriculture. It shows how millions of people are engaged in the new politics of food as they work to develop a better alternative to the current chemically fed and biotechnology-driven system. Designed to aid the movement to reform industrial agriculture, Fatal Harvest informs and influences the activists, farmers, policymakers, and consumers who are seeking a safer and more sustainable food future.Unlock the core math and understand the technical nuances of quantum computing in this detailed guide. Delve into the practicality…
of NISQ algorithms, and survey promising advancements in quantum machine learning.Key FeaturesDiscover how quantum computing works and delve into the math behind it with practical examplesLearn about and assess the most up-to-date quantum computing topics including quantum machine learningExplore the inner workings of existing quantum computing technologies to understand how they may perform significantly better than their classical counterpartsBook DescriptionDancing with Qubits, Second Edition, is a comprehensive quantum computing textbook that starts with an overview of why quantum computing is so different from classical computing and describes several industry use cases where it can have a major impact. A full description of classical computing and the mathematical underpinnings of quantum computing follows, helping you better understand concepts such as superposition, entanglement, and interference. Next up are circuits and algorithms, both basic and sophisticated, as well as a survey of the physics and engineering ideas behind how quantum computing hardware is built. Finally, the book looks to the future and gives you guidance on understanding how further developments may affect you. This new edition is updated throughout with more than 100 new exercises and includes new chapters on NISQ algorithms and quantum machine learning. Understanding quantum computing requires a lot of math, and this book doesn't shy away from the necessary math concepts you'll need. Each topic is explained thoroughly and with helpful examples, leaving you with a solid foundation of knowledge in quantum computing that will help you pursue and leverage quantum-led technologies.What you will learnExplore the mathematical foundations of quantum computingDiscover the complex, mind-bending concepts that underpin quantum systemsUnderstand the key ideas behind classical and quantum computingRefresh and extend your grasp of essential mathematics, computing, and quantum theoryExamine a detailed overview of qubits and quantum circuitsDive into quantum algorithms such as Grover’s search, Deutsch-Jozsa, Simon’s, and Shor’sExplore the main applications of quantum computing in the fields of scientific computing, AI, and elsewhereWho this book is forDancing with Qubits, Second Edition, is a quantum computing textbook for all those who want to understand and explore the inner workings of quantum computing. This entails building up from basic to some sophisticated mathematics and is therefore best suited for those with a healthy interest in mathematics, physics, engineering, or computer science.Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection
By Shilpa Mahajan, Mehak Khurana, Vania Vieira Estrela. 2024
APPLYING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CYBERSECURITY ANALYTICS AND CYBER THREAT DETECTION Comprehensive resource providing strategic defense mechanisms for malware, handling cybercrime,…
and identifying loopholes using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection is a comprehensive look at state-of-the-art theory and practical guidelines pertaining to the subject, showcasing recent innovations, emerging trends, and concerns as well as applied challenges encountered, and solutions adopted in the fields of cybersecurity using analytics and machine learning. The text clearly explains theoretical aspects, framework, system architecture, analysis and design, implementation, validation, and tools and techniques of data science and machine learning to detect and prevent cyber threats. Using AI and ML approaches, the book offers strategic defense mechanisms for addressing malware, cybercrime, and system vulnerabilities. It also provides tools and techniques that can be applied by professional analysts to safely analyze, debug, and disassemble any malicious software they encounter. With contributions from qualified authors with significant experience in the field, Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection explores topics such as: Cybersecurity tools originating from computational statistics literature and pure mathematics, such as nonparametric probability density estimation, graph-based manifold learning, and topological data analysisApplications of AI to penetration testing, malware, data privacy, intrusion detection system (IDS), and social engineeringHow AI automation addresses various security challenges in daily workflows and how to perform automated analyses to proactively mitigate threatsOffensive technologies grouped together and analyzed at a higher level from both an offensive and defensive standpoint Providing detailed coverage of a rapidly expanding field, Applying Artificial Intelligence in Cybersecurity Analytics and Cyber Threat Detection is an essential resource for a wide variety of researchers, scientists, and professionals involved in fields that intersect with cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers, and the Future of Humanity
By Byron Reese. 2018
&“The Fourth Age not only discusses what the rise of A.I. will mean for us, it also forces readers to…
challenge their preconceptions. And it manages to do all this in a way that is both entertaining and engaging.&” —The New York TimesAs we approach a great turning point in history when technology is poised to redefine what it means to be human, The Fourth Age offers fascinating insight into AI, robotics, and their extraordinary implications for our species.In The Fourth Age, Byron Reese makes the case that technology has reshaped humanity just three times in history: - 100,000 years ago, we harnessed fire, which led to language.- 10,000 years ago, we developed agriculture, which led to cities and warfare.- 5,000 years ago, we invented the wheel and writing, which lead to the nation state.We are now on the doorstep of a fourth change brought about by two technologies: AI and robotics. The Fourth Age provides extraordinary background information on how we got to this point, and how—rather than what—we should think about the topics we&’ll soon all be facing: machine consciousness, automation, employment, creative computers, radical life extension, artificial life, AI ethics, the future of warfare, superintelligence, and the implications of extreme prosperity.By asking questions like &“Are you a machine?&” and &“Could a computer feel anything?&”, Reese leads you through a discussion along the cutting edge in robotics and AI, and, provides a framework by which we can all understand, discuss, and act on the issues of the Fourth Age, and how they&’ll transform humanity.The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards
By William J. Broad. 2012
A lead science writer for The New York Times—and lifelong yoga practitioner—examines centuries of history and research to scrutinize the…
claims made about yoga for health, fitness, emotional wellbeing, sex, weight loss, healing, and creativity. He reveals what is real and what is illusory, in the process exposing moves that can harm or even kill. A New York Times bestseller.The Science of Yoga draws on more than a century of painstaking research to present the first impartial evaluation of a practice thousands of years old. It celebrates what’s real and shows what’s illusory, describes what’s uplifting and beneficial and what’s flaky and dangerous—and why. Broad unveils a burgeoning global industry that attracts not only curious scientists but true believers and charismatic hustlers. He shatters myths, lays out unexpected benefits, and offers a compelling vision of how the ancient practice can be improved.Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts
By Jill Abramson. 2015
Former executive editor of The New York Times and one of our most eminent journalists Jill Abramson provides a &“valuable…
and insightful&” (The Boston Globe) report on the disruption of the news media over the last decade, as shown via two legacy (The New York Times and The Washington Post) and two upstart (BuzzFeed and VICE) companies as they plow through a revolution that pits old vs. new media.&“A marvelous book&” (TheNew York Times Book Review), Merchants of Truth is the groundbreaking and gripping story of the precarious state of the news business.The new digital reality nearly kills two venerable newspapers with an aging readership while creating two media behemoths with a ballooning and fickle audience of millennials. &“Abramson provides this deeply reported insider account of an industry fighting for survival. With a keen eye for detail and a willingness to interrogate her own profession, Abramson takes readers into the newsrooms and boardrooms of the legacy newspapers and the digital upstarts that seek to challenge their dominance&” (Vanity Fair). We get to know the defenders of the legacy presses as well as the outsized characters who are creating the new speed-driven media competitors. The players include Jeff Bezos and Marty Baron (TheWashington Post), Arthur Sulzberger and Dean Baquet (TheNew York Times), Jonah Peretti (BuzzFeed), and Shane Smith (VICE) as well as their reporters and anxious readers.Merchants of Truth raises crucial questions that concern the well-being of our society. We are facing a crisis in trust that threatens the free press. &“One of the best takes yet on journalism&’s changing fortunes&” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), Abramson&’s book points us to the future.A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA
By Joshua Kurlantzick. 2017
The untold story of how America&’s secret war in Laos in the 1960s transformed the CIA from a loose collection…
of spies into a military operation and a key player in American foreign policy.January, 1961: Laos, a tiny nation few Americans have heard of, is at risk of falling to communism and triggering a domino effect throughout Southeast Asia. This is what President Eisenhower believed when he approved the CIA&’s Operation Momentum, creating an army of ethnic Hmong to fight communist forces there. Largely hidden from the American public—and most of Congress—Momentum became the largest CIA paramilitary operation in the history of the United States. The brutal war lasted more than a decade, left the ground littered with thousands of unexploded bombs, and changed the nature of the CIA forever.With &“revelatory reporting&” and &“lucid prose&” (The Economist), Kurlantzick provides the definitive account of the Laos war, focusing on the four key people who led the operation: the CIA operative whose idea it was, the Hmong general who led the proxy army in the field, the paramilitary specialist who trained the Hmong forces, and the State Department careerist who took control over the war as it grew.Using recently declassified records and extensive interviews, Kurlantzick shows for the first time how the CIA&’s clandestine adventures in one small, Southeast Asian country became the template for how the United States has conducted war ever since—all the way to today&’s war on terrorism.Patrick Robinson, coauthor of the #1 New York Times bestseller Lone Survivor and “preeminent writer of modern naval fiction” (The…
Florida Times Union) shares the gripping untold story of Mohammed Gulab, the Afghani warrior who defied the Taliban and saved the life of American hero and Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell.Bestselling author Patrick Robinson helped Marcus Luttrell bring his harrowing story of survival to the page and the big screen with Lone Survivor. But the Afghani man who saved his life was always shrouded in mystery. Now, with The Lion of Sabray, Robinson reveals the amazing backstory of Mohammed Gulab—the brave man who forever changed the course of life for his Afghani family, his village, and himself when he discovered Luttrell badly injured and barely conscious on a mountainside in the Hindu Kush just hours after the firefight that killed the rest of Luttrell’s team.Operating under the 2,000-year-old principles of Pashtunwali—the tribal honor code that guided his life—Gulab refused to turn Luttrell over to the Taliban forces that were hunting him, believing it was his obligation to protect and care for the American soldier. Because Gulab was a celebrated Mujahedeen field commander and machine-gunner who beat back the Soviets as a teenager, the Taliban were wary enough that they didn’t simply storm the village and take Luttrell, which gave Gulab time to orchestrate his rescue.In addition to Gulab’s brave story, The Lion of Sabray cinematically reveals previously unknown details of Luttrell’s rescue by American forces—which were only recently declassified—and sheds light on the ramifications for Gulab, his family, and his community. Going beyond both the book and the movie versions of Lone Survivor, The Lion of Sabray is a must-read for anyone who wants to know more about the brave man who helped the Lone Survivor make it home.For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time—A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics
By Walter Lewin, Warren Goldstein. 2011
“YOU HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE” is a common refrain in the emails Walter Lewin receives daily from fans who have…
been enthralled by his world-famous video lectures about the wonders of physics. “I walk with a new spring in my step and I look at life through physics-colored eyes,” wrote one such fan. When Lewin’s lectures were made available online, he became an instant YouTube celebrity, and The New York Times declared, “Walter Lewin delivers his lectures with the panache of Julia Child bringing French cooking to amateurs and the zany theatricality of YouTube’s greatest hits.” For more than thirty years as a beloved professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lewin honed his singular craft of making physics not only accessible but truly fun, whether putting his head in the path of a wrecking ball, supercharging himself with three hundred thousand volts of electricity, or demonstrating why the sky is blue and why clouds are white. Now, as Carl Sagan did for astronomy and Brian Green did for cosmology, Lewin takes readers on a marvelous journey in For the Love of Physics, opening our eyes as never before to the amazing beauty and power with which physics can reveal the hidden workings of the world all around us. “I introduce people to their own world,” writes Lewin, “the world they live in and are familiar with but don’t approach like a physicist—yet.” Could it be true that we are shorter standing up than lying down? Why can we snorkel no deeper than about one foot below the surface? Why are the colors of a rainbow always in the same order, and would it be possible to put our hand out and touch one? Whether introducing why the air smells so fresh after a lightning storm, why we briefly lose (and gain) weight when we ride in an elevator, or what the big bang would have sounded like had anyone existed to hear it, Lewin never ceases to surprise and delight with the extraordinary ability of physics to answer even the most elusive questions. Recounting his own exciting discoveries as a pioneer in the field of X-ray astronomy—arriving at MIT right at the start of an astonishing revolution in astronomy—he also brings to life the power of physics to reach into the vastness of space and unveil exotic uncharted territories, from the marvels of a supernova explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud to the unseeable depths of black holes. “For me,” Lewin writes, “physics is a way of seeing—the spectacular and the mundane, the immense and the minute—as a beautiful, thrillingly interwoven whole.” His wonderfully inventive and vivid ways of introducing us to the revelations of physics impart to us a new appreciation of the remarkable beauty and intricate harmonies of the forces that govern our lives.A Grand Complication: The Race to Build the World's Most Legendary Watch
By Stacy Perman. 2013
Two wealthy and powerful men engage in a decades-long contest to create and possess the most remarkable watch in history.James…
Ward Packard of Warren, Ohio, was an entrepreneur and a talented engineer of infinite curiosity, a self-made man who earned millions from his inventions, including the design and manufacture of America&’s first luxury car—the elegant and storied Packard. Henry Graves, Jr., was the very essence of blue-blooded refinement in the early 1900s: son of a Wall Street financier, a central figure in New York high society, and a connoisseur of beautiful things—especially fine watches. Then, as now, expensive watches were the ultimate sign of luxury and wealth, but in the early twentieth century the limitless ambition, wealth, and creativity of these two men pushed the boundaries of mathematics, astronomy, craftsmanship, technology, and physics to create ever more ingenious timepieces. In any watch, features beyond the display of hours, minutes, and seconds are known as &“complications.&” Packard and Graves spurred acclaimed Swiss watchmaker Patek Philippe to create the Mona Lisa of timepieces—a fabled watch that incorporated twenty-four complications and took nearly eight years to design and build. For the period, it was the most complicated watch ever created. For years it disappeared, but then it surfaced at a Sotheby&’s auction in 1999, touching off a heated bidding war, shattering all known records when it fetched $11 million from an anonymous bidder.New York Times bestselling author Stacy Perman takes us from the clubby world of New York high society into the ateliers of the greatest Swiss watchmakers, and into the high-octane, often secretive subculture of modern-day watch collecting. With meticulous research, vivid historical details, and a wealth of dynamic personalities, A Grand Complication is the fascinating story of the thrilling duel between two of the most intriguing men of the early twentieth century. Above all, it is a sweeping chronicle of innovation, the desire for beauty, and the lengths people will go to possess it.Telecosm: The World After Bandwidth Abundance
By George Gilder. 2000
The computer age is over. After a cataclysmic global run of thirty years, it has given birth to the age…
of the telecosm -- the world enabled and defined by new communications technology. Chips and software will continue to make great contributions to our lives, but the action is elsewhere. To seek the key to great wealth and to understand the bewildering ways that high tech is restructuring our lives, look not to chip speed but to communication power, or bandwidth. Bandwidth is exploding, and its abundance is the most important social and economic fact of our time. George Gilder is one of the great technological visionaries, and "the man who put the 's' in 'telecosm'" (Telephony magazine). He is equally famous for understanding and predicting the nuts and bolts of complex technologies, and for putting it all together in a soaring view of why things change, and what it means for our daily lives. His track record of futurist predictions is one of the best, often proving to be right even when initially opposed by mighty corporations and governments. He foresaw the power of fiber and wireless optics, the decline of the telephone regime, and the explosion of handheld computers, among many trends. His list of favored companies outpaced even the soaring Nasdaq in 1999 by more than double. His long-awaited Telecosm is a bible of the new age of communications. Equal parts science story, business history, social analysis, and prediction, it is the one book you need to make sense of the titanic changes underway in our lives. Whether you surf the net constantly or not at all, whether you live on your cell phone or hate it for its invasion of private life, you need this book. It has been less than two decades since the introduction of the IBM personal computer, and yet the enormous changes wrought in our lives by the computer will pale beside the changes of the telecosm. Gilder explains why computers will "empty out," with their components migrating to the net; why hundreds of low-flying satellites will enable hand-held computers and communicators to become ubiquitous; why television will die; why newspapers and magazines will revive; why advertising will become less obnoxious; and why companies will never be able to waste your time again. Along the way you will meet the movers and shakers who have made the telecosm possible. From Charles Townes and Gordon Gould, who invented the laser, to the story of JDS Uniphase, "the Intel of the Telecosm," to the birthing of fiberless optics pioneer TeraBeam, here are the inventors and entrepreneurs who will be hailed as the next Edison or Gates. From hardware to software to chips to storage, here are the technologies that will soon be as basic as the air we breathe.Water Crystal Healing: Music & Images to Restore Your Well-Being
By Masaru Emoto. 2006
For centuries, people have turned to classical music for its calming and relaxing effects. Internationally acclaimed water researcher Dr. Masaru…
Emoto has discovered why certain music has healing benefits: Music with the appropriate rhythm, tempo, tone, and melody can correct distorted frequencies within our cells, assisting our health and healing.Here, you can enjoy Dr. Emoto's captivating water-crystal photographs and text in this unique collection. The possible benefits you may experience include decreased joint and back pain; improved function of the nervous, circulatory, lymphatic, and immune systems; and the release of negative emotions such as anxiety, self-pity, and depression. The combination of images and words in Water Crystal Healing concentrates consciousness as never before, providing a unique experience for healing.Since the earliest days of the republic, great engineering projects have shaped American landscapes and expressed American dreams. The ambition…
to build lies as close to the nation's heart as the belief in liberty. We live in a built civilization, connected one to another in an enormous web of technology. Yet we have all too often overlooked the role of engineers and builders in American history. With glorious photographs and epic narrative sweep, Great Projects at last gives their story the prominence it deserves.Each of the eight projects featured in this masterful narrative was a milestone in its own right: the flood-control works of the lower Mississippi, Hoover Dam, Edison's lighting system, the spread of electricity across the nation, the great Croton Aqueduct, the bridges of New York City, Boston's revamped street system, known as the Big Dig, and the ever-evolving communica- tions network called the Internet. Each project arose from a heroic vision. Each encountered obstacles. Each reveals a tale of genius and perseverance.James Tobin, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award, explains the four essential tasks of the engineer: to protect people from the destructive force of water while harnessing it for the enormous good it can do; to provide people with electricity, the motive force of modern life; to make great cities habitable and vital; and to create the pathways that connect place to place and person to person. Tobin focuses on the indi- viduals behind our greatest structures of earth and concrete and steel: James Buchanan Eads, who walked on the floor of the Mississippi to learn the river's secrets; Arthur Powell Davis and Frank Crowe, who imagined a dam that could transform the West; Thomas Edison, who envisioned a new way to light the world; Samuel Insull, the organizational mastermind of the electrical revolution; the long-forgotten John Bloomfield Jervis, who assured New York's future with the gift of clean water; Othmar Ammann, the modest Swiss-American who fought his mentor to become the first engineer to bridge the lower Hudson River; Fred Salvucci, the antihighway rebel who transformed the face of Boston; and J.C.R. Licklider, the obscure scientist who first imagined the Internet. Here, too, are the workers who scorned hardship to turn the engineers' dreams into reality, deep underground and high in the sky, through cold and heat and danger. In Great Projects -- soon to be a major PBS television series by the Emmy Award-winning Great Projects Film Company -- we share their dreams and witness their struggles; we watch them create the modern world we walk through each day -- the "city upon a hill" that became our America.Science of Desire: The Search for the Gay Gene and the Biology of Behavior
By Dean Hamer, Peter Copeland. 1995
A compelling behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge scientific inquiry, as well as a brilliant examination of the ramifications of genetic research,…
The Science of Desire is a lasting resource in the increasingly significant debate over the role that genetics plays in our lives.In July 1993, a scientific event made front-page news: the discovery that genetics plays a significant role in determining homosexuality. In The Science of Desire, Dean Hamer—the scientist behind the groundbreaking study—tells the inside story of how the discovery was made and what it means, not only for our understanding of sexuality, but for human behavior in general.In this accessible and remarkably clear book, Dean Hamer expands on the account of his history-making research to explore the scientific, social, and ethical issues raised by his findings. Dr. Hamer addresses such tough questions as whether it would be possible or ethical to test in utero for the gay gene; whether genetic manipulation could or should be used to alter a person's sexuality; and how a gay gene could have survived evolution.A compelling behind-the-scenes look at cutting-edge scientific inquiry, as well as a brilliant examination of the ramifications of genetic research, The Science of Desire is a lasting resource in the increasingly significant debate over the role that genetics plays in our lives.Chemistry for the IB MYP 4 & 5: By Concept (MYP By Concept)
By Annie Termaat, Christopher Talbot. 2016
The only series for MYP 4 and 5 developed in cooperation with the International Baccalaureate (IB)Develop your skills to become…
an inquiring learner; ensure you navigate the MYP framework with confidence using a concept-driven and assessment-focused approach presented in global contexts.- Develop conceptual understanding with key MYP concepts and related concepts at the heart of each chapter.- Learn by asking questions with a statement of inquiry in each chapter. - Prepare for every aspect of assessment using support and tasks designed by experienced educators.- Understand how to extend your learning through research projects and interdisciplinary opportunities.This title is also available in two digital formats via Dynamic Learning. Find out more by clicking on the links at the top of the page.The Secret Life of Sharks: A Leading Marine Biologist Reveals the Mysteries of Shark Behavior
By A. Peter Klimley. 2003
Marine biologist Pete Klimley swims with the sharks. He was one of the first scientists to free-dive among sharks, and…
he has spent nearly thirty years studying shark behavior, sometimes swimming in schools of several hundred sharks. From his firsthand observations he has learned that sharks are not the vicious man-eaters that we imagine, but fascinating animals with complex behaviors.Most people who think of sharks at all think immediately of great white sharks. But there are more than four hundred species of shark. Dr. Klimley has studied several species, most notably the great white and the hammerhead. (He describes the great white as the athlete among sharks, and the hammerhead as the Ph.D. of the shark world.) In The Secret Life of Sharks Dr. Klimley reveals the significant discoveries he made about hammerhead navigation and great white eating habits. By studying hammerheads gathered around underwater seamounts, Dr. Klimley learned that hammerheads rely on sophisticated tracking of ocean-floor magnetism to navigate. His long-term study of great white sharks off the California coast demonstrated that these huge sharks prefer to eat seals and sea lions because of the energy contained in their fatty bodies. They are selective eaters, not the man-eaters we expect, and they sometimes go weeks between meals. But Dr. Klimley did observe a ritualized behavior that great whites practice in order to avoid deadly disputes over prey that one shark has captured and another wants.Although we have learned a great deal about shark behavior, says Dr. Klimley, there is much that we do not know. Unfortunately we are destroying these magnificent creatures of the deep through overfishing and degradation of the oceans. Already some populations of sharks have declined steeply.Vividly written by one of the foremost authorities on sharks, The Secret Life of Sharks is a fascinating account of some of the world's most magnificent animals.8 Seconds of Courage: A Soldier's Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor
By Flo Groberg, Tom Sileo. 2001
In an inspiring story of valor and the making of a hero, Florent Groberg—who grew up in France and emigrated…
to the US—becomes the first immigrant in forty years to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor after he tackled a suicide bomber in Afghanistan.Florent &“Flo&” Groberg was born in the suburbs of Paris and moved to the US with his family in middle school. He became a naturalized citizen in 2001. After attending the University of Maryland, he joined the US Army and twice deployed to Afghanistan. In August of 2012, Flo was guarding a high-level US-Afghan delegation and noticed someone suspicious: a local man stumbling toward his patrol. Flo reacted quickly and ran to tackle the man—who was wearing a suicide vest. Four people died in the subsequent explosion, but many others were spared. Flo himself spent the next three years undergoing surgeries at Walter Reed Medical Center, and in 2015 he was given the nation&’s highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor—the first immigrant to be so recognized since the Vietnam War.What prepares a soldier for those critical moments in combat? 8 Seconds of Courage tells Flo&’s story from his childhood in France to his decision to enlist and the grueling training he underwent at US Army Ranger School. As a field commander on the front lines in Afghanistan he formed close and lasting bonds with his fellow soldiers. It was this powerful sense of responsibility that compelled him to take action to save lives, even at the risk of his own.&“Flo&’s incredible tale of bravery and service is also a stark reminder that for many of our warriors, coming home is not the end of the fight. Flo finds a way to live…Truly an inspiration&” (Jon Stewart). In his own words, Flo provides that essential insight into his selfless act while remembering his four fallen brothers in arms. 8 Seconds of Courage is a story of heroism, sacrifice, and camaraderie in wartime.Rebel Gold: One Man's Quest to Crack the Code Behind the Secret Treasure of the Confederacy
By Warren Getler, Bob Brewer. 2005
As a boy growing up in rural Arkansas, Bob Brewer often heard from his uncle and his great-uncle about a…
particular tree in the woods, the "Bible Tree," filled with strange carvings. Years later he would learn that this tree was carved with symbols associated with the Knights of the Golden Circle, a Civil Warera secret society that had buried gold coins and other treasure in various remote locations across the South and Southwest in hopes of someday funding a second War Between the States. These secret caches were guarded by sentinels, men whose responsibility it was to watch and protect these sites. To his astonishment, Bob discovered that both his uncle and his great-uncle had been twentieth-century sentinels, and that he had grown up near an important KGC treasure site.In Shadow of the Sentinel, Bob Brewer and investigative journalist Warren Getler tell the fascinating story of the Knights of the Golden Circle and the hidden caches the KGC established across the country. Brewer reveals how, with agonizing effort, he eventually deciphered the fiendishly complicated KGC codes and ciphers, which drew heavily on images associated with Freemasonry. (Many of the key KGC postCivil War leaders were Scottish Rite Masons, who used the cover of that secret fraternity to conduct their activities.) Using his knowledge of KGC symbolism to crack coded maps, Brewer has located several KGC caches and has recovered gold coins, guns, and other treasure from some of them.Shadow of the Sentinel is the most comprehensive account yet of the activities of the KGC after the Civil War and, indeed, into the 1900s. Getler and Brewer suggest that the clandestine network of KGC operatives was far wider than previously thought, and that it included Jesse James, the former Confederate guerrilla whose stage and bank robberies helped to fill KGC treasure chests.This is a rousing and provocative adventure that weaves together one man's personal quest with an intriguing, little-known chapter in America's hidden history.Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems
By Rohit Anand, Abhinav Juneja, Digvijay Pandey, Sapna Juneja, Nidhi Sindhwani. 2024
META-HEURISTIC ALGORITHMS FOR ADVANCED DISTRIBUTED SYSTEMS Discover a collection of meta-heuristic algorithms for distributed systems in different application domains Meta-heuristic…
techniques are increasingly gaining favor as tools for optimizing distributed systems—generally, to enhance the utility and precision of database searches. Carefully applied, they can increase system effectiveness, streamline operations, and reduce cost. Since many of these techniques are derived from nature, they offer considerable scope for research and development, with the result that this field is growing rapidly. Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems offers an overview of these techniques and their applications in various distributed systems. With strategies based on both global and local searching, it covers a wide range of key topics related to meta-heuristic algorithms. Those interested in the latest developments in distributed systems will find this book indispensable. Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems readers will also find: Analysis of security issues, distributed system design, stochastic optimization techniques, and more Detailed discussion of meta-heuristic techniques such as the genetic algorithm, particle swam optimization, and many others Applications of optimized distribution systems in healthcare and other key??industries Meta-Heuristic Algorithms for Advanced Distributed Systems is ideal for academics and researchers studying distributed systems, their design, and their applications.