Discrete optimization problems are everywhere, from traditional operations research planning problems, such as scheduling, facility location, and network design; to computer science problems in databases; to advertising issues in viral marketing. Yet most such problems are NP-hard. Thus unless P = NP, there are no efficient algorithms to find optimal solutions to such problems. This book shows how to design approximation algorithms: efficient algorithms that find provably near-optimal solutions. The book is organized around central algorithmic techniques for designing approximation algorithms, including greedy and local search algorithms, dynamic programming, linear and semidefinite programming, and randomization. Each chapter in the first part of the book is devoted to a single algorithmic technique, which is then applied to several different problems. The second part revisits the techniques but offers more sophisticated treatments of them. The book also covers methods for proving that optimization problems are hard to approximate. Designed as a textbook for graduate-level algorithms courses, the book will also serve as a reference for researchers interested in the heuristic solution of discrete optimization problems.
Discrete optimization problems are everywhere, from traditional operations research planning (scheduling, facility location and network design); to computer science databases; to advertising issues in viral marketing. Yet most such problems are NP-hard; unless P = NP, there are no efficient algorithms to find optimal solutions. This book shows how to design approximation algorithms: efficient algorithms that find provably near-optimal solutions. The book is organized around central algorithmic techniques for designing approximation algorithms, including greedy and local search algorithms, dynamic programming, linear and semidefinite programming, and randomization. Each chapter in the first section is devoted to a single algorithmic technique applied to several different problems, with more sophisticated treatment in the second section. The book also covers methods for proving that optimization problems are hard to approximate. Designed as a textbook for graduate-level algorithm courses, it will also serve as a reference for researchers interested in the heuristic solution of discrete optimization problems.
A single source of much of the information that doctors and other health care workers need in order to learn if a birth defect or genetic condition can be diagnosed prenatally." -- American Journal of Human Genetics
The rising prevalence of dementia in the population continues to pose a serious public health challenge in both the developed and the developing world. Previous editions of Dementia have become acknowledged as a key 'gold standard' work in this field, and have had a genuinely international approach. The third edition has been fully revised and upda
With In Churchill's Shadow, David Cannadine offers an intriguing look at ways in which perceptions of a glorious past have continued to haunt the British present, often crushing efforts to shake them off. The book centers on Churchill, a titanic figure whose influence spanned the century. Though he was the savior of modern Britain, Churchill was a creature of the Victorian age. Though he proclaimed he had not become Prime Minister to "preside over the liquidation of the British Empire," in effect he was doomed to do just that. And though he has gone down in history for his defiant orations during the crisis of World War II, Cannadine shows that for most of his career Churchill's love of rhetoric was his own worst enemy. Cannadine turns an equally insightful gaze on the institutions and individuals that embodied the image of Britain in this period: Gilbert & Sullivan, Ian Fleming, Noel Coward, the National Trust, and the Palace of Westminster itself, the home and symbol of Britain's parliamentary government. This superb volume offers a wry, sympathetic, yet penetrating look at how national identity evolved in the era of the waning of an empire.
This book traces the history of youth culture from its origins among the student communities of inter-war Britain to the more familiar world of youth communities and pop culture. Grounded in extensive original research, it explores the individuals, institutions and ideas that have shaped youth culture over much of the twentieth century.
Emphasizes the methodological approaches being used for environmental applications of foraminifera and thecamoebians. Its main audience will include researchers and consultants, but it will also serve as a supplementary text for graduate students in courses that deal with environmental monitoring and assessment.
The church in its first centuries split on whether Christ saved everyone or a few, Universalism versus Exclusivism. In the sixth century, the church settled the issue seemingly and held that Universalism was heresy. This book reviews this history as well as what provoked it--Scripture, on its face, gives two contradictory accounts of salvation's extent: everyone is ultimately saved and everyone is not. In contrast to both Exclusivism and Universalism, the book takes Scripture's two accounts of salvation's extent as true--that is, as a paradox. This is the approach the church has taken with other scriptural paradoxes. Saying one God is three, or one Son is both God and man, appeared to be contradictory too, but, to embrace Scripture entirely, these were seen as paradoxical. The Trinity modeled how one can be three, and the hypostatic union modeled how one can be two. For the paradox of salvation's extent, the answer lies in the individual's divisibility in the afterlife, one can be two. That is, in ultimate salvation, each individual can be both saved and unsaved.
Few names in the lore of western gunmen are as recognizable. Few lives of the most notorious are as little known. Romanticized and made legendary, John Ringo fought and killed for what he believed was right. As a teenager, Ringo was rushed into sudden adulthood when his father was killed tragically in the midst of the family's overland trek to California. As a young man he became embroiled in the blood feud turbulence of post-Reconstruction Texas. The Mason County “Hoo Doo” War in Texas began as a war over range rights, but it swiftly deteriorated into blood vengeance and spiraled out of control as the body count rose. In this charnel house Ringo gained a reputation as a dangerous gunfighter and man killer. He was proclaimed throughout the state as a daring leader, a desperate man, and a champion of the feud. Following incarceration for his role in the feud, Ringo was elected as a lawman in Mason County, the epicenter of the feud’s origin. The reputation he earned in Texas, further inflated by his willingness to shoot it out with Victorio’s raiders during a deadly confrontation in New Mexico, preceded him to Tombstone in territorial Arizona. Ringo became immersed in the area’s partisan politics and factionalized violence. A champion of the largely Democratic ranchers, Ringo would become known as a leader of one of these elements, the Cowboys. He ran at bloody, tragic odds with the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday, finally being part of the posse that hounded these fugitives from Arizona. In the end, Ringo died mysteriously in the Arizona desert, his death welcomed by some, mourned by others, wrongly claimed by a few. Initially published in 1996, John Ringo has been updated to a second edition with much new information researched and uncovered by David Johnson and other Ringo researchers.
Volume Four of this series contains the alphabetical rosters of each of the 144 cemeteries in the study area of Jackson and Sandy Ridge Townships, Union Co., NC. It includes over 27,524 graves.
Australia's Prime Minister and premier diplomat in the 1930/1940s, this new biography presents him as a consistent internationalist and places him in a global context. >
Get all the stats that matter on every major-league player for the 2004 season in the "Baseball Register. It is the most complete annual listing of player statistics in the market, updated through the 2003 season. Whatever statistics fans want to find, this is the only source they will need. Here they can find the stats on batting, pitching, and fielding for the major, minor, and college leagues. There are even stats on the Hall of Fame class of 2004! Plus, this edition of the "Register will feature more statistical categories on each player, including on-base percentage, caught stealing, save opportunities, and more! This book is a must-have for fantasy-league players, reporters and broadcasters, and fans.
Formed out of a breakaway from the mainstream Liberal party in 1931, the Liberal National party (renamed the 'National Liberal Party' in 1948) preserved a separate identity for almost 40 years. During this time they helped ensure that the Liberals themselves would not return to their former status of a governing party while helping to broaden the electoral appeal of their Conservative allies, contributing significantly to the Tory domination of the British political scene in the middle of the twentieth century. Here, David Dutton shows us for the first time how the National Liberals were a potent force in shaping the evolution of British politics in the middle decades of the twentieth century, before they finally merged with the Conservative party in 1968.
Winston Churchill, the great wartime leader and peacetime Prime Minister, is one of the dominating figures of the 20th century. In this stimulating and original book, David Dilks - the eminent historian of modern Britain and a leading Churchill scholar - provides a fascinating source of new discoveries and insights. He shows Churchill, not only as a war leader and international statesman, but also as a private person - with a rich variety of interests, enthusiasms, friendships and rivalries. Churchill's relations with other leading politicians and statesmen of the age - both within Britain and internationally - illuminate his handling of friends and enemies. Sometimes these categories were not easily separated; for a long while, Churchill thought of Stalin as a friend or at least a comrade in arms, and only with extreme reluctance did he come to look upon him ultimately as an enemy. He regarded Roosevelt with admiration and gratitude, yet the balance of evidence suggests that the President felt less warmly towards him, especially after 1943. Dilks casts new and penetrating light on Churchill during World War II, including his dramatic and troubled relationship with Charles de Gaulle - where political problems were softened by Churchill's love of France. The aftermath of World War II, relations with Stalin, the Soviet Union and the Cold War all dominated Churchill's subsequent career. The last chapter draws attention to the influence of 'history' on statesmen and others, not least because no public man of the last century - with the possible exception of de Gaulle - has influenced on Churchill's scale, or with his effectiveness, the writing and the making of history. Whether in or out of office, Churchill's influence has been felt in all areas of British politics and national life. David Dilks brings Churchill to life for all those interested modern British and international history whether student, specialist or general reader.
Looking beyond the horizon, this book presents a blueprint for putting the latest flexible working practices and new communications technology to work to radically improve business.
Textbook of Assisted Reproductive Technologies is a truly comprehensive manual for the whole team at the IVF clinic. Information is presented in a highly visual manner, allowing both methods and protocols to be consulted easily. The text provides clinical and scientific teams with the A to Zs of setting up an embryology laboratory, gives research fellows insight into technical developments, and supplies seasoned professionals with a review of the latest techniques and advances. New to the Third Edition: fully revised and expanded chapters, with new information on: single embryo transfer artificial gametes pharmacogenetics
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