In an age when political correctness, ideological myopia, political partisanship, and other sundry inanities have utterly mangled truth and clear insight beyond all recognition, nothing can be more to the purpose than an open and honest examination of some of the more salient issues confronting the civilized world. In Visions of Reality: Viewing Old Problems in a New Light, philosopher and independent scholar Greg Nyquist takes a fresh look at some of the central issues confronting civilized man in the twenty-first century, eschewing the conventional platitudes that have enveloped them and instead opting to go wherever the evidence leads. Essays on conservatism, democracy, moral externalities, the psychopathology of the left, economics, business cycles, and intuition all bring a fresh perspective on some of the chief problems tormenting mankind. The book concludes with two ambitious essays on the meaning of life. The essay "Realism and the Spiritual Life" attempts to give an unbiased, agenda-free account of the evidence for and against theism. The book concludes with essay "Freedom and the Spontaneous Universe," which introduces a bold conjecture that rejects the determinism implicit in the cosmologies of neo-darwinists and creationists in favor of a vision of the universe that is compatible with mankind's experience of individual initiative and freedom.
No American philosopher has sold more books to the general public than Rand—over thirty million at last count, with over a half million being sold on a yearly basis. Rand’s legacy is widespread and enduring. Yet, despite the extent of her influence, her ideas have not received much attention from scholars and critics. Her philosophical views, many of which are extremely controversial, literally cry out for interpretation and criticism. But little along these lines has appeared. Ayn Rand Contra Human Nature represents a major contribution to a critical understanding of Rand’s so-called “Objectivist” ideology. Based on extensive research of Rand’s writings, including her journals and letters, the book demonstrates how Objectivism sprung from Rand’s romantic and idealistic view of human nature. Rand repeatedly claimed that the goal of her writing was “the projection of an ideal man” and that her philosophy was merely “a necessary means to that end.” Using this insight as an interpretive touchstone, the book proceeds to explain how Rand’s views on history, human knowledge, morality, and aesthetics were profoundly influenced by her idolatry of the “ideal man” and where she went wrong in developing her unique but flawed vision of human society.
In an age when political correctness, ideological myopia, political partisanship, and other sundry inanities have utterly mangled truth and clear insight beyond all recognition, nothing can be more to the purpose than an open and honest examination of some of the more salient issues confronting the civilized world. In Visions of Reality: Viewing Old Problems in a New Light, philosopher and independent scholar Greg Nyquist takes a fresh look at some of the central issues confronting civilized man in the twenty-first century, eschewing the conventional platitudes that have enveloped them and instead opting to go wherever the evidence leads. Essays on conservatism, democracy, moral externalities, the psychopathology of the left, economics, business cycles, and intuition all bring a fresh perspective on some of the chief problems tormenting mankind. The book concludes with two ambitious essays on the meaning of life. The essay "Realism and the Spiritual Life" attempts to give an unbiased, agenda-free account of the evidence for and against theism. The book concludes with essay "Freedom and the Spontaneous Universe," which introduces a bold conjecture that rejects the determinism implicit in the cosmologies of neo-darwinists and creationists in favor of a vision of the universe that is compatible with mankind's experience of individual initiative and freedom.
In 1915, Thomas Edison proclaimed that he could record a live performance and reproduce it perfectly, shocking audiences who found themselves unable to tell whether what they were hearing was an Edison Diamond Disc or a flesh-and-blood musician. Today, the equation is reversed. Whereas Edison proposed that a real performance could be rebuilt with absolute perfection, Pro Tools and digital samplers now allow musicians and engineers to create the illusion of performances that never were. In between lies a century of sonic exploration into the balance between the real and the represented. Tracing the contours of this history, Greg Milner takes us through the major breakthroughs and glorious failures in the art and science of recording. An American soldier monitoring Nazi radio transmissions stumbles onto the open yet revolutionary secret of magnetic tape. Japanese and Dutch researchers build a first-generation digital audio format and watch as their "compact disc" is marketed by the music industry as the second coming of Edison yet derided as heretical by analog loyalists. The music world becomes addicted to volume in the nineties and fights a self-defeating "loudness war" to get its fix. From Les Paul to Phil Spector to King Tubby, from vinyl to pirated CDs to iPods, Milner's Perfecting Sound Forever pulls apart musical history to answer a crucial question: Should a recording document reality as faithfully as possible, or should it improve upon or somehow transcend the music it records? The answers he uncovers will change the very way we think about music.
Human Motor Development: A Lifespan Approach, 10th Edition, offers an overview to the study of changes in human movement across the lifespan. The book uses a holistic approach and emphasizes the importance of intellectual, social, and physical development and their impact on human motor development at all ages. The tenth edition has been completely revised and updated to reflect the most recent research and technology in human motor development. Organized into five parts, the book examines key topics in motor development including the relationship between cognitive and social development and motor development, factors affecting development, changes across the lifespan, and assessment in motor development. Highly illustrated and written for student accessibility, Human Motor Development: A Lifespan Approach is essential reading for students of motor control and development, kinesiology, human performance, and students interested in physical therapy, physical education, and exercise science. The book also provides access to a fully updated companion website, which includes laboratory exercises, an instructors’ manual, a test bank, and lecture slides.
In the contemporary world, the role of the commercial composer has grown to include a wide range of new responsibilities. Modern composers not only write music, but also often need to perform, record, and market their own works. The Craft of Contemporary Commercial Music prepares today’s music students for their careers by teaching them to compose their own music, produce it professionally, and sell it successfully. The textbook integrates three areas of concentration—music theory and composition, audio engineering, and music business—allowing students to understand and practice how to successfully navigate each stage of a score’s life cycle from concept to contract. Students will learn how to: Translate musical ideas into scores utilizing music theory and composition techniques Transform scores into professional audio through the production stages of tracking, sequencing, editing, mixing, mastering, and bouncing Market works to prospective clients The textbook assumes no prior knowledge of music theory or audio topics, and its modular organization allows instructors to use the book flexibly. Exercises at the end of each chapter provide practice with key skills, and a companion website supports the book with video walkthroughs, streaming audio, a glossary, and printable exercise pages. Combining a grounding in music notation and theory concepts with a foundation in essential technologies, The Craft of Contemporary Commercial Music offers an innovative approach that addresses the needs of students preparing for music careers.
A comprehensive update of the leading-edge computer graphics textbook that sets the standard for physically-based rendering in the industry and the field, with new material on GPU ray tracing. Photorealistic computer graphics are ubiquitous in today’s world, widely used in movies and video games as well as product design and architecture. Physically-based approaches to rendering, where an accurate modeling of the physics of light scattering is at the heart of image synthesis, offer both visual realism and predictability. Now in a comprehensively updated new edition, this best-selling computer graphics textbook sets the standard for physically-based rendering in the industry and the field. Physically Based Rendering describes both the mathematical theory behind a modern photorealistic rendering system as well as its practical implementation. A method known as literate programming combines human-readable documentation and source code into a single reference that is specifically designed to aid comprehension. The book’s leading-edge algorithms, software, and ideas—including new material on GPU ray tracing—equip the reader to design and employ a full-featured rendering system capable of creating stunning imagery. This essential text represents the future of real-time graphics. Detailed and rigorous but accessible approach guides readers all the way from theory to practical software implementation Fourth edition features new chapter on GPU ray tracing essential for game developers The premier reference for professionals learning about and working in the field Won its authors a 2014 Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement Includes a companion site complete with source code
Throughout Integral Operational Leadership, Park acknowledges that the principles, perspectives and priorities highlighted in his first book Collaborative Wisdom: From Pervasive Logic to Effective Operational Leadership must be translated into practical and operational guidelines. Part I of this new volume briefly revisits the theory and concepts introduced in Collaborative Wisdom and brings to centre stage an alternative organisational framework and culture which has long operated on the sidelines in many business sectors. The substantive content of this volume, however, is dedicated by way of case studies and exercises to offering insights that encourage and facilitate effective day-to-day decision making. This book creates a logical and robust chain from the hidden, often forgotten, subconscious and intuitive element of the leadership cognitive process, to the daily issues, decisions, practices and actions of leaders within the operational environment. It demonstrates how the existence of a collaborative wisdom can influence the implementers, as well as the policymakers within the organisational leadership cadre. Integral Operational Leadership provides support for industry professionals who are seeking to develop their organisational capabilities and performance through clear operational leadership. This book concerns itself with an alternative and 'progressive' leadership logic based upon perspectives, priorities and practices considered more attuned to the realities of the twenty-first century environment within which the business organisation operates.
This updated edition describes both the mathematical theory behind a modern photorealistic rendering system as well as its practical implementation. Through the ideas and software in this book, designers will learn to design and employ a full-featured rendering system for creating stunning imagery. Includes a companion site complete with source code for the rendering system described in the book, with support for Windows, OS X, and Linux.
This book enlightens readers on the basic surface properties and distance-dependent intersurface forces one must understand to obtain even simple data from an atomic force microscope (AFM). The material becomes progressively more complex throughout the book, explaining details of calibration, physical origin of artifacts, and signal/noise limitations. Coverage spans imaging, materials property characterization, in-liquid interfacial analysis, tribology, and electromagnetic interactions. “Supplementary material for this book can be found by entering ISBN 9780470638828 on booksupport.wiley.com”
An effective blend of carefully explained theory and practical applications, this text imparts the fundamentals of both information theory and data compression. Although the two topics are related, this unique text allows either topic to be presented independently, and it was specifically designed so that the data compression section requires no pr
We have come to know that our ability to survive and grow as a nation to a very large degree depends upon our scientific progress. Moreover, it is not enough simply to keep 1 abreast of the rest of the world in scientific matters. We must maintain our leadership. President Harry Truman spoke those words in 1950, in the aftermath of World War II and in the midst of the Cold War. Indeed, the scientific and engineering leadership of the United States and its allies in the twentieth century played key roles in the successful outcomes of both World War II and the Cold War, sparing the world the twin horrors of fascism and totalitarian communism, and fueling the economic prosperity that followed. Today, as the United States and its allies once again find themselves at war, President Truman’s words ring as true as they did a half-century ago. The goal set out in the Truman Administration of maintaining leadership in science has remained the policy of the U. S. Government to this day: Dr. John Marburger, the Director of the Office of Science and Technology (OSTP) in the Executive Office of the President, made remarks to that effect during his 2 confirmation hearings in October 2001. The United States needs metrics for measuring its success in meeting this goal of maintaining leadership in science and technology. That is one of the reasons that the National Science Foundation (NSF) and many other agencies of the U. S.
A Signal Integrity Engineer’s Companion Real-Time Test and Measurement and Design Simulation Geoff Lawday David Ireland Greg Edlund Foreword by Chris Edwards, Editor, IET Electronics Systems and Software magazine Prentice Hall Modern Semiconductor Design Series Prentice Hall Signal Integrity Library Use Real-World Test and Measurement Techniques to Systematically Eliminate Signal Integrity Problems This is the industry’s most comprehensive, authoritative, and practical guide to modern Signal Integrity (SI) test and measurement for high-speed digital designs. Three of the field’s leading experts guide you through systematically detecting, observing, analyzing, and rectifying both modern logic signal defects and embedded system malfunctions. The authors cover the entire life cycle of embedded system design from specification and simulation onward, illuminating key techniques and concepts with easy-to-understand illustrations. Writing for all electrical engineers, signal integrity engineers, and chip designers, the authors show how to use real-time test and measurement to address today’s increasingly difficult interoperability and compliance requirements. They also present detailed, start-to-finish case studies that walk you through commonly encountered design challenges, including ensuring that interfaces consistently operate with positive timing margins without incurring excessive cost; calculating total jitter budgets; and managing complex tradeoffs in high-speed serial interface design. Coverage includes Understanding the complex signal integrity issues that arise in today’s high-speed designs Learning how eye diagrams, automated compliance tests, and signal analysis measurements can help you identify and solve SI problems Reviewing the electrical characteristics of today’s most widely used CMOS IO circuits Performing signal path analyses based on intuitive Time-Domain Reflectometry (TDR) techniques Achieving more accurate real-time signal measurements and avoiding probe problems and artifacts Utilizing digital oscilloscopes and logic analyzers to make accurate measurements in high-frequency environments Simulating real-world signals that stress digital circuits and expose SI faults Accurately measuring jitter and other RF parameters in wireless applications About the Authors: Dr. Geoff Lawday is Tektronix Professor in Measurement at Buckinghamshire New University, England. He delivers courses in signal integrity engineering and high performance bus systems at the University Tektronix laboratory, and presents signal integrity seminars throughout Europe on behalf of Tektronix. David Ireland, European and Asian design and manufacturing marketing manager for Tektronix, has more than 30 years of experience in test and measurement. He writes regularly on signal integrity for leading technical journals. Greg Edlund, Senior Engineer, IBM Global Engineering Solutions division, has participated in development and testing for ten high-performance computing platforms. He authored Timing Analysis and Simulation for Signal Integrity Engineers (Prentice Hall).
Presents a comprehensive introduction to the selection, operation, and testing of infrared devices, including a description of modern detector assemblies and their operation This book discusses how to use and test infrared and visible detectors. The book provides a convenient reference for those entering the field of IR detector design, test or use, those who work in the peripheral areas, and those who teach and train others in the field. Chapter 1 contains introductory material. Radiometry is covered in Chapter 2. The author examines Thermal detectors in Chapter 3; the “Classical” photon detectors – simple photoconductors and photovoltaics in Chapter 4; and “Modern Photon Detectors” in Chapter 5. Chapters 6 through 8 consider respectively individual elements and small arrays of elements the “readouts” (ROICs) used with large imaging arrays; and Electronics for FPA Operation and Testing. The Test Set and The Testing Process are analyzed in Chapters 9 and 10, with emphasis on uncertainty and trouble shooting. Chapters 11 through 15 discuss related skills, such as Uncertainty, Cryogenics, Vacuum, Optics, and the use of Fourier Transforms in the detector business. Some highlights of this new edition are that it Discusses radiometric nomenclature and calculations, detector mechanisms, the associated electronics, how these devices are tested, and real-life effects and problems Examines new tools in Infrared detector operations, specifically: selection and use of ROICs, electronics for FPA operation, operation of single element and very small FPAs, microbolometers, and multi-color FPAs Contains five chapters with frequently sought-after information on related subjects, such as uncertainty, optics, cryogenics, vacuum, and the use of Fourier mathematics for detector analyses Fundamentals of Infrared and Visible Detector Operation and Testing, Second Edition, provides the background and vocabulary necessary to help readers understand the selection, operation, and testing of modern infrared devices.
Includes interviews with Gail Rebuck (CEO of Penguin Random House), Sir John Hegarty (Founder of BBH) and Stuart Murphy (Director of Entertainment Channels atSky) Def: Spark (n) - an elusive moment when a new idea strikes that has the potential to transform the way you do business. Big or small, new ideas are the lifeblood of all successful businesses. They are responsible for higher profits, quicker growth and game-changing innovations. But how do you foster a creative culture, nurture new ideas and manage the people behind the electricity? The Spark answers these questions and more, unravelling the mystique around business creativity and offering 10 practical steps to building an innovative team and becoming an inspiring creative leader.
Marketing: Real People, Real Choices brings you and your students into the world of marketing through the use of real companies and the real-life marketing issues that they have faced in recent times. The authors explain core concepts and theories in Marketing, while allowing the reader to search for the information and then apply it to their own experiences as a consumer, so that they can develop a deeper understanding of how marketing is used every day of the week, in every country of the world. The new third edition is enhanced by a strong focus on Value Creation and deeper coverage of modern marketing communications practices.
Retinal Computation summarizes current progress in defining the computations performed by the retina, also including the synaptic and circuit mechanisms by which they are implemented. Each chapter focuses on a single retinal computation that includes the definition of the computation and its neuroethological purpose, along with the available information on its known and unknown neuronal mechanisms. All chapters contain end-of-chapter questions associated with a landmark paper, as well as programming exercises. This book is written for advanced graduate students, researchers and ophthalmologists interested in vision science or computational neuroscience of sensory systems. While the typical textbook's description of the retina is akin to a biological video camera, the real retina is actually the world’s most complex image processing machine. As part of the central nervous system, the retina converts patterns of light at the input into a rich palette of representations at the output. The parallel streams of information in the optic nerve encode features like color, contrast, orientation of edges, and direction of motion. Image processing in the retina is undeniably complex, but as one of the most accessible parts of the central nervous system, the tools to study retinal circuits with unprecedented precision are up to the task. This book provides a practical guide and resource about the current state of the field of retinal computation. Provides a practical guide on the field of retinal computation Summarizes and clearly explains important topics such as luminance, contrast, spatial features, motion and other computations Contains discussion questions, a landmark paper, and programming exercises within each chapter
Marketing: Real People, Real Decisions is the only text to introduce marketing from the perspective of real people who make real marketing decisions at leading companies everyday. Timely, relevant, and dynamic, this reader-friendly text shows students howmarketing concepts are implemented, and what they really mean in the marketplace. With this book, the authors show how marketing can come alive when practiced by real people who make real choices. The 3rd European Edition presents more information than ever on the core issues every marketer needs to know, including value, analytics and metrics, and ethical and sustainable marketing. And with new examples and assessments, the text helps students actively learn and retain chapter content, so they know what's happening in the world of marketing today. This edition features a large number of new cases from prominent marketing academics and professionals from around Europe.
High Dynamic Range Imaging, Second Edition, is an essential resource for anyone working with images, whether it is for computer graphics, film, video, photography, or lighting design. It describes HDRI technology in its entirety and covers a wide-range of topics, from capture devices to tone reproduction and image-based lighting. The techniques described enable students to produce images that have a dynamic range much closer to that found in the real world, leading to an unparalleled visual experience. This revised edition includes new chapters on High Dynamic Range Video Encoding, High Dynamic Range Image Encoding, and High Dynamic Range Display Devices. All existing chapters have been updated to reflect the current state-of-the-art technology. As both an introduction to the field and an authoritative technical reference, this book is essential for anyone working with images, whether in computer graphics, film, video, photography, or lighting design. New material includes chapters on High Dynamic Range Video Encoding, High Dynamic Range Image Encoding, and High Dynammic Range Display Devices Written by the inventors and initial implementors of High Dynamic Range Imaging Covers the basic concepts (including just enough about human vision to explain why HDR images are necessary), image capture, image encoding, file formats, display techniques, tone mapping for lower dynamic range display, and the use of HDR images and calculations in 3D rendering Range and depth of coverage is good for the knowledgeable researcher as well as those who are just starting to learn about High Dynamic Range imaging The prior edition of this book included a DVD-ROM. Files from the DVD-ROM can be accessed at: http://www.erikreinhard.com/hdr_2nd/index.html
During World War II, the U.S. Navy swiftly expanded to include an array of vessels, from smaller yachts and fishing boats bought early in the war for patrol work to fast, modern commercial ships built to haul troops and supplies. After the Allied victory, this diverse fleet became unnecessary and the Navy sold many of its vessels. This comprehensive catalog documents the Navy ships and boats sold after the war and registered under the American flag for commercial or recreational purposes. Focusing on those vessels with names or clearly identifiable hull numbers and crew accommodations, it chronicles each craft's prewar ownership, wartime history, and postwar fate. The product of painstaking detective work in a wide range of primary sources, this meticulous directory highlights an unexplored but illuminating aspect of U.S. maritime history.
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