Praise for the Second Edition: "The author has done his homework on the statistical tools needed for the particular challenges computer scientists encounter... [He] has taken great care to select examples that are interesting and practical for computer scientists. ... The content is illustrated with numerous figures, and concludes with appendices and an index. The book is erudite and ... could work well as a required text for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course." ---Computing Reviews Probability and Statistics for Computer Scientists, Third Edition helps students understand fundamental concepts of Probability and Statistics, general methods of stochastic modeling, simulation, queuing, and statistical data analysis; make optimal decisions under uncertainty; model and evaluate computer systems; and prepare for advanced probability-based courses. Written in a lively style with simple language and now including R as well as MATLAB, this classroom-tested book can be used for one- or two-semester courses. Features: Axiomatic introduction of probability Expanded coverage of statistical inference and data analysis, including estimation and testing, Bayesian approach, multivariate regression, chi-square tests for independence and goodness of fit, nonparametric statistics, and bootstrap Numerous motivating examples and exercises including computer projects Fully annotated R codes in parallel to MATLAB Applications in computer science, software engineering, telecommunications, and related areas In-Depth yet Accessible Treatment of Computer Science-Related Topics Starting with the fundamentals of probability, the text takes students through topics heavily featured in modern computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, and associated fields, such as computer simulations, Monte Carlo methods, stochastic processes, Markov chains, queuing theory, statistical inference, and regression. It also meets the requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). About the Author Michael Baron is David Carroll Professor of Mathematics and Statistics at American University in Washington D. C. He conducts research in sequential analysis and optimal stopping, change-point detection, Bayesian inference, and applications of statistics in epidemiology, clinical trials, semiconductor manufacturing, and other fields. M. Baron is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and a recipient of the Abraham Wald Prize for the best paper in Sequential Analysis and the Regents Outstanding Teaching Award. M. Baron holds a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Maryland. In his turn, he supervised twelve doctoral students, mostly employed on academic and research positions.
Student-Friendly Coverage of Probability, Statistical Methods, Simulation, and Modeling Tools Incorporating feedback from instructors and researchers who used the previous edition, Probability and Statistics for Computer Scientists, Second Edition helps students understand general methods of stochastic modeling, simulation, and data analysis; make optimal decisions under uncertainty; model and evaluate computer systems and networks; and prepare for advanced probability-based courses. Written in a lively style with simple language, this classroom-tested book can now be used in both one- and two-semester courses. New to the Second Edition Axiomatic introduction of probability Expanded coverage of statistical inference, including standard errors of estimates and their estimation, inference about variances, chi-square tests for independence and goodness of fit, nonparametric statistics, and bootstrap More exercises at the end of each chapter Additional MATLAB® codes, particularly new commands of the Statistics Toolbox In-Depth yet Accessible Treatment of Computer Science-Related Topics Starting with the fundamentals of probability, the text takes students through topics heavily featured in modern computer science, computer engineering, software engineering, and associated fields, such as computer simulations, Monte Carlo methods, stochastic processes, Markov chains, queuing theory, statistical inference, and regression. It also meets the requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). Encourages Practical Implementation of Skills Using simple MATLAB commands (easily translatable to other computer languages), the book provides short programs for implementing the methods of probability and statistics as well as for visualizing randomness, the behavior of random variables and stochastic processes, convergence results, and Monte Carlo simulations. Preliminary knowledge of MATLAB is not required. Along with numerous computer science applications and worked examples, the text presents interesting facts and paradoxical statements. Each chapter concludes with a short summary and many exercises.
Joseph, a man in his late thirties, awakens disoriented and uneasy in a place he doesn't recognize. Several people are near him when he opens his eyes, all strangers. All of them seem perfectly friendly, but none of them can explain to him how he got there. They offer him a delicious meal and pleasant conversation in a beautifully decorated room. This would be a very nice experience if not for one thing: Joseph doesn't know where he is and he has no way to contact his wife, who he is sure is worried sick over him. Thanking the people for their hospitality, he leaves to make his way back home. The only problem is that whatever happened to him has stripped him of most of his memories. He knows he needs to get back to his wife, but he doesn't know how to find her. He sets out on a journey to find his home with no sense of where he's going and only the precious, indelible vision of the woman he loves to guide him. Antoinette is an elderly woman in an assisted living facility. She’s spent the last six years there since her husband died, and most of those years have been happy. She enjoys the company of others in her situation and her son comes to visit often. But in recent months, she’s had a tougher and tougher time leaving her room. Her friends seem different to her and the world seems increasingly confusing. She spends an escalating amount of time on a journey inside her head. There, her body and mind haven’t betrayed her. There, she’s a young newlywed with a husband who dotes on her and an entire life of dreams to live. There, she is truly home. Warren, Antoinette’s son, is a man in his early forties going through the toughest year of his life. His marriage ended, he lost his job, and in the past few months, his mother has gone from hale to increasingly hazy. Having trouble finding work, he spends more and more time by his mother’s bedside. But her lack of lucidity both frustrates and frightens him. With far too much time on his hands, he decides to try to recreate his memories of home by attempting to cook his mother’s greatest dishes using the rudimentary appliances available in her room. He finds the challenge surprisingly rewarding, especially because the only time he feels his mother is truly with him anymore is when she is eating the meals he prepares for her. Joseph, Antoinette, and Warren are three people on different searches for home. How they find it, and how they connect with one another at this critical stage in each of their lives, is the foundation for a profound and deeply moving story.
In this deft, multilayered thriller, a disgraced lawyer trying to revive his tattered career stumbles across a hidden case of cold-blooded murder and discovers that he must pursue justice even though doing so might just cost him what little he has left—possibly even his life. Attorney David Hirsch was the managing partner of one of St. Louis’s most prestigious law firms, until he was convicted of embezzlement and sent to the federal penitentiary for seven years. He emerges from prison humbled and genuinely contrite, eager to patch things up with his estranged daughter and to build up a modest legal practice. In forging his life afresh, Hirsch has rediscovered his Judaism and has become part of the daily minyan, the group of ten men necessary to pray together, at the synagogue near his home. When an elderly man in the group asks for his help with a product liability case involving his daughter’s death, Hirsch reluctantly takes it on—only to discover that the seemingly straightforward lawsuit conceals a cold-blooded murder. With the help of Dulcie Lorenz, the altruistic, public-spirited attorney the dead woman worked for, Hirsch pursues the liability case while quietly amassing evidence against the highly placed person he suspects of murder. His attempt to bring his powerful adversary to justice draws Hirsch into a fierce, seesawing battle of wits—and ultimately to an act that expresses the true depth of his atonement. A page-turner in the tradition of Scott Turow, The Mourning Sexton goes beyond the question of “who done it” to explore the more intriguing questions of why the crime was committed and what it reveals about human nature. Set against the richly textured backdrops of St. Louis’s legal establishment and the city’s tight-knit Jewish community, and animated by a vivid cast of characters, it marks the debut of an extraordinary new talent.
Dylan Hunter has it made. At 29, he has great friends, a huge job, all the women he can handle, and no commitments. A public relations executive, Dylan has dashed up the ladder of success by mastering the art of the spin - bending the truth to his and his clients' needs. But when a former lover steps back into his life with a three-year-old girl by her side (no, she's not his), Dylan suddenly finds himself in a place he can't spin himself out of. And when Dylan unexpectedly becomes the child's sole guardian, he finds himself to be like a circus performer trying to keep all of his spinning plates from crashing to the ground. In what seems like a blink of the eye, Dylan Hunter's life has changed completely...whether he's ready for it or not.Alternately humorous and poignant, romantic and tragic, playful and dramatic, Spinning is the kind of wise, touching, emotion-packed novel readers have come to expect from Michael Baron.
The authors present extensive primary research regarding an irreversible process occuring within the upper middle class. The income and discretionary expenditures of 1500 affluent people, and their related motives, are analyzed in a series of steps. First is the identification of statistically different "styles of living" based on differences in motives. This analysis confirms Weber's hypothesis. Second is the identification of differences in the rate, risk level and content of information acquired through the discretionary expenditures. A clear relationship between three different information strategies and three different levels of economic performance over several decades emerges. The analogy between Bourdieu's habitus and Maxwell's demon is used to convey the premise that variances in information-seeking behavior have the same impact in the socio-economic space as differences in energy have in physical space. The upper middle class divides into three different structures with divergent trajectories relevant to economic equilibrium. The structure (and process) which is most oriented to acquiring and applying a mix of functional and symbolic information is consistently the most highly rewarded over time (i.e., earned income) by the environment. The multi-faceted analysis of this unified set of data provides confirmation of theories in economics (e.g., Kahneman), sociology ( e.g., Bourdieu), evolution (e.g., Deacon, Dennett, Kauffman) and psychology (e.g., Cooley, Goffman, Rose, Kolb). Anyone interested in the "consilience" of art and science, and the demonstration of "near chaos" phenomena in society, should consider the information in this study. The collaboration of the authors, one a mathematician and the other a liberal arts major, is a reflection of the theme (as is the title, which links a socioligist and a physicist). In addition to the basic findings the study provides clear and practical considerations for individuals seeking to stay relevant and compete in an world of accelerating change. The implications for executives, degreed professionals and the self-employed are demonstrated in the longitudinal analysis of information strategy and income by occupation.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850) needs little introduction as the central figure in Romantic poetry and a crucial influence in the development of poetry generally. This broad-ranging survey redefines the variety of his writing by showing how it incorporates contemporary concepts of language difference and the ways in which popular and serious literature were compared and distinguished during this period. It discusses many of Wordsworth's later poems, comparing his work with that of his regional contemporaries as well as major writers such as Scott. The key theme of relationship, both between characters within poems and between poet and reader, is explored through Wordsworth's construction of community and his use of power relationships. A serious discussion of the place of sexual feeling in his writing is also included.
Examines a major Michigan timber baron and political figure who also founded a coal-mining empire in Kentucky. Near the turn of the twentieth century, "Pine King" Justus S. Stearns was Michigan's largest producer of manufactured lumber and the owner of a prosperous coal mining operation headquartered in Stearns, Kentucky, a town he founded. Over the course of his career, Stearns would own at least thirty manufacturing businesses—making everything from finished lumber to kitchen utensils, game boards, and motors—as well as hotels, a railroad, and a power company. He was also an active member of the Republican Party who served one term as Michigan's secretary of state and a philanthropist who gave a great deal of his wealth to causes in both Michigan and Kentucky. In Justus S. Stearns: Michigan Pine King and Kentucky Coal Baron, 1845–1933, author Michael W. Nagle details Stearns's astounding range of accomplishments and explores the influence of both paternalism and Social Darwinism in his business practices. Nagle begins by addressing key events in the first few decades of Stearns's life and his initial foray into the lumber industry. Subsequent chapters explore Stearns's political career, his timber operations in Wisconsin, and his coal, lumber, and railroad operations in Kentucky and Tennessee. Nagle also details the ancillary businesses that Stearns founded or purchased in the early twentieth century, even as his Stearns Salt & Lumber Company served as the anchor of his Michigan holdings, while Stearns Coal & Lumber did the same for his operations in Kentucky. The final chapter offers an overview and analysis of Stearns's lifetime of accomplishments, including his impact on the town of Ludington, Michigan, where he maintained a residence for over fifty years. Nagle makes extensive use of primary source material from several historical archives as well as contemporary newspaper accounts, court documents, company records, and other primary sources. American history scholars, as well as general readers interested in Michigan's lumbering era and Kentucky's mining history, will enjoy this biography of an exceptionally influential businessman.
In this deft, multilayered thriller, a disgraced lawyer trying to revive his tattered career discovers that exacting justice in a complicated murder case demands something far more personal than a well-honed display of legal expertise in the courtroom.
Spring bursts into bloom-and a whole lot more-as murder-by-arrow rattles Benteen County, Kansas. Nothing ever happens in Benteen County, Kansas. Then, on a perfect spring morning, a member of the reality TV program filming in a local pasture dies with a Cheyenne arrow in his back. Sheriff English's brother, Mad Dog, the county oddball whose Amerind heritage has produced a born-again Cheyenne, is a prime suspect. Murder is a bad way to start the day. Explosive action follows. Notes left for authorities hint at a terrorist assault on the heartland. If the sheriff, known as Englishman, doesn't have enough to worry about, his wife has begun acting strangely. She insists he fly off on a Paris holiday with her before sunset—or else. As Mad Dog swings between suspect and target, he encounters his long-lost high school sweetheart, and a secret that just may explain the unlikely mix of arrows and bombs. It's Murphy's Law squared, as Mad Dog and his pet wolf, Hailey, test a shaman's powers, and Englishman struggles to balance his duties to family and community-enough to drive anyone Plains Crazy.
St Louis lawyer Rachel Gold deals with many a family drama, mostly of the dysfunctional variety. Divorce. Paternity. And death. Occasionally, all three combine into a "dead hand" trifecta, where the deceased seeks to control the living—and especially his descendants—from beyond the grave. Rachel calls them "zombies." The legal term for such inheritance plans is "the dead hand," the English translation of the Old French term "mortmain." The term refers to the attempt by wealthy individuals to exert perpetual ownership over property (and future generations) through legal documents prepared before they die. But not even the most obsessed tycoon or his skilled attorneys can foresee every future contingency. To quote the old Yiddish maxim, "Man plans, and God laughs." And angry descendants sue. It's so true. Rachel suddenly finds herself representing two women—one a young widow, one an older divorcee—in a pair of nasty zombie cases where the outcome of each hinges upon a clause in a contested estate plan. Client Cyndi Mulligan is the trophy widow of the late Bert Mulligan, a billionaire entrepreneur whose last will and testament left his estate to Cyndi's unborn daughter. The challenge comes from Bert's angry first wife and her angrier only son. Their claim: Cyndi's daughter—born eleven months after Bert's death—cannot possibly be Bert's child. In the other case, Rachel represents Marsha Knight, the first wife of the wealthy founder of a women's lingerie manufacturer. Marsha has been sued by his young widow, who seeks to invalidate Marsha's divorce settlement and, in the process, impoverish her through invocation of the ancient and nearly inscrutable Rule Against Perpetuities. As the trial date approaches in each lawsuit, the threats to Rachel and her two clients begin to escalate. Zombies, as Rachel discovers, are hard to kill. And even worse, they can still kill—and where least expected. The Dead Hand is written with the verve, humor, and legal smarts that are trademark Michael Kahn.
Rachel remains one of the more engaging sleuths on the mystery scene." —Publishers Weekly After the death of her father, attorney Rachel Gold has returned to her hometown of St. Louis to spend more time with her mother. The savvy and beautiful Rachel, who made a name for herself in complex corporate litigation in Chicago, finds herself enmeshed in Landau v. Landau, a high-stakes divorce case far nastier than any of her former lawsuits. And, as she will soon find out, far deadlier. Rachel's client is Eileen Landau, the best friend of her sister Ann. Eileen and Ann are just two of many wealthy, bored housewives who get their kicks three days a week in an aerobics classes conducted by the handsome fitness guru, Andros, at an upscale gym. Eileen, however, gets some additional kicks once or twice a week with Andros at an upscale hotel. Shortly after his last tryst with Eileen, Andros is found dead. The coroner determines the cause of death as cyanide poisoning. The trail of clues leads not to Eileen but to Ann, Rachel's sister, who was having her own affair with Andros. Suddenly, Rachel has a personal stake in the case. But as she works her way through the list of angry wives seduced and scorned by Andros, she realizes that sex may not have been the motive behind his seductions. Indeed, Andros may have been doing the bidding of a puppet master far more dangerous—someone with few qualms about eliminating a semi-incompetent accomplice, and none about eliminating a competent lawyer whose investigation threatens a multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise.
Collects Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Leader #1-3, Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron #1-8, Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron Handbook. The greatest starfighters of the Rebel Alliance become the defenders of a New Republic in this collection of stories featuring Wedge Antilles, hero of the Battle of Endor, and his team of ace pilots known throughout the galaxy as Rogue Squadron! Meet the Rogues for the first time and learn the fate of the galaxy immediately after the events of Return of the Jedi as the Rebellion's best pilots battle remnants of the Empire wherever its ugly agenda of fear and domination appears.
Family and faith guide one man through the buildup to World War II in this unforgettable saga—first in the Secret of the Rose series. In 1930s pre-war Prussia, Baron von Dortmann lives an idyllic life with his daughter Sabina. A devoted gardener and father, the Baron teaches his daughter powerful lessons about life, creation, and God’s love during treasured walks in the estate’s beautiful gardens. But Sabina is growing up, and the Baron’s beloved Prussia is changing. Now a beautiful young woman, Sabina has caught the eye of a handsome young American, Matthew. Meanwhile, a cloud is gathering on the horizon as the Nazis seize power in neighboring Germany. As he strives to protect his family and follow his own moral compass, Baron von Dortmann will face heart-wrenching decisions, with only God’s guidance to light the way. “Watching Sabina and her parents in the Secret of the Rose series as they dealt with Nazi antagonism caused me to ponder exactly what it would have been like to live amongst such challenges. Sabina’s zest for life and faith in God are encouragement to live in a way that honors the Lord, no matter what life-threatening challenges may arise.” —Kindred Grace
Bearing Witness grips you from the start. If you have not read Michael Kahn's terrific legal thrillers before, you are in for a treat." —Philip Margolin, New York Times bestselling author Rachel Gold blames it on her mother, Sarah, who convinced her to file what seemed like a simple age-discrimination case on behalf of Ruth Alpert, her mother's best friend. Ruth had been fired just shy of her sixty-third birthday by Beckmann Engineering, a corporate powerhouse known in St. Louis, both for its charitable contributions and vicious lawyers. The first hint that the case might not be so simple comes when a key witness is gunned down in a parking lot before Rachel's eyes. The second comes when Rachel learns that Ruth has knowledge of confidential information that could transform her simple age claim into a massive, multi-million-dollar conspiracy case spanning decades. With the help of her best friend, Benny Goldberg—the grossest (and funniest) law professor in America—the savvy and beautiful Rachel Gold struggles to make sense of a dark scheme hatched more than a fifty years ago, a conspiracy with a bloody trail of murder, mayhem, and treachery that implicates some of the wealthiest and most respected elder citizens in the country. These men have guarded their vile secret for half a century and will take whatever steps are necessary to protect it from disclosure.
In December 1235, Pope Gregory IX altered the mission of a crusade he had begun to preach the year before. Instead of calling for Christian magnates to go on to fight the infidel in Jerusalem, he now urged them to combat the spread of Christian heresy in Latin Greece and to defend the Latin empire of Constantinople. The Barons' Crusade, as it was named by a fourteenth-century chronicler impressed by the great number of barons who participated, would last until 1241 and would represent in many ways the high point of papal efforts to make crusading a universal Christian undertaking. This book, the first full-length treatment of the Barons' Crusade, examines the call for holy war and its consequences in Hungary, France, England, Constantinople, and the Holy Land. In the end, Michael Lower reveals, the pope's call for unified action resulted in a range of locally determined initiatives and accommodations. In some places in Europe, the crusade unleashed violence against Jews that the pope had not sought; in others, it unleashed no violence at all. In the Levant, it even ended in peaceful negotiation between Christian and Muslim forces. Virtually everywhere, but in different ways, it altered the relations between Christians and non-Christians. By emphasizing comparative local history, The Barons' Crusade: A Call to Arms and Its Consequences brings into question the idea that crusading embodies the religious unity of medieval society and demonstrates how thoroughly crusading had been affected by the new strategic and political demands of the papacy.
Rachel's fans will enjoy her latest case, which highlights the consequences of greed as well as the abilities of the disabled." —Booklist As St. Louis attorney Rachel Gold knows firsthand, the demands of the profession can take a toll on young lawyers. Some turn to drugs, some give up the job and occasionally one gives up altogether. According to the medical examiner, Sari Bashir belongs in the latter category. After she fell from the eighth floor of the downtown garage, the police rule her death a suicide and move on. However, Stanley Plotkin, the law firm's eccentric mailroom clerk, is sure that Sari was murdered. Stanley, a genius afflicted with Asperger's Syndrome, cannot read emotions from other's facial expressions. To compensate, he studies the voluminous facial action coding system to help him navigate social situations. His mastery of that system has convinced him that Sari was not suicidal. Armed with evidence that only he can see, he turns to Rachel for help. While Sari was her friend, she's reluctant to investigate before an impassioned plea from Sari's grieving father convinces her. With the help of some unlikely allies, Rachel begins uncovering a vast criminal enterprise rife with collateral damage—and Sari's death is only the beginning...
Examines the conceptual principles of job evaluation, reviews different methods and techniques of implementations, and reveals examples of company practice.
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