Halting State

Halting State PDF Author: Charles Stross
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101208791
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com start-up company that’s just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith’s expertise. The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all its virtual “economies” are going to crash hard. For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players—both real and pixelated—who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head’s fantasy financial security…

Halting State

Halting State PDF Author: Charles Stross
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101208791
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com start-up company that’s just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith’s expertise. The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all its virtual “economies” are going to crash hard. For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players—both real and pixelated—who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head’s fantasy financial security…

Rule 34

Rule 34 PDF Author: Charles Stross
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 110151664X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Meet Edinburgh Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, head of the Innovative Crimes Investigation Unit, otherwise known as the Rule 34 Squad. They monitor the Internet for potential criminal activity, analyzing trends in the extreme fringes of explicit content. And occasionally, even more disturbing patterns arise… Three ex-cons have been murdered in Germany, Italy, and Scotland. The only things they had in common were arrests for spamming—and a taste for unorthodox entertainment. As the first officer on the scene of the most recent death, Liz finds herself sucked into an international investigation that isn’t so much asking who the killer is, but what—and if she doesn't find the answer soon, the homicides could go viral.

Enemy of the State

Enemy of the State PDF Author: Vince Flynn
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1476783543
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
“In the world of black-op thrillers, Mitch Rapp continues to be among the best of the best” (Booklist, starred review), and he returns in the #1 New York Times bestselling series alone and targeted by a country that is supposed to be one of America’s closest allies. After 9/11, the United States made one of the most secretive and dangerous deals in its history—the evidence against the powerful Saudis who coordinated the attack would be buried and in return, King Faisal would promise to keep the oil flowing and deal with the conspirators in his midst. But when the king’s own nephew is discovered funding ISIS, the furious President gives Rapp his next mission: he must find out more about the high-level Saudis involved in the scheme and kill them. The catch? Rapp will get no support from the United States. Forced to make a decision that will change his life forever, Rapp quits the CIA and assembles a group of independent contractors to help him complete the mission. They’ve barely begun unraveling the connections between the Saudi government and ISIS when the brilliant new head of the intelligence directorate discovers their efforts. With Rapp getting too close, he threatens to go public with the details of the post-9/11 agreement between the two countries. Facing an international incident that could end his political career, the President orders America’s intelligence agencies to join the Saudis’ effort to hunt the former CIA man down. Rapp, supported only by a team of mercenaries with dubious allegiances, finds himself at the center of the most elaborate manhunt in history. With white-knuckled twists and turns leading to “an explosive climax” (Publishers Weekly), Enemy of the State is an unputdownable thrill ride that will keep you guessing until the final page.

 PDF Author:
Publisher: Arihant Publications India limited
ISBN: 9326194965
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 1199

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Book Description


Nanny State

Nanny State PDF Author: David Harsanyi
Publisher: Crown
ISBN: 0767928458
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
When did we lose our right to be lazy, unhealthy, and politically incorrect? Move over Big Brother! An insidious new group has inserted itself into American politics. They are the nannies—not the stroller-pushing set but an invasive band of do-gooders who are subtly and steadily stripping us of our liberties, robbing us of the inalienable right to make our own decisions, and turning America into a nation of children. As you read this, countless busybodies across the nation are rolling up their sleeves to do the work of straightening out your life. Certain Massachusetts towns have banned school-yard tag. San Francisco has passed laws regulating the amount of water you should use in dog bowls. The mayor of New York City has french fries and doughnuts in his sights. In some parts of California, smoking is prohibited . . . outside. The government, under pressure from the nanny minority, is twisting the public’s arm into obedience. Playground police, food fascists, anti-porn crusaders —whether they're legislating morality or wellbeing—nannies are popping up all over America. In the name of health, safety, decency, and—shudder—good intentions, these ever-vigilant politicians and social activists are dictating what we eat, where we smoke, what we watch and read, and whom we marry. Why do bureaucrats think they know what's better for us than we do? And are they selectively legislating in the name of political expediency? For instance, why do we ban mini-motorbikes, responsible for five deaths each year, and not skiing, which accounts for fifty deaths each year? Why is medical marijuana, a substance yet to claim a single life, banned and not aspirin, which accounts for about 7,600 deaths? Exhaustively researched, sharply observed, and refreshingly lucid, Nanny Sate looks at the myriad ways we are turning the United States into a soulless and staid nation—eroding not only our personal freedoms but our national character.

Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing

Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing PDF Author: Leandro N. De Castro
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1591403146
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 453

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Book Description
Recent Developments in Biologically Inspired Computing is necessary reading for undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers interested in knowing the most recent advances in problem solving techniques inspired by nature. This book covers the most relevant areas in computational intelligence, including evolutionary algorithms, artificial neural networks, artificial immune systems and swarm systems. It also brings together novel and philosophical trends in the exciting fields of artificial life and robotics. This book has the advantage of covering a large number of computational approaches, presenting the state-of-the-art before entering into the details of specific extensions and new developments. Pseudocodes, flow charts and examples of applications are provided so as to help newcomers and mature researchers to get the point of the new approaches presented.

Computability and Logic

Computability and Logic PDF Author: George Boolos
Publisher: CUP Archive
ISBN: 9780521204026
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description


The Vietnam War Debate

The Vietnam War Debate PDF Author: Louis B. Zimmer
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 0739137697
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
Background to a needless war -- Morgenthau and Bundy : the Harvard dean fails the Vietnam reality test -- Media neglect of the national interest -- Morgenthau and Schlesinger and the national interest -- Morgenthau and the Council on Foreign Relations -- Morgenthau's influence, Fulbright's conversion and the stupidity of smart men -- "What I have said recently, I have been saying for years without anybody paying attention.

Methods and Applications of Algorithmic Complexity

Methods and Applications of Algorithmic Complexity PDF Author: Hector Zenil
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3662649853
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 270

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Book Description
This book explores a different pragmatic approach to algorithmic complexity rooted or motivated by the theoretical foundations of algorithmic probability and explores the relaxation of necessary and sufficient conditions in the pursuit of numerical applicability, with some of these approaches entailing greater risks than others in exchange for greater relevance and applicability. Some established and also novel techniques in the field of applications of algorithmic (Kolmogorov) complexity currently coexist for the first time, ranging from the dominant ones based upon popular statistical lossless compression algorithms (such as LZW) to newer approaches that advance, complement, and also pose their own limitations. Evidence suggesting that these different methods complement each other for different regimes is presented, and despite their many challenges, some of these methods are better grounded in or motivated by the principles of algorithmic information. The authors propose that the field can make greater contributions to science, causation, scientific discovery, networks, and cognition, to mention a few among many fields, instead of remaining either as a technical curiosity of mathematical interest only or as a statistical tool when collapsed into an application of popular lossless compression algorithms. This book goes, thus, beyond popular statistical lossless compression and introduces a different methodological approach to dealing with algorithmic complexity. For example, graph theory and network science are classic subjects in mathematics widely investigated in the twentieth century, transforming research in many fields of science from economy to medicine. However, it has become increasingly clear that the challenge of analyzing these networks cannot be addressed by tools relying solely on statistical methods. Therefore, model-driven approaches are needed. Recent advances in network science suggest that algorithmic information theory could play an increasingly important role in breaking those limits imposed by traditional statistical analysis (entropy or statistical compression) in modeling evolving complex networks or interacting networks. Further progress on this front calls for new techniques for an improved mechanistic understanding of complex systems, thereby calling out for increased interaction between systems science, network theory, and algorithmic information theory, to which this book contributes.

Intelligent Information and Database Systems

Intelligent Information and Database Systems PDF Author: Ngoc Thanh Nguyen
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030147991
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 784

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Book Description
The two-volume set LNAI 11431 and 11432 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th Asian Conference on Intelligent Information and Database Systems, ACIIDS 2019, held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in April 2019. The total of 124 full papers accepted for publication in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 309 submissions. The papers of the first volume are organized in the following topical sections: knowledge engineering and semantic web; text processing and information retrieval; machine learning and data mining; decision support and control systems; computer vision techniques; and databases and intelligent information systems. The papers of the second volume are divided into these topical sections: collective intelligence for service innovation, technology management, E-learning, and fuzzy intelligent systems; data structures modelling for knowledge representation; advanced data mining techniques and applications; intelligent information systems; intelligent methods and artificial intelligence for biomedical decision support systems; intelligent and contextual systems; intelligent systems and algorithms in information sciences; intelligent supply chains and e-commerce; sensor networks and Internet of Things; analysis of image, video, movements and brain intelligence in life sciences; and computer vision and intelligent systems.