Search results for ""Author Laurent""

Sophie does not want to do her homework, a research report on polar bears. Bor-ing. They’re big. They eat things. They’re mean. What else is there to say about them anyway? As it turns out, plenty. And when a polar bear named Olafur swoops her away to the Arctic, she soon learns all about the playful bear’s habits and habitat—from glacier mice to northern lights—and, against her first reservations, she even finds herself interested. When the two are swept out to sea on a glacier, Sophie’s new knowledge and knack for creative thinking pay off in a big way: she calls a whale to their aid! Inspired by her journey, she’s ready to return home and take another swing at her assignment, this time with gusto. The Bear Report showcases the power of curiosity and imagination to fill in any blank canvas, whether it’s an incomplete homework assignment or the Arctic ice.

Read more less

This book addresses the stochastic modeling of telecommunication networks, introducing the main mathematical tools for that purpose, such as Markov processes, real and spatial point processes and stochastic recursions, and presenting a wide list of results on stability, performances and comparison of systems. The authors propose a comprehensive mathematical construction of the foundations of stochastic network theory: Markov chains, continuous time Markov chains are extensively studied using an original martingale-based approach. A complete presentation of stochastic recursions from an ergodic theoretical perspective is also provided, as well as spatial point processes. Using these basic tools, stability criteria, performance measures and comparison principles are obtained for a wide class of models, from the canonical M/M/1 and G/G/1 queues to more sophisticated systems, including the current “hot topics” of spatial radio networking, OFDMA and real-time networks. Contents 1. Introduction. Part 1: Discrete-time Modeling 2. Stochastic Recursive Sequences. 3. Markov Chains. 4. Stationary Queues. 5. The M/GI/1 Queue. Part 2: Continuous-time Modeling 6. Poisson Process. 7. Markov Process. 8. Systems with Delay. 9. Loss Systems. Part 3: Spatial Modeling 10. Spatial Point Processes.

Read more less

This title covers the most commonly used elements of Internet and Intranet technology and their development. It details the latest developments in research and covers new themes such as IP6, MPLS, and IS-IS routing, as well as explaining the function of standardization committees such as IETF, IEEE, and UIT. The book is illustrated with numerous examples and applications which will help the reader to place protocols in their proper context.

Read more less

'A must-read' – New ScientistThe gripping, behind-the scenes story of one of the most sophisticated surveillance weapons ever created – and an existential threat to democracy and human rights.'Absorbing . . . a celebration of journalism' – The GuardianPegasus is widely regarded as the most powerful cyber-surveillance system on the market – available to any government that can afford its multimillion-dollar price tag. The system’s creator, the NSO group, a private corporation headquartered in Israel, boasts about its ability to thwart terrorists and criminals.But the Pegasus system doesn’t only catch terrorists and criminals.Pegasus has been used by repressive regimes to spy on thousands of innocent people around the world: heads of state, diplomats, human rights defenders, lawyers, political opponents, and journalists.Virtually undetectable, the system can track a person’s daily movement in real time, gain control of the device’s microphones and cameras at will, and capture all videos, photos, emails, texts, and passwords – encrypted or not. Its full reach is not even known.This is the gripping story of how Pegasus was uncovered, written by Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud, the two intrepid reporters who revealed the scandal in collaboration with an international consortium of journalists. Their findings shook the world.Tense and compelling, Pegasus reveals how thousands of lives have been turned upside down by this unprecedented threat, and exposes the chilling new ways governments and corporations are laying waste to human rights – and silencing innocent citizens.

Read more less

This book describes techniques of synthesis and self-assembly of macromolecules for developing new materials and improving functionality of existing ones. Because self-assembly emulates how nature creates complex systems, they likely have the best chance at succeeding in real-world biomedical applications.• Employs synthetic chemistry, physical chemistry, and materials science principles and techniques• Emphasizes self-assembly in solutions (particularly, aqueous solutions) and at solid-liquid interfaces• Describes polymer assembly driven by multitude interactions, including solvophobic, electrostatic, and obligatory co-assembly• Illustrates assembly of bio-hybrid macromolecules and applications in biomedical engineering

Read more less

Zero's Neighbour is Hélène Cixous's tribute to the minimalist genius of the artist in exile who courted nothingness in his writing like nobody else: Samuel Beckett. In this unabashedly personal odyssey through a sizeable range of his novels, plays and poems, Cixous celebrates Beckett’s linguistic flair and the poignant, powerful thrust of his stylistic terseness, and passionately declares her love for his unrivalled expression of the meaningless ‘precious little’ of life, its unfathomable banality ending in chaos and death. Poised between a critical essay and a textual performance across two languages adapting Beckett's own literary vein, this book will appeal to scholars, critics and creative writers as well as students of the ‘grey self-Sam’. Its allusive intertextual insights will also prove to be of critical relevance to readers of Dante and Proust, among other literary figures, as much as to those appreciative of Cixous’s own inimitable genius for dissecting the quintessence of the life and works of a ‘neighbourly’ artist.

Read more less

This book offers the first-ever survey of artistic depictions of the legend of Saint George defeating the dragon. The earliest existing references to this episode in the hagiography of Saint George date from the 11th century, and the mythical conflict has entertained the imaginations of artists ever since. Copiously illustrated, this book includes varied representations in painting, sculpture, engraving, and more by artists from Raphael and Peter Paul Rubens to Odilon Redon and Andy Warhol. In addition, the artists David Claerbout, Giuseppe Penone, Luc Tuymans, and Angel Vergara Santiago have been invited to contribute their own interpretations of the story, and these new works are also featured. The contemporary perspective is further explored in the book through essays that trace the shifting resonance of the allegory, positing that it has evolved to become symbolic of man’s internal struggle as he attempts to fulfill his destiny.Distributed for MercatorfondsExhibition Schedule:Musée des Arts Contemporains au Grand-Hornu (10/18/15–01/17/16)

Read more less

'One of the funniest, most riotously inventive and enjoyable novels you’ll read this year' - ObserverRoland Barthes is knocked down in a Paris street by a laundry van. It’s February 1980 and he has just come from lunch with Francois Mitterrand. Barthes dies soon afterwards. History tells us it was an accident. But what if it were an assassination? What if Barthes was carrying a document of unbelievable, global importance? A document explaining the seventh function of language – an idea so powerful it gives whoever masters it the ability to convince anyone, in any situation, to do anything. Police Captain Jacques Bayard and his reluctant accomplice Simon Herzog set off on a chase that takes them from the corridors of power to backstreet saunas and midnight meetings. What they discover is a worldwide conspiracy involving the President, murderous Bulgarians and a secret international debating society.

Read more less

Here is a book that will answer (almost) all of a beginner and experienced bicyclist’s questions about how to get the most out of the activity, while protecting yourself and saving money where possible. How? First there is professional advice on helmets and techniques for safe cycling: lights, reflective clothing and bells, with 10 tips for safe cycling. Then the bikes: How to choose the right bike for your body and level of fitness. Is it for fun, commuting or long excursions?; Anatomy of the bike: wheels, saddle, pedals… and what size bike is right?; All the right clothing, from shoes and comfortable shorts to panniers; Anti-theft devices — which locks are best?; Home trainers and exercise bikes. Maintenance is the core of the book: What are your essential tools?; Keeping the bike (including the chain) clean and lubricated; Essential adjustments: cleats, gears, brake shoes, V brakes, and hydraulic brakes, chain tension. Repair; Replacing a tube or tubeless tyre; Replacing the chain, cassette, freewheel, brake shoes and pads; Taking off a tyre and changing an inner tube; Applying a patch or tyre plug; Replacing a derailleur, broken chain link or spoke; And much more. Accompanied by interviews with bike shop owners, enthusiasts and mechanics, and fully illustrated in full colour, this is the bike book every rider needs to get started — and keep going!

Read more less

THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERTwo men have been enlisted to kill the head of the Gestapo. This is Operation Anthropoid, Prague, 1942: two Czechoslovakian parachutists sent on a daring mission by London to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich - chief of the Nazi secret services, 'the hangman of Prague', 'the blond beast', 'the most dangerous man in the Third Reich'. His boss is Heinrich Himmler but everyone in the SS says 'Himmler's brain is called Heydrich', which in German spells HHhH. HHhH is a panorama of the Third Reich told through the life of one outstandingly brutal man, a story of unbearable heroism and loyalty, revenge and betrayal. It is a moving and shattering work of fiction.Laurent Binet's highly anticipated new novel, The Seventh Function of Language, is available for pre-order now...

Read more less

PATAI's Chemistry of Functional Groups publishes comprehensive reviews on all aspects of specific functional groups. Each volume contains outstanding surveys on theoretical and computational aspects, NMR, MS, other spectroscopic methods and analytical chemistry, structural aspects, thermochemistry, photochemistry, synthetic approaches and strategies, synthetic uses and applications in chemical and pharmaceutical industries, biological, biochemical and environmental aspects. To date, over 140 volumes have been published in the series. This first volume on organoaluminum compounds in the series complements the recently published volumes on other areas of organometallic synthesis, notably the volumes on organoiron, organolithium, organozinc, organocopper and organomanganese compounds.

Read more less

This book aims to provide a synthesis of work and ideas done by our team over the last fifteen years in the field of information processing for expression of industrial performance. The statement of objectives on the one hand and the calculation of the other performances are discussed, with the search for the explanation of the link between these two basic steps of an industrial improvement. Beyond the synthetic and typological character of this study, the originality of this work lies in the consideration of the temporal dimension of the objectives, and spread on performance expressions. A fuzzy processing and multi-criteria aggregations time information that can be quantitative, qualitative or symbolic are proposed, in line with industrial practice and literature in the field of performance management.

Read more less

A business model basically describes the way a company makes money. Yet, often we use digital services for free (e.g. Facebook, Google or WhatsApp) or for what seems to be a relatively minor price (e.g. Blablacar, Airbnb, and Amazon). Digital business models are different to traditional business models. Digital Business Models explains the key challenges and characteristics of the various business models that are used by digital businesses. These companies can be a source of inspiration for traditional bricks-and-mortar companies that aim to go digital and/or revamp their traditional business model. Most businesses rely on some form of digital technology for their marketing communication, customer relationship management, supply chain or distribution, yet digital transformation entails a complete reassessment of the way value is created and captured. Digital Business Models details the successful customer acquisition tactics and the development of business ecosystems by digital players. Using the relevant academic and managerial body of knowledge, the authors define the concepts, describe the various ways digital businesses create and capture value and propose some useful tools for managers to analyse a situation, formulate or implement a strategy. Different digital business types are evaluated, such as multisided platforms, digital merchants, subscription-based model, freemium, social media and sharing economy. Each chapter is illustrated with several examples and the appendix comprises four full-length case studies.

Read more less

Through the branches of the gigantic World Tree, Pierig searches for the source of the malevolence that poisons the sap. The colossal branches of the World Tree are home to many diverse clans of people, such as the Sap Hunters, each living among their tier. When Pierig is captured by the Bellicose clan for his unique skills, he learns that the World Tree is dying and its nourishing sap, the fuel for each of these communities, is being poisoned... Accompanied by three warriors, Pierig is forced to trace the origin of the evil that is eating away at the plant titan through each of its levels, and down to the very base if necessary. But along his journey, issues deeper than the root of this sickness begin to surface, putting everything Pierig knew to be true into question.

Read more less

This open access book provides a view into the state-of-the-art research on aviation noise and related annoyance. The book will primarily focus on the achievements of the ANIMA project (Aviation Noise Impact Management through Novel Approaches), but not exclusively.The content has a broader theme in order to encompass. regulation issues, the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) balanced approach, progresses made on technologies and reduction of noise at source, impact of possible future civil supersonic aircraft, land-use planning issues, as well as the core topics of the ANIMA project, i.e. impact on human beings, annoyance, quality of life, health and findings of the project in this respect.This book differs from traditional research programmes on aviation noise as the authors endeavour, not to lower noise at source, but to reduce the annoyance. This book examines these non-acoustic factors in an effort to help those most affected by aviation noise – communities living close to airports, and also help airport managers, policy-makers, local authorities and researchers to deal with this issue holistically. The book concludes with some recommendations for EU, national and local policy-makers, airport and aviation authorities, and more broadly a scientifically literate audience. These recommendations may help to identify gaps for progress in terms of research but also genuine implementation actions for political and regulatory authorities.

Read more less

A groundbreaking work resulting from the collaboration between the three major Swiss architectural archives and the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel. Concrete in Switzerland is a historical assessment of the most controversial building material of our time: concrete. The book addresses a number of issues of global relevance from a particular vantage point: reinforced concrete construction in Switzerland. Through contributions by internationally renowned researchers, Concrete in Switzerland analyzes a series of moments in the Swiss history of reinforced concrete, from the initial phase of its introduction in the country to the most refined applications in architecture and engineering. Groundbreaking and thorough, Concrete in Switzerland explores the history and application of a contentious material.

Read more less

Contrary to an optimistic vision of a world "flattened" by the virtues of globalization, the sustainability and positive outcomes of economic and political homogenization are far from guaranteed. For better and for worse, globalization has become the most powerful force shaping the world's geopolitical landscape, whether it has meant integration or fragmentation, peace or war. The future partly depends on how new economic giants such as China, India, and others make use of their power. It also depends on how well Western democracies can preserve their tenuous hold on leadership, cohesion, and the pursuit of the common good. Offering the most comprehensive analysis of world politics to date, Laurent Cohen-Tanugi takes on globalization's cheerleaders and detractors, who, in their narrow focus, have failed to recognize the full extent to which globalization has become a geopolitical phenomenon. Offering an interpretative framework for thought and action, Cohen-Tanugi suggests how we should approach our new "multipolar" world--a world that is anything but the balanced and harmonious system many welcomed as a desirable alternative to the "American Empire." Cohen-Tanugi's point is not that the major trends of economic globalization, technological revolution, regional integration, and democratic progress are no longer at work. His argument is that economic globalization exists in a complex dialectic with the traditional geopolitics it has, ironically, helped to revive. This tension has created an ambivalent world that requires democracies to operate in two realms: the realm of economic integration and multilateralism--or peaceful, astrategic, "postmodern" internationalism--and the more traditional, even regressive realm of confrontation between national and regional strategies of power fought against a background of terrorism, civil wars, and nuclear proliferation.

Read more less

Join an astronaut for a day as she goes on her first ever spacewalk, and new crew members arrive. Find out how she trained for her mission and what it's like living and working in space. How do you eat and drink at zero gravity? How do space toilets work? What are space suits designed for?

Read more less

The Age of Reform – the hundred years from 1820 to 1920 - has become synonymous with innovation and change but this period was also in many ways a deeply conservative and cautious one. With reform came reaction and revolution and this was as true of the law as it was of literature, art and technology. The age of Great Exhibitions and Great Reform Acts was also the age of newly systemized police forces, courts and prisons. A Cultural History of Law in the Age of Reform presents an overview of the period with a focus on human stories located in the crush between legal formality and social reform: the newly uniformed police, criminal mugshots, judge and jury, the shame of child labor, and the need for neighborliness in the crowded urban and increasingly industrial landscapes of Europe and the United States. Drawing upon a wealth of visual and textual sources, A Cultural History of Law in the Age of Reform presents essays that examine key cultural case studies of the period on the themes of justice, constitution, codes, agreements, arguments, property and possession, wrongs, and the legal profession.

Read more less

How should we talk about “the law” in a period so remote from our own and covering such a huge span of time and space? From the Code of Hammurabi (ca. 1750 BCE) to Justinian’s Corpus Iuris Civilis (529-534 CE), A Cultural History of Law in Antiquity draws upon legal texts and non-textual forms (such as vase-painting, sculpture, and architecture) to uncover the diverse and rich legal traditions of societies ranging from the Ancient Near Eastern cities of Assyria and Babylon in Mesopotamia to the Ancient Israelites, and from Ancient Greece to Rome of the Archaic and Classical Periods. With a wealth of textual and visual sources, A Cultural History of Law in Antiquity presents essays that examine key cultural case studies of the period on the themes of justice, constitution, codes, agreements, arguments, property and possession, wrongs, and the legal profession.

Read more less

Sets up new frameworks to explore law as perpetual experimentation. This collection of 13 essays offers insights into philosophy of law, investigating new forms of politics, economics and society. It explores the features of Deleuze's universal jurisprudence, the mutual becoming of law and philosophy and reveals law as the most progressive and experimental force of the Modern Age. This is the first collective volume to address the legal aspect of Deleuze's philosophy of law. It proposes a different way of practicing philosophy and law. The contributors are from a range of disciplinary backgrounds.

Read more less

Join an astronaut for a day as she goes on her first ever spacewalk, and new crew members arrive. Find out how she trained for her mission and what it's like living and working in space. How do you eat and drink at zero gravity? How do space toilets work? What are space suits designed for?

Read more less

A primatologist and a humanist together explore the meaning of being a “human animal”Humanness is typically defined by our capacity for language and abstract thinking. Yet decades of research led by the primatologist Sue Savage-Rumbaugh has shown that chimpanzees and bonobos can acquire human language through signing and technology. Drawing on this research, Dialogues of the Human Ape brings Savage-Rumbaugh into conversation with the philosopher Laurent Dubreuil to explore the theoretical and practical dimensions of what being a “human animal” means. In their use of dialogue as the primary mode of philosophical and scientific inquiry, the authors transcend the rigidity of scientific and humanist discourses, offering a powerful model for the dissemination of speculative hypotheses and open-ended debates grounded in scientific research.Arguing that being human is an epigenetically driven process rather than a fixed characteristic rooted in genetics or culture, this book suggests that while humanness may not be possible in every species, it can emerge in certain supposedly nonhuman species. Moving beyond irrational critiques of ape consciousness that are motivated by arrogant, anthropocentric views, Dialogues on the Human Ape instead takes seriously the continuities between the ape mind and the human mind, addressing why language matters to consciousness, free will, and the formation of the “human animal” self.

Read more less

The most radical philosophy of law of our time. Gilles Deleuze has provided the most fascinating account of law of the twentieth century. Yet it is hidden in a just a few clues dispersed throughout his work and no complete reconstruction of it has ever been produced. Laurent de Sutter gathers all the elements that compose Deleuze's philosophy of law and articulates them for the first time in a real system: the result is the most devastating critique of the very idea of law. But it is also the most surprising, praising the actual practice of jurisprudence. This is not simply a practice of judgment, but a practice of radical creation and leads to an intriguing question: what if lawyers were the only true revolutionaries of our time?

Read more less

In 500, the legal order in Europe was structured around ancient customs, social practices and feudal values. By 1500, the effects of demographic change, new methods of farming and economic expansion had transformed the social and political landscape and had wrought radical change upon legal practices and systems throughout Western Europe. A Cultural History of Law in the Middle Ages explores this change and the rich and varied encounters between Christianity and Roman legal thought which shaped the period. Evolving from a combination of religious norms, local customs, secular legislations, and Roman jurisprudence, medieval law came to define an order that promoted new forms of individual and social representation, fostered the political renewal that heralded the transition from feudalism to the Early Modern state and contributed to the diffusion of a common legal language. Drawing upon a wealth of textual and visual sources, A Cultural History of Law in the Middle Ages presents essays that examine key cultural case studies of the period on the themes of justice, constitution, codes, agreements, arguments, property and possession, wrongs, and the legal profession.

Read more less

This work, divided into two volumes, is the study of the history of words in the Austronesian (An) languages—their origin in Proto-Austronesian (PAn) or at later stages and how they developed into the forms that are attested in the current An languages. A study of their history entails the reconstruction of the sound system (phonology) of PAn and an exposition of the sound laws (rules) whereby the original sounds changed into those attested in the current An languages. The primary aim of this work is to examine exhaustively the forms that can be reconstructed for PAn and also for the earliest stage after the An languages began to spread southward from Taiwan. For the later stages—that is, forms that can be traced no further back than to the proto-languages of late subgroups, we do not attempt to be exhaustive but confine ourselves to only some of the forms that are traceable to those times, treating those that figure prominently in the literature on historical An linguistics or those that have special characteristics important for understanding in general how forms arose and the processes that led to change. In short, the aim of this study is not just to reconstruct protomorphemes and order the reflexes according to the entries they fit under, but rather to account for the history of each fom1 that is attested and explain what happened historically to yield the attestations.

Read more less