LITMIR.BIZ

America finds itself in a moment of profound and complex governing challenges. A crushing recession followed by a feeble recovery have shaken the foundations of our financial and economic system. We are struggling with the exploding costs of health-care and entitlement spending, and fiscal disaster looms as our society ages. American families are anxious about wage stagnation, barriers to social mobility, and the nation’s competitiveness in an era of globalization. Meanwhile, our large governing institutions — most of them designed several decades ago — are showing signs of strain and decay, calling out for serious reform. National Affairs, a quarterly journal of essays on domestic policy and political economy, was launched in 2009 to help Americans think more clearly about these problems and to develop promising solutions. This book is a collection of some of the most timely and concrete policy proposals published in the journal’s pages, offering ideas for reforming our welfare state, our tax system, financial regulation, monetary policy, education, state finances, and more. Each essay was written by a prominent expert in the field—the authors are all notable right-leaning academics, policy experts, former government officials, or think tank scholars with national reputations. The book thus comprises a ready-made domestic policy agenda for conservative policymakers (including a Republican president, should one be elected in 2012), based on the latest and best thinking from the world of conservative policy intellectuals. It will be the only resource of its kind in this election year—a one-stop-shop for conservative policy ideas.

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The essential annual guide to the newest voices in short fiction selected by Danielle Evans, Alice Sola Kim, and Carmen Maria Machado "Prominent issues of social justice and cultural strife are woven thematically throughout 12 stories. Stories of prison reform, the immigrant experience, and the aftermath of sexual assault make the book a vivid time capsule that will guide readers back into the ethos of 2019 for generations to come . . . Each story displays a mastery of the form, sure to inspire readers to seek out further writing from these adept authors and publications." — Booklist Who are the most promising short story writers working today? Where do we look to discover the future stars of literary fiction? This book offers a dozen compelling answers to these questions. The stories collected here represent the most recent winners of the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers, which recognizes twelve writers who have made outstanding debuts in literary magazines in the previous year. Chosen by a panel of distinguished judges, themselves innovators of the short story form, they take us from the hutongs of Beijing to the highways of Saskatchewan, from the letters of a poet devoted to God in seventeenth-century France to a chorus of poets devoted to revolution in the “last days of empire.” They describe consuming, joyful, tragic, complex, ever-changing relationships between four friends who meet at a survivors group for female college students; between an English teacher and his student-turned-lover in Japan; between a mother and her young son. In these pages, a woodcutter who loses his way home meets a man wearing a taxidermied wolf mask, and an Ivy League–educated “good black girl” climbs the flagpole in front of the capitol building in South Carolina. Each piece comes with an introduction by its original editors, whose commentaries provide valuable insight into what magazines are looking for in their submissions, and showcase the vital work they do to nurture literature’s newest voices.

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Moral Ground brings together the testimony of over eighty visionaries—theologians and religious leaders, scientists, elected officials, business leaders, naturalists, activists, and writers—to present a diverse and compelling call to honor our individual and collective moral responsibility to our planet. In the face of environmental degradation and global climate change, scientific knowledge alone does not tell us what we ought to do. The missing premise of the argument and much-needed center piece in the debate to date has been the need for ethical values, moral guidance, and principled reasons for doing the right thing for our planet, its animals, its plants, and its people.Contributors from throughout the world (including North America, Africa, Australia, Asia, and Europe) bring forth a rich variety of heritages and perspectives. Their contributions take many forms, illustrating the rich variety of ways we express our moral beliefs in letters, poems, economic analyses, proclamations, essays, and stories. In the end, their voices affirm why we must move beyond a scientific study and response to embrace an ongoing model of repair and sustainability. These writings demonstrate that scientific analysis and moral conviction can work successfully side-by-side.This is a book that can speak to anyone, regardless of his or her worldview, and that also includes a section devoted to “what next” thinking that helps the reader put the words and ideas into action in their personal lives. Thanks to generous support from numerous landmark organizations, such as the Kendeda Fund and Germeshausen Foundation, the book is just the starting point for a national, and international, discussion that will be carried out in a variety of ways, from online debate to “town hall” meetings, from essay competitions for youth to sermons from pulpits in all denominations. The “Moral Ground movement” will result in a newly discovered, or rediscovered, commitment on a personal and community level to consensus about our ethical obligation to the future.

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The Handbook of Multimodal-Multisensor Interfaces provides the first authoritative resource on what has become the dominant paradigm for new computer interfaces-user input involving new media (speech, multi-touch, hand and body gestures, facial expressions, writing) embedded in multimodal-multisensor interfaces. This three-volume handbook is written by international experts and pioneers in the field. It provides a textbook, reference, and technology roadmap for professionals working in this and related areas. This third volume focuses on state-of-the-art multimodal language and dialogue processing, including semantic integration of modalities. The development of increasingly expressive embodied agents and robots has become an active test bed for coordinating multimodal dialogue input and output, including processing of language and nonverbal communication. In addition, major application areas are featured for commercializing multimodal-multisensor systems, including automotive, robotic, manufacturing, machine translation, banking, communications, and others. These systems rely heavily on software tools, data resources, and international standards to facilitate their development. For insights into the future, emerging multimodal-multisensor technology trends are highlighted in medicine, robotics, interaction with smart spaces, and similar areas. Finally, this volume discusses the societal impact of more widespread adoption of these systems, such as privacy risks and how to mitigate them. The handbook chapters provide a number of walk-through examples of system design and processing, information on practical resources for developing and evaluating new systems, and terminology and tutorial support for mastering this emerging field. In the final section of this volume, experts exchange views on a timely and controversial challenge topic, and how they believe multimodal-multisensor interfaces need to be equipped to most effectively advance human performance during the next decade.

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Bite-size, movingly rendered essays from some of the most beloved and celebrated writers of our time: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Anthony Doerr, Colum McCann, Lev Grossman, Carmen Maria Machado, Alexander Chee, Porochista Khakpour, Claire Messud, and many, many more These essays read like conversations among friends over the kitchen table, or nostalgic memories shared over a late-night glass of wine; they are intimate, vulnerable, nuanced, and deeply relatable. It's a remarkable look into our favorite writers' lives (even the messy, dark parts) So many of us, be we foodies or avid readers (or both), have memories rooted in our senses of smell and taste; Eat Joy is comfort food for any reader With beautiful paper over board packaging and 19 full-color illustrations throughout the book, Eat Joy makes a beautiful gift for readers, foodies, and cooks alike Eat Joy ’s loving approach to comfort food of every variety taps into the growing self-care trend; this book is a window into the comforts of writers we know and love An older but perfectly apt comparative title is Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson (9781401308629), published by Hachette in 2007 Bookseller Praise for Eat Joy : "Food is intrinsically linked with our memories. This book is a wonderful collection of how food affects us, how it forms our lives and memories and gives us a sense of place and self." — Lee Virden Geurkink, Monkey and Dog Books (Fort Worth, TX) «Some of these stories are so heart-wrenching; some are funny—this book has something for everyone. Be careful, though; some will need a box of Kleenex.» — Jason Kennedy, Boswell Book Company (Milwaukee, WI) «A delightful and wide-ranging collection.» — Emily Crowe, An Unlikely Story (Plainville, MA) «Such a satisfying collection of essays about our connections to food and experiences. Just like a wonderful meal, you'll devour this collection and lean back 100 percent satiated and content.» — Nicole Cousins, White Birch Books (North Conway, NH) " Eat Joy is a thoughtful collection of stories from writers about the food and recipes that have comforted them most in their lives. Sometimes sad, sometimes hopeful, these stories remind us how much of the human experience we all share. With recipes for everything from basic white rice to more in-depth meals, this collection will feed your soul. Perfect for anyone who enjoys food writing, essays, and the ideal gift for a friend who has gone through or is going through a difficult situation. The book itself is a comfort and joy." — Beth Seufer Buss, Bookmarks (Winston-Salem, NC) «Loved all these short stories about comfort food and the recipes these authors used to get through tough times in their lives. Unexpectedly emotional, sweet, and touching.» — Allie Gilliland, The Bookworm of Edwards (Edwards, CO) "There are moments in our lives that imprint on our souls, and often when we recollect them, our memories entangle with sensory information. The visceral quality of food as it relates to memory is unparalleled—sometimes we eat our favorite foods as comfort during grief, or a dish prepared by a friend becomes healing food from then on. Eat Joy is a lively collection of autobiographical stories in which food plays a starring role (recipes included—and they are lovely!). A diverse selection of celebrated authors tell stories of growth and loss, healing and homecoming, and the resulting collection is nothing short of magical." — Mary Wahlmeier, The Raven Book Store (Lawrence, KS) "Humans have an intimate relationship with food. Eat Joy gives us the stories of some of our most beloved writers as they share big moments in their lives and the recipes that were a part of them. Covering big topics like growing pains and loss to healing and homecoming, these stories are delicious. Eat Joy is a perfect host/hostess gift." — Rachel Watkins, Avid Bookshop (Athens, GA) “ Eat Joy is a fantastic collection of short stories and recipes. Some of the stories are funny, some are heart-wrenching, but all are personal and pay a wonderful tribute to how food links us to our memories. I loved it.” — Sarah Cassavant, Subtext Books (Saint Paul, MN) «This book combines two of my favorite things: essays and food. The essayists here haven't written cookbooks but are writing about how food has sustained them in challenging, often heartbreaking times. Readers will be eager to make the recipes that inspire them and will relish the personal stories told by an eclectic mix of gifted writers.» — Cindy Pauldine, The River's End Bookstore (Oswego, NY) «LOVE this cookbook. I tend to read them like novels, and this is perfect for that —the stories are unique and engaging, the recipes range from a boxed brownie mix to more in-depth foods, and it's a lovely book overall. I enjoyed it so much that I added it to the Powell's What I'm Giving table at the airport for the holiday season.» — Elizabeth Cummings, Powell's Books (Portland, OR)

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Cryptography is concerned with the construction of schemes that withstand any abuse. A cryptographic scheme is constructed so as to maintain a desired functionality, even under malicious attempts aimed at making it deviate from its prescribed behavior. The design of cryptographic systems must be based on firm foundations, whereas ad hoc approaches and heuristics are a very dangerous way to go. These foundations were developed mostly in the 1980s, in works that are all co-authored by Shafi Goldwasser and/or Silvio Micali. These works have transformed cryptography from an engineering discipline, lacking sound theoretical foundations, into a scientific field possessing a well-founded theory, which influences practice as well as contributes to other areas of theoretical computer science. This book celebrates these works, which were the basis for bestowing the 2012 A.M. Turing Award upon Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali. A significant portion of this book reproduces some of these works, and another portion consists of scientific perspectives by some of their former students. The highlight of the book is provided by a few chapters that allow the readers to meet Shafi and Silvio in person. These include interviews with them, their biographies and their Turing Award lectures.

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This book is a celebration of Leslie Lamport's work on concurrency, interwoven in four-and-a-half decades of an evolving industry: from the introduction of the first personal computer to an era when parallel and distributed multiprocessors are abundant. His works lay formal foundations for concurrent computations executed by interconnected computers. Some of the algorithms have become standard engineering practice for fault tolerant distributed computing – distributed systems that continue to function correctly despite failures of individual components. He also developed a substantial body of work on the formal specification and verification of concurrent systems, and has contributed to the development of automated tools applying these methods. Part I consists of technical chapters of the book and a biography. The technical chapters of this book present a retrospective on Lamport's original ideas from experts in the field. Through this lens, it portrays their long-lasting impact. The chapters cover timeless notions Lamport introduced: the Bakery algorithm, atomic shared registers and sequential consistency; causality and logical time; Byzantine Agreement; state machine replication and Paxos; temporal logic of actions (TLA). The professional biography tells of Lamport's career, providing the context in which his work arose and broke new grounds, and discusses LaTeX – perhaps Lamport’s most influential contribution outside the field of concurrency. This chapter gives a voice to the people behind the achievements, notably Lamport himself, and additionally the colleagues around him, who inspired, collaborated, and helped him drive worldwide impact. Part II consists of a selection of Leslie Lamport's most influential papers. This book touches on a lifetime of contributions by Leslie Lamport to the field of concurrency and on the extensive influence he had on people working in the field. It will be of value to historians of science, and to researchers and students who work in the area of concurrency and who are interested to read about the work of one of the most influential researchers in this field.

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The definitive reference work with comprehensive analysis and review of peer production Peer production is no longer the sole domain of small groups of technical or academic elites. The internet has enabled millions of people to collectively produce, revise, and distribute everything from computer operating systems and applications to encyclopedia articles and film and television databases. Today, peer production has branched out to include wireless networks, online currencies, biohacking, and peer-to-peer urbanism, amongst others. The Handbook of Peer Production outlines central concepts, examines current and emerging areas of application, and analyzes the forms and principles of cooperation that continue to impact multiple areas of production and sociality. Featuring contributions from an international team of experts in the field, this landmark work maps the origins and manifestations of peer production, discusses the factors and conditions that are enabling, advancing, and co-opting peer production, and considers its current impact and potential consequences for the social order. Detailed chapters address the governance, political economy, and cultures of peer production, user motivations, social rules and norms, the role of peer production in social change and activism, and much more. Filling a gap in available literature as the only extensive overview of peer production’s modes of generating informational goods and services, this groundbreaking volume: Offers accessible, up-to-date information to both specialists and non-specialists across academia, industry, journalism, and public advocacy Includes interviews with leading practitioners discussing the future of peer production Discusses the history, traditions, key debates, and pioneers of peer production Explores technologies for peer production, openness and licensing, peer learning, open design and manufacturing, and free and open-source software The Handbook of Peer Production is an indispensable resource for students, instructors, researchers, and professionals working in fields including communication studies, science and technology studies, sociology, and management studies, as well as those interested in the network information economy, the public domain, and new forms of organization and networking.

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