Bad Machine


Book Description

Winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize The body is the `bad machine' of George Szirtes' latest book of poems. The sudden death of his elderly father and of his younger friend, the poet Michael Murphy, remind him how machines - sources of energy and delight in their prime - go so easily wrong; and that change in the body is a signal for moving on. But language too is a body. Here, politics, assimilation, desire, creatureliness and the pleasure and loss of the body, mingle in various attenuated forms such as lexicon, canzone, acrostics, mirror poems, postcards, and a series of `minimenta' after Anselm Kiefer whose love of history as rubble and monument haunts this collection. George Szirtes is one of our most inventive - and constantly reinventing - poets, and Bad Machine shows him developing new themes and new ways of writing in poems which stretch the possibilities of form and question language and its mastery. `A brilliantly virtuosic collection of deeply felt poems concerned with the personal impact of the dislocations and betrayals of history. The judges were impressed by the unusual degree of formal pressure exerted by Szirtes on his themes of memory and the impossibility of forgetting' - Douglas Dunn, on Reel, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize. `A major contribution to post-war literature...Using a painter-like collage of images to retrieve lost times, lives, cities and betrayed hopes, Szirtes weaves his personal and historical themes into work of profound psychological complexity' - Anne Stevenson, Poetry Review. `Any new collection from George Szirtes will treat its readers to a unique poetic combination: immense versatility and virtuosity when it comes to form, but also a tireless sympathy that dwells clear-sightedly on shocks, traumas and hard-won renewals from a century of migration and massacre' - Boyd Tonkin, Independent




Machine


Book Description

In this compelling and addictive novel set in the same universe as the critically acclaimed White Space series and perfect for fans of Karen Traviss and Ada Hoffman, a space station begins to unravel when a routine search and rescue mission returns after going dangerously awry. Meet Doctor Jens. She hasn’t had a decent cup of coffee in fifteen years. Her workday begins when she jumps out of perfectly good space ships and continues with developing treatments for sick alien species she’s never seen before. She loves her life. Even without the coffee. But Dr. Jens is about to discover an astonishing mystery: two ships, one ancient and one new, locked in a deadly embrace. The crew is suffering from an unknown ailment and the shipmind is trapped in an inadequate body, much of her memory pared away. Unfortunately, Dr. Jens can’t resist a mystery and she begins doing some digging. She has no idea that she’s about to discover horrifying and life-changing truths. Written in Elizabeth Bear’s signature “rollicking, suspenseful, and sentimental” (Publishers Weekly) style, Machine is a fresh and electrifying space opera that you won’t be able to put down.




TURBO


Book Description




It's Better to Be a Good Machine Than a Bad Person


Book Description

An informed, actionable?often dazzling?collection of essays and exercises that target the critical issues surrounding IVR and speech recognition. Get a backstage tour of the science of ergonomics and the philosophy of user interface design?and find out why your IVR and speech interface design goals should focus on predictability and usability over delight.




HCI International 2023 – Late Breaking Papers


Book Description

This seven-volume set LNCS 14054-14060 constitutes the proceedings of the 25th International Conference, HCI International 2023, in Copenhagen, Denmark, in July 2023. For the HCCII 2023 proceedings, a total of 1578 papers and 396 posters was carefully reviewed and selected from 7472 submissions. Additionally, 267 papers and 133 posters are included in the volumes of the proceedings published after the conference, as “Late Breaking Work”. These papers were organized in the following topical sections: HCI Design and User Experience; Cognitive Engineering and Augmented Cognition; Cultural Issues in Design; Technologies for the Aging Population; Accessibility and Design for All; Designing for Health and Wellbeing; Information Design, Visualization, Decision-making and Collaboration; Social Media, Creative Industries and Cultural Digital Experiences; Digital Human Modeling, Ergonomics and Safety; HCI in Automated Vehicles and Intelligent Transportation; Sustainable Green Smart Cities and Smart Industry; eXtended Reality Interactions; Gaming and Gamification Experiences; Interacting with Artificial Intelligence; Security, Privacy, Trust and Ethics; Learning Technologies and Learning Experiences; eCommerce, Digital Marketing and eFinance.




The Epistemology of Statistical Science


Book Description

Whilst this is a book about higher education, there are important lessons for schooling. On the one hand, the book is a powerful demonstration of the potential of DST for enhancing learning in schools, particularly in schools serving the poor and marginalised. On the other hand, improving teaching and learning in higher education, through the creative use of technology, is essential to overcome the learning challenges of those entering tertiary level institutions.




The Purchasing Machine


Book Description

Every day companies leave billions of dollars in invisible, unrealized savings on the table because of poor supply chain management practices. Now supply management experts Dave Nelson, Patricia E. Moody, and Jonathan Stegner show not only how leading companies recoup these savings through their mastery of target costing, value engineering, and supplier development, but how supply chain management -- the discipline of acquiring and moving material -- has become a manufacturing company's hottest competitive weapon. Based on a survey of 247 purchasing managers and more than 1,000 hours of interviews and on-site visits, the authors have selected ten top firms whose supply management pioneers excel at twenty "best practices." With cases and stories, Nelson, Moody, and Stegner show how these leading-edge purchasing departments at American Express, SmithKline Beecham, DaimlerChrysler, Harley-Davidson, Honda of America, IBM, John Deere, Whirlpool, Flextronics, and Sun Microsystems have put into place pathbreaking processes and procedures. Here, for example, described in step-by-step detail, are Chrysler's SCORE program and Honda's strategic sourcing strategy that saved the companies billions. The book also includes a crucial section on the next stage of supplier development that will involve the sourcing and allocation of ideas as well as materials. The authors provide concrete, practical steps to improvement that any supply chain manager can take to successfully implement these best practices. The Purchasing Machine will be required reading for logistics, purchasing, and procurement managers in hundreds of thousands of companies. The authoritative nature of the authors' source material is certain to make this the single most important and practical reference on best purchasing practices for years to come.




The Pale Rider


Book Description

I wake up surrounded by death and my memories are gone. A man in a beige hazmat suit reaches his hand through the carnage. “Come with me if you want to live.” I know I’m supposed to know that from somewhere, but I don’t. I know the world outside me is not right. People either die or they are Rage Heads. Somehow, a virus got out that has turned people into red eyed freaks who eat flesh. They are fast, their flesh is rotting off their bodies and they have one goal—kill. I don’t know my mystery man in the hazmat suit, but he says I can trust him. He was at that lab looking for something. He claims not to have found it. He only found me. I see the way he looks at me when I ask what he was doing in that lab. I might feel safe with him, but he’s lying to me. He knows everything about me, including the nickname people used to call me, but he tells me I ask too many questions. Maybe I’d be safer on my own. The Pale Rider is Book 1 of End of Days, a Post Apocalyptic slow burn reverse harem romance. The harem will slowly grow as the books progress. The harem features the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. search terms: reverse harem zombie romance, reverse harem dystopian, reverse harem end of the world, reverse harem angels, reverse harem complete series, reverse harem zombie apocalypse, reverse harem apocalypse, reverse harem 4 horsemen, reverse harem four horsement




God and Popular Culture


Book Description

This contributed two-volume work tackles a fascinating topic: how and why God plays a central role in the modern world and profoundly influences politics, art, culture, and our moral reflection—even for nonbelievers. God—in the many ways that people around the globe conceptualize Him, Her, or It—is one of the most powerful, divisive, unifying, and creative elements of human culture. The two volumes of God and Popular Culture: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Entertainment Industry's Most Influential Figure provide readers with a balanced and accessible analysis of this fascinating topic that allows anyone who appreciates any art, music, television, film, and other forms of entertainment to have a new perspective on a favorite song or movie. Written by a collective of both believers and nonbelievers, the essays enable both nonreligious individuals and those who are spiritually guided to consider how culture approaches and has appropriated God to reveal truths about humanity and society. The book discusses the intersections of God with film, television, sports, politics, commerce, and popular culture, thereby documenting how the ongoing messages and conversations about God that occur among the general population also occur within the context of the entertainment that we as members of society consume—often without our recognition of the discussion.




Computation Engineering


Book Description

Although it is critical in today’s world that students who take automata theory and logic courses retain what they have learned and understand how to use their knowledge, many textbooks typically emphasize automata theory only, not logic, thus losing a valuable opportunity to tie these subjects together and reinforce learning. This textbook uses interactive tools throughout, such as simple BDD and SAT tools. By providing a blend of theory and practical applications the material is presented as both inviting and current. Key concepts are illustrated in multiple domains so that information is reinforced and students can begin to tie theory and logic together.




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