Download or read book Chains of Time written by R. B. Woodstone and published by . This book was released on 2020-07-05 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Across race and time, a magical battle for freedom... 1859 Mkembro, West Africa "I know what's going to happen," says Amara as she wakes on the morning of her wedding to discover that she has been blessed -- or cursed -- with the power of prophecy. In her visions, she sees the slaver Van Owen, who will soon arrive on Africa's shores. Her father will challenge the invaders, wielding magic against rifles and whips, and setting in motion Amara's bid for freedom -- a quest that will extend for five generations. But no wait is too long, for Amara can see far into the future. Chains of Time tells two interweaving stories -- Amara's nineteenth century slave chronicle and the tale of her modern-day descendants, all of them fighting to find their voices, their redemption, and their freedom. Praise for CHAINS OF TIME... "A perceptive and gripping tale of race and family." -- Kirkus Reviews "★★★★★ The beauty of Woodstone's prose evokes the intensity and allegorical journey that is usually reserved for literary fiction. The writing is simultaneously gorgeous, terrifying, and hopeful." -- Readers' Favorite "R.B. Woodstone has crafted a thoughtful, time-spanning novel that touches on family, oppression, and otherness in Chains of Time... the dramatic blend of history, tragedy, and magic pulls a reader in from the very start." -- Self-Publishing Review "An exceptional story that will place you in the heart and mind of each of the amazing characters. Prepare to be moved by a unique story that delves deep into the historical abuse of a people but has dynamic pockets of excitement, heartbreak, and the paranormal. Highly recommended." -- Lesley Jones, international best-selling author "With captivating characters on a fulfilling magical journey, Chains of Time is a strong novel that does not disappoint." -- IndependentBookReview.com "Though the work is rooted in fantasy and magical realism, there's a highly realistic quality to the historical content and the experience of Africans in the tragedy of the slave trade. Young adult and adult readers alike can appreciate the sophistication of ideas, which are layered into a powerful storyline that blends present and past exceedingly well." -- K.C. Finn, USA Today best-selling author and Chanticleer Book Award winner

Download or read book Chains written by Laurie Halse Anderson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-01-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If an entire nation could seek its freedom, why not a girl? As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. When Isabel meets Curzon, a slave with ties to the Patriots, he encourages her to spy on her owners, who know details of British plans for invasion. She is reluctant at first, but when the unthinkable happens to Ruth, Isabel realizes her loyalty is available to the bidder who can provide her with freedom. From acclaimed author Laurie Halse Anderson comes this compelling, impeccably researched novel that shows the lengths we can go to cast off our chains, both physical and spiritual.

Download or read book Dragon in Chains written by Daniel Fox and published by Del Rey. This book was released on 2009-01-27 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From award-winning author Daniel Fox comes a ravishingly written epic of revolution and romance set in a world where magic is found in stone and in water, in dragons and in men–and in the chains that bind them. Deposed by a vicious usurper, a young emperor flees with his court to the small island of Taishu. There, with a dwindling army, a manipulative mother, and a resentful population–and his only friend a local fishergirl he takes as a concubine–he prepares for his last stand. In the mountains of Taishu, a young miner finds a huge piece of jade, the potent mineral whose ingestion can gift the emperor with superhuman attributes. Setting out to deliver the stone to the embattled emperor, Yu Shan finds himself changing into something more than human, something forbidden. Meanwhile, a great dragon lies beneath the strait that separates Taishu from the mainland, bound by chains that must be constantly renewed by the magic of a community of monks. When the monks are slaughtered by a willful pirate captain, a maimed slave assumes the terrible burden of keeping the dragon subdued. If he should fail, if she should rise free, the result will be slaughter on an unimaginable scale. Now the prisoner beneath the sea and the men and women above it will shatter old bonds of loyalty and love and forge a common destiny from the ruins of an empire.

Download or read book Classical Loop in Loop Chains written by J.R. Smith and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-04-18 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ThiS is not only a book of instruction in chainmaking but it is also a work celebrating man's continuous creativity over thousands of years. At times something that man creates has far-reach ing effects; an example that quickly comes to mind is the wheel, which has enabled many devel opments, from pottery to computers. At this point it is important to note that these same wheels could not have been made without metal tools. From early Neolithic times on gold was a favorite choice in the making of jewelry. During the Neolithic period these "shining stones," probably alluvial, were prized. Actually gold was cold worked as if it were a stone. There is a surviving example of cold-worked gold from Catahuyuk (present day Turkey) estimated to have been made in 6500 B. C. There were only four metals on the earth's surface that were found in sufficient quantity to be used: gold, copper, silver, and meteoric iron. An understanding of the malleability of gold, and of the annealing effect of fire, changed jewelry making; new forms were found. Gold was no longer a piece of stone but a material that could be flattened and made very thin. Sheet and foil are the oldest forms of worked gold. The smiths' tools were stone, wood, and horn.

Download or read book The LIVING Supply Chain written by Robert Handfield and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2017-06-02 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Creates a managerial compass for entering into the LIVING (Live, Intelligent, Velocity, Interactive, Networked, and Good) era of supply chain management and defines the imperative for creating Velocity and Visibility as the focal point for exploiting new digital, mobile, and cloud-based technologies Written by well-known researchers in the field, this book addresses the changes that have occurred and are still unfolding at various organizations that are involved in building real-time supply chains. The authors draw on their experiences with multiple companies, along with references to the natural evolution of ecosystems throughout to help identify the “new rules of supply chain management." The LIVING principles associated with the rapid digitization and technology changes occurring in the global economy are discussed, along with the push to become more sustainable and responsive to customer needs. “ Handfield and Linton reveal the “secret ingredient” to leveraging the power of a well managed supply chain....will revolutionize the way companies approach supply chain management.” Frank Crespo, Vice President, Global Supply Network Division (CPO/Logistics/IoT Analytics), Caterpillar Inc. “ The LIVING supply chain is a wake up call to any enterprise that depends on suppliers and contractors. Be fast, be nimble and make supply chain transparency the nucleus of your operations or become endangered.” Paul Massih, Vice President, BP PSCM “ ...a fascinating journey through the future of supply chain management ... a must read for every supplychain professional.” Yossi Sheffi, Professor, MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics “ ... a great “living” reading on how to bring supply chains to a powerful living state. The idea of Live-Interactive-Velocity–Intelligent–Networked-Good is the foundation of how supply chains can be agile, adaptive and aligned. ...of value to every supply chain executive and practitioner.” Hau Lee, Professor, Stanford University “ Successful businesses are those that support the success of their customers. This book captures the essence of our volatile, uncertain world and the opportunities that exist for the commercially astute, organizationally integrated business. More important, it offers insight to the recipe for 21st century operations and the management of complex supply ecosystems.” Tim Cummins, CEO, International Association of Commercial and Contract Management “ A LIVING supply chain requires a living company. The authors make a great case for how Flex is creating a living company to thrive in the living supply chain.” Tom Choi, Harold E. Fear on Eminent Scholar Chair of Purchasing Management, Arizona State University, Executive Director, CAPS Research “ To survive we need to have an adaptive supply chain and capability to both optimize and adapt simultaneously. This book begins to describe the ability to shift from functional silos to E2E Frictionless flow with the maturity to make E2E tradeoff decisions as a key enabler for success.” Wayne Rothman, Vice President, Enterprise Supply Chain Planning, Johnson & Johnson “A fantastic read and excellent stories from Dr. Handfield and Tom.” Joanne E. Wright, Vice President, IBM Supply Chain ROBERT HANDFIELD, PhD, is Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management and Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at North Carolina State University. The author of four books and over 150 journal articles, Dr. Handfield received his PhD in Opera

Download or read book Continuous Time Markov Chains written by William J. Anderson and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continuous time parameter Markov chains have been useful for modeling various random phenomena occurring in queueing theory, genetics, demography, epidemiology, and competing populations. This is the first book about those aspects of the theory of continuous time Markov chains which are useful in applications to such areas. It studies continuous time Markov chains through the transition function and corresponding q-matrix, rather than sample paths. An extensive discussion of birth and death processes, including the Stieltjes moment problem, and the Karlin-McGregor method of solution of the birth and death processes and multidimensional population processes is included, and there is an extensive bibliography. Virtually all of this material is appearing in book form for the first time.

Download or read book House of Chains written by Steven Erikson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-08-22 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fantasy-roman.

Download or read book Passage Times for Markov Chains written by R. Syski and published by IOS Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 564 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a survey of work on passage times in stable Markov chains with a discrete state space and a continuous time. Passage times have been investigated since early days of probability theory and its applications. The best known example is the first entrance time to a set, which embraces waiting times, busy periods, absorption problems, extinction phenomena, etc. Another example of great interest is the last exit time from a set. The book presents a unifying treatment of passage times, written in a systematic manner and based on modern developments. The appropriate unifying framework is provided by probabilistic potential theory, and the results presented in the text are interpreted from this point of view. In particular, the crucial role of the Dirichlet problem and the Poisson equation is stressed. The work is addressed to applied probalilists, and to those who are interested in applications of probabilistic methods in their own areas of interest. The level of presentation is that of a graduate text in applied stochastic processes. Hence, clarity of presentation takes precedence over secondary mathematical details whenever no serious harm may be expected. Advanced concepts described in the text gain nowadays growing acceptance in applied fields, and it is hoped that this work will serve as an useful introduction. Abstracted by Mathematical Reviews, issue 94c

Download or read book Continuous Time Markov Chains and Applications written by G. George Yin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-14 with total page 442 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book gives a systematic treatment of singularly perturbed systems that naturally arise in control and optimization, queueing networks, manufacturing systems, and financial engineering. It presents results on asymptotic expansions of solutions of Komogorov forward and backward equations, properties of functional occupation measures, exponential upper bounds, and functional limit results for Markov chains with weak and strong interactions. To bridge the gap between theory and applications, a large portion of the book is devoted to applications in controlled dynamic systems, production planning, and numerical methods for controlled Markovian systems with large-scale and complex structures in the real-world problems. This second edition has been updated throughout and includes two new chapters on asymptotic expansions of solutions for backward equations and hybrid LQG problems. The chapters on analytic and probabilistic properties of two-time-scale Markov chains have been almost completely rewritten and the notation has been streamlined and simplified. This book is written for applied mathematicians, engineers, operations researchers, and applied scientists. Selected material from the book can also be used for a one semester advanced graduate-level course in applied probability and stochastic processes.

Download or read book Cy in Chains written by David L. Dudley and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2013 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cy Williams, thirteen, has always known that he and the other black folks on Strong's plantation have to obey white men, no question. Sure, he's free, as black people have been since his grandfather's day, but in rural Georgia, that means they're free to be whipped, abused, even killed. Almost four years later, Cy yearns for that freedom, such as it was. Now he's a chain gang laborer, forced to do backbreaking work, penned in and shackled like an animal, brutalized, beaten, and humiliated bythe boss of the camp and his hired overseers. For Cy and the boys he's chained to, there's no way out, no way back. And then hope begins to grow in him, along with strength and courage he didn't know he had. Cy is sure that a chance at freedom is worth any risk, any sacrifice. This powerful, moving story opens a window on a painful chapter in the history of race relations.

Download or read book Chains of Freedom written by Selina Rosen and published by Meisha Merlin Publishing. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The world went to hell in a hand basket and was taken over by an evil empire known as the Reliance. The Reliance turned the Earth into a planet of agricultural slaves and went off in search of better, more mineral and resource-rich planets where they ran into a bipedal, humanoid race known as Argys--who were doing the same thing. They instantly decided not to share the universe and went to war. Needless to say, neither the Reliance nor their alien enemy care one bit about the general population of either species. When political prisoner David Grant ran from the forced labor camp where he'd been imprisoned, his only thought was of escape. However, fate turns its hand and as he runs blindly through the forest he literally runs into the one person who can help him in his fight against the all-powerful Reliance. RJ is the rebel Elite who's been raiding supply trains and sabotaging Reliance facilities so successfully that even the work units know her name. With David's innocent enthusiasm and desire for justice and RJ's knowledge of weapons and warfare, they begin to chip away at the Reliance armor"--Yard Dog Press website.

Download or read book Discrete Time Markov Chains written by George Yin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on discrete-time-scale Markov chains, the contents of this book are an outgrowth of some of the authors' recent research. The motivation stems from existing and emerging applications in optimization and control of complex hybrid Markovian systems in manufacturing, wireless communication, and financial engineering. Much effort in this book is devoted to designing system models arising from these applications, analyzing them via analytic and probabilistic techniques, and developing feasible computational algorithms so as to reduce the inherent complexity. This book presents results including asymptotic expansions of probability vectors, structural properties of occupation measures, exponential bounds, aggregation and decomposition and associated limit processes, and interface of discrete-time and continuous-time systems. One of the salient features is that it contains a diverse range of applications on filtering, estimation, control, optimization, and Markov decision processes, and financial engineering. This book will be an important reference for researchers in the areas of applied probability, control theory, operations research, as well as for practitioners who use optimization techniques. Part of the book can also be used in a graduate course of applied probability, stochastic processes, and applications.

Download or read book Chains of Darkness written by Caris Roane and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2014-07 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For countless days ad nights, the vampire Lucian has been chained, starved, and tortured in a Himalayan cavern. Prisoner and pawn of his powerful ancestral father, Lucian has all but given up any hope of escape. Until a beautiful stranger risks her life to save him. Binding herself to a creature she doesn't trust, Claire frees the vampire from his prison. But now he needs Claire's blood and body to regain his strength.

Download or read book Markov Chains written by Pierre Bremaud and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Primarily an introduction to the theory of stochastic processes at the undergraduate or beginning graduate level, the primary objective of this book is to initiate students in the art of stochastic modelling. However it is motivated by significant applications and progressively brings the student to the borders of contemporary research. Examples are from a wide range of domains, including operations research and electrical engineering. Researchers and students in these areas as well as in physics, biology and the social sciences will find this book of interest.

Download or read book Discrete Time Markov Chains written by G. George Yin and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2005-10-04 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book focuses on two-time-scale Markov chains in discrete time. Our motivation stems from existing and emerging applications in optimization and control of complex systems in manufacturing, wireless communication, and ?nancial engineering. Much of our e?ort in this book is devoted to designing system models arising from various applications, analyzing them via analytic and probabilistic techniques, and developing feasible compu- tionalschemes. Ourmainconcernistoreducetheinherentsystemcompl- ity. Although each of the applications has its own distinct characteristics, all of them are closely related through the modeling of uncertainty due to jump or switching random processes. Oneofthesalientfeaturesofthisbookistheuseofmulti-timescalesin Markovprocessesandtheirapplications. Intuitively,notallpartsorcom- nents of a large-scale system evolve at the same rate. Some of them change rapidly and others vary slowly. The di?erent rates of variations allow us to reduce complexity via decomposition and aggregation. It would be ideal if we could divide a large system into its smallest irreducible subsystems completely separable from one another and treat each subsystem indep- dently. However, this is often infeasible in reality due to various physical constraints and other considerations. Thus, we have to deal with situations in which the systems are only nearly decomposable in the sense that there are weak links among the irreducible subsystems, which dictate the oc- sional regime changes of the system. An e?ective way to treat such near decomposability is time-scale separation. That is, we set up the systems as if there were two time scales, fast vs. slow. xii Preface Followingthetime-scaleseparation,weusesingularperturbationmeth- ology to treat the underlying systems.

Download or read book Chains written by Shiloh Walker and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The national bestselling author of "blazingly hot" (Sensual Romance Reviews) novels raises the temperature even more with three all-new stories of sizzling suspense Renee was the homecoming queen with the perfect boyfriend and the perfect life. Lacey was the golden girl with the bright future. And Sherra always looked like the princess in a fairy tale. The three girls each seemed charmed-until one tragic night shattered their hopes for normalcy. Now, fifteen years later, the women are returning to their hometown of Madison, Ohio, where three men await them-each dangerous in his own way. And when each of the women succumb to desire, they may also find the safety they've been searching for.

Download or read book Selected Topics on Continuous time Controlled Markov Chains and Markov Games written by Tomas Prieto-Rumeau and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2012 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book concerns continuous-time controlled Markov chains, also known as continuous-time Markov decision processes. They form a class of stochastic control problems in which a single decision-maker wishes to optimize a given objective function. This book is also concerned with Markov games, where two decision-makers (or players) try to optimize their own objective function. Both decision-making processes appear in a large number of applications in economics, operations research, engineering, and computer science, among other areas. An extensive, self-contained, up-to-date analysis of basic optimality criteria (such as discounted and average reward), and advanced optimality criteria (e.g., bias, overtaking, sensitive discount, and Blackwell optimality) is presented. A particular emphasis is made on the application of the results herein: algorithmic and computational issues are discussed, and applications to population models and epidemic processes are shown. This book is addressed to students and researchers in the fields of stochastic control and stochastic games. Moreover, it could be of interest also to undergraduate and beginning graduate students because the reader is not supposed to have a high mathematical background: a working knowledge of calculus, linear algebra, probability, and continuous-time Markov chains should suffice to understand the contents of the book.