Probabilistic robotics is a new and growing area in robotics, concerned with perception and control in the face of uncertainty. Building on the field of mathematical statistics, probabilistic robotics endows robots with a new level of robustness in real-world situations. This book introduces the reader to a wealth of techniques and algorithms in the field. All algorithms are based on a single overarching mathematical foundation. Each chapter provides example implementations in pseudo code, detailed mathematical derivations, discussions from a practitioner's perspective, and extensive lists of exercises and class projects. The book's Web site, http://www.probabilistic-robotics.org, has additional material. The book is relevant for anyone involved in robotic software development and scientific research. It will also be of interest to applied statisticians and engineers dealing with real-world sensor data.

All too often, companies focus on the threats and risks inherent in venturing abroad. But multinational firms actually have opportunities that are not available to purely domestic firms. This work discusses the foundtions of multinational financial management.

This laboratory guide for successful electrophoretic separations is divided into two parts to provide readers with a thorough presentation of the fundamentals followed by a detailed description of the most common methods currently in use. This fourth edition retains the successful concept of its predecessors, yet features a brand-new layout, and is further enhanced by a section on difference gel electrophoresis, while the chapter on proteome analysis is practically all new and considerably extended, plus there are now around 10 % new literature references.

Since the publication of the first edition over 50 years ago, Introduction to Solid State Physics has been a standard solid state physics text for physics students. The author`s goal from the beginning has been to write a book that is accessible to undergraduates and consistently teachable.

Essentials of Computational Chemistry provides a balanced introduction to this dynamic subject. Suitable for both experimentalists and theorists, a wide range of samples and applications are included drawn from all key areas. The book carefully leads the reader thorough the necessary equations providing information explanations and reasoning where necessary and firmly placing each equation in context.

In The Court of Public Opinion is a lively and practical guide for anyone involved in high-stakes litigation. Given the increasingly litigious, media-saturated business environment, companies and high-profile individuals need protection-not just in the courthouses, but in the court of public opinion. Using examples from many of the most famous cases in the past several years, In The Court of Public Opinion contains real-life strategies that CEOs, lawyers, and other executives can use when they find themselves in a high-profile lawsuit. James F. Haggerty offers advice on public relations strategies that will help businesses and individuals save their reputations as well as their livelihood.

How to create effective and exciting business events from huge trade shows to power meetings? Meetings planning guru Susan Friedman shares her secrets of success and reveals how she remains a star in the convention and event industry (which generates $100 billion worldwide and provides 1.5 million full-time jobs in the U.S.). Filled with practical tips on how to keep events on time and on budget, this guide gives expert advice on managing hidden costs and planning around event emergencies. Readers get clear counsel about the fine print of event planning from contracts and insurance, to zoning and liquor licenses, to dealing with volunteers and union workers. Susan Friedmann, CSP (Lake Placid, NY), is President of The Tradeshow Coach, an organization that works with national and international exhibitors planning trade shows and special events. Susan has executed trade show programs for clients such as American Express, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Kimberly-Clark, Eli Lilly, and Deere and Co. Susan has a Web site, and an online newsletter read by more than 7,000 clients and industry decision-makers.

A comprehensive guide focusing on the valuation issues for emerging markets Valuation of Companies in Emerging Economies takes a practical, step-by-step approach to valuing both public and closely held companies in emerging economies for merger or acquisition purposes. These extremely volatile markets present their own special set of challenges, which often differ from country to country. The author provides real world, best valuation practices in both developed and emerging markets and offers links to relevant Internet resources to provide CEOs, CFOs, venture capitalists, and financial analysts with the information they need to accurately value companies around the world. Luis E. Pereiro (Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a consultant who has steered several strategic change projects in multinational corporations such as Bank of America, Union Carbide, and Nissho Iwai. He is Interim Dean of the Universidad Tocuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, as well as Director of its MBA program and Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Venturing. His numerous articles have appeared in many prestigious business journals and books. Over the years, financial professionals around the world have looked to the Wiley Finance series and its wide array of bestselling books for the knowledge, insights, and techniques that are essential to success in financial markets. As the pace of change in financial markets and instruments quickens, Wiley Finance continues to respond. With critically acclaimed books by leading thinkers on value investing, risk management, asset allocation, and many other critical subjects, the Wiley Finance series provides the financial community with information they want. Written to provide professionals and individuals with the most current thinking from the best minds in the industry, it is no wonder that the Wiley Finance series is the first and last stop for financial professionals looking to increase their financial expertise.

Functional genomics--the deconstruction of the genome to determine the biological function of genes and gene interactions--is one of the most fruitful new areas of biology. The growing use of DNA microarrays allows researchers to assess the expression of tens of thousands of genes at a time. This quantitative change has led to qualitative progress in our ability to understand regulatory processes at the cellular level.This book provides a systematic introduction to the use of DNA microarrays as an investigative tool for functional genomics. The presentation is appropriate for readers from biology or bioinformatics. After presenting a framework for the design of microarray-driven functional genomics experiments, the book discusses the foundations for analyzing microarray data sets, genomic data-mining, the creation of standardized nomenclature and data models, clinical applications of functional genomics research, and the future of functional genomics.

Most histories of twentieth-century architecture cite Peter Behrens' influence on three of his protégés--Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier--and mention the turbine factory and arc lamp he designed for the German electrical firm AEG. Now Behrens' full contribution to the history of twentieth-century architecture is finally told, in Stanford Anderson's indispensable guide to one of the great designers of our century.The author was first attracted to Behrens as one of the emblematic figures in the development of architectural modernism. Over the years, he has reflected critically on the growing body of Behrens scholarship that has appeared on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on the views of such tastemakers as Philip Johnson, who rejected Behrens' AEG Turbine Factory, the signature icon of his early experiments in modernism, in favor of his later conservatively classical work. Anderson now assimilates decades of research into a definitive work that considers Behrens from the most nuanced perspective yet and that clarifies many problematic issues such as Behrens' endorsement of historical determinism and his work on Hitler's proposed monumental axis in Berlin.The book looks at the cultural and architectural context in which Behrens worked, his early career, and the relation of his own house in Darmstadt to his ideal of a society where life is formed as art. It also looks at his directorship of the School of Arts and Crafts in Düsseldorf, where he drew on the work of such brilliant historiographers of art and architecture as Alois Riegl and August Schmarsow. In his conclusion, Anderson considers Behrens' melancholy in the face of modern industrial society and his avoidance of a direct address of life, despite, or rather because of, his professed commitment to express life as art.

Managing Business Change For Dummies gives you practical step-by-step advice for evaluating your organization's change effort from start to finish. This friendly guide brings you specific techniques and tools for each step of the change process — from how to pinpoint potential problems and resolve them quickly, to how to help employees respond to change with more flexible and positive attitudes.

Strike a balance between theory and practice! With this text, you'll, find a balance between theory and practice that allows you to build your understanding of the basic concepts, assumptions, and limitations of the theory of speech analysis and synthesis. The methods for data analysis as well as the theoretical background are provided to help you comprehend the analysis results. And you'll be able to study the features and properties of speech as a signal without having to record data and write software to analyze the data. The text includes two CDs that contain stand-alone and MATLAB software and speech and electroglottographic data. The CDs illustrate the effects that speech models and speech analysis procedures have on the quality of synthesized speech. An extensive speech database provides numerous speech files and other data. Examples included in each chapter demonstrate how to use the software. The CDs allow you to: Calculate the parameters of linear prediction speech models. Examine procedures for converting the speech of one speaker to sound like that of another speaker (i. e., voice conversion). Analyze and alter the temporal structure of the speech signal. This allows you to automatically parse speech into various features, such as voiced segments, unvoiced segments, nasal and non-nasal segments, fricatives, stops, and more. Create speech with a high speaking rate or generate speech with a slow speaking rate. Adjust the parameters of the vocal fold model to change the vocal fold tension, length, thickness, mass, etc., in order to observe the effects of these parameters on the vibratory motion of the vocal folds.

What It Takes to be a Leader in Hospitality Sales-Principles and Techniques for Success What's the key to success in today's competitive hospitality industry? Sales-the art and science of telling potential customers that you have the product they need, when they need it, and where, at a price that's right for them. Hospitality Sales: A Marketing Approach provides in-depth instruction based on the strategies of leading hospitality organizations. This comprehensive book introduces crucial sales and marketing concepts and describes how they apply to hospitality businesses and customers. An unparalleled teaching resource, this book: Presents selling as the vital link between marketing and operations Explains concepts and practices with clear, real-world examples Explores sales management technology, from office automation and yield management technology to point-of-sale systems and guest service technology Provides summaries and discussion questions at the end of each chapter Features a quick-reference glossary of important terms Hospitality Sales: A Marketing Approach introduces students in any undergraduate program to the real world of hospitality sales and gives them the solid grounding they will need to embark on a successful career in hospitality sales.

Victorian architect-designer E. W. Godwin (1833-1886), tying himself neither morally nor aesthetically to a single style, approached design with what he called judicious eclecticism. Seeking to design furniture appropriate to the needs of modern living, he grappled with the problems of affordability, utility, and function and experimented with modular and fitted furniture decades before it became popular in the mid-twentieth century. This book is the first comprehensive study of Godwin's furniture designs. Taking the form of a catalogue raisonne, the book documents and reproduces all known examples of his secular furniture and related furniture designs. Susan Weber Soros traces the development of Godwin's style, examines its sources, and assesses the historical importance of his work. She discusses how Godwin combined antiquarian interests with the study of more recent design traditions from different parts of the world, Including Japan. Godwin worked in six major styles: Gothic revival, Anglo-Japanese, Anglo-Greek, Anglo-Egyptian, Queen Anne or Cottage style, and Old English or Jacobean. Soros also describes his work for leading art manufacturers; the work he exhibited at great international exhibits in Vienna, Philadelphia, and Paris; and his role as designer of choice for such leading artists of his generation as James McNeill Whistler and Oscar Wilde.

Written by some of the most distinguished literary translators working in English today, these essays offer new and uncommon insights into the understanding and craft of translation. The contributors not only describe the complexity of translating literature but also suggest the implications of the act of translation for critics, scholars, teachers, and students. The demands of translation, according to these writers, require both comprehensive scholarship in preparing to translate a text and broad creativity in recreating the text in a new language. Translation, thus, becomes a model for the most exacting reading and the most serious scholarship. Some of the contributors lay bare the rigorous methods of literary translation in comparisons of various translations of the same piece; some discuss the problems of translating a specific passage; others speak about the lessons learned over the course of a career in translation. As these essays make clear, translators work in the space between languages and, in so doing, provide insights into the ways in which a culture makes the world verbal. Exemplary readers both of authors and of their individual works, the translators represented in this collection demonstrate that the methodologies derived from the art and craft of translation can serve as a model to revitalize the interpretation and understanding of literary works. Readers will find the opportunity to look over the shoulders of the translators gathered together in this volume an exciting and surprising experience. The act of translation emerges both as a powerful integration of linguistic, semantic, cultural, and historical thinking and as a valuable commentary on how wecommunicate both within a culture and from one culture to another.

A book which enables readers to proceed by the quickest route to a particular topic, and teachers to select courses differing in length, difficulty and choice of applications.

A completely updated reference to help you get the most value out of your AdWords campaigns Google AdWords is a unique tool that allows you to set your own budget and create ads and choose keywords that are specifically related to your business. When your ad appears next to the search results, people can simply click your ad to learn more about you or make a purchase. This handy guide walks you through the newest tips, tricks, and techniques for maximizing your AdWords campaign. Offering valuable advice, this new edition includes case studies from readers who have shared what they learned from using the techniques revealed in the first edition. A revised and updated guide that shares invaluable advice for maximizing your AdWords campaign Discusses changes to the AdWords interface as well as best practices in split testing, opt–in landing page structure, and ad group structure Reviews new, free tools included in AdWords as well as new and improved third–party tools Includes an in–depth explanation of Googles free Web site testing and optimization tool: Website Optimizer Includes a Google AdWords gift card worth $25 (details inside book) With this handy reference by your side, you will discover the best way to put a Google AdWords campaign to work for you! Note: CD–ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

«» Shiny Objects Marketing has given us a dramatic new insight into what our customers want and how to make our service a shiny object.» – Michael Purcell, Senior Vice President, Product Development, Global Cash Card « Shiny Objects Marketing is a very simple and easy–to–understand approach to attracting customers.» – Catherine Monson, President, PIP Printing «Based on a very simple characteristic that most creatures on this planet have in common–attraction to shiny objects–LaBonte lays out a commonsense approach that can turn any product or service into a massive success. Once a person understands the power and influence of shiny objects, their marketing will never be the same.» – Marc Anthony, President, Black Dot Wireless «In this world of mind–numbing marketing theories, Shiny Objects Marketing stands out as something truly refreshing. It makes absolute sense and actually works for any product or service.» – Donald Disbro, Vice President, New Business Development and Marketing, Professional Community Management.»

Want to have a wonderful wedding away from home? Destination Weddings For Dummies is your all–in–one guide to getting married out of town, giving you savvy tips on everything from making travel arrangements to hiring vendors to dressing the wedding party. Fron Vegas to the Vatican, this hands–on, practical resource helps you arrange a unique, unforgettable wedding anywhere in the world. Focusing on the various ways you can use the Internet in your planning, Destination Weddings For Dummies is filled with Web tips, shortcuts, and URLs, as well as instructions for creating your own digital wedding planner. You’ll see how to establish a realistic wedding budget and get your friends and family on board. Then, you’ll choose the perfect location; from Europe to the tropics to the open sea, we’ve done the scouting for you! You’ll also discover how to: Get married legally around the world Know who, when, and how to invite Create your own destination wedding Web site and blog Fit all the basics into your budget— from flowers and catering to the rings, photography, and music Hire wedding pros from a distance Decide on your ceremony’s style Dress the bride, groom, and the wedding party Communicate your plans to invited guests Compare wedding packages Save money on travel arrangements Test–drive your destination wedding site Organize fun wedding activities Handle various wedding emergencies If money is no object, you'll also see how to host a blowout wedding and make a splash when you splurge. Whether it’s a small, intimate ceremony in a Hawaiian garden or a large gathering on a yacht in the Mediterranean, Destination Weddings For Dummies is all you need to get married anywhere you choose with ease and in style!