Motor Insurance: Global Industry Guide

Book Description

This is the third volume of the Handbook of Game Theory with Economic Applications. Since the publication of multi-Volume 1 a decade ago, game theory has continued to develop at a furious pace, and today it is the dominant tool in economic theory. The three volumes together cover the fundamental theoretical aspects, a wide range of applications to economics, several chapters on applications to political science and individual chapters on applications to disciplines as diverse as evolutionary biology, computer science, law, psychology and ethics. The authors are the most eminent practitioners in the field, including three Nobel Prize winners.

The topics covered in the present volume include strategic ("Nash") equilibrium; incomplete information; two-person non-zero-sum games; noncooperative games with a continuum of players; stochastic games; industrial organization; bargaining, inspection; economic history; the Shapley value and its applications to perfectly competitive economies, to taxation, to public goods and to fixed prices; political science; law mechanism design; and game experimentation.

Book Description

Since the early 1970s exchange volatility has increased markedly. This increased volatility is a major concern not only for government policy makers but also corporations engaged in international activities, because their profitability may be sharply altered by unanticipated exchange rate movements. This situation has posed a challenge to academic researchers, but over the past decade considerable progress has been made in our ability to understand the causes of exchange rate fluctuations and their impact on economic foreign exchange risk and to assess investment opportunities generated by exchange rate fluctuations. This book is a collection of essays by academic experts from the fields of economics, finance, and accounting, and by several distinguished practitioners from international corporations and financial institutions. Together the essays present a broad, up-to-date survey of what we know about foreign exchange risk and how to cope with it.

Book Description

A fascinating, anecdote-filled behind-the-scenes look at more than forty years of the highlights, successes, and day-to-day inner workings—all about productions, the divas, and backstage dramas—of New York’s Metropolitan Opera House, by Joseph Volpe, the only general manager to have risen through the ranks.

This book is the story of Volpe’s years leading up to those at the Met, from his first job as a stagehand at the Morosco Theater to the odd jobs he picked up moonlighting: setting up a searchlight or laying down a red carpet for a movie premiere, changing titles on the marquees at the Astor, Victor, and Paramount theaters. It is his Met years—from apprentice carpenter to general manager—that give us a story about New York and the business of culture. Volpe looks at the Met today, an institution full of vast egos and complicated politics, as well as its glittering past—the old Met at Thirty-ninth and Broadway, and the political and artistic intrigues that exploded around its move to Lincoln Center. With stunning candor, he writes about the general managers he worked under, including Rudolf Bing and Anthony Bliss; his own embattled rise to the top; the maneuverings of the blue-chip board; his bad-cop, good-cop collaboration with the conductor James Levine; and his masterful approach to making a family of such highly charged artist-stars as Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Teresa Stratas, and Renée Fleming, and such visionary directors as Franco Zeffirelli, Robert Wilson, and Julie Taymor.

Customer Reviews:

Kenneth.......2007-01-20

The book disclose many backstages tales of opera. I enjoyed it pretty much.

Part autobiography, part history of the Met, and part stories about the performers.......2006-07-26

Opera is dramatic and bigger than life on stage and back stage. Now we learn about all the drama that also goes on in managing the Metropolitan Opera, the largest opera company in the world and an arts organization that puts on more opera performances each year than any other company on earth. Its budget is more than $200 million for something like 240 performances per year. I was quite surprised to read how the monies to fund this huge budget are raised. No, it isn't the government, corporate, or even the richest donors that provide the bulk of the money as I had suspected.

The 2005-2006 budget was $221 million. The Box Office receipts were $101 million, the endowment of $300 million provided another $18 million, parking and commons revenues provided $10 million, and the support from the Federal, State, and City governments was only $375,000! Where does the other $92 million come from each year? 125,000 private donors, 2/3 of whom live outside New York City, provide donations ranging from $60 to more than $500,000 and total $80 million. The 300 members of the Metropolitan Opera Club provide another half-million, and the board members each provide substantial contributions to the met each year. I found this fascinating and quite a different mix than I had expected.

The author, Joseph Volpe, has run the Met for the past 16 seasons, but has worked at the met for more than four decades. He joined as a carpenter and worked his way up from the back of the house to operations. While he showed great skill in getting the shows on stage, he was passed over more than once for the job of Managing Director because of his blue collar background. But after floundering through some poor appointments, Volpe got the job. He admits that his personal style is more, well, frank than most other arts managers and the scowl on his face on the cover photograph (and in some of those included in the book) let us know that he is all about getting the shows on stage and at the highest level rather than getting us to love him as a person.

Volpe came to love opera while working at the Met. True, his grandmother had him listen to "Cavalleria Rusticana" with her when he was a child, but it was getting the magnificent sets to work and to hear the great singers, choruses, and see the dancers, costumes, and even the guests, that got him to see what grand opera is truly about and fall in love with the greatest of all art forms.

The book is part his own biography, part the history of the Met, and part about the great singers he has worked with while at the Met in his various capacities. The book has dozens of interesting photos from all the eras of the Met and the stories of the singers are well chosen and very entertaining. Pavarotti, as you might expect, provides some wonderful anecdotes when he is trying to help Volpe lose weight and includes Volpe in his "yoga" lessons.

The book is quite a pleasant read and I enjoyed it a great deal. It is interesting to hear about the whole of the opera company including everyone it takes to make the shows rather than just the great soloists. Coming from a blue collar background myself, I enjoyed hearing about the working guys and gals that make the show work for those fabulous artists who create the great music with their voices and hearts. The magic wouldn't be nearly as powerful without all those sets, costumes, lights, and the performers on the chorus or the dancers.

Recommended!

The House of Diva.......2006-07-25

Joseph Volpe's "The Toughest Show on Earth" is a remarkably comprehensive look at the recent history of the Metropolitan Opera as told through the eyes of the retiring general manager, himself. Volpe has the best "view" in the house and no wonder...he's been there for over forty years.

From the start it's clear that Joe Volpe is not a man to be crossed lightly. Tough as nails (and nails were part of his business) he rises from an entry level position to the top job...and reveals much along the way. There's just enough "dirt" in this book to tickle the senses of the reader and anyone who has ever been in opera knows exactly what Volpe describes...in order to be associated with opera personalities it is sometimes required to act like one.

The longest chapter in "The Toughest Show" is devoted to Volpe's firing of Kathleen Battle and one can just see the steam building in the author's ears as he amasses stories of misbehavior on the part of the "embattled" diva over a period of years. Finally, he acts, much to the delight of the cast and crew. It's a juicy chapter and one of the best in the book. While Volpe offers reflections on just about anyone with whom he has come in contact, he reserves the nicest comments for conductor James Levine and (whom he calls the "Siamese Twins") tenors Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo. Without these three would there be a present-day Metropolitan Opera?

There are occasional bouts of self-serving given over to by the author and often he feels a need to defend himself based on some past controversial decisions, (which I found rather astounding given the fact that he is departing the scene) but what makes "The Toughest Show" such a wonderful book is the comprehensiveness of the Met story. It's not only onstage and backstage but everywhere else, too. "The Toughest Show on Earth" is the greatest guided tour around. It's a terrific read and Volpe deserves much credit not only for this book but for a lifetime of service dedicated to one of the nation's treasures...the Metropolitan Opera.

Tough Love.......2006-07-13

Joseph Volpe was a tough as the job he took on when he grabbed the reins of the Metropolitan Opera House, having to deal with the likes of James Levine and Luciano Pavarotti.
But as in the phrase beloved of behavorial psychologists, his was a "tough love." He started as a carpenter at the Old Met with but a passing interest in opera, but by the time he left, music infused his very blood with a passion for his work and the people who populated the space he called home.
The autobiography details the years, the failed marriage, the battles with superstars, the triumphs and disappointments with a candor perhaps unique in this type of memoir, where the authors tend to be either diplomatic or, as with Sir Rudolph Bing, unrelentingly acerbic.
Volpe tells his story in lean, plain-spoken language that reveals the inner workings of the gargantuan Met and makes that place of mazes and convolutions an environment the reader can understand.
Joe Volpe (after reading the book, it's hard to think of him as Joseph) dragged The Met kicking and screaming into the 21st century without violating the traditions that surround opera, and his book is refreshing, entertaining and revelatory.
It should be read by anyone interested in opera, politics or the big business of show.

Behind the scene with refreshnig honesty.......2006-06-30

I found this book absolutely fabulous. Mr. Volpe is to the point and shall we say, extremely honest, in his account of his years at the opera, including via himself. One finishes this book with a greater understanding of what goes on behind the scenes. It reads well, with enough details to keep the average reader riveted and without the unnecessary clutter found in some of those books that insist on giving us an hour by hour acount of events. I especially liked the way the book was subdivided. If it does follow a certain chronological order, each chapter focuses on a specific subject matter, for example signers... that serves as the guide thru the different events. Hence, this book is delightful and I strongly recommend it to all and especially, if not exclusively, to opera lovers. Even ones who do not know a lot about opera will love this book.
Marie Kirouack

Book Description

The twentieth century has been marked by the expansion of educational opportunities worldwide. It has been the century of education, and the role of the state in the promotion of public education has been decisive. Yet, at the millennium's turn efforts to diminish the role of the state are rapidly changing education, especially in terms of its role in democracy. This comprehensive handbook offers a fresh view of the social context of education, outlining the challenges as well as the advances in public and private education systems. The book offers a systematic account of current social theory and methodologies, applied perspectives on the development of education in many regions of the world, and compares key themes such as access, school choice, equity, and educational performance. Visit our website for sample chapters!

Customer Reviews:

What a life!.......2002-09-16

Allan had one heck of a life. Makes you wonder what a little determination and a lot of tolerance for being arrested can do for a guy!

The only gripe I have is that the book needs a good editor. It could stand to be cut by a quarter through tighter, crisper writing. But in terms of the story, this guy "walked the walk".

Thanks for sharing the journey with us.

Interesting history of a radio wizard.......2000-02-27

I've met Alan, and he's pretty much what you would expect after reading the book; sort of a friendly, middle-aged hippie with a New York twang who enjoys needling the Establishment.

In Al's case, his Establishment arch-nemesis is not the CIA or the Pentagon, but rather the FCC.

The book outlines his history of run-ins with the agency, always attempting to circumvent the rules in the name of broadcasting freedom. The term "broadcasting freedom" is Alan's code-speak for having fun, which is really what radio is all about for him; just plain fun.

The book is fun, too. It follows Al from his first spark of interest in radio, through his many adventures in trying to stay on the air with patched together radio gear that would've been given up on by any other broadcaster.

When it comes to engineering, Scotty has nothing on Al Weiner!

Interestingly enough, the book also serves as a anecdotal history of broadcasting in New York and Northern Maine in the 70's and 80's.

The book's a fun read, written in a laid back and light style. Everyone from amateur radio enthusiasts, to the ex-hippie granola crowd, and even hard core conspiracy nuts will like this book.

Not so good until ch7 (preparing to broadcast at sea).......1998-09-23

Eventhough I think that Christianity is a fundementle personalty flaw, I do believe that Allen Weiner is a true American Hero. To have over come so much and still believe in the power and beauty of radio is truly a feat of patreotic proportions. This is the true story of the man that tought an entire generation how to "Talk Hard" and endure. If you love radio, as I do, you need to read this book! James Lane (MonkeyWrenchRadio)

Average customer rating:

Highly Recommeded To All Flash Users

Flash MX 2004 Games: Art to ActionScript
Nik Lever
Manufacturer: Focal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Web Graphics | Web Design | Web Development | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
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Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Development (Game Development Series) (Game Development Series)

Macromedia Flash Professional 8 Game Development

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Games Most Wanted

Macromedia Flash MX 2004 Game Design Demystified

Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for Fun and Games (With CD-ROM)

ASIN: 0240519639

Book Description

As a designer using Flash you will see how you can apply your creative skills to the many stages of game production and produce your own interactive games with this versatile package. Creating games for mobile devices is now also covered! As an animator you will be able to add interactive functionality to your own animation and produce a game. As a web developer you will see how to make the best use of the sophisticated development environment Flash offers for the production of both artwork and code to create low bandwidth, animated web content that sells!

The free CD-Rom includes all the code and files you need to try out each tutorial from the book so you can see exactly how each game was created. Learn from the many different types of games provided as examples, from simple quizzes to platform-based games. High score tables and multi-player games using sockets, vital to higher level online games, are also covered in detail to ensure you have the complete skill set needed to succeed in this competitive arena.

* Benefit from the experience of a successful games designer whose Flash sites regularly get 10,000+ hits per day
* Explained by an artist for artists so you can easily see how Flash MX 2004 ActionScript 2 can work for your own games development
* Includes valuable extra coverage of how Flash integrates with Director 8.5 Shockwave studio and C++

Customer Reviews:

Highly Recommeded To All Flash Users.......2006-02-15

I must say I was pleasantly surprised at the quality and quantity of information offered in this book. It is well written, liberally illustrated. This is one of the best book on Flash MX 2004 which I have find for so long. The simple explanations and pratical uses deserve applause. The examples are set out into easy-to-follow, step-by-step procedures. This means you'll never be left wondering. Thank you Nik for his patience and guidance when I write him for the problems which I meet when using the book.

Flash MX 2004 Games: Art to ActionScript

Average customer rating:

Flash MX 2004 Games: Art to ActionScript
Nik Lever
Manufacturer: Focal Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQA2YE

Book Description

In Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Marine Corps’ ground campaign up the Tigris and Euphrates was notable for speed and aggressiveness unparalleled in military history. Little has been written, however, of the air support that guaranteed the drive’s success. Paving the way for the rush to Baghdad was “the hammer from above”–in the form of attack helicopters, jet fighters, transport, and other support aircraft. Now a former Marine fighter pilot shares the gripping never-before-told stories of the Marines who helped bring to an end the regime of Saddam Hussein.

As Jay Stout reveals, the air war had actually been in the planning stages ever since the victory of Operation Desert Storm, twelve years earlier. But when Operation Iraqi Freedom officially commenced on March 20, 2003, the Marine Corps entered the fight with an aviation arm at its smallest since before World War II. Still, with the motto “Speed Equals Success,” the separate air and ground units acted as a team to get the job done.

Drawing on exclusive interviews with the men and women who flew the harrowing missions, Hammer from Above reveals how pilots and their machines were tested to the limits of endurance, venturing well beyond what they were trained and designed to do. Stout takes us into the cockpits, revealing what it was like to fly these intense combat operations for up to eighteen hours at a time and to face incredible volumes of fire that literally shredded aircraft in midair during battles like that over An Nasiriyah .

With its dynamic descriptions of perilous flights and bombing runs, Hammer from Above is a worthy tribute to the men and women who flew and maintained the aircraft that so inspired their brothers in arms and terrified the enemy.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews:

Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat Over Iraq.......2007-05-13

I purchased this book because a former student at our high school has an entire chapter written about him. Well done. It's about time someone's written about our helicopter pilots and the risks they take and the fighting they do for our country.

Excellent book - Highly recommended.......2007-01-15

Former fighter pilot Stout does an excellent job with this book. Based upon his knowledge of Marine attack capabilities and his personal relationships with most of the Marine aviators mentioned in this book, Stout puts you right in the cockpit and "down-in-the-weeds" with the grunts being supported by Marine air assets. Whether the action involves Cobra attack helicopters, F/A-18 Hornets, AV-8B Harriers, or EA-6B Prowlers, Stout has you right in the thick of things. His interaction throughout the book between air assets and forward air controllers is excellent and provides a seldom seen insight into how these teams interact during the intense ferocity of battle. He also does an excellent job of describing the emotion that is felt by Marines when their fellow grunts are lost either in the air or on the ground. This book is a must for any individual with interest in Marine air activity during the Gulf War. Highly recommended and insightful.

Like being there!!!.......2005-12-28

Mr. Stout's book HAMMER FROM ABOVE gave life the air war in Iraq. It showed what went on behind the scenes to win the offensive. It brought home what it was like for the Marines flying and those that supported them from the ground. This book was exciting from beginning to end, I read it in one day!!

The real experience........2005-12-28

I hate to use a cliché, but for a person who has "been there" this book is as accurate and real as it gets. If you are an aviation enthusiast or just very interested in military history this book is a must in your library. This is a piece of history that is still being written right now over there in Iraq. Highly recommended.

Hammer from above- very accurate .......2005-12-28

Reading this book was like sitting in the ready room getting the debrief from my buddies who just flew the missions. The stories of the FARP's, C-130's landing in between potholes on the runway, ordnance going down range, the individuals who made the real difference, FAC perspective, etc... and the descriptive nature of which the story is told makes this book a must read. It is a very accurate description of what life was like in Iraq in the spring of 2003, highly recommended. Major Marx

Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat over Iraq.(Book review): An article from: Air & Space Power Journal

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Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat over Iraq.(Book review): An article from: Air & Space Power Journal
Dan Mortensen
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Air & Space Power Journal, published by Thomson Gale on December 22, 2006. The length of the article is 580 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Hammer from Above: Marine Air Combat over Iraq.(Book review)
Author: Dan Mortensen
Publication: Air & Space Power Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 20 Issue: 4 Page: 123(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Frederic W. Gleach offers the most balanced and complete accounting of the early years of the Jamestown colony to date. When English colonists established their first permanent settlement at Jamestown in 1607, they confronted a powerful and growing Native chiefdom consisting of over thirty tribes under one paramount chief, Powhatan. For the next half-century, a portion of the Middle Atlantic coastal plain became a charged and often violent meeting ground between two very different worlds.

Customer Reviews:

Become Aware.......2007-10-02

Become aware of life in the New World between invading Eurpeans and Native Americans in this beautifully and powerfully written book. It will inform and shock you with it insights into the two vastly different cultures and shed light on modern day American values that have often go astray. Another book of insight, passion and info on Native Americans is Walking the Trail, One Man's Journey Along the Cherokee Trail of Tears by Cherokee author Jerry Ellis. He was the first person in modern history to walk the 900 mile route and the book was nominated for a Pulitzer and National Book Award.

A model of how to do culture(-contact) history.......2006-01-21

In this book, Gleach (Cornell University), who was a consultant on Terrence Malick's new movie "The New World," provides a wise, interesting, and readable analysis of the much-fabled Native American-English encounter in what became Virginia. AMong other things, his analysis makes sense of an incident that most everyone has heard of and many (not least the Disney studio) have sentimentalized: Pocahontas's intervention to save Captain John Smith in 1608.

What Gleach does convincingly in this book is to draw on his extensive knowledge of Algonquian(-language-speaking) peoples to interpret the scant records of Powhatan culture and cultural assumptions. To understand Powhatan reactions to the English immigrants, we need to put aside our knowledge of who won in the long run. It was far from obvious to the Powhatan that they were going to be subordinated by aliens who were barely surviving. An earlier attempt to establish a Spanish colony had failed. The Powhatan sought to incorporate the English within their society (the one to which the English had immigrated), though none of the English ever seemed to conceive that "heathen inferiors" believed that they could and should make the rules for uninvited and unruly immigrants to the Powhatan homeland.

The English view prevailed, and colonial history has been written from the viewpoint of the winners. As Marshall Sahlins has done for the native Hawaiians' understanding of Captain Cook's incursions, Gleach has recovered a plausible picture of "how natives think" (the title of Sahlins's second book about initial English-Hawaiian contacts). In addition to showing the rationality within their own understandings of the world and proper human interaction of how the Powhatan tried to educate (literally reform) those who thrust into the Powhatan world by drawing on studies of other Algonquian cultures, Gleach also draws on extensive knowledge of English culture ca. 1600 when the Church of England was relatively new and in the English view recently legitimated by the defeat of the Catholic would-be invaders.

Powhatan's World and Colonial Virginia: A Conflict of Cultur.......2002-01-05

Gleach does a wonderful job of presenting both worlds while maintaining an objective outlook. I have truely enjoyed reading this selection based on that alone. Gleach manages to keep you informed of the details yet helps you to gain new prospective on the view of both cultures. He not only tries to make sense of what happened in the contact period but does a good job of making you understand why it happened the way it did. Not your average Native American/ Colonial Conflict documentary. A wonderful job of teaching the Native side that you never learned in school. Blaming neither side for the outcome Gleach will make hard work of any other writer pulling off one as good.

Fred Gleach.......2000-06-17

Fred Gleach's piece is both acute and aggresive. Fered Gleach writes this book like only Fred Gleach can. This means a lot. Not everyone can live up to their potential. Fred Gleach lives up to his potential here. I tell you- this is Fred Gleach writing from Fred Gleach's heart. This means a lot. Some of us write, and it is not from the heart, or it is to get tenure. But Fred Gleach here writes this book like only Fred Gleach can. Some things, like the truth, is important. This Fred Gleach's message. This book is very Gleachian. This means a lot.

Buy it.

Book Description

Current research on urban transport and the environment is as important as it is varied, while the issues involved are complex and often inter-related.

Containing the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century, this volume addresses the environmentally effective integration of various modes of transport. The contributions come from researchers currently working around the world in government, academia and industry to understand the issues and to develop solutions. The international nature of the problem is therefore emphasized.

70 papers are included and these are grouped under the following headings: General Transport Systems; Railway Systems; Town Planning; Economic and Social Impact; Simulation Systems; Information Systems; Pollution and the Environment; Noise; Safety; Energy Efficiency; Vehicle Technology; and Barcelona Case Studies.

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