FinTech developers and managers understand that the blockchain has the potential to disrupt the financial world. The blockchain allows the participants of a distributed system to agree on a common view of the system, to track changes in the system, in a reliable way. In the distributed systems community, agreement techniques have been known long before cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (where the term blockchain is borrowed) emerged. Various concepts and protocols exist, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. This book introduces the basic techniques when building fault-tolerant distributed systems, in a scientific way. We will present different protocols and algorithms that allow for fault-tolerant operation, and we will discuss practical systems that implement these techniques.

Colloquial Swedish provides a step-by-step course in Swedish as it is written and spoken today. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Swedish in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Key features include: * progressive coverage of speaking, listening, reading and writing skills * structured, jargon-free explanations of grammar * an extensive range of focused and stimulating exercises * realistic and entertaining dialogues covering a broad variety of scenarios * useful vocabulary lists throughout the text * additional resources available at the back of the book, including a full answer key, a grammar summary and bilingual glossaries Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, Colloquial Swedish will be an indispensable resource both for independent learners and students taking courses in Swedish. Course components: The complete course comprises the book and audio materials. These are available to purchase separately in paperback, ebook, CD and MP3 format. The paperback and CDs can also be purchased together in the great-value Colloquials pack. Paperback: 978-0-415-36275-7 (please note this does not include the audio) CDs : 978-0-415-36273-3 eBook: 978-0-203-01274-1 (please note this does not include the audio, available from www.tandfebooks.com) MP3s: 978-0-415-47050-6 (available from www.tandfebooks.com) Pack : 978-0-415-44871-0 (paperback and CDs)

【中文阅读世界第一部全面比较秦汉与罗马帝国的创新性历史作品，以科学思维、全球眼光，看帝国兴衰和大国治理智慧，许倬云先生致敬推荐！】
当统治精英只顾特权，罔顾公利，国运可否长久？
难民潮汹涌，当代欧洲会再现西罗马灭亡的惊人一幕吗？
崛起的新中国，又该怎样面对有“新罗马”之称的美帝国？
以科学的思维、全球的眼光，看帝国兴衰和大国治理智慧；
贯通历史、政治、经济、管理学的跨界作品，许倬云先生致敬推荐！
★ 跨界创新：这是中文阅读世界第一部从政治、经济、军事、民族、思想与习俗等诸多角度全面比较秦汉与罗马帝国的创新性历史作品。作者欧阳莹之教授是深受国学传统薰陶、并在科学界卓有成就的物理学家，她的这部作品以科学家的理性思维、全球性的开阔视野，看帝国兴衰和大国治理智慧，贯通历史、政治、经济、法律、社会学、管理学等领域，原创性强，故事有趣有味，分析鞭辟入里，读来畅快淋漓。
★ 名家推荐：历史学家许倬云先生作序致敬推荐！斯坦福大学“古罗马穿越之旅”（即罗马帝国数字地图，Orbis: The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World）主创者、斯坦福大学人文学系Dickason讲座教授兼古典与历史学系教授沃尔特•沙伊德尔先生（Walter Scheidel）高度称赞！
★ 精选插图：特别收录彩色历史图片十余幅，图文相得益彰。
【名家推荐】
此书乃是知识的盛宴；我向作者致以诚挚的敬意，她能够不受专业的约束，以通达的眼光，提供读者们，如此有用的一部好书。
——历史学家 许倬云
全球化时代需要一种超越常规边界的新历史作品，欧阳莹之教授对古代大帝国的比较分析，回应了这个挑战，令人印象深刻。
——斯坦福大学教授 沃尔特•沙伊德尔
即便是古罗马与中国历史方面的新手，也会喜欢这种清晰、迷人和明智的讲述。
——密苏里大学副教授 劳伦斯•奥卡穆拉
【关于本书】
故事开始时，中国仍在青铜时代，与进入铁器时代的地中海一带相比，犹如十九世纪的中国和西方。战国时期中国迎头赶上，其后秦汉王朝和罗马帝国并驾齐驱，各自创下四百年的辉煌。其时，人类社会大概有一半人处在两大帝国的控制之下。世事难全美，称雄东西方的帝国，最终都败亡于来自北疆的蕞尔小敌。它们抵御外侮的能力，被内部的压制、腐败和治理不善消耗殆尽。后来，中华帝国反复重生和扩张，而罗马帝国则不可挽回地分裂了。然而，欧洲再次统一的梦想从未磨灭：它彰显于教皇和“神圣罗马帝国皇帝”的宣言；它被拿破仑的雄鹰承载；它成为欧盟的内在抱负——当今难民潮汹涌，欧盟各国将何去何从？
欧阳莹之教授以秦汉帝国与罗马帝国的兴衰为线索，全面探讨两大帝国的政治、经济、军事、民族、思想与习俗等诸多方面的异同，尤其强调双方相异处对东西方世界面貌所造成的重大影响，总结其间的历史教训与大国治理之道。全书文字平实，逻辑缜密，兼顾叙述与评论；衡量东西方帝国的相对优劣，重新检视传统历史旧说，指出被忽略的因素以解释历史疑案。
龙是中国传统四灵之一，后成为皇权的专属符号；鹰是罗马军团的标志，后成为罗马霸权的象征。龙与鹰象征秦汉与罗马帝国运权统治的风格，历久弥新。当正在崛起的新中国，面临有“新罗马”之誉的美帝国，传统作风犹自可见于当今世局。今天的中国人，应如何理解中美之间的合作与冲突？

Text Classification, or the task of automatically assigning semantic categories to natural language text, has become one of the key methods for organizing online information. Since hand-coding classification rules is costly or even impractical, most modern approaches employ machine learning techniques to automatically learn text classifiers from examples. However, none of these conventional approaches combines good prediction performance, theoretical understanding, and efficient training algorithms. Based on ideas from Support Vector Machines (SVMs), Learning To Classify Text Using Support Vector Machines presents a new approach to generating text classifiers from examples. The approach combines high performance and efficiency with theoretical understanding and improved robustness. In particular, it is highly effective without greedy heuristic components. The SVM approach is computationally efficient in training and classification, and it comes with a learning theory that can guide real-world applications. Learning To Classify Text Using Support Vector Machines gives a complete and detailed description of the SVM approach to learning text classifiers, including training algorithms, transductive text classification, efficient performance estimation, and a statistical learning model of text classification. In addition, it includes an overview of the field of text classification, making it self-contained even for newcomers to the field. This book gives a concise introduction to SVMs for pattern recognition, and it includes a detailed description of how to formulate text-classification tasks for machine learning. Learning To Classify Text Using Support Vector Machines is designed as a reference for researchers and practitioners, and is suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level students in Computer Science within Machine Learning and Language Technology.

People around the world are confused and concerned. Is it a sign of strength or of weakness that the US has suddenly shifted from a politics of consensus to one of coercion on the world stage? What was really at stake in the war on Iraq? Was it all about oil and, if not, what else was involved? What role has a sagging economy played in pushing the US into foreign adventurism and what difference does it make that neo-conservatives rather than neo-liberals are now in power? What exactly is the relationship between US militarism abroad and domestic politics? These are the questions taken up in this compelling and original book. Closely argued but clearly written, 'The New Imperialism' builds a conceptual framework to expose the underlying forces at work behind these momentous shifts in US policies and politics. The compulsions behind the projection of US power on the world as a 'new imperialism' are here, for the first time, laid bare for all to see. This new paperback edition contains an Afterword written to coincide with the result of the 2004 American presidential election.

Marx's Capital is one of the most important texts of the modern era. The three volumes, published between 1867 and 1883, changed the destiny of countries, politics and people across the world - and continue to resonate today. In this book, David Harvey lays out their key arguments.
In clear and concise language, Harvey describes the architecture of capital according to Marx, placing his observations in the context of capitalism in the second half of the nineteenth century. He considers the degree to which technological, economic and industrial change during the last 150 years means Marx's analysis and its application may need to be modified.
Marx's trilogy concerns the circulation of capital: volume I, how labour increases the value of capital, which he called valorisation; volume II, on the realisation of this value, by selling it and turning it into money or credit; volume III, on what happens to the value next in processes of distribution.
The three volumes contain the core of Marx's thinking on the workings and history of capital and capitalism. David Harvey explains and illustrates the profound insights and enormous analytical power they continue to offer in terms that, without compromising their depth and complexity, will appeal to a wide range of readers, including those coming to the work for the first time.

Widely praised as an exciting, insightful exposition and development of Marx's critique of political economy, Harvey updates his classic text with a discussion of the turmoil in world markets today. In his analyses of "fictitious capital" and "uneven geographical development," Harvey takes the reader step by step through layers of crisis formation, beginning with Marx's controversial argument concerning the falling rate of profit, moving through crises of credit and finance, and closing with a timely analysis of geo-political and geographical considerations. Recently referred to by Fredric Jameson in "New Left Review" as a "magisterial work," "The Limits to Capital" provides one of the best theoretical guides to the contradictory forms found in the historical and geographical dynamics of capitalist development.

Graphical models in their modern form have been around since the late 1970s and appear today in many areas of the sciences. Along with the ongoing developments of graphical models, a number of different graphical modeling software programs have been written over the years. In recent years many of these software developments have taken place within the R community, either in the form of new packages or by providing an R interface to existing software. This book attempts to give the reader a gentle introduction to graphical modeling using R and the main features of some of these packages. In addition, the book provides examples of how more advanced aspects of graphical modeling can be represented and handled within R. Topics covered in the seven chapters include graphical models for contingency tables, Gaussian and mixed graphical models, Bayesian networks and modeling high dimensional data.

As heard on Book of the Week, Radio 4
The whole world wants to learn the secrets of Nordic exceptionalism: why are the Danes the happiest people in the world, despite having the highest taxes? If the Finns really have the best education system, how come they still think all Swedish men are gay? Are the Icelanders really feral? How are the Norwegians spending their fantastical oil wealth? And why do all of them hate the Swedes?
Michael Booth has lived among the Scandinavians, on and off, for over ten years, perplexed by their many strange paradoxes and character traits and equally bemused by the unquestioning enthusiasm for all things Nordic that has engulfed the rest of the world, whether it be for their food, television, social systems or chunky knitwear.
In this timely book he leaves his adopted home of Denmark and embarks on a journey through all five of the Nordic countries to discover who these curious tribes are, the secrets of their success and, most intriguing of all, what they think of each other. Along the way a more nuanced, often darker picture emerges of a region plagued by taboos, characterised by suffocating parochialism and populated by extremists of various shades.
They may very well be almost nearly perfect, but it isn't easy being Scandinavian.