In a corner of the world where most nation-states are deeply problematic, Costa Rica’s success is a puzzle. This scholarly yet accessible book explores which political decisions led to a very different outcome for the little country that could.Since a brief civil conflict in 1948, the Central American country of Costa Rica has built a stable democracy, with regular, scheduled, and fair elections and respect for human rights. The country has built public and private...

From New York Times Bestselling author, Gesine Bullock-Prado, one of America’s most sought after baking instructors, comes a book that reveals the why and how behind the recipes she spent years perfecting and teaching.Relaxed, joyful, and authoritative, Baked in Vermont shares recipes infused with the author’s signature charm. Her students travel from around the world to attend her baking school, Sugar Glider Kitchen—covering everything from blueb...

Learn to understand and implement the latest machine learning innovations to improve your investment performanceMachine learning (ML) is changing virtually every aspect of our lives. Today, ML algorithms accomplish tasks that – until recently – only expert humans could perform. And finance is ripe for disruptive innovations that will transform how the following generations understand money and invest.In the book, readers will learn how to:Stru...

Machine learning (ML) is changing virtually every aspect of our lives. Today ML algorithms accomplish tasks that until recently only expert humans could perform. As it relates to finance, this is the most exciting time to adopt a disruptive technology that will transform how everyone invests for generations. Listeners will learn how to structure Big Data in a way that is amenable to ML algorithms; how to conduct research with ML algorithms on that data; how to use supercomputing methods; a...

A memoir by the highest-ranking covert warrior to lift the veil of secrecy and offer a glimpse into the shadow wars that America has fought since the Vietnam Era.Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, the Cuban refugee retired from the Central Intelligence Agen...

Successful investment strategies are specific implementations of general theories. An investment strategy that lacks a theoretical justification is likely to be false. Hence, an asset manager should concentrate her efforts on developing a theory rather than on backtesting potential trading rules. The purpose of this Element is to introduce machine learning (ML) tools that can help asset managers discover economic and financial theories. ML is not a black box, and it does not necessarily ov...

The Explosive National BestsellerA memoir by the highest-ranking covert warrior to lift the veil of secrecy and offer a glimpse into the shadow wars that America has fought since the Vietnam Era.Enrique Prado found himself in his first firefight at age seven. The son of a middle-class Cuban family caught in the midst of the Castro Revolution, his family fled their war-torn home for the hope of a better life in America. Fifty years later, th...

Life can change in an instant. The Last Payslip is a heartfelt guide for anyone who’s experienced job loss, career uncertainty, or the emotional rollercoaster of sudden change. Drawing from personal experience, Nenen Prado shares practical steps, premonitions, and reflections to help you:• Recognize early signs of professional shifts.• Heal from unexpected setbacks.• Rebuild confidence, clarity, and purpose.• Transform uncertainty into opportunity.Fi...

A frantic tale of escape by any means necessary, "Peace Keeper" will keep you on the edge of your seat. Dr. William Rutger has been called on by the Prime Minister himself to rescue a medically fragile patient during the Third World War. Through a series of mysterious and unexpected events, the good doctor begins to uncover the reason for their retrieval from enemy territory. Can Doctor Rutger successfully save the Fisher family and the state s...

Long gone are the times when investors could make decisions based on intuition. Modern asset management draws on a wide-range of fields beyond financial theory: economics, financial accounting, econometrics/statistics, management science, operations research (optimization and Monte Carlo simulation), and more recently, data science (Big Data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence). The challenge in writing an institutional asset management book is that when tools from these differe...

Poetry that eloquently concentrates on the spiritual and physical lives of women.This is the first book published in English by of the work of Brazilian poet Adélia Prado. Incorporating poems published over the past fifteen years, The Alphabet in the Park is a book of passion and intelligence, wit and instinct. These are poems about human concerns, especially those of women, about living in one's body and out of it, about the physical but also the spiritual and the...

Learn the principles of quantum machine learning and how to apply themWhile focus is on financial use cases, all the methods and techniques are transferable to other fieldsPurchase of Print or Kindle includes a free eBook in PDFKey FeaturesDiscover how to solve optimisation problems on quantum computers that can provide a speedup edge over classical methodsUse methods of analogue and digita...