This book explains the foundation of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC), an approach to Bayesian inference that does not require the specification of a likelihood function. As a result, ABC can be used to estimate posterior distributions of parameters for simulation-based models. Simulation-based models are now very popular in cognitive science, as are Bayesian methods for performing parameter inference. As such, the recent developments of likelihood-free techniques are an important ad...

On the cusp of the Great Depression, Denver mayor Benjamin Stapleton pushed for the development of the first city-operated airport. Denver Municipal Airport opened in 1929 with three hub airlines. While Stapleton would be honored to later have the airport named after him, by the mid-1980s, the name Stapleton had become synonymous with congestion, flight delays, and frequent closures when the snow moved in. To solve the problem, Denver mayor Federico Peña envisioned a massive new airport, b...

Een oomblik was hy ’n gestrande motoris op ’n verlate vlakte.Die volgende oomblik was hy die teiken.’n Kragtige motor swaai nie uit om hom te vermy nie, maar om hom dood te maak, en dompel konstabel Henk van Reenen in ’n dodelike raaisel.In die ruwe skadu van die Sederberge het die nuut oorgeplaasde konstabel ’n stil lewe van polisiëring van die plattelanders verwag. In plaas daarvan vind hy ’n gemeenskap wat deur v...

"Once upon a time there were two beautiful hummingbirds named Calliope and Rufus..."The Hungry Hummingbird is a story about a family of hummingbirds who migrate from Denver to Mexico every year and their adventurous baby hummingbird Harpita. Harpita is very inquisitive and very hungry and spends her first summer in Denver exploring as many yards and feeders as she can find. When Harpita finds that her family has left for Mexico without her, she has to rely on a little blonde girl t...

Hughesworld is an authentic account written by a press spokesman for Howard Hughes that traces the highlights of his varied life in motion pictures and aviation but concentrates on the management struggle that followed his death in 1976.Hughes died intestate, or without a valid will, opening up a circus of phony will documents. In addition hundreds of far-distant relatives staked claims. A first cousin, Texas lawyer William Lummis, assumed control after a long and bitter s...

In recent decades, life writing has exploded in popularity: memoirs that focus on traumatic experiences now constitute the largest growth sector in book publishing worldwide. But life writing is not only highly marketable; it also does important emotional, cultural, and political work. It is more available to amateurs and those without the cultural capital or the self-confidence to embrace more traditional literary forms, and thus gives voice to marginalized populations. Contested Selv...

Stockholm is a novel about a Los Angeles newspaper reporter who is given an unwanted and unusual assigment to convince a niece of the publisher to leave a religious cult that has been formed in a remote area of vast central California.The reporter, Don Haskins, reluctantly goes. But instead of accomplishing his mission he finds himself intrigued by a beautiful young girl at the cult, one who appears to have a mysterious background.An integrated subplot concerns the...