When the nation's most prestigious pickleball championship turns deadly, amateur sleuth and former sports journalist Maya Chen must navigate a web of bitter rivalries and long-buried secrets to catch a killer. The pristine courts of the Palm Springs Tennis and Pickleball Resort shimmer under the desert sun, but beneath the cheerful facade of enthusiastic players and cheering spectators lies a dangerous undercurrent of obsession and betrayal. Maya thought she'd left investigative reporting ...

When beloved therapy dog Buddy vanishes from the prestigious Willowbrook Rehabilitation Center, veteran counselor Maya Chen discovers that behind the facility's healing facade lies a web of deception that threatens to destroy everything she's worked for. Maya has dedicated her life to helping trauma survivors rebuild themselves through animal-assisted therapy, but when Buddy's disappearance coincides with a series of mysterious accidents targeting her most vulnerable patients, she realizes...

When Xiao Hai turned fifteen, his family paid a vocational-school teacher 1,200 yuan to find him a factory job in Shenzhen. So began fifteen years spent moving between the garment mills and electronics factories of China's fast-growing southern cities.Adrift in the South is a memoir of life as a migrant labourer in the twenty-first century, making iPhones and baby clothes, hand-stitching football shirts and cutting plastic into radios. Here, Xiao Hai reveals the alienation...

A WAKING NIGHTMARE! Mule has been kidnapped by the combined forces of the Sanjo family and the demonic cult’s Fairlady faction. Hiiro and his friends infiltrate the enemy hideout and launch a surprise attack, successfully rescuing the dorm manager…or so they think. The Queen of Branding uses her Magic Eye to trap Chris and Hiiro in a dream world, and finding a way out is the pair’s only shot at survival!

An insightful and comprehensive exploration into the burgeoning field of sugarcane-based biofuels and the green technology revolution, this book delves deep into the multifaceted role of sugarcane in addressing the global energy crisis, offering a panoramic view of the latest advances, challenges, and prospects in the realm of sustainable energy. The book summarizes the production, management, and socioeconomic impact of sugarcane as well as its related sustainability issues. It focuses on...

The higher a seagull flies, the further it can see; the higher a person stands, the broader is his view. The more we understand our inner nature, the fewer obstacles we have. Within our lifetime, more or less we will want to explore riddles like: "Where do I come from?", "Why do I come here?" and "Where will I eventually go?" These questions significantly affect us each time we have to make a critical decision in life. To satisfy such a longing, some people devote themselves in their caree...

This is a love story of a pseudo-loli crossing time and space to save the broken world. As a demon, Tang Xiaotang's mission was to travel between different worlds in order to maintain order in her world.At the same time, he would receive a portion of the quest's objective, emotion, as reward. And so, there was: the underworld Family Head with his little wild cat, Gui Wang with his mask, the daughter of the domineering CEO's little lovely wife … Tang Xiaotang: Our g...

This is the first textbook focusing on practicality of machine learning (ML) and deep neural networks (DNN), by introducing methods that enable engineering applications of ML and DNN models. The authors describe many methodologies that are widely used in designing, training, and deploying of these models and discuss their applicability under various contexts. Coverage begins with the basic knowledge of machine learning and deep neural networks and their applications in solving practical en...

From 1976 to 1989, Hai Fan was part of the guerrilla forces of the Malayan Communist Party. These short stories are inspired by his experiences during his thirteen years in the rainforest.Struggling through an arduous trek, two comrades pine for each other but don't know how to declare their love; a woman who has annoyed all her comrades finally wins their approval when she finds a mythical mousedeer; improvising around the lack of ingredients, a perpetually hungry guerrilla makes ...

It was hard for a poor family to marry, so the seedlings would quietly plant a seed in the ground and plant a husband. His husband would come for him soon. He was knowledgeable about the geography of the world. He knew how to dig holes and bury people. He knew how to raise chickens in the fields. He also knew how to cure illnesses and wounds. "It really is a godly item that is essential to travel at home." Miao Miao, what are you doing? her husband asked. To raise a son. " "Perhaps, you li...

A dream-come-true scenario quickly becomes a nightmare when a yuri fanboy discovers that he’s been reincarnated into one of his favorite yuri games—as Hiiro, an annoying male character whose only purpose is to get between the heroines. Realizing that he’s destined for ruin in a world where men are at the bottom of the pecking order, Hiiro scrambles to get stronger and avert his fate. But his desperate efforts end up making the game’s heroines—Princess Lapis, Snow the maid, and the protagon...

A pithy guide to the Buddha's instructions to unlock the powerful insights that make us "great"—by wise, warm, and humorous Brother Phap Hai, the most senior Australian Dharma teacher ordained by Thich Nhat HanhIn this essential sutra for sincere practitioners, the Buddha says, "If you would like to be enlightened, take on these eight subjects for meditation and apply their corresponding insights to your daily life." Brother Phap Hai's lively, down-to-earth explana...