Fischer Black was a remarkable social scientist, one whose contributions range from the lofty perch of highbrow theory to the trenches of practical application. The papers represented in this work span the same range, the contributions of a remarkable array of financial economists who embody in different ways Fischer's ideal of insight from economic theory that both guides and is rooted in the kind of detailed observation of relevant aspects of actual financial markets. It is hoped that re...

Containing the edited research papers resulting from an ambitious, cross-disciplinary research project, this volume examines the spatiality of virtual inhabited 3D worlds - virtual reality and cyberspace. (Three other volumes look at Interaction, Staging and Methodology.) It is about the communication spaces emerging at the Internet and supported by special 3D interfaces. It is also about the virtual spaces created by virtual reality hardware (CAVEs, panoramic screens, head mounted display...

**“ExxonMobil has met its match in Coll, an elegant writer and dogged reporter . . . extraordinary . . . monumental.” —The Washington Post“Fascinating . . . Private Empire is a book meticulously prepared as if for trial . . . a compelling and elucidatory work.” —BloombergFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling author of Ghost Wars and The Achilles Trap, an extraordinary exposé of Big Oil. Includes a profile of current Sec...

Augmented Reality (AR) blurs the boundary between the physical and digital worlds. In AR’s current exploration phase, innovators are beginning to create compelling and contextually rich applications that enhance a user’s everyday experiences. In this book, Dr. Helen Papagiannis—a world-leading expert in the field—introduces you to AR: how it’s evolving, where the opportunities are, and where it’s headed.If you’re a designer, developer, entrepreneur, student, educator, business lead...

National Book Critics Circle Award FinalistFrom the acclaimed, award-winning author of Alexander Hamilton: here is the essential, endlessly engrossing biography of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.—the Jekyll-and-Hyde of American capitalism. In the course of his nearly 98 years, Rockefeller was known as both a rapacious robber baron, whose Standard Oil Company rode roughshod over an industry, and a philanthropist who donated money lavishly to universities and medic...

This book is a step-by-step compositing guide, with lots of illustrations and practical approaches and implementations to attain a desired visual quality to a deadline. Each chapter progressively adds to your skillset, covering a wide range of CG film making compositing concepts. This book is for digital CG artists looking to add photo realism and life to their footage. This book also assists technical CG artists in strategizing and implementing productive lighting. If you are new to Blend...

A "highly entertaining history [of] global hustling, cola wars and the marketing savvy that carved a niche for Coke in the American social psyche" ( Publishers Weekly).Secret Formula follows the colorful characters who turned a relic from the patent medicine era into a company worth $80 billion. Award-winning reporter Frederick Allen's engaging account begins with Asa Candler, a nineteenth-century pharmacist in Atlanta who secured the rights to the...

Understanding Augmented Reality addresses the elements that are required to create augmented reality experiences. The technology that supports augmented reality will come and go, evolve and change. The underlying principles for creating exciting, useful augmented reality experiences are timeless. Augmented reality designed from a purely technological perspective will lead to an AR experience that is novel and fun for one-time consumption - but is no more than a toy. Imagine a filmmaking bo...

With the continued application of gaming for training and education, which has seen exponential growth over the past two decades, this book offers an insightful introduction to the current developments and applications of game technologies within educational settings, with cutting-edge academic research and industry insights, providing a greater understanding into current and future developments and advances within this field.Following on from the success of the first volume in 201...

The book describes recent research results in the areas of modelling, creation, management and presentation of interactive 3D multimedia content. The book describes the current state of the art in the field and identifies the most important research and design issues. Consecutive chapters address these issues. These are: database modelling of 3D content, security in 3D environments, describing interactivity of content, searching content, visualization of search results, modelling mixed rea...

Virtual reality (VR) is a multidisciplinary area of research aimed at interactive human–computer-mediated simulations of artificial environments. An important aspect of VR-based systems is the stimulation of the human senses – usually sight, sound, and touch – in such a way that a user feels a sense of presence in the virtual environment. Sometimes it is important to combine real and virtual objects in the same real or virtual environment. This approach is often referred to as augmented re...

Southern Africa was once regarded as a worthless jumble of British colonies, Boer republics, and African chiefdoms, a troublesome region of little interest to the outside world. But then prospectors chanced upon the world's richest deposits of diamonds and gold, setting off a titanic struggle between the British and the Boers for control of the land. The result was the costliest, bloodiest, and most humiliating war that Britain had waged in nearly a century, and the devastation of the Boer...