In recent years, new paradigms have emerged to replace-or augment-the traditional, mathematically based approaches to optimization. The most powerful of these are genetic algorithms (GA), inspired by natural selection, and genetic programming, an extension of GAs based on the optimization of symbolic codes.Robust Control Systems with Genetic Algorithms builds a bridge between genetic algorithms and the design of robust control systems. After laying a foundation in ...

The tragic death of thirteen-year-old Danny Croteau in 1972 faded from headlines and memories for twenty years until the Boston abuse scandal—a string of assaults taking place within the Catholic Church—exploded in the early 2000s. Despite numerous indications, including forty claims of sexual misconduct with minors, pointing to him as Croteau’s killer, Reverend Richard R. Lavigne remains “innocent.”Drawing on more than ten thousand pages of police and court findings and interviews...

It began with an advertisement in The Times: 'Leaving England June, to explore rivers Central Brazil, if possible ascertain fate Colonel Fawcett; abundance game, big and small; exceptional fishing; room two more guns.' Colonel Fawcett and his son Jack had embarked on a journey in 1925 in search of a supposed lost city in the Amazon and were never seen again. This expedition was too much of a temptation for Peter Fleming, a young journalist with energy and an appetite for adventure. The jou...

This audiobook is narrated by a digital voice.Michael faraday is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern physics. His work in the field of electromagnetism revolutionized society, leading to new avenues of study and developments of technology that would leave the world changed forever.Without faraday’s discoveries, there would be no electronics or electrical power. There would be no technology as we recognize it, or at the very least those technol...

'Fleming's books are sparklingly sardonic and hilariously angry' - GuardianThere is a strong link between the neoliberalisation of higher education over the last 20 years and the psychological hell now endured by its staff and students. While academia was once thought of as the best job in the world - one that fosters autonomy, craft, intrinsic job satisfaction and vocational zeal - you would be hard-pressed to find a lecturer who believes that now.Peter Fleming de...

Capitalism is about to commit suicide and is threatening to take us down with it. But will it give way to a grand social utopia or the beginning of a new dark age... albeit WiFi enabled?The Worst is Yet to Come explores the disturbing possibility that the current crisis of neoliberal capitalism isn’t going to spawn an emancipatory renaissance, but a world that is much, much worse.Wealthy CEOs see it. They’ve been purchasing isolated bunker-retreats in New Zealand f...

News from Tartary is the account of an illegal journey from Peking to Kashmir in 1935. The physical resilience which took companions Fleming and Ella Maillart across some of the world's most inaccessible mountains and deserts was matched by their bravery and luck. China was caught up in a vicious civil war, and local Muslim warlords were allying themselves with Soviet Russia. None of the foreign journalists who had attempted to report from the region in the previous eight years ha...

Providing a much-needed critique of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practice and scholarship, this book seeks to redress CSR advocacy, from a political and critical perspective.A strident approach backed up by extensive use of case studies presents the argument that most CSR-related activity aims to gain legitimacy from consumers and employees, and therefore furthers the exploitative and colonizing agenda of the corporation. By examining CSR in the context of the political ec...

Like its predecessor on secondary middle management, this book uses a succinct and accessible style. The authors; highlight the special challenge of middle management; cover the full range of middle management activities in primary schools; link to the Teacher Training Agency's National Standards for Subject Leadership; and use self-assessment questions and case studies to bring management theory to life.A chapter is devoted to the performance management framework that was introduc...

This book aims to help those in middle leadership posts become more confident and effective in their roles. It will also assist anyone considering becoming a middle leader to prepare for the challenges ahead and avoid common mistakes made by the novice team leader.Packed with practical advice, the book encourages readers to engage with key issues, reflect on their approach and make the changes needed to improve their performance and that of their team. Covering all aspects of the l...

Effective negotiation skills just got easierThere was a time, not that long ago, when negotiation was seen, in the main, as the province of industrial relations folk and car-sales advisers. But, no longer! Repeated financial crises have squeezed profit margins and, in some markets, discouraged buyers from making marginal purchases or continuing habitual expenditure. Managers have found themselves in the frontline of the expectation to achieve better value for money,...

In today's workplaces we work harder and longer, labouring under the illusion that this will bring us more wealth. As this myth becomes increasingly preposterous, it's time to understand why we believe in it, and where it came from.The Death of Homo Economicus explores the origin of this oppressive myth, in order to destroy it. The story begins with the creation of a fake persona labelled the 'dollar-hunting man', invented by economists Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek. Today, this p...