Systems Science

In 1983, Thomas Silverstein and Clayton Fountain, both serving life sentences at the U.S. Prison in Marion, Illinois, separately murdered two correction officers on the same day. The Bureau of Prisons condemned both men to the severest punishment that could legally be imposed, one created specifically for them. It was unofficially called "no human contact." Each initially spent nine months in a mattress-sized cell where the lights burned twenty-four hours a day. They were clothed only in boxer shorts, completely sealed off from the outside world with only their minds to occupy their time.

Following his book Captured on corporate capture of regulatory and government agencies, and his years of experience as a prosecutor, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse here turns his attention to the right-wing scheme to capture the courts, and how it influenced the Trump administration's appointment of over 230 "business-friendly" judges, including the last three justices of the United States Supreme Court.

Ten years have passed since Captain Kirk and the Enterprise™ crew brought back humpbacked whales from the 20th century to communicate with the mysterious Probe which threatened Earth. The Probe is returning to Earth and has plotted its course, and the Enterprise must continue to delve into the mystery of its language, and its cosmic purpose to save Earth once again.

After revealing the deception spread by the Galactic Council and the hidden aspects of the System, John Lee and his friends flee the council building on Irvina. Just escaping the capital planet will tax them to their utmost. Evading the full force of the Galactic Council and their minions might be more than they can handle. While old allies deal with the new truths, friends fracture under the increasing pressure, and all the while, the System Quest hangs over John's head, unfinished. Their only hope - their only clue - lies in the Forbidden Zone.

Fritjof Capra and the Systems View of Life (Great Minds, Book 3): 2017 Revised, Updated, and Reformatted Edition is a passionate study about the great contemporary physicist and a review of all of his published books, including extensive quotes. The author considers Fritjof Capra as one of the most important authors on new science and systems research and considers as genius Capra's unique gift to formulate and explain complex scientific and philosophical insights and interrelations in a way that the educated listener can understand.

Machine learning systems are both complex and unique. Complex because they consist of many different components and involve many different stakeholders. Unique because they're data dependent, with data varying wildly from one use case to the next. In this book, you'll learn a holistic approach to designing ML systems that are reliable, scalable, maintainable, and adaptive to changing environments and business requirements. Author Chip Huyen, cofounder of Claypot AI, considers each design decision in the context of how it can help your system as a whole achieve its objectives.

In Strange New Worlds, renowned astronomer Ray Jayawardhana brings news from the front lines of the epic quest to find planets—and alien life—beyond our solar system. Only in the past two decades, after millennia of speculation, have astronomers begun to discover planets around other stars—thousands in fact. Now they are closer than ever to unraveling distant twins of the Earth. In this book, Jayawardhana vividly recounts the stories of the scientists and the remarkable breakthroughs that have ushered in this extraordinary age of exploration.

You've probably seen it before: a human brain dramatically lit from the side, the camera circling it like a helicopter shot of Stonehenge, and a modulated baritone voice exalting the brain's elegant design in reverent tones... to which this book says: Pure nonsense.

New beginnings... Everyone craves them, but few have the resolution to go through. And yet John decided to live as a mortal. For his wife, for his daughter. He was willing to give up everything to achieve peace and avoid what he had already suffered in the past. But peace is temporary. How long can it be maintained? Enjoy this seventh issue of The Idle System, just a step away from the last book in the series. If you are ever to live life in another world, you might want to learn what John has to offer.

The War on Cops exposes the truth about officer use of force and explodes the conceit of "mass incarceration". A rigorous analysis of data shows that crime, not race, drives police actions and prison rates. The growth of proactive policing in the 1990s, along with lengthened sentences for violent crime, saved thousands of minority lives. In fact, Mac Donald argues, no government agency is more dedicated to the proposition that "black lives matter" than today's data-driven, accountable police department.

Le second tome de la série qui marque le renouveau de la science-fiction, dans un thriller aux confins de l'espace... Nous avons toujours voulu explorer de nouveaux mondes. C'était peut-être une mauvaise idée. L'équipage de l'Orca-7131 a été sauvé et le trou noir qui menaçait l'humanité a été refermé. Sarah, Slow, Yuri et Tom ont enfin regagné le système solaire. Direction : la Terre. Mais un message du président de l'EPON provoque une nouvelle crise.

Finding his way back to Earth through a portal, John returns to a very changed world. The shackles of galactic control have bound Earth and humanity ever tighter to the system. Now, John has to find a way to free Earth from galactic control while battling stronger, more powerful enemies. And worst of all, he will need to indulge in politics. Good thing he's got a new class and new allies.

A leading brain scientist's look at the neurobiology of pleasure-and how pleasures can become addictions. Whether eating, taking drugs, engaging in sex, or doing good deeds, the pursuit of pleasure is a central drive of the human animal. In The Compass of Pleasure Johns Hopkins neuroscientist David J. Linden explains how pleasure affects us at the most fundamental level: in our brain.

Until recently, microglia were thought to be merely the brain’s housekeepers, helpfully removing damaged cells. But a recent groundbreaking discovery revealed them to be capable of terrifying Jekyll and Hyde behavior. When triggered - and anything that stirs up the immune system in the body can activate microglia - they can morph into destroyers, impacting a wide range of issues from memory problems and anxiety to depression and Alzheimer’s. Under the right circumstances, however, microglia can be coaxed back into being angelic healers.

John Lee has come far from his time as a struggling survivor of the System Apocalypse. But now, his actions have gone too far, and he has drawn the ire of the Galactic Council. Not only he and his friends, but Earth itself, are faced with the displeasure of the Council. With the whole galaxy turned against them, John will have to scramble for allies and make Faustian deals to save Earth. But against the might of multiple empires, will it be enough?

Increasingly, cracks are appearing in the capacity of communities, ecosystems, and landscapes to provide the goods and services that sustain our planet's well-being. The response from most quarters has been for "more of the same" that created the situation in the first place: more control, more intensification, and greater efficiency. "Resilience thinking" offers a different way of understanding the world and a new approach to managing resources. It embraces human and natural systems as complex entities continually adapting through cycles of change.

Before he was the super confident, snarky AI saving Siv Gendin and his friends’ bacon on a regular basis, Silky worked with his first human companion, Eyana Ora, an Empathic Services agent. This was the mission where it all began. Two centuries before the Fall of the Benevolence. A simple covert mission to spy on the Krixis, a telepathic alien race, turns into a desperate bid to save mankind when Silky and Eyana uncover a plot to use a secret super-weapon. But the weapon, a lost piece of ancient technology, holds secrets that neither side expected.

Lochlan Brady and his daughters have faced some of those dangers and worked to build a place where they and other survivors can start to rebuild civilization. The new world is one where power rules and Loch has found himself to be the most powerful around. It's thrust him into a position of responsibility for not just his daughters but all the other survivors. It's not one he wants but feels he has to take. They have shelter but now Loch and the other survivors must find sources of food and other resources needed to not just survive but to thrive in the Connected System.

John wakes up in a familiar place, only to find a world that is different from what he knows. In order to protect those he loves, John must sift through his memories to ensure his previous ending doesn’t become true once more. He might have brought knowledge of the future back to the past, but this time, he finds his enemies much earlier. How will he tell Sarah, who does not remember the love they shared or the adventures they had, who he really is? Old debts are repaid, and new friends are made as he carves out a familiar path to the top.

Long Fang is stranded in a foreign world where proper cultivation has been replaced by annoying blue screens. He is confused and alone...but not for long. Completely ignoring the System, he forms a wholesome sect of followers to spread cultivation across the wild world. Blue screens do not take kindly to rejection, however, and Long Fang’s stubbornness soon finds him pitted against increasingly dangerous foes. To overcome the System tribulations, he must quickly grow stronger and wiser.... But first, he needs to get past that one annoying town guard.