# PRE

When most people think of piracy, they think of Bittorrent and The Pirate Bay. These public manifestations of piracy, though, conceal an elite worldwide, underground, organized network of pirate groups who specialize in obtaining media - music, videos, games, and software - before their official sale date and then racing against one another to rele...

It is often assumed that creative people are prone to psychological instability, and that this explains apparent associations between cultural production and mental health problems. In their detailed study of recording and performing artists in the British music industry, Sally Anne Gross and George Musgrave turn this view on its head. By liste...

This book examines the evolution of the relationship between taxpayers and their states in Sweden, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Romania, and asks why tax compliance is so much higher in some countries than others. The book shows that successful states have built strong administrative capacities, tax citizens fairly and equitabl...

Papua New Guinea (PNG), a nation of now almost nine million people, continues to evolve and adapt. While there is no shortage of recent data and research on PNG, the two most recent social science volumes on the country were both written more than a decade ago. Since then, much has changed and much has been learnt. What has been missing is a volume...

There is virtually nowhere on Earth today that remains untouched by plastic and ecosystems are evolving to adapt to this new context. While plastics have revolutionized our modern world, new and often unforeseen effects of plastic and its production are continually being discovered. Plastics are entangled in multiple ecological and social crises, f...

In a modern global historical context, scholars have often regarded piracy as an essentially European concept which was inappropriately applied by the expanding European powers to the rest of the world, mainly for the purpose of furthering colonial forms of domination in the economic, political, military, legal and cultural spheres. By contrast, th...

In Paris in the Dark Eric Smoodin takes readers on a journey through the streets, cinemas, and theaters of Paris to sketch a comprehensive picture of French film culture during the 1930s and 1940s. Drawing on a wealth of journalistic sources, Smoodin recounts the ways films moved through the city, the favored stars, and what it was like to go to th...

As technology has developed, computer hackers have become increasingly sophisticated, mastering the ability to hack into even the most impenetrable systems. The best way to secure a system is to understand the tools hackers use and know how to circumvent them. Defense against the Black Arts: How Hackers Do What They Do and How to Protect against It...

This fluent and comprehensive field guide responds to increased interest, across the humanities, in the ways in which digital technologies can disrupt and open up new research and pedagogical avenues. It is designed to help scholars and students engage with their subjects using an audio-visual grammar, and to allow readers to efficiently gain the t...

A short course for students to increase their proficiency in analyzing and interpreting data visualizations. By completing this short course students will be able to explain the importance of data literacy, identify data visualization issues in order to improve their own skills in data story-telling. The intended outcome of this course is to help s...

C# is a general purpose, object-oriented, component-based programming language. As a general purpose language, there are a number of ways to apply C# to accomplish many different tasks. You can build web applications with ASP.NET, desktop applications with Windows Presentation Foundation, or build mobile applications for Windows Phone. Other applic...

Introduction to Financial Mathematics: Concepts and Computational Methods serves as a primer in financial mathematics with a focus on conceptual understanding of models and problem solving. It includes the mathematical background needed for risk management, such as probability theory, optimization, and the like. The goal of the book is to expose th...

The GNU Debugger allows you to see what is going on "inside" a program while it executes - or what a program was doing at the moment it crashed. GDB supports C, C++, Java, Fortran and Assembly among other languages; it is also designed to work closely with the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). The GNU Debugger Program has four special featur...

There's a huge range of computer-controlled machines used by makers - 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC mills and more - but the plotter is the easiest to make. This makes it a great build for getting started in the world of computer-controlled machines. For around £15 you can create your own drawing machine with our guide. - Learn how hydra...

New Global Cities in Latin America and Asia: Welcome to the Twenty-First Century proposes new visions of global cities and regions historically considered "secondary" in the international context. The arguments are not only based on material progress made by these metropolises, but also on the growing social difficulties experienced (e.g....

Discover how to set up Raspberry Pi to play classic games in the brand new version of our retro gaming guide. In this 164-page book, you'll learn how to build a portable games machine, assemble a full-sized arcade cabinet, and emulate classic computers and consoles. Our step-by-step guides make each build easy! Plus you'll even learn to p...

A broad introduction to algorithms for decision making under uncertainty, introducing the underlying mathematical problem formulations and the algorithms for solving them. Automated decision-making systems or decision-support systems - used in applications that range from aircraft collision avoidance to breast cancer screening - must be designed...

This book is a comprehensive, formal treatment of anonymous point collection. The proposed definition does not only provide a strong notion of security and privacy, but also covers features which are important for practical use. An efficient realization is presented and proven to fulfill the proposed definition. The resulting building block is the ...

In this magisterial book, William St Clair unfolds the history of the Parthenon throughout the modern era to the present day, with special emphasis on the period before, during, and after the Greek War of Independence of 1821 - 32. Focusing particularly on the question of who saved the Parthenon from destruction during this conflict, with the help ...

Resilient Web Design, you might think that this is a handbook for designing robust websites. This is not a handbook. It's more like a history book. But in the world of web design, we are mostly preoccupied with the here and now. When we think beyond our presentmoment, it is usually to contemplate the future - to imaginethe devices, features...

Existing textbooks on international relations treat history in a cursory fashion and perpetuate a Euro-centric perspective. This textbook pioneers a new approach by historicizing the material traditionally taught in International Relations courses, and by explicitly focusing on non-European cases, debates and issues. The volume is divided into thre...

An introduction to the engineering principles of embedded systems, with a focus on modeling, design, and analysis of cyber-physical systems. The most visible use of computers and software is processing information for human consumption. The vast majority of computers in use, however, are much less visible. They run the engine, brakes, seatbelts,...

In this two-part anthology, Jan M. Ziolkowski builds on themes uncovered in his earlier The Juggler of Notre Dame and the Medievalizing of Modernity. Here he focuses particularly on the performing arts. Part one contextualises Our Lady's Tumbler, a French poem of the late 1230s, by comparing it with episodes in the Bible and miracles in a wide...

Complementing Who Saved the Parthenon? this companion volume sets aside more recent narratives surrounding the Athenian Acropolis, supposedly 'the very symbol of democracy itself', instead asking if we can truly access an ancient past imputed with modern meaning. And, if so, how? In this book William St Clair presents a reconstructed u...

As Python continues to grow in popularity, projects are becoming larger and more complex. Many Python developers are taking an interest in high-level software design patterns such as hexagonal/clean architecture, event-driven architecture, and the strategic patterns prescribed by domain-driven design (DDD). But translating those patterns into Pytho...

You might think that the next big leap in 3D printing would come in the form of a pristine white box from a high-end manufacturing facility. You'd be wrong. The hot new thing in 3D printing is an open source machine you can put together yourself in your kitchen. Come with us, and find out why your next printer should be a Voron. - Grow food...

This workbook was designed for the Introduction to Archaeology (ANTH 2339) class in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Texas at Arlington. It was created to provide exercises that supplement and expand on topics and issues raised in lecture. For each major topic, students complete exercises that serve a range of functions; ...

This open book is a dynamic guide incorporating the essential skills needed to build a foundation in Financial Analysis. Students and readers will learn how to insightfully read a Financial Statement, utilize key financial ratios in order to derive forward-looking investment-related inferences from the accounting data, engage in elementary forecast...

Interpersonal communication has many implications for us in the real world. Did you know that interpersonal communication played an important role in human evolution? Early humans who lived in groups, rather than alone, were more likely to survive, which meant that those with the capability to develop interpersonal bonds were more likely to pass th...

This collection of essays is the result of the joint efforts of colleagues and students of the leading social anthropology and post-socialism theorist, Professor Chris Hann. With the thirtieth anniversary of the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 2019 as their catalyst, the authors reflect upon Chris Hann's lifelong fieldwork in the discipline, sp...

Part of a series of specialized guides on System Center - this book shares real-world expertise for using Configuration Manager capabilities to deliver more effective IT services. Series editor Mitch Tulloch and a team of System Center experts provide concise technical guidance as they step you through key deployment and management scenarios. Th...

With a little bit of coding, you can breathe life into anything. Discover the building blocks of programming that will take your creations to the next level - whether that's motors, servos, sensors or just adding blinkenlights. Coding is a superpower! - How to build an elite-level hot air balloon - Get ready for Christmas with flashy festi...