GNU Scientific Library Reference Manual

Book Description

The GNU Scientific Library (GSL) is a free numerical library for C and C++ programmers. It provides over 1,000 routines for solving mathematical problems in science and engineering. Written by the developers of GSL this reference manual is the definitive guide to the library. The GNU Scientific Library is free software, distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It is available for GNU (GNU/Linux), Unix and Microsoft Windows systems. All the money raised from the sale of this book supports the development of the GNU Scientific Library. This is the revised second edition of the manual, and corresponds to version 1.8 of the library (updated August 2006).

Customer Reviews:

Good manual for GSL.......2007-01-05

I think that this book is a good manual for GSL.

AWESOME!!!!.......2006-05-10

This is a great manual. Professionally written and very easy to read. GSL is a lot easier to use than Numerical Recipes.

Galassi et al have provided many examples to illustrate generic uses for library functions. Knowlege of C-programming is required, especially pointers and structures. The manual is available for free on the web, but the printed edition is bound and convenient to read. Plus, GSL is free and open-source, and buying this manual throws some cash the developers' way.

It's unlikely that the manual will be outdated anytime soon, as GSL developers are satisfied with the library and don't plan to make any major changes (or so they say on their website) apart from minor bugfixes.

Among a few issues with GSL are that GSL's handling of complex datatypes is a little clumsy IMHO, and their matrix diagonalization routines are not so great, and only work for hermitian matrices. Of course, you can use LAPACK for non-hermitian matrices. Also, they should provide some tips and tricks used to simplify programs using GSL.

I've tried out their BLAS stuff, their ODE integrators (they have rk4 & 5, Prince Dormand, Gaussian integration stuff and Bulirsch-Stoer), their special functions and their quadrature stuff. The libraries seem pretty thread safe (as they say) as I'm running them on SMP systems and haven't have any problems yet.

Overall, fine work.

Authoritative reference for GSL.......2006-01-10

This is a printed version of the GSL Reference Manual that's available on gnu.org, so there's no content here you couldn't get for free on the internet, and you have the privilege of trying as much as you want before you buy. I purchased the book for the convenience and ease-of-reading that comes with a printed volume, and to help support Free Software development. The typeset equations are much easier on the eye than the text renderings; the binding and printing are of very high quality. The price is very reasonable. One disadvantage, common to all paper documentation, is that it will eventually go out of date. Bottom line: if you use GSL, you'll get your money's worth from this book.

Product Description

This casebook provides detailed information on insurance law. The casebook provides the tools for fast, easy, on-point research. Part of the University Casebook Series, it includes selected cases designed to illustrate the development of a body of law on a particular subject. Text and explanatory materials designed for law study accompany the cases.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Text.......2006-12-23

Full of case excerpts which get to the point. Rarely is there a case that is included in its entirety (thank goodness). Editors are great, as the subject of insurance law is broken down into managable categories. The text is straight forward and well organized. There are policy examples included which were very helpful.

OSHA-Stallcup's Electrical Regulations Simplified

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OSHA-Stallcup's Electrical Regulations Simplified
James G. Stallcup
Manufacturer: Career Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0877655065

Insurance Regulation in the United States: An Overview for Business and Government

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Insurance Regulation in the United States: An Overview for Business and Government
Peter M. Lencsis
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1567200850

Book Description

Insurance attorney Peter Lencsis provides a unique, objective description of the insurance regulatory system as it exists today in the United States. Concise but comprehensive, it provides an easily grasped, immediately useful explanation of how the regulatory system works. Because of the federal McCarran-Ferguson Act, most insurance regulation is left to the individual states, and is thus non-uniform. But there is still a common pattern to state regulation, explains Lencsis, due in large part to the activities of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners and its own uniform standards. Lencsis covers the formation and licensing of insurance companies and the regulation of their underwriting and investment activities, as well as the insurance insolvency laws and guaranty funds, assigned risk plans, reinsurance, holding companies, and the regulation of agents and brokers. An important resource for insurance industry professionals, and others in regulatory agencies of the public sector.

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Insurance Operations and Regulation
Bernard L. Webb , Connor M. Harrison , and James J. Markham
Manufacturer: Amer Inst for Chartered
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Fundamentals of Risk and Insurance

ASIN: 0894631020

Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies (Aei Studies on Financial Market Deregulation)

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Optional Federal Chartering and Regulation of Insurance Companies (Aei Studies on Financial Market Deregulation)
Peter J. Wallison
Manufacturer: AEI Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0844741469

Book Description

In response to heightened competition, the larger insurance companies and various insurance industry groups have become interested in the concept of federal chartering and regulation.

Automobile Insurance: Road Safety, New Drivers, Risks, Insurance Fraud and Regulation (Huebner International Series on Risk, Insurance and Economic Security)

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Automobile Insurance: Road Safety, New Drivers, Risks, Insurance Fraud and Regulation (Huebner International Series on Risk, Insurance and Economic Security)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 079238394X

Book Description

Motor vehicle accidents are still a leading cause of death, even if the trend has somewhat declined over the past 20 years. Indeed, motor vehicle accidents are a significant cause of death in comparison with air and space transport accidents, homicides and even HIV infections, causes which are more often highlighted in the media. As shown in this book, motor vehicle accidents are particularly damaging to very young drivers.
The assessment of driving risks is a common concern for road transportation safety and the automobile insurance industry. In both cases, there is an awareness of the great losses resulting from the deaths, injuries and property damage caused by traffic accidents. Research is essential to counteract this public health threat, to assess the success or failure of countermeasures, and to solve the problems it generates in the insurance industry.
This book is for people concerned about road crashes (prevention and compensation) and about the insurance problems they pose - namely private and public institutional authorities, consultants, administrators, practitioners, and researchers interested in sharing the authors' experience in this domain. The book presents original contributions related to motor vehicle insurance and road safety. All papers have been evaluated by external referees. Four subjects are covered: 1) Automobile Insurance Pricing, Risks and Asymmetric Information; 2) Insurance Fraud; 3) Young Drivers: Licensing Policies, Evaluation and Risks; and 4) Road Insurance Regulation.

Catastrophe Insurance: Consumer Demand, Markets and Regulation (Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy)

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Catastrophe Insurance: Consumer Demand, Markets and Regulation (Topics in Regulatory Economics and Policy)
Martin F. Grace , Robert W. Klein , Paul R. Kleindorfer , and Michael R. Murray
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1402074697

Book Description

This monograph presents the results of the first significant attempt to examine the nature of the demand for insurance against natural disasters at a detailed, microeconomic level. The subject is homeowners' multiperil insurance used to cover owner-occupied residential property. The analysis seeks to identify factors that affect the consumer demand for coverage using a model that properly reflects the interacting supply and demand factors. The authors examine key variables and their effects on the quantity, quality, and price of insurance purchased. They consider the sensitivity of demand to prices, demographic characteristics, policy features, and the bundling/unbundling of perils and coverages. They examine insurer and consumer decisions in different markets and regulatory environments - Florida and New York - over a four-year period 1995-1998.

Costly Policies: State Regulation and Antitrust Exemption in Insurance Markets (Aei Studies in Regulation and Federalism)

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Costly Policies: State Regulation and Antitrust Exemption in Insurance Markets (Aei Studies in Regulation and Federalism)
Jonathan R. Macey , and Geoffrey P. Miller
Manufacturer: Aei Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0844738301

Book Description

This book discusses state regulation and antitrust exemption in insurance markets.

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The Crisis in Insurance Regulation
Banks McDowell
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

Private and governmental insurance systems in the United States have been suffering an ongoing series of crises. Automobile liability insurance, malpractice protection, health insurance, pension plans, and property insurance have been troubled in recent times by such matters as the threat of insolvency, extremely high premiums, lack of availability for many applicants, and discriminatory selling practices. For over a century, private insurance has been heavily regulated. Governmental insurance, particularly social programs such as Social Security and Medicare, also face serious funding and availability problems. These ongoing problems suggest that regulators have not been doing a very effective job. Unhappy consumers are making different demands both on the industry and on regulators. Some call for deregulation in the belief that market forces will make insurance more efficient, available, and affordable. Others insist that governmental regulators, whether legislators, insurance commissioners, or judges, step in and help solve these problems. Regulators, very much a part of the political process, have avoided these controversial areas of difficult choices. Avoidance is no longer an option for regulators. McDowell explores what competing types of regulation, whether market, industrial, or governmental, might be used, what goals regulators are committed to, the different regulatory philosophies of federal and state agencies, whether the problems are caused by under-regulation or over-regulation, and difficulties of enforcement. He discusses in detail these regulatory problems in the fields of automobile liability insurance, health insurance, and the demand of other financial service institutions to compete in the insurance business. Throughout the book, he compares what American regulators are doing with the practices in Canada in order to illuminate problems and possible solutions for American regulators to consider. Finally, he closes with an analysis of whether the emerging trends of internationalization and interdependence of personal and economic spheres, the increase in magnitude of risks, and the increased speed of transactions will require changes in insurance regulation. Insurance regulators and professionals in governmental and private insurance as well as scholars and students of insurance law will be interested in this book. Even consumers who are concerned or angry about the future of their insurance protection will find it valuable.

Federal insurance regulations (Nils Federal reference service)

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Federal insurance regulations (Nils Federal reference service)

Manufacturer: NILS Codes and Regulations
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Private Law | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0892460032

Book Description

Providing an introduction to the theory of nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations, this book discusses fundamental properties of transient and stationary solutions, emphasizing the stability analysis of stationary solutions by means of self-consistency equations, linear stability analysis, and Lyapunov's direct method. Also treated are Langevin equations and correlation functions. Nonlinear Fokker-Planck Equations addresses various phenomena such as phase transitions, multistability of systems, synchronization, anomalous diffusion, cut-off solutions, travelling-wave solutions and the emergence of power law solutions. A nonlinear Fokker-Planck perspective to quantum statistics, generalized thermodynamics, and linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics is given. Theoretical concepts are illustrated where possible by simple examples. The book also reviews several applications in the fields of condensed matter physics, the physics of porous media and liquid crystals, accelerator physics, neurophysics, social sciences, population dynamics, and computational physics.

Customer Reviews:

Not carefully thought out!.......2006-04-06

This book is riddled with very serious mistakes, as are many of the papers it refers to. There is no such thing as a 'nonlinear Markov process'. There is no such thing as a 'nonlinear Fokker-Planck equation' for a conditional probability. A conditional probability with initial state memory is nonMarkovian. A conditional probability with initial state memory is not guaranteed to obey a Chapman-Kolmogorov equation and usually doesn't. A Chapman-Kolmogorov equation is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a Markov process. A Fokker-Planck equation with memory of an initial state in its drift and/or diffusion coefficients does not generate a Markov process. A nonlinear diffusion equation does not define any stochastic process at all, in fact a diffusion equation for a 1-point density defines no stochastic process at all. A 1-point density cannot be used to identify/define a stochastic process, both scaling Markov processes and strongly nonMarkov processes like fractional Brownian motion have exactly the same 1-point density, with widely differing conditional densities. For detailed explanations see cond-mat/0701589.

Average customer rating:

Comic look at mid-life male in crisis.

+ 5 more stars for the "Other Schulman"

A Review by the Other Coburn

The Other Shulman

I wish Zweibel could just read it to me

The Other Shulman: A Novel
Alan Zweibel
Manufacturer: Villard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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North: The Tale of a Boy Who Becomes a Free Agent: and Travels the World in Search of the Perfect Parents

ASIN: 1400062667
Release Date: 2005-07-05

Book Description

Shulman, a chubby, middle-aged stationery-store owner from New Jersey, has always claimed that he’s been gaining and losing the same thirty-five pounds since junior high–and that if you added all of that discarded weight together, he had lost an entire person. Another Shulman. A Shulman he never really cared for. A Shulman he’d always tried to lose by dieting and exercising. A Shulman he’d cover by wearing extra-large shirts in an attempt to hide his existence.

This has been just a joke until, at a crossroads marked by overwhelming marital and business stress, he actually encounters this Other Shulman–an incredibly successful man who’s made life and career choices that Shulman has spurned.

At first, the Other Shulman is but a mere nuisance, a source of frustration brought about by mistaken identity. But as time goes by, his actions become increasingly destructive and threaten to sabotage all aspects of Shulman’s existence.

The struggle between the two Shulmans comes to a head while Shulman is running in the New York City Marathon. And it is during the course of this race, as he runs through the old neighborhoods where his life took shape, that this ordinarily passive family man examines all the choices he’s made and realizes that in order for him to get his life back on track he must confront and overcome his haunting demons as presented in the form of this angry doppelgänger, this Other Shulman.

In 26.2 chapters, one for each mile of the marathon, The Other Shulman is a hilarious and affecting tale of identity and aspiration from one of America’s best-known comic writers.

Customer Reviews:

Comic look at mid-life male in crisis........2007-09-21

Written by a former Saturday Night Live writer, this novel follows an everyman named Shulman as he tries to pull his life back together.

Entropy has progressed far for Shulman, an aging, overweight, small businessman. He's getting fat, his wife is more interested in her clients than him, his business is failing, and his nice guy style only makes it easier for those around him to use him.

For reasons he doesn't understand, he signs up to train for the New York Marathon after seeing an ad about promising to get anyone in shape for this in 6 months.

The book has 26 chapters that cover each mile of the marathon and in each chapter, the author recounts the past events that led up to this moment. The title refers to Shulman's theory that he has lost the same pounds off and on since high school and that the lost weight is now enough to make up another Shulman. It also turns out that there really is another Shulman - a crass, commercialized, ruder version who is intent on ruining Shulman's personal and private life.

The book includes quite a few comic scenes that are hilarious but there is a serious side also. The training program is meant to get people to run who will find sponsors to donate money to Aids research. The coach dies of Aids and Shulman's training partner's brother has just died of Aids. No way to make those parts funny.

I have 2 negative criticisms of the book. First, I think the main character is somewhat hard to relate to unless you're Shulmanesque. (Since I am to some degree, I related completely, but I fear others might not.) Secondly, the ending is a little weird and makes it possible that much of the book was imaginary or at least not what it seems. So be prepared. There is a little off-color language but no major filth. I would not give this book to a child.

Overall, I found the book insightful, well-written and entertaining. A solid 4 stars.

+ 5 more stars for the "Other Schulman".......2007-09-20

We discovered this book quite by accident as my husband heard the author, former SNL writer Alan Zweibel, reading an excerpt on one of the late-night talkshows. My husband read aloud the book to me, and we LAUGHED until we wept, and we CRIED until we smiled. A thought-provoking, yet tender book, which I wholeheartedly recommend. Oh... and one more thing....

"Lie la lie, lie la lie lie lie lie lie, lie la lie,
Lie la lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie lie..."

Those who have read the book have undoubtedly cracked a big smile right now. And those who haven't read the book SHOULD! and find out why the rest of us are laughing :)

A Review by the Other Coburn.......2007-08-23

"The Other Shulman" was the best book I have read since Louis Lamour passed away (albeit a totally different genre). It was the first novel to make me laugh out loud with each chapter - even the ones that left a little moisture in my eyes. I recommend it to anyone who thinks they have lost their sense of humor (or sense of humility). You will find it in Shulman.

Mike (the other) Coburn
Somewhere in Indiana

The Other Shulman.......2007-08-18

I got interested in this book after seeing the author read an excerpt in a late night show (Letterman? I can't remember)Once I started reading I could not put it down. Pardon the cliche' but this time it fits: It made me laugh, it made me cry. And right now it's in the mail- I passed it on to a loved one I'm hoping will enjoy it as much as I did.

I wish Zweibel could just read it to me.......2007-08-16

I liked the book...I guess...actually, It was just OK.

I bought it because I saw the author on letterman doing a reading and he was freaking hilarious. He reminded my wife and I a little bit of David Sedaris.

The problem was that the book took a really weird turn that it just couldn't come back from and it left me wanting more of the anecdotal asides from the main character and far less of what was "The Other Schulman" part of the story. I would maybe read another book by this guy, but I would want it more vigorously edited by someone who isn't his friend. He can clearly write and is a good storyteller, he just needs to be reigned in a little bit to make the story tighter.

BTW, good luck actually finding this book...it is out of print and I had to wait 2 1/2 weeks for it...NOT worth it.

The Yellow Wall-paper and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

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A Woman Beyond Her Time

The Yellow Wall-paper and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0192834800

Book Description

Charlotte Perkins Gilman was America's leading feminist intellectual of the early twentieth century. The Yellow Wall-Paper and Other Stories makes available the fullest selection of her short fiction ever printed. In addition to her pioneering masterpiece, `The Yellow Wall-Paper' (1890), which draws on her own experience of depression and insanity, this edition features her Impress `story studies', works in the manner of writers such as James, Twain, and Kipling. These stories, together with other fiction from her neglected California period (1890-5), throw new light on Gilman as a practitioner of the art of fiction. In her Forerunner stories she repeatedly explores the situation of `the woman of fifty' and inspires reform by imagining workable solutions to a range of personal and social problems.

Customer Reviews:

A Woman Beyond Her Time.......2004-02-28

The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Short Stories by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is a book truly ahead of it's time. From reading the stories it is apparent that Charlotte was an extreme feminist for the late 1800s. I found it interesting that a woman in the 1800s was so aware of the confinements imposed on women during that time. It was very clear to me that Charlotte Perkins Gilman was on a mission to educate as many woman as she could regarding the inequality of rights for women versus men. The main reason I found this book so intriguing was not because of her writing technique but her strong desire to help women realize that they were more capable than society gave them credit for. She was clearly trying to strengthen herself and other women. I appreciated her writing more for the books contribution to the empowerment of women. It was truly courageous of Charlotte to express as much as she did in her writings since it was uncommon for women to stand up for themselves and their rights. Charlottes writing was motivational and inspired many woman to eventually step out of their "limitations and boundaries" at the time and become more assertive about their rights.

Social Criticism and Nineteenth-Century American Fictions

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Social Criticism and Nineteenth-Century American Fictions
Robert Shulman
Manufacturer: Univ of Missouri Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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