Network Flows: Theory, Algorithms, and Applications

Book Description

Bringing together the classic and the contemporary aspects of the field, this comprehensive introduction to network flows provides an integrative view of theory, algorithms, and applications. It offers in-depth and self-contained treatments of shortest path, maximum flow, and minimum cost flow problems, including a description of new and novel polynomial-time algorithms for these core models. For professionals working with network flows, optimization, and network programming.

Customer Reviews:

the best network flow book for computer scientists.......2004-12-18

I've been using this book as the primary text for my class in
"Network Flow Programming" (senior & graduate level) at the
University of Tennessee for about 10 years. Prior to that time
I had used Jensen & Barnes' Network Flow Programming (now long out
of print). The code in Jensen & Barnes is in FORTRAN (not so fun
or useful for CS majors) and the intended audience seemed to be OR.
Ahuja's code is pascal pseudo-code for the most part, which usually
translates easily into the C language that most of our students
use.

For CS students, there is excellent use of algorithm analysis
(big-O) throughout the book, and there are long discussions
about different approaches and algorithms and the complexity of
each. There is a lot of mathematical notation, but my students
have never had to worry about PDEs and the like here. Any good
advanced CS student (graduate or undergraduate) will find the
book very worthwhile. In my course the students must implement
min-cost spanning trees, shortest paths, critical path/PERT
networks (not in Ahuja), max flow, and min-cost flow. I would
also recommend (for CS majors) Tarjan's excellent (and
succinct) Data Structures and Network Algorithms.

Good Introductory Book .......2004-12-13

This is a good introductory book. I particularly liked the applications of the problems, introduced in the book. The main negative point that I could mention is, the redundant explanations and discussions you might see in different chapters. I would say the volume of the book could have been reduced by some 15%-20%, if the authors had chosen to be more concise.
The book, Combinatorial Optimization by William J. Cook, et al, is an alternative. It covers a whole lot of topics and is just too succinct, a little more elaboration would have been appreciated !

Great book for Network Theory and Application.......2003-09-25

This book contains a lot of great algorithms for network flow theory and it also contains many of the great applications, which are very useful in practice. This book is very completed. Personally, I learn a lot of new things about Multi commodity Flow, which are the use of Lagrangian Relaxation, Column generation, Resource allocation techniques for solving multi commodity flow. There are also the good chapters in Convex cost flow and Generalized Flow and good appendix in complexity. Beside this book is very easy to read and understand. It is a great idea to have if you are in OR or IE major. :)

Great book for Network Theory and Application.......2002-08-01

PLEASE, write a corrected edition!.......2002-02-28

First of all, I am not surprised that the book
got so many good reviews: at first look, it is truly
impressive, and it is clearly a work of love. I was
looking forward to teaching from it.

It is quite clear from the reviews though, that the
reviewers have not **used** it for teaching; they may
have browsed it at most.

The first disappointments came very soon in the course I
taught. The biggest flaw of the book is the really bad style
in which the proofs are written. They manage to be seemingly
overflowing with explanation, and at the same time difficult
to understand. They gloss over many details: if the teacher
tries to skip these, an alert student could easily make
him/her look pretty silly.

One case in point is the proof of the label correcting
algorithm's correctness starting on page 136. I knew this
material from before, so I thought preparing class from
here would be a breeze. I was wrong: after going back to
my notes, and breaking up the mess into several simple
claims did I manage to make notes from which I could teach.
Whoever missed the class was helpless, when they looked
for explanation in the book.

I only remark, that all classes that I taught from this book
were at some of the top 10 OR depts at the US... so this is
hardly the students' fault.

Many exercises are wrong as well, and although the authors
claim that they will try to fix the mistakes, they hardly ever
reply to reader's comments, as some of my fellow professors
told me.

I can only compare the style of the exposition to the
later written Combinatorial Optimization book by
Cunningham et. al. There is a WORLD of difference.
One can try to look up for instance, the proof
for the label correcting algorithm: the proof in the
Ahuja et. al book is practically creaking at the joints,
while in Cunningham et. al. it flows lucidly.
I suspect that the authors of the latter book wrote it, since
they were unhappy with this one; one can hardly be surprised.

On the positive side, the plethora of applications presented
is truly amazing, and the exercises (when correct) are excellent.

To sum it up: A good book, which could have become a great one,
but have not; one which is very useful, but at the
same time very hard to use... I think the community would thank
the authors for a second, revised edition, that would fix
all the mistakes, and all those terrible proofs.

A final word: this text received the prestigious Lanchester
prize. One may surmise that giving prizes to a textbook
would be best done maybe after 5 years, after a book proved
its worth in actual teaching in the trenches,
so to speak, and NOT based on the first impression that the
jury gets.

Average customer rating:

Order delays

An excellent book for starters!!! Great job....Gallagher

Financial Management: Principles and Practice : Study Guide and Workbook
Andrew Gallagher , and Joseph D. Andrew
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Finance | Accounting & Finance | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
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Foundations of Finance and Eva Tutor Package, Fourth Edition

ASIN: 0138484740

Book Description

Offering a unique balance of industry and academic experience, this unique author team presents the latest in financial theory while maintaining a strong real-world connection. Aiming to engage rather than intimidate, they offer a book that is reader-focused yet does not water down content. Their consistent approach focuses on value: what creates value, what destroys it, how value is measured, and how value and risk are related. Offers web-based Interactive Modules that provide extensions of the material presented in the book, such as Excel spreadsheets and Internet links. Bundles with the book Prentice Hall's Mastering Finance CD that includes video clips and other material to illustrate concepts. Features an earlier presentation of the cost of capital (to Chapter 9 from Chapter 12), preceding capital budgeting and cash flow estimation chapters. Provides all-new material on business valuation techniques. Perfect for the financial analyst, marketing manager, or information technology manager who wants an updated reference on financial topics.

Customer Reviews:

Order delays.......2006-02-25

The book never showed up. I needed to order it 2nd time and cancel 1st order. It took me almost a month before I got it.

An excellent book for starters!!! Great job....Gallagher.......2001-08-30

This is an excellent book for those who want to delve into finance. It is equivalent to 2nd year material. Finance, most often offered in 3rd year here in Canada, requires knowledge of statistics (i.e. stats, econometrics...etc Intermediate level; 2nd year) when reviewing certain budgeting options; you won't need this for the book. Don't be dismaid, your not missing key information by using this 2nd year stuff (you get all of the math too at an easier to comprehend level).
The disk included with mine helps to build your financial knowledge through a website connection and with practice, but this is not mandatory and is designed for the hardcore finance junkies like myself.
It is only a 4-star because I want more challenging material, but being a 2nd year course I have to wait until 3rd year.

Financial Management: Principles and Practice : Study Guide and Workbook

Average customer rating:

Financial Management: Principles and Practice : Study Guide and Workbook
Andrew; Andrew, Joseph D. Gallagher
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIYNYC

Book Description

The rise of microcomputers and the power that they've brought have revolutionized nearly every professional discipline, not the least of which is the field of law. This work presents a survey of microcomputers and decision-aiding software in law practices and the legal process, offering a variety of perspectives from contributors around the world. The book defines decision-making software as having the ability to aid in the processing of a set of law-related alternatives, relative criteria, or rules for determining which alternative should or will be chosen and the relationship between each alternative and criterion. These basic ideas are applied to the work of various members of the legal community, including practicing lawyers, legal policy-makers, and legal scholars. Following a detailed introduction that provides an overview of the nature, trends, and costs/benefits of decision-making software, the book focuses on the different members of the legal community and the normative and predictive questions that microcomputers and software can help to answer. Part One deals with the practicing lawyer, who must decide whether to go to trial or settle out of court, and predicts the outcome of going to trial or the effects of alternative contract clauses. The legal policymaker, who must decide among alternative statutes and predict the effect of legal policy, is addressed in Part Two. Topics of discussion here include the role of computers in federal tax compliance and using computers to assist in sentencing. Part Three examines the legal scholar and law training, covering subjects such as the American legal computer education and using microcomputers in case-method teaching. Finally, Part Four provides analyses that cut across all three parts of the legal profession, with special concentration on legal prescription and prediction that apply to a wide variety of legal fields, countries, and purposes of the law. This volume will be of particular interest to practicing lawyers in government and private practice, law professors and students, and legal researchers and librarians. Public, academic, and law libraries will also find it to be a valuable addition to their collections.

Legal Scholarship, Microcomputers, and Super-Optimizing Decision-Making

Average customer rating:

Legal Scholarship, Microcomputers, and Super-Optimizing Decision-Making
Stuart S. Nagel
Manufacturer: Quorum Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Business Law | Reference | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

An exciting aspect of contemporary legal scholarship is a concern for law from a global perspective across all legal fields. The book draws upon examples from North America, Western Europe, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. It refers to the basic private law fields of torts, property, contracts, and family law. It also refers to the basic public law fields of constitutional law, administrative law, criminal law, and international law. It analyzes diverse legal policy problems from a perspective that is designed to produce solutions whereby conservatives, liberals, and other major viewpoints can all come out ahead of their best initial expectations simultaneously. Such solutions can be considered an important part of an innovative concept of justice that emphasizes being effective, efficient, and equitable simultaneously, rather than compromising on any of those justice components. Another exciting aspect of contemporary legal scholarship is a concern for the use of modern technology in the form of microcomputer software that can be helpful in law teaching, practice, and research. Computer-aided instruction can supplement the case method by using what-if analysis to make changes in the goals to be achieved, alternative decisions available for achieving them, the factual relations, and other inputs to see how the decisions might change with changes in those inputs. Computer-aided law practice can be helpful in counseling, negotiation, mediation, case analysis, legal policy evaluation, and advocacy. Computer-aided research can be helpful in testing deductive or statistical models to determine how well they can explain variance across the judicial process or other legal processes.

Average customer rating:

Computer-aided law decisions
Stuart S Nagel
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Product Description

Today adding value is more than adding yield or other agronomic traits of interest primarily to the producer. Adding value is meeting the need of a customer who is willing to pay more to receive a uniform and distinct cultivar with assurance of more oil, more protein, more malt, better amino acid composition, unique fatty acid composition, longer shelf life, better color, new uses, etc. Individual experts share their work, with a common thread being the design, production, and marketing of new cultivars with specific traits.

Designing Value-Added Soybeans for Markets of the Future

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Designing Value-Added Soybeans for Markets of the Future

Manufacturer: AOCS Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Biotechnology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

Hydrological drought is a textbook for university students, practising hydrologists and researchers. The main scope of this book is to provide the reader with a comprehensive review of processes and estimation methods for streamflow and groundwater drought. It includes a qualitative conceptual understanding of drought features and processes, a detailed presentation of estimation methods and tools, practical examples and key aspects of operational practice.

The methods are demonstrated using sample data sets and tools that are provided on the accompanying CD. The drought phenomenon and its diversity across the world are illustrated using a global set of daily streamflow series, whereas regional and local aspects of drought are studied using a combination of hydrological time series and catchment information. The book concludes with human impacts, ecological issues and examples of procedures for designing and operating water resources schemes. The majority of the examples are taken from regions where the rivers run most of the year. The material presented ranges from well established knowledge and analysing methods to recent developments in drought research. Its nature varies accordingly, from a more traditional textbook with its clear overview to that of a research paper, which introduces new approaches and methodologies for drought analysis.

Also available in paperback, ISBN 0-444-51767-7.

Book Description

Nanostructured materials is one of the hottest and fastest growing areas in today's materials science field, along with the related field of solid state physics. Nanostructured materials and their based technologies have opened up exciting new possibilites for future applications in a number of areas including aerospace, automotive, x-ray technology, batteries, sensors, color imaging, printing, computer chips, medical implants, pharmacy, and cosmetics.
The ability to change properties on the atomic level promises a revolution in many realms of science and technology. Thus, this book details the high level of activity and significant findings are available for those involved in research and development in the field. It also covers industrial findings and corporate support. This five-volume set summarizes fundamentals of nano-science in a comprehensive way. The contributors enlisted by the editor are at elite institutions worldwide.

Key Features
* Provides comprehensive coverage of the dominant technology of the 21st century
* Written by 127 authors from 16 countries, making this truly international
* First and only reference to cover all aspects of nanostructured materials and nanotechnology

Customer Reviews:

1999 Award of Excellence.......2000-03-15

Handbook of Nanostructured Materials and Nanotechnolog received 1999 Award of Excellence in Engineering Handbooks from the Association of American Publishers. This book is the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary and reliable source of information on all aspects of nanotechnology and nano-scale materials. With contributions from over 140 leading experts, this book has set the highest standard of excellence and it contains virtually everything to become a classic reference work in the fields of nanotechnology and materials science.

1999 Award of Excellence.......2000-03-15

Average customer rating:

SUCH a letdown...

Difficult to get through

Falls flat...

Tinseltown - The Awful Truth

Dreary Story, Sprightly Writing

So 5 Minutes Ago: A Novel
Hilary De Vries
Manufacturer: Villard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1400061385
Release Date: 2004-02-10

Book Description

Being a celebrity publicist at a Los Angeles PR firm isn’t the glamour job Alex Davidson thought it would be. Her love life is zilch, her newest client—an actor fresh out of rehab—keeps hitting on her, and all she has in her refrigerator is a half-empty bottle of Pinot Grigio. But her wisecracking gay assistant and her spark plug of a best friend give her reasons for crawling out of bed in the morning (well, most of the time).

Everything changes the day her firm is bought out by a rival agency and Alex finds her once secure job of wanly ministering to a roster of B-list celebrities suddenly at stake. It looks like Suzanne, Alex’s old boss and mentor, is being shown the door. And G, her new boss, wants bigger clients and more exposure. But certain things just don’t add up: Why did G refuse to help Suzanne when a big client—a hot Latina singer/actress hell-bent on world domination—decided to bolt from the firm? And why is he being so nice to Alex all of a sudden? Knowing that in Hollywood there are always strings attached, Alex does a little digging and uncovers a dirty scheme that, if brought to light, will rock the entertainment industry. Will the temptation to betray Suzanne and accept a lucrative offer from G be too powerful for Alex to ignore? Or can she save her job, keep her soul, and score a victory for women in Hollywood?

So 5 Minutes Ago is a laugh-out-loud novel about one young woman’s attempt to make it in the shark-
infested waters of Hollywood. Set in the sun-drenched L.A. of celebrity-magazine photo shoots, velvet-roped VIP parties, and red-carpet events, Hilary de Vries’s debut novel takes us on a wildly entertaining romp with enough juicy behind-the-scenes action to satisfy even the most insatiable celebraholic.

Download Description

Being a celebrity publicist at a Los Angeles PR firm isn't the glamour job Alex Davidson thought it would be. Her love life is zilch, her newest client -- an actor fresh out of rehab -- keeps hitting on her, and all she has in her refrigerator is a half-empty bottle of Pinot Grigio. But her wisecracking gay assistant and her spark plug of a best friend give her reasons for crawling out of bed in the morning (well, most of the time).

Everything changes the day her firm is bought out by a rival agency and Alex finds her once secure job of wanly ministering to a roster of B-list celebrities suddenly at stake. It looks like Suzanne, Alex's old boss and mentor, is being shown the door. And G, her new boss, wants bigger clients and more exposure. But certain things just don't add up: Why did G refuse to help Suzanne when a big client -- a hot Latina singer/actress hell-bent on world domination -- decided to bolt from the firm? And why is he being so nice to Alex all of a sudden? Knowing that in Hollywood there are always strings attached, Alex does a little digging and uncovers a dirty scheme that, if brought to light, will rock the entertainment industry. Will the temptation to betray Suzanne and accept a lucrative offer from G be too powerful for Alex to ignore? Or can she save her job, keep her soul, and score a victory for women in Hollywood?

So 5 Minutes Ago is a laugh-out-loud novel about one young woman's attempt to make it in the shark-infested waters of Hollywood. Set in the sun-drenched L.A. of celebrity-magazine photo shoots, velvet-roped VIP parties, and red-carpet events, Hilary de Vries's debut novel takes us on a wildly entertaining romp with enough juicy behind-the-scenes action to satisfy even the most insatiable celebraholic.

Customer Reviews:

SUCH a letdown..........2006-11-29

I'm such a chick-lit fan, but this book was just disappointing. It had the makings for a good story, but I should have taken a clue from one of the good reviews on the back - from Seventeen Magazine. I think this would actually be good for the Traveling Pants fans - but if you're looking for something more grown up (ie, with deeper character development that isn't filled with trite stereotypes), this isn't it.

I cracked up at the writing itself - some sections bored me to tears with their details (Alex, the main character mentions taking Spanish classes every other week so that she can converse with all the Spanish-speaking people who work for her - the pool guy, the cleaner, etc., but that's the only time we hear about said Spanish classes - even later when she's talking about how busy she is with work and parental visits, etc., the Spanish classes, and the homework one assumes would come with them, never get mentioned). But then other times, entire weeks go by in the story with no mention of what happened, other than work and wine.

I also don't get the reasons behind the tension with her family - it adds nothing to the plot itself, and I expect that it's to show that Alex has fought against her life forever, but WHY? If she's such a rebel, why does Alex spend the rest of the book doing everything that every other PR girl does (wear uncomfortable impractical shoes, worry about boys, and bitch and moan about her job)??

Additionally, I live in LA, and I didn't think this was a very good picture of our fair city. It was all stereotypes. Alex has a gay male assistant who lives in West Hollywood and is unnaturally close to her. And OF COURSE he has to be a walking stereotype. She mentions some street names and a hotel or two, and suddenly it's supposed to be a detailed painted picture of the city of LA? Give me a break!

I was extra disappointed because I seem to remember liking The Gift Bag Chronicles, her other book. But this is an old story, told in an unoriginal way. Skip it and go for one of the "Devil Wears Prada" books instead.

Difficult to get through.......2006-05-07

I found this book very boring and negative. It was discouraging because Alex, the main character of the novel seemed to endlessly complain about her job and Hollywood. I wanted to scream, "If you hate Hollywood so much, then get the heck out of there!" I also found it very hard to get through. I normally read 'chic lit' books in one or two sittings, but it seemed to take me forever to get through this one. There wasn't an exciting plot. The climax of the story wasn't until the end, and even then my interest was still not heightened. I did learn a bit about Hollywood and became completely turned off by the scene. I suppose if you work in the field the book could be entertaining, but otherwise I would suggest that it's a waste of time.

Falls flat..........2006-03-05

If I weren't so interested in PR, I would have found this too boring to read through. To be fair, de Vries knows enough about Hollywood entertainment PR to make this a believable story...until a rather unrealistic twist of fate that brings a rather slow-moving plot to a happy ending.

Maybe it's because I don't like just any chick lit book, but this story just moved too slowly for me and Alex was a little too much of a navel gazer to have much sympathy for her.

Tinseltown - The Awful Truth.......2006-01-02

This is a Hollywood roadmap; I found it rings true and amazingly awful because it's raw, feelings are passe, and women don't rule until Alex Davidson hits the mark and let's herself make a stand to help keep her dignity and her job.
Gossip, gossip, and more gossip. Hollywood uncovered.

Dreary Story, Sprightly Writing.......2005-12-05

For those of us who live far, far away from Tinseltown, which is the setting of SO 5 MINUTES AGO, the rumor always has been that the people there are, well, not very nice.

Certainly, author Hilary De Vries does nothing to contradict that theory in this novel.

De Vries is an excellent writer, and she has a total command of her subject, the intricacies and nuances of the entertainment industry. These two facts, not insignificant, save 5 MINUTES from being a total bust.

It probably would have been difficult to place this novel in its totally distinctive setting and still write it with a sympathetic heroine--and De Vries did not manage to transcend this dilemma.

Her heroine, Alex, is boring as well as nasty--too, too bored, too, too jaded. As a result, her character is almost one-dimensional. Therefore, it was hard to engage in Alex's story, and that should be the primary goal of the author.

The plot, too, is thin, almost to the point of non-existent. Was there a scam that Alex, as our grown-up, 21st century Nancy Drew, singlehandedly discovered? And why would the reader care?

Ultimately, SO 5 MINUTES AGO is an inconsequential book peopled with nasty characters.

Only a fascination with the industry in which it is set--and which the author obviously knows well, knowledge which permeates every page--coupled with her lively writing style, make SO 5 MINUTES AGO even tolerable reading.

Average customer rating:

Great narration....
I wish Amazon offered a money-back guarantee

So 5 Minutes Ago: A Novel
Hilary De Vries
Manufacturer: Listen & Live Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

Comic | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Horror | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

General | Books on CD | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
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ASIN: 1593160224

Book Description

The Devil Wears Prada on the red carpet: a hugely entertaining and comic first novel that offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the Hollywood publicity machine, told with acerbic humor and a gossipy, insider's edge.

Alex Davidson is a thirtysomething celebrity publicist for a down-at-heels Los Angeles PR firm known for taking on clients whose careers have crashed and burned. A professional hand-holder and spinmeister, she's one notch above a nanny on the Hollywood food chain.

L.A. is already losing its luster in Alex's eyes when her firm is bought out by the hottest agency in town. Will it mean massive layoffs or a chance at a big promotion? In between signing a new client (a once-hot-now-not actor just out of rehab) and wondering if one of the partners is putting the moves on her, Alex grows wary of her new boss, a sharklike exec who's forcing out Alex's old boss under suspicious circumstances. Is there anything she can do to save her and her boss's jobs, and maybe right some wrongs against women in Hollywood along the way?

Packed with razor-sharp humor and featuring a winning protagonist, So 5 Minutes Ago will satisfy even the most hard-to-pleaser celebriholics who long to find out what goes on after a star steps off the red carpet.

Customer Reviews:

Great narration...........2005-06-23

This book has gotten some moxed reviews, but I found it entertaining. However, I am reviewing it as an audiobook. It is fun to guess who the actors are supposed to be- "The Pheonix" is totally Cher, "Shaggy and Scooby" seem to be Ellen DeGeneres and Anne Heche, and And Carla Selena, aka "C.Sa." obviously is like J. Lo. The abridgement is also very good, and didn't leave out important story gaps.

The content of the book is pretty decent, but the narrator does a great job going from vioce to voice, giving each character a unique sound or accent so there is no confusion as to who is speaking. Her Southern accent is spot on. A good book on CD!

I wish Amazon offered a money-back guarantee.......2004-06-22

Alex is an unlikable, self-centered, vain woman who alternates between "poor me" rants and "it's my way or the highway" demands on her assistant (who, beyond my comprehension, is actually her friend and doesn't seem to mind her condescending ways).

This is a Hollywood-focused attempt at the insight offered in "The Devil Wears Prada", but, unfortunately, falls short. Instead of being acerbic, it's just whiney; instead of being comic, it's just sad. The good thing is, when I was bored enough to "tune out", tuning back in brought me closer to the end (I finished out of devotion to my book club).

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