Proceedings of the Second "Rencontres de l'observatoire", Observatoire de Paris, Meudon, France

One of the Time 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time Two men rebel together against tyranny—and then become rivals—in this first sweeping book of an epic fantasy series from Ken Liu, recipient of Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy awards. Hailed as one of the best books of 2015 by NPR. Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice. Fans of intrigue, intimate plots, and action will find a new series to embrace in the Dandelion Dynasty.

Point processes are random processes that are concerned with point events occurring in space or time. A powerful method of analyzing them is through a sequence of correlation functions, called product densities, introduced by Alladi Ramakrishnan. In view of their wide applicability, there is a spectacular development of the theory and applications of these processes in the recent past. Most of the books and monographs in this area are not easily comprehensible to non-mathematically oriented readers, because of their abstraction and generality. In addition, the best way to learn a subject is to study the original papers. Hence it is considered worthwhile to reprint some of the most significant contributions of Alladi Ramakrishnan and his associates to serve as a ready reference volume. While a good working knowledge of elementary probability theory is a must, some acquaintance with Markov processes will be helpful to read these papers. This volume will be useful to young researchers working in the broad area of stochastic point processes and their applications and in particular indispensable to those working in stochastic modeling with special reference to problems of queues, inventory, reliability, neural network etc. It will also be useful to those working in the conventional areas of statistical physics, fluctuating phenomena and communication theory and control, where point processes are extensively employed.

Potential for advancement of astronomy by space programs.