Have you ever wished you could only somehow get your people to tackle their work with a more positive attitude, a little more initiative, a shared feeling of ownership, and personal responsibility for their success? Here is a one-of-a-kind book that will inspire leaders like you to overcome problems and threats, break through to higher performance levels, and generate new enthusiasm in employees. A unique story about leadership that you will enjoy, learn from, and share with others. The Starfish Files uses an easily read story about some notes on business management and a leaders challenges to present a message that goes much deeper than good-sounding advice. The book describes a low-ranking manager with a somewhat unprofitable firm who was struggling with performance challenges and wondering how to produce improved results. During a seaside vacation, he became inspired and captured his thoughts in writing, thinking the material would be beneficial to other managers dealing with the same problems. He gives the notes to a friend, a successful author a and business professional and asks him to take a serious look. More notes followed and The Starfish Files was created a lightly edited but completely authentic account of the notes. Today the low-ranking manager is associated with the senior executives office of one of the worlds largest and most successful organizations. And The Starfish Files reveal his uncanny knack for creating a high-performance work climate in which everyone has star potential and employees truly do accomplish amazing things.

"After five years of groundbreaking research, Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom share some gripping stories. The Starfish and the Spider argues that organizations fall into two categories: traditional "spiders," which have a rigid hierarchy and top-down leadership, and revolutionary "starfish," which rely on the power of peer relationships. This book explores what happens when starfish take on spiders (such as the music industry vs. Napster, Kazaa, and the P2P services that followed). It reveals how established companies and institutions, from IBM to Intuit to the U.S. government, are also learning how to incorporate starfish principles to achieve success."--BOOK JACKET.

A huge international corporation has developed a facility along the Juan de Fuca Ridge at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean to exploit geothermal power. They send a bio-engineered crew--people who have been altered to withstand the pressure and breathe the seawater--down to live and work in this weird, fertile undersea darkness. Unfortunately the only people suitable for long-term employment in these experimental power stations are crazy, some of them in unpleasant ways. How many of them can survive, or will be allowed to survive, while worldwide disaster approaches from below? Starfish, the first installment in Peter Watts' Rifters Trilogy At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Learn to design and create video games using the Java programming language and the LibGDX software library. Working through the examples in this book, you will create 12 game prototypes in a variety of popular genres, from collection-based and shoot-em-up arcade games to side-scrolling platformers and sword-fighting adventure games. With the flexibility provided by LibGDX, specialized genres such as card games, rhythm games, and visual novels are also covered in this book. Major updates in this edition include chapters covering advanced topics such as alternative sources of user input, procedural content generation, and advanced graphics. Appendices containing examples for game design documentation and a complete JavaDoc style listing of the extension classes developed in the book have also been added. What You Will Learn Create 12 complete video game projects Master advanced Java programming concepts, including data structures, encapsulation, inheritance, and algorithms, in the context of game development Gain practical experience with game design topics, including user interface design, gameplay balancing, and randomized content Integrate third-party components into projects, such as particle effects, tilemaps, and gamepad controllers Who This Book Is For The target audience has a desire to make video games, and an introductory level knowledge of basic Java programming. In particular, the reader need only be familiar with: variables, conditional statements, loops, and be able to write methods to accomplish simple tasks and classes to store related data.

The main objective of this book is to provide the necessary background to work with big data by introducing some novel optimization algorithms and codes capable of working in the big data setting as well as introducing some applications in big data optimization for both academics and practitioners interested, and to benefit society, industry, academia, and government. Presenting applications in a variety of industries, this book will be useful for the researchers aiming to analyses large scale data. Several optimization algorithms for big data including convergent parallel algorithms, limited memory bundle algorithm, diagonal bundle method, convergent parallel algorithms, network analytics, and many more have been explored in this book.

Fly higher in your Creative Cloud Adobe Creative Cloud makes the most popular tools used by designers, photographers, and other creative professionals accessible in a single place. Adobe Creative Cloud All-in-One For Dummies is the ultimate one-stop reference guide for how to use them all. Whatever gets your creative juices flowing, you'll find the in-depth guidance required to deliver the results you want, from polishing-up photos and images to creating illustrations and designs. And once your assets are just how you want them, you can pick up best practices for managing and publishing via the amazing Adobe Bridge. Written by pro designers for those getting started with this powerful set of tools, this book gives you an overview of Creative Cloud and step-by-step coverage of the major applications—InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Acrobat Pro, and Adobe XD, and Adobe Bridge—in seven mini-books that take you from the basics to more advanced topics. You'll also discover how to get your work noticed by building personal galleries and displaying your creative wares. Find the essentials on the top tools in Adobe Creative Cloud Build and enhance your design skills Protect your documents with Acrobat Pro Get the most out of each program with insider tips Whatever your skill level and project needs, you'll find the essentials you need to demystify these complex programs and the knowledge to make your work shine even more brightly through the Cloud!