This is Gwendolyn’s story, one of four true stories from the book GI Brides. They sat down together and Ben pulled her close. ‘Lyn,’ he whispered. ‘You know I’m head over heels in love with you. I’ll never love anyone else as long as I live.’ It was the most romantic thing Lyn had ever heard – and coming from Ben she knew that it was true. Gwendolyn’s hometown of Southampton is taken over by the Americans of the ‘friendly invasion’ as they prepare for D-Day. She falls in love with a romantic Italian-American officer, and excitedly travels to California to be with him. But once there, Gwendolyn clashes with a formidable mother-in-law, who tells her husband: ‘It’s her or me!’ Gwendolyn’s story is extracted from GI Brides, written by the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls. It captures the memories of the thousands of women who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War.

This short bonus ebook tells June’s story, a true account of a woman who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War. June noticed an American soldier walking towards her … In the drab setting of the churchyard he looked utterly out of place, as if a movie star had just dropped out of the sky. Raised in Birmingham, June marries a handsome GI called Borgy and looks forward to a new life in America. But when war ends, June is horrified to receive a letter from her husband telling her they are moving to Germany instead. June’s life soon takes a shocking turn. June’s story is an additional extra to the four tales in GI Brides, written by the bestselling authors of The Sugar Girls. It tells the true story of one of the 70,000 British women who crossed the Atlantic for love after the Second World War.

The story of how Europe was converted to Christianity from 300AD until the barbarian Lithuanians finally capitulated at the astonishingly late date of 1386. It is an epic tale from one of the most gifted historians of today. This remarkable book examines the conversion of Europe to the Christian faith in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire to approximately 1300 when the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was firmly established. One of the book’s great strengths is the degree to which it shows how little was inevitable about this process, how surrounded by uncertainties. What was the origin of the missionary impulse? Who were the activists who engaged in this work – the toilsome, often unrewarding, sometimes dangerous work of evangelisation, and how did they set about putting over this faith? How did a structure of ecclesiastical government come into being? Above all, at what point can one say that an individual or a society has become Christian? Fletcher’s range, lucidity and mastery of his sources brings the answers to these and many other questions as far within our grasp as they probably ever can be. Like Alan Bullock and Simon Schama, Fletcher is a historian with the true gift of a storyteller and a wide general readership ahead of him. Fletcher’s previous book, The Quest for El Cid won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History. This book is even better – the most impressive achievement so far of this strikingly gifted historian.

This moving and timely book explores the way the First World War has been thought about and commemorated, and how it has affected its own, and later, generations. On 11 November 1920, huge crowds lined the streets of London for the funeral of the Unknown Warrior. As the coffin was drawn on a gun carriage from the Cenotaph to Westminster Abbey, the King and Ministers of State followed silently behind. The modern world had tilted on its axis, but it had been saved. Armistice Day was born, the acknowledgement of the great sacrifice made by a whole generation of British men and women. Now, almost a century later, Harry Patch, the last British veteran who saw active service, has died. Our final link with the First World War is broken. Harry Patch was born in 1898 and was con*ed in 1916. He served with a Lewis gun team at the Battle of Passchendaele and in September 1917 was wounded by a shell that killed three of his comrades. After the war, Patch returned to Somerset to work as a plumber, a job he continued to do until his retirement. The First World War was fought not by a professional army but by ordinary civilians like Patch, who epitomised Edwardian Britain and the sense, now lost, of what Britain stood for and why it was worth fighting for. The Last Veteran tells Patch's story, and explores the meaning of the war to those who fought in it and the generations that have followed. Peter Parker's illuminating and timely book is a moving tribute to a remarkable generation.

the first clear anatomy of a confused decade, the 1990s – ‘Bracewell, with great verve and style, animates the cultural conversation’, Greil Marcus 'Michael Bracewell is the most adroitly gifted writer of his generation.' Morrissey Michael Bracewell is now clearly established as one of the most subtle, penetrating, amusing and far-sighted of all observers of the contemporary scene in Britain. His writing on culture high and low is coveted by every broadsheet, every stylish glossy monthly magazine and on radio and TV punditry platforms. His book, England Is Mine, about the distinctive Englishness of these islands’ twentieth-century popular culture, earned him incredible reviews and an unchallenged position as the first person any right-minded arts producer/editor turns to when they need a definitive opinion about how English or otherwise some new-fangled cultural phenomenon is. With this book Bracewell gives us the first consideration of that still-warm, still-bizarre, still-confused and confusing decade. He talks to and talks about a host of representative Nineties figures, some already forgotten, some absolutely emblematic of their times – from Hanson to Alexander McQueen, from Tracey Emin to Ulrika Jonsson, from the Spice Girls to Duran Duran (yes, Duran Duran). Painstakingly, sometimes painfully, he puts all the pieces together and starts to make sense of it all…

Another volume in the popular New Naturalist series, this book covers all aspects of the plant life of Britain and Ireland. Michael Proctor, an expert in his field, discusses the development of the landscape of Britain and Ireland from prehistoric times, including the influence of people and their agricultural practices on the vegetation. He provides a comprehensive account of all the different types of plant habitat in Britain and Ireland: from woodlands and scrubland to meadows and grasslands, from wetlands and peatlands to heaths, and from the mountain vegetation to the sea coast. He examines the history and ecology of each of these habitats, and describes the rich variety of flora found living there. The author concludes with an account of the changes to our landscape which have taken place during the twentieth century, and prospects for the future, including the effects of environmental change.

Leverage the powerful Arduino and XBee platforms to monitor and control your surroundingsAbout This BookBuild your own low-power, wireless network using ready-made Arduino and XBee hardwareCreate a complex project using the Arduino prototyping platformA guide that explains the concepts and builds upon them with the help of examples to form projects Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at embedded system developers and hobbyists who have some working knowledge of Arduino and who wish to extend their projects using wireless connectivity.What You Will LearnInteract with XBee boards using the XCTU program on Windows, OS X, or LinuxMake your Arduino boards communicate wirelessly, using XBee modules in the advanced API modeCentrally collect and store measured sensor data, in the cloud or your own databaseConnect the coordinator Arduino to the Internet and send data to web servicesControl your environment automatically, based on sensor input from your networkInteract with off-the-shelf ZigBee Home Automation devicesMake your devices battery-powered and let them sleep to get months or even years of battery life In Detail Arduino has been established as the de facto standard microcontroller programming platform, being used for one-off do-it-yourself projects as well as prototypes for actual products. By providing a myriad of libraries, the Arduino community has made it very easy to interact with pretty much any piece of hardware out there. XBee offers a great range of low-power wireless solutions that are easy to work with, by taking all of the complexity of wireless (mesh) networking out of your hands and letting you focus on what to send without worrying about the how. Building wireless sensor networks is cost-effective as well as efficient as it will be done with Arduino support. The book starts with a brief introduction to various wireless protocols, concepts, and the XBee hardware that enables their use. Then the book expands to explain the Arduino boards to you, letting them read and send sensor data, collect that data centrally, and then even control your home from the Internet. Moving further more advanced topics such as interacting through the standard Zigbee Home Automation protocol, or making your application power-efficient are covered. By the end of the book, you will have all the tools needed to build complete, real-world solutions.Style and approach A hands-on guide, featuring a single home automation project that can be built as described or with endless variations. Every step is illustrated with complete examples and screenshots, allowing you to build the examples swiftly.

Ficino's commentary on Plato?s Timaeus offers the English reader, for the first time, an opportunity to share the insights of this highly influential Renaissance philosopher into one of Plato's most important and controversial works. Here are discussed the perennial questions which affect us all: What is the nature of the universeHow did it beginDoes it have a cause outside itselfWhat is our place in itWhat is the nature of mind, soul, matter and timeThe central portion of the work, focusing on number, harmony, and music, has exerted a strong influence on the history of Western musical theory. Ficino added an appendix which amplifies and elucidates Plato?s meanings and reveals fascinating detail about Ficino himself. This volume provides rich source material for all who are interested in philosophy, the history of cosmic theory, and Platonic and Renaissance studies. This completes the four volume series, including Gardens of Philosophy, 2006 (ISBN 9780856832406), Evermore Shall Be So, 2008 (9780856832567) and When Philosophers Rule, 2009 (9780856832574), which contain all Ficino?s commentaries not previously translated into English.

With the publication of Arthur FWith the publication of Arthur Farndell’s Gardens of Philosophy (Shepheard Walwyn 2006), there remained only four of Ficino’s commentaries on Plato’s dialogues which had not yet been translated into English. With the publication of this volume there remain only three. Farndell’s translation of the commentaries on the Republic and the Laws will comprise the third volume under the title When Philosophers Rule (9780856832574 – due 2009) and the fourth, All Things Natural (9780856832581 – due 2010), will contain the Timaeus. As Carol Kaske of Cornell University wrote when reviewing Gardens of Philosophy in Renaissance Quarterly, these translations fill ‘a need. Even those Anglophone scholars who know Latin still need a translation in order to read quickly through a large body of material’ The central message of Parmenides, that everything depends on the One, resonates with the growing awareness around the world of the interrelatedness of all things, be it in the biosphere, the intellectual or spiritual realms. Philosophers in ancient Greece appreciated this unity and employed reason and dialectic to draw the mind away from its preoccupation with the material world and attract it towards contemplation of the soul, and ultimately of that Oneness which embraces, but is distinct from, the multifarious forms of creation. Thus Parmenides carefully instructed the young Socrates, and Plato recorded their dialogue in this work which he named after the elderly philosopher. Nearly 2000 years later, Marsilio Ficino made Parmenides available to the West by translating it into Latin, the language of scholars in his time. Ficino added a lengthy commentary to this translation, a commentary which Evermore Shall Be So puts into English for the first time, more than 500 years after its original composition. Ficino’s crucial influence upon the unfolding of the Renaissance and his presentation of Plato’s understanding of the One and the socalled Platonic Ideas or Forms make Evermore Shall Be So an important work in the history of thought. Though it will be an essential buy for Renaissance scholars and historians, its freshness of thought and wisdom are as relevant today as they ever were to inspire a new generation seeking spiritual and philosophical direction in their lives. ‘This is philosophy with a mystical dimension – one that is crucial to the original Socratic and Platonic teaching’ Tony Cross in Faith and Freedomarndell’s Gardens of Philosophy ( 2006), there remained only four of Ficino’s commentaries on Plato’s dialogues which had not yet been translated into English. With the publication of this volume there remain only three. Farndell’s translation of the commentaries on the Republic and the Laws will comprise the third volume under the title When Philosophers Rule (9780856832574 – due 2009) and the fourth, All Things Natural (9780856832581 – due 2010), will contain the Timaeus.As Carol Kaske of Cornell University wrote when reviewing Gardens of Philosophy in Renaissance Quarterly, these translations fill ‘a need. Even those Anglophone scholars who know Latin still need a translation in order to read quickly through a large body of material’ The central message of Parmenides, that everything depends on the One, resonates with the growing awareness around the world of the interrelatedness of all things, be it in the biosphere, the intellectual or spiritual realms. Philosophers in ancient Greece appreciated this unity and employed reason and dialectic to draw the mind away from its preoccupation with the material world and attract it towards contemplation of the soul, and ultimately of that Oneness which embraces, but is distinct from, the multifarious forms of creation.Thus Parmenides carefully instructed the young Socrates, and Plato recorded their dialogue in this work which he named after the elderly philosopher. Nearly 2000 years later, Marsilio Ficino made Parmenides available to the West by translating it into Latin, the language of scholars in his time. Ficino added a lengthy commentary to this translation, a commentary which Evermore Shall Be So puts into English for the first time, more than 500 years after its original composition. Ficino’s crucial influence upon the unfolding of the Renaissance and his presentation of Plato’s understanding of the One and the socalled Platonic Ideas or Forms make Evermore Shall Be So an important work in the history of thought. Though it will be an essential buy for Renaissance scholars and historians, its freshness of thought and wisdom are as relevant today as they ever were to inspire a new generation seeking spiritual and philosophical direction in their lives. ‘This is philosophy with a mystical dimension – one that is crucial to the original Socratic and Platonic teaching’ Tony Cross in Faith and Freedom

What made the Renaissance tickWhy had it such a force that its thinking spread from a small group of scholars in Florence, working in their own brilliant ways but coming together in a small villa on the Florentine hillside where Marsilio Ficino (143399) lived, to affect the thinking of the whole of Europe, and eventually of America, for five hundred years and is continuing to do soCosimo de?Medici, the virtual ruler of Florence, had been attracted to the philosophy of Plato by Gemistos Plethon during the Council Florence in 1439 and had instructed his agents to gather together Plato?s works before Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453. In 1462 he commissioned Marsilio Ficino to translate them from Greek into Latin for the benefit of the Latin speaking world, a task he completed in under five years according to his biographer Giovanni Corsi. This, the first volume in a four volume series, provides the first English translation of the 25 short commentaries on the dialogues and the 12 letters traditionally ascribed to Plato. Later volumes will provide translations of his longer commentaries on the Parmenides (2008), the Republic and Laws (2009) and Timaeus (2010). Though this book will be an essential buy for Renaissance scholars and historians, its freshness of thought and wisdom are as relevant today as they ever were to inspire a new generation seeking spiritual and philosophical direction in their lives.

When Stanley Lambchop wakes up one morning, his brother, Arthur, is yelling. A bulletin board fell on Stanley during the night, and now he is only half an inch thick! Amazing things begin happening to him. Stanley gets rolled up, mailed, and flown like a kite. He even gets to help catch two dangerous art thieves. He may be flat, but he's a hero. This is the very first Flat Stanley adventure, updated with crisp new art. Supports the Common Core State Standards

Jenna Miscavige Hill was raised to obey. As the niece of the Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige, she grew up at the center of this highly controversial and powerful organization. But at twenty-one, Jenna made a daring break, risking everything she had ever known and loved to leave Scientology once and for all. Now she speaks out about her life, the Church, and her dramatic escape, going deep inside a religion that, for decades, has been the subject of fierce debate and speculation worldwide. Piercing the veil of secrecy that has long shrouded the world of Scientology, this insider reveals unprecedented firsthand knowledge of the religion, its obscure rituals, and its mysterious leader David Miscavige. From her prolonged separation from her parents as a small child to being indoctrinated to serve the greater good of the Church, from her lack of personal freedoms to the organization emphasis on celebrity recruitment, Jenna goes behind the scenes of Scientology oppressive and alienating culture, detailing an environment rooted in control in which the most devoted followers often face the harshest punishments when they fall out of line. Addressing some of the Church most notorious practices in startling detail, she also describes a childhood of isolation and neglect a childhood that, painful as it was, prepared her for a tough life in the Church most devoted order, the Sea Org. Despite this hardship, it is only when her family approaches dissolution and her world begins to unravel that she is finally able to see the patterns of stifling conformity and psychological control that have ruled her life. Faced with a heartbreaking choice, she mounts a courageous escape, but not before being put through the ultimate test of family, faith, and love. At once captivating and disturbing, Beyond Belief is an eye-opening exploration of the limits of religion and the lengths to which one woman went to break free.

In 1950 Krishnamurti said: It is only when the mind is not escaping in any form that it is possible to be in direct communion with that thing we call lonliness, the alone, and to have communion with that thing, there must be affection, there must be love. On Love and Lonliness is a compelling investigation of our intimate relationships with ourselves, others, and society. Krishnamurti suggests that true relationship can come into being only when there is self-knowledge of the conditions which divide and islolate individuals and groups. Only by renouncing the self can we understand the problem of lonliness, and truly love.

After decades of service and years of watching her family's troubles splashed across the tabloids, Britain's Queen is beginning to feel her age. She needs some proper cheering up. An unexpected opportunity offers her relief: an impromptu visit to a place that holds happy memories—the former royal yacht, Britannia, now moored near Edinburgh. Hidden beneath a skull-emblazoned hoodie, the limber Elizabeth (thank goodness for yoga) walks out of Buckingham Palace into the freedom of a rainy London day and heads for King's Cross to catch a train to Scotland. But a characterful cast of royal attendants has discovered her missing. In uneasy alliance a lady-in-waiting, a butler, an equerry, a girl from the stables, a dresser, and a clerk from the shop that supplies Her Majesty's cheese set out to find her and bring her back before her absence becomes a national scandal.Mrs Queen Takes the Train is a clever novel, offering a fresh look at a woman who wonders if she, like Britannia herself, has, too, become a relic of the past. William Kuhn paints a charming yet biting portrait of British social, political, and generational rivalries—between upstairs and downstairs, the monarchy and the government, the old and the young. Comic and poignant, fast paced and clever, this delightful debut tweaks the pomp of the monarchy, going beneath its rigid formality to reveal the human heart of the woman at its center.

Over 88 recipes for effective use of Infusionsoft to mitigate your CRM needs, marketing automation, conducting online business optimallyAbout This BookMaximize client engagement by automating lead capture and follow-upCollect information and set up lead scoring in Infusionsoft to enhance your marketing interactions to build more clientsSet up online shopping carts, manage your online store, and enhance user experience Who This Book Is For If you want to excel in the use of Infusionsoft to develop a set of common applications or project types and solutions effectively, this book is perfect for you. This book will empower you to provide better results for your clients, faster! It is assumed that you are familiar with and use Infusionsoft.What You Will LearnSet up and configure features that will enhance new user creation using InfusionsoftAttract leads and build your list efficientlyUnderstand the different strategies to sell and get paidCreate amazing customer experiences by following up and automating messagesMaster techniques to use Infusionsoft for internal administrative functionsMake better business decisions by mastering the reporting functionalitySave time and simplifying day-to-day usage using InfusionsoftGet to know the Ninja hacks while working with Infusionsoft efficiently. In Detail Infusionsoft is an all-in-one software-as-a-service (SaaS) for small business sales and marketing. It empowers businesses with the same level of automation and personalization that were previously only available to large corporate enterprises with deep pockets. You can easily manage customer relationships, target communications in an automated manner, and sell their products/services online effectively. Starting with recipes on the general setup and core competencies related to Infusionsoft, you will then learn about tools to enhance user experience. Further on, you'll dive deep into different strategies to attract, sell, and wow your customers. You’ll also explore different ways to manage administrative tasks and reporting, which are crucial to perform better workflow management. Later, you will become proficient in lead generation and lead management, referral management, report generation, and working with the campaign builder. Finally, the book closes with unsupported ninja hacks to take your business strategies into the stratosphere!Style and approach A recipe-based guide that covers real-life scenarios on optimising marketing automation, lifecycle management, lead generation, inventory management, and adding ecommerce functionality

Integrate Elasticsearch into Hadoop to effectively visualize and analyze your dataAbout This BookBuild production-ready analytics applications by integrating the Hadoop ecosystem with ElasticsearchLearn complex Elasticsearch queries and develop real-time monitoring Kibana dashboards to visualize your dataUse Elasticsearch and Kibana to search data in Hadoop easily with this comprehensive, step-by-step guide Who This Book Is For This book is targeted at Java developers with basic knowledge on Hadoop. No prior Elasticsearch experience is expected.What You Will LearnSet up the Elasticsearch-Hadoop environmentImport HDFS data into Elasticsearch with MapReduce jobsPerform full-text search and aggregations efficiently using ElasticsearchVisualize data and create interactive dashboards using KibanaCheck and detect anomalies in streaming data using Storm and ElasticsearchInject and classify real-time streaming data into ElasticsearchGet production-ready for Elasticsearch-Hadoop based projectsIntegrate with Hadoop eco-system such as Pig, Storm, Hive, and Spark In Detail The Hadoop ecosystem is a de-facto standard for processing terra-bytes and peta-bytes of data. Lucene-enabled Elasticsearch is becoming an industry standard for its full-text search and aggregation capabilities. Elasticsearch-Hadoop serves as a perfect tool to bridge the worlds of Elasticsearch and Hadoop ecosystem to get best out of both the worlds. Powered with Kibana, this stack makes it a cakewalk to get surprising insights out of your massive amount of Hadoop ecosystem in a flash. In this book, you'll learn to use Elasticsearch, Kibana and Elasticsearch-Hadoop effectively to analyze and understand your HDFS and streaming data. You begin with an in-depth understanding of the Hadoop, Elasticsearch, Marvel, and Kibana setup. Right after this, you will learn to successfully import Hadoop data into Elasticsearch by writing MapReduce job in a real-world example. This is then followed by a comprehensive look at Elasticsearch essentials, such as full-text search analysis, queries, filters and aggregations; after which you gain an understanding of creating various visualizations and interactive dashboard using Kibana. Classifying your real-world streaming data and identifying trends in it using Storm and Elasticsearch are some of the other topics that we'll cover. You will also gain an insight about key concepts of Elasticsearch and Elasticsearch-hadoop in distributed mode, advanced configurations along with some common configuration presets you may need for your production deployments. You will have “Go production checklist” and high-level view for cluster administration for post-production. Towards the end, you will learn to integrate Elasticsearch with other Hadoop eco-system tools, such as Pig, Hive and Spark.Style and approach A concise yet comprehensive approach has been adopted with real-time examples to help you grasp the concepts easily.

Create a high-quality first person shooter game using the Unity game engine and the popular UFPS and Probuilder frameworksAbout This BookLearn how to use Unity in conjunction with UFPS and ProBuilder to create a high-quality game quicklyCreate both interior and exterior environmentsA step-by step guide to building a project with clear examples and instructions to create a number of interesting scenarios Who This Book Is For This book is for those who want to create an FPS game in Unity and gain knowledge on how to customize it to be their very own. If you are familiar with the basics of Unity, you will have an easier time, but it should make it possible for someone with no prior experience to learn Unity at an accelerated pace.What You Will LearnUse UFPS to build custom weapons with custom meshes and behaviorsExplore level design as you prototype levels, making use of Prototype to build levels out quicklyBuild environments that are realistic as possible while keeping peak performance and repetitiveness downReview tips and tricks on how to create environments using both terrain for outdoor areas and a modular workflow for interiorsDevelop a number of different encounters that your players can fight against, from a simple turret enemy to complex AI characters from Shooter AIDiscover how to create unique objects such as exploding barrels and objects you can interact withCreate a custom GUI to help your game stand out from the crowdPackage your game for release, create an installer, and get your game out into the world In Detail Unity, available in free and pro versions, is one of the most popular third-party game engines available. It is a cross-platform game engine, making it easy to write your game once and then port it to PC, consoles, and even the web, making it a great choice for both indie and AAA developers. Building an FPS Game in Unity takes readers on an exploration of how to use Unity to create a 3D first person shooter (FPS) title, leveraging the powerful UFPS framework by VisionPunk and Prototype/ProBuilder 2.0 by ProCore3D. After some setting up, you will start by learning how to create custom weapons, prototype levels, create exterior and interior environments, and breathe life into our levels. We will then add polish to the levels. Finally, we will create a custom GUI and menus for our title to create a complete package.Style and approach An easy-to-follow guide with each project containing step-by-step explanations, diagrams, screenshots, and downloadable material. Concepts in Unity and C# are explained as they are used and for the more inquisitive, there are more details on the concepts used with additional external resources to learn from.

Master PowerCLI to automate all aspects of VMware environmentsAbout This BookLeverage PowerCLI to perform administration tasks in a more effective and efficient wayEscape from daily tedious and repetitive tasks by unleashing the full potential of your creative side through *ingMaster the intricate workings of PowerShell and PowerCLI through easy and real-life examples Who This Book Is For If you are a system administrator with working knowledge of PowerShell and PowerCLI who wants to perform quick and easy *ing but at the same time achieve complex results and write production grade *s, then this book is for you.What You Will LearnUse GitHub for collaboration and Pester to automate unit testsWrite advanced reusable functions and dynamic variables and learn about error handling in PowerShellAutomate ESXi host installation using Auto-Deploy, host profile, and host imageImplement security best practices in a vSphere data centerManage SRM, vCloud Air, and vRealize Operations environmentsAccess and utilize vSphere APIs to manage advanced aspects of vSphere and work with .NET view objectsUtilize REST APIs to manage vRealize Automation environmentsCreate a Windows GUI through the use of PowerShell and Sapien PrimalForms CE In Detail Have you ever wished that every morning you could automatically get a report with all the relevant information about your datacenter in exactly the same format you wantOr whether you could automate that boring, exhausting taskWhat if some crucial task needs to be performed on a regular basis without any errorPowerCLI *s do all that and much more for VMware environments. It is built on top of the popular Windows PowerShell, with which you can automate server tasks and reduce manual input, allowing you to focus on more important tasks. This book will help you to achieve your goals by starting with a short refresher on PowerShell and PowerCLI and then covering the nuances of advanced functions and reusable *s. Next you will learn how to build a vSphere-powered virtualized datacenter using PowerCLI while managing different aspects of the environment including automated installation, network, and storage. You will then manage different logical constructs of vSphere environment and different aspects of a virtual machine. Later, you will implement the best practices for a security implementation in vSphere Environment through PowerCLI before discovering how to manage other VMware environments such as SRM, vCloud Director and vCloud Air through PowerCLI. You will also learn to manage vSphere environments using advanced properties by accessing vSphere API and REST APIs through PowerCLI. Finally, you will build a Windows GUI application using PowerShell followed by a couple of sample *s for reporting and managing vSphere environments with detailed explanations of the *s. By the end of the book, you will have the required in-depth knowledge to master the art of PowerCLI *ing.Style and approach In this book, every topic is explained in a very easy-to-follow fashion with real-life, simple examples so that you get an idea of not only the topic but also the context in which it should be used or where it can be best utilized.

Bring real business insights to your company through effective and engaging dashboards in QlikViewAbout This BookBuild outstanding dashboards that respond to your company’s information needsPresent the data in efficient and innovative ways to promote insightsUnleash the true power of QlikView by creating engaging visualizations Who This Book Is For This book is focused on QlikView developers with basic knowledge of *ing and layouts who want to improve their designing skills and build effective, eye-catching dashboards that deliver tangible value to their business.What You Will LearnBuild a comprehensive library of QlikView components to speed up your developmentsDefine a practical roadmap that will help you build business-driven dashboardsExplore the most effective and engaging ways to present dataApply the best practices in the field of data visualizationAvoid common pitfalls when creating bar, line and pie chartsCreate robust visualizations such as heat maps, histograms and scatter plots In Detail QlikView is one of the most powerful analytical tools in the market. Based on an in-memory associative model, it lets users freely navigate through the data, spot trends and make better decisions. This platform is capable of integrating a wide range of data sources like ERP systems, data warehouses or spreadsheets into a single application in order display dashboards with state-of-the-art visualizations. Creating Stunning Dashboards with QlikView is an easy to follow handbook that guides you through the process of creating an effective and engaging dashboard that delivers tangible value to the business. It starts with the identification of the business needs and the definition of the main KPIs, and takes you all the way to the application rollout. Throughout the book, you will learn how to apply some of the best practices in the field of data visualization, create a robust navigation schema, chose the best chart types for each scenario and many other things that will help you create effective dashboards that uncover all the stories behind the data.Style and approach This easy-to-follow compilation of best practices, tips, and tricks will help you leverage your QlikView developments. Each section presents practical guidelines to help you create dashboards that are not only functional, but also engaging and compelling.

Over 40 recipes to accelerate the process of learning game design and solving development problems using Unreal EngineAbout This BookExplore the quickest way to tackle common challenges faced in Unreal EngineCreate your own content, levels, light scenes, and materials, and work with Blueprints and C++ *ingAn intermediate, fast-paced Unreal Engine guide with targeted recipes to design games within its framework Who This Book Is For This book is for those who are relatively experienced with Unreal Engine 4 and have knowledge of its fundamentals. Working knowledge of C++ is required.What You Will LearnDiscover editor functionalities for an in-depth insight into game designDevelop environments using terrain for outdoor areas and a workflow for interiors as well using brushesDesign various kinds of materials with unique features, such as mirrors and glowsExplore the various ways that lighting can be used in the engineBuild various level effects using Blueprints, Unreal's visual *ing systemSet up a development environment and develop custom functionality with C++ for your gamesCreate healthbars and main menus with animations using Slate, Unreal's UI solution, through the UMG EditorPackage and create an installer to get your project out into the world In Detail Unreal Engine is powerful tool with rich functionalities to create games. It equips you with the skills to easily build mobile and desktop games from scratch without worrying about which platform they will run on. You can focus on the individual complexities of game development such as animation and rendering. This book takes you on a journey to jumpstart your game design efforts. You will learn various aspects of the Unreal engine commonly encountered with practical examples of how it can be used, with numerous references for further study. You will start by getting acquainted with Unreal Engine 4 and building out levels for your game. This will be followed by recipes to help you create environments, place meshes, and implement your characters. You will then learn to work with lights, camera, and shadows to include special effects in your game. Moving on, you’ll learn Blueprint *ing and C++ programming to enable you to achieve trigger effects and add simple functionalities. By the end of the book, you will see how to create a healthbar and main menu, and then get your game ready to be deployed and published.Style and approach This book offers detailed, easy-to-follow recipes that will help you master a wide range of Unreal Engine 4's features. Every recipe provides step-by-step instructions, with explanations of how these features work, and alternative approaches and research materials so you can learn even more.

Over 100 hands-on recipes to quickly prepare LaTeX documents of various kinds to solve challenging tasksAbout This BookWork with modern document classes, such as KOMA-Script classesExplore the latest LaTeX packages, including TikZ, pgfplots, and biblatexAn example-driven approach to creating stunning graphics directly within LaTeX Who This Book Is For If you already know the basics of LaTeX and you like to get fast, efficient solutions, this is the perfect book for you. If you are an advanced reader, you can use this book's example-driven format to take your skillset to the next level. Some familiarity with the basic syntax of LaTeX and how to use the editor of your choice for compiling is required.What You Will LearnChoose the right document class for your project to customize its featuresUtilize fonts globally and locallyFrame, shape, arrange, and annotate imagesAdd a bibliography, a glossary, and an indexCreate colorful graphics including diagrams, flow charts, bar charts, trees, plots in 2d and 3d, time lines, and mindmapsSolve typical tasks for various sciences including math, physics, chemistry, electrotechnics, and computer scienceOptimize PDF output and enrich it with meta data, annotations, popups, animations, and fill-in fieldsExplore the outstanding capabilities of the newest engines and formats such as XeLaTeX, LuaLaTeX, and LaTeX3 In Detail LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting software and is very popular, especially among scientists. Its programming language gives you full control over every aspect of your documents, no matter how complex they are. LaTeX's huge amount of customizable templates and supporting packages cover most aspects of writing with embedded typographic expertise. With this book you will learn to leverage the capabilities of the latest document classes and explore the functionalities of the newest packages. The book starts with examples of common document types. It provides you with samples for tuning text design, using fonts, embedding images, and creating legible tables. Common document parts such as the bibliography, glossary, and index are covered, with LaTeX's modern approach. You will learn how to create excellent graphics directly within LaTeX, including diagrams and plots quickly and easily. Finally, you will discover how to use the new engines XeTeX and LuaTeX for advanced programming and calculating with LaTeX. The example-driven approach of this book is sure to increase your productivity.Style and approach This book guides you through the world of LaTeX based on over a hundred hands-on examples. These are explained in detail and are designed to take minimal time and to be self-compliant.