Combine the incredible powers of Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, and Kafka to build data processing platforms that can take on even the hardest of your data troubles! About This Book This highly practical guide shows you how to use the best of the big data technologies to solve your response-critical problems Learn the art of making cheap-yet-effective big data architecture without using complex Greek-letter architectures Use this easy-to-follow guide to build fast data processing systems for your organization Who This Book Is For If you are a developer, data architect, or a data scientist looking for information on how to integrate the Big Data stack architecture and how to choose the correct technology in every layer, this book is what you are looking for. What You Will Learn Design and implement a fast data Pipeline architecture Think and solve programming challenges in a functional way with Scala Learn to use Akka, the actors model implementation for the JVM Make on memory processing and data analysis with Spark to solve modern business demands Build a powerful and effective cluster infrastructure with Mesos and Docker Manage and consume unstructured and No-SQL data sources with Cassandra Consume and produce messages in a massive way with Kafka In Detail SMACK is an open source full stack for big data architecture. It is a combination of Spark, Mesos, Akka, Cassandra, and Kafka. This stack is the newest technique developers have begun to use to tackle critical real-time analytics for big data. This highly practical guide will teach you how to integrate these technologies to create a highly efficient data analysis system for fast data processing. We’ll start off with an introduction to SMACK and show you when to use it. First you’ll get to grips with functional thinking and problem solving using Scala. Next you’ll come to understand the Akka architecture. Then you’ll get to know how to improve the data structure architecture and optimize resources using Apache Spark. Moving forward, you’ll learn how to perform linear scalability in databases with Apache Cassandra. You’ll grasp the high throughput distributed messaging systems using Apache Kafka. We’ll show you how to build a cheap but effective cluster infrastructure with Apache Mesos. Finally, you will deep dive into the different aspect of SMACK using a few case studies. By the end of the book, you will be able to integrate all the components of the SMACK stack and use them together to achieve highly effective and fast data processing. Style and approach With the help of various industry examples, you will learn about the full stack of big data architecture, taking the important aspects in every technology. You will learn how to integrate the technologies to build effective systems rather than getting incomplete information on single technologies. You will learn how various open source technologies can be used to build cheap and fast data processing systems with the help of various industry examples

Create beautiful data visualizations and interactive dashboards with Tableau About This Book Delve into the features and functionalities of Tableau from the ground up with this step-by-step guide that has over 50 "follow-me" recipes Build rich visualizations to effectively highlight the underlying trends and patterns in your data Build beautiful interactive dashboards and storyboards to stitch your visualizations together and tell a story Who This Book Is For This book is for anyone who wishes to use Tableau. It will be of use to both beginners who want to learn Tableau from scratch and to more seasoned users who simply want a quick reference guide. This book is a ready reckoner guide for you. The book will be such that both new & existing Tableau users who don’t know, or can’t recall how to perform different Tableau tasks can use the book and be benefited from it. What You Will Learn Get to grips with the Tableau workspace and terminologies and understand what data sources you can connect Learn to create basic charts like bar chart, stacked bar, pie chart, line chart, area chart, tree map & word cloud Go even further with more advanced visualizations such as scatter plot, box & whiskers plot, dual axis, bullet chart, Histograms, Maps, etc Use pre-defined calculation and change its scope and direction to affect outcome Learn to define Parameters and call them into parametric calculations that provide outcomes based on user inputs Build Dashboards and use Actions to link multiple sheets on the dashboard Connect to multiple data sources using Data Blending, Multiple Table Join within the same data source as well as across data sources, Custom SQL and learn to work with data Extracts Compute statistical trends, build forecasting models and use Reference lines for benchmarking In Detail Data is everywhere and everything is data! Visualization of data allows us to bring out the underlying trends and patterns inherent in the data and gain insights that enable faster and smarter decision making. Tableau is one of the fastest growing and industry leading Business Intelligence platforms that empowers business users to easily visualize their data and discover insights at the speed of thought. Tableau is a self-service BI platform designed to make data visualization and analysis as intuitive as possible. Creating visualizations with simple drag-and-drop, you can be up and running on Tableau in no time. Starting from the fundamentals such as getting familiarized with Tableau Desktop, connecting to common data sources and building standard charts; you will walk through the nitty gritty of Tableau such as creating dynamic analytics with parameters, blended data sources, and advanced calculations. You will also learn to group members into higher levels, sort the data in a specific order & filter out the unnecessary information. You will then create calculations in Tableau & understand the flexibility & power they have and go on to building story-boards and share your insights with others. Whether you are just getting started or whether you need a quick reference on a "how-to" question, This book is the perfect companion for you Style and approach This cookbook takes a step-by-step approach and the text systematically evolves to cover more involved functionalities. Every recipe includes illustrative screenshots which provide a detailed visual resource for each step.

Find out everything you need to know to build powerful robots with the most up-to-date ROS About This Book This comprehensive, yet easy-to-follow guide will help you find your way through the ROS framework Successfully design and simulate your 3D robot model and use powerful robotics algorithms and tools to program and set up your robots with an unparalleled experience by using the exciting new features from Robot Kinetic Use the latest version of gazebo simulator, OpenCV 3.0, and C++11 standard for your own algorithms Who This Book Is For This book is suitable for an ROS beginner as well as an experienced ROS roboticist or ROS user or developer who is curious to learn ROS Kinetic and its features to make an autonomous Robot. The book is also suitable for those who want to integrate sensors and embedded systems with other software and tools using ROS as a framework. What You Will Learn Understand the concepts of ROS, the command-line tools, visualization GUIs, and how to debug ROS Connect robot sensors and actuators to ROS Obtain and analyze data from cameras and 3D sensors Use Gazebo for robot/sensor and environment simulation Design a robot and see how to make it map the environment, navigate autonomously, and manipulate objects in the environment using MoveIt! Add vision capabilities to the robot using OpenCV 3.0 Add 3D perception capabilities to the robot using the latest version of PCL In Detail Building and programming a robot can be cumbersome and time-consuming, but not when you have the right collection of tools, libraries, and more importantly expert collaboration. ROS enables collaborative software development and offers an unmatched simulated environment that simplifies the entire robot building process. This book is packed with hands-on examples that will help you program your robot and give you complete solutions using open source ROS libraries and tools. It also shows you how to use virtual machines and Docker containers to simplify the installation of Ubuntu and the ROS framework, so you can start working in an isolated and control environment without changing your regular computer setup. It starts with the installation and basic concepts, then continues with more complex modules available in ROS such as sensors and actuators integration (drivers), navigation and mapping (so you can create an autonomous mobile robot), manipulation, Computer Vision, perception in 3D with PCL, and more. By the end of the book, you’ll be able to leverage all the ROS Kinetic features to build a fully fledged robot for all your needs. Style and approach This book is packed with hands-on examples that will help you program your robot and give you complete solutions using ROS open source libraries and tools. All the robotics concepts and modules are explained and multiple examples are provided so that you can understand them easily.

Master text-taming techniques and build effective text-processing applications with R About This Book Develop all the relevant skills for building text-mining apps with R with this easy-to-follow guide Gain in-depth understanding of the text mining process with lucid implementation in the R language Example-rich guide that lets you gain high-quality information from text data Who This Book Is For If you are an R programmer, analyst, or data scientist who wants to gain experience in performing text data mining and analytics with R, then this book is for you. Exposure to working with statistical methods and language processing would be helpful. What You Will Learn Get acquainted with some of the highly efficient R packages such as OpenNLP and RWeka to perform various steps in the text mining process Access and manipulate data from different sources such as JSON and HTTP Process text using regular expressions Get to know the different approaches of tagging texts, such as POS tagging, to get started with text analysis Explore different dimensionality reduction techniques, such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and understand its implementation in R Discover the underlying themes or topics that are present in an unstructured collection of documents, using common topic models such as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) Build a baseline sentence completing application Perform entity extraction and named entity recognition using R In Detail Text Mining (or text data mining or text analytics) is the process of extracting useful and high-quality information from text by devising patterns and trends. R provides an extensive ecosystem to mine text through its many frameworks and packages. Starting with basic information about the statistics concepts used in text mining, this book will teach you how to access, cleanse, and process text using the R language and will equip you with the tools and the associated knowledge about different tagging, chunking, and entailment approaches and their usage in natural language processing. Moving on, this book will teach you different dimensionality reduction techniques and their implementation in R. Next, we will cover pattern recognition in text data utilizing classification mechanisms, perform entity recognition, and develop an ontology learning framework. By the end of the book, you will develop a practical application from the concepts learned, and will understand how text mining can be leveraged to analyze the massively available data on social media. Style and approach This book takes a hands-on, example-driven approach to the text mining process with lucid implementation in R.

FAMILY ON THE RUN Criminals are trying to kidnap attorney Samantha Callahan’s adopted daughter, Lily—and she has no idea why. So when bullets start flying, Samantha and Lily speed off in her car…and crash right into help. Ex-cop Reid Palmer is shocked when former law school classmate Samantha rear-ends his car and then climbs in with her daughter and begs him to drive. Now they are on the run, and Reid will do anything to protect them and figure out why kidnappers are after Lily. As they struggle to evade capture, Reid begins to realize that Samantha is more to him than just a woman in trouble. But with the enemies closing in and their motives finally revealed, will Reid be able to make sure justice is served?

‘A wonderful edge of your seat thriller that will have you guessing all the way to the end.’ – Carrie on Goodreads A haunting YA thriller you won't be able to put down, White Lies is a boarding school story – with a shockingly dark twist. Everybody hurts For Abigail, a new school could be the fresh start she so desperately needs. With her parents in the army and her sister Beth too far away to run to, she knows this year needs to be different. She's never been part of the cool crowd and for the first time Abby wants to fit in. And all it takes is just one little white lie…because some truths are too painful to share. Everybody lies But at Cotswold Community College, Abby isn't the only one with a past she'd rather forget. And when she stumbles across a closely-guarded secret, Abigail realises that her one little white lie could reveal everything she’s worked so hard to hide… What readers are saying about White Lies 'I LOVED this one… there is a dark edge to the narrative, a scary feel to some of the events and just that little *something* that touches you on an emotional level when reading that grips you utterly… Add in some truly spooky and dark dealings, a touch of inspiration and a killer twist that I never once saw coming and you have an imaginative, clever and intelligent thriller that just happens to be in the Young Adult market. Pish to that, its better than any one of 150 girl books you might read this year or did last…' – Liz Loves Books ‘The book was a easy and fast read that was layered with suspense making it captivating and gripping that I had to finish it and know what was happening. I thought I had it all figured out… but after reaching the end, I realized how wrong I was. It is an eerie mystery slash slightly horror story that plays with your mind and imagination.’ – Joy on Goodreads ‘I couldn't put it down and it was short enough for me to whizz through… I still couldn't believe the unbelievable dark twist that this book took. It was so gripping and surreal that I'm still captivated by it! I loved the writing style of this author and it's made me incredibly eager to read more books by Ms. Markham.’ – Connie on Goodreads ‘This is a mystery story with some hints of horror that really plays with your mind, especially when you think you’ve got it all figured out. It sets you on edge and makes you really question what is going on – if you’re a fan of the Red Eye series or just general horror/thriller books then this one’s for you!’ – Maia and a Little Moore ‘This wasn't at all what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised. The first thing to catch my attention was Zoe's writing style. Every word seemed to flow with the next making me want to keep reading. Zoe does an incredible job of bringing the character's alive.’ – Rosalie Reyes's review on Goodreads

Justice is worth every sacrifice. Part 8 of 8 in the chilling, high-octane FBI thriller TOUGH JUSTICE from NYT bestselling author Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Carol Ericson and Gail Barrett. Live or die. Her or Moretti. The time is now. The worst has happened; her mark is on the run. But Lara has no clues. No destination. Just fear for those she loves and bone deep belief that he’s coming straight for her. But she knows Moretti – just as he knows her. And when the final clue clicks into place, the hunt is on… Lara will do anything it takes to catch this evil man who has caused the deaths of countless innocent people. With emotions on a knife edge, Lara is running on instinct; on the desperation of unconditional love. With adrenaline pumping, this is it for Lara – with flight not an option, all she can do is fight to the end… Tough Justice: Exposed (Part 1 of 8) by Carla Cassidy Tough Justice: Watched (Part 2 of 8) by Tyler Anne Snell Tough Justice: Burned (Part 3 of 8) by Carol Ericson Tough Justice: Trapped (Part 4 of 8) by Gail Barrett Tough Justice: Twisted (Part 5 of 8) by Gail Barrett Tough Justice: Ambushed (Part 6 of 8) by Carol Ericson Tough Justice: Betrayed (Part 7 of 8) by Tyler Anne Snell Tough Justice: Hunted (Part 8 of 8) by Carla Cassidy

A fast-paced crime-thriller, full of chilling twists, turns and grisly surprises, Matt Brolly’s Dead Lucky will have you gripped from beginning to end! DCI Michael Lambert is back… When a woman is murdered, the twisted killer forcing her husband to watch her slow and painful death, DCI Michael Lambert knows that his next case might be his toughest yet. And when a second set of killings are discovered, with exactly the same MO, the race is on the find the lethal sociopath before he strikes again. But Lambert never expected to receive an anonymous call from the killer. This time, it’s personal: if Lambert doesn’t find the murderer soon, his own loved ones will be next… The gripping second novel in a thrilling new crime series by Matt Brolly. Perfect for fans of Tony Parsons, Lee Child and Angela Marsons. Praise for Dead Lucky: ‘One of my books of the year… I was blown away by Mr Brolly's plotting and gripping writing style.’ – Elaine (Top 1000 Amazon Reviewer) ‘An extraordinary fast-paced, tense thriller, taking the reader on an suspense filled journey with so many twist and turns it is a stupendous, emotional roller coaster ride!’ – SplashesIntoBooks ‘I was Dead Impressed with the fast paced plot; Dead Curious about who The Watcher was; Dead Impressed the author managed to fool me; Dead Surprised when the killer was revealed and felt the ending was…well…Dead Perfect!’ – CrimeBookJunkie ‘A must read for all lovers of crime books’ – CrimeBookLover ‘Fantastic stuff. A must read for any lovers of crime. Matt Brolly has a cracking series on his hands. ‘ – NorthernCrime ‘A very engrossing police procedural that held my interest and kept me at the edge of my seat.’ – Relax and Read Reviews

A baby to bind them Weeks away from giving birth Dr Meredith Dennison finds herself with no husband and few funds. Retreating to Shearwater Island, she just wants to hide from the world…until she meets her gorgeous, caring neighbour, multi-millionaire Raf Camilleri. Meredith is the last woman Raf should fall for. He’s no more ready for her and newborn baby Zoe than Meredith is for him! But they so need his support and their tender pull makes it impossible for Raf to stay away…

A Cowboy’s Homecoming Since his return to Little Horn, Texas, former Special Ops soldier Grady Stillwater has felt lost. Stillwater Ranch needs his attention—and so does his brother’s abandoned baby. But the injuries Grady sustained in Afghanistan have skewered his confidence. Physical therapist Chloe Miner offers hope and guidance—and a balm for the cowboy's wounded heart. Little does he know that Chloe is hiding a life-altering secret of her own. The sweet girl he remembers from high school has a baby on the way, and she may need Grady every bit as much as he does her…

The family he’s always wanted Notoriously cool, calm and always in control, single dad Dr Sam Marcus is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His adorable adopted son Dani has contracted cancer and Andrea Rimmer is the only woman who can help! As she treats his son Sam sees the warmth and compassion behind her independent exterior. Can he prove to Andrea that she’s the only mummy for Dani, and that together their family is a perfect fit?

A Change of Heart Piper Quinn is fighting for the future of her wolf sanctuary. A painful childhood has taught her to be more comfortable with animals than humans--especially the beautiful wolves of Aurora, Alaska. So when reporter Ethan Hale arrives to cover her struggling shelter--and deems the wolves a danger to the community--she's ready to prove him wrong. A former park ranger, Ethan's seen just enough tragedy to support his claim. Soon their difference of opinion is front-page news. And Piper and Ethan must reconcile their opposing views with their stubborn hearts that are quickly finding refuge in each other.

Hometown Healing Kimberly Gallagher’s back in town to run her mother’s thriving wedding business. For a seasoned pro like Kimberly, fixing the high-stress nuptials of a senator’s daughter is no problem. But facing former police officer Drew Slade—the senator’s security chief and her brother’s former partner—is not what she signed up for. Drew knows that Kimberly blames him for her brother’s tragic death. But to single dad Drew, Kimberly feels like coming home. And despite her best efforts, Kimberly can’t help falling for him. Will their past continue to keep them apart, or will an unexpected truth reveal their happily-ever-after?

Diagnosis: Murder After a failed attempt on her life, Nurse Deborah Lewis knows her suspicions of foul play in the paediatric unit must be true. And her timely rescue by Cole Strachan—her ex-fiancé—allows her a second chance to prove it. The former Navy SEAL who broke her heart is the last man she wants to see…but exactly the one she needs. Though Cole can’t give her the future he once promised, he makes a new vow to help her uncover the truth and stop the culprits. And he has to keep this promise because more than Deborah's heart is at stake—this time it's her life.

Tempted by the hospital heartbreaker! Nurse Isla McKenna is warned about Dr Harry Gardiner the moment she enters the London Victoria's A&E department. He's a commitment-shy playboy - and Isla has been betrayed too much to play with fire! But there is more to this 'bad-boy' than meets the eye, and when Harry asks for help facing a family wedding Isla can't refuse. Even if it means fighting the chemistry between them! Except their weekend together proves the ultimate temptation, leaving them both dangerously wanting much more...

A Family for the Teacher Lily St. George dreams of marriage and a family of her own. But as a temporary kindergarten teacher, she can’t get too attached to anyone in Oaks Crossing. When a student brings in her single father for show and tell, Lily is drawn to charming cowboy Mike Kinley. Working overtime to save his struggling horse farm, Mike claims to have no room in his life for love. But when they team up to start a riding school for children at his ranch, Lily knows she’ll have to help Mike see their partnership is meant to be permanent.

From Cinderella to royal bride! Christina Rose secretly longs for a fairytale wedding, but her betrothal to Prince Antonio of Halencia was a ruse to prevent a royal scandal – they weren’t supposed to actually get married! Now the press can’t get enough of this Cinderella Princess, but Christina’s still waiting for the clock to strike midnight on their arrangement. It may start out as purely for convenience…but now their wedding is upon them, dare she hope that Prince Antonio has more than just ‘I do’ to say, but ‘I love you’ as well..? The Vineyards of Calanetti Saying ‘I do’ under the Tuscan sun…

Can she finally stop running? Horse trainer Shelby Doucette never bothers to unpack her bags. With no roots, no ties and no fixed address but her granddad's old sedan, she's avoided emotional connections, and eluded her past, for fourteen years. Get in, do the job, get out. That's always been her way. Until she meets Jake. Widower Jake Cameron is unlike any man she's ever known, but that doesn't mean he can be trusted. He has a way of sneaking through her defenses, a way of making her want to stay for good. But being with Jake would mean finally facing her past. And heading directly into the storm…

New York Times bestselling author B.J. Daniels continues her acclaimed Cardwell Ranch series with the spellbinding story of a woman who needs a hero—and the Texas tycoon hot on her trail The last of his clan to come home to Big Sky, Montana, Laramie Cardwell wasn’t planning to spend the holidays chasing an elusive cat burglar. He’s stunned to discover that the masked, black-clad figure he tackles to the snowy ground is a woman. After a distracting and sizzling kiss, she flees Laramie, who's knocked senseless by the culprit. Even though he managed to hold on to the stash in the melee, the sexy thief single-handedly stole Laramie's heart! Now he’ll move any mountain to capture the mystery woman whose kiss still smoulders on his lips.

She's sworn to resist temptation! Journeying to Dunborough to learn the truth about her sister’s murder, novice Celeste D’Orleau dons a nun’s habit for safety. But seeing her childhood hero, Gerrard of Dunborough, makes her dream of pleasures that will be forbidden once she takes her final vows. Gerrard wrestles with his desire for the innocent beauty. After striving to redeem his wicked reputation he won’t seduce a nun. Yet as Celeste’s mission draws them closer together, it soon becomes clear their passion is stronger than any vow!

Dangerous secrets Back home in Serenity, Jamie Lynn Henderson’s determined to prove her brother was framed for the town sheriff’s hit-and-run death years ago. But as she encounters dead end after dead end, Jamie Lynn discovers someone will go to any lengths—even murder—to bury the evidence. Her only hope of staying alive long enough to uncover the truth is Shane Colton, the late lawman's wary son. Shane’s world was shattered by one senseless act that he can’t forgive. But somehow, he is drawn to protect the lovely woman trying to free her brother from prison. If they don’t work fast, Jamie Lynn’s single-minded quest might lead them both into the killer’s trap.