There's a bar called 'The Captain's Table' where those who have held command over mighty vessels of every shape and era can meet, relax and share a friendly drink or two with others of their calling. Sometimes a brawl may break out but it's all in the family. Just remember, the first round of drinks is always paid for with a story . . . Now it's Captain Calhoun's turn to tell us the story of the most tragic event in his life - the death of the captain of the U.S.S GRISSOM and his failure to save him.
New and classical results in computational complexity, including interactive proofs, PCP, derandomization, and quantum computation. Ideal for graduate students.
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This second volume in the seminal series on aerial combat, pilots, and tactics in Libya and Egypt in the middle of World War II. In volume two of this series, historian Christopher Shores begins by exploring the 8th Army’s movements after Operation Crusader when they were forced back to the Gazala area in northeastern Libya, as well as their defeat in June, 1942, the loss of Tobruk, and the efforts of Allied air forces to protect their retreating troops. Shores continues with the heavy fighting that followed in the El Alamein region. This features the Western Desert Air Force and the arrival of the first Spitfires. The buildup of both army and air forces and the addition of new commanders on the ground aided the defeat of Rommel’s Deutsche Afrika Korps at Alam el Halfa, after which came the Second Battle of El Alamein. With the arrival of the United States Army Air Force, the Allied air forces gained dominance over the Axis. Shores recounts the lengthy pursuit of the Italo-German forces right across Libya, including the capture of Tripoli and the breakthrough into Southern Tunisia. This allowed a linkup with other Allied forces in Tunisia (whose story appears in Volume 3). Included with the action are stories of some of the great fighter aces of the Desert campaign such as Jochen Marseille and Otto Schulz of the Luftwaffe, Franco Bordoni-Bisleri of the Regia Aeronautica and Neville Duke, Billy Drake, and “Eddie” Edwards of the Commonwealth air forces. Finally, Shores touches on the Allied and Axis night bombing offensives and the activities of the squadrons cooperating with the naval forces in the Mediterranean.
The third volume in the epic military aviation series focuses on the Allied invasion of North Africa during World War II. This work of WWII history takes us to November 1942 to explain the background of the first major Anglo-American venture: Operation Torch, the invasion of French North Africa. Describing the fratricidal combat that followed the initial landings in Morocco and Algeria, it then considers the unsuccessful efforts to reach northern Tunisia before the Germans and Italians could get there to forestall the possibility of an attack from the west on the rear of the Afrika Korps forces, then beginning their retreat from El Alamein. The six months of hard fighting that followed, as the Allies built up the strength of their joint air forces and gradually wrested control of the skies from the Axis, are recounted in detail. The continuing story of the Western Desert Air Force is told, as it advanced from the east to join hands with the units in the west. Also covered are the arrivals over the front of American pilots and crew, the P-38 Lightning, the Spitfire IX, and the B-17 Flying Fortress—and of the much-feared Focke-Wulf Fw 190. The aerial activities over Tunisia became one of the focal turning points of World War II, yet are frequently overlooked by historians. Here, the air-sea activities, the reconnaissance flights, and the growing day and night bomber offensives are examined in detail.
State space models have gained tremendous popularity in recent years in as disparate fields as engineering, economics, genetics and ecology. After a detailed introduction to general state space models, this book focuses on dynamic linear models, emphasizing their Bayesian analysis. Whenever possible it is shown how to compute estimates and forecasts in closed form; for more complex models, simulation techniques are used. A final chapter covers modern sequential Monte Carlo algorithms. The book illustrates all the fundamental steps needed to use dynamic linear models in practice, using R. Many detailed examples based on real data sets are provided to show how to set up a specific model, estimate its parameters, and use it for forecasting. All the code used in the book is available online. No prior knowledge of Bayesian statistics or time series analysis is required, although familiarity with basic statistics and R is assumed.
