For courses in Linear Algebra. Fosters the concepts and skillsneeded for future careers Linear Algebra and ItsApplications offers a modern elementary introduction with broad, relevantapplications. With traditional texts, the early stages of the course arerelatively easy as material is presented in a familiar, concrete setting, butstudents often hit a wall when abstract concepts are introduced. Certainconcepts fundamental to the study of linear algebra (such as linearindependence, vector space, and linear transformations) require time toassimilate - and students' understanding of them is vital. Lay, Lay, and McDonald make theseconcepts more accessible by introducing them early in a familiar, concrete n setting, developing them gradually, and returning to themthroughout the text so that students can grasp them when they are discussed inthe abstract. The 6th Edition offers exciting new material, examples,and online resources, along with new topics, vignettes, and applications.

H. E. Tsem Rinpoche is famous for mesmerising his friends and students with hours upon hours of incredible teachings. Within each teaching is an epic story that will move, inspire and bring about an entirely new perspective of life, spirituality and everything in between. For the first time, these incredible tales are brought together in to a single collection of short stories by the author and also a dedicated student, David Lai. This timeless collection of 21 short stories tells the tale of saints, sinners, struggles and utter devotion. Keeping the original flavour and wisdom of H.E. Tsem Rinpoche that is conveyed from the gentle heart of a loyal disciple, these gripping tales will magically unfold before your very eyes as you turn the pages of Tales My Lama Told Me.

This autobiography is a sincere, no-holds barred and very personal portrait of how a spoilt young man makes his own spiritual journey and finds life-changing results from the Dharma.We hope that David's writing and experiences will inspire you to start on your own spiritual journey

Although it originated in theological debates, the general will ultimately became one of the most celebrated and denigrated concepts emerging from early modern political thought. Jean-Jacques Rousseau made it the central element of his political theory, and it took on a life of its own during the French Revolution, before being subjected to generations of embrace or opprobrium. James Farr and David Lay Williams have collected for the first time a set of essays that track the evolving history of the general will from its origins to recent times. The General Will: The Evolution of a Concept discusses the general will's theological, political, formal, and substantive dimensions with a careful eye toward the concept's virtues and limitations as understood by its expositors and critics, among them Arnauld, Pascal, Malebranche, Leibniz, Locke, Spinoza, Montesquieu, Kant, Constant, Tocqueville, Adam Smith and John Rawls.

This book investigates cultural influences of competitive sports on U.S. and Chinese strategic thinking and tactical behavior. Most competitive sports owe their origins to human fighting. Although they are "ritualized contests," competitive sports have retained many aspects of human warfare, especially the use of strategy and tactics that moves human contest beyond military clashes to the subjugation of opponents without bloodshed. Cultural influences usually go unnoticed. Indeed, Washington often conducts foreign affairs like football games without knowing that is the case. Likewise, Beijing moves in Weiqi style subconsciously. This book uncovers these influences.

For most people, getting into a relationship and getting married is easily achievable. However, staying married or staying committed in a relationship is another matter altogether. It is an excellent and wonderful growing experience if we make it that way. So, this little book explores this with the brilliant advice of a great master and the candid conversation between four very unique individuals. Their conversation explores real issues and practical solutions that are relevant and applicable to any couple today.

Je Tsongkhapa was a 15th century Buddhist scholar and saint whose fame swept all over the northern regions of Tibet, Mongolia and north China. Often regarded as the "Second Buddha" after Buddha Shakyamuni, he was widely revered and worshipped during the later Chinese dynasties of Yuan and Ching. Today, his fame has spread all over Asia and now the world in fulfillment of a prediction made by Buddha Shakyamuni. This book relates the story of Je Tsongkhapa's incredible life and achievements, as well as the qualities he embodies, along with contemporary photography that interprets the essence of his sacred existence in a unique ultramodern perspective.

If the greatness of a philosophical work can be measured by the volume and vehemence of the public response, there is little question that Rousseau's Social Contract stands out as a masterpiece. Within a week of its publication in 1762 it was banished from France. Soon thereafter, Rousseau fled to Geneva, where he saw the book burned in public. At the same time, many of his contemporaries, such as Kant, considered Rousseau to be 'the Newton of the moral world', as he was the first philosopher to draw attention to the basic dignity of human nature. The Social Contract has never ceased to be read and debated in the 250 years since its publication. Rousseau's Social Contract: An Introduction offers a thorough and systematic tour of this notoriously paradoxical and challenging text. David Lay Williams offers readers a chapter-by-chapter reading of the Social Contract, squarely confronting these interpretive obstacles. The book also features a special extended appendix dedicated to outlining Rousseau's famous conception of the general will, which has been the object of controversy since the Social Contract's publication in 1762.

To better understand the PLA's ability to employ its developing capabilities in a variety of potential scenarios, this year's workshop examined how the PLA learns by doing, specifically through its exercises and noncombat operations at home and overseas, and through key logistical and theoretical developments. Key findings are: 1) recent PLAN exercises and operations point to an increasing interest in developing expeditionary naval capabilities and a presence in distant seas, suggesting that a move beyond the current "near seas" focus is both possible and an extension of existing efforts; 2) PLA ground force exercises-rather than aiming to intimidate others by demonstrating the ability to project power beyond China's borders-focus on moving military power within China, both to defend China's borders and perhaps as a prelude to military restructuring in which smaller but more mobile formations could replace larger and more static ones; 3) through its participation in international military exercises as well as peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid and disaster relief missions, the PLA is gaining greater capabilities to deploy outside of China's borders for a a variety of missions; and, 4) PLA operations are increasingly supported by a modern, civilian-integrated military logistics network, though a lack of overseas bases continues to limit the effectiveness of this network as it pertains to overseas power projection capabilities.

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The most profound change that the United States and China have experienced in their relations over the past 30 years is perhaps the onset of an apparent power transition between the two nations. This potentially titanic change was set in motion as a result of China's genuine and phenomenal economic development, and the impact of this economic success on the United States and the U.S.-led international system has been growing steadily. This perceived power transition process will continue to be a defining factor in U.S.-China relations for the next 30 years. As China's economic, political, cultural, and military influence continue to grow globally, what kind of a global power will China become? What kind of a relationship will evolve between China and the United States? How will the United States maintain its leadership in world affairs and develop a working relationship with China so that China can join hands with the United States to shape the world in constructive ways? In this book, Dr. David Lai offers an engaging discussion of these questions and others. His analysis addresses issues that trouble U.S. as well as Chinese leaders. Dr. Lai has taken painstaking care to put the conflicting positions in perspective, most notably presenting the origins of the conflicts, highlighting the conflicting parties' key opposing positions (by citing their primary or original sources), and pointing out the stalemates.

The importance of China stems not only from its current international role and its influence on the Asia-Pacific region in particular, but also because China's impact on global developments will likely continue to grow. One of our enduring imperatives is to accurately survey China's experiences as a means to grasp its existing perceptions, motivations, and ambitions. More than ever, solid, evidence-based evaluation of what the PLA has learned from the use of force and conflict elsewhere in the world is needed to shed light on the prospects for its cooperation, or rivalry, with the international community. This volume provides unique, valuable insights on how the PLA has applied the lessons learned from others' military actions to its own strategic planning.

The chapters presented in this volume have demonstrated first, Chinese and PLA leaders have a strong sense of mission and concern for China's security and well-being. Second, the PLA is committed to the transformation in military affairs with Chinese characteristics. Third, the PLA is eager to learn from the U.S. military to expand and improve its operational capabilities. Finally, the PLA has made progress in its transformation and operational capabilities. For a long time, American leaders have been surprised with the PLA's advances. This volume (and many of the previous volumes from past PLA conferences) show that these advances did not come out of the blue. Although much of the learning and many of the improvements are still far from what is desired (from Chinese expectations and American critiques), and some of the learning has even created contradictions for the PLA, these persistent and diligent learning practices will eventually bring the PLA to a higher level of proficiency in its capabilities. The emergence of a much more sophisticated PLA in the coming years should not be a surprise.

This guide to SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards 4.0 (formerly Xcelsius )is a cookbook packed full of practical recipes written in a clear, concise manner with annotated examples to empower readers to quickly accomplish specific dashboard tasks. If you are a developer with a good command and knowledge of creating dashboards, but are not yet an advanced Dashboard Design user, then this is the perfect book for you. You should have a good working knowledge of Microsoft Excel as well as knowledge of basic dashboard practices, though experience of Dashboard Design as a specific dashboard tool is not essential.

This analysis discusses the nature of U.S.-China relations in the context of an ongoing power transition between these two great powers, the rise of China and its impact, China's tortuous experience during its transition to modernity, U.S.-China conflicts over the two nations' core interests, and the future of the U.S.-China power transition. This analysis holds the following propositions. First, as a result of its genuine development and the impact of its expanding influence on the international system, China and the United States are inescapably engaged in a power transition process, which is, on top of all other issues, about the future of international relations. Second, the history of power transition is filled with bloodshed; yet China and the United States are willing to blaze a new path out of this deadly contest. Third, although China and the United States have exchanged goodwill for a peaceful future, the two nations nevertheless have many contentious and unsettled conflicts of interest that are further complicated by the power transition process and, if not properly managed, can force the two to stumble into unintended war against each other, hence repeating the history of power transition tragedy. Finally, the next 30 years will be a crucial stage for China's development and the evolution of the U.S.-China power transition. Unfortunately, these titanic changes are overshadowed by the inherently conflicting relations between China and the United States. It will take these two great powers extraordinary efforts to come to terms with the emerging new realities. Strategic Studies Institute.

The annual Conference on the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) took place at the U.S. Army War College (USAWC), in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on October 22-24, 2010.1 The topic for this year's conference was the "PLA's lessons from Other People's Wars." Participants at the conference sought to discern what lessons the PLA has been learning from the strategic and operational experiences of the armed forces of other countries during the past 3 decades. Why did observers of the PLA want to study what Chinese military analysts might learned about non-Chinese wars? The answer is twofold. First, the PLA has not fought an actual war since 1979. Yet, during the last 3 decades, fundamental changes have taken place on the battlefield and in the conduct of war. Since the PLA has not fought since 1979, it had no experience in the changing face of war, and thus could not follow Mao Zedong's admonition to "learn by doing"; instead, it must look abroad for ways to discern the new pattern of warfare in the evolving information age. Studying Chinese military analysts' observations of non-Chinese wars therefore provides us a glimpse of what the PLA takes from others' experience to improve its capability and to prepare itself for dealing with China's national security issues, such as Taiwan, the South and East China Sea disputes, and internal unrest in Tibet and Xinjiang, to name the most obvious ones. Second, Chinese military analysts have noticeably more freedom in assessing and commenting on the strength and weakness as well as the success and fail-ures of other countries' wars. Indeed, for political reasons, Chinese military analysts have to emphasize the heroics and triumphs of the PLA's war experience and downplay setbacks and failures.2 While there is certainly recognition of the daunting challenges-in Korea, for example, accounts readily acknowledge that the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) were totally unprepared logistically and devastated by airpower-there are limits to the levels of candor. To date, there is no critical analysis of the PLA's claimed success or dismissed failure in the Sino-Vietnamese Border War of 1979 by Chinese military analysts (however, there are a few studies done by scholars outside of China3). Studying Chinese military analysts' observation of other people's wars, therefore, provide us key hints as to what Chinese military analysts consider important aspects of current and future military operational success and failure.