Philip Williams

For too long, the world's lonely and vulnerable children have been forgotten and ignored. Millions of children are abandoned for a life on the streets or live with unsafe families or in soulless institutions. Now the tide is turning. Pioneers like Mick Pease and his remarkable charity SFAC lead a global movement for change. This insightful and uplifting book takes us on a journey that spans three decades and five continents. We meet judges and social workers, missionaries and aid workers, the children and families themselves. Mick asks tough questions, such as: Would you want your children in a safe family or in an institution? Would you want them to belong to something or to someone? He offers proven solutions for children separated from their families in widely different societies, from the hills of Myanmar to the sprawling cities of Brazil. SFAC supports measures to keep children in their families and communities or to find safe alternatives where this is not possible. The key is always the best interests of the child. It is an extraordinary journey from the Yorkshire coalfields to advocacy and influence in the corridors of power. It offers practical wisdom and a hope for the future.

Over the Spectrum was first published in 1982 and at the time was considered one of the best introductions to programming on Sir Clive Sinclair's incredible new home computer. Many who went on to have long careers in the computer industry started with the programs in this excellent book. As such it is not only a great re-print for purposes of nostalgia, but also a practical and helpful guide to anyone interested in the programming of retro games. As Personal Computer World stated at the time: *** "Final entrant in the Spectrum stakes is Melbourne House's OVER THE SPECTRUM, and for me it runs out the clear winner. Not a teach-yourself-programming guide, it is a collection of programs: each program has a detailed breakdown of exactly what happens when and how it's all achieved. The listings are not trivial, and the result is well worth the effort. The book is liberally illustrated showing screen displays for almost all the programs so you know what you are trying to achieve at the outset. As a demonstration of what can be achieved using the Spectrum's User Defined Characters this book cannot be faulted, and although it contains no programming hints as such, a diligent reader is going to learn a lot about the Spectrum by working his or her way through it. Take a bow gents, and give us more."***Acorn Books is proud to present its Retro Reproductions series, a collection of classic computing works from the 1980s and 90s, lovingly reproduced in the 21st century. From standards of programming reference no self-respecting microcomputer programmer would be without, to obscure works not found in print anywhere else, these modern reprints are perfect for any connoisseur of retro computing.

This unique book provides a comprehensive introduction to the most popular syntax-based statistical machine translation models, filling a gap in the current literature for researchers and developers in human language technologies. While phrase-based models have previously dominated the field, syntax-based approaches have proved a popular alternative, as they elegantly solve many of the shortcomings of phrase-based models. The heart of this book is a detailed introduction to decoding for syntax-based models. The book begins with an overview of synchronous-context free grammar (SCFG) and synchronous tree-substitution grammar (STSG) along with their associated statistical models. It also describes how three popular instantiations (Hiero, SAMT, and GHKM) are learned from parallel corpora. It introduces and details hypergraphs and associated general algorithms, as well as algorithms for decoding with both tree and string input. Special attention is given to efficiency, includingsearch approximations such as beam search and cube pruning, data structures, and parsing algorithms. The book consistently highlights the strengths (and limitations) of syntax-based approaches, including their ability to generalize phrase-based translation units, their modeling of specific linguistic phenomena, and their function of structuring the search space.

The 37 giant pandas of the Tchelakov Tribe have been genetically engineered to become living probability engines-intuitive machines able to forecast the future through dream manipulation. The pandas are torn by two competing visions of the future. On one Path they become the indestructible visionary tools of a tyrannical warlord who plans to use their prophetic powers to bend a thousand star systems to his will through fear and destruction. On the other Path, a man will arrive to rescue them, a man they have come to love and trust. A man they know as the Griffin. Garrand M deville gained the tribe's respect as he battled Imperial Shock Troops on El-Bouteran and defeated the giant beetles of Galzeki above Eemon Nores. Now the crew of Destiny's Needle must hunt down the beautiful and deadly Vailetta Strom and save her before she is branded a traitor and executed by Commander Arnas. If she takes his hand high above New Haivello, they are fated to raid the most heavily fortified planet in Carinaena's Shell. Two fallen Guardians must defeat the Imperial Third Fleet, outwit a series of sentient doors, and do battle with the Fokathenais dragons that guard their friends. Garrand must finally face the Empire that cast him out and defeat the most powerful man in the galaxy, aided only by wit, cunning and the dreams of a panda.

Garrand M deville has become the trusted protector of 37 giant pandas genetically engineered to see the future in their dreams. Trapped between Imperial saboteurs and marauding Gambor, Garrand attacked an Imperial Battle Frigate in a desperate attempt to scavenge spare parts for his ship. The ensuing battle took its toll: betrayed by his lover, Garrand lost all but two of the pandas to Imperial forces before he fought his way back to freedom. Vice Proctor Hellius Barrett now plans to use the creatures' prophetic powers to launch a devastating war campaign. But first he must convince the tribe that he is the natural heir to their legacy, and that only he can keep them safe. If he cannot sway the Elders to his side, then he will reverse engineer the genetic process, sacrificing the pandas one by one until he is able to replicate the procedure. Captain of the Imperial Guard Vailetta Strom's secret identity as the Emperor's illegitimate daughter has been well hidden for her entire life, but now she will be placed in charge of precognitive creatures that could bring down her father's empire. Together with Assassin Torg, she must navigate Lord Barrett's traitorous court and determine where her ultimate loyalties lie. Reeling from their losses, Garrand and Sid Panda must learn to unravel the mysteries of the pandas' lyrical dreams-visions that they begin to translate into epic poetry-and discover a way to save the tribe before a billion souls are butchered under Lord Barrett's command.

The story of exiled hero Garrand M deville, a soldier fated to lead 37 mysterious giant pandas to salvation, and his beautiful partner in the endeavor, a woman who will do anything to avenge the loss of her family.

Guardsman Philip Williams was 18 when he fought in the Falklands War. He was left for dead and a memorial service was held for him. On his return, the press treated him with hostility and his life turned sour. He has left the Army and is often unemployed. This is his account of the experience.