"This stunning first novel from Nebula Award and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award finalist Ted Kosmatka is a riveting tale of science cut loose from ethics. Set in an amoral future where genetically engineered monstrosities fight each other to the death in an Olympic event, The Games envisions a harrowing world that may arrive sooner than you think. Silas Williams is the brilliant geneticist in charge of preparing the U.S. entry into the Olympic Gladiator competition, an internationally sanctioned bloodsport with only one rule: no human DNA is permitted in the design of the entrants. Silas lives and breathes genetics; his designs have led the United States to the gold in every previous event. But the other countries are catching up. Now, desperate for an edge in the upcoming Games, Silas's boss engages an experimental supercomputer to design the genetic code for a gladiator that cannot be beaten. The result is a highly specialized killing machine, its genome never before seen on earth. Not even Silas, with all his genius and experience, can understand the horror he had a hand in making. And no one, he fears, can anticipate the consequences of entrusting the act of creation to a computer's cold logic. Now Silas races to understand what the computer has wrought, aided by a beautiful xenobiologist, Vidonia Joao. Yet as the fast-growing gladiator demonstrates preternatural strength, speed, and--most disquietingly--intelligence, Silas and Vidonia find their scientific curiosity giving way to a most unexpected emotion: sheer terror"--

"The proposed book will offer comprehensive and versatile methodologies and recommendations on how to determine dynamic characteristics of typical micro- and opto-electronic structural elements (printed circuit boards, solder joints, heavy devices, etc.) and how to design a viable and reliable structure that would be able to withstand high-level dynamic loading. Particular attention will be given to portable devices and systems designed for operation in harsh environments (such as automotive, aerospace, military, etc.) In-depth discussion from a mechanical engineer's viewpoint will be conducted to the key components' level as well as the whole device level. Both theoretical (analytical and computer-aided) and experimental methods of analysis will be addressed. The authors will identify how the failure control parameters (e.g. displacement, strain and stress) of the vulnerable components may be affected by the external vibration or shock loading, as well as by the internal parameters of the infrastructure of the device. Guidelines for material selection, effective protection and test methods will be developed for engineering practice"-- "The proposed book will offer comprehensive and versatile methodologies and recommendations on how to determine dynamic characteristics of typical micro- and opto-electronic structural elements (printed circuit boards, solder joints, heavy devices, etc.) and how to design a viable and reliable structure that would be able to withstand high-level dynamic loading"--