The HPI International (Halo Paranormal Investigations) adventure continues! HPI tackles the Top Hat Demon of 27th Street and other strange entities of the night! The HPI team are warriors against the dark forces of the supernatural! Read about it here!

Not only do vampires exist, but they walk among us! Paranormal researcher extraordinaire and author of hundreds of books on the mysterious and unknown, Brad Steiger, reveals that real vampires are not immortal, do not have fangs or sleep in coffins, and have no fear of sunlight or crucifixes. A chilling chronicle of the often-ignored history of vampirism, Real Vampires, Night Stalkers, and Creatures from the Darkside is a shocking account of occultist rituals and the inhuman forces that influence these immortal beasts. From spine-tingling classic tales—Vlad the Impaler, the Countess of Blood—to stories of famous mass-murderers and their shocking, cannibalistic, and vampire-like behavior—Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer—to hair-raising testimony from ordinary people who’ve encountered vampires, and finally to interviews with modern vampires themselves, this frightening collection covers them all. Not for the faint of heart, you’ll encounter 163 terrifying tales of the hideous wraiths and creatures that lurk in shadow, including . . . the Mexican prostitute who mesmerized an entire village, convincing them she was an Incan goddess who required human sacrifice for her magic. the three teenagers who left a trail across the South as they conducted blood-drinking rituals with animals. the mysterious Lady in Black, who draws psychic energy from men who dare approach her as she wanders through city streets and parks. the young bride-to-be possessed by an evil spirit pretending to be her recently deceased uncle. the college student who thought that he had gotten lucky when he was invited to a party by a gorgeous woman—until he found out that the other partygoers seemed to want blood in return for their beer. Shining a light on the horrifying truth, Real Vampires, Night Stalkers, and Creatures from the Darkside dispels many myths but also confirms the truth behind several traits of real vampires. You’ll encounter loathsome slashers, rippers, and murderers who do not promise immortality with their “bite,” only a painful death. The numerous photos and illustrations bring the text to life!

Shocking true stories of those who walk among us . . . With the Kepler satellite observatory detecting new planets at an unprecedented rate and the powerful computers at NASA’s Ames Research Center seeking signs of distant life, will a breakthrough discovery happen shortly—or has there already been a secret encounter with alien beings? Who might be coming next? And who walks among us today? Visits from otherworldly creatures, aliens living among us, abductions of humans to alien spacecraft, and accounts of interstellar cooperation since the UFO crash in Roswell are thoroughly investigated in Real Aliens, Space Beings, and Creatures from Other Worlds. Paranormal researcher extraordinaire Brad Steiger, an author of thousands of books and articles on the mysterious and unknown, looks into a wide host of otherworldly encounters from alleged eyewitness accounts of extraterrestrial beings working side by side with human scientists to the uncomfortable accusations of alien abductions. Disquieting testimonials, enlightening news articles, informative historical accounts and documents, this book chronicles more than 300 examples of alien encounters, conspiracy theories, and the influence of extraterrestrials on human events throughout history. This discussion of the theories and mysteries surrounding aliens is packed with thought-provoking stories and shocking revelations of alien involvement in the lives of Earthlings, such as ... Three Russian scientists who were monitoring the Apollo Moon Landing on July 20, 1969 claim that astronauts Armstrong and Aldrin were being closely observed by UFOs; Thousands of women all over the world claim to have been abducted for the purpose of bearing Hybrid Children; A family in Colorado repeatedly visited by aliens—with physical evidence and photographs to prove their story. From cattle and human mutilations to missing time experienced by UFO experiences, and from secret underground and even underwater alien facilities to government-alien conspiracies, each astonishing report is detailed with thorough research and recounted with a storyteller’s crafted voice. Real Aliens, Space Beings, and Creatures from Other Worlds will leave the reader wondering who has visited us; who's coming to visit next; and who walks among us.

When Darkness Reigns and the Full Moon Glows, Terror Emerges to Stalk the Unsuspecting… From lycanthropic creatures found on television and film such as Teen Wolf, Twilight, and True Blood to the earliest folklore of shape-shifting creatures, The Werewolf Book: The Encyclopedia of Shapeshifting Beings is an eye-opening, blood-pounding tour through the ages of monsters with the most amazing camouflage capabilities—they hide among us! Along the way, you’ll land at the doorstep of creatures like hirsute mass-murderer Albert Fish, and Fritz Haarman, who slaughtered and ate his victims—selling the leftovers as steaks and roasts in his butcher shop—as well as visits to mythical shamans, sirens, and skin walkers. Covering 140,000 years of legend, mythology, and fact, The Werewolf Book provides hair-raising evidence of strange and obsessional behavior through the centuries. Learn the basics of becoming a werewolf and the intricacies of slaying the beast. A true homage to werewolves and other full moon beasts, it includes topics such as … • Bear, tiger, coyote, and other shape-shifting people • Classic and modern werewolf movies • Gargoyles, totem poles, and Internet depictions • Serial killers and sadistic rulers • Sorcery, spells, and talismans • Television shows, songs, and computer games Werewolf hunters and fans of all ages will appreciate the detailed section on slaying the beast, while potential victims will find the information on detecting and warding away the occasional wayward wolfman more to their immediate liking—if not need. With over 120 illustrations and photos this ultimate lycanthrope compendium is richly illustrated. The Werewolf Book's helpful bibliography and extensive index add to its usefulness.

MR is a powerful modality. At its most advanced, it can be used not just to image anatomy and pathology, but to investigate organ function, to probe in vivo chemistry, and even to visualise the brain thinking. However, clinicians, technologists and scientists struggle with the study of the subject. The result is sometimes an obscurity of understanding, or a dilution of scientific truth, resulting in misconceptions. This is why MRI from Picture to Proton has achieved its reputation for practical clarity. MR is introduced as a tool, with coverage starting from the images, equipment and scanning protocols and traced back towards the underlying physics theory. With new content on quantitative MRI, MR safety, multi-band excitation, Dixon imaging, MR elastography and advanced pulse sequences, and with additional supportive materials available on the book's website, this new edition is completely revised and updated to reflect the best use of modern MR technology.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the latest advances in the mathematical theory and computational tools for modeling high-dimensional data drawn from one or multiple low-dimensional subspaces (or manifolds) and potentially corrupted by noise, gross errors, or outliers. This challenging task requires the development of new algebraic, geometric, statistical, and computational methods for efficient and robust estimation and segmentation of one or multiple subspaces. The book also presents interesting real-world applications of these new methods in image processing, image and video segmentation, face recognition and clustering, and hybrid system identification etc. This book is intended to serve as a textbook for graduate students and beginning researchers in data science, machine learning, computer vision, image and signal processing, and systems theory. It contains ample illustrations, examples, and exercises and is made largely self-contained with three Appendices which survey basic concepts and principles from statistics, optimization, and algebraic-geometry used in this book. René Vidal is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Vision Dynamics and Learning Lab at The Johns Hopkins University. Yi Ma is Executive Dean and Professor at the School of Information Science and Technology at ShanghaiTech University. S. Shankar Sastry is Dean of the College of Engineering, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Professor of Bioengineering at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Manual of Dermatology was developed by Dr. Cafardi at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Dermatology, and covers broad dermatological topics necessary for any dermatology resident treating patients. Topics include alopecia, medication dosing and management pearls, fungal disorders, genodermatoses, differential diagnoses of various skin diseases, management of infections, surgical anatomy and tips, HIV dermatology, pediatric dermatology, and skin cancer management and terminology. The practicality of this book is unique and includes key clinical data for residents, making it essential as a reference for quick differential diagnoses, work-up tips, management, and treatment options. This quick reference offers a more practical approach to dermatology, with drug names and dosing, and more information on mycology/onychomycosis than any other handbook on the market. The Manual of Dermatology is portable, comprehensive, easily accessible, and is based upon algorithms, tables, and pearls taught to dermatology medical students, making it a vital resource in all university medical libraries across the country.

Static analysis of software with deductive methods is a highly dynamic field of research on the verge of becoming a mainstream technology in software engineering. It consists of a large portfolio of - mostly fully automated - analyses: formal verification, test generation, security analysis, visualization, and debugging. All of them are realized in the state-of-art deductive verification framework KeY. This book is the definitive guide to KeY that lets you explore the full potential of deductive software verification in practice. It contains the complete theory behind KeY for active researchers who want to understand it in depth or use it in their own work. But the book also features fully self-contained chapters on the Java Modeling Language and on Using KeY that require nothing else than familiarity with Java. All other chapters are accessible for graduate students (M.Sc. level and beyond). The KeY framework is free and open software, downloadable from the book companion website which contains also all code examples mentioned in this book.

An invaluable tool equipping healthcare professionals, auditors, and investigators to detect every kind of healthcare fraud According to private and public estimates, billions of dollars are lost per hour to healthcare waste, fraud, and abuse. A must-have reference for auditors, fraud investigators, and healthcare managers, Healthcare Fraud, Second Edition provides tips and techniques to help you spot—and prevent—the "red flags" of fraudulent activity within your organization. Eminently readable, it is your "go-to" resource, equipping you with the necessary skills to look for and deal with potential fraudulent situations. Includes new chapters on primary healthcare, secondary healthcare, information/data management and privacy, damages/risk management, and transparency Offers comprehensive guidance on auditing and fraud detection for healthcare providers and company healthcare plans Examines the necessary background that internal auditors should have when auditing healthcare activities Managing the risks in healthcare fraud requires an understanding of how the healthcare system works and where the key risk areas are. With health records now all being converted to electronic form, the key risk areas and audit process are changing. Read Healthcare Fraud, Second Edition and get the valuable guidance you need to help combat this critical problem.