Equalizer

Michael Sloan, co-creator of the classic 1980s TV series--the basis for the feature films starring Denzel Washington--reinvents the story of the mysterious, former covert intelligence officer who helps desperate people who are in need of his unique and deadly skills. Robert McCall is a former covert operations officer for the CIA who tries to atone for past sins by offering, free of charge, his services as a troubleshooter (often literally), a protector, and an investigator. People in need find him through a newspaper ad and on the internet: "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer." Aided by a group of sometimes-mysterious contacts (some of whom date back to his spying days), McCall traverses the streets of New York City, visiting justice upon those who prey upon the weak. In this novel, based on the 1980s television show, and timed to come out shortly before the feature film version starring Denzel Washington, McCall goes up against an old enemy, a Chechen nightclub owner, who now runs an elite assassination service to try and save the life of an innocent woman.

Creator of The Equalizer TV series--the basis for the feature films starring Denzel Washington--Michael Sloan reinvents the story of the mysterious Robert McCall, a former intelligence officer who helps desperate people in need of his unique skill set. Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer. McCall’s first client is a distraught mother who is desperate to locate her young daughter, drawn into the shadowy world of white slavery. But this client may not be all she appears to be. At the time same, McCall is approached by a diplomat who works for the United Nations. Her son, an American Captain in the US Army, is part of a contingent advising Syrian Rebel forces in their fight against the Jihadists. He has been reported KIA, but his body has not been found. His mother asks McCall to find out if her son is alive or dead. When McCall embarks on a suicidal rescue mission in Syria, he stumbles upon a terror plot aimed at the United States. The terrorists are being protected by mercenaries known as Momento Miro—Remember That You Must Die. McCall discovers the key to the terror attacks is his one-time boss, Control, the head of a spy organization called “The Company.” He is missing. His life has been deleted from all personal and intelligence records, as if he never existed. McCall has to find his old friend and stop these terror attacks from being carried out on American soil. McCall also has to deal with an “Equalizer” wannabe, a psychotic vigilante whose attempts to be a “hero” and rid the New York streets of violent crime are getting innocent people killed.

The experts say that America's best days are behind us, that mediocre long-term economic growth is baked in the cake, and that politically, socially, and racially, the United States will continue to tear itself apart. But David Smick-hedge fund strategist and author of the 2008 bestseller The World Is Curved-argues that the experts are wrong. In recent decades, a Corporate Capitalism of top down mismanagement and backroom deal-making has smothered America's innovative spirit. Policy now favors the big, the corporate, and the status quo at the expense of the small, the inventive, and the entrepreneurial. The result is that working and middle class Americans have seen their incomes flat-lining and their American Dreams slipping away. In response, Smick calls for the great equalizer, a Main Street Capitalism of mass small-business startups and bottom-up innovation, all unfolding on a level playing field. Introducing a fourteen-point plan of bipartisan reforms for unleashing America's creativity and confidence, his forward-thinking book describes a new climate of dynamism where every man and woman is a potential entrepreneur-especially those at the bottom rungs of the economic ladder. Ultimately, Smick argues, economies are more than statistical measurements of supply and demand, economic output, and rates of return. Economies are people-their hopes, fears, dreams, and expectations. The Great Equalizer is a call for a set of new paradigms that inspire and empower average American people to reimagine and reboot their economy. It is a manifesto asserting that, with a new kind of economic policy, America's best days lie ahead.

'An anthology that decodes the ignorant chapters of life. An experience compiled in the form of poems, quotes and short stories explaining how the mayhem of this pandemic has changed the outlook towards life.

Equalizers are present in all forms of communication systems. Neuro-Fuzzy Equalizers for Mobile Cellular Channels details the modeling of a mobile broadband communication channel and designing of a neuro-fuzzy adaptive equalizer for it. This book focuses on the concept of the simulation of wireless channel equalizers using the adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The book highlights a study of currently existing equalizers for wireless channels. It discusses several techniques for channel equalization, including the type-2 fuzzy adaptive filter (type-2 FAF), compensatory neuro-fuzzy filter (CNFF), and radial basis function (RBF) neural network. Neuro-Fuzzy Equalizers for Mobile Cellular Channels starts with a brief introduction to channel equalizers, and the nature of mobile cellular channels with regard to the frequency reuse and the resulting CCI. It considers the many channel models available for mobile cellular channels, establishes the mobile indoor channel as a Rayleigh fading channel, presents the channel equalization problem, and focuses on various equalizers for mobile cellular channels. The book discusses conventional equalizers like LE and DFE using a simple LMS algorithm and transversal equalizers. It also covers channel equalization with neural networks and fuzzy logic, and classifies various equalizers. This being a fairly new branch of study, the book considers in detail the concept of fuzzy logic controllers in noise cancellation problems and provides the fundamental concepts of neuro-fuzzy. The final chapter offers a recap and explores venues for further research. This book also establishes a common mathematical framework of the equalizers using the RBF model and develops a mathematical model for ultra-wide band (UWB) channels using the channel co-variance matrix (CCM). Introduces the novel concept of the application of adaptive-network-based fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) in the design of wireless channel equalizers Provides model ultra-wide band (UWB) channels using channel co-variance matrix Offers a formulation of a unified radial basis function (RBF) framework for ANFIS-based and fuzzy adaptive filter (FAF) Type II, as well as compensatory neuro-fuzzy equalizers Includes extensive use of MATLAB® as the simulation tool in all the above cases

This book introduces readers to the design of adaptive equalization solutions integrated in standard CMOS technology for high-speed serial links. Since continuous-time equalizers offer various advantages as an alternative to discrete-time equalizers at multi-gigabit rates, this book provides a detailed description of continuous-time adaptive equalizers design - both at transistor and system levels-, their main characteristics and performances. The authors begin with a complete review and analysis of the state of the art of equalizers for wireline applications, describing why they are necessary, their types, and their main applications. Next, theoretical fundamentals of continuous-time adaptive equalizers are explored. Then, new structures are proposed to implement the different building blocks of the adaptive equalizer: line equalizer, loop-filters, power comparator, etc. The authors demonstrate the design of a complete low-power, low-voltage, high-speed, continuous-time adaptive equalizer. Finally, a cost-effective CMOS receiver which includes the proposed continuous-time adaptive equalizer is designed for 1.25 Gb/s optical communications through 50-m length, 1-mm diameter plastic optical fiber (POF).

It is well known that Intersymbol (ISI) Interference is a limiting factor in many communication environments where it causes an irreducible degradation of the bit error rate (BER) thus imposing an upper limit on the data symbol rate. In order to overcome the ISI problem, an equalizer is implemented in those systems. Among the three types of equalizers - non-blind, semi-blind and blind - the blind equalizer has the benefit of bandwidth saving and there is no need of going through a training phase. Blind equalization algorithms are essentially adaptive filtering algorithms designed such that they do not require the external supply of a desired response to generate the error signal in the output of the adaptive equalization filter. the algorithms generate an estimate of the desired response by applying a nonlinear transformation to sequences involved in the adaptation process. This nonlinearity is designed to minimize a cost function that is implicitly based on higher order statistics (HOS) according to one approach, or calculated directly according to the Bayes rules. The Whole Story behind Blind Adaptive Equalizers/ Blind Deconvolution gives the readers a full understanding on the blind deconvolution. the e-book covers a variety of blind deconvolution/equalization methods based on both cost functions and Bayes rules where simulation results are supplied to support the theory. These include the Maximum Entropy density approximation technique and the Edgeworth Expansion approach used in various blind equalizers. It also describes the relationship between the cost function approach and the approach taken according to Bayes rules. the e-book deals also with the effect of various system parameters (such as the step-size parameter or the equalizer's tap length) have on the obtained equalization performance. This e-book will be of particular interest to advanced communications engineering undergraduate students, graduate students, university instructors and signal processing researchers.

Robert McCall's friend, Granny, a one-time covert agent for a shadowy spy organization called The Company, sends McCall a cryptic message telling him that he is being imprisoned in a North Korean prison camp. He and the other western prisoners are being tortured. The prisoners are surrounded by dense forest from which there is no escape. McCall embarks on a perilous course to rescue his friend and the other prisoners, aided by two charismatic North Korean mercenaries. It is a suicidal mission for McCall but he has no choice to attempt it. At the same time, an old enemy of McCall has been setting up a trap for him with some handpicked mercenaries. She is the lover of a spy McCall once had to kill and her revenge on him is callous and impassioned. At the same time, a beautiful NYPD rookie is being stalked by some vicious predators. She is partially deaf and her tormentors are rogue cops who attack her in a deserted warehouse. McCall hears her story from a tough-as-nails cop who wants to take the law into his own hands. McCall persuades him to give him a chance to bring these criminals to justice. The action also takes place on the Rivera where more of the Memento Mori mercenaries are plotting to infiltrate several high-profile rock concerts where they are going to denotate explosive devises. McCall and his team try to stop them before hundreds of innocent people will be killed, For McCall, it all comes to a showdown at a beautiful chateau on a lake in Russia where McCall must face his sworn enemy and rescue two people who are targeted for assassination.