Most Popular Books by Ron Chan

Young adventurers Patrice and Nate have followed neighborhood defender Crazy Dave throughout time--but are they ready to investigate a school campus to keep the streets safe from zombies? In Plants vs. Zombies: Bully For You, they''ll be visiting a very strange college in an attempt to take down Dr. Zomboss yet again--and any school visit''s tolerable if you get to battle zombies! Paul Tobin (Prometheus, Bandette) and Ron Chan (The Guild, X-Men) join forces with the mysterious Anti-Bully Squad to deliver a hilarious, all-ages romp to your school! Featuring special bonus stories illustrated by acclaimed creators Dustin Nguyen, Jennifer Meyer, and Peter Bagge! Praise for previous volumes of the Dark Horse Plants vs. Zombies graphic novel series: "Wonderful fun and silliness await you in this book, and you''ll be sure to leave it with a smile on your face and zombie bits on your lawn." -Fanboy Comics "This is one of the more fun video game adaptations that I''ve read and the most fun I''ve had with a zombie story since Zombieland." -Front Towards Gamer "If you like Plants vs. Zombies this comic adds to its appeal. It''s a good clean read for all ages." -Eat Your Comics

Wouldn’t it be great if you could have two of the world’s most accomplished and sought-after graphic artists sitting next to you at your computer as you navigate the infinite possibilities of Adobe Illustrator CS2? How to Wow with Illustrator CS2 is the next-best thing. Two Illustrator powerhouses—Ron Chan and Barbara Obermeier—both renowned graphic designers and trainers, have developed an effective way to help you reach your full creative potential. Ron and Barbara guide you step-by-step through real-world techniques, with an emphasis on uncompromising quality, last-minute flexibility, and go-home-at-night speed! You’ll learn tips and techniques on everything from sophisticated typography to commercial graphics approaches using Illustrator CS2. You’re given the inspiration and know-how at every stage of the creative process in order to learn How to Wow! This book begins with the essentials of Illustrator, including effectively working with layers and tools and integrating with other applications, and then moves on to innovative ideas for making your graphics and typography dazzle the eye. You’ll encounter fascinating techniques for giving your work that competitive, professional edge.

Knights of the Old Republic: Destroyer begins with an untold chapter from the lives of Malak and Revan -- stars of the KotOR video game! From there, it takes us to a death-defying shootout on the face of a comet and into the heart of one of the cruelest organizations in the galaxy -- the Crucible. Former Padawan Zayne Carrick risks not just his life, but also his sanity, to help his friend Jarael face her dark past. Zayne may have set off for adventure, but what he finds are irreversible consequences for himself and his crew in a dangerous, unforgiving galaxy. * Featuring Malak and Revan from the Knights of the Old Republic video game!

Minulosť, budúcnosť... A zombie! Už zasa! Geniálny vynálezca a prvotriedny strážca susedstva, ubrblaný blázon Dave, pomôže svojej neteri Patrícii a mladému dobrodruhovi Natovi odraziť ďalší nápor zombií pod vedením desivého Zombossa. Trojica hrdinov za výdatnej pomoci armády rastliniek tentokrát nazrie do minulosti i budúcnosti, pretože zombie sa nevyhýbajú ani cestovaniu časom.

Tretie pokračovanie bláznivého komiksu... Tentokrát so siedmimi bonusovými príbehmi Mladí dobrodruhovia Patrícia a Nate spoločne s ubrblaným strážcom susedstva bláznivým Davom bojovali so zombiami v minulosti i v budúcnosti. Sú však pripravení na novú vlnu akademicky vzdelaných protivníkov? Dokážu čeliť nielen diabolskému plánu Zombossa, ale i ďalšej skupine zombií s ešte diabolskejšími úmyslami? „V kníške sa naučíte kopec zaujímavých vecí. Zombije sú lepčie ako rastliny. Časti s rastlinámi račej preskočte. Tie so zombijami sú omnoho lepšé.“ – recenzia v Zombie News

Anos depois de fugirem do Laboratório de Hawkins, Ricky e Marcy, duas das antigas cobaias do Doutor Brenner, procuram ter uma vida normal. Mas quando descobrem que o laboratório foi fechado, vão à procura de Nove, uma pirocinética poderosa cuja mente dilacerada ameaça reduzi-los todos a cinzas, a menos que a encontrem e a salvem da sua imaginação malévola. À medida que vão avançando na sua busca, vão desvendando cada vez mais segredos ocultos do Laboratório de Hawkins. Conseguirão encontrá-la antes que ela destrua tudo à sua volta?

Vous n’avez rien à perdre...si ce n’est votre cervelle !

Quand le Dr Zomboss cherche à détruire les jardins de la ville et à faire en sorte que les plantes se retrouvent sans abri et sans endroit pour pousser, c''est à Tom, Patty, Dave le dingo et aux plantes de trouver un plan pour l’arrêter ! Cependant, il va s’avérer que ce plan inclue : des chiens, des chats, des lapins, des paresseux et autres animaux de compagnie et quelques dinosaures rendant les choses encores plus dingues !

Alors qu''il sillonne la Galaxie en compagnie de ses amis Gryph, Jarael et Rohlan, Zayne Carrick croise la route et les intérêts de la plus cruelle organisation criminelle qui soit : le Creuset. Pour sauver son amie Jarael de son obscur passé esclavagiste, le jeune Jedi n''aura d''autre choix que d''infiltrer les rangs de cette impitoyable organisation en tant qu''esclave. Il n''y a pas de peur, il n''y a que la Force... Avant-dernier tome de cette série mythique située dans le lointain passé de la saga et dans lequel sont révélés des épisodes inédits de la vie de Malak et Revan. personnages emblématiques du jeu vidéo Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic.

Boys being boys. Idiots being idiots. Buddies being buddies.Roy''s Boys is one comic by two artists. Follow along as best buddies Roy and Shane take turns forming one semi-autobiographical look into their sad little lives. This book collects the first year (over one-hundred strips!) of the twice-weekly webcomic (www.roysboyscomic.com). Share in the jubilation, the heartbreak, the violence, and the dick and fart jokes, all over again, or for the very first time! Warning! Roy''s Boys contains crude humor and foul language!

The confusing-yet-brilliant inventor known only as Crazy Dave helps his niece, Patrice, and young adventurer Nate Timely fend off a "fun-dead" neighborhood invasion in Plants vs. Zombies: Lawnmageddon!

In this paper we extend the complex Fourier series expansion method proposed in Chan 2016a and 2016b to derive a closed-form pricing formula of options with early-exercise features - American options, barrier options and Bermuda options. We implement the method to price options under exponential L''evy processes and stochastic volatility models. We give a succinct error analysis to show that we can achieve an exponential convergence rate in the pricing method in many cases. The computational complexity of our method is O((M-1)N log N) with N a (small) number of terms from the series expansion, and M, the number of early-exercise/monitoring dates. Throughout the paper, we also provide the derivation of option Greeks of our method and its ability of pricing in/at/out-of-the-money options or options with complicated contingent claims. Finally, in follow-up papers, we will present the application of this pricing formula to options with both early-exercise features and path-dependent features, such as American-Asian options and American-lookback options.

We apply a new numerical method, the singular Fourier-Pade (SFP) method invented by Driscoll and Fornberg (2001, 2011), to price European-type options in Levy and affine processes. The motivation behind this application is to reduce the ineffciency of current Fourier techniques when they are used to approximate piecewise continuous (non-smooth) probability density functions. When techniques such as fast Fourier transforms and Fourier series are applied to price and hedge options with non-smooth probability density functions, they cause the Gibbs phenomenon; accordingly, the techniques converge slowly for density functions with jumps in value or derivatives. This seriously adversely affects the efficiency and accuracy of these techniques. In this paper, we derive pricing formulae and their option Greeks using the SFP method to resolve the Gibbs phenomenon and restore the global spectral convergence rate. Moreover, we show that our method requires a small number of terms to yield fast error convergence, and it is able to accurately price any European-type option deep in/out of the money and with very long/short maturities. Furthermore, we conduct an error-bound analysis of the SFP method in option pricing. This new method performs favourably in numerical experiments compared with existing techniques.

This paper develops a complex Fourier series (CFS) expansion pricing formula for evaluating European-type (call/put) options -- asset-or-nothing options, cash-or-nothing options, forward-start options, ratchet options and vanilla options -- when these risky assets are driven by Levy processes, time-changed Levy processes or stochastic volatility with or without jumps. This novel pricing formula is an extension of the original CFS expansion method proposed in Chan (2016). The major contribution of this paper is to derive a CFS pricing formula for both forward-start and ratchet options. In this paper, we also conduct an error-bound analysis of the CFS expansion pricing formula. In most cases, we can obtain an exponential convergence rate when we have an appropriate definite integration range for pricing European-type options. Moreover, based on the pricing formula, we can also derive different option Greeks. Finally, in follow-up papers, we will present the application of this pricing formula to options with early-exercise features (such as American options and barrier options) and path-dependent features (such as Asian options).

This paper applies an algorithm for the convolution of compactly supported Legendre series (the CONLeg method) (cf. Hale and Townsend 2014a), to pricing/hedging European-type, early-exercise and discrete- monitored barrier options under a Lévy process. The paper employs Chebfun (cf. Trefethen et al. 2014) in computational finance and provides a quadrature-free approach by applying the Chebyshev series in financial modelling. A significant advantage of using the CONLeg method is to formulate option pricing and option Greek curves rather than individual prices/values. Moreover, the CONLeg method can yield high accuracy in option pricing and hedging when the risk-free smooth probability density function (PDF) is smooth/non-smooth. Finally, we show that our method can accurately price/hedge options deep in/out of the money and with very long/short maturities. Compared with existing techniques, the CONLeg method performs either favourably or comparably in numerical experiments.

This paper studies the overall and distributional effects of the green energy transition on local labor markets in the United States from 2005 to 2019. Utilizing exogenous solar and wind potentials derived from remote sensing data, we identify the causal impact of the expansion in solar and wind energy. Our findings reveal that the growth in solar and wind capacity has led to a modest but significant increase in employment and labor force participation, with solar energy also contributing to wage growth. The most substantial benefits, in terms of job opportunities and wage increases, are observed among younger, lower-educated, non-Hispanic white workers. We also observe a surge in employment in greener occupations, particularly in the manufacturing sector. Our results suggest that these effects are driven by an increase in jobs and business establishments in manufacturing sectors, accompanied by a reduction in government transfers across various welfare programs.

Closed-form pricing formulae and option Greeks are obtained for European-type options using an orthogonal polynomial series -- complex Fourier series. We assume that risky assets are driven by exponential Lévy processes and stochastic volatility models. We provide a succinct error analysis to demonstrate that we can achieve an exponential convergence rate in the pricing method in many cases as long as we choose the correct definite computational interval. As a novel pricing method, we also numerically demonstrate that complex Fourier series are more accurate and computationally effective when implemented to price in/at/out-of-the-money options or options with complicated contingent claims.

We investigate the impacts of electricity market restructuring on fuel efficiency, utilization and, new to this area, cost of coal purchases among coal-fired power plants using a panel data set from 1991 to 2005. Our study focuses exclusively on coal-fired power plants and uses panel data covering several years after implementation of restructuring. The estimation compares how investor-owned (IOs) plants in states with restructuring changed their behavior relative to IOs in states without. Our analysis finds that restructuring led to: (1) a two percent improvement in fuel efficiency for IOs, (2) a ten percent decrease in unit cost of heat input, and (3) a lower capacity factor even after adjusting for cross-plant generation re-allocation due to cost reductions. Based on these estimates, back-of-the-envelope calculations find that restructuring has led to about 6.5 million dollars in annual cost savings or nearly 12 percent of operating expenses and up to a 7.6 percent emissions reduction per plant.

In this paper I study the economics of self-enforcing international environmental agreements where agents never know what exactly the state of the world is. Explicitly, I consider countries using Bayesian learning to update their beliefs on the state of the world. Using a very simple framework of allowing pollution as a common bad, I study how Bayesian learning conveys message to countries and whether a full disclosure of information can necessarily improve the aggregate welfare. Interestingly, I find that the value of information is always negative which suggests that strategic interactions between countries significantly make the countries worse off. I also consider a dynamic setting where countries emissions can affect the learning process and surprisingly I find that the equilibrium breaks down to a coalition that cannot have more than two countries.