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Computers and Creativity
by Jon Mccormack Mark D’invernoThis interdisciplinary volume introduces new theories and ideas on creativity from the perspectives of science and art. Featuring contributions from leading researchers, theorists and artists working in artificial intelligence, generative art, creative computing, music composition, and cybernetics, the book examines the relationship between computation and creativity from both analytic and practical perspectives. Each contributor describes innovative new ways creativity can be understood through, and inspired by, computers. The book tackles critical philosophical questions and discusses the major issues raised by computational creativity, including: whether a computer can exhibit creativity independently of its creator; what kinds of creativity are possible in light of our knowledge from computational simulation, artificial intelligence, evolutionary theory and information theory; and whether we can begin to automate the evaluation of aesthetics and creativity in silico. These important, often controversial questions are contextualised by current thinking in computational creative arts practice. Leading artistic practitioners discuss their approaches to working creatively with computational systems in a diverse array of media, including music, sound art, visual art, and interactivity. The volume also includes a comprehensive review of computational aesthetic evaluation and judgement research, alongside discussion and insights from pioneering artists working with computation as a creative medium over the last fifty years. A distinguishing feature of this volume is that it explains and grounds new theoretical ideas on creativity through practical applications and creative practice. Computers and Creativity will appeal to theorists, researchers in artificial intelligence, generative and evolutionary computing, practicing artists and musicians, students and any reader generally interested in understanding how computers can impact upon creativity. It bridges concepts from computer science, psychology, neuroscience, visual art, music and philosophy in an accessible way, illustrating how computers are fundamentally changing what we can imagine and create, and how we might shape the creativity of the future. Computers and Creativity will appeal to theorists, researchers in artificial intelligence, generative and evolutionary computing, practicing artists and musicians, students and any reader generally interested in understanding how computers can impact upon creativity. It bridges concepts from computer science, psychology, neuroscience, visual art, music and philosophy in an accessible way, illustrating how computers are fundamentally changing what we can imagine and create, and how we might shape the creativity of the future.
Biodiversity and Evolutionary Ecology of Extinct Organisms (Springer Theses)
by Rituparna BoseIncreasing rate of species extinction in the present day will lead to a huge biodiversity crisis; eventually, this will lead to the paucity of non-renewable resources of energy making our Earth unsustainable in future. To save our mother planet from this crisis, studies need to be performed to discover abundant new fossil sites on Earth for continued access to oil-rich locations. Most importantly, a holistic approach is necessary in solving the present problem of biodiversity loss. This book presents newly developed quantitative models in understanding the biodiversity, evolution and ecology of extinct organisms. This will assist future earth scientists in understanding the natural and anthropogenic causes behind biodiversity crisis and ecosystem collapse. In addition, this study would be of great interest to exploration geologists and geophysicists in potentially unraveling natural resources from our sustainable Earth.
Factoring Ideals in Integral Domains
by Evan Houston Marco Fontana Thomas LucasThis volume provides a wide-ranging survey of, and many new results on, various important types of ideal factorization actively investigated by several authors in recent years. Examples of domains studied include (1) those with weak factorization, in which each nonzero, nondivisorial ideal can be factored as the product of its divisorial closure and a product of maximal ideals and (2) those with pseudo-Dedekind factorization, in which each nonzero, noninvertible ideal can be factored as the product of an invertible ideal with a product of pairwise comaximal prime ideals. Prüfer domains play a central role in our study, but many non-Prüfer examples are considered as well.
The Treaty on European Union (TEU)
by Stelio Mangiameli Hermann-Josef BlankeThe major Commentary on the Treaty on European Union (TEU) is a European project that aims to contribute to the development of ever closer conceptual and dogmatic standpoints with regard to the creation of a "Europeanised research on Union law". This publication in English contains detailed explanations, article by article, on all the provisions of the TEU as well as on several Protocols and Declarations, including the Protocols No 1, 2 and 30 and Declaration No 17, having steady regard to the application of Union law in the national legal orders and its interpretation by the Court of Justice of the EU. The authors of the Commentary are academics from ten European states and different legal fields, some from a constitutional law background, others experts in the field of international law and EU law professionals. This should lead to more unity in European law notwithstanding all the legitimate diversity. The different traditions of constitutional law are reflected and mentioned by name thus striving for a common framework for European constitutional law.
Introduction to Stokes Structures
by Claude SabbahThis research monograph provides a geometric description of holonomic differential systems in one or more variables. Stokes matrices form the extended monodromy data for a linear differential equation of one complex variable near an irregular singular point. The present volume presents the approach in terms of Stokes filtrations. For linear differential equations on a Riemann surface, it also develops the related notion of a Stokes-perverse sheaf. This point of view is generalized to holonomic systems of linear differential equations in the complex domain, and a general Riemann-Hilbert correspondence is proved for vector bundles with meromorphic connections on a complex manifold. Applications to the distributions solutions to such systems are also discussed, and various operations on Stokes-filtered local systems are analyzed.
Analysis and Transceiver Design for the MIMO Broadcast Channel (Foundations in Signal Processing, Communications and Networking #8)
by Raphael HungerThis book deals with the optimization-based joint design of the transmit and receive filters in MIMO broadcast channel in which the user terminals may be equipped with several antenna elements. Furthermore, the maximum performance of the system in the high power regime as well as the set of all feasible quality-of-service requirements is analyzed. First, a fundamental duality is derived that holds between the MIMO broadcast channel and virtual MIMO multiple access channel. This duality construct allows for the efficient solution of problems originally posed in the broadcast channel in the dual domain where a possibly hidden convexity can often be revealed. On the basis of the established duality result, the gradient-projection algorithm is introduced as a tool to solve constrained optimization problems to global optimality under certain conditions. The gradient-projection tool is then applied to solving the weighted sum rate maximization problem which is a central optimization that arises in any network utility maximization. In the high power regime, a simple characterization of the obtained performance becomes possible due to the fact that the weighted sum rate utility converges to an affine asymptote in the logarithmic power domain. We find closed form expressions for these asymptotes which allows for a quantification of the asymptotic rate loss that linear transceivers have to face with respect to dirty paper coding. In the last part, we answer the fundamental question of feasibility in quality-of-service based optimizations with inelastic traffic that features strict delay constraints. Under the assumption of linear transceivers, not every set of quality-of-service requirements might be feasible making the power minimization problem with given lower bound constraints on the rate for example infeasible in these cases. We derive a complete description of the quality-of-service feasibility region for arbitrary channel matrices.
Introduction to Korean Law
by Korea Legislation Research InstituteAs a result of globalization, the barriers between countries are coming down. There is more interaction between countries than ever and mutual understanding and communication have become essential considerations. In such an atmosphere, the Korea Legislation Research Institute has published this book to spread awareness of outstanding Korean law and of its legal system throughout the globe, as the authoritative sources of legal information for other countries. This book explains Korean law in nine chapters that focus on its distinguishing aspects. The nine authors who have participated are all prominent scholars who have contributed their expertise to the project.
Tribology in Manufacturing Technology
by J. Paulo DavimThis book aims to show how tribological concepts can be applied in order to improve manufacturing technology in modern industry. It can be used as a guide book for engineering students or a reference useful for academics in the fields of tribology, manufacturing, materials and mechanical engineering.
CLEAN: CO2 Large-Scale Enhanced Gas Recovery in the Altmark Natural Gas Field - GEOTECHNOLOGIEN Science Report No. 19 (Advanced Technologies in Earth Sciences)
by Ute Münch Michael KühnThe project CLEAN (CO2 Large-Scale Enhanced Gas Recovery in the Altmark Natural Gas Field) provides site specific knowledge for a potential future pilot project. This contributed volume gives an overview and final results of the entire project which is finalized to the end of 2012.
New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment
by Bin Ye Yu Huang Faquan Wu Zhenming Shi"New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment" collects selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology (ISCEG-Shanghai 2012). These papers involve many subjects - such as engineering geology, natural hazards, geoenvironment and geotechnical engineering - with a primary focus on geological engineering problems in coastal regions. The proceedings provide readers with the latest research results and engineering experiences from academic scientists, leading engineers and industry researchers who are interested in coastal engineering geology and the relevant fields. Yu Huang works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Faquan Wu works at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, China and he is also the Secretary General of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment. Zhenming Shi works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Bin Ye works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China.
New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology, ISCEG-Shanghai 2012 (Springer Geology #9)
by Bin Ye Yu Huang Faquan Wu Zhenming Shi“New Frontiers in Engineering Geology and the Environment” collects selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Coastal Engineering Geology (ISCEG-Shanghai 2012). These papers involve many subjects – such as engineering geology, natural hazards, geoenvironment and geotechnical engineering – with a primary focus on geological engineering problems in coastal regions. The proceedings provide readers with the latest research results and engineering experiences from academic scientists, leading engineers and industry researchers who are interested in coastal engineering geology and the relevant fields. Yu Huang works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Faquan Wu works at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, China and he is also the Secretary General of the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment. Zhenming Shi works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China. Bin Ye works at the Department of Geotechnical Engineering, Tongji University, China.
RNA and Cancer
by Jane Y. WuAccumulating evidence supports the role of defects in post-transcriptional gene regulation in the development of cancer. RNA and Cancer examines the recent advances in our understanding of post-transcriptional gene regulation, especially RNA processing and its role in cancer development and treatment. A particular focus is mRNA splicing, but other topics such as microRNAs, mRNA stability, the perinucleolar compartment, and oligonucleotide therapeutics are also covered in detail. All chapters have been written by internationally renowned experts. The book is intended for all with an interest in gene regulation and cancer biology, and especially for those not directly working on RNA biology, including clinicians and medical students. It is hoped that it will stimulate further innovative research collaborations between RNA biologists and cancer researchers to the benefit of patients.
Managing Open Innovation Technologies
by Pär J. Ågerfalk Mikael Wiberg Jenny S. Eriksson Lundström Mats Edenius Stefan HrastinskiOpen innovation increases the profit of companies and organizations via the input and the adoption of new ideas that are transformed into new processes, products, and services. Yet, how do we ensure that adopters of such innovations focus on relevant problems and use appropriate methods? How should we manage open innovation technologies? How can we exploit distributed knowledge and inventions? And how can we promote them successfully on the market? With valuable lessons to be learned from academic research and industrial experiences of e.g. Intel, Nokia, Philips Healthcare, small municipalities, e-learning platforms and user communities, this book focuses on some of the key dimensions of open innovation and open innovation technologies. It is divided into three themes: theme 1 deals with open innovation as it is in use today, including theoretical underpinnings and lessons from related research fields. Theme 2 analyzes the use of open innovation in organizations today in order to extract best practices. Theme 3 presents forward-looking theoretical research as well as practical future uses of open innovation. Each chapter addresses the particular topics by presenting experiences and results gained in real life projects and/or by empirical research, and clearly states its purpose and how readers are supposed to benefit from it. Overall, the objectives of this book are to advance and disseminate research on systematic open innovation, and to make its results available to practitioners. Thus, the intended target audience includes the international academic community, industrial enterprises, and public authorities.
The Duty of Medical Practitioners and CAM/TCM Practitioners to Inform Competent Adult Patients about Alternatives
by Xiju ZhaoThe book pays interest to a small and almost untouched topic: a health practitioner' s duty to inform about alternatives. It covers both orthodox medicine practitioners and CAM practitioners. The topic is explored in a co mparative way, examining the laws of not only common law jurisdictions, such as the USA, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, but also two East Asia jurisdictions ( China and Japan ) . It uses the collective wisdom of several common law jurisdictions, but also differentiates them. It places the issue of "disclosure of alternatives" in a clear and wider context, making a cogent distinction between diagnosis/treatment and information disclosure.
Integrated Risk Governance
by Qian Ye Peijun Shi Carlo Jaeger"Integrated Risk Governance: Science Plan and Case Studies of Large-scale Disasters" is the first book in the IHDP-Integrated Risk Governance Project Series. It consists of two parts: Part I: Integrated Risk Governance Project Science Plan, which outlines the challenge, research programme, outcomes, and implementation strategy of the IRG Project; and Part II: Case Studies of Large-scale Disasters, which includes case analyses of experience, lessons learned and recommendations on various large-scale disasters around the world, such as the Tangshan and Wenchuan earthquakes and the great ice storm in China, European heat waves, and Hurricane Katrina in the USA. The community model of integrated natural disaster risk governance and paradigm of catastrophe risk governance in China are also presented. Prof. Peijun Shi works at Beijing Normal University, China; Prof. Carlo Jaeger works at Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Germany; Prof.Qian Ye works at Beijing Normal University, China.
Minerals of the mercury ore deposit Idria
by Aleksander RecnikThe present work is the first comprehensive study of mineralogy of the world's second largest mercury mine Idria. In the first chapter the readers are acquainted with the history of mining and its relation to mineralogy. Mineralogy is explained in terms of geological processes that were active during the formation of the ore deposit. Among these, hydrocarbons present in the host rocks play a very important role during crystallization. The central part of the book is dedicated to the main mineral of the ore deposit, cinnabar. It occurs in a variety of crystal forms, of which the most special are lateral interpenetration twins. The book is written for a broad readership, and will be interesting for geologists, mineralogist and crystallographers, as well as for those interested in the history of mineral collecting in Idria.
Early Gastrointestinal Cancers
by Florian Otto Manfred P. LutzThis Recent Results in Cancer Research volume contains the majority of the invited expert contributions from the First St. Gallen EORTC Gastrointestinal Cancer Conference, held on 22-24 March 2012 in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Written by some of the world's leading experts in the field, the volume constitutes a comprehensive update on recent developments in the imaging, molecular biology, pathology, and multidisciplinary management of early cancer of the gastrointestinal tract. The latest recommendations regarding diagnosis and treatment are provided, and areas of consensus and controversy, identified. While the principal focus is on esophageal and gastric cancer, advances in the treatment of colorectal and pancreatic cancer are also discussed in some detail. This book will be of interest to every clinician involved in the care of patients with gastrointestinal malignancies.
Convergence Clubs and Spatial Externalities: Models and Applications of Regional Convergence in Europe (Advances in Spatial Science)
by Stilianos AlexiadisDo dynamic externalities, in the form of technology creation, adoption and spatial agglomeration shape the pattern of regional growth in Europe? This study provides an alternative view on regional convergence. A model is developed which attributes club-convergence to existing differences with respect to the degree of technology adoption. In the first instance, empirical results suggest that the NUTS-2 regions of the EU-27 converge at a very slow rate. Further tests, however, indicate that convergence is restricted to a specific subset of regions. Such conclusions are tested further, using an alternative model of club-convergence, which incorporates the impact of spatial interaction, agglomeration externalities and technology. This shows that the convergence-club in Europe follows a certain geographical pattern and all members share similar characteristics regarding technology creation and adoption, and agglomeration externalities.
Tumors of the Fetus and Infant
by Hart IsaacsOver the past two decades, the remarkable advances in imaging techniques, such as ultrasound and fast or ultra-fast MRI, have led to the diagnosis of an increasing number of tumors at the prenatal stage. This revised, abundantly illustrated second edition of Tumors of the Fetus and Infant: An Atlas presents an up-to-date account of the clinical and pathological features of neoplastic disease and tumor-like conditions in the fetus, neonate, and infant and discusses major tumor studies and cases from throughout the world. The full range of tumors is covered, with each chapter reviewing the incidence, clinical findings, cytogenetics, pathology, radiology, treatment, and prognosis. The goal is to enable pathologists and clinicians to gain a clear understanding of these lesions so that a correct diagnosis can be achieved and appropriate treatment, initiated.
Delikts- und Schadensersatzrecht
by Maximilian Fuchs Werner PaukerWie kaum ein anderes Rechtsgebiet des BGB sind das Deliktsrecht und das Schadensersatzrecht von der Rechtsprechung geprägt. Darum werden die wichtigsten Entscheidungen mit Sachverhalt und Entscheidungsgründen berücksichtigt. Damit bietet das Lehrbuch eine lebendige Erörterung des Stoffes. Rechtsprechung und Literatur wurden gegenüber der Vorauflage umfassend ausgewertet und aktualisiert.
Developing an Appropriate Contaminated Land Regime in China
by Xiaobo ZhaoLike all industrialized countries, China has encountered increasing problems with land contamination in recent years. Abandoned mining and manufacturing sites and obsolete industrial complexes, while also creating new polluting industrial enterprises, represent impending environmental threats. More importantly, a number of social and economic problems have developed and must be dealt with, in some cases urgently. Contaminated land laws and regulations have been established and have evolved in the US and UK and many other jurisdictions over the past few decades. These regimes have substantially influenced the relevant legislation in the context of numerous Asian and European countries and will inevitably benefit similar legislative efforts in China. This book is the first monograph that focuses on how China can learn from the US and UK with respect to contaminated land legislation and comprehensively illustrates how contaminated land law could be created in China. It will be of interest to academics and practitioners in environmental law in China, as well as the US and UK.
Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Intelligent Human Computer Interaction (IHCI 2011), Prague, Czech Republic, August, 2011
by Ajith Abraham Jaroslav Pokorný Václav Snášel Miloš KudělkaThe Third International Conference on Intelligent Human Computer Interaction 2011 (IHCI 2011) was held at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic from August 29 - August 31, 2011. This conference was third in the series, following IHCI 2009 and IHCI 2010 held in January at IIIT Allahabad, India. Human computer interaction is a fast growing research area and an attractive subject of interest for both academia and industry. There are many interesting and challenging topics that need to be researched and discussed. This book aims to provide excellent opportunities for the dissemination of interesting new research and discussion about presented topics. It can be useful for researchers working on various aspects of human computer interaction. Topics covered in this book include user interface and interaction, theoretical background and applications of HCI and also data mining and knowledge discovery as a support of HCI applications.
Estimating Spoken Dialog System Quality with User Models
by Klaus-Peter EngelbrechtSpoken dialog systems have the potential to offer highly intuitive user interfaces, as they allow systems to be controlled using natural language. However, the complexity inherent in natural language dialogs means that careful testing of the system must be carried out from the very beginning of the design process. This book examines how user models can be used to support such early evaluations in two ways: by running simulations of dialogs, and by estimating the quality judgments of users. First, a design environment supporting the creation of dialog flows, the simulation of dialogs, and the analysis of the simulated data is proposed. How the quality of user simulations may be quantified with respect to their suitability for both formative and summative evaluation is then discussed. The remainder of the book is dedicated to the problem of predicting quality judgments of users based on interaction data. New modeling approaches are presented, which process the dialogs as sequences, and which allow knowledge about the judgment behavior of users to be incorporated into predictions. All proposed methods are validated with example evaluation studies.
Liquid Crystal Elastomers: Materials and Applications
by Wim H. de JeuPreparation of Liquid Crystalline Elastomers, by F. Brömmel, D. Kramer, H. Finkelmann Applications of Liquid Crystalline Elastomers, by C. Ohm, M. Brehmer und R. Zentel Liquid Crystal Elastomers and Light, by Peter Palffy-Muhoray Electro-Opto-Mechanical Effects in Swollen Nematic Elastomers, by Kenji Urayama The Isotropic-to-Nematic Conversion in Liquid Crystalline Elastomers, by Andrija Lebar, George Cordoyiannis, Zdravko Kutnjak und Bostjan Zalar Order and Disorder in Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers, by Wim H. de Jeu und Boris I. Ostrovskii
Corporate Governance: Recent Developments and New Trends (CSR, Sustainability, Ethics & Governance)
by Duc Khuong Nguyen Bang Dang Nguyen Sabri BoubakerThe current crisis has rocked the financial system worldwide and has cast doubt on the effectiveness of the existing regulatory regime. Thousands of firms have gone bankrupt and many financial institutions were bailed out by governments. The effects of the crisis have shaken emerging and developing markets alike and have not spared neither small nor large businesses. Many scholars and practitioners attribute the roots of the crisis to failures and weaknesses in the way corporate governance has been practiced since the mid-1990s. Lax board oversight of top management, short-termism and self-interested behavior have been fingered as the culprits behind recent financial turmoil. This book highlights the recent developments and new trends in corporate governance. The eighteen chapters, written by leading academics and experts, can assist corporate executives, governance bodies, investors, market regulators, and policymakers in having a global picture of major corporate governance issues. This book highlights the recent developments and new trends in corporate governance. The eighteen chapters, written by leading academics and experts, can assist corporate executives, governance bodies, investors, market regulators, and policymakers in having a global picture of major corporate governance issues.