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Agent Technology from a Formal Perspective
The field of agent & multi-agent systems is experiencing tremendous growth. At the same time the field of formal methods is blossoming and has proven its importance in industrial and government applications. The FAABS (Formal Approaches to Agent-Based Systems) workshops, merging the concerns of the two fields, provided a timely and compelling platform on which the growing concerns and requirement of agent-based systems users that systems should be accompanied by behavioral assurances, could be discussed. This book has arisen from the overwhelming response to FAABS ’00, ’02 & ’04 and all chapters are updated or represent new research, and are designed to provide a more in-depth treatment of the topic. Examples of how others have applied formal methods to agent-based systems are included, plus formal method tools & techniques that readers can apply to their own systems.
Agent Computing and Multi-Agent Systems ; 9th Pacific Rim International Workshop on Multi-Agents, PRIMA 2006, Guilin, China, August 7-8, 2006, Proceedings
PRIMA is a series of workshops on agent computing and multi-agent systems, integrating the activities in Asia and Pacific Rim countries. Agent computing and multi-agent systems are computational systems in which several autonomous or se- autonomous agents interact with each other or work together to perform some set of tasks or satisfy some set of goals. These systems may involve computational agents that are homogeneous or heterogeneous, they may involve activities on the part of agents having common or distinct goals, and they may involve participation on the part of humans and intelligent agents. The aim of PRIMA 2006 was to bring together Asian and Pacific Rim researchers and developers from academia and industry to report on the latest technical advances or domain applications and to discuss and explore scientific and practical problems as raised by the participants. PRIMA 2006 received 203 submitted papers.
Agent communication ; International workshop on agent communication, AC 2004, New York, NY, July 19, 2004
In this book, we present a collection of papers around the topic of agent com- nication. The communication between agents has been one of the major topics of research in multiagent systems. The current work can therefore build on a number of previous Workshops of which the proceedings have been published in earlier volumes in this series. The basis of this collection is formed by the accepted submissions of the Workshop on Agent Communication held in c- junction with the AAMAS Conference in July 2004 in New York. the current collection comprises a very good and quite complete overview of the state of the art in this area of research and gives a good indication of the topics that are of major interest at the moment. The papers can roughly be divided over the following ?ve themes: – social commitments – multiparty communication – content languages – dialogues and conversations – speech acts Although these themes are of course not mutually exclusive they indicate some main directions of research. We therefore have arranged the papers in the book according to the topics indicated above.
Agent and Multi-Agent Systems : Technologies and Applications ; 2nd KES International Symposium, KES-AMSTA 2008, Incheon, Korea, March 26-28, 2008. Proceedings
The KES-AMSTA Symposium Series is a sub-series of the KES Conference Series. The aim of the symposium was to provide an international forum for scientific research into the technologies and applications of agent and multi-agent systems.
Ageing : The Paradox of Life : Why We Age
For centuries people have been puzzled by the inevitability of human aging. For most of the second half of the twentieth century aging remained a mystery, or an unsolved biological problem. At the end of the 20th century a remarkable scientific discovery emerged. It was not a single discovery in the usual sense, because it was based on a series of important interconnected insights over quite a long period of time. These insights made it possible for the very first time to understand the biological reasons for aging in animals and man. It can already be said, however, that the many observations and insights that explain aging will not be accepted as established knowledge for a long time.
After Taste : Expanded Practice in Interior Design
Comprising texts, interviews and portfolios that collectively document new theories and emerging critical practices in the field of interior design. The material is informed by, but not limited to, the annual AfterTaste symposia hosted by Parsons The New School of Design. The book s central argument is that the field of interior design is inadequately served by its historical reliance on taste-making and taste-makers, and, more recently from a set of theoretical concerns derived from architecture; the volume seeks to set an expanded frame by advancing new voices and perspectives in both the theory and practice of interior design, considered as an independent discipline. In 2007, the Department of Architecture, Interior Design and Lighting at Parsons The New School for Design inaugurated an annual international symposium series dedicated to the critical study of the interior.
African Languages and Literatures in the 21st Century
Examines the crucial role still played by African languages in pedagogy and literatures in the 21st century, generating insights into how they effectively serve cultural needs across the African continent and beyond. Boldly positioning African languages as key resources in the 21st century, chapters focus on themes such as language revolt by marginalized groups at grassroots level, the experience of American students learning African languages, female empowerment through the use of African languages in music, film and literary works, and immigration issues. The contributions are written by scholars of language, literature, education and linguistics, and will be of interest to students and scholars in these and related areas.
African Cultural Astronomy : Current Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy research in Africa
Astronomy is the science of studying the sky using telescopes and light collectors such as photographic plates or CCD detectors. However, people have always studied the sky and continue to study the sky without the aid of instruments this is the realm of cultural astronomy. This is the first scholarly collection of articles focused on the cultural astronomy of Africans. It weaves together astronomy, anthropology, and Africa. The volume includes African myths and legends about the sky, alignments to celestial bodies found at archaeological sites and at places of worship, rock art with celestial imagery, and scientific thinking revealed in local astronomy traditions including ethnomathematics and the creation of calendars. Authors include astronomers Kim Malville, Johnson Urama, and Thebe Medupe; archaeologist Felix Chami, and geographer Michael Bonine, and many new authors.
African Biodiversity : molecules, organisms, ecosystems
BIOTA is an interdisciplinary research project focusing on sustainable use and conservation of biodiversity in Africa (http://www.biote-africa.de). Session titles were Biogeography and Speciation Processes, Phylogenetic Patterns and Systematics, Diversity Declines and Conservation, and Applied Biodiversity Informatics
Africa-EU Renewable Energy Research and Innovation Symposium 2018 (RERIS 2018) ; 23–26 January 2018, National University of Lesotho On occasion of NULISTICE 2018
This open access book presents the proceedings of the 2nd Africa-EU Renewable Energy Research and Innovation Symposium (RERIS 18), held in Maseru, Lesotho in January 2018. The symposium aimed to foster research cooperation on renewable energy between Africa and Europe – in academia, as well as the private and public sectors. Addressing thematic areas such as • Grid-connected renewable energy; • Decentralised renewable and household energy solutions; • Energy ocioeconomics; and • Promotion of energy research, innovation, education and entrepreneurship.
Affective computing and intelligent interaction ; 1st international conference, ACII 2005, Beijing, China, October 22-24, 2005, Proceedings
Traditionally, the machine end of human–machine interaction has been very passive, and certainly has had no means of recognizing or expressing a?ective information. But without the ability to process such information, computers cannot be expected to communicate with humans in a natural way. The ability to recognize and express a?ect is one of the most important features of - man beings. We therefore expect that computers will eventually have to have the ability to process a?ect and to interact with human users in ways that are similar to those in which humans interact with each other. A?ective computing and intelligent interaction is a key emerging technology that focuses on m- iad aspects of the recognition, understanding, and expression of a?ective and emotional states by computers.
Affect and Emotion in Human-Computer Interaction : From Theory to Applications
The present book provides an account of the latest work on a variety of aspects related to affect and emotion in human-technology interaction. It covers theoretical issues, user experience and design aspects as well as sensing issues, and reports on a number of affective applications that have been developed in recent years.
Aesthetics and philosophy of art ; Vol. 9
The present volume is a continuation of the series Contemporary Philosophy (International Institute of Philosophy). As with the earlier volumes in the series, the present chronicles purport to give a survey of significant trends in contemporary philosophy. This volume on Aesthetics, containing nineteen surveys, shows the variety of approaches to Aesthetics in various cultures. The close connection between aesthetics and religion and between aesthetics and ethics is emphasized in several contributions.
Aesthetic Surgery of the Facial Mosaic
This authoritative reference book assembles the experience of an international faculty of authors, each of whom has performed several thousand facelifts, i.e. procedures to rejuvenate and harmonize the human face. All procedures in this regard are covered and the text is accompanied by extensive artwork and photographs. The authors share their experience, including tips and tricks, as well as ways to avoid complications and pitfalls. Special emphasis is given to the concept of looking at the face as a mosaic, i.e. treating its individual parts in a harmonic way and maintaining mimic units. Combining different methods.
Aerosol Optics : Light Absorption and Scattering by Particles in the Atmosphere
Provides a comprehensive review of available techniques for the remote sensing of aerosols. Although mostly satellite remote sensing is considered, ground-based techniques are also discussed.describes techniques for the determination of the column concentration of aerosol particles and their optical sizing using spaceborne optical instrumentation. The majority of the techniques described in this book use a so-called "library method". This method relies upon the precalculated top-of-atmosphere reflectances (TOAR) for vaious atmospheric aerosol types. The comparison of measured and calculated TOARS allows one to characterize the optically-equivalent aerosol state.
Advertising management : Concepts, theories, research and trends
Explores the concept of advertising and the different ways advertising is understood and evaluated. It dives deep into planning, designing, and executing advertising campaigns on different mediums. It discusses the theoretical and research parts of advertising by critically examining how over the years various hierarchical models and theories are developed by advertising experts. It examines various models and theories that explain why and how advertising is successful in persuading customers target audiences to buy a product or accept an idea for behavioural change.
Advancing Quality of Life in a Turbulent World
Environmental issues continued to loom large in the last decade of the twentieth century,especially environmental problems related to rising levels of CO emissions and 2 other greenhouse gases on the planet’s average temperatures and, subsequently, storm patterns. Floods and droughts, in combination with unseasonably high and low temperatures became the norm rather than the exception for large expanses of Africa,Asia and Oceania. Even large areas of Europe and NorthAmerica were s- jected to recurrent floods and droughts and experienced unseasonable extremes of hot and cold temperatures associated with man-made intrusions into the natural environment. And, still, a global plan of action to haltman-related patterns of def- estation, desertification, and over-fishing of the seas has yet to come into being. At the same time, the number of regional conflicts and civil wars increased and, with them, the lives of many women, children, old people and other n- combatants were lost in these conflicts.
Advancing Human Assessment : The Methodological, Psychological and Policy Contributions of ETS
Describes the extensive contributions made toward the advancement of human assessment by scientists from one of the world’s leading research institutions, Educational Testing Service. The book’s four major sections detail research and development in measurement and statistics, education policy analysis and evaluation, scientific psychology, and validity. Many of the developments presented have become de-facto standards in educational and psychological measurement, including in item response theory (IRT), linking and equating, differential item functioning (DIF), and educational surveys like the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the Programme of international Student Assessment (PISA), the Progress of International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and the Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). In addition to its comprehensive coverage of contributions to the theory and methodology of educational and psychological measurement and statistics,
Advances of novel formulations in drug delivery
This is an endeavor to bring all the nanotechnology-based drug carriers under the umbrella of a single text. The drug carriers made up using natural as well as synthetic polymers are described in detail. The drug carriers include (though not limited to) particulates, vesicular, dendrimers, quantum dots, carbon nano tubes, nanocrystals, nanoemulsions, nanofibers
Advances in XML information retrieval and Evaluation ; 4th International workshop of the initiative for the evaluation of XML retrieval, INEX 2005, Dagstuhl Castle, Germany, November 28-30, 2005. Revised and Selected Papers
Content-oriented XML retrieval has been receiving increasing interest due to the widespread use of eXtensible Markup Language (XML), which is becoming a standard document format on the Web, in digital libraries,and publishing. By exploiting the enriched source of syntactic and semantic information that XML markup provides, XML information retrieval (IR) systems aim to implement a more focused retrieval strategy and return document components, so-called XML elements – instead of complete documents – in response to a user query. This focused retrieval approach is of particular bene?t for collections containing long documents or documents covering a wide variety of topics (e.g., books, user manuals, legal documents, etc.), where users’ e?ort to locate relevant content can be reduced by directing them to the most relevant parts of the documents.
