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 II ; International Workshops on Agent Communication, AC 2005 and AC 2006, Utrecht, Netherlands, July 25, 2005, and Hakodate, Japan, May 9, 2006, Selected and Revised Papers
Although everyone recognizes communication as a central concept in mul- agents, many no longer see agent communication as a research topic. Unf- tunately there seems to be a tendency to regard communication as a kind of information exchange that can easily be covered using the standard FIPA ACL. However, the papers in this volume show that research in agent communication is far from ?nished. If we want to develop the full potential of multi-agent s- tems, agent communication should also develop to a level beyond parameter or value passing as is done in OO approaches! In this book we present the latest collection of papers around the topic of agentcommunication.Thecollectioncomprisesofthebestpapersfromtheagent communication workshops of 2005 and 2006, enriched with a few revised agent communication papers from the AAMAS conference.
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.
Agency and causal explanation in economics
This book provides an exploration of the consequences of the ontological differences between natural and social objects (sometimes described as objects of nature and objects of thought) in the workings of causal and agency relationships.
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 Land Reform Under Economic Liberalisation: States, Chiefs, and Rural Communities
This book offers unique in-depth, comprehensive, and comparative analyses of the motivations, context, and outcomes of recent land reforms in Africa. Whereas a considerable number of land reforms have been carried out by African governments since the 1990s, no systematic analysis on their meaning has so far been conducted. In the age of land reform, Africa has seen drastic rural changes. Analysing the relationship between those reforms and change, the chapters in this book reveal not only their socio-economic outcomes, such as accelerated marketisation of land, but also their political outcomes, which have often been contrasting.
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-Europe Research and Innovation Cooperation : Global Challenges, Bi-regional Responses
Concerned with the evolution and achievements of cooperation in research and innovation between Africa and Europe, and points to the need for more diversified funding and finance mechanisms, and for novel models of collaboration to attract new actors and innovative ideas. It reflects on the political, economic, diplomatic and scientific rationale for cooperation, while also examining practical developments, illustrated with examples, in the fields of food security, health, and climate change. The need to mobilise scientific knowledge and to ensure equality and fairness in the cooperation are recurrent themes. Africa-Europe Cooperation in Research and Innovation is essential reading for policy makers and researchers in international relations and science diplomacy.
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.
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.
Aesthetic Surgery of the Abdominal Wall
We have come a long way since the days when abdominal wall contouring was p- formed by simple dermolipectomies, with no attention to diastasis correction and muscular reinforcement, and little regard for the final aesthetic result. Nowadays, an abdominoplasty may be indicated for even the most demanding of patients. Details such as placement of the incision and umbilicoplasty are meticulously planned so as to conceal undesirable scars. Since the advent of suction-assisted lipectomy, in as- ciation with a classical operation or as an isolated procedure, the plastic surgeon has become capable of remodeling the entire trunk, assuring removal of considerable amounts of adipose tissue.
Aesthetic Facial Surgery
Rhytidoplasty is a palliative procedure in which face wrinkles are surgically removed to promote a more youthful appearance.The first sections focus on the surgical planning, including psychological considerations, preparation of the patient and anatomical and biochemical changes caused by the aging process. It also describes the surgical anatomy of the forehead, face, neck and eyelids. The third section provides a comprehensive overview of the basic techniques of facelift with details of refined surgical approaches for each segment of the face and neck. It highlights liposuction techniques, lipoinjection as well as transference of stem cells, showing their importance in reshaping the facial contours. It addresses both the treatment of soft tissue and craniofacial bone structures to improve the aesthetics of the face. The next sections present the final scars after face-lifting, minimally invasive procedures as complementary approaches during rhytidoplasty and the associated procedures during rhytidoplasty. The last section discusses postoperative care.
Advertising culture and translation : From colonial to global
A first comprehensive study combining and integrating advertising, culture and translation within the framework of colonial, Commonwealth, and postcolonial studies, and globalization. It addresses a number of controversial issues evident in two relatively young disciplines, as a result of decades of research and teaching in university courses. A cross-cultural approach to translational issues and the translatability of advertising cohesively is adopted here, exploring the dynamics of the conflict between the 'centre' and the 'periphery'. It introduces the concept of advertising English as lingua franca (AELF), marking new trends in the domain of varieties of English around the world (VEAW). The data examined here show the ambivalent polarity conditioning advertising and translation: both have been mutually exclusive, and both have been subject to bans, censorship and ideological control, racism, propaganda, and stereotyping. In their fundamental principles and concepts of theories and applications, however, neither discipline cannot exist outside a free market and total freedom of expression and trust
Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos
This book gives an overview of the sessions, panel discussions, and outcomes of the Advancing the Science of Cancer in Latinos conference, held in February 2018 in San Antonio, Texas, USA, and hosted by the Mays Cancer Center and the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio.
Advancing Energy Policy : Lessons on the integration of Social Sciences and Humanities
Advocates for the Social Sciences and Humanities to be more involved in energy policymaking. It forms part of the European platform for energy-related Social Sciences and Humanities’ activities, and works on the premise that crossing disciplines is essential. All of its contributions are highly interdisciplinary, with each chapter grounded in at least three different Social Sciences and Humanities disciplines. These varying perspectives come together to cover an array of issues relevant to the energy transition, including: energy poverty, justice, political ecology, governance, behaviours, imaginaries, systems approaches, modelling, as well as the particular challenges faced by interdisciplinary work. As a whole, the book presents new ideas for future energy policy, particularly at the European level. It is a valuable resource for energy researchers interested in interdisciplinary and society-relevant perspectives. Those working outside the Social Sciences and Humanities will find this book an accessible way of learning more about how these subjects can constructively contribute to energy policy.
Advancing Culture of Living with Landslides ; Vol. 1 : ISDR-ICL Sendai Partnerships 2015-2025
Contains peer-reviewed papers from the Fourth World Landslide Forum organized by the International Consortium on Landslides (ICL), the Global Promotion Committee of the International Programme on Landslides (IPL), University of Ljubljana (UL) and Geological Survey of Slovenia in Ljubljana, Slovenia from May 29 to June 2, 2017. The complete collection of papers from the Forum is published in five full-color volumes
Advances in web mining and web usage analysis ; 8th International workshop on knowledge discovery on the web, WebKDD 2006 Philadelphia, USA, August 20, 2006 Revised Papers
The discipline of data mining delivers methodologies and tools for the an- ysis of large data volumes and the extraction of comprehensible and non-trivial insights from them. Web mining, a much younger discipline, concentrates on the analysisofdata pertinentto the Web.Web mining methods areappliedonusage data and Web site content; they strive to improve our understanding of how the Web is used, to enhance usability and to promote mutual satisfaction between e-business venues and their potential customers.Many ofthe infancy problems in Web mining have been solvedby now, but the tremendous potential for new and improved uses, as well as misuses, of the Web are leading to new challenges.
Advances in web mining and web usage analysis ; 7th International workshop on knowledge discovery on the web, WEBKDD 2005, Chicago, IL, USA, August 21, 2005, Revised Papers
Thisbookcontainsthepostworkshopproceedingsofthe7thInternationalWo- shop on Knowledge Discovery from the Web, WEBKDD 2005. The WEBKDD workshop series takes place as part of the ACM SIGKDD International Conf- ence on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (KDD) since 1999. The discipline of data mining delivers methodologies and tools for the an- ysis of large data volumes and the extraction of comprehensible and non-trivial insights from them. Web mining, a much younger discipline, concentrates on the analysisofdata pertinentto theWeb.Web mining methods areappliedonusage data and Web site content; they strive to improve our understanding of how the Web is used, to enhance usability and to promote mutual satisfaction between e-business venues and their potential customers. In the last years, the interest for the Web as medium for communication, interaction and business has led to new challenges and to intensive, dedicated research. Many of the infancy problems in Web mining have now been solved but the tremendous potential for new and improved uses, as well as misuses, of the Web are leading to new challenges.
Advances in web mining and web usage analysis ; 6th International workshop on knowledge discovery on the web, WEBKDD 2004, Seattle, WA, USA, August 22-25, 2004, Revised Selected Papers
The Webisaliveenvironmentthatmanagesanddrivesawidespectrumofapp- cations in which a user may interact with a company, a governmental authority, a non-governmental organization or other non-pro?t institution or other users. User preferences and expectations, together with usage patterns, form the basis for personalized, user-friendly and business-optimal services. Key Web business metrics enabled by proper data capture and processing are essential to run an e?ective business or service. Enabling technologies include data mining, sc- able warehousing and preprocessing, sequence discovery, real time processing, document classi?cation, user modeling and quality evaluation models for them. Recipient technologies required for user pro?ling and usage patterns include recommendation systems, Web analytics applications, and application servers, coupled with content management systems and fraud detectors.



















