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AI 2006 : Advances in artificial intelligence ; 19th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Hobart, Australia, December 4-8, 2006, Proceedings
This volume contains the proceedings of the 19th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI 2006) held at Hobart, Australia. AI 2006 received a record number of submissions, a total of 689 submissions from 35 countries. The papers in this volume give an indication of recent advances in artificial int- ligence. The topics covered include Machine Learning, Robotics, AI Applications, Planning, Agents, Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery, Cognition and User Interface, Vision and Image Processing, Information Retrieval and Search, AI in the Web, Knowledge Representation, Knowledge-Based Systems, and Neural Networks.
AI 2005 : Advances in artificial intelligence ; 18th Australian joint conference on artificial intelligence, Sydney, Australia, December 5-9, 2005, proceedings
The 18th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI 2005) was held at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia from 5 to 9 December 2005. AI 2005 attracted a historical record number of submissions, a total of 535 papers. This volume of the proceedings contains the abstracts of three keynote speeches and all the full and short papers. The full papers were categorized into three broad sections, namely: AI foundations and technologies, computational intelligence, and AI in specialized domains. AI 2005 also hosted several tutorials and workshops, providing an interacting mode for specialists and scholars from Australia and other countries.
AI 2004 : Advances in artificial intelligence ; 17th Australian Joint conference on artificial intelligence, Cairns, Australia, December 4-6, 2004, proceedings
AI 2004 was the seventeenth in the series of annual Australian artificial intelli-gence conferences. This conference is the major forum for artificial intelligenceresearch in Australia. It has consistently attracted strong international partic-ipation. This year more than two thirds of the submissions were from outsideAustralia.The current volume is based on the proceedings of AI 2004. AI 2004 was collo-cated with Complex 2004, the 7th Asia-Pacific Conference on Complex Systems,with the aim of promoting cross-fertilization and collaboration in areas of com-plex and intelligent systems
Agroecological transitions : From theory to practice in local participatory design
There is wide agreement on the need to change the prevalent agricultural models, given their negative impacts and their incompatibility with current societal issues. Agroecological transition has been promoted as a potential solution to the ecological, social and economic problems generated by these models. It however involves a systemic, multi-scale and transdisciplinary process. Due to this complexity, the overall picture of what farms and food systems “actually are” and “might be” may not be apparent at the individual level. Yet individuals’ knowledge and values provide complementary insights on how to proceed in deepening ecological modernisation. Expertise can also provide landmarks to be considered in that process. Because local stakeholders’ experience and skills are key resources in the adaptation and adoption of agroecological transition, new conceptual and methodological frameworks and tools have to be developed to support them in the design process of such a complex transition. This book presents feedback from the ‘Territorial Agroecological Transition in Action’- TATA-BOX research project, which was devoted to these specific issues.
Agriculture for Economic Development in Africa : Evidence from Ethiopia
This book explores the role of agriculture in long-term economic growth. With a particular focus on Ethiopia, the role of the state in igniting agricultural growth and in sustaining economic growth is highlighted as essential for low-income countries. Taking ideas from both economic history and development economics, the ability of Ethiopia and the rest of Africa to sustain recent rapid growth into something that can tackle the development agenda is discussed, alongside policy suggestions.
Agriculture and Climate Beyond 2015 : A New Perspective on Future Land Use Patterns
Interactions between agriculture, climate and patterns of land use are complex. Major changes in agriculture, and land use patterns are foreseen in the next couple of decades in response to shifts in climate, greenhouse gas management initiatives, population growth and other forces. The book explores key interactions between changes in agriculture, patterns of land use and efforts to reduce greenhouse emissions from agriculture. The volume is based on inter-disciplinary science and policy interactions, exploring the way land use may aid in addressing or be affected by the onset of climate change and alterations in food demand. Future forces shaping land use decisions are examined, and its sensitivity to climate change is highlighted. Patterns of land use and the agricultural role in climate change mitigation are explored. Also, policy and social responses to the new perspectives on future land use patterns are identified. The perspective of the book is beyond the year 2015.
Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident : The First Three Years
Consists of various topics, including radioactivity inspection of food products; decontamination trials for rice and livestock production; the state of contamination in wild animals and birds, trees, mushrooms, and timber; the dynamics of radioactivity distribution in mountain and paddy fields; damage incurred by the forestry and fishery industries; and the change in consumers’ minds. The last chapter introduces a real-time radioisotope imaging system, the forefront technique to visualize actual movement of cesium in soil and in plants. This is the only book to provide systematic data about the actual change of radioactivity, and thus is of great value for all researchers who wish to understand the effect of radioactive fallout on agriculture.
Agricultural Implications of the Fukushima Nuclear Accident (III)
Reports on studies undertaken at contaminated sites such as farmland, forests, and marine and freshwater environments, with a particular focus on livestock, wild plants and mushrooms, crops, and marine products in those environments. It also provides additional data collected in the subsequent years to show how the radioactivity levels in agricultural products and their growing environments have changed with time and the route by which radioactive materials entered agricultural products as well as their movement between different components (e.g., soil, water, and trees) within an environmental system (e.g., forests). The book covers various topics, including radioactivity testing of food products; decontamination trials for rice and livestock production; the state of contamination in, trees, mushrooms, and timber; the dynamics of radioactivity distribution in paddy fields and upland forests; damage incurred by the forestry and fishery industries; and the change in consumers’ attitudes. Chapter 19 introduces a real-time radioisotope imaging system, a pioneering technique to visualize the movement of cesium in soil and in plants.
Agricultural biodiversity and biotechnology in economic development
The topics addressed in this book are of vital importance to the survival of humankind. Agricultural biodiversity, encompassing genetic diversity as well as human knowledge, is the base upon which agricultural production has been built, and protecting this resource is critical to ensuring the capacity of current and future generations to adapt to unforeseen challenges. Agricultural biodiversity underpins the productivity of all agricultural systems and is particularly important for poor and food-insecure farmers, who maintain highly diverse production systems in response to the marginal and risky production conditions they operate under. Understanding the importance of agricultural biodiversity in the livelihoods of the food insecure and enhancing its performance through the use of a variety of tools, including biotechnology, is a critically important issue in the world today
Aging, shaking, and cracking of infrastructures : From mechanics to concrete dams and nuclear structures
Focuses on the safety assessment of existing structures subjected to multi-hazard scenarios through advanced numerical methods. Whereas the focus is on concrete dams and nuclear containment structures, the presented methodologies can also be applied to other large-scale ones. This book is composed of seven sections: Fundamentals: theoretical coverage of solid mechnics, plasticity, fracture mechanics, creep, / seismology, dynamic analysis, probability and statistics / Damage: that can affect concrete structures, such as cracking of concrete, AAR, chloride ingress, and rebar corrosion, / Finite Element: formulation for both linear and nonlinear analysis including stress, heat and fracture mechanics, / Engineering Models: for soil/fluid-structure interaction, uncertainty quantification, probablilistic and random finite element analysis, machine learning, performance based earthquake engineering, ground motion intensity measures, seismic hazard analysis, capacity/fragility functions and damage indeces, / Applications to dams through potential failure mode analyses, risk-informed decision making, deterministic and probabilistic examples, / Applications to nuclear structures through modeling issues, aging management programs, critical review of some analyses, / Other applications and case studies: massive RC structures and bridges, detailed assessment of a nuclear containment structure evaluation for license renewal.
Aging and the Heart : A Post-Genomic View
In this book, the genetic and molecular basis of cardiovascular aging will be discussed. In addition, a comprehensive assessment of the bioenergetic changes that occur in human and animal models of cardiac aging as well as current diagnostic and future therapeutic modalities will be undertaken.
Aging and Senescence
Aging is characterized by a progressive loss of physiological integrity, leading to impaired function and increased vulnerability to death. This deterioration is the primary risk factor for major human pathologies, including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, and neurodegenerative diseases. Aging research has experienced an unprecedented advance over recent years, particularly with the discovery that the rate of aging is controlled, at least to some extent, by genetic pathways and biochemical processes conserved in evolution. Although recent developments in molecular biology are far from understanding the biological basis of aging, research suggests that targeting the aging process itself could ameliorate many age-related pathologies.
Aging and Chronic Disorders
Aging and Chronic Disorders brings the most up-to-date answers into clear, readable focus. Focusing on the most prevalent conditions affecting older adults (diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, low back pain, and fibromyalgia), Morewitz and Goldstein analyze disabilities and risk factors, stressors and coping strategies, treatment and rehabilitation methods, and patient education and self-management. Separate chapters are devoted to cognitive changes, psychological problems, and trends in health care utilization among seniors, and all chapters are amplified by current research findings and instructive case studies. As in their recent work.
Aggregation functions : A guide for practitioners
Aggregation of information is of primary importance in the construction of knowledge based systems in various domains, ranging from medicine, economics, and engineering to decision-making processes, artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning. This book gives a broad introduction into the topic of aggregation functions, and provides a concise account of the properties and the main classes of such functions, including classical means, medians, ordered weighted averaging functions, Choquet and Sugeno integrals, triangular norms, conorms and copulas, uninorms, nullnorms, and symmetric sums. It also presents some state-of-the-art techniques, many graphical illustrations and new interpolatory aggregation functions. A particular attention is paid to identification and construction of aggregation functions from application specific requirements and empirical data. This book provides scientists, IT specialists and system architects with a self-contained easy-to-use guide, as well as examples of computer code and a software package. It will facilitate construction of decision support, expert, recommender, control and many other intelligent systems.
Agents and peer-to-peer computing ; Vol. 4118 : 4th International workshop, AP2PC 2005, Utrecht, Netherlands, J uly 25, 2005, Revised and Invited Papers
Constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Agents and Peer-to-Peer Computing, AP2PC 2005, held in Utrecht, Netherlands, July 2005, in the context of the 4th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, AAMAS 2005. The 13 revised full papers cover trust and reputation, P2P infrastructure, semantic infrastructure, as well as community and mobile applications.
Agents and peer-to-peer computing ; 5th International workshop, AP2PC 2006, Hakodate, Japan, May 9, 2006, Revised and Invited Papers
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Agents and Peer-to-Peer Computing, AP2PC 2006, held in Hakodate, Japan, in May 2006, in the context of the 5th International Joint Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, AAMAS 2006.
Agents and peer-to-peer computing ; 2nd International workshop, AP2PC 2003, Melbourne, Australia, July 14, 2003, revised and invited papers
This book brings together an introduction, three invited articles, and revised versions of the papers presented at the Second International Workshop on Agents and Peer-to-Peer Computing, AP2PC 2003, held in Melbourne, Australia, July 2003."" "Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing is currently attracting enormous public attention, a very large number of autonomous computing nodes, the peers, rely on each other for services. P2P networks are emerging as a new distributed computing paradigm because of their potential to harness the computing power and the storage capacity of the hosts composing the network, and because they realize a completely open decentralized environment where everybody can join in autonomously.
Agent-oriented software engineering VIII ; 8th International Workshop, AOSE 2007, Honolulu, HI, USA, May 14, 2007, Revised Selected Papers
This volume constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 8th International Workshop on Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, AOSE 2007, held in Honolulu, Hawaii in May 2007 as part of AAMAS 2007.
Agent-oriented software engineering VI ; 6th International Workshop, AOSE 2005, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 25, 2005. Revised and Invited Papers
This book represents the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the 6th International Workshop on Agent-Oriented Software Engineering, AOSE 2005, held in Utrecht, The Netherlands, in July 2005 as part of AAMAS 2005. The 18 revised full papers were carefully selected from 35 submissions during two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers are organized in topical sections on modeling tools, analysis and validation tools, multiagent systems design, implementation tools, and experiences and comparative evaluations.
Agent-oriented software engineering V ; 5th International workshop, AOSE 2004, New York, NY, USA, July 2004, revised selected papers
The explosive growth of application areas such as electronic commerce, ent- prise resource planning and mobile computing has profoundly and irreversibly changed our views on software systems. Nowadays, software is to be based on open architectures that continuously change and evolve to accommodate new components and meet new requirements. Software must also operate on di?- ent platforms, without recompilation, and with minimal assumptions about its operating environment and its users. Furthermore, software must be robust and ¨ autonomous, capable of serving a naive user with a minimum of overhead and interference. Agent concepts hold great promise for responding to the new realities of software systems. They o?er higher-level abstractions and mechanisms which address issues such as knowledge representation and reasoning, communication, coordination, cooperation among heterogeneous and autonomous parties, p- ception, commitments, goals, beliefs, and intentions, all of which need conceptual modelling. On the one hand, the concrete implementation of these concepts can lead to advanced functionalities.
