There exists a world much like our own, one parallel to the spirit world. People much like ourselves fight every day to keep both worlds from plummeting into darkness. They are called defenders. The spirit realm is divided into many smaller worlds, like shards of a once-complete painting. They follow their own paths and are vastly different from one another. But time reveals that these worlds have a limited existence, one which appears to be running out. The mission of getting to the bottom of these lands is for a defender. Ryoku Dragontalen has only a matter of days to complete his goal. After a harrying encounter with the fearsome emperor of Orden, Ryoku must recuperate and gather his strength for a second and final showdown with the young emperor, Lars Ordenstraum, an encounter the entire spirit realm has been waiting for. Follow Ryoku Dragontalen once more on his mission to meet a looming deadline as he journeys through new worlds, meeting friends old and new, as he gathers his strength to face what the very gods fear.

There exists a world much like our own. One parallel to the Spirit World. People much like ourselves fight everyday to keep both worlds from plummeting into darkness. They are called Defenders. The Spirit World is divided into many smaller worlds, each which follows its own path and are vastly different from one another. When these worlds start straying from their predetermined path, what chaos could unfold? It is a Defender's job to stop it. Ryoku Dragontalen, one such boy, is thrown into an adventure to save both worlds. What began as one small task, to save his friend, quickly escalates into something much more. Where the laws are simply not laws anymore, he journeys alongside gods and many significant people, all seemingly with intricate involvement in his foggy past, to find much more than what they initially set out for. Follow Ryoku and his newfound friends on a journey through the Spirit World, packed with mystery, action, romance, adventure, and the sense of something untold as the very gods step forward.

This open access book presents the first comprehensive overview of general methods in Automated Machine Learning (AutoML), collects descriptions of existing systems based on these methods, and discusses the first series of international challenges of AutoML systems. The recent success of commercial ML applications and the rapid growth of the field has created a high demand for off-the-shelf ML methods that can be used easily and without expert knowledge. However, many of the recent machine learning successes crucially rely on human experts, who manually select appropriate ML architectures (deep learning architectures or more traditional ML workflows) and their hyperparameters. To overcome this problem, the field of AutoML targets a progressive automation of machine learning, based on principles from optimization and machine learning itself. This book serves as a point of entry into this quickly-developing field for researchers and advanced students alike, as well as providing a reference for practitioners aiming to use AutoML in their work.

Marx and the Moving Image approaches cinema from a Marxist perspective. It argues that the supposed 'end of history', marked by the comprehensive triumph of capitalism and the 'end of cinema', calls for revisiting Marx's writings in order to analyse film theories, histories and practices.

Herbert Simon's classic work on artificial intelligence in the expanded and updated third edition from 1996, with a new introduction by John E. Laird. Herbert Simon's classic and influential The Sciences of the Artificial declares definitively that there can be a science not only of natural phenomena but also of what is artificial. Exploring the commonalities of artificial systems, including economic systems, the business firm, artificial intelligence, complex engineering projects, and social plans, Simon argues that designed systems are a valid field of study, and he proposes a science of design. For this third edition, originally published in 1996, Simon added new material that takes into account advances in cognitive psychology and the science of design while confirming and extending the book's basic thesis: that a physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for intelligent action. Simon won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 1978 for his research into the decision-making process within economic organizations and the Turing Award (considered by some the computer science equivalent to the Nobel) with Allen Newell in 1975 for contributions to artificial intelligence, the psychology of human cognition, and list processing. The Sciences of the Artificial distills the essence of Simon's thought accessibly and coherently. This reissue of the third edition makes a pioneering work available to a new audience.

In a work of blistering dark hilarity, a young Nietzsche experiences life in a metal band & the tribulations of finals season in a modern secondary school When a new student transfers in from a posh private school, he falls in with a group of like-minded suburban stoners, artists, and outcasts—too smart and creative for their own good. His classmates nickname their new friend Nietzsche (for his braininess and bleak outlook on life), and decide he must be the front man of their metal band, now christened Nietzsche and the Burbs. With the abyss of graduation—not to mention their first gig—looming ahead, the group ramps up their experimentations with sex, drugs, and...nihilist philosophy. Are they as doomed as their intellectual heroes? And why does the end of youth feel like such a universal tragedy? And as they ponder life's biggies, this sly, elegant, and often laugh-out-loud funny story of would-be rebels becomes something special: an absorbing and stirring reminder of a particular, exciting yet bittersweet moment in life...and a reminder that all adolescents are philosophers, and all philosophers are adolescents at heart.

Connectionism and the Mind provides a clear and balanced introduction to connectionist networks and explores theoretical and philosophical implications. Much of this discussion from the first edition has been updated, and three new chapters have been added on the relation of connectionism to recent work on dynamical systems theory, artificial life, and cognitive neuroscience. Read two of the sample chapters on line: Connectionism and the Dynamical Approach to Cognition: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/bechtel.pdf Networks, Robots, and Artificial Life: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/bechtel2.pdf