Four thousand years in the future, the Republic of Earth is at war with the oppressive Yajiran Empire. Meanwhile, on a primitive world, a half-human/half-Yajiran girl named Avala learns that her people’s beliefs are lies created by the Yajirans to keep them in a primitive state, so they can rule over them. While working with the Republic of Earth’s intelligence service in a collaborative effort to free her planet from its alien overlords, she discovers she has the same psychic and body-swapping powers that the elite Yajirans, the Yajixa, possess. In the process of learning how to master these powers, she awakens a long-lost precursor race from her planet called the Echarikith, who have magical god-like powers. The Echarikith offer to help Avala in her quest to free her people, in exchange for her help in freeing them from being enslaved in the Yajixa’s mindscapes. This is the beginning of Avala’s lifelong journey to become one of the spirits of the mindscapes.

Set one year after the start of Book 1. Avala finds herself fighting off a new enemy, this time, one of shadows and death. She narrowly escapes the clutches of the Echhaar, the Echarikith severed after the fall of their seventh core. However, it is not without a cost, as a friend is left behind, and a city on Earth is turned to rubble. Avala's journey continues is this sequel to Avala Book 1: Hope. However, this time, the forces of Death come to claim everything. Not only that but the Yajiran Empire will stop at nothing to assure victory over the Republic, using this new enemy to their advantage. Will Avala survive the forces of the Echhaar? Will she stop the plans of the Yajiran Empire? Who will die, and who will survive? This is Avala's second step to becoming one of the Spirits of the Mindscapes.

This volume of Lecture Notes in Computer Science contains the proceedings of the rd 3 Working Conference on Component Deployment (CD 2005), which took place from 28 to 29, November 2005 in Grenoble, France, and co-located with Middleware 2005. CD 2005 is the third international conference in the series, the first two being held in Berlin and Edinburgh in 2002 and 2004, respectively. The proceedings of both these conferences were also published by Springer in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series and may be found in volumes 2370 and 3083. Component deployment addresses the tasks that need to be performed after components have been developed and addresses questions such as: • What do we do with components after they have been built? • How do we deploy them into their execution environment? • How can we evolve them once they have been deployed? CD 2005 brought together researchers and practitioners with the goal of deve- ping a better understanding of how deployment takes place in the wider context. The Program Committee selected 15 papers (12 long papers, three short papers) out of 29 submissions. All submissions were reviewed by at least three members of the Program Committee. Papers were selected based on originality, quality, soundness and relevance to the workshop.

Since its origination in the mid-twentieth century, the area of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has undergone a number of developments. While the early interest in AI was mainly triggered by the desire to develop artifacts that show the same intelligent behavior as humans, nowadays scientists have realized that research in AI involves a multitude of separate challenges, besides the traditional goal to replicate human intelligence. In particular, recent history has pointed out that a variety of ‘intelligent’ computational techniques, part of which are inspired by human intelligence, may be successfully applied to solve all kinds of practical problems. This sub-area of AI, which has its main emphasis on applications of intelligent systems to solve real-life problems, is currently known under the term Applied Intelligence. The objective of the International Conference on Industrial, Engineering & Other Applications of Applied Intelligent Systems (IEA/AIE) is to promote and disseminate recent research developments in Applied Intelligence. The current book contains 30 chapters authored by participants of the 26th edition of IEA/AIE, which was held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The material of each chapter is self-contained and was reviewed by at least two anonymous referees, to assure a high quality. Readers can select any individual chapter based on their research interests without the need of reading other chapters. We are confident that this book provides useful reference values to researchers and students in the field of Applied Intelligence, enabling them to find opportunities and recognize challenges in the field.

There is growing evidence for the powerful role that music plays in enhancing children's cognitive, social, and emotional development. Written for a broad audience of mental health professionals, this is the first book to provide accessible ways of integrating music into clinical work with children and adolescents. Rich case vignettes show how to use singing, drumming, listening to music, and many other strategies to connect with hard-to-reach children, promote self-regulation, and create opportunities for change. The book offers detailed guidelines for addressing different clinical challenges, including attachment difficulties, trauma, and behavioral, emotional, and communication problems. Each chapter concludes with concrete recommendations for practice; an appendix presents a photographic inventory of recommended instruments.

The region of Europe and Central Eurasia defined in this volume encompasses territory that extends from the Atlantic Coast of Europe to the Pacific Coast of the Russian Federation. It includes the British Isles, Iceland, and Greenland (a self- governing part of the Kingdom of Denmark). Included are mineral commodity outlook tables, plus global overview research for particularly commodities within a specific regions/countries are presented throughout the text. Manufacturers of these metals and commodities, along with trade brokers that may specialize in imports and exports, political scientists, and economists may also be interested in this volume. Students pursuing research on specific metals and mineral commodities for world economy courses may be interested in this volume.

Set one year after the start of Avala Book 2, this stunning tale tells the continued story of Avala's journey to becoming a Spirit of the Mindscapes. As the war between the Republic of Earth and the Yajiran Empire continues, Avala struggles against her arch nemesis Namjila in battles across the galaxy. However in the midst of the fighting, the fate of two worlds hang in the balance. Can Avala save her people from the cruel oppressors of the Yajixa? And if so can she save them all? This is the moment she has been fighting for since she joined the Republic. Will she prevail? Or will Namjila win? This is the third installment of Avala's lifelong journey to become a Spirit of the Mindscapes.