Strategy games are a unique and interesting testbed for AI protocols due their complex rules and large state and action spaces. Recent work in game AI has shown that strong, robust AI agents can be created by combining existing techniques of deep learning and heuristic search. Heuristic search techniques typically make use of an evaluation function to judge the value of a game state, however these functions have historically been hand-coded by game experts. Recent results have shown that it is possible to use modern deep learning techniques to learn these evaluation functions, bypassing the need for expert knowledge. In this thesis, we explore the implementation of this idea in Prismata, an online strategy game by Lunarch Studios. By generating game trace training data with existing state-of-the-art AI agents, we are able to use a Machine Learning (ML) approach to learn a new evaluation function. We trained several evaluation models with various parameters in order to compare prediction time with prediction accuracy. To evaluate the strength of our learned model, we ran a tournament between AI players which differ only in their state evaluation strategy. The results of this tournament demonstrate that our learned model when combined with the existing Prismata Hierarchical Portfolio Search system, produces a new AI agent which is able to defeat the previously strongest agents. A subset of the research presented in this thesis was the subject of a publication in the Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE) 2019 Strategy Games Workshop [1].

Research on general video game playing aims at designing agents or content generators that can perform well in multiple video games, possibly without knowing the game in advance and with little to no specific domain knowledge. The general video game AI framework and competition propose a challenge in which researchers can test their favorite AI methods with a potentially infinite number of games created using the Video Game Description Language. The open-source framework has been used since 2014 for running a challenge. Competitors around the globe submit their best approaches that aim to generalize well across games. Additionally, the framework has been used in AI modules by many higher-education institutions as assignments, or as proposed projects for final year (undergraduate and Master's) students and Ph.D. candidates. The present book, written by the developers and organizers of the framework, presents the most interesting highlights of the research performed by the authors during these years in this domain. It showcases work on methods to play the games, generators of content, and video game optimization. It also outlines potential further work in an area that offers multiple research directions for the future.

While an exile from Constantinople, the twelfth-century Byzantine functionary and canonist John Zonaras culled earlier chronicles and histories to compose an account of events from creation to the reign of Alexius Comnenus. For topics where his sources are lost or appear elsewhere in more truncated form, his testimony and the identification of the texts on which he depends are of critical importance. For his account of the first two centuries of the Principate, Zonaras employed now-lost portions of Cassius Dio. From the point where Dio’s History ended, to the reign of Theodosius the Great (d. 395), he turned to other sources to produce a uniquely full historical narrative of the critical years 235-395, making Books XII.15-XIII.19 of the Epitome central to the study of both late Roman history and late Roman and Byzantine historiography. This key section of the Epitome, together with Zonaras’ Prologue, here appears in English for the first time, both complemented by a historical and historiographical commentary. A special feature of the latter is a first-ever English translation of a broad range of sources which illuminate Zonaras’ account and the historiographical traditions it reflects. Among the authors whose newly translated works occupy a prominent place in the commentary are George Cedrenus, George the Monk, John of Antioch, Peter the Patrician, Symeon Magister, and Theodore Scutariotes. Specialized indices facilitate the use of the translations and commentary alike. The result is an invaluable guide and stimulus to further research for scholars and students of the history and historiography of Rome and Byzantium.

The popularity of entertainment gaming over the last decades has led to the use of games for non-entertainment purposes in areas such as training and business support. The emergence of the serious games movement has capitalized on this interest in leisure gaming, with an increase in leisure game approaches in schools, colleges, universities and in professional training and continuing professional development. The movement raises many significant issues and challenges for us. How can gaming and simulation technologies be used to engage learners? How can games be used to motivate, deepen and accelerate learning? How can they be used to greatest effect in learning and teaching? The contributors explore these and many other questions that are vital to our understanding of the paradigm shift from conventional learning environments to learning in games and simulations.

An introductory history of university-trained physicians from the middle ages to the eighteenth century.