This monograph covers one of the divisions of mathematical theory of control which examines moving objects functionating under conflict and uncertainty conditions. To identify this range of problems we use the term "conflict con trolled processes," coined in recent years. As the name itself does not imply the type of dynamics (difference, ordinary differential, difference-differential, integral, or partial differential equations) the differential games falI within its realms. The problems of search and tracking moving objects are also referred to the field of conflict controlled process. The contents of the monograph is confined to studying classical pursuit-evasion problems which are central to the theory of conflict controlled processes. These problems underlie the theory and are of considerable interest to researchers up to now. It should be noted that the methods of "Line of Sight," "Parallel Pursuit," "Proportional N avigation,""Modified Pursuit" and others have been long and well known among engineers engaged in design of rocket and space technology. An abstract theory of dynamic game problems, in its turn, is based on the methods originated by R. Isaacs, L. S. Pontryagin, and N. N. Krasovskii, and on the approaches developed around these methods. At the heart of the book is the Method of Resolving Functions which was realized within the class of quasistrategies for pursuers and then applied to the solution of the problems of "hand-to-hand," group, and succesive pursuit."

The authors' innovative research ideas in power plant control are presented in this book. This book focuses on 1) cognition and reconstruction of the temperature field; 2) intelligent setting and learning of power plants; 3) energy efficiency optimization and intelligent control for power plants, and so on, using historical power plant operation data and creative methods such as reconstruction of the combustion field, deep reinforcement learning, and networked collaborative control. It could help researchers, industrial engineers, and graduate students in the areas of signal detection, image processing, and control engineering.

Every physical actuator is subject to saturation. When the actuator saturates, the performance of the control system designed will seriously deteriorate. Currently there is a surge of interest in increasing the practical applicability of control theory by incorporating the effect of saturation into the design of a control system.

Control Systems with Actuator Saturation: Analysis and Design examines the problem of actuator saturation in depth. The overall approach takes into account the saturation nonlinearities at the outset of the control design. In the case that a control law is designed a priori to meet either the performance or stability requirement, it analyzes the closed-loop system under actuator saturation systematically and redesigns the controller in such a way that the preformance is retained while stability is improved. It also presents some related results on systems with state saturation or sensor saturation.

Features and topics:

* Results apply to general open-loop systems, including exponentially unstable ones. Thus, they are widely applicable to practical systems
* Problems such as controllability, stabilizability, transience performance, distribute rejection, and output regulation are treated in a systematic manner.
* Analytic description of the null controllable region is first obtained. Various feedback laws are designed that work on the entire null controllable region or an arbitrarily large portion of it.
* Analysis tools are developed for performance assessment of existing control systems under actuator saturation.
* Examples are worked out in detail to demonstrate the usefulness of the results.

This book is an excellent resource forprofessionals, researchers, practitioners and graduate students in control, electrical, and mechanical engineering. All scientists and engineers interested in control systems with actuator saturation will find this book an essential resource. Some first--year graduate courses in linear systems and multivariable control or some background in nonlinear control systems would greatly facilitate the reading of this book.

This book aims to present some advanced control methodologies for power converters. Power electronic converters have become indispensable devices for plenty of industrial applications over the last decades. Composed by controllable power switches, they can be controlled by effective strategies to achieve desirable transient response and steady-state performance, to ensure the stability, reliability and safety of the system. The most popular control strategy of power converters is the linear proportional-integral-derivative series control which is adopted as industry standard. However, when there exist parameter changes, nonlinearities and load disturbances in the system, the performance of the controller will be significantly degraded. To overcome this problem, many advanced control methodologies and techniques have been developed to improve the converter performance. This book presents the research work on some advanced control methodologies for several types of power converters, including three-phase two-level AC/DC power converter, three-phase NPC AC/DC power converter, and DC/DC buck converter. The effectiveness and advantage of the proposed control strategies are verified via simulations and experiments. The content of this book can be divided into two parts. The first part focuses on disturbance observer-based control methods for power converters under investigation. The second part investigates intelligent control methods. These methodologies provide a framework for controller design, observer design, stability and performance analysis for the considered power converter systems.

Advanced technologies such as robotics, 5G mobile communications, IoT, cloud computing and wireless sensor networks have had a huge impact and influence on manufacturing, with an increased collaboration between humans and smart systems. As the manufacturing process becomes more automated using real-time data, communication systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques and robotics feed data back into the manufacturing process. This enables the design of products that are more customized and personal, and leads to a more competitive, efficient and value-added production process by reacting more quickly to technical or human errors to avoid product and system damage while increasing workplace safety, and reducing waste, pollution, and associated costs. This edited book covers challenges, concepts, systems, architectures, technologies, and design characteristics of human-machine cooperation and interaction systems in smart manufacturing environments using state of the art technologies including AI, 5G, IoTs, Blockchains, CPS, sensing, automation and robotics. The book is aimed at researchers and engineers working on the applications of robotics and automation, HMI, HCI, CPS, sensing, information and communications technology, data science, ML/DL/AI, AR/VR, cybersecurity and electronics. It is also a useful reference for advanced students and lecturers in these fields, and will appeal to manufacturers and automation system developers.

How to manage the most important part of a city’s internal infrastructure—its sewer systems

The operation and maintenance of modern sewer systems have not kept pace with technological revolutions everywhere—until now. Utilizing a combination of computerized management tools, monitoring systems, and other intelligent equipment, today’s automated sewer management systems allow designers, managers, operators, and investors to get continuous data feeds on sewer flows, interjurisdictional billing information, and emergency situations: information essential to upgrading overall system quality and efficiency.

Sewer Management Systems offers a practical, comprehensive look at procuring and implementing state-of-the-art sewer management systems and monitoring equipment. It opens with an overview of sewer maintenance and management and then discusses such introductory concepts as understanding flow and how to measure it. It then introduces structures and features of the sewer infrastructure that are useful in general ways, providing definitions applicable in any context. Further chapters cover:

• Step-by-step guidance on making system purchase decisions
• Data communications, utility services, and sequencing
• How to clearly apply data generated to tangible, real-world tasks
• Additional functions that may be designed after the system is up and running
• Algorithm development for warnings and features for automatic sewer control
• How to get a return on investment for an upgraded system—showing how to use it as a funding source, not just a funding pit
• How to upgrade the installed monitoring system

The book’s appendices provide equipment specifications, recommended calibration standards, and sample specifications. Offering methodical and detailed guidance to the state of the art of this important engineering specialty, Sewer Management Systems is the complete reference to designing systems that effectively monitor that most basic part of a city’s infrastructure—the key to maintai

The International Symposium on Experimental Robotics (ISER) is a series of bi-annual meetings which are organized in a rotating fashion around North America, Europe and Asia/Oceania. The goal of ISER is to provide a forum for research in robotics that focuses on novelty of theoretical contributions validated by experimental results. The meetings are conceived to bring together, in a small group setting, researchers from around the world who are in the forefront of experimental robotics research.

This unique reference presents the latest advances across the various fields of robotics, with ideas that are not only conceived conceptually but also verified experimentally. It collects contributions on the current developments and new directions in the field of experimental robotics, which are based on the papers presented at the Ninth ISER held in Singapore.

This book presents the proceedings of the 6th IFToMM Asian Mechanisms and Machine Science Conference (Asian MMS), held in Hanoi, Vietnam on December 15-18, 2021. It includes peer-reviewed papers on the latest advances in mechanism and machine science, discussing topics such as biomechanical engineering, computational kinematics, the history of mechanism and machine science, gearing and transmissions, multi-body dynamics, robotics and mechatronics, the dynamics of machinery, tribology, vibrations, rotor dynamics and vehicle dynamics. A valuable, up-to-date resource, it offers an essential overview of the subject for scientists and practitioners alike, and will inspire further investigations and research.

This book presents the dynamic modeling and attitude control of flexible spacecraft with time-varying parameters. The dynamic characteristics, vibration control methods and attitude stabilization methods for spacecraft are systematically studied in respects of the theoretical modeling, numerical simulation and the ground experiment. Three active control theories in complex mode space are presented for flexible space structures. Optimal slew strategies based on variable amplitudes input shaping methods and coupling control methods are proposed for stabilization of flexible spacecraft. The research provides an important way to solve the problem of high-precision attitude control of flexible spacecraft with time-varying parameters. This book is appropriate for the researchers who focus on the multi-body dynamics, attitude and vibration control of flexible spacecraft.

This book proposes a new approach to handle the problem of limited training data. Common approaches to cope with this problem are to model the shape variability independently across predefined segments or to allow artificial shape variations that cannot be explained through the training data, both of which have their drawbacks. The approach presented uses a local shape prior in each element of the underlying data domain and couples all local shape priors via smoothness constraints. The book provides a sound mathematical foundation in order to embed this new shape prior formulation into the well-known variational image segmentation framework. The new segmentation approach so obtained allows accurate reconstruction of even complex object classes with only a few training shapes at hand.

This book presents the state of the art in distributed autonomous systems composed of multiple robots, robotic modules, or robotic agents. Swarms in nature can not only adapt to their environments, but can also construct suitable habitats to their own advantage. Distributed autonomous robotic systems can do many things that its individuals cannot do alone. As the global pandemic was still ongoing, the 15th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS2021) was held on June 1-4, 2021, as an online meeting. The scope of DARS201 was to create a bridge between biologists and engineers interested in the distributed intelligence of living things and to establish a new academic field by integrating knowledge from both disciplines. Topics of DARS2021 were swarm intelligence, swarm robotics, multi-agent system, modular robotics, decentralized control, distributed system, etc. The papers in this book provide a very good overview of the state of the art in distributed autonomous robotic systems (DARS). They reflect current research themes in DARS with important contributions. We hope that this book helps to sustain the interest in DARS and triggers new research.

"Design Rules for Actuators in Active Mechanical Systems" deals with the formulation of model-based design rules to be used in the conception of optimized mechatronic and adaptronic systems. The book addresses the comparison of different actuator classes for given applications and offers answers to the following questions: What is the relationship between actuator geometry and primary output quantities? How scalable are actuators based on the same principle? How are energetic output quantities (work and power) related to mechanical load and geometry? How should actuators be designed and sized to obtain the best performance for the chosen actuator kind, and for a given application?

"Design Rules for Actuators in Active Mechanical Systems" will be of use to industry professionals, such as actuator and machine designers, as well as to researchers and students of mechanical engineering, mechatronics, and electrical engineering.

Artificial intelligence and related technologies are changing both the law and the legal profession. In particular, technological advances in fields ranging from machine learning to more advanced robots, including sensors, virtual realities, algorithms, bots, drones, self-driving cars, and more sophisticated "human-like" robots are creating new and previously unimagined challenges for regulators. These advances also give rise to new opportunities for legal professionals to make efficiency gains in the delivery of legal services. With the exponential growth of such technologies, radical disruption seems likely to accelerate in the near future. This collection brings together a series of contributions by leading scholars in the newly emerging field of artificial intelligence, robotics, and the law. The aim of the book is to enrich legal debates on the social meaning and impact of this type of technology. The distinctive feature of the contributions presented in this edition is that they address the impact of these technological developments in a number of different fields of law and from the perspective of diverse jurisdictions. Moreover, the authors utilize insights from multiple related disciplines, in particular social theory and philosophy, in order to better understand and address the legal challenges created by AI. Therefore, the book will contribute to interdisciplinary debates on disruptive new AI technologies and the law.

Previous research on fixed/finite-time sliding-mode control focuses on forcing a system state (vector) to converge within a certain time moment, regardless of how each state element converges. This book introduces a control problem with unique finite/fixed-time stability considerations, namely time-synchronized stability, where at the same time, all the system state elements converge to the origin, and fixed-time-synchronized stability, where the upper bound of the synchronized settling time is invariant with any initial state. Accordingly, sufficient conditions for (fixed-) time-synchronized stability are presented. These stability formulations grant essentially advantageous performance when a control system (with diversified subsystems) is expected to accomplish multiple actions synchronously, e.g., grasping with a robotic hand, multi-agent simultaneous cooperation, etc. Further, the analytical solution of a (fixed) time-synchronized stable system is obtained and discussed. Applications to linear systems, disturbed nonlinear systems, and network systems are provided. In addition, comparisons with traditional fixed/finite-time sliding mode control are suitably detailed to showcase the full power of (fixed-) time-synchronized control.

China Satellite Navigation Conference (CSNC 2022) Proceedings presents selected research papers from CSNC 2022 held during 22nd-25th May, 2022 in Beijing, China. These papers discuss the technologies and applications of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and the latest progress made in the China BeiDou System (BDS) especially. They are divided into 10 topics to match the corresponding sessions in CSNC2022 which broadly covered key topics in GNSS. Readers can learn about the BDS and keep abreast of the latest advances in GNSS techniques and applications.

This book addresses problems in the modeling, detection, and control of emergent behaviors and task coordination in multiagent systems. It presents a unified solution to such problems in terms of distributed estimation, distributed control, and optimization of interaction topologies and dynamics. Four aspects of the technical solutions in the book are presented: First, the impact of interaction dynamics on the convergence conditions related to interaction topologies is discussed, utilizing a discontinuous cooperative control algorithm of updated design. Second, distributed least-squares and Kalman filtering algorithms for agents with limited interactions are elaborated upon. Third, a general framework of distributed nonlinear control is established, and distributed adaptive control for nonlinear systems with more general uncertainties is presented. Based on the proposed framework, a distributed nonlinear controller is designed to deal with task coordination of robotic systems with nonholonomic constraints. Finally, the problem of optimal multiagent task coordination is addressed and solutions based on approximate dynamic programming and approximate distributed gradient estimation are presented. Emergent Behavior Detection and Task Coordination for Multiagent Systems is of interest to practicing engineers in areas such as robotics and cyber-physical systems, researchers in the field of systems, controls, and robotics, and senior undergraduate and graduate students.

"Compensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery" outlines the techniques needed to accurately track and compensate for respiratory and pulsatory motion during robotic radiosurgery. The algorithms presented within the book aid in the treatment of tumors that move during respiration.
In Chapters 1 and 2, the book introduces the concept of stereotactic body radiation therapy, motion compensation strategies and the clinical state-of-the-art. In Chapters 3 through 5, the author describes and evaluates new methods for motion prediction, for correlating external motion to internal organ motion, and for the evaluation of these algorithms' output based on an unprecedented amount of real clinical data. Finally, Chapter 6 provides a brief introduction into currently investigated, open questions and further fields of research.
"Compensating for Quasi-periodic Motion in Robotic Radiosurgery" targets researchers working in the related fields of surgical oncology, artificial intelligence, robotics and more. Advanced-level students will also find this book valuable."

This open access book presents research and evaluation results of the Austrian flagship project "Connecting Austria," illustrating the wide range of research needs and questions that arise when semi-automated truck platooning is deployed in Austria. The work presented is introduced in the context of work in similar research areas around the world. This interdisciplinary research effort considers aspects of engineering, road-vehicle and infrastructure technologies, traffic management and optimization, traffic safety, and psychology, as well as potential economic effects. The book's broad perspective means that readers interested in current and state-of-the-art methods and techniques for the realization of semi-automated driving and with either an engineering background or with a less technical background gain a comprehensive picture of this important subject. The contributors address many questions such as: Which maneuvers does a platoon typically have to carry out, and how? How can platoons be integrated seamlessly in the traffic flow without becoming an obstacle to individual road users? What trade-offs between system information (sensors, communication effort, etc.) and efficiency are realistic? How can intersections be passed by a platoon in an intelligent fashion? Consideration of diverse disciplines and highlighting their meaning for semi-automated truck platooning, together with the highlighting of necessary research and evaluation patterns to address such a broad task scientifically, makes Energy-Efficient and Semi-automated Truck Platooning a unique contribution with methods that can be extended and adapted beyond the geographical area of the research reported.

This book illustrates the main characteristics, challenges and optimisation requirements of robotic disassembly. It provides a comprehensive insight on two crucial optimisation problems in the areas of robotic disassembly through a group of unified mathematical models. The online and offline optimisation of the operational sequence to dismantle a product, for example, is represented with a list of conflicting objectives and constraints. It allows the decision maker and the robots to match the situation automatically and efficiently. To identify a generic solution under different circumstances, classical metaheuristics that can be used for the optimisation of robotic disassembly are introduced in detail. A flexible framework is then presented to implement existing metaheuristics for sequence planning and line balancing in the circumstance of robotic disassembly. Optimisation of Robotic Disassembly for Remanufacturing provides practical case studies on typical product instances to help practitioners design efficient robotic disassembly with minimal manual operation, and offers comparisons of the state-of-the-art metaheuristics on solving the key optimisation problems. Therefore, it will be of interest to engineers, researchers, and postgraduate students in the area of remanufacturing.

This book highlights various evolutionary algorithm techniques for various medical conditions and introduces medical applications of evolutionary computation for real-time diagnosis. Evolutionary Intelligence for Healthcare Applications presents how evolutionary intelligence can be used in smart healthcare systems involving big data analytics, mobile health, personalized medicine, and clinical trial data management. It focuses on emerging concepts and approaches and highlights various evolutionary algorithm techniques used for early disease diagnosis, prediction, and prognosis for medical conditions. The book also presents ethical issues and challenges that can occur within the healthcare system. Researchers, healthcare professionals, data scientists, systems engineers, students, programmers, clinicians, and policymakers will find this book of interest.

Graph Theory and Its Applications, Third Edition is the latest edition of the international, bestselling textbook for undergraduate courses in graph theory, yet it is expansive enough to be used for graduate courses as well. The textbook takes a comprehensive, accessible approach to graph theory, integrating careful exposition of classical developments with emerging methods, models, and practical needs. The authors' unparalleled treatment is an ideal text for a two-semester course and a variety of one-semester classes, from an introductory one-semester course to courses slanted toward classical graph theory, operations research, data structures and algorithms, or algebra and topology. Features of the Third Edition Expanded coverage on several topics (e.g., applications of graph coloring and tree-decompositions) Provides better coverage of algorithms and algebraic and topological graph theory than any other text Incorporates several levels of carefully designed exercises that promote student retention and develop and sharpen problem-solving skills Includes supplementary exercises to develop problem-solving skills, solutions and hints, and a detailed appendix, which reviews the textbook's topics About the Authors Jonathan L. Gross is a professor of computer science at Columbia University. His research interests include topology and graph theory. Jay Yellen is a professor of mathematics at Rollins College. His current areas of research include graph theory, combinatorics, and algorithms. Mark Anderson is also a mathematics professor at Rollins College. His research interest in graph theory centers on the topological or algebraic side.

Examines various speech technologies deployed in healthcare service robots to maximize the robot's ability to interpret user input. Demonstrates how robot anthropomorphic features and etiquette in behavior promotes user-positive emotions, acceptance of robots, and compliance with robot requests. Analyzes how multimodal medical-service robots and other cyber-physical systems can reduce mistakes and mishaps in the operating room. Evaluates various input methods for improving acceptance of robots in the older adult population. Presents case studies of cognitively and socially engaging robots in the long-term care setting for helping older adults with activities of daily living and in the pediatric setting for helping children with autism spectrum conditions and metabolic disorders. Speech and Automata in Health Care forges new ground by closely analyzing how three separate disciplines - speech technology, robotics, and medical/surgical/assistive care - intersect with one another, resulting in an innovative way of diagnosing and treating both juvenile and adult illnesses and conditions. This includes the use of speech-enabled robotics to help the elderly population cope with common problems associated with aging caused by the diminution in their sensory, auditory and motor capabilities. By examining the emerging nexus of speech, automata, and health care, the authors demonstrate the exciting potential of automata, both speech-driven and multimodal, to affect the healthcare delivery system so that it better meets the needs of the populations it serves. This book provides both empirical research findings and incisive literature reviews that demonstrate some of the more novel uses of speech-enabled and multimodal automata in the operating room, hospital ward, long-term care facility, and in the home. Studies backed by major universities, research institutes, and by EU-funded collaborative projects are debuted in this volume. This volume provides a wealth of timely material for industrial engineers, speech scientists, computational linguists, and for signal processing and intelligent systems design experts. Topics include: Spoken Interaction with Healthcare Robots Service Robot Feature Effects on Patient Acceptance/Emotional Response Designing Embodied and Virtual Agents for the Operating Room The Emerging Role of Robotics for Personal Health Management in the Older-Adult Population Why Input Methods for Robots that Serve the Older Adult Are Critical for Usability Socially and Cognitively Engaging Robots in the Long-Term Care Setting Voice-Enabled Assistive Robots for Managing Autism Spectrum Conditions ASR and TTS for Voice-Controlled Robot Interactions in Treating Children with Metabolic Disorders

"Symmetries and Semi-invariants in the Analysis of Nonlinear Systems" details the analysis of continuous- and discrete-time dynamical systems described by differential and difference equations respectively. Differential geometry provides the essential tools for the analysis, tools such as first-integrals or orbital symmetries, together with normal forms of vector fields and of maps. The use of such tools allows the solution of some important problems, studied in detail in the text, which includelinearization by state immersionand the computation of nonlinear superposition formulae for nonlinear systems described by solvable Lie algebras.

The theory is developed for general nonlinear systems and, in view of their importance for modeling physical systems, specialized for the class of Hamiltonian systems. By using the strong geometric structure of Hamiltonian systems, the results proposed are stated in a quite different, less complex and more easily comprehensible manner. Throughout the text the results are illustrated by many examples, some of them being physically motivated systems, so that the reader can appreciate how much insight is gained by means of these techniques. Various control systems applications of the techniques are characterized including:

. computation of the flow of nonlinear systems;

. computation of semi-invariants;

. computation of Lyapunov functions for stability analysis.

"Symmetries and Semi-invariants in the Analysis of Nonlinear Systems" will be of interest to researchers and graduate students studying control theory, particularly with respect to nonlinear systems. All the necessary background and mathematical derivations are related in detail but in a simple writing style that makes the book accessible in depth to readers having a standard knowledge of real analysis, linear algebra and systems theory. "

The main focus of this book is a pair of cooperative control problems: consensus and cooperative output regulation. Its emphasis is on complex multi-agent systems characterized by strong nonlinearity, large uncertainty, heterogeneity, external disturbances and jointly connected switching communication topologies. The cooperative output regulation problem is a generalization of the classical output regulation problem to multi-agent systems and it offers a general framework for handling a variety of cooperative control problems such as consensus, formation, tracking and disturbance rejection. The book strikes a balance between rigorous mathematical proof and engineering practicality. Every design method is systematically presented together with illustrative examples and all the designs are validated by computer simulation. The methods presented are applied to several practical problems, among them the leader-following consensus problem of multiple Euler-Lagrange systems, attitude synchronization of multiple rigid-body systems, and power regulation of microgrids. The book gives a detailed exposition of two approaches to the design of distributed control laws for complex multi-agent systems-the distributed-observer and distributed-internal-model approaches. Mastering both will enhance a reader's ability to deal with a variety of complex real-world problems. Cooperative Control of Multi-agent Systems can be used as a textbook for graduate students in engineering, sciences, and mathematics, and can also serve as a reference book for practitioners and theorists in both industry and academia. Some knowledge of the fundamentals of linear algebra, calculus, and linear systems are needed to gain maximum benefit from this book. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

"A First Course in Machine Learning by Simon Rogers and Mark Girolami is the best introductory book for ML currently available. It combines rigor and precision with accessibility, starts from a detailed explanation of the basic foundations of Bayesian analysis in the simplest of settings, and goes all the way to the frontiers of the subject such as infinite mixture models, GPs, and MCMC." -Devdatt Dubhashi, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chalmers University, Sweden "This textbook manages to be easier to read than other comparable books in the subject while retaining all the rigorous treatment needed. The new chapters put it at the forefront of the field by covering topics that have become mainstream in machine learning over the last decade." -Daniel Barbara, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, USA "The new edition of A First Course in Machine Learning by Rogers and Girolami is an excellent introduction to the use of statistical methods in machine learning. The book introduces concepts such as mathematical modeling, inference, and prediction, providing 'just in time' the essential background on linear algebra, calculus, and probability theory that the reader needs to understand these concepts." -Daniel Ortiz-Arroyo, Associate Professor, Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark "I was impressed by how closely the material aligns with the needs of an introductory course on machine learning, which is its greatest strength...Overall, this is a pragmatic and helpful book, which is well-aligned to the needs of an introductory course and one that I will be looking at for my own students in coming months." -David Clifton, University of Oxford, UK "The first edition of this book was already an excellent introductory text on machine learning for an advanced undergraduate or taught masters level course, or indeed for anybody who wants to learn about an interesting and important field of computer science. The additional chapters of advanced material on Gaussian process, MCMC and mixture modeling provide an ideal basis for practical projects, without disturbing the very clear and readable exposition of the basics contained in the first part of the book." -Gavin Cawley, Senior Lecturer, School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia, UK "This book could be used for junior/senior undergraduate students or first-year graduate students, as well as individuals who want to explore the field of machine learning...The book introduces not only the concepts but the underlying ideas on algorithm implementation from a critical thinking perspective." -Guangzhi Qu, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA