An all-new anthology of eighteen classic myth retellings featuring an all-star lineup of award-winning and critically acclaimed writers. Madeleine L'Engle once said, "When we lose our myths we lose our place in the universe." The Mythic Dream gathers together eighteen stories that reclaim the myths that shaped our collective past, and use them to explore our present and future. From Hades and Persephone to Kali, from Loki to Inanna, this anthology explores retellings of myths across cultures and civilizations. Featuring award-winning and critically acclaimed writers such as Seanan McGuire, Naomi Novik, Rebecca Roanhorse, JY Yang, Alyssa Wong, Indrapramit Das, Carlos Hernandez, Sarah Gailey, Ann Leckie, John Chu, Urusla Vernon, Carmen Maria Machado, Stephen Graham Jones, Arkady Martine, Amal El-Mohtar, Jeffrey Ford, and more, The Mythic Dream is sure to become a new classic.

This book presents an overview of archiving strategies developed over the last years by the authors that deal with suitable approximations of the sets of optimal and nearly optimal solutions of multi-objective optimization problems by means of stochastic search algorithms. All presented archivers are analyzed with respect to the approximation qualities of the limit archives that they generate and the upper bounds of the archive sizes. The convergence analysis will be done using a very broad framework that involves all existing stochastic search algorithms and that will only use minimal assumptions on the process to generate new candidate solutions. All of the presented archivers can effortlessly be coupled with any set-based multi-objective search algorithm such as multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, and the resulting hybrid method takes over the convergence properties of the chosen archiver. This book hence targets at all algorithm designers and practitioners in the field of multi-objective optimization.

This book presents an overview of archiving strategies developed over the last years by the authors that deal with suitable approximations of the sets of optimal and nearly optimal solutions of multi-objective optimization problems by means of stochastic search algorithms. All presented archivers are analyzed with respect to the approximation qualities of the limit archives that they generate and the upper bounds of the archive sizes. The convergence analysis will be done using a very broad framework that involves all existing stochastic search algorithms and that will only use minimal assumptions on the process to generate new candidate solutions. All of the presented archivers can effortlessly be coupled with any set-based multi-objective search algorithm such as multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, and the resulting hybrid method takes over the convergence properties of the chosen archiver. This book hence targets at all algorithm designers and practitioners in the field of multi-objective optimization.

This book presents the latest algorithmic developments in the cell-mapping method for the global analysis of nonlinear dynamic systems, global solutions for multi-objective optimization problems, and global solutions for zeros of complex algebraic equations. It also discusses related engineering and scientific applications, including the nonlinear design of structures for better vibration resistance and reliability; multi-objective, structural-acoustic design for sound abatement; optimal multi-objective design of airfoils for better lift; and optimal multi-objective design of linear and nonlinear controls with or without time delay. The first book on the subject to include extensive Matlab and C++ codes, it presents various implementation algorithms of the cell-mapping method, enabling readers to understand how the method works and its programming aspects. A link to the codes on the Springer website will be provided to the readers.

Brain Inspired Cognitive Systems - BICS 2010 aims to bring together leading scientists and engineers who use analytic and synthetic methods both to understand the astonishing processing properties of biological systems and specifically of the brain, and to exploit such knowledge to advance engineering methods to build artificial systems with higher levels of cognitive competence. BICS is a meeting point of brain scientists and cognitive systems engineers where cross-domain ideas are fostered in the hope of getting emerging insights on the nature, operation and extractable capabilities of brains. This multiple approach is necessary because the progressively more accurate data about the brain is producing a growing need of a quantitative understanding and an associated capacity to manipulate this data and translate it into engineering applications rooted in sound theories. BICS 2010 is intended for both researchers that aim to build brain inspired systems with higher cognitive competences, and for life scientists who use and develop mathematical and engineering approaches for a better understanding of complex biological systems like the brain. Four major interlaced focal symposia are planned for this conference and these are organized into patterns that encourage cross-fertilization across the symposia topics. This emphasizes the role of BICS as a major meeting point for researchers and practitioners in the areas of biological and artificial cognitive systems. Debates across disciplines will enrich researchers with complementary perspectives from diverse scientific fields. BICS 2010 will take place July 14-16, 2010, in Madrid, Spain.

Presents a hands-on view of the field of multi-view stereo with a focus on practical algorithms. Multi-view stereo algorithms are able to construct highly detailed 3D models from images alone. They take a possibly very large set of images and construct a 3D plausible geometry that explains the images under some reasonable assumptions, the most important being scene rigidity. Multi-View Stereo: A Tutorial frames the multiview stereo problem as an image/geometry consistency optimization problem. It describes in detail its main two ingredients: robust implementations of photometric consistency measures, and efficient optimization algorithms. It then presents how these main ingredients are used by some of the most successful algorithms, applied into real applications, and deployed as products in the industry. Finally, it describes more advanced approaches exploiting domain-specific knowledge such as structural priors, and gives an overview of the remaining challenges and future research directions.

Each one of us has experienced one miracle in our lifetime. Whether it was small or big, God touched you leaving His love and strength in you. This book will encourage you to live a new life from the healing touch of God. You will understand your new calling as you read about people's historic and everyday miracles, how it affected and changed their lives forever. Miracles are a gift from God showing his love in all of us forever.