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Paul Greengrass directs this Iraq war thriller loosely based on the book 'Imperial Life in the Emerald City' by Washington Post journalist Rajiv Chandrasekaran. Matt Damon stars as Chief Army Warrant Officer Roy Miller, a specialist soldier who joins forces with Wall Street reporter Lawrie Dayne (Amy Ryan) to expose the hotbed of covert and faulty intelligence surrounding the search for Iraq's cache of weapons of mass destruction.
ward-winning historical drama starring Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. Rodeo cowboy and homophobic redneck Ron Woodroof (McConaughey)'s life is transformed drastically when a work-related accident results in him being diagnosed with AIDS. Given a life-expectancy of 30 days by his doctors, Ron initially continues his life in a state of denial but as the clock keeps ticking he becomes more and more interested in the background of the disease and its treatments. Learning that FDA-unapproved drugs are freely available over the border in Mexico, he takes matters into his own hands and begins transporting them into the United States. As word gets out about Ron's new venture, he is introduced to the local homosexual community and together with his new transgendered friend Rayon (Leto) he establishes the 'Dallas Buyers Club' which offers treatments to those in need. However, with the success of his business comes the attention of the FDA and local drug enforcement and he is soon engaged in a battle with the authorities who want to shut down the club. The film was nominated for six Academy Awards and won three, including Best Actor (McConaughey) and Best Supporting Actor (Leto). Both actors also received the corresponding accolades at the Golden Globes.
Here is the story of the boy from Brixton who became one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, returned to prominence in the 21st with music and visions informed by a sense of his own mortality and who through his life and work, changed lives and those of generations to come.
Natural Computing in Computational Finance is a innovative volume containing fifteen chapters which illustrate cutting-edge applications of natural computing or agent-based modeling in modern computational finance. Following an introductory chapter the book is organized into three sections. The first section deals with optimization applications of natural computing demonstrating the application of a broad range of algorithms including, genetic algorithms, differential evolution, evolution strategies, quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithms and bacterial foraging algorithms to multiple financial applications including portfolio optimization, fund allocation and asset pricing. The second section explores the use of natural computing methodologies such as genetic programming, neural network hybrids and fuzzy-evolutionary hybrids for model induction in order to construct market trading, credit scoring and market prediction systems. The final section illustrates a range of agent-based applications including the modeling of payment card and financial markets. Each chapter provides an introduction to the relevant natural computing methodology as well as providing a clear description of the financial application addressed. The book was written to be accessible to a wide audience and should be of interest to practitioners, academics and students, in the fields of both natural computing and finance.
Recent years have seen the widespread application of Natural Computing algorithms (broadly defined in this context as computer algorithms whose design draws inspiration from phenomena in the natural world) for the purposes of financial modelling and optimisation. A related stream of work has also seen the application of learning mechanisms drawn from Natural Computing algorithms for the purposes of agent-based modelling in finance and economics. In this book we have collected a series of chapters which illustrate these two faces of Natural Computing. The first part of the book illustrates how algorithms inspired by the natural world can be used as problem solvers to uncover and optimise financial models. The second part of the book examines a number agent-based simulations of financial systems. This book follows on from Natural Computing in Computational Finance (Volume 100 in Springer's Studies in Computational Intelligence series) which in turn arose from the success of EvoFIN 2007, the very first European Workshop on Evolutionary Computation in Finance & Economics held in Valencia, Spain in April 2007.
RecentyearshaveseentheapplicationofvariousNaturalComputing algorithms for the purposes of ?nancial modelling. In this context Natural Computing - gorithms can be broadly de?ned as computer algorithms whose design draws inspirationfromphenomena in the naturalworld. Particularfeatures of?nancial markets, including their dynamic and interconnected characteristics, bear p- allels with processes in the natural world and prima facie, this makes Natural Computingmethods'interesting'for?nancialmodellingapplications. Inaddition to the problem-solving potential of natural processes which Natural computing seeks to embody in its algorithms, we can also consider Natural Computing in terms of its potential to understand the natural processes which themselves serve as inspiration. For example, ?nancial and biological systems exhibit the phenomenon of emergence, or the activities of multiple individual agents c- bining to co-evolve their own environment, and a stream of work has emerged which applies learning mechanisms drawn from Natural Computing algorithms for the purposes of agent-based modelling in ?nance and economics. This book consists of eleven chapters each of which was selected following a rigorous,peer-reviewed,selectionprocess. Thechaptersillustratetheapplication of a range of cutting-edge natural computing and agent-based methodologies in computational ?nance and economics. While describing cutting edge appli- tions, the chapters are written so that they are accessible to a wide audience. Hence, they should be of interest to academics,students and practitionersin the ?elds of computational ?nance and economics.
The field of natural computing has been the focus of a substantial research effort in recent decades. One particular strand of this research concerns the development of computational algorithms using metaphorical inspiration from systems and phenomena that occur in the natural world. These naturally inspired computing algorithms have proven to be successful problem-solvers across domains as diverse as management science, bioinformatics, finance, marketing, engineering, architecture and design. This book is a comprehensive introduction to natural computing algorithms, suitable for academic and industrial researchers and for undergraduate and graduate courses on natural computing in computer science, engineering and management science.
Predicting the future for financial gain is a difficult, sometimes profitable activity. The focus of this book is the application of biologically inspired algorithms (BIAs) to financial modelling. In a detailed introduction, the authors explain computer trading on financial markets and the difficulties faced in financial market modelling. Then Part I provides a thorough guide to the various bioinspired methodologies neural networks, evolutionary computing (particularly genetic algorithms and grammatical evolution), particle swarm and ant colony optimization, and immune systems. Part II brings the reader through the development of market trading systems. Finally, Part III examines real-world case studies where BIA methodologies are employed to construct trading systems in equity and foreign exchange markets, and for the prediction of corporate bond ratings and corporate failures. The book was written for those in the finance community who want to apply BIAs in financial modelling, and for computer scientists who want an introduction to this growing application domain."
This book follows on from Natural Computing in Computational Finance Volumes I, II and III.As in the previous volumes of this series, thebook consists of a series of chapters each of which was selected following a rigorous, peer-reviewed, selection process. The chapters illustrate the application of a range of cutting-edge natural computing and agent-based methodologies in computational finance and economics. The applications explored include option model calibration, financial trend reversal detection, enhanced indexation, algorithmic trading, corporate payout determination and agent-based modeling of liquidity costs, and trade strategy adaptation. While describing cutting edge applications, the chapters are written so that they are accessible to a wide audience. Hence, they should be of interestto academics, students and practitioners in the fields of computational finance and economics. which was selected following a rigorous, peer-reviewed, selection process. The chapters illustrate the application of a range of cutting-edge natural computing and agent-based methodologies in computational finance and economics. The applications explored include option model calibration, financial trend reversal detection, enhanced indexation, algorithmic trading, corporate payout determination and agent-based modeling of liquidity costs, and trade strategy adaptation. While describing cutting edge applications, the chapters are written so that they are accessible to a wide audience. Hence, they should be of interestto academics, students and practitioners in the fields of computational finance and economics. The applications explored include option model calibration, financial trend reversal detection, enhanced indexation, algorithmic trading, corporate payout determination and agent-based modeling of liquidity costs, and trade strategy adaptation. While describing cutting edge applications, the chapters are written so that they are accessible to a wide audience. Hence, they should be of interestto academics, students and practitioners in the fields of computational finance and economics. written so that they are accessible to a wide audience. Hence, they should be of interestto academics, students and practitioners in the fields of computational finance and economics."
This is the incredible illustrated story of the Bee Gees, the band that Barry, Maurice and Robin, the brothers Gibb, formed in 1958. The trio were especially successful as a popular music act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers of the disco music era in the mid-to-late1970s with the soundtrack album Saturday Night Fever. The group sang recognizable three-part tight harmonies; Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals was the hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The Bee Gees have sold over 120 million records worldwide making them one of the world's best-selling artists of all time. The boys also wrote all of their own hits, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. The Bee Gees' Hall of Fame citation says, "Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have out sold the Bee Gees." Following Maurice's death in January 2003 at the age of 53, Barry and Robin retired the group's name after 45 years of activity.
This handbook offers a comprehensive treatise on Grammatical Evolution (GE), a grammar-based Evolutionary Algorithm that employs a function to map binary strings into higher-level structures such as programs. GE's simplicity and modular nature make it a very flexible tool. Since its introduction almost twenty years ago, researchers have applied it to a vast range of problem domains, including financial modelling, parallel programming and genetics. Similarly, much work has been conducted to exploit and understand the nature of its mapping scheme, triggering additional research on everything from different grammars to alternative mappers to initialization. The book first introduces GE to the novice, providing a thorough description of GE along with historical key advances. Two sections follow, each composed of chapters from international leading researchers in the field. The first section concentrates on analysis of GE and its operation, giving valuable insight into set up and deployment. The second section consists of seven chapters describing radically different applications of GE. The contributions in this volume are beneficial to both novices and experts alike, as they detail the results and researcher experiences of applying GE to large scale and difficult problems. Topics include: * Grammar design * Bias in GE * Mapping in GE * Theory of disruption in GE * Structured GE * Geometric semantic GE * GE and semantics * Multi- and Many-core heterogeneous parallel GE * Comparing methods to creating constants in GE * Financial modelling with GE * Synthesis of parallel programs on multi-cores * Design, architecture and engineering with GE * Computational creativity and GE * GE in the prediction of glucose for diabetes * GE approaches to bioinformatics and system genomics * GE with coevolutionary algorithms in cybersecurity * Evolving behaviour trees with GE for platform games * Business analytics and GE for the prediction of patient recruitment in multicentre clinical trials
This book is a much-needed scholarly intervention and postcolonial corrective that examines why and when and how misunderstandings of Chinese writing came about and showcases the long history of Chinese theories of language. 'Ideography' as such assumes extra-linguistic, trans-historical, universal 'ideas' which are an outgrowth of Platonism and thus unique to European history. Classical Chinese discourse assumes that language (and writing) is an arbitrary artifact invented by sages for specific reasons at specific times in history. Language by this definition is an ever-changing technology amenable to historical manipulation; language is not the House of Being, but rather a historically embedded social construct that encodes quotidian human intentions and nothing more. These are incommensurate epistemes, each with its own cultural milieu and historical context. By comparing these two traditions, this study historicizes and decolonializes popular notions about Chinese characters, exposing the Eurocentrism inherent in all theories of ideography. Ideography and Chinese Language Theory will be of significant interest to historians, sinologists, theorists, and scholars in other branches of the humanities.
Grammatical Evolution: Evolutionary Automatic Programming in an Arbitrary Language provides the first comprehensive introduction to Grammatical Evolution, a novel approach to Genetic Programming that adopts principles from molecular biology in a simple and useful manner, coupled with the use of grammars to specify legal structures in a search. Grammatical Evolution's rich modularity gives a unique flexibility, making it possible to use alternative search strategies - whether evolutionary, deterministic or some other approach - and to even radically change its behavior by merely changing the grammar supplied. This approach to Genetic Programming represents a powerful new weapon in the Machine Learning toolkit that can be applied to a diverse set of problem domains.
Follow their incredible journey from students when the band formed in Cambridge in 1965 and consisted of Syd Barrett, Nick Mason, Roger Waters, Richard Wright with Dave Gilmour joining in 1967. Syd Barrett left in 1968 but remains synonymous with the group. Pink Floyd rose to become the most commercially successful and musically influential group in the history of popular music.
This lavishly illustrated hard back book tells the incredible story of Francis Albert Frank Sinatra and begins in Hoboken New Jersey on December 12th 1915 where Frank is born the only child of Italian immigrants. Beginning his musical career in the swing era as a boy singer with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra found success as a solo artist from the early 1940s after being signed by Columbia Records in 1943. Sinatra became one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide including the hits New York New York, My Way and Strangers in the Night. He was a founding member of the Rat Pack with Sammy Davis Junior and Dean Martin. Sinatra won an Academy Award for his performance in From Here to Eternity. He starred in a number of musicals including On the Town, Guys and Dolls and High Society. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. One of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century, Sinatra had a popularity that was later matched only by Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Michael Jackson. He has been called the greatest singer of the 20th Century.
Dynamic environments abound, encompassing many real-world problems in fields as diverse as finance, engineering, biology and business. A vibrant research literature has emerged which takes inspiration from evolutionary processes to develop problem-solvers for these environments. 'Foundations in Grammatical Evolution for Dynamic Environments' is a cutting edge volume illustrating current state of the art in applying grammar-based evolutionary computation to solve real-world problems in dynamic environments. The book provides a clear introduction to dynamic environments and the types of change that can occur. This is followed by a detailed description of evolutionary computation, concentrating on the powerful Grammatical Evolution methodology. It continues by addressing fundamental issues facing all Evolutionary Algorithms in dynamic problems, such as how to adapt and generate constants, how to enhance evolvability and maintain diversity. Finally, the developed methods are illustrated with application to the real-world dynamic problem of trading on financial time-series. The book was written to be accessible to a wide audience and should be of interest to practitioners, academics and students, who are seeking to apply grammar-based evolutionary algorithms to solve problems in dynamic environments. 'Foundations in Grammatical Evolution for Dynamic Environments' is the second book dedicated to the topic of Grammatical Evolution.
Michael D. Hurley and Michael O'Neill offer a perceptive and illuminating look into poetic form, a topic that has come back into prominence in recent years. Building on this renewed interest in form, Hurley and O'Neill provide an accessible and comprehensive introduction that will be of help to undergraduates and more advanced readers of poetry alike. The book sees form as neither ornamenting nor mimicking content, but as shaping and animating it, encouraging readers to cultivate techniques to read poems as poems. Lively and wide-ranging, engaging with poems as aesthetic experiences, the book includes a long chapter on the elements of form that throws new light on troubling terms such as rhythm and metre, as well as a detailed introduction and accessible, stimulating chapters on lyric, the sonnet, elegy, soliloquy, dramatic monologue and ballad and narrative.
In Percy Bysshe Shelley: A Literary Life Michael O'Neill gives a knowledgeable and balanced account of Shelley's literary career from his earliest published work to his last unfinished masterpiece, The Triumph of Life. The book draws on recent research about the poet and his age, but its sense of the ways in which texts and contexts interact is sharply independent. Issues discussed include Shelley's social background, his radical politics and his complex response to Enlightenment rationalism. O'Neill stresses Shelley's often disappointed search for an audience, connecting it with the growing sophistication of his poetry and poetics. For Shelley a poet was the 'combined product' of 'internal powers' and 'external influences' (Preface to Prometheus Unbound); this book explores how such a combination manifests itself in his own writings.
In the era of the Grand Tour, Venice was the cultural jewel in the crown of Europe and the epitome of decadence. This edited collection of eleven essays draws on a range of disciplines and approaches to ask how Venice's appeal has affected Western culture since 1800.
Soren Kierkegaard is often cast as the forefather of existentialism and an anti-Hegelian proponent of the single individual. Yet this book calls these traditional characterizations into question by arguing that Kierkegaard offers not only a systematic critique of idealist philosophy, but more surprisingly, a political ontology that is paradoxically at home in the context of twenty-first-century philosophical and political thought. Through a close consideration of his authorship in the context of nineteenth-century German idealism, Michael O'Neill Burns argues that Kierkegaard develops an ontology, anthropology and theory of the political that are outcomes of his critical appropriation of the philosophical projects of Hegel, Schelling, and Fichte. While starting out in the philosophical concerns of the nineteenth century, the book offers an interpretation of Kierkegaard that shows his relevance to philosophers and political theorists in the twenty-first century.
Soren Kierkegaard is often cast as the forefather of existentialism and an anti-Hegelian proponent of the single individual. Yet this book calls these traditional characterizations into question by arguing that Kierkegaard offers not only a systematic critique of idealist philosophy, but more surprisingly, a political ontology that is paradoxically at home in the context of twenty-first-century philosophical and political thought. Through a close consideration of his authorship in the context of nineteenth-century German idealism, Michael O'Neill Burns argues that Kierkegaard develops an ontology, anthropology and theory of the political that are outcomes of his critical appropriation of the philosophical projects of Hegel, Schelling, and Fichte. While starting out in the philosophical concerns of the nineteenth century, the book offers an interpretation of Kierkegaard that shows his relevance to philosophers and political theorists in the twenty-first century. |
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