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Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering: Commemorative Conference for the 110th Anniversary of Xuesen Qian’s Birth and the 40th Anniversary of Founding of Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering (Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering #800)
by Shengzhao Long Balbir S. DhillonMan-Machine-Environment System Engineering: Proceedings of the 21st Conference on MMESE is the academic showcase of best research papers selected from more than 500 submissions each year. From this book reader will learn the best research topics and the latest development trend in MMESE design theory and other human-centered system application.MMESE focus mainly on the relationship between Man, Machine and Environment. It studies the optimum combination of man-machine-environment systems. In the system, the Man means the working people as the subject in the workplace (e.g. operator, decision-maker); the Machine means the general name of any object controlled by the Man (including tool, Machinery, Computer, system and technology), the Environment means the specially working conditions under which Man and Machine occupy together(e.g. temperature, noise, vibration, hazardous gases etc.). The three goals of the optimization of the system are safety, efficiency and economy.In 1981 with direct support from one of the greatest modern Chinese scientists, Qian Xuesen, Man-Machine-Environment System Engineering (MMESE), the integrated and advanced science research topic was established in China by Professor Shengzhao Long. In the letter to Shengzhao Long, in October 22nd, 1993, Qian Xuesen wrote: “You have created a very important modern science subject and technology in China!”.
Man-Machine Speech Communication: 18th National Conference, NCMMSC 2023, Suzhou, China, December 8–10, 2023, Proceedings (Communications in Computer and Information Science #2006)
by Jia Jia Zhenhua Ling Xie Chen Ya Li Zixing ZhangThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th National Conference on Man-Machine Speech Communication, NCMMSC 2023, held in Suzhou, China, during December 8–11, 2023.The 20 full papers and 11 short papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 117 submissions. They deal with topics such as speech recognition, synthesis, enhancement and coding, audio/music/singing synthesis, avatar, speaker recognition and verification, human–computer dialogue systems, large language models as well as phonetic and linguistic topics such as speech prosody analysis, pathological speech analysis, experimental phonetics, acoustic scene classification.
Man-Machine Speech Communication: 19th National Conference, NCMMSC 2024, Urumqi, China, August 15–18, 2024, Proceedings (Communications in Computer and Information Science #2312)
by Zhenhua Ling Xie Chen Askar Hamdulla Liang He Ya LiThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 19th National Conference on Man-Machine Speech Communication, NCMMSC 2024, held in Urumqi, China, during August 15–18, 2024. The 33 papers included in these proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from 205 submissions. They deal with topics such as speech technology and large language models, audio processing, prosody modeling and dialogue systems. Key areas include speech recognition, speaker identification and verification, speech/sound/music synthesis, speech enhancement, sound event detection, multimodal systems, conversational AI, phonetics, phonology and prosody analysis, auditory processing, and acoustic scene modeling etc.
Man-Machine Speech Communication: 17th National Conference, NCMMSC 2022, Hefei, China, December 15–18, 2022, Proceedings (Communications in Computer and Information Science #1765)
by Ling Zhenhua Gao Jianqing Yu Kai Jia JiaThis book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th National Conference on Man–Machine Speech Communication, NCMMSC 2022, held in China, in December 2022.The 21 full papers and 7 short papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 108 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: MCPN: A Multiple Cross-Perception Network for Real-Time Emotion Recognition in Conversation.- Baby Cry Recognition Based on Acoustic Segment Model, MnTTS2 An Open-Source Multi-Speaker Mongolian Text-to-Speech Synthesis Dataset.
Man-Made: How the bias of the past is being built into the future
by Tracey SpicerWalkley Award-winning journalist Tracey Spicer exposes the next frontier of feminism. Man-Made aims to open readers&’ eyes to a transformative technological shift in society and give them the tools to make positive change. `Mum, I want a robot slave.&’ Broadcaster Tracey Spicer had an epiphany when her young son uttered these six words. Suddenly, her life&’s work fighting inequality seemed futile. What&’s the point in agitating to change the present, if bigotry is being embedded into our futures? And so began a quest to uncover who was responsible and hold them to account. Who is the ultimate villain? Big Tech, whose titans refuse to spend money to fix the problem? The world&’s politicians, who lack the will to legislate? Or should we all be walking into a hall of mirrors and taking a good, hard look at ourselves…? This is a deeply researched, illuminating and gripping ride into an uncertain future, culminating in a resounding call to action that will shake the tech sector to its foundations.Praise for Man-Made &‘Exhilarating … The book we need as we grapple with how AI will change our lives and our world.&’ Dame Quentin Bryce &‘Brilliant, hilarious and terrifying. You&’ll never see Alexa the same way again.&’ Juanita Phillips &‘Tracey Spicer uses her unmistakably human voice to warn us all about the deeply sexist Frankenstein&’s Monster that is modern AI.&’ Yumi Stynes
Man-Made Closed Ecological Systems
by J.I. Gitelson G.M. LisovskyProviding a broad historical perspective, this book explores the interactions between humans, microorganisms, and plants in a closed habitat, and the life support systems necessary to maintain habitability over long periods of time. Topics include the cultivation of bacteria, microalgae and higher plants; the use of biotechnology to support life outside the Earth's biosphere; methods for recycling air, water and food for human consumption; interactions between humans and other organisms in CMESs; and methods for intensifying the level of photosynthesis. In addition to space the authors investigate problems associated with living conditions in dangerous or difficult environmental areas on Earth such as the Arctic and Antarctica, deserts and mountains.
Man-Made Sun: Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) Fusion Reactor (China’s Big Science Facilities)
by Baonian WanThis book introduces the research process and principles of the controlled super-coupling nuclear fusion experiment at the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) nuclear fusion reactor in Hefei, China. It uses straightforward language to explain how nuclear fusion can provide safe, environmentally friendly, clean, and inexhaustible energy in future. EAST is the world’s first fully superconducting, non-circular cross-section tokamak nuclear fusion experimental device, independently developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences. This book helps demonstrate China’s cutting-edge scientific and technological advances to the rest of the world, helps spread the scientific spirit to people around the globe, and promotes prosperity and development. The book is intended for all non-experts who would like to learn more about nuclear energy and related technologies.
Man-Made Women: The Sexual Politics of Sex Dolls and Sex Robots (Social and Cultural Studies of Robots and AI)
by Kathleen Richardson Charlotta OdlindThis book presents a unique, feminist approach to ‘sex’ dolls and ‘sex’ robots, taking a critical look at the academic and business narratives that serve to rationalise them. As new forms of pornography (porn robots), this edited volume provides an urgent women’s centred critique. The emergence of ‘sex’ robots is situated within the wider context of the attack on women’s rights and the relentless rise of techno-pornography. As an outgrowth of the industries of prostitution, pornography and child sex abuse, these objects offer new ways to dehumanise women and girls. While support for ‘sex’ robots is positioned as progressive and emancipatory, the contributors in this volume argue they reduce women to consumable parts. They explore how law, the arts, ethics, economy, politics and culture are interconnected with harmful technological developments.
Man-Made Wonders of the World (DK Wonders of the World)
by DKDiscover the most incredible man-made wonders, from Stonehenge to Burj Khalifa, with this unparalleled catalog of the most famous and intriguing buildings and monuments created by humans.Man-Made Wonders of the World features a range of structures from buildings to monuments, statues, and bridges, including the Golden Gate Bridge and Hoover Dam. It opens with a foreword by Dan Cruickshank and then takes the reader on a continent-by-continent journey, exploring and charting the innovations, ingenuity, and imagination employed by different cultures to create iconic buildings such as the Great Pyramid of Giza. This truly global approach reveals how humans tackled similar challenges, such as keeping the enemy out, in vastly different parts of the world, from the Great Wall of China to the defensive walls of Central American cities. Illustrations explain how the structures were built, while explanations cover the history, architecture, and unique stories behind their construction. Featuring breathtaking images, Man-Made Wonders of the World is a complete celebration of the world humans have built over thousands of years.
Man of the Hour: James B. Conant, Warrior Scientist
by Jennet ConantThe remarkable life of one of the most influential men of the greatest generation, James B. Conant—a savvy architect of the nuclear age and the Cold War—told by his granddaughter, New York Times bestselling author Jennet Conant.James Bryant Conant was a towering figure. He was at the center of the mammoth threats and challenges of the twentieth century. As a young eminent chemist, he supervised the production of poison gas in WWI. As a controversial president of Harvard University, he was a champion of meritocracy and open admissions. As an advisor to FDR, he led the interventionist cause for US entrance in WWII. During that war, Conant was the administrative director of the Manhattan Project, oversaw the development of the atomic bomb and argued that it be used against the industrial city of Hiroshima in Japan. Later, he urged the Atomic Energy Commission to reject the hydrogen bomb, and devoted the rest of his life to campaigning for international control of atomic weapons. As Eisenhower’s high commissioner to Germany, he helped to plan German recovery and was an architect of the United States’ Cold War policy. Now New York Times bestselling author Jennet Conant recreates the cataclysmic events of the twentieth century as her grandfather James experienced them. She describes the guilt, fears, and sometimes regret of those who invented and deployed the bombs and the personal toll it took. From the White House to Los Alamos to Harvard University, Man of the Hour is based on hundreds of documents and diaries, interviews with Manhattan Projects scientists, Harvard colleagues, and Conant’s friends and family, including her father, James B. Conant’s son. This is a very intimate, up-close look at some of the most argued cases of modern times—among them the use of chemical weapons, the decision to drop the bomb, Oppenheimer’s fate, the politics of post-war Germany and the Cold War—the repercussions of which are still affecting our world today.
Man vs Big Data: Everyday Data Explained
by Stewart CowleyHave you ever wondered how to beat the bookies? How does your computer know you might like this song? Should you be worried about this?... We can&’t answer that for you, but Man vs Big Data does explore the numerous ways in which &‘Big Data&’ has, sometimes imperceptibly, infiltrated our lives. Everything we do leaves a trail of data behind, from buying something on a credit card, to using a GPS-enabled mobile phone – whether you know it or not, like it or not, Big Data is now a part of modern life. Heralded as the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it is now more crucial than ever to learn about how data is affecting the way we live. Man vs Big Data proves that this topic is one of the most important subjects facing us today and helps you get to grips with what that means for you.
The Man Who Caught the Storm: The Life of Legendary Tornado Chaser Tim Samaras
by Brantley Hargrove“An instant classic of Americana—a story of tragedy, invention, lore, science, and a most original kind of genius.” —Hampton Sides “Masterful. This is what man versus nature is all about.” —Skip Hollandsworth The Man Who Caught the Storm is the saga of the greatest tornado chaser who ever lived: a tale of obsession and daring, and an extraordinary account of humanity’s high-stakes race to understand nature’s fiercest phenomenon.At the turn of the twenty-first century, the tornado was one of the last true mysteries of the modern world. It was a monster that ravaged the American heartland a thousand times each year, yet science’s every effort to divine its inner workings had ended in failure. Researchers all but gave up, until the arrival of an outsider. In a field of PhDs, Tim Samaras didn’t attend a day of college in his life. He chased storms with brilliant tools of his own invention and pushed closer to the tornado than anyone else ever dared. When he achieved what meteorologists had deemed impossible, it was as if he had snatched the fire of the gods. Yet even as he transformed the field, Samaras kept on pushing. As his ambitions grew, so did the risks. And when he finally met his match—in a faceoff against the largest tornado ever recorded—it upended everything he thought he knew. Brantley Hargrove delivers a masterful tale, chronicling the life of Tim Samaras in all its triumph and tragedy. He takes readers inside the thrill of the chase, the captivating science of tornadoes, and the remarkable character of a man who walked the line between life and death in pursuit of knowledge. Following the tradition of Into Thin Air and The Perfect Storm, Hargrove’s debut offers an unforgettable exploration of obsession and the extremes of the natural world.
The Man Who Changed Everything
by Basil MahonThis is the first biography in twenty years of James Clerk Maxwell, one of the greatest scientists of our time and yet a man relatively unknown to the wider public. Approaching science with a freshness unbound by convention or previous expectations, he produced some of the most original scientific thinking of the nineteenth century -- and his discoveries went on to shape the twentieth century.
The Man Who Deciphered Linear B: The Story of Michael Ventris
by Andrew Robinson"Highly readable . . . a fitting tribute to the quiet outsider who taught the professionals their business and increased our knowledge of the human past."--Archaeology Odyssey More than a century ago, in 1900, one of the great archaeological finds of all time was made in Crete. Arthur Evans discovered what he believed was the palace of King Minos, with its notorious labyrinth, home of the Minotaur. As a result, Evans became obsessed with one of the epic intellectual stories of the modern era: the search for the meaning of Linear B, the mysterious script found on clay tablets in the ruined palace. Evans died without achieving his objective, and it was left to the enigmatic Michael Ventris to crack the code in 1952. This is the first book to tell not just the story of Linear B but also that of the young man who deciphered it. Based on hundreds of unpublished letters, interviews with survivors, and other primary sources, Andrew Robinson's riveting account takes the reader through the life of this intriguing and contradictory man. Stage by stage, we see how Ventris finally achieved the breakthrough that revealed Linear B as the earliest comprehensible European writing system.
The Man Who Designed the Future: Norman Bel Geddes and the Invention of Twentieth-Century America
by B. Alexandra SzerlipBefore there was Steve Jobs, there was Norman Bel Geddes. A ninth-grade dropout who found himself at the center of the worlds of industry, advertising, theater, and even gaming, Bel Geddes designed everything from the first all-weather stadium, to Manhattan's most exclusive nightclub, to Futurama, the prescient 1939 exhibit that envisioned how America would look in the not-too-distant 60s. In The Man Who Designed the Future, B. Alexandra Szerlip reveals precisely how central Bel Geddes was to the history of American innovation. He presided over a moment in which theater became immersive, function merged with form, and people became consumers. A polymath with humble Midwestern origins, Bel Geddes’ visionary career would launch him into social circles with the Algonquin roundtable members, stars of stage and screen, and titans of industry. Light on its feet but absolutely authoritative, this first major biography is a must for anyone who wants to know how America came to look the way it did.
The Man Who Invented Roller Skates
by Laura F. NielsenRegarded as a mechanical genius, John Joseph Merlin is sadly remembered most for a party at the Carlisle House, where he careened into the hostesses' plate glass mirror, wearing his newly invented roller skates, and playing the violin.
The Man Who Invented the Computer
by Jane SmileyFrom one of our most acclaimed novelists, a David-and-Goliath biography for the digital age.One night in the late 1930s, in a bar on the Illinois-Iowa border, John Vincent Atanasoff, a professor of physics at Iowa State University, after a frustrating day performing tedious mathematical calculations in his lab, hit on the idea that the binary number system and electronic switches, combined with an array of capacitors on a moving drum to serve as memory, could yield a computing machine that would make his life and the lives of other similarly burdened scientists easier. Then he went back and built the machine. It worked. The whole world changed. Why don't we know the name of John Atanasoff as well as we know those of Alan Turing and John von Neumann? Because he never patented the device, and because the developers of the far-better-known ENIAC almost certainly stole critical ideas from him. But in 1973 a court declared that the patent on that Sperry Rand device was invalid, opening the intellectual property gates to the computer revolution. Jane Smiley tells the quintessentially American story of the child of immigrants John Atanasoff with technical clarity and narrative drive, making the race to develop digital computing as gripping as a real-life techno-thriller.From the Hardcover edition.
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan
by Robert KanigelThe Man Who Knew Infinity is the true story of a friendship between Srinivasa Ramanujan and G.H. Hardy that forever changed mathematics. In 1913, a young unschooled Indian clerk wrote a letter to G H Hardy, begging the pre-eminent English mathematician's opinion on several ideas he had about numbers. Realising the letter was the work of a genius, Hardy arranged for Srinivasa Ramanujan to come to England. Thus began one of the most improbable and productive collaborations ever chronicled.With a passion for rich and evocative detail, Robert Kanigel takes us from the temples and slums of Madras to the courts and chapels of Cambridge University, where the devout Hindu Ramanujan, 'the Prince of Intuition,' tested his brilliant theories alongside the sophisticated and eccentric Hardy, 'the Apostle of Proof'. In time, Ramanujan's creative intensity took its toll: he died at the age of thirty-two and left behind a magical and inspired legacy that is still being plumbed for its secrets today.
The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth
by Paul Hoffman"A funny, marvelously readable portrait of one of the most brilliant and eccentric men in history." --The Seattle Times Paul Erdos was an amazing and prolific mathematician whose life as a world-wandering numerical nomad was legendary. He published almost 1500 scholarly papers before his death in 1996, and he probably thought more about math problems than anyone in history. Like a traveling salesman offering his thoughts as wares, Erdos would show up on the doorstep of one mathematician or another and announce, "My brain is open." After working through a problem, he'd move on to the next place, the next solution. Hoffman's book, like Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash, A Beautiful Mind, reveals a genius's life that transcended the merely quirky. But Erdos's brand of madness was joyful, unlike Nash's despairing schizophrenia. Erdos never tried to dilute his obsessive passion for numbers with ordinary emotional interactions, thus avoiding hurting the people around him, as Nash did. Oliver Sacks writes of Erdos: "A mathematical genius of the first order, Paul Erdos was totally obsessed with his subject--he thought and wrote mathematics for nineteen hours a day until the day he died. He traveled constantly, living out of a plastic bag, and had no interest in food, sex, companionship, art--all that is usually indispensable to a human life."The Man Who Loved Only Numbers is easy to love, despite his strangeness. It's hard not to have affection for someone who referred to children as "epsilons," from the Greek letter used to represent small quantities in mathematics; a man whose epitaph for himself read, "Finally I am becoming stupider no more"; and whose only really necessary tool to do his work was a quiet and open mind. Hoffman, who followed and spoke with Erdos over the last 10 years of his life, introduces us to an undeniably odd, yet pure and joyful, man who loved numbers more than he loved God--whom he referred to as SF, for Supreme Fascist. He was often misunderstood, and he certainly annoyed people sometimes, but Paul Erdos is no doubt missed. --Therese Littleton
The Man Who Made Movies: W.K.L. Dickson
by Paul SpehrThe story of W.K.L. Dickson—assistant to Edison, inventor, and key figure in early cinematography: “Valuable and comprehensive.” —Communication Booknotes QuarterlyW.K.L. Dickson was Thomas Edison’s assistant in charge of the experimentation that led to the Kinetoscope and Kinetograph—the first commercially successful moving image machines. In 1891–1892, he established what we know today as the 35mm format. Dickson also designed the Black Maria film studio and facilities to develop and print film, and supervised production of more than one hundred films for Edison.After leaving Edison, he became a founding member of the American Mutoscope Company, which later became the American Mutoscope & Biograph, then Biograph. In 1897, he went to England to set up the European branch of the company. Over the course of his career, Dickson made between five hundred and seven hundred films, which are studied today by scholars of the early cinema. This well-illustrated book offers a window onto early film history from the perspective of Dickson’s own oeuvre.
The Man Who Organized Nature: The Life of Linnaeus
by Professor Gunnar BrobergA vivid portrait of the life and work of Carl LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus (1707–1778), known as the father of modern biological taxonomy, formalized and popularized the system of binomial nomenclature used to classify plants and animals. Linnaeus himself classified thousands of species; the simple and immediately recognizable abbreviation &“L&” is used to mark classifications originally made by Linnaeus. This biography, by the leading authority on Linnaeus, offers a vivid portrait of Linnaeus&’s life and work. Drawing on a wide range of previously unpublished sources—including diaries and personal correspondence—as well as new research, it presents revealing and original accounts of his family life, the political context in which he pursued his work, and his eccentric views on sexuality.The Man Who Organized Nature describes Linnaeus&’s childhood in a landscape of striking natural beauty and how this influenced his later work. Linnaeus&’s Lutheran pastor father, knowledgeable about plants and an enthusiastic gardener, helped foster an early interest in botany. The book examines the political connections that helped Linnaeus secure patronage for his work, and untangles his ideas about sexuality. These were not, as often assumed, an attempt to naturalize gender categories but more likely reflected the laissez-faire attitudes of the era. Linnaeus, like many other brilliant scientists, could be moody and egotistical; the book describes his human failings as well as his medical and scientific achievements. Written in an engaging and accessible style, The Man Who Organized Nature provides new and fascinating insights into the life of one of history&’s most consequential and enigmatic scientists.
The Man Who Saw Tomorrow: The Life and Inventions of Stanford R. Ovshinsky (The\mit Press Ser.)
by Lillian Hoddeson Peter GarrettThe first full-length biography of a brilliant, self-taught inventor whose innovations in information and energy technology continue to shape our world.The Economist called Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1922–2012) “the Edison of our age,” but this apt comparison doesn't capture the full range of his achievements. As an independent, self-educated inventor, Ovshinsky not only created many important devices but also made fundamental discoveries in materials science. This book offers the first full-length biography of a visionary whose energy and information innovations continue to fuel our post-industrial economy.In The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, Lillian Hoddeson and Peter Garrett tell the story of an unconventional genius with no formal education beyond high school who invented, among other things, the rechargeable nickel metal hydride batteries that have powered everything from portable electronics to hybrid cars, a system for mass-producing affordable thin-film solar panels, and rewritable CDs and DVDs. His most important discovery, the Ovshinsky effect, led to a paradigm shift in condensed matter physics and yielded phase-change memory, which is now enabling new advances in microelectronics. A son of the working class who began as a machinist and toolmaker, Ovshinsky focused his work on finding solutions to urgent social problems, and to pursue those goals, he founded Energy Conversion Devices, a unique research and development lab. At the end of his life, battered by personal and professional losses, Ovshinsky nevertheless kept working to combat global warming by making solar energy “cheaper than coal”—another of his many visions of a better tomorrow.
The Man Who Went to the Far Side of the Moon: The Story of Apollo 11 Astronaut Michael Collins
by Bea Uusma Schyffert Emi GunerMichael Collins is one of the few men who has ever seen the far side of the moon. In this book, you will see the notes he wrote while flying in space, the special things he brought, and even what he ate for breakfast.
Manage Your Own Learning Analytics: Implement a Rasch Modelling Approach (Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies #261)
by Elspeth McKayThis book sheds light on the practice of learning analytics, illuminating how others approach their data analysis. At the beginning of the book, a ‘prescriptive learning analytics planning model’ gives straightforward instructions for people to follow. This book is organized into ten chapters, falling into four topical sections: Managing Learning Analytics (overview, instructional systems design (ISD), instructional design, and planning data analysis); Cognitive Performance Measurement Practices (classical test theory (CTT), Rasch measurement theory (RMT), Item response theory(IRT), Rasch Modeling Tools (research design, setting methodology); and Case Studies (corporate training settings, healthcare industry, and educational courseware design). This book is an important reference for: educational research community and instructional systems designers; corporate training developers; postgraduate course developers; and doctoral students.
Managed Groundwater Recharge and Rainwater Harvesting: Outlook from Developing Countries (Water Resources Development and Management)
by Dipankar Saha Karen G. Villholth Mohamed ShamrukhThis book, through its 19 chapters, highlights success stories, research outputs and various government schemes and actions taken on groundwater recharge and rainwater harvesting in developing countries. The interventions are focused on resolving water crises through supply side interventions, improving water quality and addressing climate change impacts. The contributions from across the globe shows how these approaches have been successful in supplementing potable water supply, reducing the intensity of overexploitation of groundwater resources, better storm water management, intensifying treated grey water reuse, and improving groundwater quality and environmental flows. The chapters deal with a wide array of issues, from local-scale experimentation and management to government schemes adopted, community involvement, private sector engagement, addressing socio-economic issues and policy interventions. The book includes contributions made by researchers, government departments, civil societies, policymakers and practitioners from 15 Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and other developing countries, namely Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Jordan, Morocco, Nigeria, Palestine, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Tunisia. The book places before the readers, the strives being undertaken in the Global South to address the sustainability of water resources and climate change adaptation through traditional and innovative methods to groundwater recharge, water harvesting and storage.