Back to all genres

Series in Semantics

Books in Semantics

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence

The applications of Artificial Intelligence lie all around us; in our homes, schools and offices, in our cinemas, in art galleries and - not least - on the Internet. The results of Artificial Intelligence have been invaluable to biologists, psychologists, and linguists in helping to understand the processes of memory, learning, and language from a fresh angle. As a concept, Artificial Intelligence has fuelled and sharpened the philosophical debates concerning the nature of the mind, intelligence, and the uniqueness of human beings. In this Very Short Introduction , Margaret A. Boden reviews the philosophical and technological challenges raised by Artificial Intelligence, considering whether programs could ever be really intelligent, creative or even conscious, and shows how the pursuit of Artificial Intelligence has helped us to appreciate how human and animal minds are possible. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Beyond Human

Beyond Human

Would your body work better with some artificial parts? Will you live longer, perhaps a lot longer, than you now expect? The next decade promises another qualitative shift in the way we view technology, as once purely fictional concepts―robots, cyborg parts, and the many variations in between―become part of reality. Gregory Benford and Elisabeth Malartre's Beyond Human treats the landscape of human self-change and robotic development as poles of the same phenomenon. Can we go too far in making ourselves machine-like or making machines resemble us? Once made, what will such creatures think about us? These questions will arise in myriad ways in the next few decades, as we press against boundaries that a short while ago existed only in works of the imagination. Written in a lively and provocative style, this is a readable book about the accumulation of small scientific advances that add up to something large and challenging.

Business Modeling and Data Mining

Business Modeling and Data Mining

Business Modeling and Data Mining demonstrates how real world business problems can be formulated so that data mining can answer them. The concepts and techniques presented in this book are the essential building blocks in understanding what models are and how they can be used practically to reveal hidden assumptions and needs, determine problems, discover data, determine costs, and explore the whole domain of the problem. This book articulately explains how to understand both the strategic and tactical aspects of any business problem, identify where the key leverage points are and determine where quantitative techniques of analysis -- such as data mining -- can yield most benefit. It addresses techniques for discovering how to turn colloquial expression and vague descriptions of a business problem first into qualitative models and then into well-defined quantitative models (using data mining) that can then be used to find a solution. The book completes the process by illustrating how these findings from data mining can be turned into strategic or tactical implementations. · Teaches how to discover, construct and refine models that are useful in business situations· Teaches how to design, discover and develop the data necessary for mining · Provides a practical approach to mining data for all business situations· Provides a comprehensive, easy-to-use, fully interactive methodology for building models and mining data· Provides pointers to supplemental online resources, including a downloadable version of the methodology and software tools.

Data Mining

Data Mining

Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques, Fourth Edition, offers a thorough grounding in machine learning concepts, along with practical advice on applying these tools and techniques in real-world data mining situations. This highly anticipated fourth edition of the most acclaimed work on data mining and machine learning teaches readers everything they need to know to get going, from preparing inputs, interpreting outputs, evaluating results, to the algorithmic methods at the heart of successful data mining approaches. Extensive updates reflect the technical changes and modernizations that have taken place in the field since the last edition, including substantial new chapters on probabilistic methods and on deep learning. Accompanying the book is a new version of the popular WEKA machine learning software from the University of Waikato. Authors Witten, Frank, Hall, and Pal include today's techniques coupled with the methods at the leading edge of contemporary research. Please visit the book companion website at cs.waikato.ac.nz/~ml/weka/book.html. It contains - Powerpoint slides for Chapters 1-12. This is a very comprehensive teaching resource, with many PPT slides covering each chapter of the book - Online Appendix on the Weka workbench; again a very comprehensive learning aid for the open source software that goes with the book - Table of contents, highlighting the many new sections in the 4th edition, along with reviews of the 1st edition, errata, etc. - Provides a thorough grounding in machine learning concepts, as well as practical advice on applying the tools and techniques to data mining projects - Presents concrete tips and techniques for performance improvement that work by transforming the input or output in machine learning methods - Includes a downloadable WEKA software toolkit, a comprehensive collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks-in an easy-to-use interactive interface - Includes open-access online courses that introduce practical applications of the material in the book

Data Mining, Southeast Asia Edition

Data Mining, Southeast Asia Edition

Our ability to generate and collect data has been increasing rapidly. Not only are all of our business, scientific, and government transactions now computerized, but the widespread use of digital cameras, publication tools, and bar codes also generate data. On the collection side, scanned text and image platforms, satellite remote sensing systems, and the World Wide Web have flooded us with a tremendous amount of data. This explosive growth has generated an even more urgent need for new techniques and automated tools that can help us transform this data into useful information and knowledge. Like the first edition, voted the most popular data mining book by KD Nuggets readers, this book explores concepts and techniques for the discovery of patterns hidden in large data sets, focusing on issues relating to their feasibility, usefulness, effectiveness, and scalability. However, since the publication of the first edition, great progress has been made in the development of new data mining methods, systems, and applications. This new edition substantially enhances the first edition, and new chapters have been added to address recent developments on mining complex types of data— including stream data, sequence data, graph structured data, social network data, and multi-relational data. A comprehensive, practical look at the concepts and techniques you need to know to get the most out of real business data Updates that incorporate input from readers, changes in the field, and more material on statistics and machine learning Dozens of algorithms and implementation examples, all in easily understood pseudo-code and suitable for use in real-world, large-scale data mining projects Complete classroom support for instructors at www.mkp.com/datamining2e companion site

Data Preparation for Data Mining Using SAS

Data Preparation for Data Mining Using SAS

Are you a data mining analyst, who spends up to 80% of your time assuring data quality, then preparing that data for developing and deploying predictive models? And do you find lots of literature on data mining theory and concepts, but when it comes to practical advice on developing good mining views find little “how to” information? And are you, like most analysts, preparing the data in SAS?This book is intended to fill this gap as your source of practical recipes. It introduces a framework for the process of data preparation for data mining, and presents the detailed implementation of each step in SAS. In addition, business applications of data mining modeling require you to deal with a large number of variables, typically hundreds if not thousands. Therefore, the book devotes several chapters to the methods of data transformation and variable selection. A complete framework for the data preparation process, including implementation details for each step. The complete SAS implementation code, which is readily usable by professional analysts and data miners. A unique and comprehensive approach for the treatment of missing values, optimal binning, and cardinality reduction. Assumes minimal proficiency in SAS and includes a quick-start chapter on writing SAS macros.

HBR's 10 Must Reads 2016: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review

HBR's 10 Must Reads 2016: The Definitive Management Ideas of the Year from Harvard Business Review

Series: Anthologies

A year’s worth of management wisdom, all in one place. We’ve examined the ideas, insights, and best practices from the past year of Harvard Business Review to bring you the latest, most significant thinking driving business today. With authors from Marcus Buckingham to Herminia Ibarra and company examples from Google to Deloitte, this volume brings the most current and important management conversations to your fingertips. This book will inspire you to: Tap into the new technologies that are changing the way businesses compete Fuel performance by redesigning your organization’s practices around feedback Learn techniques to move beyond intuition for better decision making Understand why your strategy execution isn’t working―and how to fix it Lead with authenticity by moving beyond your comfort zone Transform your physical office space to promote creativity and productivity This collection of best-selling articles includes: “Reinventing Performance Management,” by Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall “The Transparency Trap,” by Ethan Bernstein “Profits Without Prosperity,” by William Lazonick “Outsmart Your Own Biases,” by Jack B. Soll, Katherine L. Milkman, and John W. Payne “The 3-D Printing Revolution,” by Richard D’Aveni “Why Strategy Execution Unravels―and What to Do About It,” by Donald Sull, Rebecca Homkes, and Charles Sull “The Authenticity Paradox,” by Herminia Ibarra “The Discipline of Business Experimentation,” by Stefan Thomke and Jim Manzi “When Senior Managers Won’t Collaborate,” by Heidi K. Gardner “Workspaces That Move People,” by Ben Waber, Jennifer Magnolfi, and Greg Lindsay “Digital Ubiquity: How Connections, Sensors, and Data Are Revolutionizing Business,” by Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani

Hit Refresh

Hit Refresh

“At the core, Hit Refresh, is about us humans and the unique quality we call empathy, which will become ever more valuable in a world where the torrent of technology will disrupt the status quo like never before.” – Satya Nadella from Hit Refresh “Satya has charted a course for making the most of the opportunities created by technology while also facing up to the hard questions.” – Bill Gates from the Foreword of Hit Refresh The New York Times bestseller Hit Refresh is about individual change, about the transformation happening inside of Microsoft and the technology that will soon impact all of our lives—the arrival of the most exciting and disruptive wave of technology humankind has experienced: artificial intelligence, mixed reality, and quantum computing. It’s about how people, organizations, and societies can and must transform and “hit refresh” in their persistent quest for new energy, new ideas, and continued relevance and renewal. Microsoft’s CEO tells the inside story of the company’s continuing transformation, tracing his own personal journey from a childhood in India to leading some of the most significant technological changes in the digital era. Satya Nadella explores a fascinating childhood before immigrating to the U.S. and how he learned to lead along the way. He then shares his meditations as a sitting CEO—one who is mostly unknown following the brainy Bill Gates and energetic Steve Ballmer. He tells the inside story of how a company rediscovered its soul—transforming everything from culture to their fiercely competitive landscape and industry partnerships. As much a humanist as engineer and executive, Nadella concludes with his vision for the coming wave of technology and by exploring the potential impact to society and delivering call to action for world leaders. “Ideas excite me,” Nadella explains. “Empathy grounds and centers me.” Hit Refresh is a set of reflections, meditations, and recommendations presented as algorithms from a principled, deliberative leader searching for improvement—for himself, for a storied company, and for society.

Mind Matters

Mind Matters

When World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov lost the now-famous rematch against IBM's chess-playing computer Deep Blue last year, millions were riveted. When NASA mounted its historic mission to Mars, the world watched spellbound as a sophisticated mechanical device rolled across the surface of the red planet, taking photographs and analyzing rock samples. Consequently, these events stirred renewed speculation about one of modern science's most fascinating, and haunting, pursuits--the creation of a machine with a mind. While the likes of HAL, the sentient, conversant computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey, and the android "replicants" of Blade Runner have mainly kept Artificial Intelligence a purely science-fictional concept in the public eye, the quest to synthesize thought has been very much a reality for decades--and not without striking successes. From the pioneering experiments in "cybernetics" of the 1940s to the digital computers and robot prototypes developed by Carnegie Mellon University and MIT researchers to Deep Blue, and on to the most current projects involving humanoid robotics and attempts to duplicate the evolution of intelligence, Mind Matters chronicles the extraordinary journey toward a scientific breakthrough that could well overshadow man's conquest of space. Whether such a breakthrough is even possible, and what the implications--social, economic, political--for humankind will be if it is, makes Mind Matters the scientifically and philosophically provocative read of the year. Guided by the intimate knowledge, insight, and thoughtful wit of author James P. Hogan, both the technophile and technophobe alike will find themselves enthralled by the history and mystery of man's ultimate interaction with machine.

The Emperor's New Mind

The Emperor's New Mind

For many decades, the proponents of `artificial intelligence' have maintained that computers will soon be able to do everything that a human can do. In his bestselling work of popular science, Sir Roger Penrose takes us on a fascinating tour through the basic principles of physics, cosmology, mathematics, and philosophy to show that human thinking can never be emulated by a machine. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

The Simulation Theory of Consciousness

The Simulation Theory of Consciousness

Have you ever wondered what our robots might be thinking? What do our cars experience as they use their sensors to observe the world around them and increasingly take over our driving duties? When we play computer games, are we the only ones who experience the simulated virtual worlds they create? More generally, are our computer-driven creations sentient with their own internal, subjective streams of conscious? Named a distinguished engineer by the Association of Computing Machinery, Donald Firesmith uses his 40 years of experience developing complex, software-intensive systems toargue that the answer is yes. The many functional analogies between humans and cyber-physical systems produce a strong argument that every software-reliant physical system that creates a real-time simulation of itself and its environment is consciously aware of that simulation. Just as neuroscientists study consciousness in terms of the neural correlates of consciousness (NCC), software and system engineers will study artificial consciousness in terms of the corresponding cyber correlates of consciousness (CCC). The consciousness of our creations is not just an issue for engineers and academics. As our cyber-physical systems become more intelligent and pervasive, it is time for all of us to consider the social, ethical, and legal ramifications of their intelligence. To do less could have dire consequences.