AI and Popular Culture sheds light on how artificial intelligence has changed our world and helps you to understand where it might take us next.

This new novel from an Aurora Award-winning author presents a sci-fi caper of high-stakes interstellar travel. More than a century ago, the network of MASTTs, the space-time tunnels that made interstellar travel possible, violently collapsed, the backlash destroying a lot of the solar system’s space-based infrastructure. Cooper “Coop” Douglas, a thief and conman, is in serious debt to outer-system crime-lord Eric Galioto. While trying to salvage a valuable chunk of a space station destroyed by the backlash, Coop makes a startling discovery: MASTT Primus, the tunnel that used to lead to New Earth, is open again. That raises an intriguing possibility: Coop could flee the solar system and his debt to Galioto and make a new life—and possibly fortune—around another star. Accompanied by his first mate, the wisecracking, AI-uplifted, genetically modified cat Thibauld, Coop sets out to “liberate” the solar system’s only remaining functioning starship from an Earthside museum, enlisting the help of Laysa Grey, a former-lover-turned-cop on Luna. Along the way, he is pursued by Galioto and dogged by law enforcement and thugs. And beyond MASTT Primus, the tangled stars await . . .

The area of intelligent autonomous vehicles or robots has proved to be very active and extensive both in challenging applications as well as in the source of theoretical development. Automation technology is rapidly developing in many areas including: agriculture, mining, traditional manufacturing, automotive industry and space exploration. The 2nd IFAC Conference on Intelligent Autonomous Vehicles 1995 provides the forum to exchange ideas and results among the leading researchers and practitioners in the field. This publication brings together the papers presented at the latest in the series and provides a key evaluation of developments in automation technologies.

With the rise of mobile and wireless technologies, more sustainable networks are necessary to support such communications. These next generation networks can now be utilized to strengthen the growing era of the Internet of Things. Powering the Internet of Things With 5G Networks is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly research on the progression and design of fifth generation networks and their role in supporting the Internet of Things. Including a range of perspectives on topics such as privacy and security, large scale monitoring, and scalable architectures, this book is ideally designed for technology developers, academics, researchers, and practitioners interested in the convergence of the Internet of Things and 5G networks.

Religion, Gender, and Wellbeing in Africa argues that, in many African societies, ideas and practices of wellbeing and gender relations continue to be informed and shaped by religious epistemologies. The contributors affirm that for many Africans, it is through religio-spiritual frameworks that daily experiences, interactions, and gender relations are understood and interpreted. However, for many African women, religions have functioned as a double-edged-sword. Although they have contributed to the struggle against issues such as colonialism, gender justice, climate justice, and human rights, they have also endorsed and perpetuated sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, and the denial of human rights for a wide variety of people on the margins. The chapters within this collection demonstrate that most religions and religious formations in Africa have not yet positioned themselves as forces for wellbeing, gender justice, and security for African women and children. The contributors challenge simplistic and superficial readings and interpretations of religio-spirituality in Africa and call for deeper engagements of the interplay between Africa’s religio-spiritual realities and the wellbeing of women, particularly around issues of gender justice, reproductive health, and human rights.

This two-volume set of IFIP AICT 617 and 618 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.6 International Working Conference "Re-imagining Diffusion and Adoption of Information Technology and Systems: A Continuing Conversation" on Transfer and Diffusion of IT, TDIT 2020, held in Tiruchirappalli, India, in December 2020. The 86 revised full papers and 36 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 224 submissions. The papers focus on the re-imagination of diffusion and adoption of emerging technologies. They are organized in the following parts: Part I: artificial intelligence and autonomous systems; big data and analytics; blockchain; diffusion and adoption technology; emerging technologies in e-Governance; emerging technologies in consumer decision making and choice; fin-tech applications; healthcare information technology; and Internet of Things Part II: information technology and disaster management; adoption of mobile and platform-based applications; smart cities and digital government; social media; and diffusion of information technology and systems

Intelligent robotics has become the focus of extensive research activity. This effort has been motivated by the wide variety of applications that can benefit from the developments. These applications often involve mobile robots, multiple robots working and interacting in the same work area, and operations in hazardous environments like nuclear power plants. Applications in the consumer and service sectors are also attracting interest. These applications have highlighted the importance of performance, safety, reliability, and fault tolerance. This volume is a selection of papers from a NATO Advanced Study Institute held in July 1989 with a focus on active perception and robot vision. The papers deal with such issues as motion understanding, 3-D data analysis, error minimization, object and environment modeling, object detection and recognition, parallel and real-time vision, and data fusion. The paradigm underlying the papers is that robotic systems require repeated and hierarchical application of the perception-planning-action cycle. The primary focus of the papers is the perception part of the cycle. Issues related to complete implementations are also discussed.

There is an increasing range of applications in which a robot has to operate in large unstructured and uncertain environments - including military cross country missions, fire fighting, construction, nuclear plant inspections, inspecting and repairing subsea structures, assembling space stations, as well as in intelligent automobiles. Uncertainty dominates the problem domain for intelligent autonomous vehicles (IAVs) through sensing the environment and vehicle state, interpreting the data, assessing the situation, adapting to changes in the environment or tasking, replanning, navigation and piloting. IFAC, recognising the industrial, technical and economic significance of IAV research, established an International Working Party to promote research and dissemination of results in IAV systems. The IAV-93 Southampton Workshop and these resulting proceedings exemplify the vitality and significant progress made by leading IAV researchers worldwide.

This book constitutes the presentations made at the Advanced Research Workshop on Autonomous Robotic Systems, which was held at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, June 1997. The aim of the meeting was to bring together leading researchers in the area of autonomous systems for mobility and manipulation, and the aim of this book is to share the presentations with the reader. The book presents the most recent developments in the field. Topics include sensors and navigation in mobile robots, robot co-operation, telerobotics, legged robots, climbing robots and applications. Existing and emerging applications of autonomous syst ems are described in great detail, including applications in forestry, cleaning, mining, tertiary buildings, assistance to the elderly and handicapped, and surgery. The chapters are written in a structured and advanced tutorial style by leading specialists from Europe, Australia, Japan and USA. The style will allow the reader to grasp the state-of-the-art and research directions in the area of autonomous systems.