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How the cerebral cortex operates near a critical phase transition point for optimum performance.Individual neurons have limited computational powers, but when they work together, it is almost like magic. Firing synchronously and then breaking off to improvise by themselves, they can be paradoxically both independent and interdependent. This happens near the critical point: when neurons are poised between a phase where activity is damped and a phase where it is amplified, where information processing is optimized, and complex emergent activity patterns arise. The claim that neurons in the cortex work best when they operate near the critical point is known as the criticality hypothesis. In this book John Beggs―one of the pioneers of this hypothesis―offers an introduction to the critical point and its relevance to the brain.Drawing on recent experimental evidence, Beggs first explains the main ideas underlying the criticality hypotheses and emergent phenomena. He then discusses the critic

Intersectional, intergenerational, and international perspectives on nonfiction filmmaking by women, generously illustrated, with film stills and other images.This book offers intersectional, intergenerational, and international perspectives on nonfiction film- and videomaking by and about women, examining practices that range from activist documentaries to avant-garde experiments. Concentrating primarily on the period between the 1970s and 1990s, the contributions revisit major figures, contexts, and debates across a polycentric, global geography. They explore how the moving image has been a crucial terrain of feminist struggle―a way of not only picturing the world but remaking it. The contributors consider key decolonial filmmakers, including Trinh T. Minh-ha and Sarah Maldoror; explore collectively produced films with ties to women’s liberation movements in different countries; and investigate the cinematic expressions of tensions and alliances between feminism and anti-imperialist

A new version of the classic and widely used text adapted for the JavaScript programming language.Since the publication of its first edition in 1984 and its second edition in 1996, Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (SICP) has influenced computer science curricula around the world. Widely adopted as a textbook, the book has its origins in a popular entry-level computer science course taught by Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman at MIT. SICP introduces the reader to central ideas of computation by establishing a series of mental models for computation. Earlier editions used the programming language Scheme in their program examples. This new version of the second edition has been adapted for JavaScript. The first three chapters of SICP cover programming concepts that are common to all modern high-level programming languages. Chapters four and five, which used Scheme to formulate language processors for Scheme, required significant revision. Chapter four offers new mat

A concise overview of machine learning--computer programs that learn from data--the basis of such applications as voice recognition and driverless cars.Today, machine learning underlies a range of app

How to write mathematical proofs, shown in fully-worked out examples.This is a companion volume Joel Hamkins's Proof and the Art of Mathematics, providing fully worked-out solutions to all of the odd-

Why the news about the global decline of infectious diseases is not all good. Plagues and parasites have played a central role in world affairs, shaping the evolution of the modern state, the growth

A comprehensive treatment of the concept of causation in evolutionary biology that makes clear its central role in both historical and contemporary debates. Most scientific explanations are causal.

An insider's view of China's under-the-radar, globally competitive innovators.Chinese innovators are making their mark globally. Not only do such giants as Alibaba and Huawei continue to thrive and gr

A rigorous but practical introduction to the economic, financial, and political principles underlying commodity markets.Commodities have become one of the fastest growing asset classes of the last dec

An introduction to the theory and methods of empirical asset pricing, integrating classical foundations with recent developments.This book offers a comprehensive advanced introduction to asset pricing

An introduction to natural language semantics that offers an overview of the empirical domain and an explanation of the mathematical concepts that underpin the discipline.

Provocative takes on cyberbullshit, smartphone zombies, instant gratification, the traffic school of the information highway, and other philosophical concerns of the Internet age.In The Death Algorith

Advances in training models with log-linear structures, with topics including variable selection, the geometry of neural nets, and applications.Log-linear models play a key role in modern big data and

The new edition of a comprehensive overview of the modern Chinese economy, revised to reflect the end of the "miracle growth" period.This comprehensive overview of the modern Chinese economy by a note

The ability to manage knowledge has become increasingly important in today's knowledge economy. Knowledge is considered a valuable commodity, embedded in products and in the tacit knowledge of highly

Literary authors have frequently called on elements of cartography to ground fictional space, to visualize sites, and to help readers get their bearings in the imaginative world of the text. Today, th

Over the last two hundred years, mortality and fertility levels in the Western world have dropped to unprecedented levels. This demographic transition was accompanied by an economic transition that le

The emergence of powerful, always-on cloud utilities has transformed how consumers interact with information technology, enabling video streaming, intelligent personal assistants, and the sharing of c

This is a book about the Super Nintendo Entertainment System that is not celebratory or self-congratulatory. Most other accounts declare the Super NES the undisputed victor of the "16-bit console wars

MATLAB is one of the most popular programming languages for neuroscience and psychology research. Its balance of usability, visualization, and widespread use makes it one of the most powerful tools in

With Storytelling and the Science of Mind, David Herman proposes a cross-fertilization between the study of narrative and research on intelligent behavior. This cross-fertilization goes beyond the si

What has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? In The Stack, Benjamin Bratton proposes that smart grids, cloud computing, mobile software and smart cities, universal addressi

Design structure matrix (DSM) is a straightforward and flexible modeling technique that can be used for designing, developing, and managing complex systems. DSM offers network modeling tools that repr

In Software Abstractions Daniel Jackson introduces an approach to software design that draws on traditional formal methods but exploits automated tools to find flaws as early as possible. This approac

From Guy Debord in the early 1950s to Richard Long, Janet Cardiff, and Esther Polak more recently, contemporary artists have returned again and again to the walking motif. Today, the convergence of gl

The recent financial crisis has shattered all standard approaches to banking regulation. Regulators now recognize that banking regulation cannot be simply based on individual financial institutions' r

Complex communicating computer systems -- computers connected by data networks and inconstant communication with their environments -- do not always behave as expected. This bookintroduces behavioral

In "Contagious Architecture," Luciana Parisi offers a philosophical inquiry into the status of the algorithm in architectural and interaction design. Her thesis is that algorithmic computation is not

Popular culture in this "biological century" seems to feed on proliferating representations of the fears, anxieties, and hopes around the life sciences, at a time when such basic concepts as scientifi

When Jean-Pierre Vernant first published Myth and Thought among the Greeks in 1965,it transformed the field of ancient Greek scholarship, calling forth a new way to think about Greekmyth and thought.

Death and the Idea of Mexico is the first social, cultural, and political history ofdeath in a nation that has made death its tutelary sign. Examining the history of death and of thedeath sign from si