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Soft computing techniques open significant opportunities in several areas, such as industry, medicine, energy, security, transportation, and education. This book provides theory and applications development using soft computing techniques by organizing intelligent systems for many applications to the benefit of humanity. The book comes from a multidisciplinary subject whose audience can come from different academic departments, e.g., department of computer science and engineering, department of medical imaging, department of biomedical informatics, department of education sciences, and so on where artificial intelligence and soft computing are of routine courses. The book covers a range of audience from academicians, practitioners, researchers, and students to stakeholders. It can support graduate students and interns to develop a deep understanding of the latest paradigms in the soft computing techniques.

Green Sustainable Process for Chemical and Environmental Engineering and Science: Plant-Derived Green Solvents: Properties and Applications provide a comprehensive review on the green solvents such as bio solvents, terpenes, neem, alkyl phenols, cyrene, limenone, and ethyl lactate, etc. which are derived from plant sources. Chapters discuss introduction, properties, and advantages to the practical use of plant-derived solvents. Plants-derived solvents are an excellent choice for real-world applications to reduce the environmental and health safety considerations. This book is the result of commitments by top researchers in the field of biosolvents from various backgrounds and fields of expertise. This book is a one-stop reference for plant solvents and overviews up-to-date accounts in the field of modern applications and the first book in this research community. - Introduces properties and application of green solvents from plants - Gives an in-depth accounts on plant-derived solvents for various applications - Outlines the benefits and possibilities of plant-derived solvents vs conventional solvents - Outlines eco-friendly green solvents synthesis, properties and applications - Key references to obtain great results in plant-derived green solvents

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction • Nominated for the National Book Award for NonfictionFrom the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ghost Wars and The Achilles Trap, the epic and enthralling story of America's intelligence, military, and diplomatic efforts to defeat Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan since 9/11Prior to 9/11, the United States had been carrying out small-scale covert operations in Afghanistan, ostensibly in cooperation, although often in direct opposition, with I.S.I., the Pakistani intelligence agency. While the US was trying to quell extremists, a highly secretive and compartmentalized wing of I.S.I., known as'Directorate S,'was covertly training, arming, and seeking to legitimize the Taliban, in order to enlarge Pakistan's sphere of influence. After 9/11, when fifty-nine countries, led by the U. S., deployed troops or provided aid to Afghanistan in an effort to flush out the Taliban and Al Qaeda, the U.S. was set on an invisible slow-motion collision course with Pakistan.Today we know that the war in Afghanistan would falter badly because of military hubris at the highest levels of the Pentagon, the drain on resources and provocation in the Muslim world caused by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and corruption. But more than anything, as Coll makes painfully clear, the war in Afghanistan was doomed because of the failure of the United States to apprehend the motivations and intentions of I.S.I.'s'Directorate S'. This was a swirling and shadowy struggle of historic proportions, which endured over a decade and across both the Bush and Obama administrations, involving multiple secret intelligence agencies, a litany of incongruous strategies and tactics, and dozens of players, including some of the most prominent military and political figures. A sprawling American tragedy, the war was an open clash of arms but also a covert melee of ideas, secrets, and subterranean violence. Coll excavates this grand battle, which took place away from the gaze of the American public. With unsurpassed expertise, original research, and attention to detail, he brings to life a narrative at once vast and intricate, local and global, propulsive and painstaking. This is the definitive explanation of how America came to be so badly ensnared in an elaborate, factional, and seemingly interminable conflict in South Asia. Nothing less than a forensic examination of the personal and political forces that shape world history, Directorate S is a complete masterpiece of both investigative and narrative journalism.

The Biography and Genealogy Master Index is designed to help you easily determine which publication to consult for biographical information. Indexed sources cover both living and deceased persons from every field of activity and from every country in the world. Typically current, readily available, standard reference works are indexed. Look for supplement volume updates to this valuable biographical research tool twice a year. These volumes are cumulated every five years. More than 15 million citations compiled from more than 5,000 editions and volumes of approximately 1,700 current and retrospective biographical sources are included in the Biography and Genealogy Master Index base set and its supplements. In total, Biography and Genealogy Master Index provides coverage of nearly 5 million contemporary and historical figures from authors to scientists, from boxers to fashion designers, from Adam and Eve to Frank Zappa.