We live in the information age, where swift access to relevant information in whatever form or medium can dictate the success or failure of businesses or individuals. The timely provision of relevant information with minimal ‘noise' is critical to modern society and this is what information retrieval (IR) is all about. It is a dynamic...

In the last three decades, machine learning research and practice have focused on batch learning usually using small datasets. In batch learning, the whole training data is available to the algorithm, which outputs a decision model after processing the data eventually (or most of the times) multiple times. The rationale behind this...

Climbing robot is a challenging research topic that has gained much attention from researchers. Most of the robots reported in the literature are designed to climb on manmade structures, but seldom robots are designed for climbing natural environment such as trees. Trees and manmade structures are very different in nature. It brings different...

Environmental engineering's future seems boundless because it is based in the myriad ways in which nature solves its own engineering challenges. People have yet to design a system that pumps water 200 feet straight up toward the sky in a system that is silent, requires no mechanical pumps, and never malfunctions, yet giant sequoia trees do this...

To...

Conservation refers to the careful and controlled use of natural resources for the purpose of extending the time they are available as well as retaining biodiversity. Conservation does not prevent the loss of plants, trees, land, water, or habitat; it simply slows the rate of degradation of these things. This new book explores aspects of...