Over the past decade high performance computing has demonstrated the ability to model and predict accurately a wide range of physical properties and phenomena. Many of these have had an important impact in contributing to wealth creation and improving the quality of life through the development of new products and processes with greater efficacy, efficiency or reduced harmful side effects, and in contributing to our ability to understand and describe the world around us. Following a survey ofthe U.K.'s urgent need for a supercomputingfacility for aca demic research (see next chapter), a 256-processor T3D system from Cray Research Inc. went into operation at the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 1994. The High Performance Computing Initiative, HPCI, was established in November 1994 to support and ensure the efficient and effective exploitation of the T3D (and future gen erations of HPC systems) by a number of consortia working in the "frontier" areas of computational research. The Cray T3D, now comprising 512 processors and total of 32 CB memory, represented a very significant increase in computing power, allowing simulations to move forward on a number offronts. The three-fold aims of the HPCI may be summarised as follows; (1) to seek and maintain a world class position incomputational scienceand engineering, (2) to support and promote exploitation of HPC in industry, commerce and business, and (3) to support education and training in HPC and its application."

ARIS (Architecture of Integrated Information Systems) is a unique and internationally renowned method for optimizing business processes and implementing application systems. This book enhances the proven ARIS concept by describing product flows and explaining how to classify modern software concepts. The importance of the link between business process organization and strategic management is stressed. Bridging the gap between the different approaches in business theory and information technology, the ARIS concept provides a full-circle approach - from the organizational design of business processes to IT implementation. Featuring SAP R/3 as well, real-world examples of various standard software solutions illustrate these concepts.

Computers that program themselves' has long been an aim of computer scientists. Recently genetic programming (GP) has started to show its promise by automatically evolving programs. Indeed in a small number of problems GP has evolved programs whose performance is similar to or even slightly better than that of programs written by people. The main thrust of GP has been to automatically create functions. While these can be of great use they contain no memory and relatively little work has addressed automatic creation of program code including stored data. This issue is the main focus of Genetic Programming, and Data Structures: Genetic Programming + Data Structures = Automatic Programming!. This book is motivated by the observation from software engineering that data abstraction (e.g., via abstract data types) is essential in programs created by human programmers. This book shows that abstract data types can be similarly beneficial to the automatic production of programs using GP. Genetic Programming and Data Structures: Genetic Programming + Data Structures = Automatic Programming! shows how abstract data types (stacks, queues and lists) can be evolved using genetic programming, demonstrates how GP can evolve general programs which solve the nested brackets problem, recognises a Dyck context free language, and implements a simple four function calculator. In these cases, an appropriate data structure is beneficial compared to simple indexed memory. This book also includes a survey of GP, with a critical review of experiments with evolving memory, and reports investigations of real world electrical network maintenance scheduling problems that demonstrate that Genetic Algorithms can findlow cost viable solutions to such problems. Genetic Programming and Data Structures: Genetic Programming + Data Structures = Automatic Programming! should be of direct interest to computer scientists doing research on genetic programming, genetic algorithms, data structures, and artificial intelligence. In addition, this book will be of interest to practitioners working in all of these areas and to those interested in automatic programming.

Proven best practices for success with every Azure networking service For cloud environments to operate and scale optimally, their networking services must be designed, deployed, and managed well. Now, there's a complete, best-practice guide to doing just that. Writing for everyone involved in delivering Azure workloads and services, leading cloud consultant Avinash Valiramani provides a deep dive and practical field advice for Azure Virtual Networks, Azure VPN Gateways, Azure Load Balancing, Azure Traffic Manager, Azure Firewall, Azure DNS, Azure Bastion, Azure Front Door and more. Whatever your role in delivering efficient, scalable networking services, this guide will help you make the most of your Azure investment. Leading Azure consultant Avinash Valiramani shows how to: Use Azure Virtual Networks to establish a backbone for hosting other Azure resources Provide HTTP/HTTPS load-balancing and routing for web servers and apps through Azure Application Gateway Connect on-premises and other public networks to Azure for secure communications using the Azure VPN Gateway service Provide secure load balancing to apps from internal and public networks using Azure Load Balancer services Integrate Azure Firewall to centrally protect Azure resources across multiple subscriptions Access globally scaled, fully-managed DNS services with 100% SLA from the closest Azure DNS servers Provide optimal network routing to the closest application endpoint for public-facing applications with Azure Traffic Manager Use Microsoft's global edge network along with Azure Front Door to speed up access, harden security and enhance scalability for consuming-facing and internal web applications Also look for these Definitive Guides to Azure success: Microsoft Azure Compute: The Definitive Guide Microsoft Azure Monitoring and Management: The Definitive Guide Microsoft Azure Storage: The Definitive Guide

Suitable for those new to nonlinear editing as well as experienced editors new to Final Cut Express, this book is an introduction to Apple's editing software package and the digital video format in general. You will come away with not only an in-depth knowledge of how to use Final Cut Express, but also a deeper understanding of the craft of editing and the underlying technical processes that will serve you well in future projects.
Workflow, editing techniques, compositing, special effects, audio tools, and output are explained in clear, jargon-free terms. The book's emphasis is always on using Final Cut Express in the real world, and as such it is the only book to go beyond the interface to address crucial issues like proper setup, system configuration, hardware, the Mac operating system, what equipment to purchase, and troubleshooting common problems. Armed with this information, you will sidestep problems and complete projects of exceptional quality.
*Learn how to use Final Cut Express in the real world
*Offers a clear overview of the digital video format
*Suitable for new editors or experienced editors new to Final Cut Express

Storage Management in Data Centers helps administrators tackle the complexity of data center mass storage. It shows how to exploit the potential of Veritas Storage Foundation by conveying information about the design concepts of the software as well as its architectural background. Rather than merely showing how to use Storage Foundation, it explains why to use it in a particular way, along with what goes on inside. Chapters are split into three sections: An introductory part for the novice user, a full-featured part for the experienced, and a technical deep dive for the seasoned expert. An extensive troubleshooting section shows how to fix problems with volumes, plexes, disks and disk groups. A snapshot chapter gives detailed instructions on how to use the most advanced point-in-time copies. A tuning chapter will help you speed up and benchmark your volumes. And a special chapter on split data centers discusses latency issues as well as remote mirroring mechanisms and cross-site volume maintenance. All topics are covered with the technical know how gathered from an aggregate thirty years of experience in consulting and training in data centers all over the world.

Intelligent IT Outsourcing enables practitioners to focus in on the essential issues that need to be addressed so that the fundamental structure of their sourcing strategy and its implementation is sound. The authors provide insight into the challenges likely to be faced and give detailed advice on how to pre-empt and manage these.

IT and outsourcing continue to be problematic, not least because fundamental learning about this subject fails to be applied systematically, and because IT is inherently difficult to manage. The economics are not obvious and emerging technologies have to be addressed, therefore IT goes to the heart of many enterprises and interfaces with multiple business units and processes, and there are continuous skills shortages.
Unfortunately complexities are not removed in outsourced situations where additional problems come into play, for example the supplier's capabilities, whether the IT is right for an outsourcing solution, and whether the contract is robust but flexible enough to allow for outsourcing to take place. Objectives need to be realistic, and factors such as whether the internal management is mature and capable enough in this field, and the impact of prohibitive switching costs on behaviour once an outsourcing deal has been signed all have to be taken into account.
The authors have built up over two decades of research, advisory and practitioner experience that enables them to distil the fundamental challenges in IT and outsourcing and demonstrate how these can be addressed.
* Focuses on the fundamentals of what should be done and what should be avoided, based on actual experience applied in major IT outsourcing deals
* Researchfindings and case examples included throughout to support recommended practices
* Written by highly experienced, internationally acknowledged experts in the field

Scheduling in Parallel Computing Systems: Fuzzy and Annealing Techniques advocates the viability of using fuzzy and annealing methods in solving scheduling problems for parallel computing systems. The book proposes new techniques for both static and dynamic scheduling, using emerging paradigms that are inspired by natural phenomena such as fuzzy logic, mean-field annealing, and simulated annealing. Systems that are designed using such techniques are often referred to in the literature as intelligent' because of their capability to adapt to sudden changes in their environments. Moreover, most of these changes cannot be anticipated in advance or included in the original design of the system. Scheduling in Parallel Computing Systems: Fuzzy and Annealing Techniques provides results that prove such approaches can become viable alternatives to orthodox solutions to the scheduling problem, which are mostly based on heuristics. Although heuristics are robust and reliable when solving certain instances of the scheduling problem, they do not perform well when one needs to obtain solutions to general forms of the scheduling problem. On the other hand, techniques inspired by natural phenomena have been successfully applied for solving a wide range of combinatorial optimization problems (e.g. traveling salesman, graph partitioning). The success of these methods motivated their use in this book to solve scheduling problems that are known to be formidable combinatorial problems. Scheduling in Parallel Computing Systems: Fuzzy and Annealing Techniques is an excellent reference and may be used for advanced courses on the topic.

This book offers readers a clear guide to implementing engineering applications with FPGAs, from the mathematical description to the hardware synthesis, including discussion of VHDL programming and co-simulation issues. Coverage includes FPGA realizations such as: chaos generators that are described from their mathematical models; artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict chaotic time series, for which a discussion of different ANN topologies is included, with different learning techniques and activation functions; random number generators (RNGs) that are realized using different chaos generators, and discussions of their maximum Lyapunov exponent values and entropies. Finally, optimized chaotic oscillators are synchronized and realized to implement a secure communication system that processes black and white and grey-scale images. In each application, readers will find VHDL programming guidelines and computer arithmetic issues, along with co-simulation examples with Active-HDL and Simulink.The whole book provides a practical guide to implementing a variety of engineering applications from VHDL programming and co-simulation issues, to FPGA realizations of chaos generators, ANNs for chaotic time-series prediction, RNGs and chaotic secure communications for image transmission.

This work provides system architects a methodology for the implementation of x.500 and LDAP based metadirectory provisioning systems. In addition this work assists in the business process analysis that accompanies any deployment. DOC Safe Harbor

The instant access that hackers have to the latest tools and techniques demands that companies become more aggressive in defending the security of their networks. Conducting a network vulnerability assessment, a self-induced hack attack, identifies the network components and faults in policies, and procedures that expose a company to the damage caused by malicious network intruders.

Managing a Network Vulnerability Assessment provides a formal framework for finding and eliminating network security threats, ensuring that no vulnerabilities are overlooked. This thorough overview focuses on the steps necessary to successfully manage an assessment, including the development of a scope statement, the understanding and proper use of assessment methodology, the creation of an expert assessment team, and the production of a valuable response report. The book also details what commercial, freeware, and shareware tools are available, how they work, and how to use them.

By following the procedures outlined in this guide, a company can pinpoint what individual parts of their network need to be hardened, and avoid expensive and unnecessary purchases.

This book provides a theoretical and application oriented analysis of deterministic scheduling problems arising in computer and manufacturing environments. In such systems processors (machines) and possibly other resources are to be allocated among tasks in such a way that certain scheduling objectives are met. Various scheduling problems are discussed where different problem parameters such as task processing times, urgency weights, arrival times, deadlines, precedence constraints, and processor speed factor are involved. Polynomial and exponential time optimization algorithms as well as approximation and heuristic approaches (including tabu search, simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, and ejection chains) are presented and discussed. Moreover, resource-constrained, imprecise computation, flexible flow shop and dynamic job shop scheduling, as well as flexible manufacturing systems, are considered.

This updated and reorganized Fifth edition of Software Testing: A Craftsman's Approach continues to be a valuable reference for software testers, developers, and engineers, by applying the strong mathematics content of previous editions to a coherent treatment of software testing. Responding to instructor and student survey input, the authors have streamlined chapters and examples. The Fifth Edition: Has a new chapter on feature interaction testing that explores the feature interaction problem and explains how to reduce tests Uses Java instead of pseudo-code for all examples including structured and object-oriented ones Presents model-based development and provides an explanation of how to conduct testing within model-based development environments Explains testing in waterfall, iterative, and agile software development projects Explores test-driven development, reexamines all-pairs testing, and explains the four contexts of software testing Thoroughly revised and updated, Software Testing: A Craftsman's Approach, Fifth Edition is sure to become a standard reference for those who need to stay up to date with evolving technologies in software testing.

Virtual Interaction: Interaction in Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds answers the basic research questions involved in the development of user-friendly interfaces, such as:
* How does one navigate in and with a virtual inhabited three-dimensional world?
* How can the virtual world and the interface be part of the same world?
* How can the use of these interfaces be supported by implicit narrative structures?
* How can the autonomous agents function as assistants to the end-user?
* How can the current--what you see is what you get--be replaced by What you want is what you get:?
Containing the edited research papers resulting from an ambitious, cross-disciplinary research project, this volume examines the core activity of interfaces: interaction. It takes the reader all the way from general theories and conceptualizations of interaction aspects of virtual inhabited 3D worlds, through theories of and methods for the design of autonomous agents, ending in specific design methodology considerations and suggestions for management in the multimedia industry.

Input/Output in Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems has attracted increasing attention over the last few years, as it has become apparent that input/output performance, rather than CPU performance, may be the key limiting factor in the performance of future systems. This I/O bottleneck is caused by the increasing speed mismatch between processing units and storage devices, the use of multiple processors operating simultaneously in parallel and distributed systems, and by the increasing I/O demands of new classes of applications, like multimedia. It is also important to note that, to varying degrees, the I/O bottleneck exists at multiple levels of the memory hierarchy. All indications are that the I/O bottleneck will be with us for some time to come, and is likely to increase in importance. Input/Output in Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems is based on papers presented at the 1994 and 1995 IOPADS workshops held in conjunction with the International Parallel Processing Symposium. This book is divided into three parts. Part I, the Introduction, contains four invited chapters which provide a tutorial survey of I/O issues in parallel and distributed systems. The chapters in Parts II and III contain selected research papers from the 1994 and 1995 IOPADS workshops; many of these papers have been substantially revised and updated for inclusion in this volume. Part II collects the papers from both years which deal with various aspects of system software, and Part III addresses architectural issues. Input/Output in Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems is suitable as a secondary text for graduate level courses in computer architecture, software engineering, and multimedia systems, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

This book brings together a selection of the best papers from the sixteenth edition of the Forum on specification and Design Languages Conference (FDL), which was held in September 2013 in Paris, France. FDL is a well-established international forum devoted to dissemination of research results, practical experiences and new ideas in the application of specification, design and verification languages to the design, modeling and verification of integrated circuits, complex hardware/software embedded systems and mixed-technology systems.

In this book, the subject is developed from basics of components involved. Each concept is clearly depicted through illustrations. Programming has been carried out in C programming with Linux background. A set of quiz and review questions has been presented at the end of each chapter. The book covers various topics from the basic building blocks, design methodologies, modeling of embedded systems to layered approach in embedded systems, microcontrollers. The aim in writing this book is to make the readers aware of what an embedded system is all about, how it is constructed, challenges faced in this field and coding for it. The reader who is totally new to this subject can definitely opt for this book to get a feel for the subject.

Unique selling point: Exploration of the societal and ethical issues surrounding the use and development of digital technology Core audience: IT managers and executives; academic researchers; students of IT Place in the market: Professional title with appeal to academics and students

In the last years, knowledge and learning management have made a significant impact on the IT research community. ""Open Source for Knowledge and Learning Management: Strategies Beyond Tools"" presents learning and knowledge management from a point of view where the basic tools and applications are provided by open source technologies. ""Open Source for Knowledge and Learning Management: Strategies Beyond Tools"" explains an intense orientation to the critical issues of the open source paradigm: open source tools, applications, social networks, and knowledge sharing in open source communities. Open source technologies, tools, and applications are analyzed in the context of knowledge and learning, and this convergence formulates a challenging landscape for the deployment of information technology.

Language, Compilers and Run-time Systems for Scalable Computers contains 20 articles based on presentations given at the third workshop of the same title, and 13 extended abstracts from the poster session. Starting with new developments in classical problems of parallel compiler design, such as dependence analysis and an exploration of loop parallelism, the book goes on to address the issues of compiler strategy for specific architectures and programming environments. Several chapters investigate support for multi-threading, object orientation, irregular computation, locality enhancement, and communication optimization. Issues of the interface between language and operating system support are also discussed. Finally, the load balance issues are discussed in different contexts, including sparse matrix computation and iteratively balanced adaptive solvers for partial differential equations. Some additional topics are also discussed in the extended abstracts. Each chapter provides a bibliography of relevant papers and the book can thus be used as a reference to the most up-to-date research in parallel software engineering.

Software startups make global headlines every day. As technology companies succeed and grow, so do their engineering departments. In your career, you'll may suddenly get the opportunity to lead teams: to become a manager. But this is often uncharted territory. How can you decide whether this career move is right for you? And if you do, what do you need to learn to succeed? Where do you start? How do you know that you're doing it right? What does "it" even mean? And isn't management a dirty word? This book will share the secrets you need to know to manage engineers successfully. Going from engineer to manager doesn't have to be intimidating. Engineers can be managers, and fantastic ones at that. Cast aside the rhetoric and focus on practical, hands-on techniques and tools. You'll become an effective and supportive team leader that your staff will look up to. Start with your transition to being a manager and see how that compares to being an engineer. Learn how to better organize information, feel productive, and delegate, but not micromanage. Discover how to manage your own boss, hire and fire, do performance and salary reviews, and build a great team. You'll also learn the psychology: how to ship while keeping staff happy, coach and mentor, deal with deadline pressure, handle sensitive information, and navigate workplace politics. Consider your whole department. How can you work with other teams to ensure best practice? How do you help form guilds and committees and communicate effectively? How can you create career tracks for individual contributors and managers? How can you support flexible and remote working? How can you improve diversity in the industry through your own actions? This book will show you how. Great managers can make the world a better place. Join us.

We are now in the 'third wave' of Knowledge Management - the first was focused on the potential of new technology, while the second focused on the nature of knowledge and how people 'know' and learn. The focus in the third phase is two-fold: building individual and team productivity, and proper alignment of Knowledge Management efforts in helping deliver on strategic goals of the organization.
Knowledge Management- a Blueprint for Delivery explores and builds on current ideas about the dynamics of knowledge in organizations, answering such questions as: 'What is knowledge management?' and 'What does it mean for today's companies and organizations?'
Written by two leading knowledge management practitioners, this book looks beyond academic theory and software company hype to focus on the roles that knowledge and information play in creating high-performance organizations.
Built on their extensive experience of Knowledge Management programme design and delivery, Knowledge Management- a Blueprint for Delivery:
- contains a comprehensive survey of the whole area of Knowledge Management, from theory and strategy creation through to techniques, tools, and delivery of change
- provides an insight into developing and managing Knowledge Management initiatives
- bridges the gap between theoretical, strategic, and practical hands-on perspectives
Contains a comprehensive survey of the whole area of Knowledge Management, from theory and strategy creation through to techniques, tools and delivery of change
Provides an insight into developing and managing Knowledge Management initiatives
Bridges the gap between theoretical, strategic and practical hands-on perspectives

Real Application Clusters (RAC) and the Grid architecture are Oracle's strategy for scaling out enterprise systems to cope with bigger workloads and more users. Many books limit themselves by conceptualizing and theorizing about RAC technology, but this book is the first to portray implementing and administering an Oracle 10"g" RAC system in a Linux environment. This book features basic concepts underlying Linux and Oracle RAC, design strategies, hardware procurement and configuration, and many other topics.

The RAC-specific technologies described include configuration of the interconnect, OCFS, ASM, Cluster Ready Services, and Grid Control. The Oracle features RMAN and Data Guard are also discussed, along with available hardware options. The authors include practical examples and configuration information, so that upon reading this book, youll be armed with the information you need to build an Oracle RAC database on Linux, whether it is on a single laptop or a 64-node Itanium cluster.

Written by an exponent of systems engineering, this is a comprehensive examination of systems thinking and methods, demonstrating how to use the ideas to create and manage more effective engineering systems. Using this resource, engineers should be able to apply systems thinking to the design, implementation and management of engineering systems.

Hardware Software Co-Design of a Multimedia SOC Platform is one of the first of its kinds to provide a comprehensive overview of the design and implementation of the hardware and software of an SoC platform for multimedia applications. Topics covered in this book range from system level design methodology, multimedia algorithm implementation, a sub-word parallel, single-instruction-multiple data (SIMD) processor design, and its virtual platform implementation, to the development of an SIMD parallel compiler as well as a real-time operating system (RTOS). Hardware Software Co-Design of a Multimedia SOC Platform is written for practitioner engineers and technical managers who want to gain first hand knowledge about the hardware-software design process of an SoC platform. It offers both tutorial-like details to help readers become familiar with a diverse range of subjects, and in-depth analysis for advanced readers to pursue further.