Game design has shifted from the development of games for entertainment to the creation of games with a more meaningful purpose. Game principles and theories can be applied to interactive programs in a variety of fields and professions. Researchers continue to examine the many ways games can be applied to real-world settings. Emerging Research and Trends in Gamification brings together innovative and scholarly research on the use of game-based design and technology in a variety of settings. Including discussions from both industry and academic perspectives, this publication explores the growing research in this interesting and dynamic field, serving as an essential reference source for academicians, professionals, researchers, and upper level students interested in the applications of game-thinking and gaming dynamics across various disciplines including marketing, journalism, education, and human resources. This publication presents timely, research-based chapters on the development of games and the real-world applications of game-thinking and game dynamics, as well as additional topics including, but not limited to, digital development, game design, human resource processes, market research, online journalism, social change, and video game learning.

This book presents a design methodology that is practically applicable to the architectural design of a broad range of systems. It is based on fundamental design concepts to conceive and specify the required functional properties of a system, while abstracting from the specific implementation functions and technologies that can be chosen to build the system. Abstraction and precision are indispensable when it comes to understanding complex systems and precisely creating and representing them at a high functional level. Once understood, these concepts appear natural, self-evident and extremely powerful, since they can directly, precisely and concisely reflect what is considered essential for the functional behavior of a system. The first two chapters present the global views on how to design systems and how to interpret terms and meta-concepts. This informal introduction provides the general context for the remainder of the book. On a more formal level, Chapters 3 through 6 present the main basic design concepts, illustrating them with examples. Language notations are introduced along with the basic design concepts. Lastly, Chapters 7 to 12 discuss the more intricate basic design concepts of interactive systems by focusing on their common functional goal. These chapters are recommended to readers who have a particular interest in the design of protocols and interfaces for various systems. The didactic approach makes it suitable for graduate students who want to develop insights into and skills in developing complex systems, as well as practitioners in industry and large organizations who are responsible for the design and development of large and complex systems. It includes numerous tangible examples from various fields, and several appealing exercises with their solutions.

Presenting the state of the art in component-based software testing, this cutting-edge resource offers you an in-depth understanding of the current issues, challenges, needs and solutions in this critical area. The book discusses the very latest advances in component-based testing and quality assurance in an accessible tutorial format, making the material easy to comprehend and benefit from no matter what your professional level. The book clearly explains what component-based software testing is, why it is important, and how it differs from traditional software testing. From an introduction to software components, testing component-based software and validation methods for software components, to performance testing and measurement, standards and certification and verification of quality for component-based systems, you get a revealing snapshot of the key developments in this area, including important research findings. This volume also serves as a textbook for related courses at the advanced undergraduate or graduate level.

This book summarizes the new research results presented at the 12th Joint Conference on Knowledge-Based Software Engineering (JCKBSE 2018), which took place on August 27-30, 2018 on the island of Corfu, Greece. The JCKBSE is a well-established international biennial conference that focuses on the applications of Artificial Intelligence in Software Engineering. The JCKBSE 2018 was organized by the Department of Informatics of the University of Piraeus, the Department of Computer and Information Engineering of Nippon Institute of Technology, and the Department of Informatics of Ionian University. The book will benefit not only experts and researchers in the field of (Knowledge-Based) Software Engineering, but also general readers in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, Computational Intelligence and Computer Science who wish to learn more about the field of (Knowledge-Based) Software Engineering and its applications. An extensive list of bibliographic references at the end of each paper encourages readers to probe further into the application areas that interest them most.

This book provides readers with an in-depth discussion of circuit simulation, combining basic electrical engineering circuit theory with Python programming. It fills an information gap by describing the development of Python Power Electronics, an open-source software for simulating circuits, and demonstrating its use in a sample circuit. Unlike typical books on circuit theory that describe how circuits can be solved mathematically, followed by examples of simulating circuits using specific, commercial software, this book has a different approach and focus. The author begins by describing every aspect of the open-source software, in the context of non-linear power electronic circuits, as a foundation for aspiring or practicing engineers to embark on further development of open source software for different purposes. By demonstrating explicitly the operation of the software through algorithms, this book brings together the fields of electrical engineering and software technology.

Enterprise Modeling and Computing with UML bridges two fields that are closely related, but are often studied in isolation: enterprise modeling and information systems modeling. The principal idea is to use a standard language for modeling information systems, UML, as a catalyst, and investigate its potential for modeling enterprises. ""Enterprise Modeling and Computing with UML"" shows both the potential and the limit of using UML in an enterprise modeling context and a broad spectrum of ideas for aligning the development of information systems with the management of an enterprise.

The work presented here is generally intended for engineers, educators at all levels, industrialists, managers, researchers and political representatives. Offering a snapshot of various types of research conducted within the field of TRIZ in France, it represents a unique resource. It has been two decades since the TRIZ theory originating in Russia spread across the world. Every continent adopted it in a different manner - sometimes by glorifying its potential and its perspectives (the American way); sometimes by viewing it with mistrust and suspicion (the European way); and sometimes by adopting it as-is, without questioning it further (the Asian way). However, none of these models of adoption truly succeeded. Today, an assessment of TRIZ practices in education, industry and research is necessary. TRIZ has expanded to many different scientific disciplines and has allowed young researchers to reexamine the state of research in their field. To this end, a call was sent out to all known francophone research laboratories producing regular research about TRIZ. Eleven of them agreed to send one or more of their postdoctoral researchers to present their work during a seminar, regardless of the maturity or completeness of their efforts. It was followed by this book project, presenting one chapter for every current thesis in order to reveal the breadth, the richness and the perspectives that research about the TRIZ theory could offer our society. The topics dealt with e.g. the development of new methods inspired by TRIZ, educational practices, and measuring team impact.

This book presents the outcomes of the 16th International Conference on Software Engineering, Artificial Intelligence Research, Management and Applications (SERA 2018), which was held in Kunming, China on June 13-15, 2018. The aim of the conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the various fields of computer science, to share their experiences, and to exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. The book includes findings on all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and discusses related practical challenges and the solutions adopted to solve them. The conference organizers selected the best papers from those accepted for presentation. The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the program committee and underwent a further rigorous round of review. From this second round, 13 of the conference's most promising papers were then published in this Springer (SCI) book and not the conference proceedings. We eagerly await the important contributions that we know these authors will make to the field of computer and information science.

Morgahna Hamilton was arrogant, presumptuous and had a career built upon those things as a reporter for "The Savannah Morning News." She was talented, ambitious and the world seemed to be at her feet. Then her husband, Evan Hamilton, committed suicide in her office and her world disintegrated.

Her job began to suffer and her friends began to worry when her phone rang not two months later. A woman uses his name and then hangs up. So starts the journey that will change the direction of her life when she is kidnapped.

Join Morgahna as she discovers why Evan committed suicide. Join her as her best friend, Debbie Jenson, is taken just like she was. Only this time, the killer will not fail. Join Morgahna as she races against time to save the life of her only friend and to put back together the pieces of her own.

This book provides insights into the First International Conference on Communication, Devices and Computing (ICCDC 2017), which was held in Haldia, India on November 2-3, 2017. It covers new ideas, applications and the experiences of research engineers, scientists, industrialists, scholars and students from around the globe. The proceedings highlight cutting-edge research on communication, electronic devices and computing, and address diverse areas such as 5G communication, spread spectrum systems, wireless sensor networks, signal processing for secure communication, error control coding, printed antennas, analysis of wireless networks, antenna array systems, analog and digital signal processing for communication systems, frequency selective surfaces, radar communication, and substrate integrated waveguide and microwave passive components, which are key to state-of-the-art innovations in communication technologies.

This book takes a foundational approach to the semantics of probabilistic programming. It elaborates a rigorous Markov chain semantics for the probabilistic typed lambda calculus, which is the typed lambda calculus with recursion plus probabilistic choice. The book starts with a recapitulation of the basic mathematical tools needed throughout the book, in particular Markov chains, graph theory and domain theory, and also explores the topic of inductive definitions. It then defines the syntax and establishes the Markov chain semantics of the probabilistic lambda calculus and, furthermore, both a graph and a tree semantics. Based on that, it investigates the termination behavior of probabilistic programs. It introduces the notions of termination degree, bounded termination and path stoppability and investigates their mutual relationships. Lastly, it defines a denotational semantics of the probabilistic lambda calculus, based on continuous functions over probability distributions as domains. The work mostly appeals to researchers in theoretical computer science focusing on probabilistic programming, randomized algorithms, or programming language theory.

* Deals with powerful concepts in a simple way * Highlights important characteristics of Operating systems and other abstract entities in a new way * Explores the tenets of the UNIX operating system philosophy
Unlike so many books that focus on how to use UNIX, The UNIX Philosophy concentrates on answering the questions: Why use UNIX in the first place?'. Readers will discover the rationale and reasons for such concepts as file system organization, user interface and other system characteristics. In an informative, non-technical fashion, The UNIX Philosophy explores the general principles for applying the UNIX philosophy to software development. This book describes complex software design principles and addresses the importance of small programs, code and data portability, early prototyping, and open user interfaces. The UNIX Philosophy is a book to be read before tackling the highly technical texts on UNIX internals and programming. Written for both the computer layperson and the experienced programmer, this book explores the tenets of the UNIX operating system in detail, dealing with powerful concepts in a comprehensive, straightforward manner.

Jump-start your career as a data scientist--learn to develop datasets for exploration, analysis, and machine learning SQL for Data Scientists: A Beginner's Guide for Building Datasets for Analysis is a resource that's dedicated to the Structured Query Language (SQL) and dataset design skills that data scientists use most. Aspiring data scientists will learn how to how to construct datasets for exploration, analysis, and machine learning. You can also discover how to approach query design and develop SQL code to extract data insights while avoiding common pitfalls. You may be one of many people who are entering the field of Data Science from a range of professions and educational backgrounds, such as business analytics, social science, physics, economics, and computer science. Like many of them, you may have conducted analyses using spreadsheets as data sources, but never retrieved and engineered datasets from a relational database using SQL, which is a programming language designed for managing databases and extracting data. This guide for data scientists differs from other instructional guides on the subject. It doesn't cover SQL broadly. Instead, you'll learn the subset of SQL skills that data analysts and data scientists use frequently. You'll also gain practical advice and direction on "how to think about constructing your dataset." Gain an understanding of relational database structure, query design, and SQL syntax Develop queries to construct datasets for use in applications like interactive reports and machine learning algorithms Review strategies and approaches so you can design analytical datasets Practice your techniques with the provided database and SQL code In this book, author Renee Teate shares knowledge gained during a 15-year career working with data, in roles ranging from database developer to data analyst to data scientist. She guides you through SQL code and dataset design concepts from an industry practitioner's perspective, moving your data scientist career forward!

Despite pressures of economic slowdown and the e-commerce bubble burst, moving towards e-services is a compelling necessity for today's organizations. Companies that are reluctant to adopt a service-oriented architecture in their IT systems will be missing out on unprecedented opportunities to create business value with relatively small IT investments. ""Engineering Service Oriented Systems: A Model-Driven Approach"" combines concepts from systems theory, model driven software engineering, and ontologies for software engineering into a systematic method for engineering service oriented systems while integrating both business and software perspectives.

This book provides a comprehensive account of the glowworm swarm optimization (GSO) algorithm, including details of the underlying ideas, theoretical foundations, algorithm development, various applications, and MATLAB programs for the basic GSO algorithm. It also discusses several research problems at different levels of sophistication that can be attempted by interested researchers. The generality of the GSO algorithm is evident in its application to diverse problems ranging from optimization to robotics. Examples include computation of multiple optima, annual crop planning, cooperative exploration, distributed search, multiple source localization, contaminant boundary mapping, wireless sensor networks, clustering, knapsack, numerical integration, solving fixed point equations, solving systems of nonlinear equations, and engineering design optimization. The book is a valuable resource for researchers as well as graduate and undergraduate students in the area of swarm intelligence and computational intelligence and working on these topics.

Reliability of Software Intensive Systems

This third volume of the Wireless Public Safety Networks series explores new tendencies in the Public Safety Networks (PSNs) field, highlighting real-use cases and applications that can be used by practitioners to help victims in the case of danger. Wireless Public Safety Networks 3: Applications and Uses explores, from the communication point of view, how teams can interact with and use new technologies and tools. These technologies can have a huge impact in the field of disaster management and greatly improve the efficiency of teams handling emergency situations. This volume of the series covers themes as varied as emergency alert systems, the organization of aerial platforms and the use of smartphones to detect earthquakes and to help in the resolution of kidnappings.

Energy Management in Wireless Sensor Networks discusses this unavoidable issue in the application of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). To guarantee efficiency and durability in a network, the science must go beyond hardware solutions and seek alternative software solutions that allow for better data control from the source to delivery. Data transfer must obey different routing protocols, depending on the application type and network architecture. The correct protocol should allow for fluid information flow, as well as optimizing power consumption and resources - a challenge faced by dense networks. The topics covered in this book provide answers to these needs by introducing and exploring computer-based tools and protocol strategies for low power consumption and the implementation of routing mechanisms which include several levels of intervention, ranging from deployment to network operation.

This book covers basic fundamentals of logic design and advanced RTL design concepts using VHDL. The book is organized to describe both simple and complex RTL design scenarios using VHDL. It gives practical information on the issues in ASIC prototyping using FPGAs, design challenges and how to overcome practical issues and concerns. It describes how to write an efficient RTL code using VHDL and how to improve the design performance. The design guidelines by using VHDL are also explained with the practical examples in this book. The book also covers the ALTERA and XILINX FPGA architecture and the design flow for the PLDs. The contents of this book will be useful to students, researchers, and professionals working in hardware design and optimization. The book can also be used as a text for graduate and professional development courses.

This book focuses on innovative strategies to manage and build software systems for generating new knowledge from large archaeological data sets The book also reports on two case studies carried out in real-world scenarios within the Cultural Heritage setting. The book presents an original conceptual framework for developing software solutions to assist the knowledge generation process in connection with large archaeological data sets and related cultural heritage information- a context in which the inputs are mainly textual sources written in freestyle, i.e. without a predetermined, standard structure. Following an in-depth exploration of recent works on the knowledge generation process in the above-mentioned context and IT-based options for facilitating it, the book proposes specific new techniques capable of capturing the structure and semantics implicit in such textual sources, and argues for using this information in the knowledge generation process. The main result is the development of a conceptual framework that can accommodate textual sources and integrate the information included in them into a software engineering framework. The said framework is meant to assist cultural heritage professionals in general, and archaeologists in particular, in both knowledge extraction and the subsequent decision-making process.