Discusses the usage, debate, and conceptual and theoretical issues of e-collaboration support of distributed project management.

In GPU Pro5 Advanced Rendering Techniques, section editors Wolfgang Engel, Christopher Oat, Carsten Dachsbacher, Michal Valient, Wessam Bahnassi, and Marius Bjorge have once again assembled a high-quality collection of cutting-edge techniques for advanced graphics processing unit (GPU) programming.

Divided into six sections, the book covers rendering, lighting, effects in image space, mobile devices, 3D engine design, and compute. It explores rasterization of liquids, ray tracing of art assets that would otherwise be used in a rasterized engine, physically based area lights, volumetric light effects, screen-space grass, the usage of quaternions, and a quadtree implementation on the GPU. It also addresses the latest developments in deferred lighting on mobile devices, OpenCL optimizations for mobile devices, morph targets, and tiled deferred blending methods.

In color throughout, GPU Pro5 is the only book that incorporates contributions from more than 50 experts who cover the latest developments in graphics programming for games and movies. It presents ready-to-use ideas and procedures that can help solve many of your daily graphics programming challenges. Example programs with source code are provided on the book s CRC Press web page."

This volume contains the Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Interactive Multimedia Systems and Services (KES-IIMSS-12). The Conference was jointly organised by Nagoya University in Japan and the KES International organisation, and held in the attractive city of Gifu. The KES-IIMSS conference series, (series chairs Prof. Maria Virvou and Prof. George Tsihrintzis), presents novel research in various areas of intelligent multimedia system relevant to the development of a new generation of interactive, user-centric devices and systems. The aim of the conference is to provide an internationally respected forum for scientific research in the technologies and applications of this new and dynamic research area.

The aim of stochastic programming is to find optimal decisions in problems which involve uncertain data. This field is currently developing rapidly with contributions from many disciplines including operations research, mathematics, and probability. At the same time, it is now being applied in a wide variety of subjects ranging from agriculture to financial planning and from industrial engineering to computer networks. This textbook provides a first course in stochastic programming suitable for students with a basic knowledge of linear programming, elementary analysis, and probability. The authors aim to present a broad overview of the main themes and methods of the subject. Its prime goal is to help students develop an intuition on how to model uncertainty into mathematical problems, what uncertainty changes bring to the decision process, and what techniques help to manage uncertainty in solving the problems.
In this extensively updated new edition there is more material on methods and examples including several new approaches for discrete variables, new results on risk measures in modeling and Monte Carlo sampling methods, a new chapter on relationships to other methods including approximate dynamic programming, robust optimization and online methods.

The book is highly illustrated with chapter summaries and many examples and exercises. Students, researchers and practitioners in operations research and the optimization area will find it particularly of interest.

Review of First Edition:

"The discussion on modeling issues, the large number of examples used to illustrate the material, and the breadth of the coverage make'Introduction to Stochastic Programming' an ideal textbook for the area." (Interfaces, 1998)

"

What lies beyond the veil of death? Journey past this mortal coil and discover the secrets of the Shadowlands. Study the practices around death and dying on Azeroth, then follow a Broker through the groves of Ardenweald, over the gleaming towers of Bastion, and into the depths of the Maw for a detailed voyage unlike any other. Featuring gorgeous artwork never before glimpsed by mortal eyes, a stunning fold-out map, and secrets straight from the game team, Grimoire of the Shadowlands and Beyond is made to be treasured for eternity. In his authorial debut, Blizzard Entertainment historian Sean Copeland teams up with World of Warcraft's Lead Narrative Designer, Steve Danuser, to open the vaults of hidden knowledge for all curious souls.

Advances in computational and device technologies, combined with the commercial success and acceptance of 3D, haptic, and various other media presentation devices, has increased commercial interest in engaging additional senses within the multimedia experience. This integration is leading to a paradigm shift away from traditionally defined multimedia systems, and towards more interactive Multiple Sensory Media (MulSeMedia) systems. Multiple Sensorial Media Advances and Applications: New Developments in MulSeMedia provides a comprehensive compilation of knowledge covering state-of-the-art developments and research, as well as current innovative activities in MulSeMedia. This book focuses on the importance of Multiple Sensorial Media and its importance in media design with an emphasis on the applicability to real world integration and provides a broad perspective on the future of the technology in a variety of cohesive topic areas.

State of the Art in Computer Graphics Aspects of Visualization This is the fourth volume derived from a State of . . . the Art in Computer Graphics Summer Institute. It represents a snapshot of a number of topics in computer graphics, topics which include visualization of scientific data; modeling; some aspects of visualization in virtual reality; and hardware architectures for visu alization. Many papers first present a background introduction to the topic, followed by discussion of current work in the topic. The volume is thus equally suitable for nonspecialists in a particular area, and for the more experienced researcher in the field. It also enables general readers to obtain an acquaintance with a particular topic area sufficient to apply that knowledge in the context of solving current problems. The volume is organized into four chapters - Visualization of Data, Modeling, Virtual Reality Techniques, and Hardware Architectures for Visualization. In the first chapter, Val Watson and Pamela Walatka address the visual aspects of fluid dynamic computations. They discuss algorithms for function-mapped surfaces and cutting planes, isosurfaces, particle traces, and topology extractions. They point out that current visualization systems are limited by low information transfer bandwidth, poor response to viewing and model accuracy modification requests, mismatches between model rendering and human cognitive capabilities, and ineffective interactive tools. However, Watson and Walatka indicate that proposed systems will correct most of these problems.

The management of production and service processes can be supported by microcomputer simulation models-effectively and inexpensively-if the techniques are presented in an understandable manner. Drs. Klafehn, Weinroth, and Boronico prove this and show how to do it-not only for the benefit of operations managers themselves, but for others with management responsibilities in a variety of businesses and industries. They will learn how important daily operations problems can be modeled on a microcomputer, gain understanding of overall simulation methodology, and learn the several forms of cost savings achievable through simulation. For teachers in business schools the book will also provide a link between general management and the management of engineering and R&D. The first chapter introduces the reader to the concepts and steps for undertaking a microcomputer simulation project. In addition, the benefits, drawbacks, and myths are reviewed in detail. Chapter two explores, in a conversational scenario, what is involved in taking a management operations problem involving a truck transfer depot from its point of inception to the formulation of a systems operation model, which in a later chapter is ultimately put into a computer simulation model and tested to, in a sense, come up with answers to the questions posed in the hypothetical conversation. Subsequent chapters in the book are oriented to a discussion of other operations management problems and the effort to seek insight and solutions through simulation modeling. A Just-in-Time manufacturing system is addressed, recognizing the push-pull concept as well as looking at the quality aspect. Attempting to determine the optimum levels for safety, stock, order points, and order quantity is investigated through computer simulation. These levels are predicated on balancing the costs associated with ordering and holding goods as well as the penalty costs of stocking out. Using a simulated environment enables the inclusion of the variability evidenced by the type of distribution. The remaining chapters also review alternative rules and what ifs as applied to machine configuration, facility location for a satellite EMS unit, and job shop operations. Each of the applications chapters provides a printout of the basic computer model, written in GPSS, that was then modified to investigate alternative scenarios.

This book is devoted to a new branch of experimental design theory called simulation experimental design. There are many books devoted either to the theory of experimental design or to system simulation techniques, but in this book an approach to combine both fields is developed. Especially the mathematical theory of such universal variance reduction techniques as splitting and Russian Roulette is explored. The book contains a number of results on regression design theory related to nonlinear problems, the E-optimum criterion and designs which minimize bias. Audience: This volume will be of value to readers interested in systems simulation, applied statistics and numerical methods with basic knowledge of applied statistics and linear algebra.

Advanced Computer Systems is a collection of forty selected papers presented to the Eighth International Conference on Computer Systems, October 2001 in Mielno, Poland. These papers provide a comprehensive summary of practice and research progress in information technologies:

• Recognition, Security and Safety concentrates on the widely-known problems of information systems security.
• Methods of Artificial Intelligence presents methods and algorithms which are the basics for the applications of artificial intelligence environments.
• Intelligent Agents and Distributed Activities includes laboratory research on multiagent intelligent systems as well as upon their applications in searching information, negotiating and supporting decision.
• Distributed Productions Networks and Modeling Complex Systems present production processes in distributed shared virtual environment, virtual solution of integer optimization problems, and a queuing approach to performance optimization in the distributed production network.

TRACK 1: Innovative Applications in the Public Sector The integration of multimedia based applications and the information superhighway fundamentally concerns the creation of a communication technology to support the ac tivities of people. Communication is a profoundly social activity involving interactions among groups or individuals, common standards of exchange, and national infrastruc tures to support telecommunications activities. The contributions of the invited speakers and others in this track begin to explore the social dimension of communication within the context of integrated, information systems for the public sector. Interactions among businesses and households are described by Ralf Strauss through the development within a real community of a "wired city" with information and electronic services provided by the latest telecommunications technologies. A more specific type of interaction between teacher and student forms the basis of education. John Tiffin demonstrates how virtual classrooms can be used to augment the educational process. Carl Loeffler presents yet another perspective on interaction through the integration of A-life and agent technologies to investigate the dynamics of complex behaviors within networked simulation environments. Common standards for communication in the form of electronic documents or CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work), according to Roland Traunmiiller, provide en abling technologies for a paradigm shift in the management of organizations. As pointed out by William Olle, the impact of standardization work on the future of information technology depends critically upon the interoperability of software systems."

Inform your own analyses by seeing how one of the best data analysts in the world approaches analytics problems Analytics Stories: How to Make Good Things Happen is a thoughtful, incisive, and entertaining exploration of the application of analytics to real-world problems and situations. Covering fields as diverse as sports, finance, politics, healthcare, and business, Analytics Stories bridges the gap between the oft inscrutable world of data analytics and the concrete problems it solves. Distinguished professor and author Wayne L. Winston answers questions like: Was Liverpool over Barcelona the greatest upset in sports history? Was Derek Jeter a great infielder What's wrong with the NFL QB rating? How did Madoff keep his fund going? Does a mutual fund's past performance predict future performance? What caused the Crash of 2008? Can we predict where crimes are likely to occur? Is the lot of the American worker improving? How can analytics save the US Republic? The birth of evidence-based medicine: How did James Lind know citrus fruits cured scurvy? How can I objectively compare hospitals? How can we predict heart attacks in real time? How does a retail store know if you're pregnant? How can I use A/B testing to improve sales from my website? How can analytics help me write a hit song? Perfect for anyone with the word "analyst" in their job title, Analytics Stories illuminates the process of applying analytic principles to practical problems and highlights the potential pitfalls that await careless analysts.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th IFIP TC 9 International Conference on Human Choice and Computers, HCC10 2012, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in September 2012. The 37 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the volume. The papers are organized in topical sections on national and international policies, sustainable and responsible innovation, ICT for peace and war, and citizens' involvement, citizens' rights and ICT.

In a global and digital society, businesses are constantly being challenged by innovative and disruptive management strategies. The dramatic changes that took place in all quadrants of the world during COVID pandemic confirmed companies need to constantly update their resources and anticipate trends. The new normal demands dedicated approaches to the markets, where technology and the digital channels have been gaining importance. Success will depend on the swift adaptation to change and to leading-edge practices that ultimately require digital transformation. Overall, companies are using digital channels to achieve a diversified set of business objectives. Indeed, digitalization offers endless innovation scenarios that companies take advantage of, some with resistance, others leveraged by gains in profitability and market share. The current changes demand an accurate and structured knowledge of strategies, drivers, and motivations for a digital transformation of companies, as well as an in-depth perspective of this new reality for students, educators and managers. This book analyzes the drivers of digital transformation of businesses, assesses digital transformation success factors, and presents case studies of digital adoption by companies in different business sectors. Overall, it provides valuable insights on the best practices and success factors of digital transformation for relevant stakeholders, namely managers, researchers, educators, students, digital strategists, business associations, communication and marketing agencies, future entrepreneurs, and all potential audiences with a specific interest in these topics.

The unprecedented growth in the range of multimedia services offered these days by modern telecommunication systems has been made possible only because of the advancements in signal processing technologies and algorithms. In the area of telecommunications, application of signal processing allows for new generations of systems to achieve performance close to theoretical limits, while in the area of multimedia, signal processing the underlying technology making possible realization of such applications that not so long ago were considered just a science fiction or were not even dreamed about. We all learnt to adopt those achievements very quickly, but often the research enabling their introduction takes many years and a lot of efforts. This book presents a group of invited contributions, some of which have been based on the papers presented at the International Symposium on DSP for Communication Systems held in Coolangatta on the Gold Coast, Australia, in December 2003. Part 1 of the book deals with applications of signal processing to transform what we hear or see to the form that is most suitable for transmission or storage for a future retrieval. The first three chapters in this part are devoted to processing of speech and other audio signals. The next two chapters consider image coding and compression, while the last chapter of this part describes classification of video sequences in the MPEG domain.

This book focuses on novel trends in software evolution research and its relations with other emerging disciplines. Mens and Demeyer, both authorities in the field of software evolution, do not restrict themselves to the evolution of source code but also address the evolution of other, equally important software artifacts. This book is the indispensable source for researchers and professionals looking for an introduction and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art.

Art and Technology of Entertainment Computing and Communication takes a blue sky research perspective on the field of interactive media for entertainment computing. Adrian David Cheok argues that entertainment as an end-product is useful for interactive play, however it is also a powerful tool for learning and communication and it is also a key driver for the development of information technology. This book explores the future of entertainment technologies used for communication and describes quantum step research. It will inform and inspire readers to create their own radical inventions and innovations that are not incremental, but which break through ideas and non-obvious solutions. One of the main explorations is the examination of how new forms of computer interaction can lead to radical new forms of technology and art for entertainment computing. Art and Technology of Entertainment Computing and Communication is an informative and inspirational text for students and the next generation of researchers. It s main aim is to provide information that will hopefully help change the world and society for the better, through new modes of entertainment and communication. Academics, researchers, engineers, game designers, and interaction designers, will find the content both interesting and valuable. Entertainment is the "engine" to inspire people and drive innovation in interactive digital media design. The pioneer of the field, Prof. Adrian David Cheok, takes you on an exciting tour of the future shaped by the Entertainment Technologies. Hiroshi ISHII, Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Laboratory."

Human Face Recognition Using Third-Order Synthetic Neural Networks explores the viability of the application of High-order synthetic neural network technology to transformation-invariant recognition of complex visual patterns. High-order networks require little training data (hence, short training times) and have been used to perform transformation-invariant recognition of relatively simple visual patterns, achieving very high recognition rates. The successful results of these methods provided inspiration to address more practical problems which have grayscale as opposed to binary patterns (e.g., alphanumeric characters, aircraft silhouettes) and are also more complex in nature as opposed to purely edge-extracted images - human face recognition is such a problem. Human Face Recognition Using Third-Order Synthetic Neural Networks serves as an excellent reference for researchers and professionals working on applying neural network technology to the recognition of complex visual patterns.

In order to stay competitive, modern businesses need to adopt an enterprise information system or an integrated IT platform that operates on an 'always-on' basis in order to remain resilient, continuous, operational, adaptive, and responsive in this increasingly competitive and changing business environment. ""Always-On Enterprise Information Systems for Business Continuance: Technologies for Reliable and Scalable Operations"" provides an in-depth and scientifically-based analysis of 'always-on' enterprise information systems. This advanced publication identifies methodological frameworks for designing and developing efficient systems and effective strategies for 'always-on' implementation, valuable to academicians, researchers, and practitioners.

The goal of this book is to present the most advanced research works in realistic computer generated images. It is made up of the papers presented during a Eurographics workshop that has been held in Rennes (France) on June 1990. Although realism in computer graphics has existed for many years, we have considered that two research directions can now clearly be identified. One makes use of empirical methods to efficiently create images that look real. As opposed to this approach, the other orientation makes use of physics to produce images that are exact representations of the real world (at the expense of additional processing time), hence the term photosimulation which indeed was the subject of this book. The objectives of this workshop were to assemble experts from physics and computer graphics in order to contribute to the introduction of physics-based approaches in the field of computer generated images. The fact that this workshop was the first entirely devoted to this topic was a bet and fortunately it turned out that it was a success. The contents of this book is organized in five chapters: Efficient Ray Tracing Meth ods, Theory of Global Illumination Models, Photometric Algorithms, Form-Factor Cal culations and Physics-Based Methods.

For professionals who need to design, implement or manage a quality software program, this volume identifies ten major components that make up a solid program in line with ISO 9001 quality management precepts. This second edition is expanded by over 20 per cent, with updated references, text revisions and new chapters on software safety and software risk management. It seeks to provide the starting points for a standardized documentation system, and better understanding of the individual program components and how they integrate to form the whole system.

This book opens the "black box" of software sourcing by explaining how dynamic software alignment is established and how it impacts business performance outcomes. By investigating how software-sourcing modes are related to value generation in the post-implementation phase, it shows researchers and managers the impact logic of on-demand, on-premises, and in-house software on dynamic fit and process-level performance outcomes in a client organization. It describes dynamic IT alignment as the key to success in a fast-moving digital world with software-as-a-service on the rise and highlights the fact that today companies can choose between developing software in-house (make) or sourcing packaged systems in an on-premises (buy) or an on-demand (lease) mode. This book is the first to explicitly compare these sourcing arrangements with each other in terms of alignment and business performance.

Michael Mitchell's A Visual Guide to Stata Graphics, Fourth Edition provides an essential introduction and reference for Stata graphics. The fourth edition retains the features that made the first three editions so useful: A complete guide to Stata's graph command Exhaustive examples of customized graphs Visual indexing of features-just look for a picture that matches what you want to do This edition includes new discussions of color, Unicode characters, export formats, sizing of graph elements, and schemes. The section on colors has been greatly expanded to include over 50 examples that demonstrate how to modify colors, add transparency, and change intensity. In the discussion of text modifications, Mitchell now shows how to include Unicode characters such as Greek letters, symbols, and emojis. New examples have also been added that show how to change the size of graph elements such as text, markers, and line widths using both absolute units (points, inches, and centimeters) as well as relative units (line large or *2 for two times the original size). Finally, the look of graphs throughout the book has changed-most graphs are now created using a common updated scheme. The book's visual style makes it easy to find exactly what you need. A color-coded, visual table of contents runs along the edge of every page and shows readers exactly where they are in the book. You can see the color-coded chapter tabs without opening the book, providing quick visual access to each chapter. The heart of each chapter is a series of entries that are typically formatted three to a page. Each entry shows a graph command (with the emphasized portion of the command highlighted in red), the resulting graph, a description of what is being done, and the dataset used. Because every feature, option, and edit is demonstrated with a graph, you can often flip through a section of the book to find exactly the effect you are seeking. The book begins with an introduction to Stata graphs that includes an overview of graphs types, schemes, and options and the process of building a graph. Then, it turns to detailed discussions of many graph types-scatterplots, regression fit plots, line plots, contour plots, bar graphs, box plots, and many others. Mitchell shows how to create each type of graph and how to use options to control the look of the graph. Because Stata's graph command will let you customize any aspect of the graph, Mitchell spends ample time showing you the most valuable options for obtaining the look you want. If you are in a hurry to discover one special option, you can skim the chapter until you see the effect you want and then glance at the command to see what is highlighted in red. After focusing on specific types of graphs, Mitchell undertakes an in-depth presentation of the options available across almost all graph types. This includes options that add and change the look of titles, notes, and such; control the number of ticks on axes; control the content and appearance of the numbers and labels on axes; control legends; add and change the look of annotations; graph over subgroups; change the look of markers and their labels; size graphs and their elements; and more. To complete the graphical journey, Mitchell discusses and demonstrates the 12 styles that unite and control the appearance of the myriad graph objects. These styles are angles, colors, clock positions, compass directions, connecting points, line patterns, line widths, margins, marker sizes, orientations, marker symbols, and text sizes. You won't want to overlook the appendix in this book. There Mitchell first gives a quick overview of the dozens of statistical graph commands that are not strictly the subject of the book. Even so, these commands use the graph command as an engine to draw their graphs; therefore, almost all that Mitchell has discussed applies to them. He also addresses combining graphs-showing you how to create complex and multipart images from previously created graphs. In a crucial section titled "Putting it all together", Mitchell shows us how to do just that. We learn more about overlaying twoway plots, and we learn how to combine data management and graphics to create plots such as bar charts of rates with capped confidence intervals. Mitchell concludes by warning us about mistakes that can be made when typing graph commands and how to correct them. The fourth edition of A Visual Guide to Stata Graphics is a complete guide to Stata's graph command and the associated Graph Editor. Whether you want to tame the Stata graph command, quickly find out how to produce a graphical effect, or learn approaches that can be used to construct custom graphs, this is the book to read.

After the introduction of Enterprise Information Systems (EIS) and Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) applications to many business organizations, the functional issues such as technical problems, security threats, persistent end-user resistance, and the excessive hidden costs of these systems began coming to light. Cases on Enterprise Information Systems and Implementation Stages: Learning from the Gulf Region focuses on the Gulf region and its lead on the enterprise systems adoption which has exceeded those in many developed countries. This reference book highlights experiences implementing EIS, delivering a comprehensive multi-perspective account of EIS issues, and explores the concerns, risks, and critical success factors of EIS for a variety of organizations. It aims to be beneficial for both practitioners and academics alike.