Although synthetic environments were traditionally used in military settings for mission rehearsal and simulations, their use is rapidly spreading to a variety of applications in the commercial, research and industrial sectors, such as flight training for commercial aircraft, city planning, car safety research in real-time traffic simulations, and video games. 3D Synthetic Environment Reconstruction contains seven invited chapters from leading experts in the field, bringing together a coherent body of recent knowledge relating 3D geospatial data collection, design issues, and techniques used in synthetic environments design, implementation and interoperability. In particular, this book describes new techniques for the generation of Synthetic Environments with increased resolution and rich attribution, both essential for accurate modeling and simulation. This book also deals with interoperability of models and simulations, which is necessary for facilitating the reuse of modeling and simulation components. 3D Synthetic Environment Reconstruction is an excellent reference for researchers and practitioners in the field. Included with this volume is a CD-ROM containing the color version of the book's many illustrations.

This book describes a conceptual management system derived from the Business and Technology Relationship Model (BTRM). The BTRM describes the relationship between business and technology and provides simple definitions for service quality, alignment, agility, and governance. It explains our problems with traditional methods, democratizes the management and governance of enterprise technologies, and is suitable for introducing process automation. This book describes in detail how the BTRM, combined with a focus on value creation and value delivery, will enable continuous change, in the context of current, emerging and future technologies. It illustrates the potential for real-time insight and control not previously considered and provides a wide range of information to plan an implementation, understand where AI can be applied, and its importance in the world of self-managing systems. The topic of this book is particularly relevant for business managers, business technology managers and technology service providers.

This study surveys the approaches used and problems encountered in the modelling of real geophysical data. It addresses key themes of the modelling process including the selection of reliable data, the choice of data structure and the objective analysis of 3-D information presented in the model.

The Game Music Toolbox provides readers with the tools, models and techniques to create and expand a compositional toolbox, through a collection of 20 iconic case studies taken from different eras of game music. Discover many of the composition and production techniques behind popular music themes from games such as Cyberpunk 2077, Mario Kart 8, The Legend of Zelda, Street Fighter II, Diablo, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, and many others. The Game Music Toolbox features: Exclusive interviews from industry experts Transcriptions and harmonic analyses 101 music theory introductions for beginners Career development ideas and strategies Copyright and business fundamentals An introduction to audio implementation for composers Practical takeaway tasks to equip readers with techniques for their own game music The Game Music Toolbox is crucial reading for game music composers and audio professionals of all backgrounds, as well as undergraduates looking to forge a career in the video game industry.

This monograph on fast stochastic simulation deals with methods of adaptive importance sampling (IS). The concept of IS is introduced and described in detail with several numerical examples in the context of rare event simulation. Adaptive simulation and system parameter optimization to achieve specified performance criteria are described. The techniques are applied to the analysis and design of radar CFAR (constant false alarm rate) detectors. Development of robust detection algorithms using ensemble - or E-CFAR processing is described. A second application treats the performance evaluation and parameter optimization of digital communication systems that cannot be handled analytically or even by using standard numerical techniques.

This book discusses theoretically and empirically the trade-off relationship between the frequency of product adaptation activities and the constraints on development resources, and how companies can respond to these constraints. The objective of this book is to identify effective management practices in continuous product development. With the continuation of development activities, companies are required to constantly adapt their products to changes in the external environment. In continuous product development, the development process extends beyond product release, and interaction with the external environment is not limited to the planning stage but occurs multiple times throughout the process. What impact does the multiple adaptation activities have on the product performance as development activities become more continuous, and how to use limited development resources to provide stable and constant high-quality adaptation activities with optimal frequency have become urgent issues in the development sites. To address these research questions, this book focuses primarily on the development activities of the online game industry. The factors that bring about superior product performance are examined by combining case studies and questionnaire surveys on online game development projects. Furthermore, user community management is also discussed from the perspective of the interaction process between multiple user groups.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and platforms are closely related. Most investments in AI, especially in critical technologies, are provided by large platforms. This book describes how platforms invest in AI and how AI will impact the next generation of competences, following a twofold approach to do so: on the one hand, the book seeks to understand how platforms for investment in intangibles and AI are organized, but on the other hand, it provides a framework to describe how AI will change jobs and competences in the future. Moreover, the book addresses five main themes: 1. platforms, platformization, and the foundations of their business models; 2. artificial intelligence, technological tendencies, and the policy agenda; 3. artificial intelligence, productivity, and the next generation of competences; 4. artificial intelligence, productivity, and the digital divide; 5. artificial intelligence, ethics, and the post-truth society. The book's content is mostly based on papers presented at the last two installments of the World Conference on Intellectual Capital for Communities. It brings together the views of leading scholars and experts on how artificial intelligence and platformization will impact competences in the near future.

Welcome to the Second International IFIP Entertainment Computing Symposium on st Cultural Computing (ECS 2010), which was part of the 21 IFIP World Computer Congress, held in Brisbane, Australia during September 21-23, 2010. On behalf of the people who made this conference happen, we wish to welcome you to this inter- tional event. The IFIP World Computer Congress has offered an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to present their findings and research results in several prominent areas of computer science and engineering. In the last World Computer Congress, WCC 2008, held in Milan, Italy in September 2008, IFIP launched a new initiative focused on all the relevant issues concerning computing and entertainment. As a - sult, the two-day technical program of the First Entertainment Computing Symposium (ECS 2008) provided a forum to address, explore and exchange information on the state of the art of computer-based entertainment and allied technologies, their design and use, and their impact on society. Based on the success of ECS 2008, at this Second IFIP Entertainment Computing Symposium (ECS 2010), our challenge was to focus on a new area in entertainment computing: cultural computing.

Intelligent multimedia surveillance concerns the analysis of multiple sensing inputs including video and audio streams, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and depth data. These data are processed for the automated detection and tracking of people, vehicles, and other objects. The goal is to locate moving targets, to understand their behavior, and to detect suspicious or abnormal activities for crime prevention. Despite its benefits, there is societal apprehension regarding the use of such technology, so an important challenge in this research area is to balance public safety and privacy.

This edited book presents recent findings in the field of intelligent multimedia surveillance emerging from disciplines such as multimedia computing, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. It consists of nine chapters addressing intelligent video surveillance, video analysis of crowds, privacy issues in intelligent multimedia surveillance, RFID technology for localization of objects, object tracking using visual saliency information, estimating multiresolution depth using active stereo vision, and performance evaluation for video surveillance systems.

The book will be of value to researchers and practitioners working on related problems in security, multimedia, and artificial intelligence."

This comprehensive guide walks readers through the entire process of getting and keeping a writing job in the games industry. It outlines exactly what a beginner needs to know about education requirements, finding opportunities, applying for roles, and acing studio interviews. Professional writers will learn how to navigate studio hierarchies, transfer roles and companies, work overseas, and keep developing their careers. Written by an experienced games writer with nearly two decades of industry knowledge, the book contains a wealth of interviews and perspectives with industry leaders, hiring managers, and developers from marginalized communities, all offering their tips and insights. Included are examples of materials such as job posts, writing samples, and portfolios, as well as chapter end challenges for readers to directly apply the skills they have learnt. This book will be of great interest to all beginner and aspiring games writers and narrative designers, as well as more experienced writers looking to hone their skills.

This book systematically reviews the development process of the world Internet and comprehensively reveals the great contributions of the Internet to economic development and social progress. The world today is marked by changes unseen in a century, and Internet development is facing new opportunities and challenges. In 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic broke out and spread at the global scale, which enormously impacted the global economy and society. Internet played an increasingly important role. Meanwhile, based on the development status of the global Internet, this book fully reflects the development process, status and trend of the world Internet in 2020, systematically summarizes the development status and highlights of the Internet in the major countries around the world, and makes an in-depth analysis of the new conditions, new dynamics and new trends of the development in the key Internet fields; the contents cover the information infrastructure, information technology, digital economy, digital government, internet media, network security, and international cyberspace governance, and other aspects. Moreover, this book further adjusts and enriches the development index systems of the world Internet, in the hope of better showing the development strength and development advantages of the Internet in various countries, and reflecting the overall development trend of the world Internet more comprehensively, accurately and objectively. From an objective perspective, this book collects the latest research results in the global internet field, featuring comprehensive contents and highlights; from a historical perspective, this book reviews the significant development process of the global internet, summarizes the experience and faces the future; from a global perspective, this book tries to construct the cyberspace community with a common future based on the new concepts, new ideas and new achievements of various countries in participating in cyberspace development and construction. This book provides an important reference value for employees in Internet fields, such as government departments, Internet enterprises, scientific research institutions, colleges and universities, to fully understand and master the development of the world internet.

A step-by-step approach to problem-solving techniques using SPSS(R) in the fields of sports science and physical education Featuring a clear and accessible approach to the methods, processes, and statistical techniques used in sports science and physical education, Sports Research with Analytical Solution using SPSS(R) emphasizes how to conduct and interpret a range of statistical analysis using SPSS. The book also addresses issues faced by research scholars in these fields by providing analytical solutions to various research problems without reliance on mathematical rigor. Logically arranged to cover both fundamental and advanced concepts, the book presents standard univariate and complex multivariate statistical techniques used in sports research such as multiple regression analysis, discriminant analysis, cluster analysis, and factor analysis. The author focuses on the treatment of various parametric and nonparametric statistical tests, which are shown through the techniques and interpretations of the SPSS outputs that are generated for each analysis. Sports Research with Analytical Solution using SPSS(R) also features: * Numerous examples and case studies to provide readers with practical applications of the analytical concepts and techniques * Plentiful screen shots throughout to help demonstrate the implementation of SPSS outputs * Illustrative studies with simulated realistic data to clarify the analytical techniques covered * End-of-chapter short answer questions, multiple choice questions, assignments, and practice exercises to help build a better understanding of the presented concepts * A companion website with associated SPSS data files and PowerPoint(R) presentations for each chapter Sports Research with Analytical Solution using SPSS(R) is an excellent textbook for upper-undergraduate, graduate, and PhD-level courses in research methods, kinesiology, sports science, medicine, nutrition, health education, and physical education. The book is also an ideal reference for researchers and professionals in the fields of sports research, sports science, physical education, and social sciences, as well as anyone interested in learning SPSS.

This open access book provides a wealth of hands-on examples that illustrate how hyperparameter tuning can be applied in practice and gives deep insights into the working mechanisms of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) methods. The aim of the book is to equip readers with the ability to achieve better results with significantly less time, costs, effort and resources using the methods described here. The case studies presented in this book can be run on a regular desktop or notebook computer. No high-performance computing facilities are required. The idea for the book originated in a study conducted by Bartz & Bartz GmbH for the Federal Statistical Office of Germany (Destatis). Building on that study, the book is addressed to practitioners in industry as well as researchers, teachers and students in academia. The content focuses on the hyperparameter tuning of ML and DL algorithms, and is divided into two main parts: theory (Part I) and application (Part II). Essential topics covered include: a survey of important model parameters; four parameter tuning studies and one extensive global parameter tuning study; statistical analysis of the performance of ML and DL methods based on severity; and a new, consensus-ranking-based way to aggregate and analyze results from multiple algorithms. The book presents analyses of more than 30 hyperparameters from six relevant ML and DL methods, and provides source code so that users can reproduce the results. Accordingly, it serves as a handbook and textbook alike.

Education and Technology for a Better World was the main theme for WCCE 2009. The conference highlights and explores different perspectives of this theme, covering all levels of formal education as well as informal learning and societal aspects of education. The conference was open to everyone involved in education and training. Additionally players from technological, societal, business and political fields outside education were invited to make relevant contributions within the theme: Education and Technology for a Better World. For several years the WCCE (World Conference on Computers in Education) has brought benefits to the fields of computer science and computers and education as well as to their communities. The contributions at WCCE include research projects and good practice presented in different formats from full papers to posters, demonstrations, panels, workshops and symposiums. The focus is not only on presentations of accepted contributions but also on discussions and input from all participants. The main goal of these conferences is to provide a forum for the discussion of ideas in all areas of computer science and human learning. They create a unique environment in which researchers and practitioners in the fields of computer science and human learning can interact, exchanging theories, experiments, techniques, applications and evaluations of initiatives supporting new developments that are potentially relevant for the development of these fields. They intend to serve as reference guidelines for the research community.

In this enthralling original graphic novel, meet the Pandaren, one of the most beloved (and mysterious) races in World of Warcraft! Li Li Stormstout, a precocious young student, lives atop a giant turtle. Li Li comes from a line of adventurers who left their homeland long ago to explore the world... But when Li Li runs away to find her famous uncle Chen, how will she survive Azeroth's perils?

Health Information Exchange: Navigating and Managing a Network of Health Information Systems, Second Edition, now fully updated, is a practical guide on how to understand, manage and make use of a health information exchange infrastructure, which moves patient-centered information within the health care system. The book informs and guides the development of new infrastructures as well as the management of existing and expanding infrastructures across the globe. Sections explore the reasons for the health information exchange (HIE) infrastructures, how to manage them, examines the key drivers of HIE, and barriers to their widespread use. In addition, the book explains the underlying technologies and methods for conducting HIE across communities as well as nations. Finally, the book explains the principles of governing an organization that chiefly moves protected health information around. The text unravels the complexities of HIE and provides guidance for those who need to access HIE data and support operations.

This volume presents the proceedings of ECSCW 2011, the 12th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. Each conference offers an occasion to critically review our research field, which has been multidisciplinary and committed to high scientific standards, both theoretical and methodological, from its beginning. The papers this year focus on work and the enterprise as well as on the challenges of involving citizens, patients, etc. into collaborative settings. The papers embrace new theories, and discuss known ones. They contribute to the discussions on the blurring boundaries between home and work and on the ways we think about and study work. They introduce recent and emergent technologies, and study known social and collaborative technologies, such as wikis and video messages. Classical settings in computer supported cooperative work, e.g. meetings and standardization are also looked upon anew. With contributions from all over the world, the papers in interesting ways help focus on the European perspective in our community. The 22 papers selected for this conference deal with and reflect the lively debate currently ongoing in our field of research.

This book is for people worrying about their sinking ship. Based on experience, it is a guide for navigating the blockers, buzzwords and bloody-mindedness that doom any analogue organisation trapped into thinking that while the internet has changed the world, it won't change their world. Companies that grew up on the web have changed our expectations of the services we rely on. We demand simplicity, speed and low cost. Organizations founded before the Internet aren't keeping up - despite spending millions on IT, marketing and 'innovation'. This revised, expanded second edition of Digital Transformation at Scale is a guide to building a digital institution. It explains how a growing band of reformers in businesses and governments around the world have helped their organizations pivot to this new way of working, and what lessons others can learn from their experience. It is based on the authors' experience designing and helping to deliver the UK's Government Digital Service (GDS). The GDS was a new institution made responsible for the digital transformation of government, designing public services for the Internet era. It snipped GBP4 billion off the government's technology bill, opened up public sector contracts to thousands of new suppliers, and delivered online services so good that citizens chose to use them over the offline alternatives, without a big marketing campaign. Other countries and companies noticed, with the GDS model now being copied around the world.

Digital fiction has long been perceived as an experimental niche of electronic literature. Yet born-digital narratives thrive in mainstream culture, as communities of practice create and share digital fiction, filling in the gaps between the media they are given and the stories they seek. Neverending Stories explores the influences of literature and computing on digital fiction and how the practices and cultures of each have impacted who makes and plays digital fiction. Popular creativity emerges from subordinated groups often excluded from producing cultural resources, accepting the materials of capitalism and inverting them for their own carnivalesque uses. Popular digital fiction goes by many different names: webnovels, adventure games, visual novels, Twitter fiction, webcomics, Twine games, walking sims, alternate reality games, virtual reality films, interactive movies, enhanced books, transmedia universes, and many more. The book establishes digital fiction in a foundation of innovation, tracing its emergence in various guises around the world. It examines Infocom, whose commercial success with interactive fiction crumbled, in no small part, because of its failure to consider women as creators or consumers. It takes note of the brief flourish of commercial book apps and literary games. It connects practices of cognitive and conceptual interactivity, and textual multiplicity-dating to the origins of the print novel-to the feminine. It pushes into the technological future of narrative in immersive and mixed realities. It posits the transmedia franchises and the practices of fanfiction as examples of digital fiction that will continue indefinitely, regardless of academic notice or approval.

The complete guide to Excel 2019 Whether you are just starting out or an Excel novice, the Excel 2019 Bible is your comprehensive, go-to guide for all your Excel 2019 needs. Whether you use Excel at work or at home, you will be guided through the powerful new features and capabilities to take full advantage of what the updated version offers. Learn to incorporate templates, implement formulas, create pivot tables, analyze data, and much more. Navigate this powerful tool for business, home management, technical work, and much more with the only resource you need, Excel 2019 Bible. Create functional spreadsheets that work Master formulas, formatting, pivot tables, and more Get acquainted with Excel 2019's new features and tools Whether you need a walkthrough tutorial or an easy-to-navigate desk reference, the Excel 2019 Bible has you covered with complete coverage and clear expert guidance.

Written by a AAA industry expert with over twenty years of experience, this book offers comprehensive coverage of the practical skills that all successful level designers need to know. It covers everything from practical production skills to the social and soft skills required to thrive in the games industry. The book begins with a theoretical and abstract approach that sets a common language for the later hard-skill applications and practical examples. These later chapters cover a wealth of practical skills for use during the concept phase, while creating layouts, scripting, and working with AI. The book includes essential chapters on topics such as social and soft skills, world building, level design direction, production, as well as how to gain a job in the industry. This book will be of great interest to all level designers, content leads and directors looking to enhance their skillset. It will also appeal to students of level and game design looking for tips on how to break into the industry.