Over the past decade, diverse organizations have been turning to open source software for their technological needs, in both internal processes management and public interaction. Turning the data generated by organizations ranging from universities to large corporations into usable information has plagued users for years, making open source solutions one of the primary goals of these institutions. Open Source Solutions for Knowledge Management and Technological Ecosystems addresses the issues surrounding the search for each organization's unique data management needs, defining the tools necessary to fulfill them within their technological ecosystem, along with the selection, interoperability, and integration of these tools. This book is ideal for managers, business professionals, software engineers, information technology professionals, and students of business and IT.

Inverse problems such as imaging or parameter identification deal with the recovery of unknown quantities from indirect observations, connected via a model describing the underlying context. While traditionally inverse problems are formulated and investigated in a static setting, we observe a significant increase of interest in time-dependence in a growing number of important applications over the last few years. Here, time-dependence affects a) the unknown function to be recovered and / or b) the observed data and / or c) the underlying process. Challenging applications in the field of imaging and parameter identification are techniques such as photoacoustic tomography, elastography, dynamic computerized or emission tomography, dynamic magnetic resonance imaging, super-resolution in image sequences and videos, health monitoring of elastic structures, optical flow problems or magnetic particle imaging to name only a few. Such problems demand for innovation concerning their mathematical description and analysis as well as computational approaches for their solution.

We are living in a multilingual world and the diversity in languages which are used to interact with information access systems has generated a wide variety of challenges to be addressed by computer and information scientists. The growing amount of non-English information accessible globally and the increased worldwide exposure of enterprises also necessitates the adaptation of Information Retrieval (IR) methods to new, multilingual settings.

Peters, Braschler and Clough present a comprehensive description of the technologies involved in designing and developing systems for Multilingual Information Retrieval (MLIR). They provide readers with broad coverage of the various issues involved in creating systems to make accessible digitally stored materials regardless of the language(s) they are written in. Details on Cross-Language Information Retrieval (CLIR) are also covered that help readers to understand how to develop retrieval systems that cross language boundaries. Their work is divided into six chapters and accompanies the reader step-by-step through the various stages involved in building, using and evaluating MLIR systems. The book concludes with some examples of recent applications that utilise MLIR technologies. Some of the techniques described have recently started to appear in commercial search systems, while others have the potential to be part of future incarnations.

The book is intended for graduate students, scholars, and practitioners with a basic understanding of classical text retrieval methods. It offers guidelines and information on all aspects that need to be taken into consideration when building MLIR systems, while avoiding too many 'hands-on details' that could rapidly become obsolete. Thus it bridges the gap between the material covered by most of the classical IR textbooks and the novel requirements related to the acquisition and dissemination of information in whatever language it is stored.

This proceedings volume explores the disruptive effect of COVID19 pandemic on business leaders and managers. It covers the sweeping changes experienced by all sectors of work and business along with core functional verticals. As organizations institutionalize lessons learned through trial and error, an effort is required to document these efforts. The volume is an amalgamation of papers presented papers at the International Management Conference, 2021 hosted at KIIT University, India in February 2021. The thrust of this conference was to gather a holistic picture of the lessons derived during the pandemic hardship. Selected papers provide readers with an idea of the new normal in various domains of management across industries and organizations. Research papers, from each functional areas of business management, give focus on experiences and best practices.

This book provides insights into the state of the art of digital cultural heritage using computer graphics, image processing, computer vision, visualization and reconstruction, virtual and augmented reality and serious games. It aims at covering the emergent approaches for digitization and preservation of Cultural Heritage, both in its tangible and intangible facets. Advancements in Digital Cultural Heritage research have been abundant in recent years covering a wide assortment of topics, ranging from visual data acquisition, pre-processing, classification, analysis and synthesis, 3D modelling and reconstruction, semantics and symbolic representation, metadata description, repository and archiving, to new forms of interactive and personalized presentation, visualization and immersive experience provision via advanced computer graphics, interactive virtual and augmented environments, serious games and digital storytelling. Different aspects pertaining to visual computing with regard to tangible (books, images, paintings, manuscripts, uniforms, maps, artefacts, archaeological sites, monuments) and intangible (e.g. dance and performing arts, folklore, theatrical performances) cultural heritage preservation, documentation, protection and promotion are covered, including rendering and procedural modelling of cultural heritage assets, keyword spotting in old documents, drone mapping and airborne photogrammetry, underwater recording and reconstruction, gamification, visitor engagement, animated storytelling, analysis of choreographic patterns, and many more. The book brings together and targets researchers from the domains of computing, engineering, archaeology and the arts, and aims at underscoring the potential for cross-fertilization and collaboration among these communities.

Multimedia technology has the potential to evolve the paradigm of end user computing, from the interactive text and graphics model that has developed since the 1950s, into one more compatible with the digital electronic world of the next century. Decreasing hardware costs, a relatively inexpensive storage capacity and a rapid increasing computing power and network bandwidth, all major requirements of multimedia applications, have contributed to the recent tremendous growth in production and use of multimedia contents. Interactive Multimedia Systems addresses these innovative technologies and how they can positively impact a variety of areas.

"There are currently 3.5 billion mobile phones in the world and mobile information technologies permeate all aspects of life. This book explores how mobile technologies and information work shape each other. Most writings do not consider how information work increasingly relies on mobile services; this book seeks to address this imbalance"--

This book offers a systematic and rigorous treatment of continuous-time Markov decision processes, covering both theory and possible applications to queueing systems, epidemiology, finance, and other fields. Unlike most books on the subject, much attention is paid to problems with functional constraints and the realizability of strategies. Three major methods of investigations are presented, based on dynamic programming, linear programming, and reduction to discrete-time problems. Although the main focus is on models with total (discounted or undiscounted) cost criteria, models with average cost criteria and with impulsive controls are also discussed in depth. The book is self-contained. A separate chapter is devoted to Markov pure jump processes and the appendices collect the requisite background on real analysis and applied probability. All the statements in the main text are proved in detail. Researchers and graduate students in applied probability, operational research, statistics and engineering will find this monograph interesting, useful and valuable.

Until now, the myths, mysteries, and machinations of the Destiny universe were found hidden throughout the worlds-enticing threads that hinted at a greater tapestry. The Destiny Grimoire Anthology weaves tales from multiple sources together for the first time, casting new light on Destiny's most legendary heroes, infamous villains, and their greatest moments of triumph and tragedy.

Everyday Innovators explores the active role of people, collectively and individually, in shaping the use of information and communication technologies. It examines issues around acquiring and using that knowledge of users, how we should conceptualise the role of users and understand the forms and limitations of their participation.

• To what extent should we think of users as being innovative and creative?
• To what extent is this routine or exceptional, confined to particular group of users or part of many people 's experience of technologies?
• Where does the nature of the ICT or the particularities of its design impose constraints on the active role that users can play in their interaction with devices and services?
• Where do the horizons and orientations of the users influence or limit what they want and expect of their ICTs and how they use them?

This book enables a cross-fertilisation of perspectives from different disciplines and aims to provide new insights into the role of users, drawing out both applied and theoretical implications

Uncertainties in Numerical Weather Prediction is a comprehensive work on the most current understandings of uncertainties and predictability in numerical simulations of the atmosphere. It provides general knowledge on all aspects of uncertainties in the weather prediction models in a single, easy to use reference. The book illustrates particular uncertainties in observations and data assimilation, as well as the errors associated with numerical integration methods. Stochastic methods in parameterization of subgrid processes are also assessed, as are uncertainties associated with surface-atmosphere exchange, orographic flows and processes in the atmospheric boundary layer. Through a better understanding of the uncertainties to watch for, readers will be able to produce more precise and accurate forecasts. This is an essential work for anyone who wants to improve the accuracy of weather and climate forecasting and interested parties developing tools to enhance the quality of such forecasts.

This book provides an accessible introduction and practical guidelines to apply asymmetric multidimensional scaling, cluster analysis, and related methods to asymmetric one-mode two-way and three-way asymmetric data. A major objective of this book is to present to applied researchers a set of methods and algorithms for graphical representation and clustering of asymmetric relationships. Data frequently concern measurements of asymmetric relationships between pairs of objects from a given set (e.g., subjects, variables, attributes,...), collected in one or more matrices. Examples abound in many different fields such as psychology, sociology, marketing research, and linguistics and more recently several applications have appeared in technological areas including cybernetics, air traffic control, robotics, and network analysis. The capabilities of the presented algorithms are illustrated by carefully chosen examples and supported by extensive data analyses. A review of the specialized statistical software available for the applications is also provided. This monograph is highly recommended to readers who need a complete and up-to-date reference on methods for asymmetric proximity data analysis.

The nonequilibrium behavior of nanoscopic and biological systems, which are typically strongly fluctuating, is a major focus of current research. Lately, much progress has been made in understanding such systems from a thermodynamic perspective. However, new theoretical challenges emerge when the fluctuating system is additionally subject to time delay, e.g. due to the presence of feedback loops. This thesis advances this young and vibrant research field in several directions. The first main contribution concerns the probabilistic description of time-delayed systems; e.g. by introducing a versatile approximation scheme for nonlinear delay systems. Second, it reveals that delay can induce intriguing thermodynamic properties such as anomalous (reversed) heat flow. More generally, the thesis shows how to treat the thermodynamics of non-Markovian systems by introducing auxiliary variables. It turns out that delayed feedback is inextricably linked to nonreciprocal coupling, information flow, and to net energy input on the fluctuating level.

The rapid development of artificial intelligence technology in medical data analysis has led to the concept of radiomics. This book introduces the essential and latest technologies in radiomics, such as imaging segmentation, quantitative imaging feature extraction, and machine learning methods for model construction and performance evaluation, providing invaluable guidance for the researcher entering the field. It fully describes three key aspects of radiomic clinical practice: precision diagnosis, the therapeutic effect, and prognostic evaluation, which make radiomics a powerful tool in the clinical setting. This book is a very useful resource for scientists and computer engineers in machine learning and medical image analysis, scientists focusing on antineoplastic drugs, and radiologists, pathologists, oncologists, as well as surgeons wanting to understand radiomics and its potential in clinical practice.

An Introduction to Stata for Health Researchers, Fifth Edition updates this classic book that has become a standard reference for health researchers. As with previous editions, readers will learn to work effectively in Stata to perform data management, compute descriptive statistics, create meaningful graphs, fit regression models, and perform survival analysis. The fifth edition adds examples of performing power, precision, and sample-size analysis; working with Unicode characters; managing data with ICD-9 and ICD-10 codes; and creating customized tables. With many worked examples and downloadable datasets, this text is the ideal resource for hands-on learning, whether for students in a statistics course or for researchers in fields such as epidemiology, biostatistics, and public health who are learning to use Stata's tools for health research.

Game AI Pro2: Collected Wisdom of Game AI Professionals presents cutting-edge tips, tricks, and techniques for artificial intelligence (AI) in games, drawn from developers of shipped commercial games as well as some of the best-known academics in the field. It contains knowledge, advice, hard-earned wisdom, and insights gathered from across the community of developers and researchers who have devoted themselves to game AI. In this book, 47 expert developers and researchers have come together to bring you their newest advances in game AI, along with twists on proven techniques that have shipped in some of the most successful commercial games of the last few years. The book provides a toolbox of proven techniques that can be applied to many common and not-so-common situations. It is written to be accessible to a broad range of readers. Beginners will find good general coverage of game AI techniques and a number of comprehensive overviews, while intermediate to expert professional game developers will find focused, deeply technical chapters on specific topics of interest to them. Covers a wide range of AI in games, with topics applicable to almost any game Touches on most, if not all, of the topics necessary to get started in game AI Provides real-life case studies of game AI in published commercial games Gives in-depth, technical solutions from some of the industry's best-known games Includes downloadable demos and/or source code, available at http://www.gameaipro.com

"As esports has grown, the need for professional legal representation has grown with it. Justin's Essential Guide to the Business & Law of Esports & Professional Video Gaming provides a great baseline and will help prevent the legal horror stories of esports in the past." Mitch Reames, AdWeek and Esports Insider "Justin's exploration of the business and law side of the esports sector fills a gap of knowledge that is an absolute necessity in truly understanding the esports space." Kevin Hitt, The Esports Observer The Essential Guide to the Business & Law of Esports & Professional Video Gaming covers everything you need to know about the past, present, and future of esports and professional video gaming. The book is written by one of the foremost attorneys and business practitioners in today's esports and professional gaming scene, Justin M. Jacobson, Esq. This guide is meant to provide you with an in-depth look at the business and legal matters associated with the esports world. * Includes coverage of the stakeholders in the esports business "ecosystem," including the talent, the teams, the publishers, and the event organizers. * Explores various legal fields involved with esports, including intellectual property, employment and player unions, business investments and tax "write-offs," immigration and visas, event operation tips, social media and on-stream promotions, and much more. * The most current book on the market, with actual contract provisions modeled on existing major esports player, coach, shoutcaster, and sponsorship agreements. About the Author Justin M. Jacobson, Esq. is an entertainment and esports attorney located in New York City. For the last decade, he has worked with professional athletes, musicians, producers, DJs, record labels, fashion designers, as well as professional gamers, streamers, coaches, on-air talent, and esports organizations. He assists these creative individuals with their contract, copyright, trademark, immigration, tax, and related business, marketing, and legal issues. He is a frequent contributor to many industry publications and has been featured on a variety of entertainment, music, and esports publications and podcasts, including Business Insider, The Esports Observer, Esports Insider, Tunecore, and Sport Techie. Justin has positioned himself as a top esports business professional working with talent in a variety of franchise leagues including the Overwatch League, Overwatch Contenders, and Call of Duty Pro League as well as in many popular competitive titles such as Fortnite, CS:GO, Gears of War, Halo, Super Smash Brothers, Rainbow 6, PUBG, Madden, and FIFA and mobile games such as Brawlhalla, Clash of Clans, and Call of Duty mobile. Previously, he worked with various esports talent agencies as well as in an official capacity on behalf of several esports teams and brands.

Attacks on information systems and applications have become more prevalent with new advances in technology. Management of security and quick threat identification have become imperative aspects of technological applications. Information Technology Risk Management and Compliance in Modern Organizations is a pivotal reference source featuring the latest scholarly research on the need for an effective chain of information management and clear principles of information technology governance. Including extensive coverage on a broad range of topics such as compliance programs, data leak prevention, and security architecture, this book is ideally designed for IT professionals, scholars, researchers, and academicians seeking current research on risk management and compliance.

This thesis presents a revolutionary technique for modelling the dynamics of a quantum system that is strongly coupled to its immediate environment. This is a challenging but timely problem. In particular it is relevant for modelling decoherence in devices such as quantum information processors, and how quantum information moves between spatially separated parts of a quantum system. The key feature of this work is a novel way to represent the dynamics of general open quantum systems as tensor networks, a result which has connections with the Feynman operator calculus and process tensor approaches to quantum mechanics. The tensor network methodology developed here has proven to be extremely powerful: For many situations it may be the most efficient way of calculating open quantum dynamics. This work is abounds with new ideas and invention, and is likely to have a very significant impact on future generations of physicists.