This book focuses on the application and development of information geometric methods in the analysis, classification and retrieval of images and signals. It provides introductory chapters to help those new to information geometry and applies the theory to several applications. This area has developed rapidly over recent years, propelled by the major theoretical developments in information geometry, efficient data and image acquisition and the desire to process and interpret large databases of digital information. The book addresses both the transfer of methodology to practitioners involved in database analysis and in its efficient computational implementation.

Successful management of very large IT projects is increasingly becoming vital to corporations worldwide. Driven mainly by the demands of global competition, rapid technological growth, and faster time to market, these projects often result in un-integrated systems, and are thus incapable of supporting coordination to meet organizational goals.""Managing Very Large IT Projects in Businesses and Organizations"" offers a unique perspective on the management and implementation of very large IT projects, discussing sub-project integration, risk management, IT project life cycle, leadership and team building, emerging technologies, corporate strategies, resource management, quality management, quality assurance, and other influencing factors of very large successful IT projects in organizations.

In the beginning was the Word. Now there's PowerPoint. It's used for weddings, warfare and webinars, for literature, lessons and law. And, of course, to tell everyone that Q4 is going to be a lot more challenging than Q3. PowerPoint is probably the most successful piece of software in history - but do you know who invented it? Or why it's banned in American courtrooms? Or which Pulitzer Prize-winning novel has a chapter entirely in PowerPoint? At its heart, PowerPoint is about presentation, theatre and culture. About how to think, create and persuade. And it's hated and loved in equal measure for reasons that tell us a lot about power and who gets to say what where. All of life is somewhere in a PowerPoint slide. Come inside to find out why.

Modeling of photovoltaic sources and their emulation by means of power electronic converters are challenging issues. The former is tied to the knowledge of the electrical behavior of the PV generator; the latter consists in its realization by a suitable power amplifier. This extensive introduction to the modeling of PV generators and their emulation by means of power electronic converters will aid in understanding and improving design and set up of new PV plants. The main benefit of reading Photovoltaic Sources is the ability to face the emulation of photovoltaic generators obtained by the design of a suitable equipment in which voltage and current are the same as in a real source. This is achieved according to the following steps: the source electrical behavior modeling, the power converter design, including its control, for the laboratory emulator. This approach allows the reader to cope with the creation of an indoor virtual photovoltaic plant, in which the environmental conditions can be imposed by the user, for testing real operation including maximum power point tracking, partial shading, control for the grid or load interfacing, etc. Photovoltaic Sources is intended to meet the demands of postgraduate level students, and should prove useful to professional engineers and researchers dealing with the problems associated with modeling and emulation of photovoltaic sources.

This volume presents the latest advances and trends in nonparametric statistics, and gathers selected and peer-reviewed contributions from the 3rd Conference of the International Society for Nonparametric Statistics (ISNPS), held in Avignon, France on June 11-16, 2016. It covers a broad range of nonparametric statistical methods, from density estimation, survey sampling, resampling methods, kernel methods and extreme values, to statistical learning and classification, both in the standard i.i.d. case and for dependent data, including big data. The International Society for Nonparametric Statistics is uniquely global, and its international conferences are intended to foster the exchange of ideas and the latest advances among researchers from around the world, in cooperation with established statistical societies such as the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, the Bernoulli Society and the International Statistical Institute. The 3rd ISNPS conference in Avignon attracted more than 400 researchers from around the globe, and contributed to the further development and dissemination of nonparametric statistics knowledge.

This is an edited volume, written by well-recognized international researchers with extended chapter style versions of the best papers presented at the SITIS 2006 International Conference. This book presents the state-of-the-art and recent research results on the application of advanced signal processing techniques for improving the value of image and video data. It introduces new results on video coding on time-honored topic of securing image information. The book is designed for a professional audience composed of practitioners and researchers in industry. This book is also suitable for advanced-level students in computer science.

This is the fifth volume in a series dealing with such topics as information systems practice and theory, information systems and the accounting/auditing environment, and differing perspectives on information systems research.

The dual goal of the "Handbook in Information Systems" is to provide a reference for the diversity of research in the field by scholars from many disciplines, as well as to stimulate new research. This volume, focusing on Information Assurance, Security and Privacy Services, consists of six sections. In the first part contributors discuss Program Security, Data Security and Authentication, while the second section covers Internet Scourges and Web Security. Parts two and three concentrate on Usable Security and Human-Centric Aspects, along with Security, Privacy and Access Control whereas the final sections of the book examine Economic Aspects of Security, and Threat Modeling, Intrusion and Response.

"We live in the age of data. In the last few years, the methodology of extracting insights from data or "data science" has emerged as a discipline in its own right. The R programming language has become one-stop solution for all types of data analysis. The growing popularity of R is due its statistical roots and a vast open source package library. The goal of "Beginning Data Science with R" is to introduce the readers to some of the useful data science techniques and their implementation with the R programming language. The book attempts to strike a balance between the how: specific processes and methodologies, and understanding the why: going over the intuition behind how a particular technique works, so that the reader can apply it to the problem at hand. This book will be useful for readers who are not familiar with statistics and the R programming language.

Let's try to play the music and not the background. Ornette Coleman, liner notes of the LP "Free Jazz" 20] WhenIbegantocreateacourseonfreejazz, theriskofsuchanenterprise was immediately apparent: I knew that Cecil Taylor had failed to teach such a matter, and that for other, more academic instructors, the topic was still a sort of outlandish adventure. To be clear, we are not talking about tea- ing improvisation here-a di?erent, and also problematic, matter-rather, we wish to create a scholarly discourse about free jazz as a cultural achievement, and follow its genealogy from the American jazz tradition through its various outbranchings, suchastheEuropeanandJapanesejazzconceptionsandint- pretations. We also wish to discuss some of the underlying mechanisms that are extant in free improvisation, things that could be called technical aspects. Such a discourse bears the ?avor of a contradicto in adjecto: Teachingthe unteachable, the very negation of rules, above all those posited by white jazz theorists, and talking about the making of sounds without aiming at so-called factual results and all those intellectual sedimentations: is this not a suicidal topic? My own endeavors as a free jazz pianist have informed and advanced my conviction that this art has never been theorized in a satisfactory way, not even by Ekkehard Jost in his unequaled, phenomenologically precise p- neering book "Free Jazz" 57].

"The book...has enough depth for even a seasoned professional to pick up enough tips to pay back the price of the book many times over." -Dr. Paul Dorsey, President, Dulcian, Inc., Oracle Magazine PL/SQL Developer of the Year 2007, and President Emeritus, New York Oracle Users Group "This is a fascinating guide into the world of Oracle SQL with an abundance of well-collected examples. Without a doubt, this book is helpful to beginners and experts alike who seek alternative ways to resolve advanced scenarios."-Oleg Voskoboynikov, Ph.D., Database Architect The World's #1 Hands-On Oracle SQL Workbook-Fully Updated for Oracle 11g Crafted for hands-on learning and tested in classrooms worldwide, this book illuminates in-depth every Oracle SQL technique you'll need. From the simplest query fundamentals to regular expressions and with newly added coverage of Oracle's powerful new SQL Developer tool, you will focus on the tasks that matter most. Hundreds of step-by-step, guided lab exercises will systematically strengthen your expertise in writing effective, high-performance SQL. Along the way, you'll acquire a powerful arsenal of useful skills-and an extraordinary library of solutions for your real-world challenges with Oracle SQL. Coverage includes 100% focused on Oracle SQL for Oracle 11 g, today's #1 database platform-not "generic" SQL! Master all core SQL techniques including every type of join such as equijoins, self joins, and outer joins Understand Oracle functions in depth, especially character, number, date, timestamp, interval, conversion, aggregate, regular expressions, analytical, and more Practice all types of subqueries, such as correlated and scalar subqueries, and learn about set operators and hierarchical queries Build effective queries and learn fundamental Oracle SQL Developer and SQL*Plus skills Make the most of the Data Dictionary and create tables, views, indexes, and sequences Secure databases using Oracle privileges, roles, and synonyms Explore Oracle 11 g's advanced data warehousing features Learn many practical tips about performance optimization, security, and architectural solutions Avoid common pitfalls and understand and solve common mistakes For every database developer, administrator, designer, or architect, regardless of experience!

Disaster management is a process or strategy that is implemented when any type of catastrophic event takes place. The process may be initiated when anything threatens to disrupt normal operations or puts the lives of human beings at risk. Governments on all levels as well as many businesses create some sort of disaster plan that make it possible to overcome the catastrophe and return to normal function as quickly as possible. Response to natural disasters (e.g., floods, earthquakes) or technological disaster (e.g., nuclear, chemical) is an extreme complex process that involves severe time pressure, various uncertainties, high non-linearity and many stakeholders. Disaster management often requires several autonomous agencies to collaboratively mitigate, prepare, respond, and recover from heterogeneous and dynamic sets of hazards to society. Almost all disasters involve high degrees of novelty to deal with most unexpected various uncertainties and dynamic time pressures. Existing studies and approaches within disaster management have mainly been focused on some specific type of disasters with certain agency oriented. There is a lack of a general framework to deal with similarities and synergies among different disasters by taking their specific features into account. This book provides with various decisions analysis theories and support tools in complex systems in general and in disaster management in particular. The book is also generated during a long-term preparation of a European project proposal among most leading experts in the areas related to the book title. Chapters are evaluated based on quality and originality in theory and methodology, application oriented, relevance to the title of the book.

For introductory courses in Engineering and Computer Science. Teach your students to program and design user interfaces using Excel 2007. Introduction to VBA for Excel is an introductory text that is designed to instruct engineering and science students on how to develop programs using VBA within the Microsoft Excel environment. It is written for students at all levels and does not assume any previous programming experience.

Scientific Data Analysis using Jython Scripting and Java presents practical approaches for data analysis using Java scripting based on Jython, a Java implementation of the Python language. The chapters essentially cover all aspects of data analysis, from arrays and histograms to clustering analysis, curve fitting, metadata and neural networks. A comprehensive coverage of data visualisation tools implemented in Java is also included. Written by the primary developer of the jHepWork data-analysis framework, the book provides a reliable and complete reference source laying the foundation for data-analysis applications using Java scripting. More than 250 code snippets (of around 10-20 lines each) written in Jython and Java, plus several real-life examples help the reader develop a genuine feeling for data analysis techniques and their programming implementation. This is the first data-analysis and data-mining book which is completely based on the Jython language, and opens doors to scripting using a fully multi-platform and multi-threaded approach. Graduate students and researchers will benefit from the information presented in this book.

This book examines air pollution of a big city using multi-year and multi-season data from ground-based air monitoring stations and satellite sounding data, which provides more clear and detailed information on the main sources of air pollution, the long-term trend of pollution, the influence of meteorological parameters on pollution levels, and trajectories of polluted air masses. For example, the book shows that particulate matter from local sources is transported from deserts to create air quality challenges. It also analyzes the effects of desert and semi-desert landscapes on high concentrations of pollutants.

This volume presents an original framework for the study of video games that use visual materials and narrative conventions from ancient Greece and Rome. It focuses on the culturally rich continuum of ancient Greek and Roman games, treating them not just as representations, but as functional interactive products that require the player to interpret, communicate with and alter them. Tracking the movement of such concepts across different media, the study builds an interconnected picture of antiquity in video games within a wider transmedial environment. Ancient Greece and Rome in Videogames presents a wide array of games from several different genres, ranging from the blood-spilling violence of god-killing and gladiatorial combat to meticulous strategizing over virtual Roman Empires and often bizarre adventures in pseudo-ancient places. Readers encounter instances in which players become intimately engaged with the "epic mode" of spectacle in God of War, moments of negotiation with colonised lands in Rome: Total War and Imperium Romanum, and multi-layered narratives rich with ancient traditions in games such as Eleusis and Salammbo. The case study approach draws on close analysis of outstanding examples of the genre to uncover how both representation and gameplay function in such "ancient games".

SQL Server 2008 is the latest update to Microsoft's flagship database management system. This is the largest update since SQL Server 2005, and it brings increased ability to deliver data across more platforms, and thus many different types of devices. New functionality also allows for easy storage and retrieval of digitized images and video. These attributes address the recent explosion in the popularity of web-based video and server and desktop virtualization. The Real MCTS SQL Server 2008 Exam 70-433 Prep Kit prepares readers for the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist exam: SQL Server 2008, Database Development. This is a new exam in the SQL Server product family, and is comprised of some objectives from exam 70-431 from SQL Server 2005, and covers new, expanded query capabilities in SQL Server 2008. According to Microsoft: Exam 70-431 for SQL Server 2005 was passed by over 35,000 people.

150,000 people passed a similar exam for SQL Server 2000.

Additionally, this exam is a pre-requisite for those going on to obtain the MCITP: Database Developer 2008:

Successful candidates for the SQL Server 2005 MCITP 2,500.

The Prep Kit offers practice exams via the book's companion site.
This is The 'Real' Microsoft Exam Prep Kit, and provides the reader with independent and unbiased exam tips and warnings everything they need to know to ensure certification success.Authored by Mark Horninger, a nationally recognized leader in SQL Server with over 50 Microsoft certifications to his credit; Mark knows what it takes to successfully navigate Microsoft exams.Complete study package offers Syngress proven pedagogy including practice exams via the book s companion site
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