This book examines current topics and trends in strategic auditing, accounting and finance in digital transformation both from a theoretical and practical perspective. It covers areas such as internal control, corporate governance, enterprise risk management, sustainability and competition. The contributors of this volume emphasize how strategic approaches in this area help companies in achieving targets. The contributions illustrate how by providing good governance, reliable financial reporting, and accountability, businesses can win a competitive advantage. It further discusses how new technological developments like artificial intelligence (AI), cybersystems, network technologies, financial mobility and smart applications, will shape the future of accounting and auditing for firms.

This volume is composed of peer-reviewed papers that have developed from the First Conference of the International Society for NonParametric Statistics (ISNPS). This inaugural conference took place in Chalkidiki, Greece, June 15-19, 2012. It was organized with the co-sponsorship of the IMS, the ISI, and other organizations. M.G. Akritas, S.N. Lahiri, and D.N. Politis are the first executive committee members of ISNPS, and the editors of this volume. ISNPS has a distinguished Advisory Committee that includes Professors R.Beran, P.Bickel, R. Carroll, D. Cook, P. Hall, R. Johnson, B. Lindsay, E. Parzen, P. Robinson, M. Rosenblatt, G. Roussas, T. SubbaRao, and G. Wahba. The Charting Committee of ISNPS consists of more than 50 prominent researchers from all over the world. The chapters in this volume bring forth recent advances and trends in several areas of nonparametric statistics. In this way, the volume facilitates the exchange of research ideas, promotes collaboration among researchers from all over the world, and contributes to the further development of the field.The conference program included over 250 talks, including special invited talks, plenary talks, and contributed talks on all areas of nonparametric statistics. Out of these talks, some of the most pertinent ones have been refereed and developed into chapters that share both research and developments in the field.

There are rhythms of action and response to all human-computer interactions. As we click, swipe, tap and sway to their beats, these rhythms intersect with the rhythms of our everyday lives. Perhaps they synchronize, perhaps they disrupt each other or maybe they dance together. Whatever their impact our experience of these rhythms will colour our experience of an interaction design. In playful interactive applications, rhythm is especially crucial because of the role it performs in building and maintaining the precarious spirit of play. Play involves movement and this movement has a rhythm that drives the experience. But what is the character of these rhythms of play and how can they be used in the design of interactive applications? These questions are the focus of this book. Drawing on traditions of rhythmic design practice in dance, performance, music and architecture, this book reveals key insights into practical strategies for designing playful rhythmic experience. With playful experiences now being incorporated into almost every type of computer application, interaction design practitioners and researchers need to develop a deeper understanding of the specific character of rhythms within play. Written from a designer's perspective, with interviews from leading creative artists and interaction design practitioners, Rhythm, Play and Interaction Design will help practitioners, researchers and students understand, evaluate and create rhythmic experiences.

Over the past decade, there has been an increase in attention and focus on the discipline of software engineering. Software engineering tools and techniques have been developed to gain more predictable quality improvement results. Process standards such as Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI), ISO 9000, Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (SPICE), Agile Methodologies, and others have been proposed to assist organizations to achieve more predictable results by incorporating these proven standards and procedures into their software process. Software Process Improvement and Management: Approaches and Tools for Practical Development offers the latest research and case studies on software engineering and development. The production of new process standards assist organizations and software engineers in adding a measure of predictability to the software process. Companies can gain a decisive competitive advantage by applying these new and theoretical methodologies in real-world scenarios. Researchers, scholars, practitioners, students, and anyone interested in the field of software development and design should access this book as a major compendium of the latest research in the field.

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.

This book presents various recently developed and traditional statistical techniques, which are increasingly being applied in social science research. The social sciences cover diverse phenomena arising in society, the economy and the environment, some of which are too complex to allow concrete statements; some cannot be defined by direct observations or measurements; some are culture- (or region-) specific, while others are generic and common. Statistics, being a scientific method - as distinct from a 'science' related to any one type of phenomena - is used to make inductive inferences regarding various phenomena. The book addresses both qualitative and quantitative research (a combination of which is essential in social science research) and offers valuable supplementary reading at an advanced level for researchers.

This book provides a general framework for learning sparse graphical models with conditional independence tests. It includes complete treatments for Gaussian, Poisson, multinomial, and mixed data; unified treatments for covariate adjustments, data integration, and network comparison; unified treatments for missing data and heterogeneous data; efficient methods for joint estimation of multiple graphical models; effective methods of high-dimensional variable selection; and effective methods of high-dimensional inference. The methods possess an embarrassingly parallel structure in performing conditional independence tests, and the computation can be significantly accelerated by running in parallel on a multi-core computer or a parallel architecture. This book is intended to serve researchers and scientists interested in high-dimensional statistics, and graduate students in broad data science disciplines. Key Features: A general framework for learning sparse graphical models with conditional independence tests Complete treatments for different types of data, Gaussian, Poisson, multinomial, and mixed data Unified treatments for data integration, network comparison, and covariate adjustment Unified treatments for missing data and heterogeneous data Efficient methods for joint estimation of multiple graphical models Effective methods of high-dimensional variable selection Effective methods of high-dimensional inference

The focus of this book is on three influential cognitive motives: achievement, affiliation, and power motivation. Incentive-based theories of achievement, affiliation and power motivation are the basis for competence-seeking behaviour, relationship-building, leadership, and resource-controlling behaviour in humans. In this book we show how these motives can be modelled and embedded in artificial agents to achieve behavioural diversity. Theoretical issues are addressed for representing and embedding computational models of motivation in rule-based agents, learning agents, crowds and evolution of motivated agents. Practical issues are addressed for defining games, mini-games or in-game scenarios for virtual worlds in which computer-controlled, motivated agents can participate alongside human players. The book is structured into four parts: game playing in virtual worlds by humans and agents; comparing human and artificial motives; game scenarios for motivated agents; and evolution and the future of motivated game-playing agents. It will provide game programmers, and those with an interest in artificial intelligence, with the knowledge required to develop diverse, believable game-playing agents for virtual worlds.

This book features papers presented at IIH-MSP 2018, the 14th International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia Signal Processing. The scope of IIH-MSP included information hiding and security, multimedia signal processing and networking, and bio-inspired multimedia technologies and systems. The book discusses subjects related to massive image/video compression and transmission for emerging networks, advances in speech and language processing, recent advances in information hiding and signal processing for audio and speech signals, intelligent distribution systems and applications, recent advances in security and privacy for multimodal network environments, multimedia signal processing, and machine learning. Presenting the latest research outcomes and findings, it is suitable for researchers and students who are interested in the corresponding fields. IIH-MSP 2018 was held in Sendai, Japan on 26-28 November 2018. It was hosted by Tohoku University and was co-sponsored by the Fujian University of Technology in China, the Taiwan Association for Web Intelligence Consortium in Taiwan, and the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, as well as the Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Big Data Mining and Applications (Fujian University of Technology) and the Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen Graduate School in China.

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.

This book examines the emerging problems and opportunities that are posed by media innovations, spatial typologies, and cultural trends in (re)shaping identities within the fast-changing milieus of the early 21st Century. Addressing a range of social and spatial scales and using a phenomenological frame of reference, the book draws on the works of Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Don Hide to bridge the seemingly disparate, yet related theoretical perspectives across a number of disciplines. Various perspectives are put forward from media, human geography, cultural studies, technologies, urban design and architecture etc. and looked at thematically from networked culture and digital interface (and other) perspectives. The book probes the ways in which new digital media trends affect how and what we communicate, and how they drive and reshape our everyday practices. This mediatization of space, with fast evolving communication platforms and applications of digital representations, offers challenges to our notions of space, identity and culture and the book explores the diverse yet connected levels of technology and people interaction.

This book explores digital artists articulations of globalization. Digital artworks from around the world are examined in terms of how they both express and simulate globalization s impacts through immersive, participatory and interactive technologies. The author highlights some of the problems with macro and categorical approaches to the study of globalization and presents new ways of seeing the phenomenon as a series of processes and flows that are individually experienced and expressed. Instead of providing a macro analysis of large-scale political and economic processes, the book offers imaginative new ways of knowing and understanding globalization as a series of micro affects. Digital art is explored in terms of how it re-centers articulations of globalization around individual experiences and offers new ways of accessing a complex topic often expressed in general and intangible terms. The Work of Art in a Digital Age: Art, Technology and Globalization is analytic and accessible, with material that is of interest to a range of researchers from different disciplines. Students studying digital art, film, globalization, cultural studies or digital media trends will also find the content fascinating."

Software and systems quality is playing an increasingly important role in the growth of almost all profit and non-profit organisations. Quality is vital to the success of enterprises in their markets. Most small trade and repair businesses use software systems in their administration and marketing processes. Every doctor's surgery is managing its patients using software. Banking is no longer conceivable without software. Aircraft, trucks and cars use more and more software to handle their increasingly complex technical systems. Innovation, competition and cost pressure are always present in on-going business decisions. The question facing all these organisations is how to achieve the right quality of their software-based systems and products; how to get the required level of quality, a level that the market will reward, a level that mitigates the organisation's risks and a level that the organisation is willing to pay for. Although a number of good practices are in place, there is still room for huge improvements. Thus, let us take a look into the two worlds of "Embedded systems" and "ICT systems" and let us learn from both worlds, from overlaps and individual solutions. The next step for industrialisation in the software industry is required now. Hence, three pillars will be focused in this book: (1) a fundamental notion of right software and systems quality (RiSSQ); (2) portfolio management, quality governance, quality management, and quality engineering as holistic approach over the three layers of an enterprise, i.e. strategic, tactical, and operational layer; and (3) an industrialisation framework for implementing our approach.

This book provides specialists and executives with a clear, yet practical set of recommendations to meet the challenges of digital transformation and ensure long-term success as a leader in a primarily digital business world. The authors describe the fundamental principles of digitization and its economic opportunities and risks, integrating them into a framework of classic and new management methods. The book also explores how increasing digitization - not only of communication, but of complete value chains - has led to a need to establish a digital business leadership. Digitization is changing people and markets: it causes the upheaval of entire industries, creates new digital-centric companies, and forces established companies to cope with the transformation activities associated with these digitization processes. New approaches and methods have to be learned, tried and tested patterns of thinking have to be explored, and last but not least, innovation activities have to be understood as continuous necessities. At the same time, digital business offers considerable opportunities for renewing competitive advantages, improving existing process structures and realigning products, services and business models.

Get a firm grip on one of the most popular project management applications on the market today In Microsoft Project Fundamentals: Microsoft Project Standard 2021, Professional 2021, and Project Online Editions, accomplished project management leader Teresa Stover delivers a hands-on introduction to Microsoft's popular project management software filled with real-world examples and plain-language guidance. The book walks you through how to plan, schedule, manage resources, track progress, and more. In the book, you'll: Learn principles and best practices of project management while mastering Microsoft Project capabilities, calculations, and views Understand how task durations, dependencies, and date constraints power the project schedule Manage human, equipment, and material resources, including availability, cost, and task assignments Adjust the project to optimize for the project finish date, budget, and resource allocation Use Microsoft Project to manage waterfall or agile projects Ideal for anyone seeking to unlock the potential of Microsoft's leading project management software for their own project work, Microsoft Project Fundamentals is an essential resource for those new to Microsoft Project and project management, as well as previous users and seasoned project professionals looking for a refresher in the latest features of the newest version of Microsoft Project.

Dynamic Business Process Formation fuses practical needs with theoretical input to present important research innovations in supporting Instant Virtual Enterprises (IVEs). This new organization type brings a combination of business dynamism and explicit business process structure to domains where on-the-fly formation of well-organized business networks is required to deal with the complexity of new products or services under high time pressure. This book contains the main results of the IST CrossWork project, and, importantly, looks beyond the boundaries of this project and sources input from related projects and general trends in collaborative enterprises and the automotive industry. Both the business and technical aspects of Virtual Enterprise coordination are covered within the modular structure of the book, which enables readers from different backgrounds to benefit from the book according to their interests.

Covering key areas of evaluation and methodology, client-side applications, specialist and novel technologies, along with initial appraisals of disabilities, this important book provides comprehensive coverage of web accessibility. Written by leading experts in the field, it provides an overview of existing research and also looks at future developments, providing a much deeper insight than can be obtained through existing research libraries, aggregations, or search engines.

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.

The book covers a wide range of topics, yet essential, in Computational Finance (CF), understood as a mix of Finance, Computational Statistics, and Mathematics of Finance. In that regard it is unique in its kind, for it touches upon the basic principles of all three main components of CF, with hands-on examples for programming models in R. Thus, the first chapter gives an introduction to the Principles of Corporate Finance: the markets of stock and options, valuation and economic theory, framed within Computation and Information Theory (e.g. the famous Efficient Market Hypothesis is stated in terms of computational complexity, a new perspective). Chapters 2 and 3 give the necessary tools of Statistics for analyzing financial time series, it also goes in depth into the concepts of correlation, causality and clustering. Chapters 4 and 5 review the most important discrete and continuous models for financial time series. Each model is provided with an example program in R. Chapter 6 covers the essentials of Technical Analysis (TA) and Fundamental Analysis. This chapter is suitable for people outside academics and into the world of financial investments, as a primer in the methods of charting and analysis of value for stocks, as it is done in the financial industry. Moreover, a mathematical foundation to the seemly ad-hoc methods of TA is given, and this is new in a presentation of TA. Chapter 7 reviews the most important heuristics for optimization: simulated annealing, genetic programming, and ant colonies (swarm intelligence) which is material to feed the computer savvy readers. Chapter 8 gives the basic principles of portfolio management, through the mean-variance model, and optimization under different constraints which is a topic of current research in computation, due to its complexity. One important aspect of this chapter is that it teaches how to use the powerful tools for portfolio analysis from the RMetrics R-package. Chapter 9 is a natural continuation of chapter 8 into the new area of research of online portfolio selection. The basic model of the universal portfolio of Cover and approximate methods to computeare alsodescribed."

This book presents selected peer-reviewed contributions from the International Work-Conference on Time Series, ITISE 2017, held in Granada, Spain, September 18-20, 2017. It discusses topics in time series analysis and forecasting, including advanced mathematical methodology, computational intelligence methods for time series, dimensionality reduction and similarity measures, econometric models, energy time series forecasting, forecasting in real problems, online learning in time series as well as high-dimensional and complex/big data time series. The series of ITISE conferences provides a forum for scientists, engineers, educators and students to discuss the latest ideas and implementations in the foundations, theory, models and applications in the field of time series analysis and forecasting. It focuses on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research encompassing computer science, mathematics, statistics and econometrics.

Adaptive Technologies and Business Integration: Social, Managerial and Organizational Dimensions provides an authoritative review of both intra-organizational and inter-organizational aspects in business integration, including: managerial and organizational integration, social integration, and technology integration, along with the resources to accomplish this competitive advantage. This Premier Reference Source contains the most comprehensive knowledge on business integration. It provides an all-encompassing perspective on the importance of business integration in the emerging networked, extended, and collaborative organizational models. The innovative research contained in this reference work make it an essential addition to every library.

Soft computing, as an engineering science, and statistics, as a classical branch of mathematics, emphasize different aspects of data analysis.
Soft computing focuses on obtaining working solutions quickly, accepting approximations and unconventional approaches. Its strength lies in its flexibility to create models that suit the needs arising in applications. In addition, it emphasizes the need for intuitive and interpretable models, which are tolerant to imprecision and uncertainty.
Statistics is more rigorous and focuses on establishing objective conclusions based on experimental data by analyzing the possible situations and their (relative) likelihood. It emphasizes the need for mathematical methods and tools to assess solutions and guarantee performance.
Combining the two fields enhances the robustness and generalizability of data analysis methods, while preserving the flexibility to solve real-world problems efficiently and intuitively.

The work presented in this book focuses on modeling audiovisual quality as perceived by the users of IP-based solutions for video communication like videotelephony. It also extends the current framework for the parametric prediction of audiovisual call quality. The book addresses several aspects related to the quality perception of entire video calls, namely, the quality estimation of the single audio and video modalities in an interactive context, the audiovisual quality integration of these modalities and the temporal pooling of short sample-based quality scores to account for the perceptual quality impact of time-varying degradations.

"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.