This book includes 23 papers dealing with the impact of modern information and communication technologies that support a wide variety of communities: local communities, virtual communities, and communities of practice, such as knowledge communities and scientific communities. The volume is the result of the second multidisciplinary "Communities and Technologies Conference," a major event in this emerging research field. The various chapters discuss how communities are affected by technologies, and how understanding of the way that communities function can be used in improving information systems design. This state of the art overview will be of interest to computer and information scientists, social scientists and practitioners alike.

Today, new skills are required to compete in a global economy where organizations have new alternatives to choose from. In the next ten years as baby boomers retire, even more opportunities will become available. Finding IT professionals with specific skills is no easy feat. Today s job skills require not only strong technical skills, but also excellent business, industry, communication, marketing and negotiating abilities. Managing IT Human Resources: Considerations for Organizations and Personnel provides a comprehensive presentation of current and emerging perspectives focusing on all aspects of managing IT HR from the view of both practitioners and academics located around the globe. It will focus on the results of recent research (from leading practitioners and academics) and their implications to IT human resource considerations. It presents what IT professionals are seeking in a position, characteristics of the IT environment that contributes to the HR complexity, the retention of IT talent, stress in the workplace, IT career development, and the impact of IT outsourcing.

In IoT scenarios, ways in which large-scale and cross-domain service systems can be established are still unclear, and no systematic or in-depth theories and methods have yet been found. An effective, formal foundation to IoT application designs could serve as a knowledge base for a variety of virtual world applications. Integrating and Streamlining Event-Driven IoT Services discusses how to observe isolated services running by different observation sources, how to fuse different observations to deal with observation conflict and incompleteness, and how to deal with adversaries and physical system features for real-time property enforcement over the fused knowledge. Overall, presenting an exploration of systematic theories and methods for the design of IoT services based on the principles of streamlining and integration, this book features research on topics such as CEP service, virtual machine technologies, and hybrid EPC. It is ideally designed for engineers, researchers, and university students seeking coverage on applications for smart cities, smart grids, and Industry 4.0.

Power system modelling and scripting is a quite general and ambitious title. Of course, to embrace all existing aspects of power system modelling would lead to an encyclopedia and would be likely an impossible task. Thus, the book focuses on a subset of power system models based on the following assumptions: (i) devices are modelled as a set of nonlinear differential algebraic equations, (ii) all alternate-current devices are operating in three-phase balanced fundamental frequency, and (iii) the time frame of the dynamics of interest ranges from tenths to tens of seconds. These assumptions basically restrict the analysis to transient stability phenomena and generator controls. The modelling step is not self-sufficient. Mathematical models have to be translated into computer programming code in order to be analyzed, understood and experienced . It is an object of the book to provide a general framework for a power system analysis software tool and hints for filling up this framework with versatile programming code. This book is for all students and researchers that are looking for a quick reference on power system models or need some guidelines for starting the challenging adventure of writing their own code."

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is an integrating technology for supporting a pervasive and transparent infrastructure for implementing smart environments. Such technology is used to enable environments for detecting events and behaviors of people and for responding in a contextually relevant fashion. AmI proposes a multi-disciplinary approach for enhancing human machine interaction.

Ambient Intelligence: A Novel Paradigm is a compilation of edited chapters describing current state-of-the-art and new research techniques including those related to intelligent visual monitoring, face and speech recognition, innovative education methods, as well as smart and cognitive environments.

The authors start with a description of the iDorm as an example of a smart environment conforming to the AmI paradigm, and introduces computer vision as an important component of the system. Other computer vision examples describe visual monitoring for the elderly, classic and novel surveillance techniques using clusters of cameras installed in indoor and outdoor application domains, and the monitoring of public spaces. Face and speech recognition systems are also covered as well as enhanced LEGO blocks for novel educational purposes. The book closes with a provocative chapter on how a cybernetic system can be designed as the backbone of a human machine interaction.

Digital arithmetic plays an important role in the design of general-purpose digital processors and of embedded systems for signal processing, graphics, and communications. In spite of a mature body of knowledge in digital arithmetic, each new generation of processors or digital systems creates new arithmetic design problems. Designers, researchers, and graduate students will find solid solutions to these problems in this comprehensive, state-of-the-art exposition of digital arithmetic.
Ercegovac and Lang, two of the field's leading experts, deliver a unified treatment of digital arithmetic, tying underlying theory to design practice in a technology-independent manner. They consistently use an algorithmic approach in defining arithmetic operations, illustrate concepts with examples of designs at the logic level, and discuss cost/performance characteristics throughout. Students and practicing designers alike will find Digital Arithmetic a definitive reference and a consistent teaching tool for developing a deep understanding of the "arithmetic style" of algorithms and designs.
-Guides readers to develop sound solutions, avoid known mistakes, and repeat successful design decisions.
-Presents comprehensive coverage3/4from fundamental theories to current research trends.
-Written in a clear and engaging style by two masters of the field.
-Concludes each chapter with in-depth discussions of the key literature.
-Includes a full set of over 250 exercises, an on-line appendix with solutions to one-third of the exercises and 600 lecture slides

Over the last thirty years an abundance of papers have been writ ten on adaptive dynamic control systems. Nevertheless, now it may be predicted with confidence that the adaptive mechanics, a new division, new line of inquiry in one of the violently developing fields of cybernetic mechanics, is emerging. The birth process falls far short of being com pleted. There appear new problems and methods of their solution in the framework of adaptive nonlinear dynamics. Therefore, the present work cannot be treated as a certain polished, brought-to-perfection school textbook. More likely, this is an attempt to show a number of well known scientific results in the parametric synthesis of nonlinear systems (this, strictly speaking, accounts for the availability of many reviews), as well as to bring to notice author's developments on this question undoubtedly modern and topical. The nonlinear, and practically La grangian, systems cover a wide class of classical objects in theoretical mechanics, and primarily solid-body (robotic, gyroscopic, rocket-cosmic, and other) systems. And what is rather important, they have a direct trend to practical application. To indicate this discussion, I should like to notice that it does not touch upon the questions concerned with the linear and stochastic con trolobjects. Investigated are only nonlinear deterministic systems being in the conditions when some system parameters are either unknown or beyond the reach of measurement, or they execute an unknown limited and fairly smooth drift in time."

"Satellite Network Robust QoS-aware Routing" presents a novel routing strategy for satellite networks. This strategy is useful for the design of multi-layered satellite networks as it can greatly reduce the number of time slots in one system cycle. The traffic prediction and engineering approaches make the system robust so that the traffic spikes can be handled effectively. The multi-QoS optimization routing algorithm can satisfy various potential user requirements. Clear and sufficient illustrations are also presented in the book. As the chapters cover the above topics independently, readers from different research backgrounds in constellation design, multi-QoS routing, and traffic engineering can benefit from the book.

Fei Long is a senior engineer at Beijing R&D Center of 54th Research Institute of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation.

Supervision, condition-monitoring, fault detection, fault diagnosis and fault management play an increasing role for technical processes and vehicles in order to improve reliability, availability, maintenance and lifetime. For safety-related processes fault-tolerant systems with redundancy are required in order to reach comprehensive system integrity.

This book is a sequel of the book Fault-Diagnosis Systems published in 2006, where the basic methods were described. After a short introduction into fault-detection and fault-diagnosis methods the book shows how these methods can be applied for a selection of 20 real technical components and processes as examples, such as:

Electrical drives (DC, AC)

Electrical actuators

Fluidic actuators (hydraulic, pneumatic)

Centrifugal and reciprocating pumps

Pipelines (leak detection)

Industrial robots

Machine tools (main and feed drive, drilling, milling, grinding)

Heat exchangers

Also realized fault-tolerant systems for electrical drives, actuators and sensors are presented.

The book describes why and how the various signal-model-based and process-model-based methods were applied and which experimental results could be achieved. In several cases a combination of different methods was most successful.

The book is dedicated to graduate students of electrical, mechanical, chemical engineering and computer science and for engineers.

This book offers the foundations of system analysis as an applied scientific methodology assigned for the investigation of complex and highly interdisciplinary problems. It presents the basic definitions and the methodological and theoretical basis of formalization and solution processes in various subject domains. It describes in detail the methods of formalizing the system tasks and reducing them to a solvable form under real-world conditions.

This comprehensive book draws together experts to explore how knowledge technologies can be exploited to create new multimedia applications, and how multimedia technologies can provide new contexts for the use of knowledge technologies. Thorough coverage of all relevant topics is given. The step-by-step approach guides the reader from fundamental enabling technologies of ontologies, analysis and reasoning, through to applications which have hitherto had less attention.

The heart of any system that simulates the physical interaction between objects is collision detection-the ability to detect when two objects have come into contact. This system is also one of the most difficult aspects of a physical simulation to implement correctly, and invariably it is the main consumer of CPU cycles. Practitioners, new to the field or otherwise, quickly discover that the attempt to build a fast, accurate, and robust collision detection system takes them down a long path fraught with perils and pitfalls unlike most they have ever encountered. Without in-depth knowledge and understanding of the issues associated with engineering a collision detection system, the end of that path is an abyss that has swallowed many a good programmer!
Gino van den Bergen's new book is the story of his successful journey down that path. The outcome is his well-known collision detection system, the SOftware Library for Interference Detection (SOLID). Along the way, he covers the topics of vector algebra and geometry, the various geometric primitives of interest in a collision system, the powerful method of separating axes for the purposes of intersection testing, and the equally powerful Gilbert-Johnson-Keerthi (GJK) algorithm for computing the distance between convex objects. But this book provides much more than a good compendium of the ideas that go into building a collision system. The curse of practical computational geometry is floating-point arithmetic. Algorithms with straightforward implementations when using exact arithmetic can have catastrophic failures in a floating-point system. Specifically, intersection and distance algorithms implemented in a floating-point systemtend to fail exactly in the most important case in a collision system-when two objects are just touching. Great care must be taken to properly handle floating-point round off errors. Gino's ultimate accomplishment in this book is his presentation on how to correctly implement the GJK distance algorithm in the presence of single-precision floating-point arithmetic. And what better way to illustrate this than with a case study, the final chapter on the design and implementation of SOLID.
About the CD-ROM
The companion CD-ROM includes the full C++ source code of SOLID 3.5 as well as API documentation in HTML and PDF formats. Both single (32bit) and double (64bit) precision versions of the SOLID SDK plus example programs can be compiled for Linux platforms using GNU g++ version 2.95 to 3.3 and for Win32 platforms using Microsoft Visual C++ version 6.0 to 7.1. Use of the SOLID source code is governed by the terms of either the GNU GPL or the Trolltech QPL (see CD-ROM documentation for details).
About the Author
Gino van den Bergen is a game developer living and working in The Netherlands. He is the creator of SOLID and holds a Ph.D. in computing science from Eindhoven University of Technology. Gino implemented collision detection and physics in NaN Technologies' Blender, a creation suite for interactive 3D content.
*Explains the fundamental geometric and numerical concepts that underlie the key algorithms of collision detection.
*CD-ROM includes the full C++ source code of SOLID, a well-known library for collision detection, plus binaries and example programs for Win32.
*Discusses algorithms for commonly used primitive types, such as spheres, boxes, cylinders, cones, triangles, rays, and convex polyhedra.
*Presents techniques for accelerating collision detection for complex models and scenes.

The book presents state of the art knowledge about Decision-Making Support Systems (DMSS). Its main goals are to generate a compendium of quality theoretical and applied papers on decision-making support systems, to help diffuse scarce knowledge about effective methods and strategies for successfully designing, developing, implementing, and evaluating decision-making support systems, and to create an awareness among academicians and practitioners about the relevance of decision-making support systems in the current complex and dynamic management environment. Decision-Making Support Systems: Achievements and Challenges for the New Decade is a comprehensive compilation of DMSS thought and vision, dealing with issues such as decision making concepts in organizations.

Future Data and Knowledge Base Systems will require new functionalities: richer data modelling capabilities, more powerful query languages, and new concepts of query answers. Future query languages will include functionalities such as hypothetical reasoning, abductive reasoning, modal reasoning, and metareasoning, involving knowledge and belief. Intentional answers will lead to cooperative query answering in which the answer to a query takes into consideration user's expectations. Non-classical logic plays an important role in this book for the formalization of new queries and new answers. It is shown how logic permits precise definitions for concepts like cooperative answers, subjective queries, or reliable sources of information, and gives a precise framework for reasoning about these complex concepts. It is worth noting that advances in knowledge management are not just an application domain for existing results in logic, but also require new developments in logic. The book is organized into 10 chapters which cover the areas of cooperative query answering (in the first three chapters), metareasoning and abductive reasoning (chapters 5 to 7), and, finally, hypothetical and subjunctive reasoning (last three chapters).

Adding internet access to embedded systems opens up a whole new world of capabilities. For example, a remote data logging system could automatically send data via the internet and be reconfigured - such as to log new types of data or to measure at different intervals - by commands sent over the internet from any computer or device with internet access. Embedded internet and internet appliances are the focus of great attention in the computing industry, as they are seen as the future of computing, but the design of such devices presents many technical challenges.;This book describes how to design, build and program embedded systems with internet access, giving special attention to sensors and actuators which gather data for transmission over the internet or execute commands sent by the internet, It shows how to build sensors and control devices that connect to the "tiny internet interface" (TINI) and explains how to write programs that control them in Java. Several design case histories are given, including weather monitoring stations, communications centres, automation systems, and data acquisitions systems. The authors discuss how these technologies work and where to get detailed specifications, and they provide ideas for the reader to pursue beyond the book. The accompanying CD-ROM includes Java source code for all the applications described in the book, and an electronic version of the text.

SystemC Kernel Extensions for Heterogeneous System Modeling is a result of an almost two year endeavour on our part to understand how SystemC can be made useful for system level modeling at higher levels of abstraction. Making it a truly heterogeneous modeling language and platform, for hardware/software co-design as well as complex embedded hardware designs has been our focus in the work reported in this book.

This book contains articles written by experts on a wide range of topics that are associated with the analysis and management of biological information at the molecular level. It contains chapters on RNA and protein structure analysis, DNA computing, sequence mapping, genome comparison, gene expression data mining, metabolic network modeling, and phyloinformatics. The important work of some representative researchers in bioinformatics is brought together for the first time in one volume. The topic is treated in depth and is related to, where applicable, other emerging technologies such as data mining and visualization. The goal of the book is to introduce readers to the principle techniques of bioinformatics in the hope that they will build on them to make new discoveries of their own. Contents: Exploring RNA Intermediate Conformations with the Massively Parallel Genetic Algorithm; Introduction to Self-Assembling DNA Nanostructures for Computation and Nanofabrication; Mapping Sequence to Rice FPC; Graph Theoretic Sequence Clustering Algorithms and their Applications to Genome Comparison; The Protein Information Resource for Functional Genomics and Proteomics; High-Grade Ore for Data Mining in 3D Structures; Protein Classification: A Geometric Hashing Approach; Interrelated Clustering: An Approach for Gene Expression Data Analysis; Creating Metabolic Network Models Using Text Mining and Expert Knowledge; Phyloinformatics and Tree Networks. Readership: Molecular biologists who rely on computers and mathematical scientists with interests in biology.

In 2002, the International Conference on Computer Aided Design (ICCAD) celebrates its 20th anniversary. This book commemorates contributions made by ICCAD to the broad field of design automation during that time. The foundation of ICCAD in 1982 coincided with the growth of Large Scale Integration. The sharply increased functionality of board-level circuits led to a major demand for more powerful Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools. At the same time, LSI grew quickly and advanced circuit integration became widely avail able. This, in turn, required new tools, using sophisticated modeling, analysis and optimization algorithms in order to manage the evermore complex design processes. Not surprisingly, during the same period, a number of start-up com panies began to commercialize EDA solutions, complementing various existing in-house efforts. The overall increased interest in Design Automation (DA) re quired a new forum for the emerging community of EDA professionals; one which would be focused on the publication of high-quality research results and provide a structure for the exchange of ideas on a broad scale. Many of the original ICCAD volunteers were also members of CANDE (Computer-Aided Network Design), a workshop of the IEEE Circuits and Sys tem Society. In fact, it was at a CANDE workshop that Bill McCalla suggested the creation of a conference for the EDA professional. (Bill later developed the name)."

The information infrastructure---comprising computers, embedded devices, networks and software systems---is vital to day-to-day operations in every sector: information and telecommunications, banking and finance, energy, chemicals and hazardous materials, agriculture, food, water, public health, emergency services, transportation, postal and shipping, government and defense. Global business and industry, governments, indeed society itself, cannot function effectively if major components of the critical information infrastructure are degraded, disabled or destroyed. Critical Infrastructure Protection V describes original research results and innovative applications in the interdisciplinary field of critical infrastructure protection. Also, it highlights the importance of weaving science, technology and policy in crafting sophisticated, yet practical, solutions that will help secure information, computer and network assets in the various critical infrastructure sectors. Areas of coverage include: Themes and Issues, Control Systems Security, Infrastructure Security, and Infrastructure Modeling and Simulation. This book is the 5th volume in the annual series produced by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 11.10 on Critical Infrastructure Protection, an international community of scientists, engineers, practitioners and policy makers dedicated to advancing research, development and implementation efforts focused on infrastructure protection. The book contains a selection of 14 edited papers from the 5th Annual IFIP WG 11.10 International Conference on Critical Infrastructure Protection, held at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA in the spring of 2011. Critical Infrastructure Protection V is an important resource for researchers, faculty members and graduate students, as well as for policy makers, practitioners and other individuals with interests in homeland security. Jonathan Butts is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, USA. Sujeet Shenoi is the F.P. Walter Professor of Computer Science at the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA.

Because of the increased access to high-speed Internet and smart phones, many patients have started to use mobile applications to manage various health needs. These devices and mobile apps are now increasingly used and integrated with telemedicine and telehealth via the medical Internet of Things (IoT). The Handbook of Research on Big Data Management and the Internet of Things for Improved Health Systems is a critical scholarly resource that examines the digital transformation of healthcare. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics, such as brain computer interface, data reduction techniques, and risk factors, this book is geared towards academicians, practitioners, researchers, and students seeking research on health and well-being data.

Contains revised, edited, cross-referenced, and thematically organized selected DumpAnalysis.org blog posts about memory dump and software trace analysis, software troubleshooting and debugging written in November 2010 - October 2011 for software engineers developing and maintaining products on Windows platforms, quality assurance engineers testing software on Windows platforms, technical support and escalation engineers dealing with complex software issues, and security researchers, malware analysts and reverse engineers. The sixth volume features: - 56 new crash dump analysis patterns including 14 new .NET memory dump analysis patterns - 4 new pattern interaction case studies - 11 new trace analysis patterns - New Debugware pattern - Introduction to UI problem analysis patterns - Introduction to intelligence analysis patterns - Introduction to unified debugging pattern language - Introduction to generative debugging, metadefect template library and DNA of software behavior - The new school of debugging - .NET memory dump analysis checklist - Software trace analysis checklist - Introduction to close and deconstructive readings of a software trace - Memory dump analysis compass - Computical and Stack Trace Art - The abductive reasoning of Philip Marlowe - Orbifold memory space and cloud computing - Memory worldview - Interpretation of cyberspace - Relationship of memory dumps to religion - Fully cross-referenced with Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, and Volume 5

ISGC 2009, The International Symposium on Grid Computing was held at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan in April 2009 bringing together prestigious scientists and engineers worldwide to exchange ideas, present challenges/solutions and introduce future development in the field of Grid Computing. Managed Grids and Cloud Systems in the Asia-Pacific Research Community presents the latest achievements in grid technology including Cloud Computing. This volume also covers international projects in Grid Operation, Grid Middleware, E-Science applications, technical developments in grid operations and management, Security and Networking, Digital Library and more. The resources used to support these advances, such as volunteer grids, production managed grids, and cloud systems are discussed in detail. This book is designed for a professional audience composed of grid users, developers and researchers working in the grid computing. Advanced-level students focusing on computer science and engineering will find this book valuable as a reference or secondary text book.

"Set Theory for Computing" provides a comprehensive account of set-oriented symbolic manipulation methods suitable for automated reasoning. Its main objective is twofold: 1) to provide a flexible formalization for a variety of set languages, and 2) to clarify the semantics of set constructs firmly established in modern specification languages and in the programming practice. Topics include: semantic unification, decision algorithms, modal logics, declarative programming, tableau-based proof techniques, and theory-based theorem proving. The style of presentation is self-contained, rigorous and accurate. Some familiarity with symbolic logic is helpful but not a requirement. This book is a useful resource for all advanced students, professionals, and researchers in computing sciences, artificial intelligence, automated reasoning, logic, and computational mathematics. It will serve to complement their intuitive understanding of set concepts with the ability to master them by symbolic and logically based algorithmic methods and deductive techniques.

The growing commercial market of Microwave/ Millimeter wave industry over the past decade has led to the explosion of interests and opportunities for the design and development of microwave components.The design of most microwave components requires the use of commercially available electromagnetic (EM) simulation tools for their analysis. In the design process, the simulations are carried out by varying the design parameters until the desired response is obtained. The optimization of design parameters by manual searching is a cumbersome and time consuming process. Soft computing methods such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Fuzzy Logic (FL) have been widely used by EM researchers for microwave design since last decade. The aim of these methods is to tolerate imprecision, uncertainty, and approximation to achieve robust and low cost solution in a small time frame. Modeling and optimization are essential parts and powerful tools for the microwave/millimeter wave design. This book deals with the development and use of soft computing methods for tackling challenging design problems in the microwave/millimeter wave domain. The aim in the development of these methods is to obtain the design in small time frame while improving the accuracy of the design for a wide range of applications. To achieve this goal, a few diverse design problems of microwave field, representing varied challenges in the design, such as different microstrip antennas, microwave filters, a microstrip-via and also some critical high power components such as nonlinear tapers and RF-windows are considered as case-study design problems. Different design methodologies are developed for these applications. The presents soft computing methods, their review for microwave/millimeter wave design problems and specific case-study problems to infuse better insight and understanding of the subject.