This volume is a post-conference publication of the 4th World Congress on Social Simulation (WCSS), with contents selected from among the 80 papers originally presented at the conference. WCSS is a biennial event, jointly organized by three scientific communities in computational social science, namely, the Pacific-Asian Association for Agent-Based Approach in Social Systems Sciences (PAAA), the European Social Simulation Association (ESSA), and the Computational Social Science Society of the Americas (CSSSA). It is, therefore, currently the most prominent conference in the area of agent-based social simulation. The papers selected for this volume give a holistic view of the current development of social simulation, indicating the directions for future research and creating an important archival document and milestone in the history of computational social science. Specifically, the papers included here cover substantial progress in artificial financial markets, macroeconomic forecasting, supply chain management, bank networks, social networks, urban planning, social norms and group formation, cross-cultural studies, political party competition, voting behavior, computational demography, computational anthropology, evolution of languages, public health and epidemics, AIDS, security and terrorism, methodological and epistemological issues, empirical-based agent-based modeling, modeling of experimental social science, gaming simulation, cognitive agents, and participatory simulation. Furthermore, pioneering studies in some new research areas, such as the theoretical foundations of social simulation and categorical social science, also are included in the volume.

With the ever-increasing speed of integrated circuits, violations of the performance specifications are becoming a major factor affecting the product quality level. The need for testing timing defects is further expected to grow with the current design trend of moving towards deep submicron devices. After a long period of prevailing belief that high stuck-at fault coverage is sufficient to guarantee high quality of shipped products, the industry is now forced to rethink other types of testing. Delay testing has been a topic of extensive research both in industry and in academia for more than a decade. As a result, several delay fault models and numerous testing methodologies have been proposed. Delay Fault Testing for VLSI Circuits presents a selection of existing delay testing research results. It combines introductory material with state-of-the-art techniques that address some of the current problems in delay testing. Delay Fault Testing for VLSI Circuits covers some basic topics such as fault modeling and test application schemes for detecting delay defects. It also presents summaries and conclusions of several recent case studies and experiments related to delay testing. A selection of delay testing issues and test techniques such as delay fault simulation, test generation, design for testability and synthesis for testability are also covered. Delay Fault Testing for VLSI Circuits is intended for use by CAD and test engineers, researchers, tool developers and graduate students. It requires a basic background in digital testing. The book can used as supplementary material for a graduate-level course on VLSI testing.

The building blocks of today's embedded systems-on-a-chip are complex IP components and programmable processor cores. This means that more and more system functionality is implemented in software rather than in custom hardware. In turn, this indicates a growing need for high-level language compilers, capable of generating efficient code for embedded processors. However, traditional compiler technology hardly keeps pace with new developments in embedded processor architectures. Many existing compilers for DSPs and multimedia processors therefore produce code of insufficient quality with respect to performance and/or code size, and a large part of software for embedded systems is still being developed in assembly languages. As both embedded software as well as processors architectures are getting more and more complex, assembly programming clearly violates the demands for a short time-to-market and high dependability in embedded system design. The goal of this book is to provide new methods and techniques to software and compiler developers, that help to make the necessary step from assembly programming to the use of compilers also in embedded system design. Code Optimization Techniques for Embedded Processors discusses the state-of-the-art in the area of compilers for embedded processors. It presents a collection of new code optimization techniques, dedicated to DSP and multimedia processors. These include: compiler support for DSP address generation units, efficient mapping of data flow graphs to irregular architectures, exploitation of SIMD and conditional instructions, as well as function inlining under code size constraints. Comprehensive experimental evaluations are given forreal-life processors, that indicate the code quality improvements which can be achieved as compared to earlier techniques. In addition, C compiler frontend issues are discussed from a practical viewpoint. Code Optimization Techniques for Embedded Processors is intended for researchers and engineers active in software development for embedded systems, and for compiler developers in academia and industry.

This is the first book to treat two areas of speech synthesis: natural language processing and the inherent problems it presents for speech synthesis; and digital signal processing, with an emphasis on the concatenative approach. The text guides the reader through the material in a step-by-step easy-to-follow way. The book will be of interest to researchers and students in phonetics and speech communication, in both academia and industry.

The field of high performance computing achieved prominence through advances in electronic and integrated technologies beginning in the 1940s. Current times are very exciting and the years to come will witness a proliferation of the use of parallel and distributed systems. The scientific and engineering application domains have a key role in shaping future research and development activities in academia and industry, especially when the solution of large and complex problems must cope with harder and harder timing.
High Performance Scientific And Engineering Computing: Hardware/Software Support contains selected chapters on hardware/software support for high performance scientific and engineering computing from prestigious workshops in the fields such as PACT-SHPSEC, IPDPS-PDSECA and ICPP-HPSECA. This edited volume is basically divided into six main sections which include invited material from prominent researchers around the world. We believe all of these contributed chapters and topics not only provide novel ideas, new results and state-of-the-art techniques in this field, but also stimulate the future research activities in the area of high performance computing for science and engineering applications.
High Performance Scientific And Engineering Computing: Hardware/Software Support is designed for a professional audience, composed of researchers and practitioners in industry. This book is also suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level students in computer science and engineering.

Peter A. Coming Palo Alto, CA November, 2000 This volwne represents a distillation of the plenary sessions at a unique millenniwn year event -a World Congress of the Systems Sciences in conjunction with the 44th annual meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). The overall theme of the conference was "Understanding Complexity in the New Millenniwn. " Held at Ryerson Polytechnic University in Toronto, Canada, from July 16-22,2000, the conference included some 350 participants from over 30 countries, many of whom were representatives of the 21 organizations and groups that co-hosted this landmark event. Each of these co-host organizations/groups also presented a segment of the program, including a plenary speech. In addition, the conference featured a nwnber of distinguished "keynote" speeches related to the three daily World Congress themes: (1) The Evolution of Complex Systems, (2) The Dynamics of Complex Systems, and (3) Human Systems in the 21st Century. There were also seven special plenary-level symposia on a range of timely topics, including: "The Art and Science of Forecasting in the Age of Global Wanning"; "Capitalism in the New Millenniwn: The Challenge of Sustainability"; "The Future of the Systems Sciences"; "Global Issues in the New Millenniwn"; "Resources and the Environment in the New Millenniwn"; "The Lessons of Y2K"; and "Can There be a Reconciliation Between Science and Religion?" Included in this special commemorative volume is a cross-section of these presentations."

This work introduces the benefits of object-oriented programming and discusses how the technology can be used to improve productivity in building software systems in the manufacturing domain. It addresses a wide range of issues from languages, design principles, research examples through to industrial applications and management issues. In essence, the main objective of the book is to interpret and apply object-oriented concepts in the context of designing manufacturing systems applications. The main audience for this book consists of professionals, engineers and managers, who deal with manufacturing systems, as well as students and educators looking for new directions in building software systems to solve problems in this area. The book should also be of special interest to engineering and computer professionals who have heard the term "object-oriented" and want to learn more about it and its importance, especially in designing software for manufacturing systems. This book should be of interest to: software and manufacturing engineers in industry; software consultants; technical managers; graduate students and researchers in computer-integrated manufacturing.

Legged robots are a promising locomotion system, capable of performing tasks that conventional vehicles cannot. Even more exciting is the fact that this is a rapidly developing field of study for researchers from a variety of disciplines. However, only a few books have been published on the subject of multi-legged robots. The main objective of this book is to describe some of the major control issues concerning walking robots that the authors have faced over the past 10 years. A second objective is to focus especially on very large hydraulically driven hexapod robot locomotion weighing more than 2,000 kg, making this the first specialized book on this topic. The 10 chapters of the book touch on diverse relevant topics such as design aspects, implementation issues, modeling for control, navigation and control, force and impedance control-based walking, fully autonomous walking, walking and working tasks of hexapod robots, and the future of walking robots. The construction machines of the future will very likely resemble hydraulically driven hexapod robots like the ones described in this book - no longer science fiction but now a reality.

Advanced Topics in Information Technology Standards and Standardization Research is a series of books which features the most current research findings in all aspects of IT standardization research, from a diversity of angles, traversing the traditional boundaries between individual disciplines. ""Advanced Topics in Information Technology Standards and Standardization Research, Volume 1"", is a part of this series. ""Advanced Topics in Information Technology Standards and Standardization Research, Volume 1,"" presents a collection of chapters addressing a variety of aspects related to IT standards and the setting of standards. This book covers a variety of topics, such as economic aspects of standards, alliances in standardization and the relation between 'formal' standards bodies and industry consortia. It also offers a glimpse inside a standards working group, as well as a look at applications of standards in different sectors.

In many organizations, Information Technology (IT) has become crucial in the support, the sustainability and the growth of the business. This pervasive use of technology has created a critical dependency on IT that calls for a specific focus on IT Governance. IT Governance consists of the leadership and organizational structures, processes and relational mechanisms that ensure that the organization's IT sustains and extends the organization's strategy and objectives. Strategies for Information Technology Governance records and interprets some important existing theories, models and practices in the IT Governance domain and aims to contribute to the understanding of IT Governance.

Neurobiology research suggests that information can be represented by the location of an activity spot in a population of cells (place coding'), and that this information can be processed by means of networks of interconnections. Place Coding in Analog VLSI defines a representation convention of similar flavor intended for analog-integrated circuit design. It investigates its properties and suggests ways to build circuits on the basis of this coding scheme. In this electronic version of place coding, numbers are represented by the state of an array of nodes called a map, and computation is carried out by a network of links. In the simplest case, a link is just a wire connecting a node of an input map to a node of an output map. In other cases, a link is an elementary circuit cell. Networks of links are somewhat reminiscent of look-up tables in that they hardwire an arbitrary function of one or several variables. Interestingly, these structures are also related to fuzzy rules, as well as some types of artificial neural networks. The place coding approach provides several substantial benefits over conventional analog design: Networks of links can be synthesized by a simple procedure whatever the function to be computed. Place coding is tolerant to perturbations and noise in current-mode implementations. Tolerance to noise implies that the fundamental power dissipation limits of conventional analog circuits can be overcome by using place coding. The place coding approach is illustrated by three integrated circuits computing non-linear functions of several variables. The simplest one is made up of 80 links and achieves submicrowatt power consumption in continuous operation. The most complex one incorporates about 1800 links for a power consumption of 6 milliwatts, and controls the operation of an active vision system with a moving field of view. Place Coding in Analog VLSI is primarily intended for researchers and practicing engineers involved in analog and digital hardware design (especially bio-inspired circuits). The book is also a valuable reference for researchers and students in neurobiology, neuroscience, robotics, fuzzy logic and fuzzy control.

In the last few decades, multiscale algorithms have become a dominant trend in large-scale scientific computation. Researchers have successfully applied these methods to a wide range of simulation and optimization problems. This book gives a general overview of multiscale algorithms; applications to general combinatorial optimization problems such as graph partitioning and the traveling salesman problem; and VLSICAD applications, including circuit partitioning, placement, and VLSI routing. Additional chapters discuss optimization in reconfigurable computing, convergence in multilevel optimization, and model problems with PDE constraints.

Audience Written at the graduate level, the book is intended for engineers and mathematical and computational scientists studying large-scale optimization in electronic design automation.

This book is designed to strengthen understanding of the critical information in the framework for technology application competencies for K-12 teachers.

This consistently written book provides a comprehensive presentation of a multitude of results stemming from the author's as well as various researchers' work in the field. It also covers functional decomposition for incompletely specified functions, decomposition for multi-output functions and non-disjoint decomposition.

Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design Automation, Third Edition covers all aspects of physical design. The book is a core reference for graduate students and CAD professionals. For students, concepts and algorithms are presented in an intuitive manner. For CAD professionals, the material presents a balance of theory and practice. An extensive bibliography is provided which is useful for finding advanced material on a topic. At the end of each chapter, exercises are provided, which range in complexity from simple to research level. Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design Automation, Third Edition provides a comprehensive background in the principles and algorithms of VLSI physical design. The goal of this book is to serve as a basis for the development of introductory-level graduate courses in VLSI physical design automation. It provides self-contained material for teaching and learning algorithms of physical design. All algorithms which are considered basic have been included, and are presented in an intuitive manner. Yet, at the same time, enough detail is provided so that readers can actually implement the algorithms given in the text and use them. The first three chapters provide the background material, while the focus of each chapter of the rest of the book is on each phase of the physical design cycle. In addition, newer topics such as physical design automation of FPGAs and MCMs have been included. The basic purpose of the third edition is to investigate the new challenges presented by interconnect and process innovations. In 1995 when the second edition of this book was prepared, a six-layer process and 15 million transistor microprocessors were in advanced stages of design. In 1998, six metal process and 20 million transistor designs are in production. Two new chapters have been added and new material has been included in almost allother chapters. A new chapter on process innovation and its impact on physical design has been added. Another focus of the third edition is to promote use of the Internet as a resource, so wherever possible URLs have been provided for further investigation. Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design Automation, Third Edition is an important core reference work for professionals as well as an advanced level textbook for students.

This volume includes chapters presenting applications of different metaheuristics in reliability engineering, including ant colony optimization, great deluge algorithm, cross-entropy method and particle swarm optimization. It also presents chapters devoted to cellular automata and support vector machines, and applications of artificial neural networks, a powerful adaptive technique that can be used for learning, prediction and optimization. Several chapters describe aspects of imprecise reliability and applications of fuzzy and vague set theory.

Although 3D printing technologies are still a rarity in many classrooms and other educational settings, their far-reaching applications across a wide range of subjects make them a desirable instructional aid. Effective implementation of these technologies can engage learners through project-based learning and exploration of objects. Interdisciplinary and International Perspectives on 3D Printing in Education is a collection of advanced research that facilitates discussions on interdisciplinary fields and international perspectives, from kindergarten to higher education, to inform the uses of 3D printing in education from diverse and broad perspectives. Covering topics such as computer-aided software, learning theories, and educational policy, this book is ideally designed for educators, practitioners, instructional designers, and researchers.

Within the last 10-13 years Binary Decision Diagrams (BDDs) have become the state-of-the-art data structure in VLSI CAD for representation and manipulation of Boolean functions. Today, BDDs are widely used and in the meantime have also been integrated in commercial tools, especially in the area of verification and synthesis. The interest in BDDs results from the fact that the data structure is generally accepted as providing a good compromise between conciseness of representation and efficiency of manipulation. With increasing numbers of applications, also in non-CAD areas, classical methods of handling BDDs are being improved and new questions and problems evolve and have to be solved. Binary Decision Diagrams: Theory and Implementation is intended both for newcomers to BDDs and for researchers and practitioners who need to implement them. Apart from giving a quick start for the reader who is not familiar with BDDs (or DDs in general), it also discusses several new aspects of BDDs, e.g. with respect to minimization and implementation of a package. It is an essential bookshelf item for any CAD designer or researcher working with BDDs.

This book introduces context-aware computing, providing definitions, categories, characteristics, and context awareness itself and discussing its applications with a particular focus on smart learning environments. It also examines the elements of a context-aware system, including acquisition, modelling, reasoning, and distribution of context. It also reviews applications of context-aware computing - both past and present - to offer readers the knowledge needed to critically analyse how context awareness can be put to use. It is particularly to those new to the subject area who are interested in learning how to develop context-aware computing-oriented applications, as well as postgraduates and researchers in computer engineering, communications engineering related areas of information technology (IT). Further it provides practical know-how for professionals working in IT support and technology, consultants and business decision-makers and those working in the medical, human, and social sciences.

Embedded computer systems use both off-the-shelf microprocessors and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) to implement specialized system functions. Examples include the electronic systems inside laser printers, cellular phones, microwave ovens, and an automobile anti-lock brake controller. Embedded computing is unique because it is a co-design problem - the hardware engine and application software architecture must be designed simultaneously. Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems proposes new techniques such as fixed-point iterations, phase adjustment, and separation analysis to efficiently estimate tight bounds on the delay required for a set of multi-rate processes preemptively scheduled on a real-time reactive distributed system. Based on the delay bounds, a gradient-search co-synthesis algorithm with new techniques such as sensitivity analysis, priority prediction, and idle- processing elements elimination are developed to select the number and types of processing elements in a distributed engine, and determine the allocation and scheduling of processes to processing elements. New communication modeling is also presented to analyze communication delay under interaction of computation and communication, allocate interprocessor communication links, and schedule communication. Hardware-Software Co-Synthesis of Distributed Embedded Systems is the first book to describe techniques for the design of distributed embedded systems, which have arbitrary hardware and software topologies. The book will be of interest to: academic researchers for personal libraries and advanced-topics courses in co-design as well as industrial designers who are building high-performance, real-time embedded systems with multiple processors.

Probabilistic and Statistical Methods in Computer Science