In the recent years, fractional-order systems have been studied by many researchers in the engineering field. It was found that many systems can be described more accurately by fractional differential equations than by integer-order models. Advanced Synchronization Control and Bifurcation of Chaotic Fractional-Order Systems is a scholarly publication that explores new developments related to novel chaotic fractional-order systems, control schemes, and their applications. Featuring coverage on a wide range of topics including chaos synchronization, nonlinear control, and cryptography, this publication is geared toward engineers, IT professionals, researchers, and upper-level graduate students seeking current research on chaotic fractional-order systems and their applications in engineering and computer science.

Computational models can be found everywhere in present day science and engineering. In providing a logical framework and foundation for the specification and design of specification languages, Raymond Turner uses this framework to introduce and study computable models. In doing so he presents the first systematic attempt to provide computational models with a logical foundation.

Computable models have wide-ranging applications from programming language semantics and specification languages, through to knowledge representation languages and formalism for natural language semantics. They are also implicit in computer modelling in many areas of physical and social science.

This detailed investigation into the logical foundations of specification and specification languages and their application to the definition of programming languages, coupled with a clear exposition of theories of data and computable models as mathematical notions will be welcomed by researchers and graduate students.

Computer Aided Innovation (CAI) is a young domain, the goal of which is to support enterprises throughout the complete innovation process. This comprehensive book presents the most up-to-date research on CAI. It addresses the main motivations of the industrial sector regarding the engineering innovation activity with computer tools and methods. The book also discusses organizational, technological and cognitive aspects of the application of CAI methods and tools.

An in-depth look at soft computing methods and their applications in the human sciences, such as the social and the behavioral sciences. Soft computing methods - including fuzzy systems, neural networks, evolutionary computing and probabilistic reasoning - are state-of-the-art methods in theory formation and model construction. The powerful application areas of these methods in the human sciences are demonstrated, including the replacement of statistical models by simpler numerical or linguistic soft computing models and the use of computer simulations with approximate and linguistic constituents. "Dr. Niskanen's work opens new vistas in application of soft computing, fuzzy logic and fuzzy set theory to the human sciences. This book is likely to be viewed in retrospect as a landmark in its field" (Lotfi A. Zadeh, Berkeley)

In the last decade, there has been a burgeoning of activity in the design and implementation of algorithms for algebraic geometric computation. The workshop on Algorithms in Algebraic Geometry that was held in the framework of the IMA Annual Program Year in Applications of Algebraic Geometry by the Institute for Mathematics and Its Applications on September 2006 is one tangible indication of the interest. This volume of articles captures some of the spirit of the IMA workshop.

On Optimal Interconnections for VLSI describes, from a geometric perspective, algorithms for high-performance, high-density interconnections during the global and detailed routing phases of circuit layout. First, the book addresses area minimization, with a focus on near-optimal approximation algorithms for minimum-cost Steiner routing. In addition to practical implementations of recent methods, the implications of recent results on spanning tree degree bounds and the method of Zelikovsky are discussed. Second, the book addresses delay minimization, starting with a discussion of accurate, yet algorithmically tractable, delay models. Recent minimum-delay constructions are highlighted, including provably good cost-radius tradeoffs, critical-sink routing algorithms, Elmore delay-optimal routing, graph Steiner arborescences, non-tree routing, and wiresizing. Third, the book addresses skew minimization for clock routing and prescribed-delay routing formulations. The discussion starts with early matching-based constructions and goes on to treat zero-skew routing with provably minimum wirelength, as well as planar clock routing. Finally, the book concludes with a discussion of multiple (competing) objectives, i.e., how to optimize area, delay, skew, and other objectives simultaneously. These techniques are useful when the routing instance has heterogeneous resources or is highly congested, as in FPGA routing, multi-chip packaging, and very dense layouts. Throughout the book, the emphasis is on practical algorithms and a complete self-contained development. On Optimal Interconnections for VLSI will be of use to both circuit designers (CAD tool users) as well as researchers and developers in the area of performance-driven physical design.

Advances In Digital Government presents a collection of in-depth articles that addresses a representative cross-section of the matrix of issues involved in implementing digital government systems. These articles constitute a survey of both the technical and policy dimensions related to the design, planning and deployment of digital government systems. The research and development projects within the technical dimension represent a wide range of governmental functions, including the provisioning of health and human services, management of energy information, multi-agency integration, and criminal justice applications. The technical issues dealt with in these projects include database and ontology integration, distributed architectures, scalability, and security and privacy. The human factors research emphasizes compliance with access standards for the disabled and the policy articles contain both conceptual models for developing digital government systems as well as real management experiences and results in deploying them. Advances In Digital Government presents digital government issues from the perspectives of different communities and societies. This geographic and social diversity illuminates a unique array of policy and social perspectives, exposing practitioners to new and useful ways of thinking about digital government.

Asynchronous Pulse Logic is a comprehensive analysis of a newly developed asynchronous circuit family. The book covers circuit theory, practical circuits, design tools and an example of the design of a simple asynchronous microprocessor using the circuit family. Asynchronous Pulse Logic will be of interest to industrial and academic researcher working on high-speed VLSI systems. Graduate students will find this useful reference for computer-aided design of asynchronous or related VLSI systems.

Email steals too much of your precious time, doesn't it?

Processing email takes way too much time because we never learned to manage it effectively. We are constantly interrupted, invest countless hours in it, re-read emails that languish in our inbox, store email we don't need and suffer from email overload. Don't you agree?

This book provides what you need to manage email, eliminate the overload and save your precious time. It will help you minimize interruption, overcome indecision and empty your inbox. It will help you organize priorities and manage time, so you can get your work done--at work. You can give up doing email at dinner and in bed. Good idea?

This book focuses on object-oriented concurrent computing, which can be considered a model of concurrent programming, and proposes a new programming language, ConcurrentSmalltalk, which is based on object-oriented concurrent computing. The book also shows the efficiency of object-oriented concurrent computing through the design, implementation, and evaluation of ConcurrentSmalltalk. ConcurrentSmalltalk is designed to be upwardly compatible with Smalltalk-80. In the book, the ConcurrentSmalltalk object model is first proposed. Next, issues which arise from maintaining compatibility with Smalltalk-80 are discussed. Finally, the ConcurrentSmalltalk virtual machine which executes the ConcurrentSmalltalk programs is proposed.

Client/Server applications are of increasing importance in industry, and have been improved by advanced distributed object-oriented techniques, dedicated tool support and both multimedia and mobile computing extensions. Recent responses to this trend are standardized distributed platforms and models including the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) of the Open Software Foundation (OS F), Open Distributed Processing (ODP), and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) of the Object Management Group (OMG). These proceedings are the compilation of papers from the technical stream of the IFIPIIEEE International Conference on Distributed Platforms, Dresden, Germany. This conference has been sponsored by IFIP TC6.1, by the IEEE Communications Society, and by the German Association of Computer Science (GI -Gesellschaft fur Informatik). ICDP'96 was organized jointly by Dresden University of Technology and Aachen University of Technology. It is closely related to the International Workshop on OSF DCE in Karlsruhe, 1993, and to the IFIP International Conference on Open Distributed Processing. ICDP has been designed to bring together researchers and practitioners who are studying and developing new methodologies, tools and technologies for advanced client/server environ ments, distributed systems, and network applications based on distributed platforms."

In todaya (TM)s competitive world, industries are focusing on shorter lead times, improved quality, reduced cost, increased profit, improved productivity and better customer service. As ERP and other information management systems have been widely implemented, information growth poses new challenges to decision makers in areas ranging from shop floor control to supply chain management and design.

Frontiers in Computing Technologies for Manufacturing Applications presents an overview of the state-of-the-art intelligent computing in manufacturing. Modelling, data processing, algorithms and computational analysis of difficult problems found in advanced manufacturing are discussed. It is the first book to bring together combinatorial optimization, information systems and fault diagnosis and monitoring in a consistent manner. Techniques are presented in order to aid decision makers needing to consider multiple, conflicting objectives in their decision processes. In particular, the use of metaheuristic optimization techniques for multi-objective problems is discussed. Readers will learn about computational technologies that can improve the performance of manufacturing systems ranging from manufacturing equipment to supply chains.

Frontiers in Computing Technologies for Manufacturing Applications will be of interest to students in industrial and mechanical engineering as well as information engineers needing practical examples for the successful integration of information in manufacturing applications. The book will also appeal to technical decision makers involved in production planning, logistics, supply chain, industrial ecology, manufacturing information systems, faultdiagnosis and monitoring.

Compression and Coding Algorithms describes in detail the coding mechanisms that are available for use in data compression systems. The well known Huffman coding technique is one mechanism, but there have been many others developed over the past few decades, and this book describes, explains and assesses them. People undertaking research of software development in the areas of compression and coding algorithms will find this book an indispensable reference. In particular, the careful and detailed description of algorithms and their implementation, plus accompanying pseudo-code that can be readily implemented on computer, make this book a definitive reference in an area currently without one.

For organizations, it's imperative to have the ability to analyze data sources, harmonize disparate data elements, and communicate the results of the analysis in an effective manner to stakeholders. Created by certified enterprise data architect Jeff Voivoda, this simple guide to data analysis and harmonization begins by identifying the problems caused by inefficient data storage. It moves through the life cycle of identifying, gathering, recording, harmonizing and presenting data so that it is organized and comprehensible.Other key areas covered include the following: Seeking out the right experts Reviewing data standards and considerations Grouping and managing data Understanding the practical applications of data analysis Suggesting next steps in the development life cycle.It's essential to understand data requirements, management tools, and industry-wide standards if you want your organization to succeed or improve on its already strong position. Determine your next strategic step and manage your data as an asset with "Data Analysis and Harmonization."

As instructors move further into the incorporation of 21st century technologies in adult education, a new paradigm of digitally-enriched mediated learning has emerged. ""Adult Learning in the Digital Age: Perspectives on Online Technologies and Outcomes"" provides a comprehensive framework of trends and issues related to adult learning for the facilitation of authentic learning in the age of digital technology. This significant reference source offers researchers, academicians, and practitioners a valuable compendium of expert ideas, practical experiences, field challenges, and potential opportunities concerning the advancement of new technological and pedagogical techniques used in adult schooling.

This self-contained book systematically explores the statistical dynamics on and of complex networks having relevance across a large number of scientific disciplines. The theories related to complex networks are increasingly being used by researchers for their usefulness in harnessing the most difficult problems of a particular discipline. The book is a collection of surveys and cutting-edge research contributions exploring the interdisciplinary relationship of dynamics on and of complex networks. Topics covered include complex networks found in nature-genetic pathways, ecological networks, linguistic systems, and social systems-as well as man-made systems such as the World Wide Web and peer-to-peer networks.

The contributed chapters in this volume are intended to promote cross-fertilization in several research areas, and will be valuable to newcomers in the field, experienced researchers, practitioners, and graduate students interested in systems exhibiting an underlying complex network structure in disciplines such as computer science, biology, statistical physics, nonlinear dynamics, linguistics, and the social sciences.

In recent years, building information modeling has become a very active research area of construction informatics with investigation of ICT use within construction industry processes and organizations. The Handbook of Research on Building Information Modeling and Construction Informatics: Concepts and Technologies addresses the problems related to information integration and interoperability throughout the lifecycle of a building, from feasibility and conceptual design through to demolition and recycling stages. Containing research from leading international experts, this Handbook of Research provides comprehensive coverage and definitions of the most important issues, concepts, trends, and technologies within the field.

Organisational Semiotics offers an effective approach to analysing organisations and modelling organisational behaviour. The methods and techniques derived from Organisational Semiotics enable us to study the organisation by examining how information is created and used for communication, coordination and performance of actions towards organisational objectives. The latest development of the young discipline and its applications have been reported in this book, which provides a useful guide and a valuable reference to anyone working in the areas of organisational study and information systems development.

This book presents the most recent advances in fuzzy clustering techniques and their applications. The contents include Introduction to Fuzzy Clustering; Fuzzy Clustering based Principal Component Analysis; Fuzzy Clustering based Regression Analysis; Kernel based Fuzzy Clustering; Evaluation of Fuzzy Clustering; Self-Organized Fuzzy Clustering. This book is directed to the computer scientists, engineers, scientists, professors and students of engineering, science, computer science, business, management, avionics and related disciplines.

Information Systems (IS) as a discipline draws on diverse areas including, technology, organisational theory, management and social science. The field is recognized as very broad and encompassing many themes and areas. However, the development of artefacts, or information systems development (ISD), in the broadest sense, is a central concern of the discipline. Significantly, ISD impacts on the organisational and societal contexts through the use of the artefacts constructed by the development. Today, that impact also needs to be evaluated in terms of its effects on the environment. Sustainable, or "green," IT is a catch-all term used to describe the development, manufacture, management, use and disposal of ICT in a way that minimizes damage to the environment. As a result, the term has many different meanings, depending on the role assumed in the life span of the ICT artefact. The theme of the proposed work is to critically examine the whole range of issues around ISD from the perspective of sustainability. Sustainable IT is an emerging theme in academic research and industry practice in response to an individual concern for the environment and the embryonic regulatory environments being enacted globally to address the environmental impact of ICT. In this work we intend to bring together in one volume the diverse research around the development of sustainable IS."

Privacy, Security and Trust within the Context of Pervasive Computing is an edited volume based on a post workshop at the second international conference on Pervasive Computing. The workshop was held April18-23, 2004, in Vienna, Austria.

The goal of the workshop was not to focus on specific, even novel mechanisms, but rather on the interfaces between mechanisms in different technical and social problem spaces. An investigation of the interfaces between the notions of context, privacy, security, and trust will result in a deeper understanding of the "atomic" problems, leading to a more complete understanding of the social and technical issues in pervasive computing.

Digital Timing Macromodeling for VLSI Design Verification first of all provides an extensive history of the development of simulation techniques. It presents detailed discussion of the various techniques implemented in circuit, timing, fast-timing, switch-level timing, switch-level, and gate-level simulation. It also discusses mixed-mode simulation and interconnection analysis methods. The review in Chapter 2 gives an understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of the many techniques applied in modern digital macromodels. The book also presents a wide variety of techniques for performing nonlinear macromodeling of digital MOS subcircuits which address a large number of shortcomings in existing digital MOS macromodels. Specifically, the techniques address the device model detail, transistor coupling capacitance, effective channel length modulation, series transistor reduction, effective transconductance, input terminal dependence, gate parasitic capacitance, the body effect, the impact of parasitic RC-interconnects, and the effect of transmission gates. The techniques address major sources of errors in existing macromodeling techniques, which must be addressed if macromodeling is to be accepted in commercial CAD tools by chip designers. The techniques presented in Chapters 4-6 can be implemented in other macromodels, and are demonstrated using the macromodel presented in Chapter 3. The new techniques are validated over an extremely wide range of operating conditions: much wider than has been presented for previous macromodels, thus demonstrating the wide range of applicability of these techniques.