When researchers in computer-mediated communications discuss digital textuality, they rarely venture beyond the now commonplace notion that computer textuality embodies contemporary post-structuralist theories. Written for students and faculty of contemporary literature and composition theories, this book is the first to move from general to specific considerations. Advancing from general considerations of how computers are changing literacy, Digital Fictions moves on to a specific consideration of how computers are altering one particular set of literature practices: reading and writing fiction. Suffused through the sensibility of a creative writer, this book includes an historical overview of writing stories on computers. In addition, Sloane conducts interviews with the makers of hypertext fictions (including Stuart Moulthrop, Michael Joyce, and Carolyn Guyer) and offers close reading of digital fictions. Making careful analyses of the meaning-making activities of both readers and writers of this emerging genre, this work is embedded in a perspective both feminist and semiotic. Digital Fictions explores and distinguishes among four distinct iterations of text-based digital fictions; text adventures, Carnegie Mellon University Oz Project, hypertext fictions, and MUDs. Ultimately, Sloane revises the rhetorical triangle and proposes a new rhetorical theory, one that attends to the materials, processes, and locations of stories told on-line.

The book provides suggestions on how to start using bionic optimization methods, including pseudo-code examples of each of the important approaches and outlines of how to improve them. The most efficient methods for accelerating the studies are discussed. These include the selection of size and generations of a study's parameters, modification of these driving parameters, switching to gradient methods when approaching local maxima, and the use of parallel working hardware. Bionic Optimization means finding the best solution to a problem using methods found in nature. As Evolutionary Strategies and Particle Swarm Optimization seem to be the most important methods for structural optimization, we primarily focus on them. Other methods such as neural nets or ant colonies are more suited to control or process studies, so their basic ideas are outlined in order to motivate readers to start using them. A set of sample applications shows how Bionic Optimization works in practice. From academic studies on simple frames made of rods to earthquake-resistant buildings, readers follow the lessons learned, difficulties encountered and effective strategies for overcoming them. For the problem of tuned mass dampers, which play an important role in dynamic control, changing the goal and restrictions paves the way for Multi-Objective-Optimization. As most structural designers today use commercial software such as FE-Codes or CAE systems with integrated simulation modules, ways of integrating Bionic Optimization into these software packages are outlined and examples of typical systems and typical optimization approaches are presented. The closing section focuses on an overview and outlook on reliable and robust as well as on Multi-Objective-Optimization, including discussions of current and upcoming research topics in the field concerning a unified theory for handling stochastic design processes.

Ontologies and formal representations of knowledge are extremely powerful tools for modeling and managing large applications in several domains ranging from knowledge engineering, to data mining, to the semantic web. Ontology Theory, Management and Design: Advanced Tools and Models, explores the wide range of applications for ontologies, while providing a complete view of the both the theory behind the design and the problems posed by the practical development and use of ontologies. This reference presents an in-depth and forward looking analysis of current research, illustrating the importance of this field and pointing toward to the future of knowledge engineering, management and information technology.

The aim of cryptography is to design primitives and protocols that withstand adversarial behavior. Information theoretic cryptography, how-so-ever desirable, is extremely restrictive and most non-trivial cryptographic tasks are known to be information theoretically impossible. In order to realize sophisticated cryptographic primitives, we forgo information theoretic security and assume limitations on what can be efficiently computed. In other words we attempt to build secure systems conditioned on some computational intractability assumption such as factoring, discrete log, decisional Diffie-Hellman, learning with errors, and many more. In this work, based on the 2013 ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award-winning thesis, we put forth new plausible lattice-based constructions with properties that approximate the sought after multilinear maps. The multilinear analog of the decision Diffie-Hellman problem appears to be hard in our construction, and this allows for their use in cryptography. These constructions open doors to providing solutions to a number of important open problems.

Nature has long provided the inspiration for a variety of scientific discoveries in engineering, biomedicine, and computing, though only recently have these elements of nature been used directly in computational systems. Natural Computing for Simulation and Knowledge Discovery investigates the latest developments in nature-influenced technologies. Within its pages, readers will find an in-depth analysis of such advances as cryptographic solutions based on cell division, the creation and manipulation of biological computers, and particle swarm optimisation techniques. Scientists, practitioners, and students in fields such as computing, mathematics, and molecular science will make use of this essential reference to explore current trends in natural computation and advance nature-inspired technologies to the next generation.

The concept of innovation management and learning organizations concepts strongly emphasize the high role of human/intellectual capital in the company and the crucial function of knowledge in modern society. However, there is often a paradox between managerial language and actual practice in many organizations: on one hand, knowledge-workers are perceived as the most valued members of organizations while, on the other, they are being manipulated and "engineered"-commonly driven to burn-out, and deprived of family life. All this leads to the emergence of new organizational phenomena that, up to now, have been insufficiently analyzed and described. Management Practices in High-Tech Environments studies this issue thoroughly from an international, comparative, cross-cultural perspective, presenting cutting-edge research on management practices in American, European, Asian and Middle-Eastern high-tech companies, with particular focus on fieldwork-driven, but reflective, contributions.

This book shows you 1000 ways to seduce your website's visitor: Make visitors to buyers. Better: Make customers to friends. It explains how to become a successful seller by viral marketing at the web.

Handbook of Research on Ambient Intelligence and Smart Environments: Trends and Perspectives covers the cutting-edge aspects of AMI applications, specifically those involving the effective design, realization, and implementation of a comprehensive AmI application. This pertinent publication targets researchers and practitioners in Ambient Intelligence, as well as those in ubiquitous and pervasive computing, artificial intelligence, sensor networks, knowledge representation, automated reasoning and learning, system and software engineering, and man-machine interfaces.

In today's technology-crazed environement, distance learning is touted as a cost-effective option for delivering employee training and higher education programs, such as as bachelor's, master's and even doctroal degrees. Distance Learning Technologies: Issues, Trends and Opportunities provides readers with an in-depth understanding of distance learning and the technologies available for this innovative medium of learning and instruction. It races the development of distance learning from its history and includes suggestions for a solid strategic implementation plan to ensure its successful and effective deployment.

Chapters "Turing and Free Will: A New Take on an Old Debate" and "Turing and the History of Computer Music" are available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

The world of corporate management benefits when organizations realize the profitability, reliability, and flexibility obtained through IT standardization. Toward Corporate IT Standardization Management: Frameworks and Solutions details the IT standards conceptual model through insightful case studies that illustrate the factors affecting the performance of business processes. By offering organizations the opportunity to enhance process performance through IT standardization, this reference work demonstrates the effectiveness of IT standards, and the applicable techniques for implementation and management of such practices. This book features information useful to educators and students in the fields of Information Systems, IT-Management, Business Studies, and Economics, as well as IT practitioners and IS Managers.

This comprehensive and timely publication aims to be an essential reference source, building on the available literature in the field of Gamification for the economic and social development of countries while providing further research opportunities in this dynamic and growing field. Thus, the book aims to provide the opportunity for a reflection on this important issue, increasing the understanding of the importance of Gamification in the context of organizations' improvements, providing relevant academic work, empirical research findings and, an overview of this relevant field of study. This text will provide the resources necessary for policymakers, technology developers, and managers to adopt and implement solutions for a more digital era.

Today, fuzzy methods provide tools to handle data sets in relevant, robust and interpretable ways, making it possible to model and exploit imprecision and uncertainty in data modeling and data mining. Scalable Fuzzy Algorithms for Data Management and Analysis: Methods and Design presents innovative, cutting-edge fuzzy techniques that highlight the relevance of fuzziness for huge data sets in the perspective of scalability issues, from both a theoretical and experimental point of view. It covers a wide scope of research areas including data representation, structuring and querying as well as information retrieval and data mining. It encompasses different forms of databases, including data warehouses, data cubes, tabular or relational data, and many applications among which music warehouses, video mining, bioinformatics, semantic web and data streams.

This book examines construction safety from the perspective of informatics and econometrics. It demonstrates the potential of employing various information technology approaches to share construction safety knowledge. In addition, it presents the application of econometrics in construction safety studies, such as an analytic hierarchy process used to create a construction safety index. It also discusses structure equation and dynamic panel models for the analysis of construction safety claims. Lastly, it describes the use of mathematical and econometric models to investigate construction practitioners' safety.

Smart city development and governance is a technological issue and a complex mechanism of the political understanding of technology, environmental interest, and urban interactions in terms of both economic gains and other public values. A smart city is defined by the technology it possesses and how it integrates and uses that technology to improve operational efficiency, propel citizen engagement, and justify inward migration. Understanding the principles and policies at work creates a full understanding of smart cities. Examining the Socio-Technical Impact of Smart Cities is an essential publication that enhances our theoretical understanding of the socio-technical impact of smart cities by promoting the conceptual interactions between social and governmental structures (people, task, structure) with new technologies. Highlighting a wide range of topics including community inclusion, cultural innovation, and public safety, this book is ideally designed for urban planners, entrepreneurs, engineers, government officials, policymakers, academicians, researchers, and students.

This book will raise awareness and spark an international collaboration amongst global leaders to research the feasibility of a globally interoperable electronic health record system to prevent the international spread of disease, document patient treatment, travel, and transmission of BSL-4 infections. The problem of the spread of disease and the lack of multinational interoperability is a global problem and requires a global effort to establish interoperable systems protocols. This book focuses on the feasibility and design of a multinational or globally interoperable electronic health record system to track and prevent the spread of disease of BSL-4 infections. Due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 and the history of the multinational spread of zoonotic diseases, it is clear that a global effort is needed. The WHO stated that the lack of EHR interoperability and the spread of disease is a global problem that requires a global solution. This book is a critical exploration on this topic.