Architecture for the Commons dives into an analysis of how the tectonics of a building is fundamentally linked to the economic organizations that allow them to exist. By tracing the origins and promises of current technological practices in design, the book provides an alternative path, one that reconsiders the means of achieving complexity through combinatorial strategies. This move requires reconsidering serial production with crowdsourcing and user content in mind. The ideas presented will be explored through the design research developed within Plethora Project, a design practice that explores the use of video game interfaces as a mechanism for participation and user design. The research work presented throughout the book seeks to align with a larger project that is currently taking place in many different fields: The Construction of the Commons. By developing both the ideological and physical infrastructure, the project of the Commons has become an antidote to current economic practices that perpetuate inequality. The mechanisms of the production and governance of the Commons are discussed, inviting the reader to get involved and participate in the discussion. The current political and economic landscape calls for a reformulation of our current economic practices and alternative value systems that challenge the current market monopolies. This book will be of great interest not only to architects and designers studying the impact of digital technologies in the field of design but also to researchers studying novel techniques for social participation and cooperating of communities through digital networks. The book connects principles of architecture, economics and social sciences to provide alternatives to the current production trends.

Introduction to Visual Computing: Core Concepts in Computer Vision, Graphics, and Image Processing covers the fundamental concepts of visual computing. Whereas past books have treated these concepts within the context of specific fields such as computer graphics, computer vision or image processing, this book offers a unified view of these core concepts, thereby providing a unified treatment of computational and mathematical methods for creating, capturing, analyzing and manipulating visual data (e.g. 2D images, 3D models). Fundamentals covered in the book include convolution, Fourier transform, filters, geometric transformations, epipolar geometry, 3D reconstruction, color and the image synthesis pipeline. The book is organized in four parts. The first part provides an exposure to different kinds of visual data (e.g. 2D images, videos and 3D geometry) and the core mathematical techniques that are required for their processing (e.g. interpolation and linear regression.) The second part of the book on Image Based Visual Computing deals with several fundamental techniques to process 2D images (e.g. convolution, spectral analysis and feature detection) and corresponds to the low level retinal image processing that happens in the eye in the human visual system pathway. The next part of the book on Geometric Visual Computing deals with the fundamental techniques used to combine the geometric information from multiple eyes creating a 3D interpretation of the object and world around us (e.g. transformations, projective and epipolar geometry, and 3D reconstruction). This corresponds to the higher level processing that happens in the brain combining information from both the eyes thereby helping us to navigate through the 3D world around us. The last two parts of the book cover Radiometric Visual Computing and Visual Content Synthesis. These parts focus on the fundamental techniques for processing information arising from the interaction of light with objects around us, as well as the fundamentals of creating virtual computer generated worlds that mimic all the processing presented in the prior sections. The book is written for a 16 week long semester course and can be used for both undergraduate and graduate teaching, as well as a reference for professionals.

The first MATLAB (R) programming book written specifically for clinical radiotherapy medical physicists and medical physics trainees, this much-needed book teaches users how to create their own clinical applications using MATLAB (R), as a complement to commercial software particularly when the latter does not cover specific local clinical needs. Chapters explore key radiotherapy areas such as handling volumes, 3D dose calculation, comparing dose distributions, reconstructing treatment plans and their summations, and automated tests for machine quality assurance. Readers will learn to independently analyse and process images, doses, structures, and other radiotherapy clinical data to deal with standard and non-standard situations in radiotherapy. This book will also significantly improve understanding of areas such as data nature, information content, DICOM RT standard, and data flow. It will be an invaluable reference for students of medical physics, in addition to clinical radiotherapy physicists and researchers working in radiotherapy. Features: Includes real clinical medical physics applications derived from actual clinical problems Provides commented MATLAB (R) scripts working with sample data and/or own data matching input requirements Promotes critical thinking and practical problem solving skills

From the Foreword: "While large-scale machine learning and data mining have greatly impacted a range of commercial applications, their use in the field of Earth sciences is still in the early stages. This book, edited by Ashok Srivastava, Ramakrishna Nemani, and Karsten Steinhaeuser, serves as an outstanding resource for anyone interested in the opportunities and challenges for the machine learning community in analyzing these data sets to answer questions of urgent societal interest...I hope that this book will inspire more computer scientists to focus on environmental applications, and Earth scientists to seek collaborations with researchers in machine learning and data mining to advance the frontiers in Earth sciences." --Vipin Kumar, University of Minnesota Large-Scale Machine Learning in the Earth Sciences provides researchers and practitioners with a broad overview of some of the key challenges in the intersection of Earth science, computer science, statistics, and related fields. It explores a wide range of topics and provides a compilation of recent research in the application of machine learning in the field of Earth Science. Making predictions based on observational data is a theme of the book, and the book includes chapters on the use of network science to understand and discover teleconnections in extreme climate and weather events, as well as using structured estimation in high dimensions. The use of ensemble machine learning models to combine predictions of global climate models using information from spatial and temporal patterns is also explored. The second part of the book features a discussion on statistical downscaling in climate with state-of-the-art scalable machine learning, as well as an overview of methods to understand and predict the proliferation of biological species due to changes in environmental conditions. The problem of using large-scale machine learning to study the formation of tornadoes is also explored in depth. The last part of the book covers the use of deep learning algorithms to classify images that have very high resolution, as well as the unmixing of spectral signals in remote sensing images of land cover. The authors also apply long-tail distributions to geoscience resources, in the final chapter of the book.

A uniquely cross-disciplinary and cross-experience book written as an accessible guide for people new to storytelling in games, new to games as a practice, and those eager to develop their existing practices & knowledge around storytelling in games. Offers careful, clear, and practical advice for understanding creative writing, in the context of games, and in discovering and developing your own games writing practice. Focuses on writing, not narrative design, as an area underdeveloped in the context of games storytelling.

Real Process Improvement Using the CMMI (R) presents readers with non-academic, real-world approaches to process improvement via CMMI. The author provides concepts and techniques for CMMI-based process improvement which are as effective as they are innovative. Professionals at all levels from system engineers to CEOs will find a wealth of practical guidance and new ways to look at model-based process improvement that have already benefited large and small organizations in a variety of environments. Using plain language and enlightening illustrations, the author identifies the most critical concepts of the CMMI, and explains how to turn those concepts into real process improvement. This book provides you with key information that will significantly benefit all CMMI process improvement efforts. Topics include: * Ways to discover and understand the business goals and drivers for successful process improvement initiatives * How to recognize the structures and practices many organizations already have in place that can accelerate process improvement, even before they begin using the CMMI * Planning and managing the process improvement project * Innovative, untraditional yet highly effective and proven strategies for CMMI-based process improvement * A thorough debunking of many of the costly and wasteful myths surrounding CMMI-based improvement

This book covers the features of HTML5 Canvas, CSS3 graphics, and shows how you can extend the power of CSS3 with SVG. The material in this book is accessible to people who have limited knowledge of HTML and JavaScript. Companion DVD with source code and graphics. While the material is accessible to those with limited knowledge of HTML and JavaScript, but more advanced users will benefit from numerous graphics techniques. The book also includes illustrative code samples and illustrations that are useful for Web developers and SVG/Flash/Silverlight developers. You'll see examples that help you learn to do the following in HTML5 Canvas, CSS3, and SVG: render Bezier curves, apply colors and gradients, transform 2D shapes and JPG files, perform animation effects, create 2D/3D bar charts and line graphs, handle mouse events, render HTML5/CSS3/SVG pages in Android, and learn the mechanics of a Tic-tac-toe game. A companion DVD contains all the source code and color graphics from the book.

This textbook provides an introduction to the fundamentals of serious games, which differ considerably from computer games that are meant for pure entertainment. Undergraduate and graduate students from various disciplines who want to learn about serious games are one target group of this book. Prospective developers of serious games are another, as they can use the book for self-study in order to learn about the distinctive features of serious game design and development. And ultimately, the book also addresses prospective users of serious game technologies by providing them with a solid basis for judging the advantages and limitations of serious games in different application areas such as game-based learning, training and simulation or games for health. To cater to this heterogeneous readership and wide range of interests, every effort was made to make the book flexible to use. All readers are expected to study Chapter 1, as it provides the necessary basics and terminology that will be used in all subsequent chapters. The eleven chapters that follow cover the creation of serious games (design, authoring processes and tools, content production), the runtime context of serious games (game engines, adaptation mechanisms, game balancing, game mastering, multi-player serious games), the effects of serious games and their evaluation (player experience, assessment techniques, performance indicators), and serious games in practice (economic aspects, cost-benefit analysis, serious game distribution). To familiarize the readers with best practice in this field, the final chapter presents more than 30 selected examples of serious games illustrating their characteristics and showcasing their practical use. Lecturers can select chapters in a sequence that is most suitable for their specific course or seminar. The book includes specific suggestions for courses such as "Introduction to Serious Games", "Entertainment Technology", "Serious Game Design", "Game-based Learning", and "Applications of Serious Games".

As part of the best-selling Pocket Primer series, this book is designed to introduce the reader to the basic concepts of data analytics using Python 3. It is intended to be a fast-paced introduction to some basic features of data analytics and also covers statistics, data visualization, and data cleaning. The book includes numerous code samples using NumPy, Pandas, Matplotlib, Seaborn, and features an appendix on regular expressions. Companion files with source code and color figures are available. FEATURES: Includes a concise introduction to Python 3. Provides a thorough introduction to data and data cleaning. Covers NumPy and Pandas. Introduces statistical concepts and data visualization (Matplotlib/Seaborn). Features an appendix on regular expressions. Includes companion files with source code and figures.

Concurrency is a powerful technique for developing efficient and lightning- fast software. For instance, concurrency can be used in common applications such as online order processing to speed processing and ensure transaction reliability. However, mastering concurrency is one of the greatest challenges for both new and veteran programmers. Software developers with all levels of experience can refer to Creating Components: Object Oriented, Concurrent, and Distributed Computing in Java to better understand how concurrency works, more effectively deploy it in program components, and reuse these components to improve program design, quality, and performance.

This text introduces concurrent and component programming to students, engineers, and programmers who are familiar with Java and procedural and GUI programming. It helps them to understand and apply concurrency in Java component programming, while exploring distributed program implementation, Java threads, objects, interfaces, exceptions, component reuse, and system design and management.

By providing the fundamental concepts of object-oriented components and offering templates for distributed program components, this valuable resource reveals how programmers can apply concurrency and components to solve complex problems.

Discover the power of Java (TM) for developing applications today when you trust the engaging, hands-on approach in Farrell's JAVA PROGRAMMING, 9E. Even if you're a first-time programmer, JAVA PROGRAMMING can show you how to quickly start developing useful programs, all while still mastering the basic principles of structured and object-oriented programming. Unique, reader-friendly explanations and meaningful programming exercises emphasize business applications and game creation while useful debugging exercises and contemporary case problems further expand your understanding. Additional digital learning resources within MindTap provide interactive learning tools as well as coding IDE (Integrated Development Environment) labs for practicing and expanding your skills.

Learn Flash in a flash with this full-color book and video training package

Adobe Flash is used by designers, game programmers, and hobbyists to create interactive Web sites, digital experiences, and mobile content. The latest release of Flash promises exciting new capabilities and this book-and-video training package makes learning the new features of Flash less intimidating. Fifteen self-paced lessons encourage you to discover essential skills and explore new aspects of Flash. The tutorials featured in the videos are each approximately five minutes long and supplement the concepts and topics covered in the lessons.Features full-color, step-by-step tutorials that complement the topics covered in each lessonDemonstrates the basics of using the newest release of Flash, such as using layers and instances to build animation sequencesCovers intermediate and advanced capabilities, such as using ActionScript to create interactive Web page components

Jam-packed with information, this book takes you from Flash basics through intermediate-level topics and helps you find the information you need in both print and video.

Note: DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file. These materials are available for download upon purchase.

The Paradox of Transgression in Games looks at transgressive games as an aesthetic experience, tackling how players respond to game content that shocks, disturbs, and distresses, and how contemporary video games can evoke intense emotional reactions. The book delves into the commercial success of many controversial videogames: although such games may appear shocking for the observing bystander, playing them is experienced as deeply rewarding for the player. Drawing on qualitative player studies and approaches from media aesthetics theory, the book challenges the perception of games as innocent entertainment, and examines the range of emotional, moral, and intellectual experiences of players. As they explore what players consider transgressive, the authors ask whether there is something about the gameplay situation that works to mitigate the sense of transgression, stressing gameplay as an aesthetic experience. Anchoring the aesthetic game experience both in play studies as well as in aesthetic theory, this book will be an essential resource for scholars and students of game studies, aesthetics, media studies, philosophy of art, and emotions.

While teaching Java programming at Minnesota State University, the authors noticed that engineering students were enrolling in Java programming courses in order to obtain basic programming skills, but there were no Java books suitable for courses intended for engineers. They realized the need for a comprehensive Java programming tutorial that offers basic programming skills that can be applied in the field of engineering. With this in mind, the authors developed Java Programming for Engineers in order to meet the needs of both engineers and engineering students.

The text uses the personal computer as a development platform and assumes no prior programming experience or knowledge. The only skills expected of the reader are basic keyboarding and user-level familiarity with the PC. Topics covered range from mathematical expressions to linear systems to engineering graphics. Chapters on problem solving skills and the designing of engineering applications walk readers through real word problems they might encounter.

Divided into two parts, Part 1 is a description of the Java language, of the fundamentals of object orientation, input and output operations, and error handling. Part 2 is about Java programming for engineers. It starts with computer number systems, fixed- and variable-precision numeric data, mathematical programming in Java as could be of interest to engineers, and concludes with an overview of Java Graphics.

DESCRIPTION Many of the normal concerns faced by application developers are amplified by the challenges of web-scale concurrency, real-time performance expectations, multi-core support, and efficiently consuming services without constantly managing I/O blocks. Although it's possible to solve most of these issues with existing languages and frameworks, Go is designed to handle them right out of the box, making for a more natural and productive coding experience. Developed at Google for its own internal use, Go now powers dozens of nimble startups, along with name brands like Canonical, Heroku, SoundCloud, and Mozilla, who rely on highly performant services for their infrastructure. Go in Action introduces the unique features and concepts of the Go language, guiding readers from inquisitive developers to Go gurus. It provides hands-on experience with writing real-world applications including web sites and network servers, as well as techniques to manipulate and convert data at incredibly high speeds. It also goes in-depth with the language and explains the tricks and secrets that the Go masters are using to make their applications perform. For example, it looks at Go's powerful reflection libraries and uses real-world examples of integration with C code. KEY SELLING POINTS Written by Go developers Real use cases faced in day-to-day development Get tricks and tips from experienced Go users AUDIENCE This book assumes you're a working developer proficient with another language like Java, Ruby, Python, C#, or C++. ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY Go is a powerful language that is gaining rapid adoption by companies that want to write fast systems while allowing their developers to use modern programming languages. Go development is sponsored and curated by Google, but has contributors from around the globe.

The Art of Game Design guides you through the design process step-by-step, helping you to develop new and innovative games that will be played again and again. It explains the fundamental principles of game design and demonstrates how tactics used in classic board, card and athletic games also work in top-quality video games.

Good game design happens when you view your game from as many perspectives as possible, and award-winning author Jesse Schell presents over 100 sets of questions to ask yourself as you build, play and change your game until you finalise your design.

This latest third edition includes examples from new VR and AR platforms as well as from modern games such as Uncharted 4 and The Last of Us, Free to Play games, hybrid games, transformational games, and more.

Whatever your role in video game development an understanding of the principles of game design will make you better at what you do. For over 10 years this book has provided inspiration and guidance to budding and experienced game designers - helping to make better games faster.

Table of Contents

Ch 1 In the Beginning, There Is the Designer. Ch 2 The Designer Creates an Experience. Ch 3 The Experience Takes Place in a Venue. Ch 4 The Experience Rises Out of a Game. Ch 5 The Game Consists of Elements. Ch 6 Ch 7 The Elements Support a Theme. Ch 8 The Game Begins with an Idea. Ch 9 The Game Improves through Iteration. Ch 10 The Game Is Made for a Player. Ch 11 The Experience Is in the Player’s Mind. Ch 12 The Player’s Mind Is Driven by the Player’s Motivation. Ch 13 Some Elements Are Game Mechanics. Ch 14 Game Mechanics Must Be in Balance. Ch 15 Game Mechanics Support Puzzles. Ch 16 Players Play Games through an Interface. Ch 17 Experiences Can Be Judged by Their Interest Curves. Ch 18 One Kind of Experience Is the Story. Ch 19 Story and Game Structures Can Be Artfully Merged with Indirect Control. Ch 20 Stories and Games Take Place in Worlds. Ch 21 Worlds Contain Characters. Ch 22 Worlds Contain Spaces. Ch 23 The Look and Feel of a World Is Defined by Its Aesthetics. Ch 24 Some Games Are Played with Other Players. Ch 25 Other Players Sometimes Form Communities. Ch 26 The Designer Usually Works with a Team. Ch 27 The Team Sometimes Communicates through Documents. Ch 28 Good Games Are Created through Playtesting. Ch 29 The Team Builds a Game with Technology. Ch 30 Your Game Will Probably Have a Client. Ch 31 The Designer Gives the Client a Pitch. Ch 32 The Designer and Client Want the Game to Make a Profit. Games Ch 33 Transform Their Players. Designers Have Certain Responsibilities. Ch 34 Each Designer Has a Purpose.

Outdoor wayfinding and navigation systems and services have become indispensable in people's mobility in unfamiliar environments. Advances in key technologies (e.g., positioning and mobile devices), has spurred interest in research and development of indoor wayfinding and navigation systems and services in recent years. Indoor Wayfinding and Navigation provides both breadth and depth of knowledge in designing and building indoor wayfinding and navigation systems and services. It covers the types of sensors both feasible and practical for localization of users inside buildings. The book discusses current approaches, techniques, and technologies for addressing issues in indoor wayfinding and navigation systems and services. It includes coverage of the cognitive, positioning, mapping, and application perspectives, an unusual but useful combination of information. This mix of different perspectives helps you better understand the issues and challenges of building indoor wayfinding and navigation systems and services, how they are different from those used outdoors, and how they can be used efficiently and effectively in challenging applications. Written by well-known specialists in the field, the book addresses all aspects of indoor wayfinding and navigation. It includes the latest research developments on the topic, succinctly covers the fundamentals, and details the issues and challenges in building new systems and services. With this information, you can design indoor wayfinding and navigation systems and services for a variety of uses and users.

Putting the G into CAGD, the authors provide a much-needed practical and basic introduction to computer-aided geometric design. This book will help readers understand and use the elements of computer-aided geometric design, curves and surfaces, without the mathematical baggage that is necessary only for more advanced work. Though only minimal background in mathematics is needed to understand the bookis concepts, the book covers an amazing array of topics such as Bezier and B-spline curves and their corresponding surfaces, subdivision surfaces, and NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines). Also included are techniques such as interpolation and least squares methods.

The book offers information about the iOS platform. It explains the use of OpenGL ES for 2D/3D graphics and OpenAL for sound, both of which are recommended for game performance on the iOS platform. It covers new APIs such as the GLKit, GameKit, and Box2D Physics Engine.

A path-breaking account of Markov decision processes-theory and computation
This book's clear presentation of theory, numerous chapter-end problems, and development of a unified method for the computation of optimal policies in both discrete and continuous time make it an excellent course text for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Its comprehensive coverage of important recent advances in stochastic dynamic programming makes it a valuable working resource for operations research professionals, management scientists, engineers, and others.
Stochastic Dynamic Programming and the Control of Queueing Systems presents the theory of optimization under the finite horizon, infinite horizon discounted, and average cost criteria. It then shows how optimal rules of operation (policies) for each criterion may be numerically determined. A great wealth of examples from the application area of the control of queueing systems is presented. Nine numerical programs for the computation of optimal policies are fully explicated.
The Pascal source code for the programs is available for viewing and downloading on the Wiley Web site at www.wiley.com/products/subject/mathematics. The site contains a link to the author's own Web site and is also a place where readers may discuss developments on the programs or other aspects of the material. The source files are also available via ftp at ftp: //ftp.wiley.com/public/sci_tech_med/stochastic
Stochastic Dynamic Programming and the Control of Queueing Systems features:
* Path-breaking advances in Markov decision process techniques, brought together for the first time in book form
* A theorem/proof format (proofs may be omittedwithout loss of continuity)
* Development of a unified method for the computation of optimal rules of system operation
* Numerous examples drawn mainly from the control of queueing systems
* Detailed discussions of nine numerical programs
* Helpful chapter-end problems
* Appendices with complete treatment of background material

This book offers a critical reflection on interpersonal positioning across both large- and small-scale contexts and highlights the multi-faceted nature of intercultural communication in today's global world. The volume establishes positioning primarily as the negotiation of interpersonal relationships, and draws on concepts from across disciplines by way of reappraisal before applying them to two specific domains: MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games) and private ELF couple interaction. While acknowledging and showcasing the unique features of positioning in these two contexts, Kloetzl and Swoboda point to their commonalities by looking at how language and specifically English is used as a communicative resource in lingua franca situations. The book also identifies new directions for future methodological innovations in that it demonstrates how the same interaction can be looked at in methodologically-different ways and how the authors' own positions projected on to such interaction create an integrated tri-partite perspective on the two domains. Shedding light on interpersonal positioning in different contexts and in turn on global communication more generally, this book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in discourse analysis, pragmatics, computer-mediated communication, sociolinguistics, and applied linguistics.

This book addresses the new possibilities that are becoming available in games technology through the development of programmable hardware. It is helpful for students of game technology and established game programmers and developers who want to update their expertise to the new technology.

Algorithms that control the computational processes relating sensors and actuators are indispensable for robot navigation and the perception of the world in which they move. Therefore, a deep understanding of how algorithms work to achieve this control is essential for the development of efficient and usable robots in a broad field of applications. An interdisciplinary group of scientists gathers every two years to document the progress in algorithmic foundations of robotics. This volume addresses in particular the areas of control theory, computational and differential geometry in robotics, and applications to core problems such as motion planning, navigation, sensor-based planning, and manipulation.

Revised and updated, the second edition includes several new chapters with projects and applications. The authors keep pace with the ever-growing and rapidly expanding field of robotics. The new edition reflects technological developments and includes programs and activities for robot enthusiasts. Using photographs, illustrations, and informative text, Mobile Robots guides the reader through the step-by-step process of constructing two different and inexpensive yet fully functional robots.

Want to create devices that interact with the physical world? This cookbook is perfect for anyone who wants to experiment with the popular Arduino microcontroller and programming environment. You'll find more than 200 tips and techniques for building a variety of objects and prototypes such as IoT solutions, environmental monitors, location and position-aware systems, and products that can respond to touch, sound, heat, and light. Updated for the Arduino 1.8 release, the recipes in this third edition include practical examples and guidance to help you begin, expand, and enhance your projects right away-whether you're an engineer, designer, artist, student, or hobbyist. Get up to speed on the Arduino board and essential software concepts quickly Learn basic techniques for reading digital and analog signals Use Arduino with a variety of popular input devices and sensors Drive visual displays, generate sound, and control several types of motors Connect Arduino to wired and wireless networks Learn techniques for handling time delays and time measurement Apply advanced coding and memory-handling techniques