This book analyzes the causes of failures in computing systems, their consequences, as weIl as the existing solutions to manage them. The domain is tackled in a progressive and educational manner with two objectives: 1. The mastering of the basics of dependability domain at system level, that is to say independently ofthe technology used (hardware or software) and of the domain of application. 2. The understanding of the fundamental techniques available to prevent, to remove, to tolerate, and to forecast faults in hardware and software technologies. The first objective leads to the presentation of the general problem, the fault models and degradation mechanisms wh ich are at the origin of the failures, and finally the methods and techniques which permit the faults to be prevented, removed or tolerated. This study concerns logical systems in general, independently of the hardware and software technologies put in place. This knowledge is indispensable for two reasons: * A large part of a product' s development is independent of the technological means (expression of requirements, specification and most of the design stage). Very often, the development team does not possess this basic knowledge; hence, the dependability requirements are considered uniquely during the technological implementation. Such an approach is expensive and inefficient. Indeed, the removal of a preliminary design fault can be very difficult (if possible) if this fault is detected during the product's final testing.

Digital Imaging Handbook targets anyone with an interest in digital imaging, professional or private, who uses even quite modest equipment such as a PC, digital camera and scanner, a graphics editor such as PAINT, and an inkjet printer. Uniquely, it is intended to fill the gap between the highly technical texts for academics (with access to expensive equipment), and the superficial introductions for amateurs. The four-part treatment spans theory, technology, programs and practice. Theory covers integer arithmetic, additive and subtractive color, greyscales, computational geometry, and a new presentation of discrete Fourier analysis; Technology considers bitmap file structures, scanners, digital cameras, graphic editors, and inkjet printers; Programs develops several processing tools for use in conjunction with a standard Paint graphics editor and supplementary processing tools; Practice discusses 1-bit, greyscale, 4-bit, 8-bit, and 24-bit images for the practice section. Relevant QBASIC code is supplied an accompanying CD and algorithms are listed in the appendix. Readers can attain a level of understanding and the practical insights to obtain optimal use and satisfaction from even the most basic digital-imaging equipment.

The purpose of this volume is to present current work of the Intelligent Computer Graphics community, a community growing up year after year. Indeed, if at the beg- ning of Computer Graphics the use of Artificial Intelligence techniques was quite unknown, more and more researchers all over the world are nowadays interested in intelligent techniques allowing substantial improvements of traditional Computer Graphics methods. The other main contribution of intelligent techniques in Computer Graphics is to allow invention of completely new methods, often based on automation of a lot of tasks assumed in the past by the user in an imprecise and (human) time consuming manner. The history of research in Computer Graphics is very edifying. At the beginning, due to the slowness of computers in the years 1960, the unique research concern was visualisation. The purpose of Computer Graphics researchers was to find new visua- sation algorithms, less and less time consuming, in order to reduce the enormous time required for visualisation. A lot of interesting algorithms were invented during these first years of research in Computer Graphics. The scenes to be displayed were very simple because the computing power of computers was very low. So, scene modelling was not necessary and scenes were designed directly by the user, who had to give co-ordinates of vertices of scene polygons.

Java is an exciting new object-oriented technology. Hardware for supporting objects and other features of Java such as multithreading, dynamic linking and loading is the focus of this book. The impact of Java's features on micro-architectural resources and issues in the design of Java-specific architectures are interesting topics that require the immediate attention of the research community. While Java has become an important part of desktop applications, it is now being used widely in high-end server markets, and will soon be widespread in low-end embedded computing.

Java Microarchitectures contains a collection of papers providing a snapshot of the state of the art in hardware support for Java. The book covers the behavior of Java applications, embedded processors for Java, memory system design, and high-performance single-chip architectures designed to execute Java applications efficiently.

The development of information processing systems requires models, calculi, and theories for the analysis of computations. Complex software systems are best constructed in a careful, systematic, and disciplined structuring of the development process. Starting from basic requirement specifications in which all the relevant details are formalized, the envisaged solution should be developed step by step by adding more and more details and giving evidence or formal proofs to show the correctness of the steps, until a description of a solution is obtained that has all the required properties. The Marktoberdorf Advanced Study Institute 1992 presented scientific highlights in approaches to the systematic study ofreliable software and hardware systems using functional, algebraic, and logical calculi. Leading scientists treated the specification, development, verification, and implementation of complex time-sensitive systems, such as signal processing systems, process control systems, and general software systems. The mathematical foundations of specification and refinement were carefully treated, and several formalisms for describing processes were introduced. Emphasis was put on application-oriented descriptions of signal processing systems with real-time dependencies. Formalisms for reasoning about distributed causality-based computations were presented and new styles of programming leading to shorter and more expressive notations were demonstrated. This book is based on the Institute, and gives an impressive demonstration of the state of the art and the essential progress in our formal abilities to specify, refine, verify, develop, and implement complex software systems including embeddedsystems and hard real-time dependent systems.

The book provides complete coverage of fundamental IP networking in Java. It introduces the concepts behind TCP/IP and UDP and their intended use and purpose; gives complete coverage of Java networking APIs, includes an extended discussion of advanced server design, so that the various design principles and tradeoffs concerned are discussed and equips the reader with analytic queuing-theory tools to evaluate design alternatives; covers UDP multicasting, and covers multi-homed hosts, leading the reader to understand the extra programming steps and design considerations required in such environments.

After reading this book the reader will have an advanced knowledge of fundamental network design and programming concepts in the Java language, enabling them to design and implement distributed applications with advanced features and to predict their performance. Special emphasis is given to the scalable I/O facilities of Java 1.4 as well as complete treatments of multi-homing and UDP both unicast and multicast.

This volume, the 7th volume in the DRUMS Handbook series, is part of the aftermath of the successful ESPRIT project DRUMS (Defeasible Reasoning and Uncertainty Management Systems) which took place in two stages from 1989- 1996. In the second stage (1993-1996) a work package was introduced devoted to the topics Reasoning and Dynamics, covering both the topics of "Dynamics of Reasoning," where reasoning is viewed as a process, and "Reasoning about Dynamics," which must be understood as pertaining to how both designers of and agents within dynamic systems may reason about these systems. The present volume presents work done in this context extended with some work done by outstanding researchers outside the project on related issues. While the previous volume in this series had its focus on the dynamics of reasoning pro cesses, the present volume is more focused on "reasoning about dynamics', viz. how (human and artificial) agents reason about (systems in) dynamic environments in order to control them. In particular we consider modelling frameworks and generic agent models for modelling these dynamic systems and formal approaches to these systems such as logics for agents and formal means to reason about agent based and compositional systems, and action & change more in general. We take this opportunity to mention that we have very pleasant recollections of the project, with its lively workshops and other meetings, with the many sites and researchers involved, both within and outside our own work package."

In recent years, the emerging field of agent technologies has become mainstream in Web engineering. With constant field developments and updates, a reference source is needed that reflects the increased scope of agent technology application domains and development practices and tools. ""Agent Technologies and Web Engineering: Applications and Systems"" presents the latest tools and applications addressing critical issues involved with information technology and Web engineering research. Covering topics such as next-generation networks, XML query processing, and Semantic Web services, this book provides cutting-edge research for practitioners and academicians involved in agent technology and Web engineering fields.

Domains are mathematical structures for information and approximation; they combine order-theoretic, logical, and topological ideas and provide a natural framework for modelling and reasoning about computation. The theory of domains has proved to be a useful tool for programming languages and other areas of computer science, and for applications in mathematics.
Included in this proceedings volume are selected papers of original research presented at the 2nd International Symposium on Domain Theory in Chengdu, China. With authors from France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, and China, the papers cover the latest research in these sub-areas: domains and computation, topology and convergence, domains, lattices, and continuity, and representations of domains as event and logical structures.
Researchers and students in theoretical computer science should find this a valuable source of reference. The survey papers at the beginning should be of particular interest to those who wish to gain an understanding of some general ideas and techniques in this area.

This book looks closely at the endings of narrative digital games, examining their ways of concluding the processes of both storytelling and play in order to gain insight into what endings are and how we identify them in different media. While narrative digital games share many representational strategies for signalling their upcoming end with more traditional narrative media - such as novels or movies - they also show many forms of endings that often radically differ from our conventional understanding of conclusion and closure. From vast game worlds that remain open for play after a story's finale, to multiple endings that are often hailed as a means for players to create their own stories, to the potentially tragic endings of failure and "game over", digital games question the traditional singularity and finality of endings. Using a broad range of examples, this book delves deeply into these and other forms and their functions, both to reveal the closural specificities of the ludonarrative hybrid that digital games are, as well as to find the core elements that characterise endings in any medium. It examines how endings make themselves known to players and raises the question of how well-established closural conventions blend with play and a player's effort to achieve a goal. As an interdisciplinary study that draws on game studies as much as on transmedial narratology, Forms and Functions of Endings in Narrative Digital Games is suited for scholars and students of digital games as well as for narratologists yet to become familiar with this medium.

This book summarizes developments related to a class of methods called Stochastic Decomposition (SD) algorithms, which represent an important shift in the design of optimization algorithms. Unlike traditional deterministic algorithms, SD combines sampling approaches from the statistical literature with traditional mathematical programming constructs (e.g. decomposition, cutting planes etc.). This marriage of two highly computationally oriented disciplines leads to a line of work that is most definitely driven by computational considerations. Furthermore, the use of sampled data in SD makes it extremely flexible in its ability to accommodate various representations of uncertainty, including situations in which outcomes/scenarios can only be generated by an algorithm/simulation. The authors report computational results with some of the largest stochastic programs arising in applications. These results (mathematical as well as computational) are the tip of the iceberg'. Further research will uncover extensions of SD to a wider class of problems. Audience: Researchers in mathematical optimization, including those working in telecommunications, electric power generation, transportation planning, airlines and production systems. Also suitable as a text for an advanced course in stochastic optimization.

This book is a one-stop guide to the state of the art of COB technology. For professionals active in COB and MCM research and development, those who wish to master COB and MCM problem-solving methods, and those who must choose a cost-effective design and high-yield manufacturing process for their interconnect systems, here is a timely summary of progress in al aspects of this fascinating field. It meets the reference needs of design, material, process, equipment, manufacturing, quality, reliability, packaging, and system engineers, and technical managers working in electronic packaging and interconnection.

This book is designed as an introductory course for engineering students of all disciplines, as Engineering Mechanics is a multi-disciplinary subject and it presents a systematic methodology based on mathematical fundamentals and stresses on physical system modelling. Moreover, the classical methods of Engineering Mechanics are covered in this book. This book also contains numerous worked examples on application of Engineering Mechanics theory using MATLAB to provide readers with an awareness of its general applicability.

In 1995 the Handbook of Global Optimization (first volume), edited by R. Horst, and P.M. Pardalos, was published. This second volume of the Handbook of Global Optimization is comprised of chapters dealing with modern approaches to global optimization, including different types of heuristics.

Topics covered in the handbook include various metaheuristics, such as simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, neural networks, taboo search, shake-and-bake methods, and deformation methods. In addition, the book contains chapters on new exact stochastic and deterministic approaches to continuous and mixed-integer global optimization, such as stochastic adaptive search, two-phase methods, branch-and-bound methods with new relaxation and branching strategies, algorithms based on local optimization, and dynamical search. Finally, the book contains chapters on experimental analysis of algorithms and software, test problems, and applications.

Discover the power of Java for developing applications today with the engaging, hands-on approach in Farrell's JAVA PROGRAMMING, 10th edition. Even if you're a first-time programmer, JAVA PROGRAMMING can show you step-by-step how to quickly start developing useful programs, all while mastering the basic principles of structured and object-oriented programming. Up-to-date, reader-friendly explanations and meaningful programming and collaboration exercises emphasize business applications, while useful debugging exercises and contemporary case problems further expand your understanding. Offering anywhere, anytime learning, MindTap equips you with an additional online learning platform, interactive learning tools and auto-graded coding labs for practicing and expanding your skills.

Though the volume covers 22 papers by 36 authors from 12 countries, the history in the background is bound to Hungary where, in 1973 Andras Pn kopa started to lay the foundation of a scientific forum, which can be a regular meeting spot for experts of the world in the field. Since then, there has been a constant interest in that forum. Headed at present by Tamas Rapcsak, the Laboratory of Operations Research and Decisions Systems of the Computer and Automation Institute, Hungarian Academy of Sciences followed the tradition in every respect, namely conferences were organized almost in every second year and in the same stimulating area, in the Matra mountains. The basic fields were kept, providing opportunities for the leading personalities to give voice to their latest results. The floor has been widened recently for the young generation, ensuring this way both a real location for the past, present and future experts to meet and also the possibility for them to make the multicoloured rainbow of the fields unbroken and continuous. The volume is devoted to the memory of Steven Vajda, one of the pioneers on mathematical programming, born is Hungary. In 1992 he took part in the XIth International Conference on Mathematical Programming at Matrafiired where, with his bright personality, he greatly contributed to the good spirituality of the event. We thank Jakob Krarup for his reminiscence on the life and scientific activities of late Steven Vajda."

The book provides a self-contained introduction to underlying techniques, as well as a compendium of theory and a guide to the author's Fortran 90 software for nonlinear algebraic systems and global, constrained optimization with automatic result verification. Besides introductory and survey material, the book contains unique research results. The book also contains non-traditional ideas concerning non-smooth optimization. Thus, the book should be a valuable reference to applied mathematicians and computational scientists and engineers. With numerous examples and exercises, as well as leads for future research, the book can be used as a graduate text or reference on interval arithmetic, automatic differentiation and interval fixed point theory. The book can also serve as a user's guide for the nonlinear equations and optimization software, available free of charge from the author, for the author's general Fortran 90 interval arithmetic package, or for the associated automatic differentiation package. Audience: Researchers in operations research, numerical analysis, computational chemistry, computer-aided geometric design and computational geometry, robot kinematics, remote sensing. Also suitable for graduate and topics courses in numerical analysis, optimization, and operations research.

DESCRIPTION Distributed systems are unpredictable, and it can be an enormous challenge to manage around potentially-crippling obstacles like hardware failures, unanticipated changes in load, and network issues. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is a platform for hosting distributed applications in a secure, flexible cloud environment. AWS provides a suite of services designed to keep the focus on what an application does instead of the infrastructure required to run it. Whether serving up blog pages, analyzing fast data in real-time, building software as a service, or implementing a massive e-commerce site, AWS provides both a stable platform and services that will scale with every application. Amazon Web Services in Action introduces readers to computing, storing, and networking in the AWS cloud. It starts with a broad overview of AWS, and shows how to spin up servers manually and from the command line. Then, it explores infrastructure automation with the AWS CloudFormation service, where readers can describe a blueprint of their infrastructure as code. Readers will learn how to isolate systems using private networks to increase security, how to use the most valuable AWS managed services available on AWS, and about the benefits of stateless servers. In the end, they'll look to the AWS model for high availability, scaling, decoupling with queues and load balancers, and fault tolerance. KEY SELLING POINTS Explains the key concepts of AWS Gives an overview of the most important services Allows readers to take full advantage of the AWS platform AUDIENCE Written for developers and DevOps engineers who are moving traditionally-deployed distributed applications to the AWS platform. No experience with AWS is required. ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY Amazon Web Services is a platform of services in the Cloud to provide everything needed to run applications-from hosting a private blog, to running one of the biggest websites on earth, analyzing data for cancer research, or providing business applications.

Semi-infinite programming (SIP) deals with optimization problems in which either the number of decision variables or the number of constraints is finite. This book presents the state of the art in SIP in a suggestive way, bringing the powerful SIP tools close to the potential users in different scientific and technological fields. The volume is divided into four parts. Part I reviews the first decade of SIP (1962-1972). Part II analyses convex and generalised SIP, conic linear programming, and disjunctive programming. New numerical methods for linear, convex, and continuously differentiable SIP problems are proposed in Part III. Finally, Part IV provides an overview of the applications of SIP to probability, statistics, experimental design, robotics, optimization under uncertainty, production games, and separation problems. Audience: This book is an indispensable reference and source for advanced students and researchers in applied mathematics and engineering.

Used alongside the students' text, Higher National Computing 2nd edition, this pack offers a complete suite of lecturer resource material and photocopiable handouts for the compulsory core units of the new BTEC Higher Nationals in Computing and IT, including the four core units for HNC, the two additional core units required at HND, and the Core Specialist Unit 'Quality Systems', common to both certificate and diploma level.
The authors provide all the resources needed by a busy lecturer, as well as a bank of student-centred practical work and revision material, which will enable students to gain the skills, knowledge and understanding they require.
Also available as a web download for adopters, this pack will save a course team many hours' work preparing handouts and assignments, and is freely photocopiable within the purchasing institution. The pack includes:
* Exercises to support and develop work in the accompanying student text
* Planned projects which will enable students to display a wide range of skills and use their own initiative
* Assessment materials
* Reference material for use as hand-outs
* Background on running the new HNC / HND courses
* Tutor's notes supporting activities in the students' book and resource pack
* All the essential material for running a course in the 2003 Higher National Computing qualification from Edexcel
* Full coverage of the compulsory core units for both the HNC and HND
* Freely photocopiable within the purchasing institution with electronic files available to download from the web, this pack will save a course team many hours' work preparing handouts and assignments

Interest in constrained optimization originated with the simple linear pro gramming model since it was practical and perhaps the only computationally tractable model at the time. Constrained linear optimization models were soon adopted in numerous application areas and are perhaps the most widely used mathematical models in operations research and management science at the time of this writing. Modelers have, however, found the assumption of linearity to be overly restrictive in expressing the real-world phenomena and problems in economics, finance, business, communication, engineering design, computational biology, and other areas that frequently demand the use of nonlinear expressions and discrete variables in optimization models. Both of these extensions of the linear programming model are NP-hard, thus representing very challenging problems. On the brighter side, recent advances in algorithmic and computing technology make it possible to re visit these problems with the hope of solving practically relevant problems in reasonable amounts of computational time. Initial attempts at solving nonlinear programs concentrated on the de velopment of local optimization methods guaranteeing globality under the assumption of convexity. On the other hand, the integer programming liter ature has concentrated on the development of methods that ensure global optima. The aim of this book is to marry the advancements in solving nonlinear and integer programming models and to develop new results in the more general framework of mixed-integer nonlinear programs (MINLPs) with the goal of devising practically efficient global optimization algorithms for MINLPs."

Hybrid systems describe the interaction of software, described by finite models such as finite-state machines, with the physical world, described by infinite models such as differential equations. This book addresses problems of verification and controller synthesis for hybrid systems. Although these problems are very difficult to solve for general hybrid systems, several authors have identified classes of hybrid systems that admit symbolic or finite models. The novelty of the book lies on the systematic presentation of these classes of hybrid systems along with the relationships between the hybrid systems and the corresponding symbolic models. To show how the existence of symbolic models can be used for verification and controller synthesis, the book also outlines several key results for the verification and controller design of finite systems. Several examples illustrate the different methods and techniques discussed in the book.