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Books > Computing & IT > Computer programming > General
Computing systems are becoming highly complex, harder to understand, and therefore more prone to failure. Where such systems control aircraft for example, system failure could have disastrous consequences. It is important therefore that we are able to employ mathematical techniques to specify the behavior of critical systems. This thesis uses the theory of Communicating Sequential Processes to show how a real-time system (a system that maintains a continuous interaction with its environment) may be specified. Included is a case study in which a local area network protocol is described at two levels of abstraction, and a general method for structuring CSP descriptions of layered protocols is given. The research contained here represents the very latest work on the specification and verification of real-time systems.
Longitudinal studies have traditionally been seen as too cumbersome and labor-intensive to be of much use in research on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). However, recent trends in market, legislation, and the research questions we address, have highlighted the importance of studying prolonged use, while technology itself has made longitudinal research more accessible to researchers across different application domains. Aimed as an educational resource for graduate students and researchers in HCI, this book brings together a collection of chapters, addressing theoretical and methodological considerations, and presenting case studies of longitudinal HCI research. Among others, the authors: discuss the theoretical underpinnings of longitudinal HCI research, such as when a longitudinal study is appropriate, what research questions can be addressed and what challenges are entailed in different longitudinal research designs reflect on methodological challenges in longitudinal data collection and analysis, such as how to maintain participant adherence and data reliability when employing the Experience Sampling Method in longitudinal settings, or how to cope with data collection fatigue and data safety in applications of autoethnography and autobiographical design, which may span from months to several years present a number of case studies covering different topics of longitudinal HCI research, from "slow technology", to self-tracking, to mid-air haptic feedback, and crowdsourcing.
First published in 1993, this thesis is concerned with the design of efficient algorithms for listing combinatorial structures. The research described here gives some answers to the following questions: which families of combinatorial structures have fast computer algorithms for listing their members? What general methods are useful for listing combinatorial structures? How can these be applied to those families which are of interest to theoretical computer scientists and combinatorialists? Amongst those families considered are unlabelled graphs, first order one properties, Hamiltonian graphs, graphs with cliques of specified order, and k-colourable graphs. Some related work is also included, which compares the listing problem with the difficulty of solving the existence problem, the construction problem, the random sampling problem, and the counting problem. In particular, the difficulty of evaluating Polya's cycle polynomial is demonstrated.
The competitiveness of organizations facing globalization, information and communication technologies relies on strategic issues such as reuse of knowledge from past experiences to make higher quality decisions, deployment of innovative, fast methodological approaches for solving problems and building systems. Real-life systems are often multidisciplinary; their development commands a uniform way of object modeling in order to close the loop of various interactions crossing multiple domains. An innovative methodology, built on UML version 2 and MDA (Model Driven Architecture), is proposed to explain how to design large-scale systems and make software reuse a reality, how logical models can be built progressively and transformed into business assets, how real time and database systems can be integrated smoothly along a single development stream. First, the metalanguage of UML is introduced as a lesson of rigorous and meta system development. That helps developers to acquire a deep understanding of meta elements of UML, rules that govern connections. Second, thirteen UML diagrams are studied in details with short examples. Third, fundamental modeling concepts are mapped into UML objects and represented with diagrams that are the visual parts of any CASE tool. Two advanced research topics beyond UML are exposed to complement the arsenal of development tools. A state-event network (SEN), a new diagram based on Petri net, supports dynamical studies and refines UML behavioral diagrams before implementation. The image attribute method is a combinatorial technique deployed to study dynamic behavior of safety-critical systems; it takes internal state variables of an object, makes images of surrounding objects interacting with this central object to explain its complex behavior and thus, automate the design of algorithms. One part of Real-Time Object Uniform Design Methodology with UML is targeted to be used as a basic textbook in Computer Science for teaching object modeling, fundamental concepts learning and system designing with thirteen UML diagrams. Another part is devoted to advanced research topics, samples and case studies. They are must readings for any system developer or any graduate student in any discipline that needs materials and thoughts for future developments, the power of object modeling packed along a serious development methodology.
This student-friendly book provides an accessible overview of the primary debates about the effects of video games. It expands on the original The Video Game Debate to address the new technologies that have emerged within the field of game studies over the last few years. Debates about the negative effects of video game play have been evident since their introduction in the 1970s, but the advent of online and mobile gaming has revived these concerns, reinvigorating old debates and generating brand new ones. The Video Game Debate 2 draws from the latest research findings from the top scholars of digital games research to address these concerns. The book explores key developments such as virtual and augmented reality, the use of micro-transactions, the integration of loot boxes, and the growth of mobile gaming and games for change (serious games). Furthermore, several new chapters explore contemporary debates around e-sports, gamification, sex and gender discrimination in games, and the use of games in therapy. This book offers students and scholars of games studies and digital media, as well as policymakers, the essential information they need to participate in the debate.
Ruby is the fastest growing and most exciting dynamic language out there. If you need to get working programs delivered fast, you should add Ruby to your toolbox. This book is the only complete reference for both Ruby 1.9 and Ruby 2.0, the very latest version of Ruby. 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the Ruby language. We're proud that throughout its history, we've continued to cover the latest version of Ruby. Would you like to go from first idea to working code much, much faster? Do you currently spend more time satisfying the compiler instead of your clients or end users? Are you frustrated with demanding languages that seem to get in your way, instead of getting the work done? Are you using Rails, and want to dig deeper into the underlying Ruby language? If so, then we've got a language and book for you! Ruby is a fully object-oriented language, much like the classic object-oriented language, Smalltalk. Like Smalltalk, it is dynamically typed (as opposed to Java or C++), but unlike Smalltalk, Ruby features the same conveniences found in modern scripting languages such as Perl and Python. The combination of the power of a pure object-oriented language with the convenience of a scripting language makes Ruby a favorite tool of intelligent, forward-thinking programmers. The Pickaxe contains four major sections: * An acclaimed tutorial on using Ruby. * The definitive reference to the language. * Complete documentation of all built-in classes, modules, and methods. * Complete descriptions of all 97 standard libraries. This is the reference manual for Ruby, including a description of all the standard library modules, a complete reference to all built-in classes and modules (including all the new and changed methods introduced by Ruby 1.9, 1.9.2, 1.9.3, and 2.0). It also includes all the new and changed syntax and semantics introduced since Ruby 1.8. Learn about the new parameter passing rules, local variable scoping in blocks, fibers, and the new block declaration syntax, among other exciting new features. About Ruby 2.0 Ruby 2.0 is a minor update to Ruby 1.9, unlike the more major updates from Ruby 1.8 to Ruby 1.9. The major language changes in Ruby 2.0 are the addition of keyword arguments and the change to use UTF-8 as the default source file encoding. There are a number of additions to the standard library, including: * @Enumerator::Lazy@, which adds support for lazy access to potentially infinite lists. * Refinements allow you to encapsulate changes to third-party classes, and scope their application to individual source files, preventing your changes from polluting the global application. You'll also find that Ruby 2 is faster, and has memory management improvements that make it more server-friendly. All told, there are over 110 sections of the book that have been flagged and cross-linked to indicate 2.0 content. What You Need * This book assumes you have a basic understanding of object-oriented programming. * In general, Ruby programmers tend to favor the the command line for running their code, and they tend to use text editors rather than IDEs.
Stefan VoC and David Woodruff have edited a carefully refereed volume by experts on optimization software class libraries. The book focuses on flexible and powerful collections of computational objects for addressing complex optimization problems. These component class libraries are suitable for use in the increasing number of optimization applications that stand alone or are imbedded in advanced planning, engineering, and bioinformatics applications. Most researchers today use a number of modeling language software packages and a number of software solvers to solve computational problems. This book outlines packaged software class libraries to enable researchers to find cost-effective and efficient methods of getting problems coded into the computer, or into a modeling language package or into optimizing solvers - hence providing software coding solutions to whatever specialized needs a specific problem might require. Optimization Software Class Libraries provides the reader with a rich overview of the variety of components for framing problems. With the growing number of application-specific software systems and advance planning methods for specific classes of problems, class libraries for optimization are increasingly useful, practical, and needed. Benefits of Optimization Software Class Libraries are: Researchers will be able to invest more effort in examining better algorithms, performing experiments, and making use of problem-specific knowledge; The libraries that encapsulate general-purpose algorithms as reusable, high-quality software components are themselves significant contributions to ongoing research; and In addition to the research benefits, the libraries described providesubstantial practical value to organizations that adopt them.
This innovative text bridges media theory, psychology, and interpersonal communication by describing how our relationships with media emulate the relationships we develop with friends and romantic partners through their ability to replicate intimacy, regularity, and reciprocity. In research-rich, conversational chapters, the author applies psychological principles to understand how nine influential media technologies-theatrical film, recorded music, consumer market cameras, radio, network and cable television, tape cassettes, video gaming, and dial-up internet service providers-irreversibly changed the communication environment, culture, and psychological expectations that we then apply to future media technologies. With special attention to mediums absent from the traditional literature, including recorded music, cable television, and magnetic tape, this book encourages readers to critically reflect on their own past relationships with media and consider the present environment and the future of media given their own personal habits. 20th Century Media and the American Psyche is ideal for media studies, communication, and psychology students, scholars, and industry professionals, as well as anyone interested in a greater understanding of the psychological significance of media technology, usage, and adoption across the past 150 years.
This book teaches beginners and aspiring game developers how to develop 2D games with Unity. Thousands of commercial games have been built with Unity. The reader will learn the complete process of 2D game development, step by step. The theory behind each step is fully explained. This book contains numerous color illustrations and access to all source code and companion videos. Key Features: Fully detailed game projects from scratch. Beginners can do the steps and create games right away. No coding experience is necessary. Numerous examples take a raw beginner toward professional coding proficiency in C# and Unity. Includes a thorough introduction to Unity 2020, including 2D game development, prefabs, cameras, animation, character controllers, lighting, and sound. Includes a step-by-step introduction to Unity 2019.3. Extensive coverage of GIMP, Audacity, and MuseScore for the creation of 2D graphics, sound effects, and music. All required software is free to use for any purpose including commercial applications and games. Franz Lanzinger is the owner and chief game developer of Lanzinger Studio, an independent game development and music studio in Sunnyvale, California. He started his career in game programming in 1982 at Atari Games, Inc., where he designed and programmed the classic arcade game Crystal Castles. In 1989, he joined Tengen, where he was a programmer and designer for Ms. Pac-Man and Toobin' on the NES. He co-founded Bitmasters, where he designed and coded games including Rampart and Championship Pool for the NES and SNES, and NCAA Final Four Basketball for the SNES and Sega Genesis. In 1996, he founded Actual Entertainment, publisher and developer of the Gubble video game series. He has a B.Sc. in mathematics from the University of Notre Dame and attended graduate school in mathematics at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a former world record holder on Centipede and Burgertime. He is a professional author, game developer, accompanist, and piano teacher. He is currently working on remaking the original Gubble game in Unity and Blender.
This innovative text bridges media theory, psychology, and interpersonal communication by describing how our relationships with media emulate the relationships we develop with friends and romantic partners through their ability to replicate intimacy, regularity, and reciprocity. In research-rich, conversational chapters, the author applies psychological principles to understand how nine influential media technologies-theatrical film, recorded music, consumer market cameras, radio, network and cable television, tape cassettes, video gaming, and dial-up internet service providers-irreversibly changed the communication environment, culture, and psychological expectations that we then apply to future media technologies. With special attention to mediums absent from the traditional literature, including recorded music, cable television, and magnetic tape, this book encourages readers to critically reflect on their own past relationships with media and consider the present environment and the future of media given their own personal habits. 20th Century Media and the American Psyche is ideal for media studies, communication, and psychology students, scholars, and industry professionals, as well as anyone interested in a greater understanding of the psychological significance of media technology, usage, and adoption across the past 150 years.
Programmable logic controllers (PLCs) have been used extensively and are offered in terms of functions, program memories, and the number of inputs/outputs (I/Os), ranging from a few to thousands. With a focus on how to design and implement a PLC, this volume explains hardware and associated basic concepts of PLC. Authors have used PIC16F1847 microcontroller with: 8192 words of Flash program memory, 1024 bytes of SRAM data memory, 256 bytes of EEPROM data memory, the maximum operating speed of 32 MHz, 16-level deep hardware stack, an enhanced instruction set consisting of 49 single-word instructions. Flowcharts are provided to help the understanding of macros (instructions). Aimed at researchers and graduate students in electrical engineering, power electronics, robotics and automation, sensors, this book: Explains how to design and use a PIC16F1847 microcontroller-based PLC. Provides easy to use software structures written by using the PIC Assembly programming language. Describes a PLC from a designer's perspective. Explains the basic hardware and basic software structures of the PIC16F1847 based PLC. Focuses on concepts like Contact and Relay Based Macros, Flip-Flop Macros, Timer Macros, Counter Macros and Comparison Macros.
The volume focusses on intermediate concepts of the PIC16F1847-Based PLC project, and covers arithmetical operation ability of PLCs, logical function performers and operations like AND, NAND, OR, NOR. Further, it explains shift and rotate macros moving bits in a register to right or left, and selection macros enabling one value to be selected from several given values according to certain criteria. Demultiplexer circuit is illustrated, which is used to send a signal to one of many devices. Finally, it explains decoder, priority encoder and conversion macros. All the concepts are supported using flowcharts. Aimed at researchers and graduate students in electrical engineering, power electronics, robotics and automation, sensors, this book: Presents arithmetical and logical macros to carry out arithmetical and logical operations to be used for 8-bit or 16-bit variables and/or constant values. Provides shift and rotate macros to do arithmetical or logical shift and rotate operations to be used for 8-bit or 16-bit variables. Proposes selection macros to enable the user to do 8-bit or 16-bit move, load, selection, maximum, minimum, limiting, multiplexing and byte multiplexing operations. Develops demultiplexer macros, decoder macros and priority encoder macros to be used as combinational circuits. Presents conversion macros to provide functions to convert given data from one format to another one.
The PIC16F1847-Based PLC project supports up to 4 analog inputs and 1 analog output, 1 High Speed Counter, 2 PWM (pulse width modulation) outputs, 1 Drum Sequencer Instruction with up to 16 steps, the implementation of Sequential Function Charts (SFCs) with up to 24 steps. This volume presents advanced concepts of the PIC16F1847-Based PLC project and consists of topics like program control, high speed counter and PWM macros. It further explains memory related drum sequencer instruction, sequential functional charts, and analog input and output modules. Aimed at researchers and graduate students in electrical engineering, power electronics, robotics and automation, sensors, this book: Presents program control macros to enable or disable a block of PLC program or to move execution of a program from one place to another. Proposes a High-Speed Counter and four PWM Macros for high speed counting and PWM operations. Develops memory related macros to enable the user to do memory read/write operations. Provides a Drum Sequencer instruction with up to 16 steps and 16 outputs on each step. Discusses the implementation of Sequential Function Chart (SFC) elements with up to 24 steps.
This tutorial-based book allows readers to create a first-person game from start to finish using industry-standard (and free to student) tools of Unity, Substance Painter, and Maya. The first half of the book lays out the basics of using Maya and Substance Painter to create game-ready assets. This includes polygonal modeling, UV layout, and custom texture painting. The book then covers rigging and animation solutions to create assets to be placed in the game, including animated first-person assets and motion-captured NPC animations. Finally, readers can put it all together and build interactivity that allows the player to create a finished game using the assets built and animated earlier in the book. * Written by industry professionals with real-world experience in building assets and games * Build a complete game from start to finish * Learn what the pros use: construct all assets using the tools used at game studios across the world * All software used are free to students * When complete, students will have a playable version of an FPS game Jingtian Li is a graduate of China's Central Academy of Fine Arts and New York's School of Visual Arts, where he earned an MFA in Computer Art. He currently is an Assistant Professor of 3D Animation & Game Design at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Adam Watkins is a 20-year veteran of 3D education. He holds an MFA in 3D Animation and a BFA in Theatre Arts from Utah State University. He currently is the Coordinator and Professor of the 3D Animation & Game Department at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Kassandra Arevalo is an instructor of 3D Animation & Game Design at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. She previously worked as an animator at Immersed Games. Matt Tovar is an industry veteran animator. He has worked at Naughty Dog, Infinity Ward, and Sony Interactive on such games as The Last of Us, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and most recently Marvel's Avengers with Crystal Dynamics. He is an Assistant Professor of 3D Animation at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas.
Advances in sequencing technology have allowed scientists to study the human genome in greater depth and on a larger scale than ever before - as many as hundreds of millions of short reads in the course of a few days. But what are the best ways to deal with this flood of data? Algorithms for Next-Generation Sequencing is an invaluable tool for students and researchers in bioinformatics and computational biology, biologists seeking to process and manage the data generated by next-generation sequencing, and as a textbook or a self-study resource. In addition to offering an in-depth description of the algorithms for processing sequencing data, it also presents useful case studies describing the applications of this technology.
Welcome to Game Audio Programming: Principles and Practices! This book is the first of its kind: an entire book dedicated to the art of game audio programming. With over fifteen chapters written by some of the top game audio programmers and sound designers in the industry, this book contains more knowledge and wisdom about game audio programming than any other volume in history. One of the goals of this book is to raise the general level of game audio programming expertise, so it is written in a manner that is accessible to beginners, while still providing valuable content for more advanced game audio programmers. Each chapter contains techniques that the authors have used in shipping games, with plenty of code examples and diagrams. There are chapters on the fundamentals of audio representation and perception; advanced usage of several different audio middleware platforms (Audiokinetic Wwise, CRI ADX2, and FMOD Studio); advanced topics including Open Sound Control, Vector-Based Amplitude Panning, and Dynamic Game Data; and more! Whether you're an audio programmer looking for new techniques, an up-and-coming game developer looking for an area to focus on, or just the one who got saddled with the audio code, this book has something for you. Cutting-edge advanced game audio programming concepts, with examples from real games and audio engines Includes perspectives of both audio programmers and sound designers on working and communicating together Coverage not just on game audio engine design, but also on implementing audio tools and working with sound designers providing a comprehensive perspective on being an audio programmer
Direct3D 11 offers such a wealth of capabilities that users can sometimes get lost in the details of specific APIs and their implementation. While there is a great deal of low-level information available about how each API function should be used, there is little documentation that shows how best to leverage these capabilities. Written by active members of the Direct3D community, Practical Rendering and Computation with Direct3D 11 provides a deep understanding of both the high and low level concepts related to using Direct3D 11. The first part of the book presents a conceptual introduction to Direct3D 11, including an overview of the Direct3D 11 rendering and computation pipelines and how they map to the underlying hardware. It also provides a detailed look at all of the major components of the library, covering resources, pipeline details, and multithreaded rendering. Building upon this material, the second part of the text includes detailed examples of how to use Direct3D 11 in common rendering scenarios. The authors describe sample algorithms in-depth and discuss how the features of Direct3D 11 can be used to your advantage. All of the source code from the book is accessible on an actively maintained open source rendering framework. The sample applications and the framework itself can be downloaded from http://hieroglyph3.codeplex.com By analyzing when to use various tools and the tradeoffs between different implementations, this book helps you understand the best way to accomplish a given task and thereby fully leverage the potential capabilities of Direct3D 11. Key Features Presents the high level concepts used to design algorithms Describes the nuts and bolts of how to implement the algorithms Explains each of the major components of the Direct3D 11 library Shows how Direct3D 11 can be used in a variety of real-world situations Provides source code and sample programs on a supplementary website
This book offers critical perspectives on the digital 'iconic', exploring how the notion of the iconic is re-appropriated and re-made online, and the consequences for humanity and society. Examining cross-cultural case studies of iconic images in digital spaces, the author offers original and critical analyses, theories and perspectives on the notion of the 'iconic', and on its movement, re-appropriation and meaning making on digital platforms. A carefully curated selection of case studies illustrates topics such as phantom memory; martyrdom; denigration and pornographic recoding; digital games as simulacra; and memes as 'artification'. Situating the notion of the iconic firmly within contemporary cultures, the author takes a thematic approach to investigate the iconic as an unstable and unfinished phenomenon online as it travels through platforms temporally and spatially. The book will be an important resource for academics and students in the areas of media and communications, digital culture, cultural studies, visual communication, visual culture, journalism studies and digital humanities.
This Element tackles the problem of generalization with respect to text-based evidence in the field of literary studies. When working with texts, how can we move, reliably and credibly, from individual observations to more general beliefs about the world? The onset of computational methods has highlighted major shortcomings of traditional approaches to texts when it comes to working with small samples of evidence. This Element combines a machine learning-based approach to detect the prevalence and nature of generalization across tens of thousands of sentences from different disciplines alongside a robust discussion of potential solutions to the problem of the generalizability of textual evidence. It exemplifies the way mixed methods can be used in complementary fashion to develop nuanced, evidence-based arguments about complex disciplinary issues in a data-driven research environment.
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.
Tsutomu Sasao - Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan The material covered in this book is quite unique especially for p- ple who are reading English, since such material is quite hard to ?nd in the U.S. literature. German and Russian people have independently developed their theories, but such work is not well known in the U.S. societies. On the other hand, the theories developed in the U.S. are not conveyed to the other places. Thus, the same theory is re-invented or re-discovered in various places. For example, the switching theory was developed independently in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, almost at the same time [4, 18, 19]. Thus, the same notions are represented by di?- ent terminologies. For example, the Shegalkin polynomial is often called complement-free ring-sum, Reed-Muller expression [10], or Positive - larityReed-Mullerexpression [19].Anyway,itisquitedesirablethatsuch a unique book like this is written in English, and many people can read it without any di?culties. The authors have developed a logic system called XBOOLE.Itp- forms logical operations on the given functions. With XBOOLE, the readers can solve the problems given in the book. Many examples and complete solutions to the problems are shown, so the readers can study at home. I believe that the book containing many exercises and their solutions [9] is quite useful not only for the students, but also the p- fessors.
Optimization from Human Genes to Cutting Edge Technologies The challenges faced by industry today are so complex that they can only be solved through the help and participation of optimization ex perts. For example, many industries in e-commerce, finance, medicine, and engineering, face several computational challenges due to the mas sive data sets that arise in their applications. Some of the challenges include, extended memory algorithms and data structures, new program ming environments, software systems, cryptographic protocols, storage devices, data compression, mathematical and statistical methods for knowledge mining, and information visualization. With advances in computer and information systems technologies, and many interdisci plinary efforts, many of the "data avalanche challenges" are beginning to be addressed. Optimization is the most crucial component in these efforts. Nowadays, the main task of optimization is to investigate the cutting edge frontiers of these technologies and systems and find the best solutions for their realization. Optimization principles are evident in nature (the perfect optimizer) and appeared early in human history. Did you ever watch how a spider catches a fly or a mosquito? Usually a spider hides at the edge of its net. When a fly or a mosquito hits the net the spider will pick up each line in the net to choose the tense line? Some biologists explain that the line gives the shortest path from the spider to its prey."
The recent re-emergence of serious games as a branch of video games and as a promising frontier of education has introduced the concept of games designed for a serious purpose other than pure entertainment. To date the major applications of serious games include education and training, engineering, medicine and healthcare, military applications, city planning, production, crisis response, to name just a few. If utilised alongside, or combined with conventional training and educational approaches, serious games could provide a more powerful means of knowledge transfer in almost every application domain. Serious Games and Edutainment Applications offers an insightful introduction to the development and applications of games technologies in educational settings. It includes cutting-edge academic research and industry updates that will inform readers of current and future advances in the area. The book is suitable for both researchers and educators who are interested in using games for educational purposes, as well as game professionals requiring a thorough understanding of issues involved in the application of video games technology into educational settings. It is also applicable to programmers, game artists, and management contemplating or involved in the development of serious games for educational or training purposes.
Reinforcement Learning for Cyber-Physical Systems: with Cybersecurity Case Studies was inspired by recent developments in the fields of reinforcement learning (RL) and cyber-physical systems (CPSs). Rooted in behavioral psychology, RL is one of the primary strands of machine learning. Different from other machine learning algorithms, such as supervised learning and unsupervised learning, the key feature of RL is its unique learning paradigm, i.e., trial-and-error. Combined with the deep neural networks, deep RL become so powerful that many complicated systems can be automatically managed by AI agents at a superhuman level. On the other hand, CPSs are envisioned to revolutionize our society in the near future. Such examples include the emerging smart buildings, intelligent transportation, and electric grids. However, the conventional hand-programming controller in CPSs could neither handle the increasing complexity of the system, nor automatically adapt itself to new situations that it has never encountered before. The problem of how to apply the existing deep RL algorithms, or develop new RL algorithms to enable the real-time adaptive CPSs, remains open. This book aims to establish a linkage between the two domains by systematically introducing RL foundations and algorithms, each supported by one or a few state-of-the-art CPS examples to help readers understand the intuition and usefulness of RL techniques. Features Introduces reinforcement learning, including advanced topics in RL Applies reinforcement learning to cyber-physical systems and cybersecurity Contains state-of-the-art examples and exercises in each chapter Provides two cybersecurity case studies Reinforcement Learning for Cyber-Physical Systems with Cybersecurity Case Studies is an ideal text for graduate students or junior/senior undergraduates in the fields of science, engineering, computer science, or applied mathematics. It would also prove useful to researchers and engineers interested in cybersecurity, RL, and CPS. The only background knowledge required to appreciate the book is a basic knowledge of calculus and probability theory.
Big Data of Complex Networks presents and explains the methods from the study of big data that can be used in analysing massive structural data sets, including both very large networks and sets of graphs. As well as applying statistical analysis techniques like sampling and bootstrapping in an interdisciplinary manner to produce novel techniques for analyzing massive amounts of data, this book also explores the possibilities offered by the special aspects such as computer memory in investigating large sets of complex networks. Intended for computer scientists, statisticians and mathematicians interested in the big data and networks, Big Data of Complex Networks is also a valuable tool for researchers in the fields of visualization, data analysis, computer vision and bioinformatics. Key features: Provides a complete discussion of both the hardware and software used to organize big data Describes a wide range of useful applications for managing big data and resultant data sets Maintains a firm focus on massive data and large networks Unveils innovative techniques to help readers handle big data Matthias Dehmer received his PhD in computer science from the Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. Currently, he is Professor at UMIT - The Health and Life Sciences University, Austria, and the Universitat der Bundeswehr Munchen. His research interests are in graph theory, data science, complex networks, complexity, statistics and information theory. Frank Emmert-Streib received his PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Bremen, and is currently Associate professor at Tampere University of Technology, Finland. His research interests are in the field of computational biology, machine learning and network medicine. Stefan Pickl holds a PhD in mathematics from the Darmstadt University of Technology, and is currently a Professor at Bundeswehr Universitat Munchen. His research interests are in operations research, systems biology, graph theory and discrete optimization. Andreas Holzinger received his PhD in cognitive science from Graz University and his habilitation (second PhD) in computer science from Graz University of Technology. He is head of the Holzinger Group HCI-KDD at the Medical University Graz and Visiting Professor for Machine Learning in Health Informatics Vienna University of Technology. |
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