Within a conceptual framework that is developed in the two first chapters, the actual application of systems thinking is described across a broad field of cases representing research, teaching, decision support and construction. All cases are presented by experts who have actually been involved in the activities they describe. Thus, the broad selection of cases captures the great variation of systems thinking and how it is integrated into models and theories and solid knowledge pertaining to different substantive areas. At the same time all case study authors address the same set of questions that are developed in the conceptual chapters. This gives comparability across cases - chapters - and brings cohesion to the book. The focus on Sweden, an advanced country in systems thinking, reinforces the unitary context in which comparison can be made between a systems approach for better research (theory), better practice and better design and construction.

Most recent literature on systems thinking has a general (often philosophical) perspective, concerns computer systems or focuses on one highly specific problem. A special feature of this book is that, while it concerns a single nation, it simultaneously contains a broad overview of systems analysis in a number of important issue areas, for research as well as practice, against a penetrating background description of what systems analysis is, how it functions, what problems it represents and what results it may produce.

The book is intended for a broad readership and can be appreciated by experts on systems thinking and analysis as well as by students, teachers, researchers, planners and policy makers who want to learn more aboutthis topic. The book should be useful in university teaching in several disciplines.

Web 2.0 has become the buzz word for describing social media available on the Internet, such as blogs, photo and file sharing systems and social networking sites. These Web 2.0 applications are rapidly transforming citizen-citizen and citizen-government interactions in a manner not seen before. In recognition of these trends, governments are already taking a very close look at Web 2.0 and online communities in order to leverage them for designing products and services and for providing citizen services. This book brings together international scholars to provide the theoretical and practical contexts for understanding the nature of Web 2.0 technologies and their impact on political, public policy and management processes, and to explore how best Web 2.0 applications can be leveraged and aligned with the strategic goals of government organizations to add value and ensure effective governance. Drawing from experiences from countries around the globe, the book provides the theoretical context of the potential for Web 2.0 applications to transform government services, as well as practical examples of leading public sector institutions that have attempted to use Web 2.0 applications to enhance government operations, policy making and administration. There are three parts to the book, namely 1) Perspectives on Web 2.0 and Democratic Governance, 2) The Political, Policy and Management Impacts of Web 2.0 in Government, and 3) Leveraging Web 2.0 Applications for Effective Governance. This book differs from existing edited books on Web 2.0 technologies that focus primarily on politics and e-democracy because it examines the impact of the applications on politics, policy and public management. The book contributes toward the literature by filling the existing void and expanding knowledge in the field of public administration and policy, making it of interest to both academics and policy-makers.

Offers support for a wide range of products for the RISC System/6000
product line and AIX operating system, including Uni-processor (UP) and
Symmetric Multiple Processor (SMP) systems. Provides important information
for building many system features such as memory controllers with caches
and bus-to-bus bridges. "RISC System/ 6000 PowerPC System Architecture"
defines an architecture that allows each operating system--in particular,
the AIX operating system--to run unchanged on all systems that comply with
this architecture. It provides a consistent software interface across a
broad range of system implementations and offers all hardware/software
dependencies necessary for a successful system identification,
configuration and performance tuning process.

An important reference for all programmers and product development
engineers who are developing software and hardware products for the
RISC/System 6000 PowerPC systems. Also useful for system programmers
involved in operating system design, system integrators building products
and parts for the system family, and anyone interested in porting other
operating systems to the RISC System/6000 family.

Technologic and virtual development is growing, creating an environment of online gaming that can be used as an effective and motivational instrument for math didactics in education. Simulation and Gaming for Mathematical Education: Epistemology and Teaching Strategies provides leading research on ways for various learning environments to be created referring to math didactics through redefinition and reassessment of teaching experiences. A defining collection of field advancements, this publication gradually leads readers through the steps of planning innovative strategies in math education.

For introductory courses in computer concepts, digital literacy, or computer literacy, often including instruction in Microsoft Office. Using technology to teach technology Explore, discover, and experience technology with Technology in Action, the best seller that uses technology to teach technology. Authors Evans, Martin, and Poatsy know how readers learn today and help them focus on tasks that they can apply immediately in the workplace, the classroom, and at home. The 15th Edition uses practical content, hands-on projects, and coverage of artificial intelligence to provide an engaging learning experience. This in turn helps learners be more prepared, and provides them with the skills they need to be digitally literate in their everyday lives and in the workplace. Also available packaged with MyLab (TM) IT or via Revel (TM). MyLab is the teaching and learning platform that empowers you to reach every student. By combining trusted author content with digital tools and a flexible platform, MyLab personalizes the learning experience and improves results for each student. MyLab IT gives students the resources they need to be successful in their course, while also preparing them for their future careers. Revel Technology in Action is an interactive digital learning environment that replaces the print textbook and gives students everything they need for the course. Fully digital and highly engaging, Revel enables students to read, practice, and study in one continuous experience. Note: You are purchasing a standalone product. Students, if interested in purchasing this title with MyLab, or via Revel, ask your instructor to confirm the correct ISBN and Course ID. Instructors, contact your Pearson representative for more information. If you would like to purchase both the physical text and MyLab, search for: 0134832507 / 9780134832500 MyLab IT for Technology in Action Complete, 15th Edition by Evans Package consists of: 0134837878 / 9780134837871 Technology In Action Complete, 15e 0134837975 / 9780134837970 MyLab IT with Pearson eText -- Access Card -- for Technology in Action If you would like to purchase the Revel version, search for: 0134868072/9780134868073 Revel Technology in Action -- Access Card, 15/e

Designing Sorting Networks: A New Paradigm provides an in-depth guide to maximizing the efficiency of sorting networks, and uses 0/1 cases, partially ordered sets and Haase diagrams to closely analyze their behavior in an easy, intuitive manner. This book also outlines new ideas and techniques for designing faster sorting networks using Sortnet, and illustrates how these techniques were used to design faster 12-key and 18-key sorting networks through a series of case studies. Finally, it examines and explains the mysterious behavior exhibited by the fastest-known 9-step 16-key network. Designing Sorting Networks: A New Paradigm is intended for advanced-level students, researchers and practitioners as a reference book. Academics in the fields of computer science, engineering and mathematics will also find this book invaluable.

Engineers have long been fascinated by how efficient and how fast biological neural networks are capable of performing such complex tasks as recognition. Such networks are capable of recognizing input data from any of the five senses with the necessary accuracy and speed to allow living creatures to survive. Machines which perform such complex tasks as recognition, with similar ac curacy and speed, were difficult to implement until the technological advances of VLSI circuits and systems in the late 1980's. Since then, the field of VLSI Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have witnessed an exponential growth and a new engineering discipline was born. Today, many engineering curriculums have included a course or more on the subject at the graduate or senior under graduate levels. Since the pioneering book by Carver Mead; "Analog VLSI and Neural Sys tems," Addison-Wesley, 1989; there were a number of excellent text and ref erence books on the subject, each dealing with one or two topics. This book attempts to present an integrated approach of a single research team to VLSI ANNs Engineering."

This text is about methods used for the computer simulation of analog systems. It concentrates on electronic applications, but many of the methods are applicable to other engineering problems as well. This revised edition (1st, 1983) encompasses recent theoretical developments and program-writing ti

After the mainframe and personal computer eras, the third major era in computer science, ubiquitous computing, describes the state of technology in which networked computers would surround every user. The Handbook of Research on Ubiquitous Computing Technology for Real Time Enterprises combines the fundamental methods, algorithms, and concepts of pervasive computing with current innovations and solutions to emerging challenges. With more than 25 authoritative contributions by over 50 of the world's leading experts this groundbreaking resource systemically covers such salient topics as network and application scalability, wireless network connectivity, adaptability and "context-aware" computing, information technology security and liability, and human computer interaction.

Faster, better and cheaper are challenges that IT-companies face every day. The customer's expectations shall be met in a world where constant change in environment, organization and technology are the rule rather that the exception. A solution for meeting these challenges is to share knowledge and experience - use the company's own experience, and the experience of other companies. Process Improvement in Practice - A Handbook for IT Companies tackles the problems involved in launching these solutions.
Process Improvement in Practice - A Handbook for IT Companies is designed for small IT companies who wish to start with systematic improvement. The methods and techniques in this handbook are tried in practice, and have proven to be easy to use and scalable for local needs. Managers and developers will discover useful tips to initiate improvement work efficiently. This practical handbook is based on the authors' improvement work in a range of companies since the mid-nineties.
Process Improvement in Practice - A Handbook for IT Companies is designed for a professional audience, composed of researchers and practitioners in industry. This book is also suitable for graduate-level students in software process improvement and software engineering.

Written by one of the founding fathers of Quantum Information, this book gives an accessible (albeit mathematically rigorous), self-contained introduction to quantum information theory. The central role is played by the concept of quantum channel and its entropic and information characteristics. In this revised edition, the main results have been updated to reflect the most recent developments in this very active field of research.

Information engineering and applications is the field of study concerned with constructing information computing, intelligent systems, mathematical models, numerical solution techniques, and using computers and other electronic devices to analyze and solve natural scientific, social scientific and engineering problems. Information engineering is an important underpinning for techniques used in information and computational science and there are many unresolved problems worth studying. The Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Information Engineering and Applications (IEA 2012), which was held in Chongqing, China, from October 26-28, 2012, discusses the most innovative research and developments including technical challenges and social, legal, political, and economic issues. A forum for engineers and scientists in academia, industry, and government, the Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Information Engineering and Applications presents ideas, results, works in progress, and experience in all aspects of information engineering and applications.

This annual publication deals with how microcomputers and other computers can be applied to improving the explanatory and evaluative roles of modern social science. Each volume contains chapters by experts in political science, psychology, sociology, economics and computer science.

This book is the first in a set of forthcoming books focussed on state-of-the-art development in the VLSI Signal Processing area. It is a response to the tremendous research activities taking place in that field. These activities have been driven by two factors: the dramatic increase in demand for high speed signal processing, especially in consumer elec tronics, and the evolving microelectronic technologies. The available technology has always been one of the main factors in determining al gorithms, architectures, and design strategies to be followed. With every new technology, signal processing systems go through many changes in concepts, design methods, and implementation. The goal of this book is to introduce the reader to the main features of VLSI Signal Processing and the ongoing developments in this area. The focus of this book is on: * Current developments in Digital Signal Processing (DSP) pro cessors and architectures - several examples and case studies of existing DSP chips are discussed in Chapter 1. * Features and requirements of image and video signal processing architectures - both applications specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and programmable image processors are studied in Chapter 2. * New market areas for signal processing - especially in consumer electronics such as multimedia, teleconferencing, and movie on demand. * Impact of arithmetic circuitry on the performance of DSP pro cessors - several topics are discussed in Chapter 3 such as: number representation, arithmetic algorithms and circuits, and implementa tion.

Embedded systems are characterized by the presence of processors running application-specific software. Recent years have seen a large growth of such systems, and this trend is projected to continue with the growth of systems on a chip. Many of these systems have strict performance and cost requirements. To design these systems, sophisticated timing analysis tools are needed to accurately determine the extreme case (best case and worst case) performance of the software components. Existing techniques for this analysis have one or more of the following limitations: they cannot model complicated programs they cannot model advanced micro-architectural features of the processor, such as cache memories and pipelines they cannot be easily retargeted for new hardware platforms. In Performance Analysis of Real-Time Embedded Software, a new timing analysis technique is presented to overcome the above limitations. The technique determines the bounds on the extreme case (best case and worst case) execution time of a program when running on a given hardware system. It partitions the problem into two sub-problems: program path analysis and microarchitecture modeling. Performance Analysis of Real-Time Embedded Software will be of interest to Design Automation professionals as well as designers of circuits and systems.

This volume contains contributions to the First Kazakh-German Advanced Research Workshop on Computational Science and High Performance Computing presented in September 2005 at Almaty, Kazakhstan. The workshop was organized by the High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (Stuttgart, Germany), al-Farabi Kazakh National University (Almaty, Kazakhstan) and the Institute of Computational Technologies SB RAS (Novosibirsk, Russia) in the framework of activities of the German-Russian Center for Computational Technologies and High Performance

The expanding field of adult learning encompasses the study and practice of utilizing sound instructional design principals, technology, and learning theory as a means to solve educational challenges and human performance issues relating to adults, often occurring online. ""Online Education and Adult Learning: New Frontiers for Teaching Practices"" disseminates current issues and trends emerging in the field of adult e-learning and online instruction for the design of better products and services. This advanced publication provides theoretical understanding of the essential links between authentic learning, social psychology, instructional design, e-learning, online education, and various additional methods of adult learning.

This book presents suitable methodologies for the dynamic analysis of multibody mechanical systems with joints. It contains studies and case studies of real and imperfect joints. The book is intended for researchers, engineers, and graduate students in applied and computational mechanics.

As governmental entities face accelerating public demand for electronic services and the internal need to utilize technology to achieve superior outcomes and operational efficiency, traditional techniques and tools are radically reshaping and evolving into innovative electronic methods of conducting governmental activities.""E-Government Diffusion, Policy, and Impact: Advanced Issues and Practices"" sheds light on how e-government technologies are shaping today's knowledge society from the ground roots of the citizen experience to the supreme level of policy and decision making. With chapters providing insights into such critical topics as public service delivery, technological diffusion, and e-readiness, this publication offers researchers, students, policy makers, and practitioners a quality depiction of worldwide social practice and how advancements within the realm of technology will affect all corners of the globe.

Systematic Design of Analog IP Blocks introduces a design methodology that can help to bridge the productivity gap. Two different types of designs, depending on the design challenge, have been identified: commodity IP and star IP. Each category requires a different approach to boost design productivity. Commodity IP blocks are well suited to be automated in an analog synthesis environment and provided as soft IP. The design knowledge is usually common knowledge, and reuse is high accounting for the setup time needed for the analog library. Star IP still changes as technology evolves and the design cost can only be reduced by following a systematic design approach supported by point tools to relieve the designer from error-prone, repetitive tasks, allowing him/her to focus on new ideas to push the limits of the design.

Distributed and communicating objects are becoming ubiquitous. In global, Grid and Peer-to-Peer computing environments, extensive use is made of objects interacting through method calls. So far, no general formalism has been proposed for the foundation of such systems.

Caromel and Henrio are the first to define a calculus for distributed objects interacting using asynchronous method calls with generalized futures, i.e., wait-by-necessity -- a must in large-scale systems, providing both high structuring and low coupling, and thus scalability. The authors provide very generic results on expressiveness and determinism, and the potential of their approach is further demonstrated by its capacity to cope with advanced issues such as mobility, groups, and components.

Researchers and graduate students will find here an extensive review of concurrent languages and calculi, with comprehensive figures and summaries.

Developers of distributed systems can adopt the many implementation strategies that are presented and analyzed in detail.

Preface by Luca Cardelli

The main aim of this symposium was to bring together end-users and control system specialists to evaluate the possibilities for improvement of techniques, design procedures, components and instruments to encourage low cost automation; considering not only economic aspects but also improvements in productivity, reliability, flexibility and ease-of-application. Special emphasis was placed on small and medium sized enterprises. The technical sessions dealt with topics from process automation as well as from manufacturing automation.

Introduction or Why I wrote this book N the fallof 1997 a dedicated troff user e-rnalled me the macros he used to typeset his books. 1took one look inside his fileand thought, "I can do I this;It'sjustcode. " Asan experiment1spent aweekand wrote a Cprogram and troff macros which formatted and typeset a membership directory for a scholarly society with approximately 2,000 members. When 1 was done, I could enter two commands, and my program and troff would convert raw membershipdata into 200 pages ofPostScriptin 35 seconds. Previously, it had taken me several days to prepare camera-readycopy for the directory using a word processor. For completeness 1sat down and tried to write 1EXmacros for the typesetting. 1failed. Although ninety-five percent of my macros worked, I was unable to prepare the columns the project required. As my frustration grew, 1began this book-mentally, in myhead-as an answer to the question, "Why is 'lEX so hard to learn?" Why use Tgx? Lest you accuse me of the old horse and cart problem, 1should address the question, "Why use 1EX at all?" before 1explain why 'lEX is hard. Iuse 'lEXfor the followingreasons. Itisstable, fast, free, and it uses ASCII. Ofcourse, the most important reason is: 'lEX does a fantastic job. Bystable, I mean it is not likely to change in the next 10 years (much less the next one or two), and it is free of bugs. Both ofthese are important.