Information theory is a branch of applied mathematics and engineering involving the quantification of information. In this book, the authors present topical research in the study of the new developments in information theory, including information theory as applied to the analysis of biological sequences; information theory based on fractional calculus via modified Riemann-Liouville derivates; two-phase flows entropy in gravity cascade separation; the role of information theory in gene regulatory network inference; and, Quantum Information Processing (QIP) and the link between information processing and physics.

This book provides an easy to understand knowledge, information and data (KID) management framework that is applicable in most organizations. The book consists of two parts. The first part focusus on what managers in organizations need to know about KID management. The second part aims at KID managers and discusses KID management topics at a more technical detail.

Use of test collections and evaluation measures to assess the effectiveness of information retrieval systems has its origins in work dating back to the early 1950s. Across the nearly 60 years since that work started, use of test collections is a de facto standard of evaluation. This monograph surveys the research conducted and explains the methods and measures devised for evaluation of retrieval systems, including a detailed look at the use of statistical significance testing in retrieval experimentation. It reviews more recent examinations of the validity of the test collection approach and evaluation measures as well as outlining trends in current research exploiting query logs and live labs. At its core, the modern-day test collection is little different from the structures that the pioneering researchers in the 1950s and 1960s conceived of. This tutorial and review shows that despite its age, this long-standing evaluation method is still a highly valued tool for retrieval research.

The theory as I see it going into the computer age. I talk about the beginning through the Y2K era.

Database systems have been driving dynamic web sites since the early 90s; nowadays, even seemingly static web sites employ a database back-end for personalization and advertising purposes. In order to keep up with the high demand fuelled by the rapid growth of the Internet, a number of caching and materialization techniques have been proposed for web databases over the years. The main goal of these techniques is to improve performance, scalability, and manageability of database-driven dynamic web sites, in a way that the quality of data is not compromised. Although caching and materialization are well understood concepts in the traditional database and networking/operating systems literature, the Web and web databases bring forth unique characteristics that warrant new techniques and approaches. In this survey, the authors adopt a data management point of view to describe the system architectures of web databases, and analyze the research issues related to caching and materialization in such architectures. They also present the state of the art in caching and materialization for web databases and organize current approaches according to the fundamental questions, namely how to store, how to use, and how to maintain cached/materialized web data. Finally, they associate work in caching and materialization for web databases to similar techniques in other related areas, such as data warehousing, distributed systems, and distributed databases.

Xerox Sutra Editions presents mIEKAL aND's inconvenient disambiguation of search engines, spam, outside texts & literal displays of often loved hysteric sutras.

The Triadic Continuum is the invention of Jane Mazzagatti, a mathematician and software engineer. Mazzagatti came upon the idea for this new computer data structure, which is based on the work of Charles Peirce, while working on a project for Unisys Corporation. This same structure has proven commercially valuable in the efficient way it stores and allows for the analysis of large datasets. However, while learning about the nature of the structure she discovered more far-reaching implications to areas other than computer science. Charles Peirce was fascinated with how the mind reasons and with all of the scientific and philosophical implications of the mechanisms of how the brain records experience, constructs memories, and accesses previously stored experience and knowledge. Mazzagatti believes that she has rediscovered the structure of the Triadic Continuum, which is the foundation of many of Peirce's key theories dealing with human reasoning and the logic of thought. In this book the author, who worked with Mazzagatti writing patents for the invention, explains how this structure is unlike any other computer data structure or type of Artificial Intelligence-but more importantly why this structure may very well be a model for human cognition.

A brain is a list of neurons. A neuron is a mathematical function. Found are the possible functions that are necessary. A tool kit is made by making each function a microcontroller. A language is made to write the functions. All this is applied to building some robot brains.

Every Thing Must Go aruges that the only kind of metaphysics that can contribute to objective knowledge is one based specifically on contemporary science as it really is, and not on philosophers' a priori intuitions, common sense, or simplifications of science. In addition to showing how recent metaphysics has drifted away from connection with all other serious scholarly inquiry as a result of not heeding this restriction, they demonstrate how to build a metaphysics compatible with current fundamental phsyics ("ontic structural realism"), which, when combined with their metaphysics of the special sciences ("rainforet realism"), can be used to unify physics with the other sciences without reducing these sciences to physics intself. Taking science metaphysically seriously, Ladyman and Ross argue, means that metaphysicians must abandon the picture of the world as composed of self-subsistent individual objects, and the paradigm of causation as the collision of such objects.
Every Thing Must Go also assesses the role of information theory and complex systems theory in attempts to explain the relationship between the special sciences and physics, treading a middle road between the grand synthesis of thermodynamics and information, and eliminativism about information. The consequences of the author's metaphysical theory for central issues in the philosophy of science are explored, including the implications for the realism vs. empiricism debate, the role of causation in scientific explanations, the nature of causation and laws, the status of abstract and virtual objects, and the objective reality of natural kinds

Computing and information, and their philosophy in the broad sense, play a most important scientific, technological and conceptual role in our world. This book collects together, for the first time, the views and experiences of some of the visionary pioneers and most influential thinkers in such a fundamental area of our intellectual development. This is yet another gem in the 5 Questions Series by Automatic Press / VIP

The practical importance of auction theory is widely recognized. Indeed, economists have been recognized for their contribution to the design of several auction-like mechanisms, such as the U. S. Federal Communications Commission spectrum auctions, the 3G auctions in Europe and beyond, and the auction markets for electricity markets around the world.
Moreover, auction theory is now seen as an important component of an economist's training. For example, some of the more celebrated results from the single-object auction theory are now usually taught in advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate courses on the economics of information. The techniques and insights gained from the study of auction theory provide a useful starting point for those who want to venture into the economics of information, mechanism design, and regulatory economics.
This book provides a step-by-step, self-contained treatment of the theory of auctions. The aim is to provide an introductory textbook that will allow students and readers with a calculus background to work through all the basic results. Coverage includes: the basic independent-private-model; the effects of introducing correlation in valuations on equilibrium behaviour and the seller's expected revenue; mechanism design; and the theory of multi-object auctions. The paperback edition of the text includes a new chapter which acts as a guide to current developments in auction theory.

Whether TV shows or cell phone and internet traffic, whether encoded in the radio waves that fill the atmosphere or coursing through wires of copper and glass, information, in its electronic form, surrounds us. And equally copious to this is the realm of physical information, that which mediates between reality and our understanding of it. Our senses record and interpret it; our brains manipulate and process it; our genes pass it from one generation to the next; and the need to share it is an attribute common to every member of the animal kingdom.But what actually is information? Can it be analyzed and measured? Why, if information is such an essential ingredient of the world around us, is it not yet part of the vocabulary of physical science? In this exciting, enlightening, and extraordinary book, Hans Christian von Baeyer addresses these and many other questions, revealing how the concept of information can cast light on principles as diverse as thermodynamics in physics and heredity in biology. For, despite its shadowy, paradoxical, and subjective nature, this is a concept of unarguable importance and power, one that could soon become just as central to science as space, time, mass, or energy - if not more so.With a narrative marked out by its clarity and sheer readability, von Baeyer takes us from the roots of the theory through to the coal-face of modern physics and beyond, deftly unpicking the many strands that knit information so tightly into the fabric of the universe. Along the way, he illuminates topics from gaming theory and probability through to black holes, the history of Morse Code, the future of computing and the role of philosophy in contemporary physics - all whileunderlining this emergent and rapidly developing field as the key to a fundamental new scientific language.

In this remarkably illustrative and thoroughly accessible look at one of the most intriguing frontiers in science and computers, award-winning "New York Times" writer George Johnson reveals the fascinating world of quantum computing--the holy grail of super computers where the computing power of single atoms is harnassed to create machines capable of almost unimaginable calculations in the blink of an eye.
As computer chips continue to shrink in size, scientists anticipate the end of the road: A computer in which each switch is comprised of a single atom. Such a device would operate under a different set of physical laws: The laws of quantum mechanics. Johnson gently leads the curious outsider through the surprisingly simple ideas needed to understand this dream, discussing the current state of the revolution, and ultimately assessing the awesome power these machines could have to change our world.

The contributors to this book are both cautionary and hopeful as they offer visions of how information design can be practiced diligently and ethically, for the benefit of information consumers as well as producers. Information design is the newest of the design disciplines. As a sign of our times, when the crafting of messages and meaning is so central to our lives, information design is not only important-it is essential. Contemporary information designers seek to edify more than to persuade, to exchange more than to foist upon. With ever more powerful technologies of communication, we have learned that the issuer of designed information is as likely as the intended recipient to be changed by it, for better or worse. The contributors to this book are both cautionary and hopeful as they offer visions of how information design can be practiced diligently and ethically, for the benefit of information consumers as well as producers. They present various methods that seem to work, such as sense-making and way-finding. They make recommendations and serve as guides to a still young but extraordinarily pervasive-and persuasive-field. Contributors Elizabeth Andersen, Judy Anderson, Simon Birrell, Mike Cooley, Brenda Dervin, Jim Gasperini, Yvonne M. Hansen, Steve Holtzman, Robert E. Horn, Robert Jacobson, John Krygier, Sheryl Macy, Romedi Passini, Jef Raskin, Chandler Screven, Nathan Shedroff, Hal Thwaites, Roger Whitehouse

For decades educators and cultural critics have deplored the corrosive effects of electronic media on the national consciousness. The average American reads less often, writes less well. And, numbed by the frenetic image-bombardment of music videos, commercials and sound bites, we may also, it is argued, think less profoundly. But wait. Is it just possible that some good might arise from the ashes of the printed word?

Most emphatically yes, argues Mitchell Stephens, who asserts that the moving image is likely to make our thoughts not more feeble but more robust. Through a fascinating overview of previous communications revolutions, Stephens demonstrates that the charges that have been leveled against television have been faced by most new media, including writing and print. Centuries elapsed before most of these new forms of communication would be used to produce works of art and intellect of sufficient stature to overcome this inevitable mistrust and nostalgia. Using examples taken from the history of photography and film, as well as MTV, experimental films, and Pepsi commercials, the author considers the kinds of work that might unleash, in time, the full power of moving images. And he argues that these works--an emerging computer-edited and -distributed "new video"--have the potential to inspire transformations in thought on a level with those inspired by the products of writing and print. Stephens sees in video's complexities, simultaneities, and juxtapositions, new ways of understanding and perhaps even surmounting the tumult and confusions of contemporary life.

Sure to spark lively--even heated--debate, the rise of the image the fall of the word belongs in the library of millennium-watchers everywhere.

An innovative text that approaches complex concepts with relative ease and simplicity, this new work by internationally-known Graziella Tonfoni takes the reader on an architectural excursion that is the metaphorical representation of the components of the expression of knowledge. Through the progressive building and exploration of consistently designed and complex metaphors, which the author calls "metaphorical environments," the reader will come to understand the building principles upon which to base the construction of multimedia forms. The first section of the book creates the setting for accurately understanding the context and deals with the implications of designing teaching material for a course in information design. Other sections build upon this groundwork using a series of descriptions of actual architectural structures. A final section of visuals is meant to facilitate active learning of those concepts previously introduced. Blank boxes on each page in this last section encourage the reader to re-number the pages to create an individual path that relates the concepts to different sections of the text.

From family traditions like weddings and funerals, to state ceremonies and media events, rites and ceremonies mark socially important occasions, define beginnings and endings, and aid social transitions. Ritual and ceremonial as formal modes of conduct are equally ubiquitous, appearing in everything from modes of talk and rules of politeness to elaborate protocols from events of state. Ritual and rite, ceremonial and ceremony are symbolic social actions, thus modes of communication that implicate individuals in the social order, creating realities while expressing ideas and attitudes about them.

In Ritual Communication, author Eric W. Rothenbuhler combines bibliographic essay and theory construction to provide a unique perspective on ritual as a special and powerful form of communication. Part I is a critical review of definitions of ritual from anthropology, sociology, communication studies, and other literature, ending with a theoretical essay on the contributions of communication theory to understanding ritual. Part II is a critical review of the uses of the term ritual in communication studies literature, covering mediated rituals and ceremonies, ritualistic media uses and audience activities, political, rhetorical, and civic rituals, rituals of everyday interaction, rituals of organizational life, and finally a conception of communication as ritual.

A groundbreaking and fascinating examination, Ritual Communication will interest those in the fields of communication, speech communication, social psychology, anthropology, and sociology.

A review of the dissemination of spatial data. Topics addressed include: spatial information infrastructure and innovation; designing information policy research; and evaluating information use, access and dissemination. The work also contains comparative case studies of information dissemination.

Love, Light, and a Dream is a timely and provocative look at the medium of television as one of the cultural vehicles carrying us toward the 21st century. It provides an up-to-the-minute review of developments and trends shaping the policy and regulatory issues that exert the strongest influence on the evolution of information technology. Topics covered in this study include the Federal Communications Commission and its role as a regulatory body, the relationship between cable services and telephone systems as information providers, television advertising campaigns and the structure of the agency business, public television and its struggle for financial independence, and the culture of television news and the creation of a journalistic mythology.

Introduction to Satellite Communications.

Early Proposals for Mobile Satellite Communications.

Marisat and Marecs: Pioneering Commercial Mobile Satellite Services.

Inmarsat.

Other Mobile Satellite Communications Systems in Service.

Planned Geostationary Mobile Satellite Systems.

Planned Low Earth Orbiting Mobile Satellite Systems for Telephone Service.

Planned Low Earth Orbiting Mobile Satellite Systems for Data Service.

Other Planned Mobile Satellite Communications Systems.

A Note on Radio Spectrum Issues.

Appendices.

Index.

We will never know the precise identity of America's first political consultant. It is likely that candidates were seeking favorable coverage in colonial newspapers as early as 1704; it is also likely that by 1745 candidates were using handbills and pamphlets to augment press coverage of campaigns; and we know that one successful candidate, George Washington in 1758, purchased refreshments for potential voters. These traditional approaches to winning votes have in recent years been amplified by consultants who have shown how cable networks, videocassettes, modems, faxes, focus groups, and other means of communication can be put to partisan use. In this book, Robert V. Friedenberg examines all of the communication techniques used in contemporary political campaigning.

After providing a history of political consulting, Friedenberg examines the principal communication specialities used in contemporary campaigns. Throughout, political consultants discuss their approaches and evaluate the benefits and shortcomings of these methods. An invaluable text for what is arguably the most rapidly changing field of applied communication, this work is must reading for students and researchers of American politics, applied communication, and contemporary political theory.

This volume shows how international communication has been shaped by the structure of international political power and how these means of global communication have in turn been strategic for the exercise of international political power. Topics covered include global news flows, the international trade in cultural products, and governmental propoganda activities.;The politics of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) are analyzed.

DEGREESI a work that provides such a comprehensive reassessment of Information Retrieval (IR) theory, with regards to the user-oriented model. -- Journal of the American Society for Information Science

This is an examination of information policy in environmental sustainability. It covers issues such as information, knowledge and models; environmental regulation; and information policy.