This monograph presents an application of concepts and methods from algebraic topology to models of concurrent processes in computer science and their analysis. Taking well-known discrete models for concurrent processes in resource management as a point of departure, the book goes on to refine combinatorial and topological models. In the process, it develops tools and invariants for the new discipline directed algebraic topology, which is driven by fundamental research interests as well as by applications, primarily in the static analysis of concurrent programs. The state space of a concurrent program is described as a higher-dimensional space, the topology of which encodes the essential properties of the system. In order to analyse all possible executions in the state space, more than "just" the topological properties have to be considered: Execution paths need to respect a partial order given by the time flow. As a result, tools and concepts from topology have to be extended to take privileged directions into account. The target audience for this book consists of graduate students, researchers and practitioners in the field, mathematicians and computer scientists alike.

Every day we are bombarded with new technology products that are confusing and difficult to use. For example, the new touch-screen voting machines in Florida are so difficult to use that some elections have been nullified due to all of the errors voters made while using the machines. There has to be a way to make things easy-to-use. There is-and it is found inside the covers of this book.

This book presents the proceedings of the 8th Cambridge Workshop on Universal Access and Assistive Technology (CWUAAT '16), incorporating the 11th Cambridge Workshop on Rehabilitation Robotics, held in Cambridge, England in March 2016. It presents novel and state-of-the-art research from an international group of leaders in the fields of universal access and assistive technology. It explores various issues including the reconciliation of usability, accessibility and inclusive design, the design of inclusive assistive and rehabilitation systems, measuring product demand and human capabilities, data mining and visualizing inclusion, legislation in inclusive design, and situational inclusive interfaces (automotive and aerospace). This book provides an invaluable resource to researchers, postgraduates, design practitioners, therapists and clinical practitioners, as well as design teachers.

This book introduces a number of recent developments on connectivity of communication networks, ranging from connectivity of large static networks and connectivity of highly dynamic networks to connectivity of small to medium sized networks. This book also introduces some applications of connectivity studies in network optimization, in network localization, and in estimating distances between nodes. The book starts with an overview of the fundamental concepts, models, tools, and methodologies used for connectivity studies. The rest of the chapters are divided into four parts: connectivity of large static networks, connectivity of highly dynamic networks, connectivity of small to medium sized networks, and applications of connectivity studies.

This textbook addresses the conceptual and practical aspects of the various phases of the lifecycle of service systems, ranging from service ideation, design, implementation, analysis, improvement and trading associated with service systems engineering. Written by leading experts in the field, this indispensable textbook will enable a new wave of future professionals to think in a service-focused way with the right balance of competencies in computer science, engineering, and management. Fundamentals of Service Systems is a centerpiece for a course syllabus on service systems. Each chapter includes a summary, a list of learning objectives, an opening case, and a review section with questions, a project description, a list of key terms, and a list of further reading bibliography. All these elements enable students to learn at a faster and more comfortable peace. For researchers, teachers, and students who want to learn about this new emerging science, Fundamentals of Service Systems provides an overview of the core disciplines underlying the study of service systems. It is aimed at students of information systems, information technology, and business and economics. It also targets business and IT practitioners, especially those who are looking for better ways of innovating, designing, modeling, analyzing, and optimizing service systems.

Computing is transforming how we interact with music. New theories and new technologies have emerged that present fresh challenges and novel perspectives for researchers and practitioners in music and human-computer interaction (HCI). In this collection, the interdisciplinary field of music interaction is considered from multiple viewpoints: designers, interaction researchers, performers, composers, audiences, teachers and learners, dancers and gamers. The book comprises both original research in music interaction and reflections from leading researchers and practitioners in the field. It explores a breadth of HCI perspectives and methodologies: from universal approaches to situated research within particular cultural and aesthetic contexts. Likewise, it is musically diverse, from experimental to popular, classical to folk, including tango, laptop orchestras, composition and free improvisation.

This volume provides a complete record of presentations made at Industrial Engineering, Management Science and Applications 2015 (ICIMSA 2015), and provides the reader with a snapshot of current knowledge and state-of-the-art results in industrial engineering, management science and applications. The goal of ICIMSA is to provide an excellent international forum for researchers and practitioners from both academia and industry to share cutting-edge developments in the field and to exchange and distribute the latest research and theories from the international community. The conference is held every year, making it an ideal platform for people to share their views and experiences in industrial engineering, management science and applications related fields.

This is the first book to explore how Semantic Web technologies (SWTs) can be used to create intelligent engineering applications (IEAs). Technology-specific chapters reflect the state of the art in relevant SWTs and offer guidelines on how they can be applied in multi-disciplinary engineering settings characteristic of engineering production systems. In addition, a selection of case studies from various engineering domains demonstrate how SWTs can be used to create IEAs that enable, for example, defect detection or constraint checking. Part I "Background and Requirements of Industrie 4.0 for Semantic Web Solutions" provides the background information needed to understand the book and addresses questions concerning the semantic challenges and requirements of Industrie 4.0, and which key SWT capabilities may be suitable for implementing engineering applications. In turn, Part II "Semantic Web-Enabled Data Integration in Multi-Disciplinary Engineering" focuses on how SWTs can be used for data integration in heterogeneous, multi-disciplinary engineering settings typically encountered in the creation of flexible production systems. Part III "Creating Intelligent Applications for Multi-Disciplinary Engineering" demonstrates how the integrated engineering data can be used to support the creation of IEAs, while Part IV "Related and Emerging Trends in the Use of Semantic Web in Engineering" presents an overview of the broader spectrum of approaches that make use of SWTs to support engineering settings. A final chapter then rounds out the book with an assessment of the strengths, weaknesses and compatibilities of SWTs and an outlook on future opportunities for applying SWTs to create IEAs in flexible industrial production systems. This book seeks to build a bridge between two communities: industrial production on one hand and Semantic Web on the other. Accordingly, stakeholders from both communities should find this book useful in their work. Semantic Web researchers will gain a better understanding of the challenges and requirements of the industrial production domain, offering them guidance in the development of new technologies and solutions for this important application area. In turn, engineers and managers from engineering domains will arrive at a firmer grasp of the benefits and limitations of using SWTs, helping them to select and adopt appropriate SWTs more effectively. In addition, researchers and students interested in industrial production-related issues will gain valuable insights into how and to what extent SWTs can help to address those issues.

Games-based learning focuses on the exploration of high-quality computer games and associated software tools for education and training. Games-Based Learning Advancements for Multi-Sensory Human Computer Interfaces: Techniques and Effective Practices disseminates knowledge on the theory and practice of games-based learning, promoting the development and adoption of best practices. Through a combination of theoretical chapters as well as practical case studies, readers will benefit from expert knowledge and learn from the experiences of both researchers and practitioners from across the globe.

Information and Communication Technologies, Society and Human Beings: Theory and Framework addresses the extensive area of effects of ICT on human beings and the interaction between ICT, individuals, organizations, and society. This premier reference source features contributions from over 45 distinguished researchers from around the world, each presenting high quality research on Social Informatics, Human Computer Interaction, Organizational Behavior, and Macro-ergonomics. This unique publication is perfect for students, teachers, researchers, engineers, practitioners, managers, policy-makers, and media alike.

Websites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ have enabled users to create virtual communities for social networking and communities of practice. Because of the ever-evolving environment in social networking, there has been much opportunity for new areas of research. Research in virtual communities and social networking has taken different forms with much focus on the software and hardware of the program and the design of the site and its interface and usability. There is also great emphasis on the research behind discovering new opportunities in virtual worlds, as well as the social and behavioral issues related to trust and online culture. Technical, Social and Legal Issues in Virtual Communities: Emerging Environments examines a variety of issues related to virtual communities and social networking, addressing issues related to team identification, leader-member issues, social networking for education, participation in social networks, and other issues directly related to this eclectic field of study. This publication provides comprehensive coverage and understanding of the social, cultural, organizational, human, and cognitive issues related to the virtual communities and social networking. Readers will find that this book encompasses an overall body of knowledge regarding participation of individuals, groups and organizations in virtual communities and networks, by providing an outlet for scholarly research in the area.

This book captures the current challenges in automatic recognition of emotion in spontaneous speech and makes an effort to explain, elaborate, and propose possible solutions. Intelligent human-computer interaction (iHCI) systems thrive on several technologies like automatic speech recognition (ASR); speaker identification; language identification; image and video recognition; affect/mood/emotion analysis; and recognition, to name a few. Given the importance of spontaneity in any human-machine conversational speech, reliable recognition of emotion from naturally spoken spontaneous speech is crucial. While emotions, when explicitly demonstrated by an actor, are easy for a machine to recognize, the same is not true in the case of day-to-day, naturally spoken spontaneous speech. The book explores several reasons behind this, but one of the main reasons for this is that people, especially non-actors, do not explicitly demonstrate their emotion when they speak, thus making it difficult for machines to distinguish one emotion from another that is embedded in their spoken speech. This short book, based on some of authors' previously published books, in the area of audio emotion analysis, identifies the practical challenges in analysing emotions in spontaneous speech and puts forward several possible solutions that can assist in robustly determining the emotions expressed in spontaneous speech.

This book explains how gamification, specifically enterprise gamification, can help mangers in multiple areas within an enterprise to improve attrition. Employee Engagement is an important component to foster employee relations with the organization. Gamification by its inherent design helps to increase engagement within an enterprise. Several successful case studies in Gamification are presented, which present new practical tips for Gamification for IT Management. By introducing general IT management concepts related to the specific environment managers work in, the authors then detail the benefits of introducing gamification in this very environment to resolve business issues. IT Managers, as well as HR professionals, Group Heads and Delivery Leaders will find this be a useful resource to understand how Gamification can improve their everyday work. The book can also be used as a reference for engaging learners and employees to improve their productivity in organizations.

Knowledge and Technology Management in Virtual Organizations: Issues, Trends, Opportunities and Solutions presents a collection of the most recent contributions in the areas of organization, knowledge, and technology management in the context of virtual enterprises. This book contains important and in-depth information on four dimensions: semantic, managerial, technological, and social. The semantic dimensions covered in this book are ontological and organizational approaches, concepts, organizational models, and knowledge management models. In respect to managerial dimensions, this book covers process management, integration management, relationship management, process integration, knowledge management, technology integration management, and information integration. ""Knowledge and Technology Management in Virtual Organizations: Issues, Trends, Opportunities and Solutions"" presents the technological dimension by explaining the infrastructures and technologies to support technology and information integration standards and protocols. Lastly, this title highlights the social dimension, including human resources management, human resources integration, social issues, social impact, social requirements, and communities of knowledge.

Technology has changed the way people carry out their daily lives and communicate with one another. Society has become dependent on technology and with that comes the need to understand the advantages and disadvantages that come along with it. Technology-Enhanced Human Interaction in Modern Society is an essential reference source for the latest scholarly research on the technological advances of applied aspects of life such as training, health, information gathering, and social communication. Featuring coverage on subjects including biomedical test instruments, computer animation, and mobile phones, this publication is ideally designed for researchers and academicians seeking current material on technology-based communication.

The Internet has become a new organization tool for innovation, creativity, and competitiveness of all business, educational, and governmental services. With the emergence of new social media networks, organizations are better able to decrease costs and increase capabilities which continue to change the lifestyles and businesses. Adoption of Virtual Technologies for Business, Educational, and Governmental Advancements provides a wide range of coverage on the adoption of technology and aims to provide a better understanding of the topics, research, and discoveries in this significant field. This book aims to cover the emerging issues in e-adoption for researchers, faculty members, and students in hopes of contributing to future discoveries.

This book is an introduction to both offensive and defensive techniques of cyberdeception. Unlike most books on cyberdeception, this book focuses on methods rather than detection. It treats cyberdeception techniques that are current, novel, and practical, and that go well beyond traditional honeypots. It contains features friendly for classroom use: (1) minimal use of programming details and mathematics, (2) modular chapters that can be covered in many orders, (3) exercises with each chapter, and (4) an extensive reference list.Cyberattacks have grown serious enough that understanding and using deception is essential to safe operation in cyberspace. The deception techniques covered are impersonation, delays, fakes, camouflage, false excuses, and social engineering. Special attention is devoted to cyberdeception in industrial control systems and within operating systems. This material is supported by a detailed discussion of how to plan deceptions and calculate their detectability and effectiveness. Some of the chapters provide further technical details of specific deception techniques and their application. Cyberdeception can be conducted ethically and efficiently when necessary by following a few basic principles. This book is intended for advanced undergraduate students and graduate students, as well as computer professionals learning on their own. It will be especially useful for anyone who helps run important and essential computer systems such as critical-infrastructure and military systems.

Mass customization and personalization are widely appreciated as viable and promising strategies which aim to provide products and services that best serve individuals' personal needs with near mass production efficiency. ""Mass Customization for Personalized Communication Environments: Integrating Human Factors"" focuses on the customization of services and communication environments to advance user satisfaction and provide a total redefinition of the way goods and services are created or sold and customers and vendors interact. This authoritative collection of chapters offers relevant theoretical foundations, principles, methodologies, frameworks, and best practices within the field of research.

This book presents perspectives for and by teachers, school and university administrators and educational researchers regarding the great impact pen and tablet technology can have on classrooms and education. presents three distinctly valuable threads of research: Emerging technologies and cutting-edge software invented by researchers and evaluated through real classroom deployments. First-hand perspectives of instructors and administrators who actively implement pen or tablet technologies in their classrooms. Up-and-coming systems that provide insight into the future of pen, touch, and sketch recognition technologies in the classrooms and the curriculums of tomorrow. The Impact of Pen and Touch Technology on Education is an essential read for educators who wish get to grips with ink-based computing and bring their teaching methods into the twenty-first century, as well as for researchers in the areas of education, human-computer interaction and intelligent systems for pedagogical advancement.

This book introduces the concept of the wise home. Whilst smart homes focus on automation technologies, forcing users to deal with complex and incomprehensible control and programming procedures, the wise home is different. By going beyond intelligence (or smartness) the wise home puts technology in the background and supports explicit (enhanced user-experience) as well as implicit (artificial intelligence) interaction adequate to the end-user's needs. The theoretical basis of the wise home is explored and examples for its application for future living are presented based on empirical studies and field work carried out by the author. Principles of HCI and the meaning of the home from differing scientific perspective are discussed and a research model (based on the concept of user experience (UX)) and iterations is introduced. This has resulted in field deployment guides being produced through a systematic development process. The Future Home is Wise, not Smart will be essential reading to home system developers, designers and researchers, responsible for smart home deployment or Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) who will get insights on how to follow a novel approach in developing and adapting smart home systems to their users' needs. Students with an interest in software design for pervasive systems will benefit by receiving information on how to develop and customise systems for the specific needs of living environments.

Readers seeking to gain a handle on the internet's global expansion will find this book rich in scholarly foundations combined with cutting-edge discussion of emerging ICTs and services and the complex societal contexts in which they are embedded. To explore possibilities to the fullest extent, a sociotechnical systems approach is employed, focusing on the interplay of technical, social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics to explore alternative futures (ones that are not part of the dominant discourse about the internet). These shared perspectives are not well addressed elsewhere in current discussions. Awareness of these dynamics, and the fluidity of the future, is important, as humankind moves forward into the uncertain future. Due to the sociotechnical complexity of the Internet, policymakers, businesspeople, and academics worldwide have struggled to keep abreast of developments. This volume's approach is intended to stimulate dialogue between academics and practitioners on a topic that will affect most aspects of human life in the near-term future.

This thesis focuses on the problem of optimizing the quality of network multimedia services. This problem spans multiple domains, from subjective perception of multimedia quality to computer networks management. The work done in this thesis approaches the problem at different levels, developing methods for modeling the subjective perception of quality based on objectively measurable parameters of the multimedia coding process as well as the transport over computer networks. The modeling of subjective perception is motivated by work done in psychophysics, while using Machine Learning techniques to map network conditions to the human perception of video services. Furthermore, the work develops models for efficient control of multimedia systems operating in dynamic networked environments with the goal of delivering optimized Quality of Experience. Overall this thesis delivers a set of methods for monitoring and optimizing the quality of multimedia services that adapt to the dynamic environment of computer networks in which they operate.