Cloud service benchmarking can provide important, sometimes surprising insights into the quality of services and leads to a more quality-driven design and engineering of complex software architectures that use such services. Starting with a broad introduction to the field, this book guides readers step-by-step through the process of designing, implementing and executing a cloud service benchmark, as well as understanding and dealing with its results. It covers all aspects of cloud service benchmarking, i.e., both benchmarking the cloud and benchmarking in the cloud, at a basic level. The book is divided into five parts: Part I discusses what cloud benchmarking is, provides an overview of cloud services and their key properties, and describes the notion of a cloud system and cloud-service quality. It also addresses the benchmarking lifecycle and the motivations behind running benchmarks in particular phases of an application lifecycle. Part II then focuses on benchmark design by discussing key objectives (e.g., repeatability, fairness, or understandability) and defining metrics and measurement methods, and by giving advice on developing own measurement methods and metrics. Next, Part III explores benchmark execution and implementation challenges and objectives as well as aspects like runtime monitoring and result collection. Subsequently, Part IV addresses benchmark results, covering topics such as an abstract process for turning data into insights, data preprocessing, and basic data analysis methods. Lastly, Part V concludes the book with a summary, suggestions for further reading and pointers to benchmarking tools available on the Web. The book is intended for researchers and graduate students of computer science and related subjects looking for an introduction to benchmarking cloud services, but also for industry practitioners who are interested in evaluating the quality of cloud services or who want to assess key qualities of their own implementations through cloud-based experiments.

This book throws new light on the way in which the Internet impacts on democracy. Based on Jurgen Habermas' discourse-theoretical reconstruction of democracy, it examines one of the world's largest, most diverse but also most unequal democracies, Brazil, in terms of the broad social and legal effects the internet has had. Focusing on the Brazilian constitutional evolution, the book examines how the Internet might impact on the legitimacy of a democratic order and if, and how, it might yield opportunities for democratic empowerment. The book also assesses the ways in which law, as an institution and a system, reacts to the changes and challenges brought about by the Internet: the ways in which law may retain its strength as an integrative force, avoiding a 'virtual' legitimacy crisis.

The widespread use of XML in business and scientific databases has prompted the development of methodologies, techniques, and systems for effectively managing and analyzing XML data. This has increasingly attracted the attention of different research communities, including database, information retrieval, pattern recognition, and machine learning, from which several proposals have been offered to address problems in XML data management and knowledge discovery. XML Data Mining: Models, Methods, and Applications aims to collect knowledge from experts of database, information retrieval, machine learning, and knowledge management communities in developing models, methods, and systems for XML data mining. This book addresses key issues and challenges in XML data mining, offering insights into the various existing solutions and best practices for modeling, processing, analyzing XML data, and for evaluating performance of XML data mining algorithms and systems.

This book covers aspects of human re-identification problems related to computer vision and machine learning. Working from a practical perspective, it introduces novel algorithms and designs for human re-identification that bridge the gap between research and reality. The primary focus is on building a robust, reliable, distributed and scalable smart surveillance system that can be deployed in real-world scenarios. This book also includes detailed discussions on pedestrian candidates detection, discriminative feature extraction and selection, dimension reduction, distance/metric learning, and decision/ranking enhancement.This book is intended for professionals and researchers working in computer vision and machine learning. Advanced-level students of computer science will also find the content valuable.

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.

As the growing relationship between individuals and technology continue to play a vital role in our society and work place, the progress and execution of information technology communication systems is important in maintaining our current way of life. Knowledge and Technological Development Effects on Organizational and Social Structures provides a wide ranging discussion on the exchanging of research ideas and practices in an effort to bring together the social and technical aspects within organizations and society. This collection focuses on new ideas and studies for research, students, and practitioners.

The creative citizen unbound introduces the concept of 'creative citizenship' to explore the potential of civically-minded creative individuals in the era of social media and in the context of an expanding creative economy. Contributors examine the value and nature of creative citizenship, not only in terms of its contribution to civic life and to social capital but also to various and more contested definitions of value, both economic and cultural.

This timely text/reference presents a comprehensive review of the workflow scheduling algorithms and approaches that are rapidly becoming essential for a range of software applications, due to their ability to efficiently leverage diverse and distributed cloud resources. Particular emphasis is placed on how workflow-based automation in software-defined cloud centers and hybrid IT systems can significantly enhance resource utilization and optimize energy efficiency. Topics and features: describes dynamic workflow and task scheduling techniques that work across multiple (on-premise and off-premise) clouds; presents simulation-based case studies, and details of real-time test bed-based implementations; offers analyses and comparisons of a broad selection of static and dynamic workflow algorithms; examines the considerations for the main parameters in projects limited by budget and time constraints; covers workflow management systems, workflow modeling and simulation techniques, and machine learning approaches for predictive workflow analytics. This must-read work provides invaluable practical insights from three subject matter experts in the cloud paradigm, which will empower IT practitioners and industry professionals in their daily assignments. Researchers and students interested in next-generation software-defined cloud environments will also greatly benefit from the material in the book.

An essential tool for dispute resolution professionals as well as for anyone considering using dispute resolution in their lives and work, Online Dispute Resolution explains the many diverse and unique applications of doing conflict resolution online. The expert authors examine the tremendous growth of online dispute resolution-including its use by eBay and other e-commerce companies-and reveal the enormous possibilities to come, along with the many employment opportunities for practitioners in the field. They show how the online environment will affect the role of those who are concerned with dispute resolution just as it has brought changes to those who practice law, sell stocks, or run for office. For those who see the value of technology as a critical building block in the future of dispute resolution, Online Dispute Resolution will be an indispensable resource.

This book delivers concise coverage of classical methods and new developments related to indoor location-based services. It collects results from isolated domains including geometry, artificial intelligence, statistics, cooperative algorithms, and distributed systems and thus provides an accessible overview of fundamental methods and technologies. This makes it an ideal starting point for researchers, students, and professionals in pervasive computing. Location-based services are services using the location of a mobile computing device as their primary input. While such services are fairly easy to implement outside buildings thanks to accessible global positioning systems and high-quality environmental information, the situation inside buildings is fundamentally different. In general, there is no simple way of determining the position of a moving target inside a building without an additional dedicated infrastructure. The book's structure is learning oriented, starting with a short introduction to wireless communication systems and basic positioning techniques and ending with advanced features like event detection, simultaneous localization and mapping, and privacy aspects. Readers who are not familiar with the individual topics will be able to work through the book from start to finish. At the same time all chapters are self-contained to support readers who are already familiar with some of the content and only want to pick selected topics that are of particular interest.

This book presents vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) from the their onset, gradually going into technical details, providing a clear understanding of both theoretical foundations and more practical investigation. The editors gathered top-ranking authors to provide comprehensiveness and timely content; the invited authors were carefully selected from a list of who's who in the respective field of interest: there are as many from Academia as from Standardization and Industry sectors from around the world. The covered topics are organized around five Parts starting from an historical overview of vehicular communications and standardization/harmonization activities (Part I), then progressing to the theoretical foundations of VANETs and a description of the day-one standard-compliant solutions (Part II), hence going into details of vehicular networking and security (Part III) and to the tools to study VANETs, from mobility and channel models, to network simulators and field trial methodologies (Part IV), and finally looking into the future of VANETs by investigating alternative, complementary communication technologies, innovative networking paradigms and visionary applications (Part V). The way the content is organized, with a differentiated level of technical details, makes the book a valuable reference for a large pool of target readers ranging from undergraduate, graduate and PhD students, to wireless scientists and engineers, to service providers and stakeholders in the automotive, ITS, ICT sectors.

This book reports on a novel concept of mechanism transitions for the design of highly scalable and adaptive publish/subscribe systems. First, it introduces relevant mechanisms for location-based filtering and locality-aware dissemination of events based on a thorough review of the state-of-the-art. This is followed by a detailed description of the design of a transition-enabled publish/subscribe system that enables seamless switching between mechanisms during runtime. Lastly, the proposed concepts are evaluated within the challenging context of location-based mobile applications. The book assesses in depth the performance and cost of transition execution, highlighting the impact of the proposed state transfer mechanism and the potential of coexisting transition-enabled mechanisms.

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.

Endorsements Demi Getchko, Member of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) and Chairman Executive Committee of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br)."This is the right book at the right time, when Internet governance is in the headlines. The political visions behind Brazil's governance system are very advanced and embody the rich diversity of our academic, political, technical, entrepreneurial, and civil society stakeholders. That diversity has allowed the Internet to flourish in our country. Peter Knight captures all these visions in a book that the reader will find both provocative and pleasurable to read." Michael Stanton, Director of Research and Development, National Education and Research Network (RNP). "This book provides a very informative description of how Brazilian governments and allied institutions have together built, and continue to extend, the communications infrastructure required for a modern knowledge-based society. The job is by no means complete, but the book shows examples of how future extensions can continue to be built to improve the result. Unsurprisingly, a common thread throughout the book is the emphasis on providing ubiquitous fiber optical infrastructure so that future expansion can reuse existing communications cables." Steve Goldstein, Former National Science Foundation Program Officer for International Internet Connections and former Member of the Board of ICANN. In this short book, Dr. Knight, a World Bank, Washington, transplant to Brazil, moves from a meticulously detailed rendition of the development of networking in Brazil through to the adoption of Internet technology by the academic community. Then, he follows the path to commercialization and present day status and the very latest global policy implications for Internet governance (e.g., NET Mundial). A gift to Internet historians and policy wonks as well Nagy Hanna, Author, Advisor, Academic. Former senior advisor on e-transformation and chief strategist at the World Bank. The Internet is central to realizing any eTransformation strategy. Harnessing this 21st century infrastructure is increasingly critical for the economic health and competitiveness of nations. Peter is a keen observer of the Internet's evolution, use, and governance in Brazil. This book is a timely and readable analysis that should help both external observers and Brazilians understand this important country's approach to the Internet. Vanda Scartezini, Former National Secretary for Information Technology Policy, Brazilian Ministry and Science and Technology, and twice member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and Member of the Internet Society, Brazil Chapter. Extremely relevant for rescuing the memory of Internet's evolution in Brazil. The book provides an excellent opportunity for the youth of today and tomorrow understand the path that led to them this fantastic opportunity for personal and social development that is the Internet.

In this expert-led guide, Dr Harry Barry draws on his decades of experience as a doctor to show readers how we can improve our emotional connections and transform our mental wellbeing.

The Power of Connection will empower you with the fascinating science behind our existing behaviours and all the need-to-know tips and techniques for improving our skills of emotional connection. From the neuroscience behind communication to the role of verbal language, the importance of setting to the power of humour, this book gives you all the tools you need to thrive in any networking or social situation.

This book will help you to:

• Feel less lonely
• Experience deeper friendships and personal relationships
• Be someone who makes others feel comfortable
• Be more effective in the workplace
• Experience all the positive effects of these changes on your mental and physical health

Including case studies and practical exercises, The Power of Connection offers a step-by-step roadmap to improved social confidence, better workplace communication and more fulfilling emotional connections, with ourselves and others.

This unique text/reference provides an overview of crossbar-based interconnection networks, offering novel perspectives on these important components of high-performance, parallel-processor systems. A particular focus is placed on solutions to the blocking and scalability problems. Topics and features: introduces the fundamental concepts in interconnection networks in multi-processor systems, including issues of blocking, scalability, and crossbar networks; presents a classification of interconnection networks, and provides information on recognizing each of the networks; examines the challenges of blocking and scalability, and analyzes the different solutions that have been proposed; reviews a variety of different approaches to improve fault tolerance in multistage interconnection networks; discusses the scalable crossbar network, which is a non-blocking interconnection network that uses small-sized crossbar switches as switching elements. This invaluable work will be of great benefit to students, researchers and practitioners interested in computer networks, parallel processing and reliability engineering. The text is also essential reading for course modules on interconnection network design and reliability.

Online Social Networks: Human Cognitive Constraints in Facebook and Twitter provides new insights into the structural properties of personal online social networks and the mechanisms underpinning human online social behavior. As the availability of digital communication data generated by social media is revolutionizing the field of social networks analysis, the text discusses the use of large- scale datasets to study the structural properties of online ego networks, to compare them with the properties of general human social networks, and to highlight additional properties. Users will find the data collected and conclusions drawn useful during design or research service initiatives that involve online and mobile social network environments.

This book offers the first comprehensive view on integrated circuit and system design for the Internet of Things (IoT), and in particular for the tiny nodes at its edge. The authors provide a fresh perspective on how the IoT will evolve based on recent and foreseeable trends in the semiconductor industry, highlighting the key challenges, as well as the opportunities for circuit and system innovation to address them. This book describes what the IoT really means from the design point of view, and how the constraints imposed by applications translate into integrated circuit requirements and design guidelines. Chapter contributions equally come from industry and academia. After providing a system perspective on IoT nodes, this book focuses on state-of-the-art design techniques for IoT applications, encompassing the fundamental sub-systems encountered in Systems on Chip for IoT: ultra-low power digital architectures and circuits low- and zero-leakage memories (including emerging technologies) circuits for hardware security and authentication System on Chip design methodologies on-chip power management and energy harvesting ultra-low power analog interfaces and analog-digital conversion short-range radios miniaturized battery technologies packaging and assembly of IoT integrated systems (on silicon and non-silicon substrates). As a common thread, all chapters conclude with a prospective view on the foreseeable evolution of the related technologies for IoT. The concepts developed throughout the book are exemplified by two IoT node system demonstrations from industry. The unique balance between breadth and depth of this book: enables expert readers quickly to develop an understanding of the specific challenges and state-of-the-art solutions for IoT, as well as their evolution in the foreseeable future provides non-experts with a comprehensive introduction to integrated circuit design for IoT, and serves as an excellent starting point for further learning, thanks to the broad coverage of topics and selected references makes it very well suited for practicing engineers and scientists working in the hardware and chip design for IoT, and as textbook for senior undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students ( familiar with analog and digital circuits).

The Proceedings of The Third International Conference on Communications, Signal Processing and Systems provides the state-of-art developments of Communications, Signal Processing and Systems. The conference covered such topics as wireless communications, networks, systems, signal processing for communications. This book is a collection of contributions coming out of Third International Conference on Communications, Signal Processing and Systems held on July 2014 in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China.