In practice, the design and architecture of a cloud varies among cloud providers. We present a generic evaluation framework for the performance, availability and reliability characteristics of various cloud platforms. We describe a generic benchmark architecture for cloud databases, specifically NoSQL database as a service. It measures the performance of replication delay and monetary cost.

Service Level Agreements (SLA) represent the contract which captures the agreed upon guarantees between a service provider and its customers. The specifications of existing service level agreements (SLA) for cloud services are not designed to flexibly handle even relatively straightforward performance and technical requirements of consumer applications. We present a novel approach for SLA-based management of cloud-hosted databases from the consumer perspective and an end-to-end framework for consumer-centric SLA management of cloud-hosted databases. The framework facilitates adaptive and dynamic provisioning of the database tier of the software applications based on application-defined policies for satisfying their own SLA performance requirements, avoiding the cost of any SLA violation and controlling the monetary cost of the allocated computing resources. In this framework, the SLA of the consumer applications are declaratively defined in terms of goals which are subjected to a number of constraints that are specific to the application requirements. The framework continuously monitors the application-defined SLA and automatically triggers the execution of necessary corrective actions (scaling out/in the database tier) when required. The framework is database platform-agnostic, uses virtualization-based database replication mechanisms and requires zero source code changes of the cloud-hosted software applications.

This book gives a wide-ranging description of the many facets of complex dynamic networks and systems within an infrastructure provided by integrated control and supervision: envisioning, design, experimental exploration, and implementation. The theoretical contributions and the case studies presented can reach control goals beyond those of stabilization and output regulation or even of adaptive control. Reporting on work of the Control of Complex Systems (COSY) research program, Complex Systems follows from and expands upon an earlier collection: Control of Complex Systems by introducing novel theoretical techniques for hard-to-control networks and systems. The major common feature of all the superficially diverse contributions encompassed by this book is that of spotting and exploiting possible areas of mutual reinforcement between control, computing and communications. These help readers to achieve not only robust stable plant system operation but also properties such as collective adaptivity, integrity and survivability at the same time retaining desired performance quality. Applications in the individual chapters are drawn from: * the general implementation of model-based diagnosis and systems engineering in medical technology, in communication, and in power and airport networks; * the creation of biologically inspired control brains and safety-critical human-machine systems, * process-industrial uses; * biped robots; * large space structures and unmanned aerial vehicles; and * precision servomechanisms and other advanced technologies. Complex Systems provides researchers from engineering, applied mathematics and computer science backgrounds with innovative theoretical and practical insights into the state-of-the-art of complex networks and systems research. It employs physical implementations and extensive computer simulations. Graduate students specializing in complex-systems

The massive growth of the Internet has made an enormous amount of infor- tion available to us. However, it is becoming very difficult for users to acquire an - plicable one. Therefore, some techniques such as information filtering have been - troduced to address this issue. Recommender systems filter information that is useful to a user from a large amount of information. Many e-commerce sites use rec- mender systems to filter specific information that users want out of an overload of - formation [2]. For example, Amazon. com is a good example of the success of - commender systems [1]. Over the past several years, a considerable amount of research has been conducted on recommendation systems. In general, the usefulness of the recommendation is measured based on its accuracy [3]. Although a high - commendation accuracy can indicate a user's favorite items, there is a fault in that - ly similar items will be recommended. Several studies have reported that users might not be satisfied with a recommendation even though it exhibits high recommendation accuracy [4]. For this reason, we consider that a recommendation having only accuracy is - satisfactory. The serendipity of a recommendation is an important element when c- sidering a user's long-term profits. A recommendation that brings serendipity to users would solve the problem of "user weariness" and would lead to exploitation of users' tastes. The viewpoint of the diversity of the recommendation as well as its accuracy should be required for future recommender systems.

NewInternetdevelopmentsposegreaterandgreaterprivacydilemmas. Inthe- formation Society, the need for individuals to protect their autonomy and retain control over their personal information is becoming more and more important. Today, informationandcommunicationtechnologies-andthepeopleresponsible for making decisions about them, designing, and implementing them-scarcely consider those requirements, thereby potentially putting individuals' privacy at risk. The increasingly collaborative character of the Internet enables anyone to compose services and contribute and distribute information. It may become hard for individuals to manage and control information that concerns them and particularly how to eliminate outdated or unwanted personal information, thus leavingpersonalhistoriesexposedpermanently. Theseactivitiesraisesubstantial new challenges for personal privacy at the technical, social, ethical, regulatory, and legal levels: How can privacy in emerging Internet applications such as c- laborative scenarios and virtual communities be protected? What frameworks and technical tools could be utilized to maintain life-long privacy? DuringSeptember3-10,2009, IFIP(InternationalFederationforInformation Processing)workinggroups9. 2 (Social Accountability),9. 6/11. 7(IT Misuseand theLaw),11. 4(NetworkSecurity)and11. 6(IdentityManagement)heldtheir5th InternationalSummerSchoolincooperationwiththeEUFP7integratedproject PrimeLife in Sophia Antipolis and Nice, France. The focus of the event was on privacy and identity managementfor emerging Internet applications throughout a person's lifetime. The aim of the IFIP Summer Schools has been to encourage young a- demic and industry entrants to share their own ideas about privacy and identity management and to build up collegial relationships with others. As such, the Summer Schools havebeen introducing participants to the social implications of information technology through the process of informed discussion.

Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) was conceived in 1996 as a signaling protocol for inviting users to multimedia conferences. With this development, the next big Internet revolution silently started. That was the revolution which would end up converting the Internet into a total communication system which would allow people to talk to each other, see each other, work collaboratively or send messages in real time. Internet telephony and, in general, Internet multimedia, is the new revolution today and SIP is the key protocol which allows this revolution to grow.
The book explains, in tutorial fashion, the underlying technologies that enable real-time IP multimedia communication services in the Internet (voice, video, presence, instant messaging, online picture sharing, white-boarding, etc). Focus is on session initiation protocol (SIP) but also covers session description protocol (SDP), Real-time transport protocol (RTP), and message session relay protocol (MSRP). In addition, it will also touch on other application-related protocols and refer to the latest research work in IETF and 3GPP about these topics. (3GPP stands for "third-generation partnership project" which is a collaboration agreement between ETSI (Europe), ARIB/TTC (Japan), CCSA (China), ATIS (North America) and TTA (South Korea).) The book includes discussion of leading edge theory (which is key to really understanding the technology) accompanied by Java examples that illustrate the theoretical concepts.
Throughout the book, in addition to the code snippets, the reader is guided to build a simple but functional IP soft-phone therefore demonstrating the theory with practical examples.
This book covers IP multimedia from both a theoretical and practical point of view focusing on letting the reader understand the concepts and put them into practice using Java. It includes lots of drawings, protocol diagrams, UML sequence diagrams and code snippets that allow the reader to rapidly understand the concepts.

KEY FEATURES
* Focus on HOW multimedia communications over the Internet works to allow readers to really understand and implement the technology
* Explains how SIP works, including many programming examples so the reader can understand abstract concepts like SIP dialogs, SIP transactions, etc.
* It is not focused on just VoIP. It looks At a wide array of enhanced communication services related to SIP enabling the reader put this technology into practice.
* Includes nearly 100 references to the latest standards and working group activities in the IETF, bringing the reader completely up to date.
* Provides a step-by-step tutorial on how to build a basic, though functional, IP soft-phone allowing the reader to put concepts into practice.
* For advanced readers, the book also explains how to build a SIP proxy and a SIP registrar to enhance one's expertise and marketability in this fast moving area.

The Semantic Web proposes the mark-up of content on the Web using formal ontologies that structure underlying data for the purpose of comprehensive and transportable machine understanding. ""Semantic Web Services: Theory, Tools and Applications"" brings contributions from researchers, scientists from both industry and academia, and representatives from different communities to study, understand, and explore the theory, tools, and applications of the Semantic Web. ""Semantic Web Services: Theory, Tools and Applications"" binds computing involving the Semantic Web, ontologies, knowledge management, Web services, and Web processes into one fully comprehensive resource, serving as the platform for exchange of both practical technologies and far reaching research.

In this volume, Rudi Studer and his team deliver a self-contained compendium about the exciting field of Semantic Web services, starting with the basic standards and technologies and also including advanced applications in eGovernment and eHealth. The contributions provide both the theoretical background and the practical knowledge necessary to understand the essential ideas and to design new cutting-edge applications.

'A brilliant page-turner by one of Holland's finest investigative journalists' Rutger Bregman, author of Humankind 'Essential . . . What's revealed are networks of spies and criminals fighting an invisible war that involves us all' Eliot Higgins, bestselling author of We Are Bellingcat Summer 2017: computer screens go blank in 150 countries. The NHS is so affected that hospitals can only take in patients for A&E. Ambulances are grounded. Computer screens turn on spontaneously and warnings appear. Employees who desperately pull the plugs are too late. Restarting is pointless; the computers are locked. And now the attackers ask each victim for money. This is hijack software. It is just one example of how vulnerable the digital world has made us. Based on the cases he investigated over a period of six years, award-winning Dutch journalist Huib Modderkolk takes the reader on a tour of the corridors and back doors of the globalised digital world. He reconstructs British-American espionage operations and reveals how the power relationships between countries enable intelligence services to share and withhold data from each other. Looking at key players including Edward Snowden, Russian hackers Cozy Bear and Evgeniy Bogachev, 'the Pablo Escobar of the digital era', Modderkolk opens our eyes to the dark underbelly of the digital world with the narrative drive of a thriller.

Information infrastructures are integrated solutions based on the fusion of information and communication technologies. They are characterized by the large amount of data that must be managed accordingly. An information infrastructure requires an efficient and effective information retrieval system to provide access to the items stored in the infrastructure. Terminological Ontologies: Design, Management and Practical Applications presents the main problems that affect the discovery systems of information infrastructures to manage terminological models, and introduces a combination of research tools and applications in Semantic Web technologies. This book specifically analyzes the need to create, relate, and integrate the models required for an infrastructure by elaborating on the problem of accessing these models in an efficient manner via interoperable services and components. Terminological Ontologies: Design, Management and Practical Applications is geared toward information management systems and semantic web professionals working as project managers, application developers, government workers and more. Advanced undergraduate and graduate level students, professors and researchers focusing on computer science will also find this book valuable as a secondary text or reference book.

In the early days of the Web a need was recognized for a language to display 3D objects through a browser. An HTML-like language, VRML, was proposed in 1994 and became the standard for describing interactive 3D objects and worlds on the Web. 3D Web courses were started, several best-selling books were published, and VRML continues to be used today. However VRML, because it was based on HTML, is a stodgy language that is not easy to incorporate with other applications and has been difficult to add features to. Meanwhile, applications for interactive 3D graphics have been exploding in areas such as medicine, science, industry, and entertainment. There is a strong need for a set of modern Web-based technologies, applied within a standard extensible framework, to enable a new generation of modeling & simulation applications to emerge, develop, and interoperate. X3D is the next generation open standard for 3D on the web. It is the result of several years of development by the Web 3D Consortium's X3D Task Group. Instead of a large monolithic specification (like VRML), which requires full adoption for compliance, X3D is a component-based architecture that can support applications ranging from a simple non-interactive animation to the latest streaming or rendering applications. X3D replaces VRML, but also provides compatibility with existing VRML content and browsers. Don Brutzman organized the first symposium on VRML and is playing a similar role with X3D; he is a founding member of the consortium. Len Daly is a professional member of the consortium and both Len and Don have been involved with the development of the standard from the start.
* The first book on the new way to present interactive 3D content over the Web, written by two of the designers of the standard
* Plentiful illustrations and screen shots in the full color text
* Companion website with extensive content, including the X3D specification, sample code and applications, content creation tools, and demos of compatible Web browsers

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.

Visual Knowledge Modeling for Semantic Web Technologies: Models and Ontologies aims to make visual knowledge modeling available to individuals as an intellectual method and a set of tools at different levels of formalization. It aims to provide to its readers a simple, yet powerful visual language to structure their thoughts, analyze information, transform it to personal knowledge, and communicate information to support knowledge acquisition in collaborative activities.

This book addresses the challenges of social network and social media analysis in terms of prediction and inference. The chapters collected here tackle these issues by proposing new analysis methods and by examining mining methods for the vast amount of social content produced. Social Networks (SNs) have become an integral part of our lives; they are used for leisure, business, government, medical, educational purposes and have attracted billions of users. The challenges that stem from this wide adoption of SNs are vast. These include generating realistic social network topologies, awareness of user activities, topic and trend generation, estimation of user attributes from their social content, and behavior detection. This text has applications to widely used platforms such as Twitter and Facebook and appeals to students, researchers, and professionals in the field.

This textbook presents the mathematical theory and techniques necessary for analyzing and modeling high-performance global networks, such as the Internet. The three main building blocks of high-performance networks are links, switching equipment connecting the links together and software employed at the end nodes and intermediate switches. This book provides the basic techniques for modeling and analyzing these last two components. Topics covered include, but are not limited to: Markov chains and queuing analysis, traffic modeling, interconnection networks and switch architectures and buffering strategies.

This book is the second installment of a two-volume series on IPv6 and the KAME implementation. This book discusses those protocols that are found in more capable IPv6 devices, are commonly deployed in more complex IPv6 network environments, or are not specific to IPv6 but are extended to support IPv6. Specifically, this book engages the readers in advanced topics such as routing, multicasting, DNS, DHCPv6, mobility, and security.
This two-volume series covers a wide spectrum of the IPv6 technology, help the readers establish solid and empirical understanding on IPv6 and the KAME reference implementation paralleled by none.
Key Features:
* Extensive code listings with meticulous line-by-line explanation of rationale and use for KAME snapshot implementations on advanced IPv6 related protocols, including:
-Unicast and multicast routing and DNS client based on KAME snapshot dated April 2003, which are a base of more recent versions of BSD variants
-Mobile IPv6 based on KAME snapshot dated July 2004, a predecessor version of the "SHISA" implementation
-DHCPv6 based on KAME snapshot dated May 2005, a base of the WIDE-DHCPv6 implementation available at SourceForge today
* Numerous diagrams and illustrations help in visualizing the implementation
* In-depth discussion of the standards provides intrinsic understanding of the specifications
* An introduction to the IP security protocols along with the use of the racoon key exchange daemon
* Two CD-ROMs filled with the complete KAME IPv6 protocol stack and FreeBSD software

* The only authoritative reference "cookbook" for anyone interested in advanced IPv6 topics and protocols.
* Line-by-line walk through of real code helps the reader master IPv6 implementation
* Comprehensive in scope, based on a working standard, and thoroughly illustrated to bring the protocols alive.

Explores the techniques that assist users in obtaining information by harnessing other users' expert knowledge or search experience.

The Social and Cognitive Impacts of E-Commerce on Modern Organizations includes articles addressing the social, cultural, organizational, and cognitive impacts of e-commerce technologies and advances on organizations around the world. Looking specifically at the impacts of electronic commerce on consumer behavior, as well as the impact of e-commerce on organizational behavior, development, and management in organizations. This important new book aims to expand the overall body of knowledge regarding the human aspects of electronic commerce technologies and utilization in modern organizations and to assist researchers and practitioners to devise more effective systems for managing the human side of e-commerce.

An important aspect of managing human capital in the 21st century workplace is managing the interface between humans and information technology, particularly the World Wide Web. The Web has changed not only how and where business is conducted, but also how and where work is done. Personal web usage has created many desirable organizational outcomes such as, reducing the cost of communication, restructuring how work is performed. However, it has also generated undesirable outcomes, for instance, loss of intellectual property, sexual harassment lawsuits, productivity losses due to surfing usage, security threats, and network bandwidth overload by visiting web sites for travel, leisure, and sports, and news. The mechanisms controlling the interface of individual and institution in this flexible, open, autonomous work environment created by the Web are emergent phenomena, and the lines between legitimate usage and usage are just beginning to be understood. Personal Web Usage in the Workplace: A Guide to Effective Human Resources Management examines topics which embrace a wide array of Personal Web Usage issues such as antecedents of Web usage, frameworks/models of Web usage, Web technologies for monitoring usage, Web usage within other cultures and countries, Measurement issues of Web usage, and the impact of Web usage among others.

Offers access to projects of some of the top professionals working in Real-Time Content Production today like engineering teams from "The Mandalorian" & League of Legends as well as video content designers for The Foo Fighters and Back to the Future, The Musical Includes reviews of real-time content production workflow for virtual production Features discussion from the software developers about the origins of their platforms