This book covers the problem of control and intelligent systems design using soft-computing techniques in an integrated manner. It presents both theory and applications, including industrial applications, and contains numerous worked examples, problems and case studies. The book covers the state-of-the-art in soft-computing techniques, giving the reader sufficient knowledge to tackle a wide range of complex systems for which traditional techniques are inadequate. It integrates theory and practice through the use of numerous worked examples and includes extensive coverage of control applciations. Anyone interested in artificial intelligence and/or control engineering.

Soft computing has changed the way we think about artificial intelligence. Its biology-inspired approach to intelligent systems design combines approximate reasoning, artificial neural networks and evolutionary computing to solve real-world problems where conventional "crisp" computing techniques may have limitations.

If you are studying soft computing, intelligent machines or intelligent control then this book will give you the theory you need together with a vast array of examples and practical material, providing you with a thorough grounding in this exciting field. Practising professionals will find the introductory material, application-oriented techniques and case studies especially helpful.

Key features

• Theory meets practice through numerous examples and solved real-world problems.
• Comprehensive case studies demonstrate a wide range of applications across science and engineering.
• Extensive coverage of intelligent systems design including intelligent control and time series prediction.

Fakhreddine Karray is Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada. He was Program Chair of the 2002 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control, is Associate Editor of four related journals and writes extensively in the area.

Clarence de Silva is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. He is Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Control and Intelligent Systems, writes extensively in the area and has served as a consultant for IBM and Westinghouse in the US.

The second edition of this book incorporates two relational database design methodologies to teach readers how databases can be implemented in Microsoft Access and Oracle. Not only does the book provide a comprehensive methodology for relational database design, but the authors also show readers how to use the latest installation of UML. Fifteen sample database designs chosen from seven common business areas are located in an Appendix, and an evaluation copy of Rational Rose software is included on the accompanying CD-ROM. Database designers wanting to learn more about relational database theory as well as those just wanting to expand there general database technology knowledge.

Database Solutions: A step-by-step guide to building databases 2/e

Are you responsible for designing and creating the databases that keep your business running? Or are you studying for a module in database design? If so, Database Solutions is for you! This fully revised and updated edition will make the database design and build process smoother, quicker and more reliable.

Recipe for database success

• Take one RDMS - any of the major commercial products will do: Oracle, Informix, SQL Server, Access, Paradox
• Add one thorough reading of Database Solutions if you are an inexperienced database designer, or one recap of the methodology if you are an old hand
• Use the design and implementation frameworks to plan your timetable, use a common data model that fits your requirements and adapt as necessary

 

Features

• Includes hints and tips for success with comprehensive guidance on avoiding pitfalls and traps

• Shows how to create data models using the UML design notation

• Includes two full-length coded example databases written on Microsoft Access 2002 and Oracle 9i, plus 15 sample data models to adapt to your needs, chosen from seven common business areas

New for this edition!

• New chapters on SQL (Structured Query Language) and QBE (Query by Example), plus a chapter on database administration and security. A new chapter on current and emerging trends in the area ensures that the book is up to date

• The database design methodology has been improved and simplified

• A companion website contains an implementation of the StayHome database that runs throughout the book, plus SQL scripts for 15 sample data models, lecture slides, sample solutions for all exercises from the book plus suggested exam questions and answers, and a variety of possible courseworks

The authors

Thomas Connolly was a designer of RAPPORT, the world's first commercial portable DBMS, and of the LIFESPAN configuration management tool - a winner of the British Design Award. Carolyn Begg specializes in the application of database systems in biological research. They are both authors of the best selling Database Systems, also published by Pearson Education, which has sold nearly 200,000 copies since publication in 1995.

 

About the Author

Thomas Connolly was a designer of RAPPORT, the world's first commercial portable DBMS, and of the LIFESPAN configuration management tool -- a winner of the British Design Award.

Carolyn Begg specializes in the application of database systems in biological research. They are both authors of the best-selling book Database Systems, also published by Addison-Wesley.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the C# programming language introduced by Microsoft with the first official release in February 2002. C# is part of a much larger project called .NET, which provides a vast library of classes allowing software developers to create applications to meet almost any need in the industrial and research areas.

A prospective reader of this book will no doubt want to know what is expected of him or her. As the title implies, this book is written primarily for readers who have some (but not necessarily a lot of) programming experience using Java, such as might be gained from an introductory programming course. At the moment, Java is a very popular language in such courses at colleges and universities worldwide, due to its clean structure and relatively shallow learning curve.

However, readers who have some experience with object-oriented programming in other languages such as C++ should also be able to follow the book, as although in the early chapters there are numerous comparisons with Java, the material on C# itself does not actually depend on the reader understanding Java code specifically.

Those of you who have glanced at the table of contents will notice that the later chapters in the book deal with topics such as graphics, databases and so on, and may wonder if they will be able to understand the material in them. This book assumes no prior knowledge of any of these topics, so you should be confident that the material here will be accessible. Most introductory courses are taught using only programs that produce textual output, since dealing with graphical interfaces involves concepts that beginners find rather daunting.

Safeguard Your Organization’s Information!

Now that information has become the lifeblood of your organization, you must be especially vigilant about assuring it. The hacker, spy, or cyber-thief of today can breach any barrier if it remains unchanged long enough or has even the tiniest leak. In Information Assurance Architecture, Keith D. Willett draws on his over 25 years of technical, security, and business experience to provide a framework for organizations to align information assurance with the enterprise and their overall mission.

The Tools to Protect Your Secrets from Exposure

This work provides the security industry with the know-how to create a formal information assurance architecture that complements an enterprise architecture, systems engineering, and the enterprise life cycle management (ELCM). Information Assurance Architecture consists of a framework, a process, and many supporting tools, templates and methodologies. The framework provides a reference model for the consideration of security in many contexts and from various perspectives; the process provides direction on how to apply that framework. Mr. Willett teaches readers how to identify and use the right tools for the right job. Furthermore, he demonstrates a disciplined approach in thinking about, planning, implementing and managing security, emphasizing that solid solutions can be made impenetrable when they are seamlessly integrated with the whole of an enterprise.

Understand the Enterprise Context

This book covers many information assurance subjects, including disaster recovery and firewalls. The objective is to present security services and security mechanisms in the context of information assurance architecture, and in an enterprise context of managing business risk. Anyone who utilizes the concepts taught in these pages will find them to be a valuable weapon in the arsenal of information protection.

Data Warehousing and Knowledge Discovery have been widely accepted as key technologies for enterprises and organizations as a means of improving their abilities in data analysis, decision support, and the automatic extraction of knowledge from data. With the exponentially growing amount of information to be included in the decision making process, the data to be processed is becoming more and more complex in both structure and semantics. Consequently, the process of retrieval and knowledge discovery from this huge amount of heterogeneous complex data constitutes the reality check for research in the area.

During the past few years, the International Conference on Data Warehousing and Knowledge Discovery (DaWaK) has become one of the most important international scientific events to bring together researchers, developers and practitioners. The DaWaK conferences serve as a prominent forum for discussing the latest research issues and experiences in developing and deploying data warehousing and knowledge discovery systems, applications, and solutions. This year’s conference, the 10th International Conference on Data Warehousing and Knowledge Discovery (DaWaK 2008), continued the tradition of facilitating the cross-disciplinary exchange of ideas, experience and potential research directions. DaWaK 2008 sought to disseminate innovative principles, methods, algorithms and solutions to challenging problems faced in the development of data warehousing, knowledge discovery and data mining applications.

The papers presented covered a number of broad research areas on both theoretical and practical aspects of data warehousing and knowledge discovery. In the areas of data warehousing, the topics covered included advanced techniques in OLAP and multidimensional designing and modeling, advanced OLAP and Cube Processing, innovation of ETL processes and data integration problems, materialized view optimization, distributed and parallel processing in data warehousing, data warehouses and data mining applications integration, multidimensional analysis of text documents, and data warehousing for real-world applications such as medical applications, spatial applications, and bioinformatics data warehouses. In the areas of data mining and knowledge discovery, the topics covered included text mining and taxonomy, web information discovery, stream data analysis and mining, ontology-based data and nonstandard data mining techniques, machine learning, constraint-based mining, and traditional data mining topics such as mining frequent item sets, clustering, association, classification, ranking, and applications of data mining technologies to real-world problems. It is especially notable to see that some papers covered emerging realworld applications such as bioinformatics, geophysics, and terrorist networks, as well as integration of multiple technologies such as conceptual modeling of knowledge discovery process and results, integration of semantic web into data warehousing and OLAP technologies, OLAP mining, and imprecise or fuzzy OLAP. All these papers show that data warehousing and knowledge discovery technologies are maturing and making an impact on real-world applications.

With the power of today's personal computer, game developers no longer need to rely on low-level "tricks" to write computer games. Increasingly, object-oriented programming languages, such as Java, are being used to create cutting-edge games. "Java 2 Game Programming" gives you an inside look at how Java can be used to create powerful gaming applications more quickly and easily than ever before. With topics ranging from Java basics for newbie Java programmers to advanced coverage of animation and scene management, this book has it all. Put your new skills to use as you create a fully functional 2D game development engine and sample game. Get ready to take your programming skills to the next level as you master the concepts you need to create the hot new game of tomorrow!

About the Author

Thomas Petchel has been a computer programmer for six years and an avid gamer all his life. A recent graduate of Shippensburg University, he completed an internship at Xtreme Games LLC and lectured at the 2000 Xtreme Game Developer's Conference. He may be best known for his retail 3D game Shogun: Mahjong Warriors.

Lecture Objectives: This electronic textbook presents lectures that may be used in a college or university semester class dealing with the writing of business programs using C++ from Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2005. The major programming emphasis is upon the creation of Object Oriented Programs for business and the use of data structures.

Prerequisite requirements: These lectures assume that the student already has taken business courses including accounting. Since this is an intermediate business programming course, it is assumed that the student has experience in introductory programming business applications using the C++ programming language. There are lectures included which will assist the student in reviewing topics that would have been in an introductory business programming class.

The first and only guide to one of today’s most important new cryptography algorithms The Twofish Encryption Algorithm A symmetric block cipher that accepts keys of any length, up to 256 bits, Twofish is among the new encryption algorithms being considered by the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) as a replacement for the DES algorithm. Highly secure and flexible, Twofish works extremely well with large microprocessors, 8-bit smart card microprocessors, and dedicated hardware. Now from the team who developed Twofish, this book provides you with your first detailed look at:

• All aspects of Twofish’s design and anatomy
• Twofish performance and testing results
• Step-by-step instructions on how to use it in your systems
• Complete source code, in C, for implementing Twofish

On the companion Web site you’ll find:

• A direct link to Counterpane Systems for updates on Twofish
• A link to the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) for ongoing information about the competing technologies being considered for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for the next millennium

For updates on Twofish and the AES process, visit these sites:

• www.wiley.com/compbooks/schneier
• www.counterpane.com
• www.nist.gov/aes

Wiley Computer Publishing Timely.Practical.Reliable Visit our Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/ Visit the companion Web site at www.wiley.com/compbooks/schneier

About the Author

BRUCE SCHNEIER is President of Counterpane Systems, a worldwide cryptography and information security consulting firm. A world-renowned expert on computer cryptography, Mr. Schneier is the inventor of Blowfish, a cryptography method built into more than 100 commercial products which continues unbroken. He is also the author of the bestselling Applied Cryptography (also available from Wiley). JOHN KELSEY, DAVID WAGNER, CHRIS HALL, and NIELS FERGUSON are well-known cryptographers and Counterpane consultants. DOUG WHITING is a security scientist with Hi/fn, a company specializing in compression technology.

How to use Algorithms to solve complex design issues

Why does the word design owe its origin to Latin and not Greek roots? Where do the limits of the human mind lie? How does ambiguity enter the deterministic world of computation? Who was Parmenides and why is his philosophy still puzzling today? This unique volume challenges the reader to tackle all these complex questions and more.

Algorithmic Architecture is not a typical theory-based architectural book; it is not a computer programming or language tutorial book either. It contains a series of provocative design projects, and yet it is not just a design or graphic art book per se. Following the tradition of architecture as a conglomeration of various design fields - engineering, theory, art, and recently, computation - the challenge of this book is to present a concept that, like architecture, is a unifying theme for many diverse disciplines. An algorithm is not only a step-by-step problem-solving procedure, a series of lines of computer codes or a mechanistic linguistic expression, but is also an ontological construct with deep philosophical, social, design, and artistic repercussions. Consequently, this book presents many, various and often seemingly disparate points of view that lead to the establishment of one common theme; algorithmic architecture.

* Guides readers in the increasingly popular practice of using algorithms to solve complex design issues
* Demonstrates a technique used by many of the big name architecture firms, now cascading down to educational level
* Shows architects how to use algorithms to go beyond the mouse and transcend the factory set limitations of current 3D CAD software

This book is for anyone interested in health, fitness, or the healing arts. It teaches you the basics of stretching, breathing, and meditation, with exercises designed to help you relax, become more flexible, more productive, and more self-satisfied.

About the Author

Joan Budilovsky began her yoga and meditation studies in 1976 and currently serves on several college faculties in Illinois as a yoga, massage, and meditation instructor.

Eve Adamson is a freelance writer, student of meditation, and co-author of many Complete Idiot’s Guides.

Carolyn Flynn is editor of SAGE, a women’s magazine that appears in the Albuquerque Journal.

A vibrant private sector—with firms making investments, creating jobs, and improving productivity— promotes growth and expands opportunities for poor people. To create one, governments around the world have implemented wide-ranging reforms, including macro-stabilization programs, price liberalization, privatization, and trade-barrier reductions. In many countries, however, entrepreneurial activity remains limited, poverty high, and growth stagnant. And other countries have spurned orthodox macro reforms and done well. How so?

Although macro policies are unquestionably important, there is a growing consensus that the quality of business regulation and the institutions that enforce it are a major determinant of prosperity. Hong Kong (China)’s economic success, Botswana’s stellar growth performance, and Hungary’s smooth transition experience have all been stimulated by a good regulatory environment. But little research has measured specific aspects of regulation and analyzed their impact on economic outcomes such as productivity, investment, informality, corruption, unemployment, and poverty. The lack of systematic knowledge prevents policymakers from assessing how good legal and regulatory systems are and determining what to reform.

In this addendum to Learn Excel from Mr. Excel, the amazing new features offered in Excel 2007 are introduced. Revealing the features that make this new version the best new release of Excel since 1997, this guide provides the necessary information to teach users to quickly unleash the powerful new features in Excel 2007, create incredible-looking charts, customize color themes to match their corporate logo, utilize data-visualization tools, and learn Pivot Table improvements.

About the Author

Bill Jelen is the host of MrExcel.com and the author of sixteen books about Microsoft Excel including Special Edition Using Excel 2007, Pivot Table Data Crunching for Excel 2007, VBA & Macros for Microsoft Excel, Learn Excel 2007 from MrExcel, Excel for Marketing Managers and Guerilla Data Analysis Using Microsoft Excel. He has made over 50 guest appearances on TV’s Call for Help with Leo Laporte. You can fi nd him entertaining people with his Power Excel seminar anywhere that a room full of accountants will gather. He has produced over 300 episodes of his daily 2-minute video podcast, available for free for anyone with a computer.

Soon after the launch of the first Sputnik in 1957, Hannah Arendt observed in The Human Condition that for the first time 'an earth-born object made by m a n . . . moved in the proximity of the heavenly bodies as though it had been admitted tentatively to their sublime company', an event which she described as 'second in importance to no other, not even the splitting of the atom' (1989, p. 1). For Arendt, the significance of Sputnik was as much to do with the reaction it provoked as with the 'uncomfortable military and political circumstances attending it', a response which she noted was not one of triumph, but of relief — relief, in the words of one American newspaper, that we might at last 'escape' from our 'imprisonment [on] the earth' (ibid. ). 'The banality of this statement', she writes, 'should not make us overlook how extraordinary in fact it was'; for notwithstanding the Christian longing for other-worldly salvation, according to Arendt 'nobody in the history of mankind has ever conceived of the earth as a prison for men's bodies or shown such eagerness to go literally from here to the moon' (ibid., p. 2). The broader significance of this drive to escape the earth is understood by Arendt in terms of a fundamental rearrangement of human vision.

Networks are groups of computers that communicate by either cable or wireless transmissions. By the use of computer networking, we can share data with others. Today, all businesses, small or large use some type of computers and most use computer networking to handle their daily business operations such as bookkeeping, inventory tracking, document storing, and e-mail.

Networks are growing in size and complexity and this trend has created a rapid increase for networking engineers to provide practical and efficient solutions. Networking needs vary from one network to another; there is no such thing as “one size fits all.” Also, a properly designed network must allow for expansion. The management of a small company may feel that this advanced technology is of no use to them since their monetary budget is limited. However, with proper planning, small companies can start with an affordable and versatile network and later expand on the next level of affordability.

This text is the outgrowth of lecture notes that this author prepared and passed on to the students at UC Berkeley Extension as handouts. The word “design” on the title of this book implies the purchasing and installation of the essential hardware and software that one must collect to assemble an effective computer network. Basically, it means the building of a network. The word “management” is used to denote the duties and responsibilities of a network administrator. Of course, one may argue that network management should include the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and Remote Monitoring (RMON). While this is true, a detailed treatment of those two topics are beyond the scope of this book.

This book includes step-by-step examples and case studies that teach users the many power tricks for analyzing data in Excel. These are tips honed by Bill Jelen, “MrExcel,” during his 10-year run as a financial analyst charged with taking mainframe data and turning it into useful information quickly. Topics include perfectly sorting with one click every time, matching lists of data, data consolidation, data subtotals, pivot tables, and much more.

Develop and fine-tune your programming skills the easy way - by example! For beginning and intermediate users, SAS Programming by Example guides you, with a series of annotated examples, through basic tasks to more complex ones. Problems and solutions are provided to make the most of the programming tools available in base SAS software. Conversational in tone, this book is useful both as a tutorial for learning programming and as a convenient quick-reference filled with tips and strategies for solving your programming problems. Among the clearly explained examples are models that show you how to build SAS data sets, use SAS functions for data translation, program more efficiently, relate information from multiple sources, and chart and plot data. You will also learn to work with SAS date values, produce descriptive and summary statistics, and write reports.

Supports releases 6.09E and higher of SAS software.

About the Author

Ron Cody

Ronald P. Cody, Ed.D., co-author of Applied Statistics and the SAS Programming Language, has over 15 years of experience using the SAS System. A professor and researcher in the medical field, Cody has also taught SAS software classes and been a prolific contributor to national, regional, and local users group conferences.

Ray Pass

Raymond Pass, Ph.D., a well-known founding member of the NorthEast SAS Users Group, has also been a Section Chair at several annual SAS Users Group International meetings. A frequent speaker at various local, regional, and national users group conferences, Pass offers you the benefit of more than 15 years of experience as a researcher and instructor of the SAS System.

`... a timely, complete and useful review of the arterial wall in states of health and disease. This is the first book that I am aware of that covers recent advances in such a thorough manner under a single cover. Although the editors have aimed it at clinicians and researchers, it will be more valuable to the latter.'
Journal of Vascular Surgery, 32:2 (2000)

Biology of the Arterial Wall is intended as a general reference text concerned with the biology of the vascular cells and the blood vessel wall under physiological and pathological conditions. One of the major functions of the arteries is to maintain a continuous blood flow to the organs whatever the pressure conditions, thanks to the vasomotor tone of the smooth muscle cells. Great advances have been made over the last decade in the understanding of the endothelial cells as integrators and transducers of signals originating from the blood stream. The pluripotent control functions of the endothelial cells in the vessel wall are now well recognized. A review of endothelial functions and dysfunctions is presented.
Cell biology and molecular genetic studies have now identified an array of molecules elaborated by endothelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells and by the blood-borne elements which interact with artery cells, defending the artery against injury and modulating evolving abnormal processes. Molecules which induce or inhibit endothelial and/or smooth muscle cells are currently under great scrutiny. Angiogenesis, which plays a major role in tumor growth, but may also be beneficial as a healing process in muscle ischemia, is discussed.
Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, has only recently been recognized as an essential process in blood vessel modeling and remodeling. An overview of apoptosis in the vascular system is presented.

It is increasingly evident that the adjustments of the blood vessel wall are made in the presence of deforming disease processes such as hypertension and atherosclerosis.
The second part of the book is concerned with the blood vessel wall in disease conditions. Several chapters review the role of the vessel and vascular cells in inflammation, and vascular remodeling during arterial hypertension and aging. One chapter is devoted to atherogenesis, atheroma and plaque instability, followed by the pathophysiology of post-angioplasty restenosis, which is a crucial issue in modern interventional cardiology.

With the roots of the BASIC language now firmly established throughout the world, it is necessary to make its many dialects understandable so programs can be transported between different computer. After you've found just the program you've been looking for, you know how frustrating it is only to discover that it won't RUN on your computer. This HANDBOOK addresses that problem by discussing in detail evey commonly used BASIC Statement, Function, Operator and Command

Simulation is the preferred approach for engineers and scientists who design complex systems because it allows them to test a system design's performance standards. This book explores simulation, starting with Galileo and ending with the lunar landing. It provides an introduction to computer-aided system design with Simulink®, a robust, accurate, and easily used simulation tool. The author takes readers on a tour of the Simulink environment that shows how to develop a system model and execute the design steps needed to make the model into a functioning design laboratory. Included along the way is the mathematics of systems: difference equations and z-transforms, ordinary differential equations (both linear and nonlinear) and Laplace transforms, and numerical methods for solving differential equations. Volume II will show how to use Simulink in the modeling and analysis of complex systems.

Because specific applications require specific tools, the author introduces additional software packages that work within the Simulink environment. The Signal Processing Blockset® extends Simulink into the areas of both analog and digital signal processing; Stateflow® is used for state charts and signal flow for modeling event-driven systems; SimPowerSystems® handles physical modeling, in particular the modeling of electrical circuits including power systems, motor drives, power generation equipment, and three-phase power transmission lines; and SimMechanics® develops models of mechanical systems such as robots. In all, the author covers more than 70 applications taken from several disciplines, and he describes numerous tested, annotated, and reusable models and blocks to help readers apply the book s material to their own applications.

The text's supplementary Web page offers additional material about Simulink and its associated tools created by The MathWorks and the author.

An introduction to computer-aided system design with Simulink®: a robust, accurate, and easily used simulation tool. The author provides a tour of the Simulink environment that shows how to develop a system model and execute the design steps needed to make the model into a functioning design laboratory.

About the Author

Richard J. Gran is CEO of The Mathematical Analysis Company, a group of affiliates headquartered in Norfolk, Massachusetts, that develops mathematical models and simulations of complex engineering systems. He is author or co-author of over 150 technical papers and reports and holds half a dozen patents related to engineering systems.

Presentation of the main approaches developed for a posteriori error estimation in various problems.

Recent decades have seen a very rapid success in developing numerical methods based on explicit control over approximation errors. It may be said that nowadays a new direction is forming in numerical analysis, the main goal of which is to develop methods ofreliable computations. In general, a reliable numerical method must solve two basic problems: (a) generate a sequence of approximations that converges to a solution and (b) verify the accuracy of these approximations. A computer code for such a method must consist of two respective blocks: solver and checker.

In this book, we are chiefly concerned with the problem (b) and try to present the main approaches developed for a posteriori error estimation in various problems.

The authors try to retain a rigorous mathematical style, however, proofs are constructive whenever possible and additional mathematical knowledge is presented when necessary. The book contains a number of new mathematical results and lists a posteriori error estimation methods that have been developed in the very recent time.

· computable bounds of approximation errors
· checking algorithms
· iteration processes
· finite element methods
· elliptic type problems
· nonlinear variational problems
· variational inequalities