Learning Design : A Handbook on Modelling and Delivering Networked Education and Training
Put together contributions from members of the "Valkenburg Group", consisting of 33 experts deeply involved in e-learning and more specifically learning design. The result is a rich and lasting source of information for both e-learning course and tool developers, providing information about the specification itself, how to implement it in practice, what tools to use, and what pitfalls to avoid. The book not only reports first experiences, but also goes beyond the current state of the art by looking at future prospects and emerging applications.
Law and the Semantic Web : Legal Ontologies, Methodologies, Legal Information Retrieval, and Applications
As part of this objective, ICT (information and communication technologies) services should become available for every citizen, and for all schools, homes and businesses. The book you have in front of you is about Semantic Web technology and law. Law is something omnipresent; all citizens — at some points in their lives — have to deal with it. In addition, law involves a large group of professionals, and is a mul- billion business world wide. Information technology is important because it that can improve citizens’ interaction with law, as well as improve legal professionals’ work environment. Legal professionals dedicate a significant amount of their time to finding, reading, analyzing and synthesizing information in order to take decisions, and prepare advice and trials, among other tasks. As part of the “Semantic-Based Knowledge and Content Systems” Strategic Objective, the European Commission is funding projects to construct technology to make the Semantic Web vision come true. 1 The articles in this book are related to two current foci of the Strategic Objective : • Knowledge acquisition and modelling, capturing knowledge from raw information and multimedia content in webs and other distributed repositories to turn poorly structured information into machi- processable knowledge.
Landscape Ecological Applications in Man-Influenced Areas : Linking Man and Nature Systems
This book also includes several case studies concerning landscape analysis and evaluation using spatial analysis and landscape modelling for establishing sustainable management strategy in urban and agricultural landscapes. The subtitle of the book suggests the integrative and ubiquitous landscape planning considering harmony of man and nature systems in the socio-economic and cultural background.
Landscape Analysis and Visualisation : Spatial Models for Natural Resource Management and Planning
This book presents a collection and synthesis of many of these perspectives — perhaps it could only be produced in a land urb- ised in the tiniest of pockets, and yet so daunting with respect to the way non-populated landscapes dwarf its cities. Many travel to Australia to its cities and never see the landscapes — but it is these that give the country its power and imagery. It is the landscapes that so impress on us the need to consider how our intervention, through activities ranging from resource exploitation and settled agriculture to climate change, poses one of the greatest crises facing the modern world. In this sense, Australia and its landscape provide a mirror through which we can glimpse the extent to which our intervention in the world threatens its very existence.
Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems ; 12th International Conference, KES 2008, Zagreb, Croatia, September 3-5, 2008, Proceedings, Part II
The papers present a wealth of original research results from the field of intelligent information processing in the broadest sense; topics covered in the second volume are artificial intelligence driven engineering design optimization; biomedical informatics: intelligent information management from nanomedicine to public health; communicative intelligence; computational intelligence for image processing and pattern recognition; computational intelligence in human cancer research; computational intelligence techniques for Web personalization; computational intelligent techniques for bioprocess modelling, monitoring and control; intelligent computing for Grid.
Knowledge acquisition in practice: A step-by-step guide
Recent years have seen an upsurge of interest in knowledge. Leading organisations now recognise the importance of identifying what they know, sharing what they know and using what they know for maximum benefit. Many organisations employ knowledge engineers to capture knowledge from experts using the principles and techniques of knowledge engineering. The emphasis is on a structured approach built on a sound understanding of the psychology of expertise and making use of knowledge modelling methods and the latest web technologies. Knowledge Acquisition in Practice is the first book to provide a detailed step-by-step guide to the methods and practical aspects of acquiring, modelling, storing and sharing knowledge. The reader is led through 47 steps from the inception of a project to its successful conclusion. Each step is described in terms of the reasons for the step, the required resources, the activities to be undertaken, and the solutions to common problems.
Kinase Drug Discovery : Modern Approaches
Kinase inhibition remains an area of significant interest, and growing importance, across academia and the pharmaceutical industry. There are now many marketed drugs that target kinases and a significant number of compounds are currently in various stages of clinical development. This book is a forward-looking analysis of a number of key areas for kinase inhibition in the coming years and builds on the first volume. This includes topics such as screening approaches to target kinases along with different modes of inhibition such as allosteric and covalent. Novel approaches such as macrocyclisation are considered along with how the properties of kinase inhibitors have evolved, including the potential for brain penetration. Recent areas of great importance also covered include cutting edge molecular modelling approaches and the importance of kinase mutations.
IUTAM symposium on theoretical, computational and modelling aspects of inelastic media ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held at Cape Town, South Africa, January 14–18, 2008
Comprises papers based on some of the talks presented at the IUTAM Symposium of the same name, held in Cape Town, January 14-18, 2008. This volume treats cutting-edge issues in modelling, the behaviour of various classes of inelastic media, and associated algorithms for carrying out computational simulations. A key feature of the contributions are works directed at modelling behaviour at the meso and micro-scales, and at bridging the micro-macro scales.
IUTAM symposium on size effects on material and structural behavior at micron- and nano-scales ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Hong Kong, China, 31 May - 4 June, 2004
A collection of twenty five written contributions by distinguished invited speakers from seven countries to the IUTAM Symposium on Size Effects on Material and Structural Behavior at Micron- and Nano-scales. It contains basic theoretical and experimental aspects of the recent advances in the mechanics research of various size effects.
IUTAM symposium on one hundred years of boundary layer research ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held at DLR-Göttingen, Germany, August 12-14, 2004
This book collects peer-reviewed lectures of the IUTAM Symposium on the 100th anniversary of Boundary Layer research. Covers classification, definition and mathematics of boundary layers; instability of boundary layers and transition; boundary layers control; turbulent boundary layers; numerical treatment and boundary layer modelling.
IUTAM Symposium on Multiscale Modelling of Damage and Fracture Processes in Composite Materials ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, 23-27 May 2005
This volume constitutes the Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium. The main aim of the Symposium was to discuss the basic principles of damage growth and fracture processes in different types of composites: ceramic, polymer and metal matrix composites, cement and bituminous composites and wood. Nowadays, it is widely recognized that important macroscopic properties like the macroscopic stiffness and strength, are governed by processes that occur at one to several scales below the level of observation starting from nanoscale.
Iutam Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Nonlinear Systems with Uncertainty ; Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium held in Nanjing, China, September 18-22, 2006
The last decade has witnessed an increasing interest towards the dynamics and control of nonlinear engineering systems from the scientists engaged in nonlinear dynamics and the control engineers. Both groups of people have recognized the importance of interaction between nonlinear dynamics and robust control during their efforts to improve the dynamic performance of engineering systems with uncertainty, which comes from either the random excitations, such as wind and earthquake, or the modelling errors of real systems including their sensors, controllers and actuators. The dynamics and control of nonlinear systems with uncertainty, therefore, is a vital interdisciplinary topic related to both stochastic systems and deterministic systems. This volume contains the papers presented at the IUTAM Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Nonlinear Systems with Uncertainty, which was sponsored by the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM)
Iterated Function Systems for Real-Time Image Synthesis
Natural phenomena can be visually described with fractal-geometry methods, where iterative procedures rather than equations are used to model objects. With the development of better modelling algorithms, the efficiency of rendering, the realism of computer-generated scenes and the interactivity of visual stimuli are reaching astonishing levels. Iterated Function Systems for Real-Time Image Synthesis gives an explanation of iterated function systems and how to use them in generation of complex objects.
Composites for building assembly : connections, members and structures
Pesents buildings developed using modular assembly approaches based on lightweight and corrosion-resistant fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites. Construction methods and the choice of building materials offer great opportunities for more productive and environmentally friendly solutions. This book includes valuable experimental data on large-scale structural components (beams, slabs, amd columns), connections (shear connections, wall stud connections, beam-column connections, column-column connections) and structures (composite floor system, structural sandwich assemblies, and full-scale structural demonstrations), supported with detailed numerical modelling and analytical methods.
Complexity and Artificial Markets
In recent years, agent-based simulation has become a widely accepted tool when dealing with complexity in economics and other social sciences. The contributions presented in this book apply agent-based methods to derive results from complex models related to market mechanisms, evolution, decision making, and information economics. In addition, the applicability of agent-based methods to complex problems in economics is discussed from a methodological perspective. The papers presented in this collection combine approaches from economics, finance, computer science, natural sciences, philosophy, and cognitive sciences.
Competence of Top Management Teams and Success of New Technology-Based Firms : A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis Concerning Competencies of Entrepreneurial Teams and the Development of Their Ventures
In his book, Jan Brinckmann develops a comprehensive competence concept for new technology-based firms. It is grounded in competence-related literature combining insights from entrepreneurship and management research. The competence concept comprises three domains: general entrepreneurial competencies, social competencies, and functional competencies in technology, marketing, and financial management. A measurement model is developed to specify the contents of each sub-domain and to facilitate self-assessment of these competencies. In an empirical study, 212 executives of German NTBFs assessed their team’s competencies. This data is analyzed using structural equation modelling to identify the most relevant competencies for new venture success.
Climatic Change and its Impacts : An Overview Focusing on Switzerland
This book focuses upon climate processes, variability and change and applies the general principles related to these issues, particularly in Switzerland. Although a small country, Switzerland is characterized by complex topography where climatic processes are often enhanced due to the presence of the Alps. In addition, there is a remarkable density of observational data in both the natural and social sciences that enable a comprehensive assessment of climate processes, their long-term trends and their impacts. This book is intended for students from the undergraduate level onwards and researchers interested in climate issues specific to the alpine region.
Climate Change Impacts for the Conterminous USA : An Integrated Assessment
In this volume, an improved Integrated Assessment methodology is used to analyse climate change impacts on agriculture, water resources, unmanaged ecosystems, irrigation, and land use in the United States and the economic implications of these impacts. This book contains a series of papers documenting the methods, models, analysis and results of this integrated assessment for a wide ranging set of scenarios describing future climate change. Innovations described include the integration of water resource and agricultural modeling and the refinement of an agriculture and land-use economics model to incorporate results from process-level ecosystem models of agriculture, water and natural ecosystem resources. Scenarios selected for this study address a range of uncertainties associated with choice of climate model, presence or absence of a ‘CO2-fertilization effect’, impacts on international trade in agricultural commodities and their consequences for producers and consumers.
Climate Adaptation Modelling
This book focuses on an issue only marginally tackled by this literature: the still existing gap between adaptation science and modelling and the possibility to effectively access and exploit the information produced by policy making at different levels, international, national and local.
Classification and Modeling with Linguistic Information Granules : Advanced Approaches to Linguistic Data Mining
Many approaches have already been proposed for classification and modeling in the literature. These approaches are usually based on mathematical mod els. Computer systems can easily handle mathematical models even when they are complicated and nonlinear (e.g., neural networks). On the other hand, it is not always easy for human users to intuitively understand mathe matical models even when they are simple and linear. This is because human information processing is based mainly on linguistic knowledge while com puter systems are designed to handle symbolic and numerical information. A large part of our daily communication is based on words. We learn from various media such as books, newspapers, magazines, TV, and the Inter net through words. We also communicate with others through words. While words play a central role in human information processing, linguistic models are not often used in the fields of classification and modeling. If there is no goal other than the maximization of accuracy in classification and modeling, mathematical models may always be preferred to linguistic models. On the other hand, linguistic models may be chosen if emphasis is placed on interpretability.



















