Agent-based modeling and social simulation have emerged as both developments of and challenges to the social sciences. The developments include agent-based computational economics and investigations of theoretical sociological concepts using formal simulation techniques. Among the challenges are the development of qualitative modeling techniques, implementation of agent-based models to investigate phenomena for which conventional economic, social, and organizational models have no face validity, and the application of physical modeling techniques to social processes. Bringing together diverse approaches to social simulation and research agendas, this book presents a unique collection of contributions from the First World Congress on Social Simulation, held in 2006 in Kyoto, Japan. The work emerged from the collaboration of the Pacific Asian Association for Agent-Based Approach in Social Systems Sciences, the North American Association for Computational Social and Organizational Science, and the European Social Simulation Association.
* Discover the new features in LightWave 3D 8 that can improve your lighting.
* Learn how angles, colors, shadows, light sources, and atmospheric conditions affect the emotional impact of a scene.
* Enhance effect lighting using projection images.
* Find out how to add effects such as radiosity, volumetrics, and lens flares.
* Understand the process that goes into planning and creating a production lighting rig.
ON THE CD:
* Images, objects, and scene files discussed in the book, including a 60-frame underwater texture image sequence used in the tutorials
* All the figures from the book
Domain-Specific Modeling (DSM) is the latest approach to software development, promising to greatly increase the speed and ease of software creation. Early adopters of DSM have been enjoying productivity increases of 500–1000% in production for over a decade. This book introduces DSM and offers examples from various fields to illustrate to experienced developers how DSM can improve software development in their teams.
Two authorities in the field explain what DSM is, why it works, and how to successfully create and use a DSM solution to improve productivity and quality. Divided into four parts, the book covers: background and motivation; fundamentals; in-depth examples; and creating DSM solutions. There is an emphasis throughout the book on practical guidelines for implementing DSM, including how to identify the necessary language constructs, how to generate full code from models, and how to provide tool support for a new DSM language. The example cases described in the book are available the book's Website, www.dsmbook.com, along with, an evaluation copy of the MetaEdit+ tool (for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux), which allows readers to examine and try out the modeling languages and code generators.
Domain-Specific Modeling is an essential reference for lead developers, software engineers, architects, methodologists, and technical managers who want to learn how to create a DSM solution and successfully put it into practice.
This focused treatment includes the fundamentals and some state-of-the-art developments in the field of predictive control. A substantial part of the book addresses application issues in predictive control, providing several interesting case studies for more application-oriented readers.
Predicting the future for financial gain is a difficult, sometimes profitable activity. The focus of this book is the application of biologically inspired algorithms (BIAs) to financial modelling.
In a detailed introduction, the authors explain computer trading on financial markets and the difficulties faced in financial market modelling. Then Part I provides a thorough guide to the various bioinspired methodologies – neural networks, evolutionary computing (particularly genetic algorithms and grammatical evolution), particle swarm and ant colony optimization, and immune systems. Part II brings the reader through the development of market trading systems. Finally, Part III examines real-world case studies where BIA methodologies are employed to construct trading systems in equity and foreign exchange markets, and for the prediction of corporate bond ratings and corporate failures.
The book was written for those in the finance community who want to apply BIAs in financial modelling, and for computer scientists who want an introduction to this growing application domain.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th Pacific Rim Conference on Multimedia, PCM 2008, held in Tainan, Taiwan, in December 2008.
The 79 revised full papers and 39 revised poster presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 210 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on next generation video coding techniques, audio processing and classification, interactive multimedia systems, advances in H.264/AVC, multimedia networking techniques, advanced image processing techniques, video analysis and its applications, image detection and classification, visual and spatial analyses, multimedia human computer interfaces, multimedia security and DRM, advanced image and video processing, multimedia database and retrieval, multimedia management and authoring, multimedia personalization, multimedia for e-learning, multimedia networking techniques, multimedia systems and applications, advanced multimedia techniques, as well as multimedia processing and analyses.
This book reviews the theoretical fundamentals of grey-box identification and puts the spotlight on MoCaVa, a MATLAB-compatible software tool, for facilitating the procedure of effective grey-box identification. It demonstrates the application of MoCaVa using two case studies drawn from the paper and steel industries. In addition, the book answers common questions which will help in building accurate models for systems with unknown inputs.
This book presents the state-of-the-art in successfully engineered self-organizing systems. It goes further, too, to examine ways to balance design and self-organization in the context of applications. As demonstrated throughout, finding this balance helps to deal with diverse practical challenges. The case studies described illustrate the richness of the topic and provide guidance on its more intricate areas.
This volume constitutes the proceedings of the Second IFIP WG 8.1 Working Conference on the Practice of Enterprise Modeling, which took place in Stockholm, Sweden, during November 18-19, 2009. The conference series constitutes a dedicated forum where practice of Enterprise Modeling (EM) is addressed by bringing together researchers, users, and practitioners in order to develop a better understanding of the subject, and to improve the practice of EM, as well as to share knowledge and experience.
The 17 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 41 submissions. The topics covered are experiences in EM, the process of modeling, EM in information systems development, model quality and reuse, enterprise modeling for service modeling, and new ventures in enterprise modeling.
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed postproceedings of the 29th International Workshop on Graph-Theoretic Concepts in Computer Science, WG 2003, held in Elspeet, The Netherlands in June 2003.
The 30 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited papers were carefully reviewed, improved, and selected from 78 submissions. The papers present a wealth of new results for various classes of graphs, graph computations, graph algorithms, and graph-theoretical applications in various felds.
Author Michele Bousquet is that rare combination of talented user, experienced instructor, and outstanding writer. New Max users are lucky that she has penned a book that not only covers all Max basics, but does so in words that aren't couched in jargon. For some users, even the Max manuals and tutorial booklet are a bit murky. This book illuminates Max's features in a clear, bright light.
In just over 800 pages, every important feature is covered: introduction to the Max interface, different modeling methods, applying materials, cameras and lighting, animation, rendering, and special effects. Missing, however, is a section on MaxScript, the software's powerful scripting feature. Still, this book is geared toward new users of Max, and using MaxScript presumably isn't their first priority.
A generous use of screenshots and a well-spaced text layout make this book easy to read, and each chapter features tutorials on the topic at hand. An important feature of the book is the set of review questions at the end of each chapter, making this an excellent curriculum guide for those teaching Max.
The enclosed CD-ROM includes all the files used in the book, including textures, but it also includes a wide variety of plug-ins, texture maps, and a document listing Web-based Max resources.
This is not a book for someone who knows his or her way around Max. But for users new to the program, or struggling with it and now feeling lost in the jungle, Harnessing 3D Studio Max might be just the ticket to clarity. --Mike Caputo
eference survey of social simulation work, Social Simulation: Technologies, Advances and New Discoveries comprehensively collects the most exciting developments in the field. Drawing research contributions from a vibrant community of experts on social simulation, this Premier Reference Source provides a set of unique and innovative approaches, ranging from agent-based modeling to empirically based simulations, as well as applications in business, governmental, scientific, and other contexts. This book will be a significant reference tool for researchers, educators, and practitioners in such fields as sociology, geography, economics, environmental science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer engineering, and networks, and a valuable, interdisciplinary addition to academic libraries.
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Biomedical Simulation, ISBMS 2006, held in Zurich, Switzerland in July 2006.
The 12 revised full papers and 11 poster papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 37 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on simulation of biophysical processes, systems and applications, and anatomical modeling and tissue properties.
Unique in content and approach, this book covers all the topics that are usually covered in an introduction to scientific computing--but folds in graphics and matrix-vector manipulation in a way that gets readers to appreciate the connection between continuous mathematics and computing. MATLAB 5 is used throughout to encourage experimentation, and each chapter focuses on a different important theorem--allowing readers to appreciate the rigorous side of scientific computing. In addition to standard topical coverage, each chapter includes 1) a sketch of a “hard” problem that involves ill-conditioning, high dimension, etc.; 2)at least one theorem with both a rigorous proof and a “proof by MATLAB” experiment to bolster intuition; 3)at least one recursive algorithm; and 4)at least one connection to a real-world application. The book revolves around examples that are packaged in 200+ M-files, which, collectively, communicate all the key mathematical ideas and an appreciation for the subtleties of numerical computing. Power Tools of the Trade. Polynomial Interpolation. Piecewise Polynomial Interpolation. Numerical Integration. Matrix Computations. Linear Systems. The QR and Cholesky Factorizations. Nonlinear Equations and Optimization. The Initial Value Problem. For engineers and mathematicians.
