Nova Reader - Subject

Linked Open Data -- Creating Knowledge Out of Interlinked Data

2014-07-30T18:30

Linked Open Data (LOD) is a pragmatic approach for realizing the Semantic Web vision of making the Web a global, distributed, semantics-based information system. This book presents an overview on the results of the research project “LOD2 -- Creating Knowledge out of Interlinked Data”. LOD2 is a large-scale integrating project co-funded by the European Commission within the FP7 Information and Communication Technologies Work Program. Commencing in September 2010, this 4-year project comprised leading Linked Open Data research groups, companies, and service providers from across 11 European countries and South Korea. The aim of this project was to advance the state-of-the-art in research and development in four key areas relevant for Linked Data, namely 1. RDF data management; 2. the extraction, creation, and enrichment of structured RDF data; 3. the interlinking and fusion of Linked Data from different sources and 4. the authoring, exploration and visualization of Linked Data.

Intertwingled

2015-07-02T18:30

This engaging volume celebrates the life and work of Theodor Holm “Ted” Nelson, a pioneer and legendary figure from the history of early computing. Presenting contributions from world-renowned computer scientists and figures from the media industry, the book delves into hypertext, the docuverse, Xanadu and other products of Ted Nelson’s unique mind. Features: includes a cartoon and a sequence of poems created in Nelson’s honor, reflecting his wide-ranging and interdisciplinary intellect; presents peer histories, providing a sense of the milieu that resulted from Nelson’s ideas; contains personal accounts revealing what it is like to collaborate directly with Nelson; describes Nelson’s legacy from the perspective of his contemporaries from the computing world; provides a contribution from Ted Nelson himself. With a broad appeal spanning computer scientists, science historians and the general reader, this inspiring collection reveals the continuing influence of the original visionary ofthe World Wide Web.

Intelligent Human Computer Interaction

2017-12-03T18:30

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Intelligent Human Computer Interaction, IHCI 2017, held in Evry, France, in December 2017. The 15 papers presented together with three invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 25 submissions. The conference is forum for the presentation of technological advances and research results at the crossroads of human-computer interaction, artificial intelligence, signal processing and computer vision.

Informatics in the Future

2017-05-29T18:30

This volume discusses the prospects and evolution of informatics (or computer science), which has become the operating system of our world, and is today seen as the science of the information society. Its artifacts change the world and its methods have an impact on how we think about and perceive the world. Classical computer science is built on the notion of an “abstract” machine, which can be instantiated by software to any concrete problem-solving machine, changing its behavior in response to external and internal states, allowing for self-reflective and “intelligent” behavior. However, current phenomena such as the Web, cyber physical systems or the Internet of Things show us that we might already have gone beyond this idea, exemplifying a metamorphosis from a stand-alone calculator to the global operating system of our society.

Thus computer scientists will need to reconsider the foundations of their disciplineto realize the full potential of our field. Taking often contradictory developments into consideration, researchers will not be able to tackle specific technological or methodological problems in the future without also a broader reflection on their field. The papers in this book take a first step forward and reflect on these issues from different perspectives. The broad spectrum of topics includes

Informatics: a discipline with a (short) history and a high impact
Interdisciplinarity: how to do research
Ethics: what is our responsibility
Diversity: why are there so few women in informatics
Combining informatics, history and art: a special contribution.

This book is intended for all informatics researchers, in academia as well as in industry. It is our responsibility – not only as scientists but also as citizens – to make the public aware of the dichotomies and dialectic relationships of computer science.

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

2018-04-10T18:30

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2018, which took place in Thessaloniki, Greece in April 2018, held as Part of the European Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2018.The 19 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections named: model-based software development; distributed program and system analysis; software design and verification; specification and program testing; family-based software development.

Finite Difference Computing with PDEs

2017-06-20T18:30

This easy-to-read book introduces the basics of solving partial differential equations by means of finite difference methods. Unlike many of the traditional academic works on the topic, this book was written for practitioners. Accordingly, it especially addresses: the construction of finite difference schemes, formulation and implementation of algorithms, verification of implementations, analyses of physical behavior as implied by the numerical solutions, and how to apply the methods and software to solve problems in the fields of physics and biology.

Finite Difference Computing with Exponential Decay Models

2016-06-09T18:30

This text provides a very simple, initial introduction to the complete scientific computing pipeline: models, discretization, algorithms, programming, verification, and visualization. The pedagogical strategy is to use one case study – an ordinary differential equation describing exponential decay processes – to illustrate fundamental concepts in mathematics and computer science. The book is easy to read and only requires a command of one-variable calculus and some very basic knowledge about computer programming. Contrary to similar texts on numerical methods and programming, this text has a much stronger focus on implementation and teaches testing and software engineering in particular.

The Essence of Software Engineering

2018-06-12T18:30

This open access book includes contributions by leading researchers and industry thought leaders on various topics related to the essence of software engineering and their application in industrial projects. It offers a broad overview of research findings dealing with current practical software engineering issues and also pointers to potential future developments. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of adesso AG, adesso gathered some of the pioneers of software engineering including Manfred Broy, Ivar Jacobson and Carlo Ghezzi at a special symposium, where they presented their thoughts about latest software engineering research and which are part of this book. This way it offers readers a concise overview of the essence of software engineering, providing valuable insights into the latest methodological research findings and adesso’s experience applying these results in real-world projects.

Enabling Things to Talk

2013-10-27T18:30

The Internet of Things (IoT) is an emerging network superstructure that will connect physical resources and actual users. It will support an ecosystem of smart applications and services bringing hyper-connectivity to our society by using augmented and rich interfaces. Whereas in the beginning IoT referred to the advent of barcodes and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), which helped to automate inventory, tracking and basic identification, today IoT is characterized by a dynamic trend toward connecting smart sensors, objects, devices, data and applications. The next step will be “cognitive IoT,” facilitating object and data re-use across application domains and leveraging hyper-connectivity, interoperability solutions and semantically enriched information distribution. The Architectural Reference Model (ARM), presented in this book by the members of the IoT-A project team driving this harmonization effort, makes it possible to connect vertically closed systems, architectures and application areas so as to create open interoperable systems and integrated environments and platforms. It constitutes a foundation from which software companies can capitalize on the benefits of developing consumer-oriented platforms including hardware, software and services. The material is structured in two parts. Part A introduces the general concepts developed for and applied in the ARM. It is aimed at end users who want to use IoT technologies, managers interested in understanding the opportunities generated by these novel technologies, and system architects who are interested in an overview of the underlying basic models. It also includes several case studies to illustrate how the ARM has been used in real-life scenarios. Part B then addresses the topic at a more detailed technical level and is targeted at readers with a more scientific or technical background. It provides in-depth guidance on the ARM, including a detailed description of a process for generating concrete architectures, as well as reference manuals with guidelines on how to use the various models and perspectives presented to create a concrete architecture. Furthermore, best practices and tips on how system engineers can use the ARM to develop specific IoT architectures for dedicated IoT solutions are illustrated and exemplified in reverse mapping exercises of existing standards and platforms.

The Huawei and Snowden Questions

2019-02-18T18:30

This open access book answers two central questions: firstly, is it at all possible to verify electronic equipment procured from untrusted vendors? Secondly, can I build trust into my products in such a way that I support verification by untrusting customers? In separate chapters the book takes readers through the state of the art in fields of computer science that can shed light on these questions. In a concluding chapter it discusses realistic ways forward. In discussions on cyber security, there is a tacit assumption that the manufacturer of equipment will collaborate with the user of the equipment to stop third-party wrongdoers. The Snowden files and recent deliberations on the use of Chinese equipment in the critical infrastructures of western countries have changed this. The discourse in both cases revolves around what malevolent manufacturers can do to harm their own customers, and the importance of the matter is on par with questions of national security. This book is of great interest to ICT and security professionals who need a clear understanding of the two questions posed in the subtitle, and to decision-makers in industry, national bodies and nation states.

Cyber-Physical Systems of Systems

2016-12-15T18:30

Technical Systems-of-Systems (SoS) – in the form of networked, independent constituent computing systems temporarily collaborating to achieve a well-defined objective – form the backbone of most of today’s infrastructure. The energy grid, most transportation systems, the global banking industry, the water-supply system, the military equipment, many embedded systems, and a great number more, strongly depend on systems-of-systems. The correct operation and continuous availability of these underlying systems-of-systems are fundamental for the functioning of our modern society. The 8 papers presented in this book document the main insights on Cyber-Physical System of Systems (CPSoSs) that were gained during the work in the FP7-610535 European Research Project AMADEOS (acronym for Architecture for Multi-criticality Agile Dependable Evolutionary Open System-of-Systems). It is the objective of this book to present, in a single consistent body, the foundational concepts and their relationships. These form a conceptual basis for the description and understanding of SoSs and go deeper in what we consider the characterizing and distinguishing elements of SoSs: time, emergence, evolution and dynamicity.

Control Theory Tutorial

2018-05-28T18:30

This open access Brief introduces the basic principles of control theory in a concise self-study guide. It complements the classic texts by emphasizing the simple conceptual unity of the subject. A novice can quickly see how and why the different parts fit together. The concepts build slowly and naturally one after another, until the reader soon has a view of the whole. Each concept is illustrated by detailed examples and graphics. The full software code for each example is available, providing the basis for experimenting with various assumptions, learning how to write programs for control analysis, and setting the stage for future research projects. The topics focus on robustness, design trade-offs, and optimality. Most of the book develops classical linear theory. The last part of the book considers robustness with respect to nonlinearity and explicitly nonlinear extensions, as well as advanced topics such as adaptive control and model predictive control. New students, as well as scientists from other backgrounds who want a concise and easy-to-grasp coverage of control theory, will benefit from the emphasis on concepts and broad understanding of the various approaches.

Computation and the Humanities

2016-11-22T18:30

This book addresses the application of computing to cultural heritage and the discipline of Digital Humanities that formed around it. Digital Humanities research is transforming how the Human record can be transmitted, shaped, understood, questioned and imagined and it has been ongoing for more than 70 years. However, we have no comprehensive histories of its research trajectory or its disciplinary development. The authors make a first contribution towards remedying this by uncovering, documenting, and analysing a number of the social, intellectual and creative processes that helped to shape this research from the 1950s until the present day. By taking an oral history approach, this book explores questions like, among others, researchers’ earliest memories of encountering computers and the factors that subsequently prompted them to use the computer in Humanities research. Computation and the Humanities will be an essential read for cultural and computing historians, digital humanists and those interested in developments like the digitisation of cultural heritage and artefacts.

Autonomous Control for a Reliable Internet of Services

2018-05-29T18:30

This open access book was prepared as a Final Publication of the COST Action IC1304 “Autonomous Control for a Reliable Internet of Services (ACROSS)”. The book contains 14 chapters and constitutes a show-case of the main outcome of the Action in line with its scientific goals. It will serve as a valuable reference for undergraduate and post-graduate students, educators, faculty members, researchers, engineers, and research strategists working in this field. The explosive growth of the Internet has fundamentally changed the global society. The emergence of concepts like SOA, SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, NaaS, and Cloud Computing in general has catalyzed the migration from the information-oriented Internet into an Internet of Services (IoS). This has opened up virtually unbounded possibilities for the creation of new and innovative services that facilitate business processes and improve the quality of life. However, this also calls for new approaches to ensuring the quality and reliability of these services. The objective of this book is, by applying a systematic approach, to assess the state-of-the-art and consolidate the main research results achieved in this area.

Anti-fragile ICT Systems

2016-03-21T18:30

This book introduces a novel approach to the design and operation of large ICT systems. It views the technical solutions and their stakeholders as complex adaptive systems and argues that traditional risk analyses cannot predict all future incidents with major impacts. To avoid unacceptable events, it is necessary to establish and operate anti-fragile ICT systems that limit the impact of all incidents, and which learn from small-impact incidents how to function increasingly well in changing environments. The book applies four design principles and one operational principle to achieve anti-fragility for different classes of incidents. It discusses how systems can achieve high availability, prevent malware epidemics, and detect anomalies. Analyses of Netflix’s media streaming solution, Norwegian telecom infrastructures, e-government platforms, and Numenta’s anomaly detection software show that cloud computing is essential to achieving anti-fragility forclasses of events with negative impacts.

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

2018-05-15T18:30

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2018, held in Porto, Portugal, in May 2018. XP is the premier agile software development conference combining research and practice, and XP 2018 provided a playful and informal environment to learn and trigger discussions around its main theme – make, inspect, adapt. The 21 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: agile requirements; agile testing; agile transformation; scaling agile; human-centric agile; and continuous experimentation.

Agile Processes, in Software Engineering, and Extreme Programming

2016-05-13T18:30

This book contains the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2016, held in Edinburgh, UK, in May 2016. While agile development has already become mainstream in industry, this field is still constantly evolving and continues to spur an enormous interest both in industry and academia. To this end, the XP conference attracts a large number of software practitioners and researchers, providing a rare opportunity for interaction between the two communities. The 14 full papers accepted for XP 2016 were selected from 42 submissions. Additionally, 11 experience reports (from 25 submissions) 5 empirical studies (out of 12 submitted) and 5 doctoral papers (from 6 papers submitted) were selected, and in each case the authors were shepherded by an experienced researcher. Generally, all of the submitted papers went through a rigorous peer-review process.

Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming

2017-04-11T18:30

The volume constitutes the proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Agile Software Development, XP 2017, held in Cologne, Germany, in May 2017. The 14 full and 6 short papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 46 submissions. They were organized in topical sections named: improving agile processes; agile in organization; and safety critical software. In addition, the volume contains 3 doctoral symposium papers (from 4 papers submitted).