Agent-Based Models (Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is fine as far as it goes. But ABM can only be done with software and it fails to mention one of the key players in this area. The author points out that NetLogo is easiest to learn but too simple for large models. Then he points you to the programmers-only solutions of Repast, Swarm, and Mason -- all academic development environments that require you to program in Java. He bemoans the gap between these two extremes yet somehow he skips AnyLogic which is a true high-level application with drag-and-drop model building, sophisticated libraries, model wizards to help beginners, and many advanced features.
It's hard to believe someone would write a book on ABM without first doing at least a Google search on the available tools.
At any rate, the book is a solid theoretical treatment. If you are an expert Java programmer with the time to code models from scratch this will be an important book.

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Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a technique increasingly used in a broad range of social sciences. It involves building a computational model consisting of 'agents," each of which represents an actor in the social world, and an "environment" in which the agents act. Agents are able to interact with each other and are programmed to be pro-active, autonomous and able to perceive their virtual world. The techniques of ABM are derived from artificial intelligence and computer science, but are now being developed independently in research centers throughout the world.In Agent-Based Models, Nigel Gilbert reviews a range of examples of agent-based modeling, describes how to design and build your own models, and considers practical issues such as verification, validation, planning a modeling project, and how to structure a scholarly article reporting the results of agent-based modeling. It includes a glossary, an annotated list of resources, advice on which programming environment to use when creating agent-based models, and a worked, step-by-step example of the development of an ABM.This latest volume in the SAGE Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series will have wide appeal in the social sciences, including the disciplines of sociology, economics, social psychology, geography, economic history, science studies, and environmental studies. It is appropriate for graduate students, researchers and academics in these fields, for both those wanting to keep up with new developments in their fields and those who are considering using ABM for their research.Key Features

Aimed at readers who are new to ABM

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Dynamical Symmetry Review

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(More customer reviews)Amazing read! Five stars! This book will assuredly stimulate new levels of thinking for the reader in various aspects of dynamical symmetry and it points to discoveries yet to be made in better understanding the some principals of physics therein. ...And makes important discoveries of its own in the process. Each reader should see if they can infer and verify for themselves the import of powerful new implications based upon Maxwell's original equations set forth towards the end of the book.Algebraic Theory of Molecules (Topics in Physical Chemistry Series)

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Whenever systems are governed by continuous chains of causes and effects, their behavior exhibits the consequences of dynamical symmetries, many of them far from obvious. Dynamical Symmetry introduces the reader to Sophus Lie's discoveries of the connections between differential equations and continuous groups that underlie this observation. It develops and applies the mathematical relations between dynamics and geometry that result. Systematic methods for uncovering dynamical symmetries are described, and put to use. Much material in the book is new and some has only recently appeared in research journals.
Though Lie groups play a key role in elementary particle physics, their connection with differential equations is more often exploited in applied mathematics and engineering. Dynamical Symmetry bridges this gap in a novel manner designed to help readers establish new connections in their own areas of interest. Emphasis is placed on applications to physics and chemistry. Applications to many of the other sciences illustrate both general principles and the ubiquitousness of dynamical symmetries.

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On Your Mark - An Insight Guide to Modeling Review

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(More customer reviews)... every step of the way.
From how to choose representation, to how to decide which aspect(s) of the industry fit you, Didiayer Snyder walks her readers step-by-step through each phase of the fashion modeling industry. If you're interested in pursuing this often more-complicated-than-it-looks career, you can't do better than following in her footsteps as Di shares her experiences, guidance and insights.
The information she presents is as fascinating as it is factual, and she's saved you uncountable amounts of time by compiling this perfect handbook for every aspiring model.

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The path to self-realization can often feel like a burden and a blessing. Sometimes offering the answers before the lesson. Self-realization is when to decide it's not time to take chances, yet, it's where we prove to ourselves what's inside; is what matters. In the moment of truth we realize, there's only ourselves to deny. On Your Mark makes you think about whether, "it's something you've got" or "something you need." Offering valuable lessons, Didiayer's journey along the way illuminates an empowering perseverance, readers are sure to find helpful and inspiring - ultimately, leading to the mark. "On Your Mark" is the finest tool for anyone who is seriously considering a career in modeling. Every young hopeful should read this before looking for an agent. - Crista Klayman, Director of Runway - L.A. Models Part Angel, Part Teacher, Beautiful both in and out. Snyder has a heart as big as her talent. She has written a gift to every young person who desires to work in fashion. Modeling is not easy business but Snyder's book makes the path to working a lot easier. - Chambers Stevens, World renowned Acting Coach and Author

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A Cage Of Bones Review

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(More customer reviews)Sexy and intelligent novel mixing fashion with politics.
Jeffrey Round's A Cage of Bones follows the experiences of Warden, a Toronto gay man who makes it big on the catwalks of Europe. I found Round's writing to be both seductive and insightful. The novel reveals a writer whose life experience has enriched his outlook on life; someone who is now in a position to share some of this with his readers. Round's novel is permeated by this sense of confidence and strong moral vision.
A Cage of Bones is A Room with a View for the gay 90s. It is hilariously funny but its social and political philosophy is astute. The fashion and alternative rock worlds, the two main settings for the novel, are described with meticulous but loving details.
Highly recommended.

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First published in England to international acclaim in 1997, Jeffrey Round's classic novel, A Cage of Bones, now appears in a new edition.At the beginning of the '90s, an ingenuous young Torontonian named Warden Fields is persuaded to work as a model in Europe's fashion capitals.Italy revels in the opulent splendour of designers like Versace and Ferré, while England is still reeling from the anarchic punk revolution of a decade before.In Italy, Warden is introduced to a world of sensuality and passion, while his relationship with an underground British rock star draws him into illegal political intrigue.Sensitive and subtle, this finely crafted novel weaves together tragic and comic themes in a moving story as its protagonist goes from pop culture icon, through pariah to liberated spirit.

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Assembly Modeling with Solidworks, 2004-2005 Review

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(More customer reviews)I am an Engineering Manager. I purchased three copies of this book for my department. I would highly recommend this book for any user that has been working with SolidWorks for one or more years. This is not a book for the beginner or a person with no modeling experience. The book provides information on small, medium and large assemblies and detailed information to create, design, and modify assemblies, parts and drawings based on geometric and functional requirements. I have been looking for a book like this for a period of time. The authors review both Bottom-up and Top-down assembly design. We mainly use the Top-down design approach in my company.
The book also provides a good overview on using and creating Design tables, Bill of Materials and Custom properties to represent multiple design options. The book has various projects and desired outcomes and usage competencies. They are useful to learn and review existing design skills. The authors provide various industry scenarios that are interesting but are not very useful to me.


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This textbook is written to assist students with previous experience in SolidWorks enhance their skill sets in assembly modeling. The book provides a solid foundation in assembly modeling using competency based projects with step-by-step instructions.

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Come, Let's Play: Scenario-Based Programming Using LSCs and the Play-Engine Review

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(More customer reviews)The competing forces of Time-to-Market and Software Quality have for years begged a narrowing of the requirements-to-product divide. In "Come, Let's Play", world-renowned ACM Outstanding Educator Award recipient Harel and master software engineer Marelly join forces in clearly presenting their novel, intuitive method for driving the software product directly from the GUI specification. Like Harel's previous works, the text is thorough, enlightening, clear and truly a pleasure to read.

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This book presents a powerful new language and methodology for programming complex reactive systems in a scenario-based manner. The language is live sequence charts (LSCs), a multimodal extension of sequence charts and UML's sequence diagrams, used in the past mainly for requirements. The methodology is play-in/play-out, an unusually convenient means for specifying inter-object scenario-based behavior directly from a GUI or an object model diagram, with the surprising ability to execute that behavior, or those requirements, directly. The language and methodology are supported by a fully implemented tool - the Play-Engine - which is attached to the book in CD form.Comments from experts in the field:The design of reactive systems is one of the most challenging problems in computer science. This books starts with a critical insight to explain the difficulty of this problem: there is a fundamental gap between the scenario-based way in which people think about such systems and the state-based way in which these systems are implemented. The book then offers a radical proposal to bridge this gap by means of playing scenarios. Systems can be specified by playing in scenarios and implemented by means of a Play-Engine that plays out scenarios. This idea is carried out and developed, lucidly, formally and playfully, to its fullest. The result is a compelling proposal, accompanied by a prototype software engine, for reactive systems design, which is bound to cause a splash in the software-engineering community. Moshe Y. Vardi, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USAScenarios are a primary exchange tool in explaining system behavior to others, but their limited expressive power never made them able to fully describe systems, thus limiting their use. The language of Live Sequence Charts (LSCs) presented in this beautifully written book achieves this goal, and the attached Play-Engine software makes these LSCs really come alive. This is undoubtedly a key breakthrough that will start long-awaited and exciting new directions in systems specification, synthesis, and analysis. Gérard Berry, Esterel Technologies and INRIA, Sophia-Antipolis, FranceThe approach of David Harel and Rami Marelly is a fascinating way of combining prototyping techniques with techniques for identifying behavior and user interfaces. Manfred Broy, Technical University of Munich, Germany

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Children, Clay, And Sculpture Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is extremely useful for classroom teachers and homeschooling families alike. It slowly and thoroughly works through the progression of skills from first using clay to creating finished sculpture. The chapters include information for teaching the skills, multiple examples of professional artwork that can be studied to view the technique at hand, tons of pictures of student work with the age of the student identified (very helpful for knowing how to set your expectations at a realistic level) and every chapter includes free exploration ideas as well as specific exercises.
Chapters:
Before You Begin
Explorations
Making Sculpture
Sculpting in Relief
Animals
Heads and Faces
Figures
Improving Sculptures
Finishing and Displaying Sculpture
I have taken classes with Cathy Topal; she teaches in the Education department at Smith College, helping prospective teachers learn how to teach art. The care and attention she has taken to laying out the exercises in this book clearly reflect this experience - she can think both like an experienced teacher of art and like a mentor to new teachers. This book is a valuable purchase for any art teacher or homeschool family and can be used with students from age 4 to high school level. It will grow with your child and can be used over and over to explore topics in more depth in subsequent years. I give it my very highest recommendation.

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Kids will happily dig into the soft, malleable medium, exploring its possibilities. They'll break the clay apart, rejoin it with water, try to model it into recognizable shapes, and cut out great big slabs to design. Pictures of professional sculptures, as well as objects created by kids, fill the book. Children will think it's playtime—you don't have to tell them they're learning, too.

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Cryptanalytic Attacks on RSA Review

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(More customer reviews)Ok, so I don't admit to understand most of this book. The editorial review says that it is geared at professionals at the graduate level. My education is some undergraduate level. But I was able to follow along and learn a lot. Being able to derive and discover such theories and cryptography schemes is another story. These techniques are relatively simple with respect to seeing how the algorithms run, but the idea behind the number theory is profound. Meaning, seeing the algorithm is one thing and manipulating and attacking it is another.
But like I said, with the proper math experience and not knowing the mathematics behind RSA, you will learn a lot. That is why I give this book 5 stars. The reason I read this book is because in the comics and movies, spies are always using secret messages. I want to know exactly what the attacks on RSA are. And even though the material is difficult, I see the attacks and it gives me a mental picture of what is possible. In other words, those things I don't know, I want to know without getting a P.H.D in mathematics. So even if you don't have all the higher mathematical experience, you can learn from this book if you read through it.
I recommend knowledge of linear algebra and working with series. This book is to the point . It is not in traditional textbook format, so it takes a little more work to go through the theories and examples. The reference to other sources in that back of the book is extensive and is referred to often, because although this book is filled with details some subjects need explored more deeply if you plan on researching the certain topic more deeply.
Here is a listing of the attacks covered:
--Direct
integer factorization attacks--discrete logarithm attacks-- quantum factoring and discrete logarithm attacks
--Indirect
common modulus attack--fixed-point attacks--guessing d attacks--knowing Euler's totient function--forward attack--e-th root attack--short e attacks--short d attacks--partial key exposure attacks
--Implementation (side-channel) attacks on d, p, q
timing attacks--power attacks--electromagnetic radiation attacks--random fault (glitch) attacks
This list was taken from page 230.I will also list some areas of interest I marked in the book:--For some odd reason page 5 and 6 are reversed in the book. But there are no other print mistakes.
--Page 58 has Edouard Lucas's 1891 cylindrical cryptography problem that is unsolved.
--Russian mathematician Bouniakowsky discovered clever algorithm 1870 for a^x is an element of b (mod n) with asymptotic complexity. Not much is mentioned here. It is only a paragraph, but it caught my attention while reading.
--On various pages elliptic key cryptography is worked out. The book also list some alternatives to RSA and its variations. --elliptical curve--coding based--lattice based--quantum cryptography
As stated the material is advanced but explained mathematically in a very concise manner. In fact the book is mostly all mathematical steps with paragraphs only used to start or summarize the chapter. What makes this book is that everything that is written is to the point, but is worked out enough to follow along.
I really enjoyed this book. I was however expecting more to be said about Prime numbers. Yes, p and q are Prime, but I was interested in how knowing the Prime numbers would crack RSA. This would fall under the integer factorization problem, but I guess Prime numbers are not supposed to be solvable in polynomial time, so N is supposed to be secure. But I'll admit that much of my interest in this book was the RSA attacks. There is something mysterious and childlike curiosity when cracking a code. Granted it is no easy task and reading this book doesn't make you an expert code cracker overnight. It is step in that direction and introduces the reader to mystery of how messages can be encoded so only the right person sees them, but does it from a math perspective where there is potential to create even more mysteries in the field.
Oh, and another thing. I believe a logarithmic spiral can find a series in Primes if one exists. (vms)

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RSA is a public-key cryptographic system, and is the most famous and widely-used cryptographic system in today's digital world. Cryptanalytic Attacks on RSA, a professional book, covers almost all known cryptanalytic attacks and defenses of the RSA cryptographic system and its variants. Since RSA depends heavily on computational complexity theory and number theory, background information on complexity theory and number theory is presented first, followed by an account of the RSA cryptographic system and its variants.This book is also suitable as a secondary text for advanced-level students in computer science and mathematics.

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How to Enter the Business of Commercial Modeling and Acting...Without Get ting Ripped Off Review

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(More customer reviews)I truley enjoyed the book, " How to Enter the business of Commercial Modeling & Acting...Without Getting Ripped Off!"! I have learned how to act in college, but never how to make great money acting in the business! I never realized how simple it was for someone to get started in commercial modeling and acting! This book is great because it holds your hand throughout the book and makes it so simple to get started. I have already loaned it to a few freinds and a stage mom or two! It was also great to read the interviews from actors, models and the folks who hire talent. The book covered the entire spectrum of the business. I would advise that not only "new" talent read this but experienced as well. I think it is awesome that the author took the time to write this book because anyone reading it CAN NOT GET SCAMMED IN THE INDUSTRY! Like Morgan Creek Productions quoted on the back of the book, "Shark repellent for the sertious actor" it couldn't have been said better! So many people think that they have to be beautiful to model...WRONG! The Author made a great point..He said that "real" people target the"real" consumer. As a matter of fact, when I watched TV after reading the book, it was about 80% real people in the tv commercials. Even radio commercials lately have the everyday type of voice as opposed to the radio announcer type of voice. I never realized there was such a demand for people like me in the commercial industry.

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Game Theory and Strategy (Mathematical Association of America Textbooks) Review

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(More customer reviews)I found this book to be a very enjoyable read, covering the most interesting ideas in game theory and how they have impacted on other sciences from biology to sociology.
Almost no mathematical knowledge is required, because the text focuses on the ideas not the math.
Even if you want to learn about Game Theory including the mathematical foundation, I recommend to read this book first. It will wet your appetite for Game Theory and show the breath of ideas and applications.

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This book pays careful attention to applications of game theory in a wide variety of disciplines. The applications are treated in considerable depth. The book assumes only high school algebra, yet gently builds to mathematical thinking of some sophistication. Game Theory and Strategy might serve as an introduction to both axiomatic mathematical thinking and the fundamental process of mathematical modelling. It gives insight into both the nature of pure mathematics, and the way in which mathematics can be applied to real problems.

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Advanced Log-Linear Models Using SAS Review

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(More customer reviews)Another Zelterman classic. It's amazing what he can do in SAS.

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Daniel Zelterman applies his extensive SAS knowledge and biostatistics experience to illustrate how to use the GENMOD procedure to analyze log-linear models for categorical data. His wide variety of examples illustrate the statistical applications PROC GENMOD can perform. He thoroughly describes the models, provides real data examples, supplies the necessary code, and explains the output from GENMOD. The topics covered include: the Pearson goodness of fit statistic; tables of categorical data; a review of log-linear model methods for rectangular tables of categorical data; extrapolation methods to estimate population size; new models and distributions for statistical analysis of data; and issues in power analysis and estimating sample size in experiments. The models take advantage of the wide class of generalized linear models and use real data from pharmaceutical studies and epidemiology, wildlife, and government statistics. Statisticians who have a basic under!standing both of SAS and the analysis of categorical data will greatly benefit from this book. The discussion of each model and method emphasizes statistical aspects, such as interpretation of results, rather than programming skills. The numerous examples are used to motivate the theory and methods as they are discussed.

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Handbook of Materials Modeling (Vol 1&2) Review

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(More customer reviews)The book contains extensive chapters on tight binding methods, density functional theory, atomistic modeling of materials using molecular dynamical methods, monte-carlo methods, rate equations and continuum methods, and covers processes from thin film growth to radiation damage in solids, defects in crystals to soft condensed matter. Towards the end the plenary chapters give a nice overview of the problems in the field of simulation. The chapters are lucidly written by the foremost researchers in the fields.
My only gripe is that it ignores the field of device simulations, which would have been a nice addition in an encyclopedic book like this.
A must have for any person trying to learn simulation techniques. Definitely five star material.

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The first reference of its kind in the rapidly emerging field of computational approachs to materials research, this is a compendium of perspective-providing and topical articles written to inform students and non-specialists of the current status and capabilities of modelling and simulation. From the standpoint of methodology, the development follows a multiscale approach with emphasis on electronic-structure, atomistic, and mesoscale methods, as well as mathematical analysis and rate processes. Basic models are treated across traditional disciplines, not only in the discussion of methods but also in chapters on crystal defects, microstructure, fluids, polymers and soft matter. Written by authors who are actively participating in the current development, this collection of 150 articles has the breadth and depth to be a major contributor toward defining the field of computational materials. In addition, there are 40 commentaries by highly respected researchers, presenting various views that should interest the future generations of the community.Subject Editors:Martin Bazant,MIT; Bruce Boghosian,Tufts University; Richard Catlow, Royal Institution; Long-Qing Chen, Pennsylvania State University; William Curtin, Brown University; Tomas Diaz de la Rubia, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Nicolas Hadjiconstantinou, MIT; Mark F. Horstemeyer, Mississippi State University; Efthimios Kaxiras, Harvard University; L. Mahadevan, Harvard University; Dimitrios Maroudas, University of Massachusetts; Nicola Marzari, MIT; Horia Metiu, University of California Santa Barbara; Gregory C. Rutledge, MIT; David J. Srolovitz, Princeton University; Bernhardt L. Trout, MIT; Dieter Wolf, Argonne National Laboratory.

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Fundamentals of SolidWorks 2011 Review

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(More customer reviews)I don't often write reviews... but I purchased this product based on the great reviews the 2010 product has. With a lot of lousy stuff out there, I feel it is my duty to encourage others to choose this product... it lives up to all of the previous reviews!
Over the years I have had to learn of lot of new CAD applications... I have had a lot of books, and taken a lot of classes but none have compared to this. It was like taking a class but being able to pause and rewind the teacher. The are engaging throughout and unlike other video systems I have used... I didn't get board with the videos even after 14 hours. In fact.. I wanted it to keep going!
On one occasion I was having trouble creating a part from the hands on exercise so I E-mailed Inspirtech. They got back to me that day and help me out. Turns out it was my fault. If I had watched the video again I would have noticed that my question was answered. But, they took the time on the phone to help me anyways. That is unheard of these days.
I can't say enough how happy I am... And now I am a CSWA too!


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Data Model Patterns: A Metadata Map (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Data Management Systems) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is great stuff for Enterprise Architects. The discussion of Zachman is better than any of the Zachman Institues articles. The explanation of the value of architectural meta-models is excellent.
On the down side, the meta-models presented are very good EXCEPT that the author still presents data as being a part of an application. Surely 20 or so years after James Martin we are past that. Applications with their own data schemata are to be avoided and suppressed, rather than endorsed.
If your are a "real" Enterprise Architect, then this is book indispensable, but review all of the meta-models carefully to insure that they comply with your particular religion.


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In recent years, companies and government agencies have come to realize that the data they use represent a significant corporate resource, whose cost calls for management every bit as rigorous as the management of human resources, money, and capital equipment. With this realization has come recognition of the importance to integrate the data that has traditionally only been available from disparate sources. An important component of this integration is the management of the "metadata" that describe, catalogue, and provide access to the various forms of underlying business data. The "metadata repository" is essential keeping track both of the various physical components of these systems, but also their semantics. What do we mean by "customer?" Where can we find information about our customers? After years of building enterprise models for the oil, pharmaceutical, banking, and other industries, Dave Hay has here not only developed a conceptual model of such a metadata repository, he has in fact created a true enterprise data model of the information technology industry itself. * A comprehensive work based on the Zachman Framework for information architecture-encompassing the Business Owner's, Architect's, and Designer's views, for all columns (data, activities, locations, people, timing, and motivation)* Provides a step-by-step description of model and is organized so that different readers can benefit from different parts* Provides a view of the world being addressed by all the techniques, methods and tools of the information processing industry (for example, object-oriented design, CASE, business process re-engineering, etc.)* Presents many concepts that are not currently being addressed by such tools - and should be

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Triangulations and Applications (Mathematics and Visualization) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an outstanding book. It is clearly written and goes into great detail. There is source code available that is very well designed and clearly commented. (search for Triangulation Template Library) There are ample illustrations to help you visualize the algorithms.
It is a short book but very complete. It has an academic flavor with definitions, theorems, lemmas and extensive references. There are exercises at the end of the chapters so it was designed to be useful as a textbook for a college computer science course.
I bought it to learn the algorithms and techniques on my own, with an eye toward applying them in geometric modeling for computer games. I found it easy to follow and skipped many of the proofs on the first reading. There are several code snippets throughout the text, some are give in pseudo-code and other are C++. They use OpenGL and GLUT to demonstrate the use of the library. The triangulation library is C++ and not directly tied to OpenGL and should be applicable to Direct3D or other graphics APIs.

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This book will serve as a valuable source of information about triangulations for the graduate student and researcher. With emphasis on computational issues, it presents the basic theory necessary to construct and manipulate triangulations. In particular, the book gives a tour through the theory behind the Delaunay triangulation, including algorithms and software issues. It also discusses various data structures used for the representation of triangulations.

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Oracle DBA Pocket Guide (Pocket Reference) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this book on a whim at a bookstore because it claimed to include "quick reference" info on performance. I found that area seriously lacking...
I thought it odd to have sections on installation and planning in here. Hopefully one does not make such decisions with only a pocket guide as a reference. That section could be shortened to a few pages of warnings and a few URLs. The backup and recovery section was great, but it could be shortened up about 5 pages. Same for the security section.
With the extra space, I would put in at least 15 pages on performance tuning.
The data dictionary quick reference is very useful, and if it weren't for that I would probably have given this book away.

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The Oracle database is one of the most popular in the world, and for good reason. It's compatible, scalable, portable, and capable of performing incredibly fast. The advantages Oracle holds over its competition come with a price, however--it's a highly complex database that's becoming more complex with every release. And this level of detail, of course, can begin to weigh on database administrators (DBAs).

Fortunately, the Oracle DBA Pocket Guide from O'Reilly is on the case. This handy reference is designed to help administrators make more effective use of their time by presenting a compact summary of DBA tasks in an easy-to-use form.With this book by your side, you'll have instant access to the most important concepts, best practices, tips, and checklists.Key topics include architecture, installation, configuration, tuning, and backup/recovery.Everything that you absolutely must know to do your job well is right there at your fingertips.

Moreover, the Oracle DBA Pocket Guide covers Oracle Database 9i, as well as its latest release, Oracle Database 10g.The first database designed for enterprising grid computing, Oracle Database 10g significantly reduces the cost of managing the IT environment with a simplified install, reduced configuration and management requirements, and automatic performance diagnosis and SQL tuning.

The latest in O'Reilly's line of bestselling Oracle titles, this book is an invaluable companion for any database administrator--new or experienced--interested in reviewing core Oracle concepts at a glance.

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First Course in Mathematical Modeling-Textbook Only Review

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(More customer reviews)A university course I am taking requires this textbook. I ordered it from Amazon, and it arrived well ahead of time, and even had the included CD (which usually "disappears" if I order a textbook from an online source).
Thanks, Amazon!


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