Internet of things programming with JavaScript

This treatment provides an exposition of discrete time dynamic processes evolving over an infinite horizon. Chapter 1 reviews some mathematical results from the theory of deterministic dynamical systems, with particular emphasis on applications to economics. The theory of irreducible Markov processes, especially Markov chains, is surveyed in Chapter 2. Equilibrium and long run stability of a dynamical system in which the law of motion is subject to random perturbations is the central theme of Chapters 3-5. A unified account of relatively recent results, exploiting splitting and contractions, that have found applications in many contexts is presented in detail. Chapter 6 explains how a random dynamical system may emerge from a class of dynamic programming problems. With examples and exercises, readers are guided from basic theory to the frontier of applied mathematical research.

This treatment provides an exposition of discrete time dynamic processes evolving over an infinite horizon. Chapter 1 reviews some mathematical results from the theory of deterministic dynamical systems, with particular emphasis on applications to economics. The theory of irreducible Markov processes, especially Markov chains, is surveyed in Chapter 2. Equilibrium and long run stability of a dynamical system in which the law of motion is subject to random perturbations is the central theme of Chapters 3-5. A unified account of relatively recent results, exploiting splitting and contractions, that have found applications in many contexts is presented in detail. Chapter 6 explains how a random dynamical system may emerge from a class of dynamic programming problems. With examples and exercises, readers are guided from basic theory to the frontier of applied mathematical research.

E-commerce is still a volatile industry, but each day a new enterprise pops up promising to be the next big thing. The real challenge is to understand what is involved in using the Internet as a means to building a successful business. Rather than coming up with marketing hooks and product innovations, e-Enterprise: Business Models, Architecture, and Components demystifies e-commerce and describes how a business should determine its own future by taking the next step and becoming an agile 'e-enterprise'. Faisal Hoque introduces the concept of high-level abstraction of business processes and application functionality that result in reusable business and technology components. He provides a methodology that is critical for all business leaders and technologists trying to build an enterprise on the internet.

This was the first cross-over book into the history of science written by an historian of economics. It shows how 'history of technology' can be integrated with the history of economic ideas. The analysis combines Cold War history with the history of postwar economics in America and later elsewhere, revealing that the Pax Americana had much to do with abstruse and formal doctrines such as linear programming and game theory. It links the literature on 'cyborg' to economics, an element missing in literature to date. The treatment further calls into question the idea that economics has been immune to postmodern currents, arguing that neoclassical economics has participated in the deconstruction of the integral 'self'. Finally, it argues for an alliance of computational and institutional themes, and challenges the widespread impression that there is nothing else besides American neoclassical economic theory left standing after the demise of Marxism.

This was the first cross-over book into the history of science written by an historian of economics. It shows how 'history of technology' can be integrated with the history of economic ideas. The analysis combines Cold War history with the history of postwar economics in America and later elsewhere, revealing that the Pax Americana had much to do with abstruse and formal doctrines such as linear programming and game theory. It links the literature on 'cyborg' to economics, an element missing in literature to date. The treatment further calls into question the idea that economics has been immune to postmodern currents, arguing that neoclassical economics has participated in the deconstruction of the integral 'self'. Finally, it argues for an alliance of computational and institutional themes, and challenges the widespread impression that there is nothing else besides American neoclassical economic theory left standing after the demise of Marxism.

Discover the subject of optimization in a new light with this modern and unique treatment. Includes a thorough exposition of applications and algorithms in sufficient detail for practical use, while providing you with all the necessary background in a self-contained manner. Features a deeper consideration of optimal control, global optimization, optimization under uncertainty, multiobjective optimization, mixed-integer programming and model predictive control. Presents a complete coverage of formulations and instances in modelling where optimization can be applied for quantitative decision-making. As a thorough grounding to the subject, covering everything from basic to advanced concepts and addressing real-life problems faced by modern industry, this is a perfect tool for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in chemical and biochemical engineering.

Critical Pragmatics develops three ideas: language is a way of doing things with words; meanings of phrases and contents of utterances derive ultimately from human intentions; and language combines with other factors to allow humans to achieve communicative goals. In this book, Kepa Korta and John Perry explain why critical pragmatics provides a coherent picture of how parts of language study fit together within the broader picture of human thought and action. They focus on issues about singular reference, that is, talk about particular things, places or people, which have played a central role in the philosophy of language for more than a century. They argue that attention to the 'reflexive' or 'utterance-bound' contents of utterances sheds new light on these old problems. Their important study proposes a new approach to pragmatics and should be of wide interest to philosophers of language and linguists.

Critical Pragmatics develops three ideas: language is a way of doing things with words; meanings of phrases and contents of utterances derive ultimately from human intentions; and language combines with other factors to allow humans to achieve communicative goals. In this book, Kepa Korta and John Perry explain why critical pragmatics provides a coherent picture of how parts of language study fit together within the broader picture of human thought and action. They focus on issues about singular reference, that is, talk about particular things, places or people, which have played a central role in the philosophy of language for more than a century. They argue that attention to the 'reflexive' or 'utterance-bound' contents of utterances sheds new light on these old problems. Their important study proposes a new approach to pragmatics and should be of wide interest to philosophers of language and linguists.

This advanced textbook on modeling, data analysis and numerical techniques for marine science has been developed from a course taught by the authors for many years at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. The first part covers statistics: singular value decomposition, error propagation, least squares regression, principal component analysis, time series analysis and objective interpolation. The second part deals with modeling techniques: finite differences, stability analysis and optimization. The third part describes case studies of actual ocean models of ever increasing dimensionality and complexity, starting with zero-dimensional models and finishing with three-dimensional general circulation models. Throughout the book hands-on computational examples are introduced using the MATLAB programming language and the principles of scientific visualization are emphasised. Ideal as a textbook for advanced students of oceanography on courses in data analysis and numerical modeling, the boo

Building upon the success of the first edition, Statistics Using Stata uses the latest version of Stata to meet the needs of today's students. Engaging and accessible for students from a variety of mathematical backgrounds, this textbook integrates statistical concepts with the Stata (version 16) software package. It aligns Stata commands with examples based on real data, enabling students to understand statistics in a way that reflects statistical practice. Capitalizing on Stata's menu-driven 'point and click' and program syntax interface, the chapters guide students from the comfortable 'point and click' environment to the beginnings of statistical programming. Its coverage of essential topics gives instructors flexibility in curriculum planning and provides students with more advanced material to prepare for future work. Online resources - including solutions to exercises, PowerPoint slides, and Stata syntax (do-files) for each chapter - allow students to review independently and ad

This book presents a coherent and systematic exposition of the mathematical theory of the problems of optimization and stability. Both of these are topics central to economic analysis since the latter is so much concerned with the optimizing behaviour of economic agents and the stability of the interaction processes to which this gives rise. The topics covered include convexity, mathematical programming, fixed point theorems, comparative static analysis and duality, the stability of dynamic systems, the calculus of variations and optimal control theory. The authors present a more detailed and wide-ranging discussion of these topics than is to be found in the few books which attempt a similar coverage. Although the text deals with fairly advanced material, the mathematical prerequisites are minimised by the inclusion of an integrated mathematical review designed to make the text self-contained and accessible to the reader with only an elementary knowledge of calculus and linear algebra.

Pseudo-random sequences are essential ingredients of every modern digital communication system including cellular telephones, GPS, secure internet transactions and satellite imagery. Each application requires pseudo-random sequences with specific statistical properties. This book describes the design, mathematical analysis and implementation of pseudo-random sequences, particularly those generated by shift registers and related architectures such as feedback-with-carry shift registers. The earlier chapters may be used as a textbook in an advanced undergraduate mathematics course or a graduate electrical engineering course; the more advanced chapters provide a reference work for researchers in the field. Background material from algebra, beginning with elementary group theory, is provided in an appendix.

Information content and programming semantics are just two of the applications of the mathematical concepts of order, continuity and domains. The authors develop the mathematical foundations of partially ordered sets with completeness properties of various degrees, in particular directed complete ordered sets and complete lattices. Uniquely, they focus on partially ordered sets that have an extra order relation, modelling the notion that one element 'finitely approximates' another, something closely related to intrinsic topologies linking order and topology. Extensive use is made of topological ideas, both by defining useful topologies on the structures themselves and by developing close connections with numerous aspects of topology. The theory so developed not only has applications to computer science but also within mathematics to such areas as analysis, the spectral theory of algebras and the theory of computability. This authoritative, comprehensive account of the subject will be e

To perform computer simulation successfully, two rather different sets of skills are required. One of these relates to programming: a simulation program should do what its author intends and do it efficiently. The other is concerned with the collection and analysis of data: statistical tools have to be used in order to obtain with a minimum of effort, accurate and reliable estimates for the desired performance measures. Dr Mitrani covers both of these aspects of the simulation method. The important topics of point and interval estimation, simulation efficiency and the analysis of simulation experiments are discussed in detail. This book, first published in 1982, will be useful to both undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses on simulation in departments of computer science, operations research and statistics in universities and polytechnics. It will be of benefit also to practitioners in the field.

The principles of cognition are becoming increasingly important in the areas of signal processing, communications and control. In this groundbreaking book, Simon Haykin, a pioneer in the field and an award-winning researcher, educator and author, sets out the fundamental ideas of cognitive dynamic systems. Weaving together the various branches of study involved, he demonstrates the power of cognitive information processing and highlights a range of future research directions. The book begins with a discussion of core topics such as cognition and sensing, dealing, in particular, with the perception-action cycle. Bayesian filtering, machine learning and dynamic programming are then addressed. Building on these foundations, there is detailed coverage of two important practical applications, cognitive radar and cognitive radio. Blending theory and practice, this insightful book is aimed at all graduate students and researchers looking for a thorough grounding in this fascinating field.

By the time students have done some programming in one or two languages and have learnt the common ways of representing information in a computer, they will want to embark upon further study of theoretical or applied topics in computer science. Most will encounter problems that require for their solution one or more of the techniques described in this book: for example problems depending upon the formation and solution of different equations; the task of making lists of possible alternatives and of answering questions about them; or the search for discrete optima. Written by the same authors as the highly successful Information Representation and Manipulation in a Computer, this book describes algorithms of mathematical methods and illustrates their application with examples. The mathematical background needed is elementary algebra and calculus. Numerous exercises are provided, with hints to their solutions.

A systematic program design method can help developers ensure the correctness and performance of programs while minimizing the development cost. This book describes a method that starts with a clear specification of a computation and derives an efficient implementation by step-wise program analysis and transformations. The method applies to problems specified in imperative, database, functional, logic and object-oriented programming languages with different data, control and module abstractions. Designed for courses or self-study, this book includes numerous exercises and examples that require minimal computer science background, making it accessible to novices. Experienced practitioners and researchers will appreciate the detailed examples in a wide range of application areas including hardware design, image processing, access control, query optimization and program analysis. The last section of the book points out directions for future studies.

A systematic program design method can help developers ensure the correctness and performance of programs while minimizing the development cost. This book describes a method that starts with a clear specification of a computation and derives an efficient implementation by step-wise program analysis and transformations. The method applies to problems specified in imperative, database, functional, logic and object-oriented programming languages with different data, control and module abstractions. Designed for courses or self-study, this book includes numerous exercises and examples that require minimal computer science background, making it accessible to novices. Experienced practitioners and researchers will appreciate the detailed examples in a wide range of application areas including hardware design, image processing, access control, query optimization and program analysis. The last section of the book points out directions for future studies.

Optimal control theory is a technique being used increasingly by academic economists to study problems involving optimal decisions in a multi-period framework. This textbook is designed to make the difficult subject of optimal control theory easily accessible to economists while at the same time maintaining rigour. Economic intuitions are emphasized, and examples and problem sets covering a wide range of applications in economics are provided to assist in the learning process. Theorems are clearly stated and their proofs are carefully explained. The development of the text is gradual and fully integrated, beginning with simple formulations and progressing to advanced topics such as control parameters, jumps in state variables, and bounded state space. For greater economy and elegance, optimal control theory is introduced directly, without recourse to the calculus of variations. The connection with the latter and with dynamic programming is explained in a separate chapter. A second purp

Optimal control theory is a technique being used increasingly by academic economists to study problems involving optimal decisions in a multi-period framework. This textbook is designed to make the difficult subject of optimal control theory easily accessible to economists while at the same time maintaining rigour. Economic intuitions are emphasized, and examples and problem sets covering a wide range of applications in economics are provided to assist in the learning process. Theorems are clearly stated and their proofs are carefully explained. The development of the text is gradual and fully integrated, beginning with simple formulations and progressing to advanced topics such as control parameters, jumps in state variables, and bounded state space. For greater economy and elegance, optimal control theory is introduced directly, without recourse to the calculus of variations. The connection with the latter and with dynamic programming is explained in a separate chapter. A second purp

This text provides deep and comprehensive coverage of the mathematical background for data science, including machine learning, optimal recovery, compressed sensing, optimization, and neural networks. In the past few decades, heuristic methods adopted by big tech companies have complemented existing scientific disciplines to form the new field of Data Science. This text embarks the readers on an engaging itinerary through the theory supporting the field. Altogether, twenty-seven lecture-length chapters with exercises provide all the details necessary for a solid understanding of key topics in data science. While the book covers standard material on machine learning and optimization, it also includes distinctive presentations of topics such as reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces, spectral clustering, optimal recovery, compressed sensing, group testing, and applications of semidefinite programming. Students and data scientists with less mathematical background will appreciate the appendice

Power grids, flexible manufacturing, cellular communications: interconnectedness has consequences. This remarkable book gives the tools and philosophy you need to build network models detailed enough to capture essential dynamics but simple enough to expose the structure of effective control solutions. Core chapters assume only exposure to stochastic processes and linear algebra at undergraduate level; later chapters are for advanced graduate students and researchers/practitioners. This gradual development bridges classical theory with the state-of-the-art. The workload model at the heart of traditional analysis of the single queue becomes a foundation for workload relaxations used in the treatment of complex networks. Lyapunov functions and dynamic programming equations lead to the celebrated MaxWeight policy along with many generalizations. Other topics include methods for synthesizing hedging and safety stocks, stability theory for networks, and techniques for accelerated simulation

This Element provides an introduction to the hiddenness argument, as presented by John Schellenberg, and its up-to-date discussion in a comprehensible way. It concludes with a brief assessment of where things stand, from the author's point of view, and why divine hiddenness should not reduce a reflective theist's confidence in theism.

Numerical analysis is an increasingly important link between pure mathematics and its application in science and technology. This textbook provides an introduction to the justification and development of constructive methods that provide sufficiently accurate approximations to the solution of numerical problems, and the analysis of the influence that errors in data, finite-precision calculations, and approximation formulas have on results, problem formulation and the choice of method. It also serves as an introduction to scientific programming in MATLAB, including many simple and difficult, theoretical and computational exercises. A unique feature of this book is the consequent development of interval analysis as a tool for rigorous computation and computer assisted proofs, along with the traditional material.

Complex Webs synthesises modern mathematical developments with a broad range of complex network applications of interest to the engineer and system scientist, presenting the common principles, algorithms, and tools governing network behaviour, dynamics, and complexity. The authors investigate multiple mathematical approaches to inverse power laws and expose the myth of normal statistics to describe natural and man-made networks. Richly illustrated throughout with real-world examples including cell phone use, accessing the Internet, failure of power grids, measures of health and disease, distribution of wealth, and many other familiar phenomena from physiology, bioengineering, biophysics, and informational and social networks, this book makes thought-provoking reading. With explanations of phenomena, diagrams, end-of-chapter problems, and worked examples, it is ideal for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in engineering and the life, social, and physical sciences. It is also a

Benito Mussolini has persistently been described as an 'actor' – and also as a master of illusions. In her vividly narrated account of the Italian dictator's relationship with the theatre, Patricia Gaborik discards any metaphorical notions of Il Duce as a performer and instead tells the story of his life as literal spectator, critic, impresario, dramatist and censor of the stage. Discussing the ways in which the autarch's personal tastes and convictions shaped, in fascist Italy, theatrical programming, she explores Mussolini's most significant dramatic influences, his association with important figures such as Luigi Pirandello, Gabriele D'Annunzio and George Bernard Shaw, his oversight of stage censorship, and his forays into playwriting. By focusing on its subject's manoeuvres in the theatre, and manipulation of theatrical ideas, this consistently illuminating book transforms our understandings of fascism as a whole. It will have strong appeal to readers in both theatre studies and mo

Communication networks underpin our modern world, and provide fascinating and challenging examples of large-scale stochastic systems. Randomness arises in communication systems at many levels: for example, the initiation and termination times of calls in a telephone network, or the statistical structure of the arrival streams of packets at routers in the Internet. How can routing, flow control and connection acceptance algorithms be designed to work well in uncertain and random environments? This compact introduction illustrates how stochastic models can be used to shed light on important issues in the design and control of communication networks. It will appeal to readers with a mathematical background wishing to understand this important area of application, and to those with an engineering background who want to grasp the underlying mathematical theory. Each chapter ends with exercises and suggestions for further reading.

Communication networks underpin our modern world, and provide fascinating and challenging examples of large-scale stochastic systems. Randomness arises in communication systems at many levels: for example, the initiation and termination times of calls in a telephone network, or the statistical structure of the arrival streams of packets at routers in the Internet. How can routing, flow control and connection acceptance algorithms be designed to work well in uncertain and random environments? This compact introduction illustrates how stochastic models can be used to shed light on important issues in the design and control of communication networks. It will appeal to readers with a mathematical background wishing to understand this important area of application, and to those with an engineering background who want to grasp the underlying mathematical theory. Each chapter ends with exercises and suggestions for further reading.

Data structures are the fundamental building blocks of any computer program, used for storing, representing and manipulating data in a computer. This text presents the basic concepts of data structures as part of the art of writing computer programs. The author concentrates on the fundamentals of what should be done to solve a problem efficiently rather than technical implementation details. The text includes pseudocode and covers all the most common data structures, such as queues, stacks, trees, heaps, and hash tables, along with the basics of searching, sorting, and coding. This book can supplement any undergraduate algorithms or discrete math course and will also be accessible to students and researchers in other quantitative disciplines. No prerequisites beyond introductory programming and basic mathematics are required, and the accessible, conceptual presentation will appeal to undergraduates in many quantitative fields. Carefully designed problem sets with selected solutions wil

Data structures are the fundamental building blocks of any computer program, used for storing, representing and manipulating data in a computer. This text presents the basic concepts of data structures as part of the art of writing computer programs. The author concentrates on the fundamentals of what should be done to solve a problem efficiently rather than technical implementation details. The text includes pseudocode and covers all the most common data structures, such as queues, stacks, trees, heaps, and hash tables, along with the basics of searching, sorting, and coding. This book can supplement any undergraduate algorithms or discrete math course and will also be accessible to students and researchers in other quantitative disciplines. No prerequisites beyond introductory programming and basic mathematics are required, and the accessible, conceptual presentation will appeal to undergraduates in many quantitative fields. Carefully designed problem sets with selected solutions wil

The core of scientific computing is designing, writing, testing, debugging and modifying numerical software for application to a vast range of areas: from graphics, meteorology and chemistry to engineering, biology and finance. Scientists, engineers and computer scientists need to write good code, for speed, clarity, flexibility and ease of re-use. Oliveira and Stewart's style guide for numerical software points out good practices to follow, and pitfalls to avoid. By following their advice, readers will learn how to write efficient software, and how to test it for bugs, accuracy and performance. Techniques are explained with a variety of programming languages, and illustrated with two extensive design examples, one in Fortran 90 and one in C++: other examples in C, C++, Fortran 90 and Java are scattered throughout the book. This manual of scientific computing style will be an essential addition to the bookshelf and lab of everyone who writes numerical software.

In this wide-ranging inside view of the history and practice of conducting, analysis and advice comes directly from working conductors, including Sir Charles Mackerras on opera, Bramwell Tovey on being an Artistic Director, Martyn Brabbins on modern music, Leon Botstein on programming and Vance George on choral conducting, and from those who work closely with conductors: a leading violinist describes working as a soloist with Stokowski, Ormandy and Barbirolli, while Solti and Abbado's studio producer explains orchestral recording, and one of the world's most powerful managers tells all. The book includes advice on how to conduct different types of groups (choral, opera, symphony, early music) and provides a substantial history of conducting as a study of national traditions. It is an unusually honest book about a secretive industry and managers, artistic directors, soloists, players and conductors openly discuss their different perspectives for the first time.

In this book, Jon Conrad and Colin Clark develop the theory of resource economics. To begin, they provide an introduction to the required techniques of dynamic optimization. Throughout the book they build the reader's understanding with many fully-worked problems and numerical examples. The authors have written this text in the belief that the theory and concepts of resource are more quickly learned, more effectively made operational, and more truly understood if the reader is exposed to carefully explained numerical examples. By working through the problems at the end of each chapter, students will learn the techniques to be used in empirical studies of natural resource systems. The first chapter provides an introduction to optimization, including constrained optimization, dynamic allocation problems, dynamic programming, continuous time problems, and the maximum principle, and a discussion of various numerical and graphical techniques. The remaining chapters deal in depth with the ec

In this book, Jon Conrad and Colin Clark develop the theory of resource economics. To begin, they provide an introduction to the required techniques of dynamic optimization. Throughout the book they build the reader's understanding with many fully-worked problems and numerical examples. The authors have written this text in the belief that the theory and concepts of resource are more quickly learned, more effectively made operational, and more truly understood if the reader is exposed to carefully explained numerical examples. By working through the problems at the end of each chapter, students will learn the techniques to be used in empirical studies of natural resource systems. The first chapter provides an introduction to optimization, including constrained optimization, dynamic allocation problems, dynamic programming, continuous time problems, and the maximum principle, and a discussion of various numerical and graphical techniques. The remaining chapters deal in depth with the ec

The diversity of interpretation within Islamic legal traditions can be challenging for those working within this field of study. Using a distinctly contextual approach, this book addresses such challenges by combining theoretical perspectives on Islamic law with insight into how local understandings impact on the application of law in Muslim daily life. Engaging with topics as diverse as Islamic constitutionalism, Islamic finance, human rights and internet fatawa, Shaheen Sardar Ali provides an invaluable resource for scholars, students and practitioners alike by exploring exactly what constitutes Islamic law in the contemporary world. Useful examples, case studies, a glossary of terms and the author's personal reflections accompany traditional academic critique, and together offer the reader a unique and discerning discussion of Islamic law in practice.

The diversity of interpretation within Islamic legal traditions can be challenging for those working within this field of study. Using a distinctly contextual approach, this book addresses such challenges by combining theoretical perspectives on Islamic law with insight into how local understandings impact on the application of law in Muslim daily life. Engaging with topics as diverse as Islamic constitutionalism, Islamic finance, human rights and internet fatawa, Shaheen Sardar Ali provides an invaluable resource for scholars, students and practitioners alike by exploring exactly what constitutes Islamic law in the contemporary world. Useful examples, case studies, a glossary of terms and the author's personal reflections accompany traditional academic critique, and together offer the reader a unique and discerning discussion of Islamic law in practice.

Constraint Handling Rules (CHR) is both a theoretical formalism based on logic and a practical programming language based on rules. This book, written by the creator of CHR, describes the theory of CHR and how to use it in practice. It is supported by a website containing teaching materials, online demos, and free downloads of the language. After a basic tutorial, the author describes in detail the CHR language and discusses guaranteed properties of CHR programs. The author then compares CHR with other formalisms and languages and illustrates how it can capture their essential features. Finally, larger programs are introduced and analyzed in detail. The book is ideal for graduate students and lecturers, and for more experienced programmers and researchers, who can use it for self-study. Exercises with selected solutions, and bibliographic remarks are included at the ends of chapters. The book is the definitive reference on the subject.

Point-to-point vs hub-and-spoke. Questions of network design are real and involve many billions of dollars. Yet little is known about optimising design - nearly all work concerns optimising flow assuming a given design. This foundational book tackles optimisation of network structure itself, deriving comprehensible and realistic design principles. With fixed material cost rates, a natural class of models implies the optimality of direct source-destination connections, but considerations of variable load and environmental intrusion then enforce trunking in the optimal design, producing an arterial or hierarchical net. Its determination requires a continuum formulation, which can however be simplified once a discrete structure begins to emerge. Connections are made with the masterly work of Bendsøe and Sigmund on optimal mechanical structures and also with neural, processing and communication networks, including those of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Technical appendices are provi

Point-to-point vs hub-and-spoke. Questions of network design are real and involve many billions of dollars. Yet little is known about optimising design - nearly all work concerns optimising flow assuming a given design. This foundational book tackles optimisation of network structure itself, deriving comprehensible and realistic design principles. With fixed material cost rates, a natural class of models implies the optimality of direct source-destination connections, but considerations of variable load and environmental intrusion then enforce trunking in the optimal design, producing an arterial or hierarchical net. Its determination requires a continuum formulation, which can however be simplified once a discrete structure begins to emerge. Connections are made with the masterly work of Bendsøe and Sigmund on optimal mechanical structures and also with neural, processing and communication networks, including those of the Internet and the World Wide Web. Technical appendices are provi

Python is today's fastest growing programming language. This engaging and refreshingly different guide breaks down the skills into clear step-by-step chunks and explains the theory using brief easy-to-understand language. Rather than bamboozling readers with pages of mind-numbing technical jargon, this book includes 150 practical challenges, putting the power in the reader's hands. Through creating programs to solve these challenges the reader will quickly progress from mastering the basics to confidently using subroutines, a graphical user interface, and linking to external text, csv and SQL files. This book is perfect for anyone who wants to learn how to program with Python. In particular, students starting out in computer science and teachers who want to improve their confidence in Python will find here a set of ready-made challenges for classroom use.