Constructing Virtual Databases On The World Wide Web

An examination of creative systems in structural and construction engineering taken from conference proceedings. Topics covered range from construction methods, safety and quality to seismic response of structural elements and soils and pavement analysis.

This result-oriented primer explores real situations dealing with Web-based databased publishing. The Web Database Construction Kit is a step-by-step guide to publishing databases over the Web using already popular Microsoft Access and Visual Basic environments.

Computational Science is the scienti?c discipline that aims at the development and understanding of new computational methods and techniques to model and simulate complex systems. The area of application includes natural systems – such as biology, envir- mental and geo-sciences, physics, and chemistry – and synthetic systems such as electronics and ?nancial and economic systems. The discipline is a bridge b- ween ‘classical’ computer science – logic, complexity, architecture, algorithms – mathematics, and the use of computers in the aforementioned areas. The relevance for society stems from the numerous challenges that exist in the various science and engineering disciplines, which can be tackled by advances made in this ?eld. For instance new models and methods to study environmental issues like the quality of air, water, and soil, and weather and climate predictions through simulations, as well as the simulation-supported development of cars, airplanes, and medical and transport systems etc. Paraphrasing R. Kenway (R.D. Kenway, Contemporary Physics. 1994): ‘There is an important message to scientists, politicians, and industrialists: in the future science, the best industrial design and manufacture, the greatest medical progress, and the most accurate environmental monitoring and forecasting will be done by countries that most rapidly exploit the full potential ofcomputational science’. Nowadays we have access to high-end computer architectures and a large range of computing environments, mainly as a consequence of the enormous s- mulus from the various international programs on advanced computing, e.g.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the joint 6th International Semantic Web Conference, ISWC 2007, and the 2nd Asian Semantic Web Conference, ASWC 2007, held in Busan, Korea, in November 2007. The 50 revised full academic papers and 12 revised application papers presented together with 5 Semantic Web Challenge papers and 12 selected doctoral consortium articles were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 257 submitted papers to the academic track and 29 to the applications track. The papers address all current issues in the field of the semantic Web, ranging from theoretical and foundational aspects to various applied topics such as management of semantic Web data, ontologies, semantic Web architecture, social semantic Web, as well as applications of the semantic Web. Short descriptions of the top five winning applications submitted to the Semantic Web Challenge competition conclude the volume.

This is a comprehensive review of research related to construction informatics, with a particular focus on the related 5th framework EU projects on product and process technology and the implementation of the new economy technologies and business models in the construction industry.

The emergence of the hominids, more than five million years ago, marked the start of the human odyssey through space and time. This book deals with the last stage of this fascinating journey: the exploration of cyberspace and cybertime. Through the rapid global implementation of information and communication technologies, a new realm for human experience and imagination has been disclosed. Reversely, these postgeographical and posthistorical technologies have started to colonize our bodies and minds. Taking Homer’s Odyssey and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as his starting point, the author investigates the ‘informatization of the worldview’, focusing on its implications for our culture–arts, religion, and science–and, ultimately, our form of life. Moving across a wide range of disciplines, varying from philosophical anthropology and palaeontology to information theory, and from astrophysics to literary, film and new media studies, the author discusses our ‘cyberspace odyssey’ from a reflective position beyond euphoria and nostalgia. His analysis is as profound as nuanced and deals with issues that will be high on the agenda for many decades to come. In 2003 a Dutch Edition of Cyberspace Odyssey received the Socrates Prize for the best philosophy book published in Dutch.

Virtual Worlds and E-Commerce: Technologies and Applications for Building Customer Relationships presents various opinions, judgments, and ideas on how the use of digitally created worlds is changing the face of e-commerce and extending the use of internet technologies to create a more immersive experience for customers. Containing current research on various aspects of the use of virtual worlds, this book includes a discussion of the elements of virtual worlds; the evolution of e-commerce to virtual commerce (v-commerce); the convergence of online games and virtual worlds; current examples of virtual worlds in use by various businesses, the military, and educational institutions; the economics of virtual worlds: discussions on legal, security and technological issues facing virtual worlds; a review of some human factor issues in virtual worlds; and the future of virtual worlds and e-commerce.