In an attempt to introduce application scientists and graduate students to the exciting topic of positive definite kernels and radial basis functions, this book presents modern theoretical results on kernel-based approximation methods and demonstrates their implementation in various settings. The authors explore the historical context of this fascinating topic and explain recent advances as strategies to address long-standing problems. Examples are drawn from fields as diverse as function approximation, spatial statistics, boundary value problems, machine learning, surrogate modeling and finance. Researchers from those and other fields can recreate the results within using the documented MATLAB code, also available through the online library. This combination of a strong theoretical foundation and accessible experimentation empowers readers to use positive definite kernels on their own problems of interest.

The two-volume set LNCS 10174 and 10175 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 20th IACR International Conference on the Practice and Theory in Public-Key Cryptography, PKC 2017, held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in March 2017. The 34 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 160 submissions. They are organized in topical sections such as Cryptanalysis, Protocols, Encryption Schemes, Leakage-Resilient and Non-Malleable Codes, Number Theory and Diffie-Hellman, Encryption with Access Control, Special Signatures, Fully Homomorphic Encryption, Real-World Schemes, Multiparty Computation and Primitives.

The book provides insights into International Conference on Smart Innovations in Communications and Computational Sciences (ICSICCS 2017) held at North West Group of Institutions, Punjab, India. It presents new advances and research results in the fields of computer and communication written by leading researchers, engineers and scientists in the domain of interest from around the world. The book includes research work in all the areas of smart innovation, systems and technologies, embedded knowledge and intelligence, innovation and sustainability, advance computing, networking and informatics. It also focuses on the knowledge-transfer methodologies and innovation strategies employed to make this happen effectively. The combination of intelligent systems tools and a broad range of applications introduce a need for a synergy of disciplines from science and technology. Sample areas include, but are not limited to smart hardware, software design, smart computing technologies, intelligent communications and networking, web and informatics and computational sciences.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Fourth Workshop on Uncertainty for Safe Utilization of Machine Learning in Medical Imaging, UNSURE 2022, held in conjunction with MICCAI 2022. The conference was hybrid event held from Singapore. For this workshop, 13 papers from 22 submissions were accepted for publication. They focus on developing awareness and encouraging research in the field of uncertainty modelling to enable safe implementation of machine learning tools in the clinical world.

In his debut novel 'YEVAL', C.W. Schultz explores the differences between the portrayal and reality of violence. Randy Mulray is on the threshold of madness, envisioning incommunicable murders in a room (called the 'Dark Room') he is mentally forced into by a monster named Yeval. A horror story like never before, 'YEVAL' flirts with the notion that violence in entertainment is too shallow and appealing for audiences to really grip the iniquity and futility.

Scientific Computation has established itself as a stand-alone area of knowledge at the borderline between computer science and applied mathematics. Nonetheless, its interdisciplinary character cannot be denied: its methodologies are increasingly used in a wide variety of branches of science and engineering. A Gentle Introduction to Scientific Computing intends to serve a very broad audience of college students across a variety of disciplines. It aims to expose its readers to some of the basic tools and techniques used in computational science, with a view to helping them understand what happens "behind the scenes" when simple tools such as solving equations, plotting and interpolation are used. To make the book as practical as possible, the authors explore their subject both from a theoretical, mathematical perspective and from an implementation-driven, programming perspective. Features Middle-ground approach between theory and implementation. Suitable reading for a broad range of students in STEM disciplines. Could be used as the primary text for a first course in scientific computing. Introduces mathematics majors, without any prior computer science exposure, to numerical methods. All mathematical knowledge needed beyond Calculus (together with the most widely used Calculus notation and concepts) is introduced in the text to make it self-contained. The erratum document for A Gentle Introduction to Scientific Computing can be accessed here.

"Landscape Bionomics,” or “Bio-integrated Landscape Ecology,” radically transforms the main principles of traditional Landscape Ecology by recognizing the landscape as a living entity rather than merely the spatial distribution of species and communities on the territory, often analysed in separate themes (water, species, pollution, etc.). To be more exact, the landscape is identified as the "life organization integrating a set of plants, animals and human communities and its system of natural, semi-natural, and human cultural ecosystems in a certain spatial configuration." This new perspective inevitably leads to significant changes in how to assess and manage the environment. This book represents the culmination of an endeavor begun by the author, with the support of Richard Forman and Zev Naveh, more than a dozen years ago. It builds on the author’s previous successful publication, Landscape Ecology, A Widening Foundation, by addressing a range of additional topics and discussing the new theoretical and methodological concepts that have emerged during the past decade of research. Particular attention is paid to the fact that interventions in the landscape can be made with the best intentions yet cause serious damage! Against this background, the author explains the need to study "landscape units" by applying methods comparable to those used in clinical diagnosis – hence ecologists can be viewed as the “physicians” of ecological systems.