E-Health Systems Diffusion and Use: The Innovation, the User and the Use IT Model offers an overview of the use and diffusion of information systems in the health care sector with particular attention to the role of the user. This book starts with classic contributions and modifications and then continues with contemporary contributions, which include both qualitative and quantitative approaches.



(more…)

• Provides a comprehensive description of the utility model, offering guidance on design, deployment and maintenance issues, and a strong section on service level agreements (SLAs).
• Explains in detail how to improve efficiencies and achieve cost reduction in the IT department.
• Adopts a thorough approach, taking into account current baselines, phasing, task involved, success factors and best practice principles.
• Presents a method rooted in theory, yet broad-based and practical, illustrated throughout with examples and real-world case studies.

This invaluable text provides CIOs, CFOs, system administrators, IT policy makers and professionals looking to develop utility computing practices in their organizations, as well as researchers in computer science, statisticians, engineers, and graduate students, with an in-depth understanding of the concepts and practicalities of utility computing.

(more…)

It offers a comprehensive introduction to MapServer, the development platform for integrating mapping technology into Internet applications. You’ll learn how to build and extend dynamic applications using popular languages like PHP, Perl, and Python.

(more…)

RSS and Atom are specifications that give users the power to subscribe to information they want to receive and give content developers tools to provide continuous subscriptions to willing recipients in a spam-free setting. RSS and Atom are the technical power behind the growing millions of blogs on the Web. Blogs change the Web from a set of static pages or sites requiring programming expertise to update to an ever changing, constantly updated landscape that anyone can contribute to. RSS and Atom syndication provides users an easy way to track new information on as many Web sites as they want. This book offers you insight to understanding the issues facing the user community so you can meet users’ needs by writing software and Web sites using RSS and Atom feeds.

Beginning with an introduction to all the current and coming versions of RSS and Atom, you’ll go step by step through the process of producing, aggregating, and storing information feeds. When you’re finished, you’ll be able to produce client software and Web sites that create, manipulate, aggregate, and display information feeds effectively.

Download Here

Google.com is one of the most popular sites on the Internet and is used around the world by millions of people every day. Sure, you know how to “Google it” when you’re searching for something–anything!–on the Web. It’s plenty fast and easy to use. But did you know how much more you could achieve with the world’s best search engine by clicking beyond the “Google Search” button?While you can interface with Google in 97 languages and glean results in 35, you can’t find any kind of instruction manual from Google. Lucky for you, our fully updated and greatly expanded second edition to the bestselling Google: The Missing Manual covers everything you could possibly want to know about Google, including the newest and coolest–and often most underused (what is Froogle, anyway?)–features. There’s even a full chapter devoted to Gmail, Google’s free email service that includes a whopping 2.5 GB of space).

This wise and witty guide delivers the complete scoop on Google, from how it works to how you can search far more effectively and efficiently (no more scrolling through 168 pages of seemingly irrelevant results); take best advantage of Google’s lesser-known features, such as Google Print, Google Desktop, and Google Suggest; get your website listed on Google; track your visitors with Google Analytics; make money with AdWords and AdSense; and much more.

(more…)

This guide is the point-of-entry document for understanding the basics of the SAS Intelligence Platform. It discusses the benefits of the SAS Intelligence Platform to businesses, describes the architecture of the SAS Intelligence Platform, and provides an overview of each software component in the platform.

(more…)

Dashboards have become popular in recent years as uniquely powerful tools for communicating important information at a glance. Although dashboards are potentially powerful, this potential is rarely realized. The greatest display technology in the world won’t solve this if you fail to use effective visual design. And if a dashboard fails to tell you precisely what you need to know in an instant, you’ll never use it, even if it’s filled with cute gauges, meters, and traffic lights. Don’t let your investment in dashboard technology go to waste.
This book will teach you the visual design skills you need to create dashboards that communicate clearly, rapidly, and compellingly. Information Dashboard Design will explain how to:

• Avoid the thirteen mistakes common to dashboard design
• Provide viewers with the information they need quickly and clearly
• Apply what we now know about visual perception to the visual presentation of information
• Minimize distractions, cliches, and unnecessary embellishments that create confusion
• Organize business information to support meaning and usability
• Create an aesthetically pleasing viewing experience
• Maintain consistency of design to provide accurate interpretation
• Optimize the power of dashboard technology by pairing it with visual effectiveness

(more…)

Want to find every pizza place within a 15-mile radius? Where the dog parks are in a new town? The most central meeting place for your class, club or group of friends? The cheapest gas stations on a day-to-day basis? The location of convicted sex offenders in an area to which you may be considering moving? The applications, serendipitous and serious, seem to be infinite, as developers find ever more creative ways to add to and customize the satellite images and underlying API of Google Maps.

Written by Schuyler Erle and Rich Gibson, authors of the popular Mapping Hacks, Google Maps Hacks shares dozens of tricks for combining the capabilities of Google Maps with your own datasets. Such diverse information as apartment listings, crime reporting or flight routes can be integrated with Google’s satellite imagery in creative ways, to yield new and useful applications.

The authors begin with a complete introduction to the “standard” features of Google Maps. The adventure continues with 60 useful and interesting mapping projects that demonstrate ways developers have added their own features to the maps. After that’s given you ideas of your own, you learn to apply the techniques and tools to add your own data to customize and manipulate Google Maps. Even Google seems to be tacitly blessing what might be seen as unauthorized use, but maybe they just know a good thing when they see one.

(more…)

When Microsoft releases Windows Vista, the new operating system will support applications that employ graphics now used by computer games–clear, stunning, and active. The cornerstone for building these new user interfaces is XAML (”Zammel”), the XML-based markup language that works with Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Vista’s new graphics subsystem.
An acronym for Extensible Application Markup Language, XAML offers a wealth of new controls and elements with exciting capabilities, including animation and rendering of 3D graphics. Windows developers are already jazzed by the possibilities of using XAML for fixed and flow format documents like PDF and HTML, 2D and 3D vector-based graphics, form development, animation, audio and video, transparent layering, and a lot more. Many feel that XAML will eliminate the need for multiple file formats or plug-ins (read: Flash), while lowering development costs and reducing time to market.

(more…)

There’s a new browser in town: Firefox is quickly becoming a leading alternative to Microsoft Internet Explorer. If you are new to Firefox and want to see what all the buzz is about, Firefox and Thunderbird: Beyond Browsing and Email is the guide that you need. By focusing on how to configure and customize Firefox and Thunderbird, this book will show you how to quickly get a hold of the less intuitive features that most new users struggle to figure out. You will discover which of Firefox’s many options should be adjusted, which shouldn’t, and how to locate many hidden preferences that will ultimately create a better browsing experience. The author’s tips and tricks will teach you how to adjust the browser’s appearance and behavior, and how to install the most
popular extensions to maximize the browser’s performance.

You’ll also be introduced to Firefox’s e-mail client companion, Thunderbird. You’ll cover Thunderbird’s built-in spam filters, calendar, and customizeable layout and toolbars. Personalize your e-mail with tips and tricks dedicated to getting the most out of Thunderbird, and learn how to make it work together with Firefox for a seamless online
experience.

You can even find out how to contribute to the development of Firefox and Thunderbird. A special section on Web development will show you how you can add new extensions, themes, and customizations to each one and make an impact on the future of Firefox and Thunderbird.

(more…)