Michael Fisher – författare

The Comprehensive, Proven Approach to IT Scalability–Updated with New Strategies, Technologies, and Case Studies

In The Art of Scalability, Second Edition, leading scalability consultants Martin L. Abbott and Michael T. Fisher cover everything you need to know to smoothly scale products and services for any requirement. This extensively revised edition reflects new technologies, strategies, and lessons, as well as new case studies from the authors’ pioneering consulting practice, AKF Partners.

Writing for technical and nontechnical decision-makers, Abbott and Fisher cover everything that impacts scalability, including architecture, process, people, organization, and technology. Their insights and recommendations reflect more than thirty years of experience at companies ranging from eBay to Visa, and Salesforce.com to Apple.

You’ll find updated strategies for structuring organizations to maximize agility and scalability, as well as new insights into the cloud (IaaS/PaaS) transition, NoSQL, DevOps, business metrics, and more. Using this guide’s tools and advice, you can systematically clear away obstacles to scalability–and achieve unprecedented IT and business performance.

Coverage includes

• Why scalability problems start with organizations and people, not technology, and what to do about it

• Actionable lessons from real successes and failures

• Staffing, structuring, and leading the agile, scalable organization

• Scaling processes for hyper-growth environments

• Architecting scalability: proprietary models for clarifying needs and making choices–including 15 key success principles

• Emerging technologies and challenges: data cost, datacenter planning, cloud evolution, and customer-aligned monitoring

• Measuring availability, capacity, load, and performance

Please note this title is suitable for any student studying:Exam Board: OCR Level: A Level Subject: Biology AFirst teaching: September 2015 First exams: June 2017Exactly matched to the OCR A Level Biology A specification, the Revision Guide provides comprehensive, specification-linked content, so you can be sure you are covering everything you need to know for the exams. It is packed with engaging revision and practice material to keep you focused and contains a wealth of exam-style questions to test your knowledge and skills to help you fully prepare for the exams.

Please note this title is suitable for any student studying: Exam Board: OCR Level: A Level Subject: BiologyFirst teaching: September 2015First exams: June 2017Written by curriculum and specification experts, this Student Book supports and extends students through the new course while delivering the breadth, depth, and skills needed to succeed in the new A Level and beyond. It develops true subject knowledge while also developing essential exam skills. Covers the second year of content required for the Advancing Biology A Level qualification.

The name "temporal logic" may sound complex and daunting; but while they describe potentially complex scenarios, temporal logics are often based on a few simple, and fundamental, concepts - highlighted in this book. An Introduction to Practical Formal Methods Using Temporal Logic provides an introduction to formal methods based on temporal logic, for developing and testing complex computational systems. These methods are supported by many well-developed tools, techniques and results that can be applied to a wide range of systems. Fisher begins with a full introduction to the subject, covering the basics of temporal logic and using a variety of examples, exercises and pointers to more advanced work to help clarify and illustrate the topics discussed. He goes on to describe how this logic can be used to specify a variety of computational systems, looking at issues of linking specifications, concurrency, communication and composition ability. He then analyses temporal specification techniques such as deductive verification, algorithmic verification, and direct execution to develop and verify computational systems. The final chapter on case studies analyses the potential problems that can occur in a range of engineering applications in the areas of robotics, railway signalling, hardware design, ubiquitous computing, intelligent agents, and information security, and explains how temporal logic can improve their accuracy and reliability. Models temporal notions and uses them to analyze computational systemsProvides a broad approach to temporal logic across many formal methods - including specification, verification and implementationIntroduces and explains freely available tools based on temporal logics and shows how these can be appliedPresents exercises and pointers to further study in each chapter, as well as an accompanying website providing links to additional systems based upon temporal logic as well as additional material related to the book.

This unusual study combines two books in one: the 1794 autobiographical travel narrative of an Indian, Dean Mahomet, recalling his years as camp-follower, servant, and subaltern officer in the East India Company's army (1769 to 1784); and Michael H. Fisher's portrayal of Mahomet's sojourn as an insider/outsider in India, Ireland, and England. Emigrating to Britain and living there for over half a century, Mahomet started what was probably the first Indian restaurant in England and then enjoyed a distinguished career as a practitioner of 'oriental medicine, i.e., therapeutic massage and herbal steam bath, in London and the seaside resort of Brighton. This is a fascinating account of life in late eighteenth-century India - the first book written in English by an Indian - framed by a mini-biography of a remarkably versatile entrepreneur. "Travels" presents an Indian's view of the British conquest of India and conveys the vital role taken by Indians in the colonial process, especially as they negotiated relations with Britons both in the colonial periphery and the imperial metropole.Connoisseurs of unusual travel narratives, historians of England, Ireland, and British India, as well as literary scholars of autobiography and colonial discourse will find much in this book. But it also offers an engaging biography of a resourceful, multidimensional individual.

Time is a fascinating subject that has captured mankind's imagination from ancient times to the present. It has been, and continues to be studied across a wide range of disciplines, from the natural sciences to philosophy and logic. More than two decades before 1999, Pnueli showed the value of temporal logic in the specification and verification of computer programs. Today, a strong, vibrant international research community exists in the broad community of computer science and AI. This volume presents a number of articles from leading researchers containing results in such areas as pure temporal/modal logic, specification and verification, temporal databases, temporal aspects in AI, tense and aspect in natural language, and temporal theorem proving. Earlier versions of some of the articles were given at an International Conference on Temporal Logic, at the University of Manchester, UK.

How can we provide guarantees of behaviours for autonomous systems such as driverless cars? This tutorial text, for professionals, researchers and graduate students, explains how autonomous systems, from intelligent robots to driverless cars, can be programmed in ways that make them amenable to formal verification. The authors review specific definitions, applications and the unique future potential of autonomous systems, along with their impact on safer decisions and ethical behaviour. Topics discussed include the use of rational cognitive agent programming from the Beliefs-Desires-Intentions paradigm to control autonomous systems and the role model-checking in verifying the properties of this decision-making component. Several case studies concerning both the verification of autonomous systems and extensions to the framework beyond the model-checking of agent decision-makers are included, along with complete tutorials for the use of the freely-available verifiable cognitive agent toolkit Gwendolen, written in Java.

The Mughal Empire dominated India politically, culturally, socially, economically and environmentally, from its foundation by Babur, a Central Asian adventurer, in 1526 to the final trial and exile of the last emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar at the hands of the British in 1858. Throughout the empire's three centuries of rise, preeminence and decline, it remained a dynamic and complex entity within and against which diverse peoples and interests conflicted. The empire's significance continues to be controversial among scholars and politicians with fresh and exciting new insights, theories and interpretations being put forward in recent years. This book engages students and general readers with a clear, lively and informed narrative of the core political events, the struggles and interactions of key individuals, groups and cultures, and of the contending historiographical arguments surrounding the Mughal Empire.

Your essential companion for AQA A Level Biology success! This all-in-one revision and practice guide combines clear explanations, exam-style questions, and expert tips to help students achieve their best. Backed by research and trusted by teachers, Oxford Revise makes revision simple and effective. Exam Board: AQALevel: A LevelSubject: Biology Why this revision guide?• All-in-One Revision & Practice: Everything students need for AQA A Level Biology in one book.• Clear Structure: Follows a proven knowledge - retrieval - practice approach, the scientifically proven most effective way to learn and recall information.• Expertly Written: Created by revision specialists and supported by research into best revision techniques Key Features:• Knowledge Organisers: All key knowledge you need explained simply and clearly. • Retrieval questions: Check that you have retained the knowledge before you move onto the exam practice. Regularly going back and retrieving prior knowledge helps you combat the forgetting curve.• Exam-style practice: Lots of opportunities to practise the type of questions you will encounter in your exams with useful tips and guidance.As you use this revision and practice guide, you will be securing your knowledge and building up your confidence.Answers to the activities and exam-style practice questions featured throughout the book are available to download from oxfordrevise.com/scienceanswers. For more subjects in the Oxford Revise series, search Oxford Revise or visit the Oxford Revise website oxfordrevise.com

Your essential companion for OCR A Level Biology A success! This all-in-one revision and practice guide combines clear explanations, exam-style questions, and expert tips to help students achieve their best. Backed by research and trusted by teachers, Oxford Revise makes revision simple and effective. Exam Board: OCRLevel: A LevelSubject: Biology A Why this revision guide?• All-in-One Revision & Practice: Everything students need for OCR A Level Biology A in one book.• Clear Structure: Follows a proven knowledge - retrieval - practice approach, the scientifically proven most effective way to learn and recall information.• Expertly Written: Created by revision specialists and supported by research into best revision techniques Key Features:• Knowledge Organisers: All key knowledge you need explained simply and clearly. • Retrieval questions: Check that you have retained the knowledge before you move onto the exam practice. Regularly going back and retrieving prior knowledge helps you combat the forgetting curve.• Exam-style practice: Lots of opportunities to practise the type of questions you will encounter in your exams with useful tips and guidance.As you use this revision and practice guide, you will be securing your knowledge and building up your confidence.Answers to the activities and exam-style practice questions featured throughout the book are available to download from oxfordrevise.com/scienceanswers. For more subjects in the Oxford Revise series, search Oxford Revise or visit the Oxford Revise website oxfordrevise.com.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th European Conference on Logics in Artificial Intelligence, JELIA 2006. The 34 revised full papers and 12 revised tool description papers presented together with 3 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 96 submissions. The papers cover a range of topics within the remit of the Conference, such as logic programming, description logics, non-monotonic reasoning, agent theories, automated reasoning, and machine learning.

This book presents revised full versions of papers contributed to UK Workshops on Multi-Agent Systems, UKMAS, during 1996 and 2000.From the early days of MAS research, the UK community has been a particularly productive one with numerous key contributions. The 15 papers by internationally reputed researchers deal with various aspects of agent technology, with a certain emphasis on foundational issues in multi-agent systems.

This volume presents the thoroughly revised proceedings of the IJCAI '93 Workshop on Executable Modal and Temporal Logics held in Chambery, France in August 1993. The direct execution of logical statements, through languages such as PROLOG, has proved remarkably successful within CS and Al. In recent years a variety of nonclassical logics have been introduced and several executable forms of these logics have been applied to programming. This volume addresses a range of approaches to executable modal and temporal logics, not only from a logical point of view, but also from programming language and application standpoints; in addition, an introductory survey and an annotated bibliography are presented.

Multi-Agent Systems are communities of problem-solving entities that can exhibit varying degrees of intelligence. They can perceive and react to their environment, they can have individual or joint goals, for which they can plan and execute actions. Work on such systems integrates many technologies and concepts in artificial intelligence and other areas of computing as well as other disciplines. The agent paradigm has become very popular and widely used in recent years, due to its applicability to a large range of domains, from search engines to educational aids, to electronic commerce and trade, e-procurement, recommendation systems, and ambient intelligence, to cite only some. Computational logic provides a well-defined, general, and rigorous framework for studying syntax, semantics and procedures for various capabilities and functionalities of individual agents, as well as interaction amongst agents in multi-agent systems. It also provides a well-defined and rigorous framework for implementations, envir- ments, tools, and standards, and for linking together specification and verification of properties of individual agents and multi-agent systems.

These are the proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on Compu- tional Logic in Multi-Agent Systems (CLIMA-X), held September 9-10, 2009 in Hamburg, co-located with MATES. The purpose of the CLIMA workshops is to provide a forum for discussing techniques, based on computational logic, for representing, in a formal way, programming and reasoning about agents and multi-agent systems. Multi-agentsystemsarecommunitiesofproblem-solvingentitiesthatcanp- ceive and act upon their environment in order to achieve both their individual goals and their joint goals. The work on such systems integrates many techno- giesandconceptsfromarti?cialintelligenceandotherareasofcomputingaswell as other disciplines. Over recent years, the agent paradigm gained popularity, due to its applicability to a full spectrum of domains, such as search engines, recommendation systems, educational support, e-procurement, simulation and routing,electroniccommerceandtrade,etc.Computationallogicprovidesawe- de?ned, general, and rigorousframeworkfor studying the syntax, semantics and procedures for the various tasks in individual agents, as well as the interaction between, and integration among, agents in multi-agent systems.It also provides tools, techniques and standards for implementations and environments, for li- ing speci?cations to implementations, and for the veri?cation of properties of individual agents, multi-agent systems and their implementations. These proceedings feature nine regularpapers (from a total of 18 papers s- mitted), as wellas one paper basedonthe invited talk givenby TranCao Son. IntheinvitedpaperbyTranCaoSon,EnricoPontelli,andNgoc-HieuNguyen, "Planning for Multi-Agents Using ASP-Prolog," the action language B is - tended to the multi-agent case. The used technology is based on answer set programming. The contribution by Nils Bulling and Berndt Farwer on "Expressing Prop-

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 13th International Workshop on Computational Logic in Multi-Agent Systems, CLIMA XIII, held in Montpellier, France, in August 2012. The 11 regular papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 27 submissions and presented with three invited papers. The purpose of the CLIMA workshops is to provide a forum for discussing techniques, based on computational logic, for representing, programming and reasoning about agents and multi-agent systems in a formal way.

Time is a fascinating subject that has captured mankind's imagination from ancient times to the present. It has been, and continues to be studied across a wide range of disciplines, from the natural sciences to philosophy and logic. More than two decades ago, Pnueli in a seminal work showed the value of temporal logic in the specification and verification of computer programs. Today, a strong, vibrant international research community exists in the broad community of computer science and AI. This volume presents a number of articles from leading researchers containing state-of-the-art results in such areas as pure temporal/modal logic, specification and verification, temporal databases, temporal aspects in AI, tense and aspect in natural language, and temporal theorem proving. Earlier versions of some of the articles were given at the most recent International Conference on Temporal Logic, University of Manchester, UK. Readership: Any student of the area - postgraduate, postdoctoral or even research professor - will find the book most valuable.Computing professionals requiring state-of-the-art knowledge in the area will appreciate the volume for its leading results and its links to other relevant literature.