Modeling

If you want to see how to apply Operation Research in Manufacturing System, this is the book.

I am looking forward to the update edition of this title.

I had the opportunity of working this book at a Colombian university, and I think it has all tools to be used in any manufacturing system by integrating helpful heuristics and algorithms. I frecuently use this book to solve some problems in my current job at a manufacturing company.

If you are an IE and you don't have this book, there might be some problems :) Well, Askin and Standridge did a great job in compiling almost any manufacturing/production system in a single comprehensive textbook. Any chapter is sufficient for basic understanding (including basic model), but further studies are given. Having this book along with Factory Physics is such a full of joy to be IE.

Complete and easy read a great place to start.

I wish I had this book when I first started to sculpt figures in wax. I would have saved myself a lot of time and agrivation. I would have also saved myself quite a bit of money by using good tequniques, and in that respect alone this book would pay for itself. If you are just getting into wax sculpture, this book would lay a very strong foundation from which to build your skills.

I got this book after making jewelry for 3 years and lost wax casting for 6 months. Boy, did I learn a lot! The projects are truly outstanding. They show a wide variety of techniques and styles. Try each one even if it's not a style you're really big on - I did and found neat ways to do things I wanted to do that I hadn't managed before. I require this as a text for all my apprentices who do casting.

This book is a very good introduction to quantative monetary theories. Readers with science or engineering background can especially benefit from authors' concise mathematical expressions. It gives a clear and academic view about fundamental theories, so don't expect to see a lot of economical data or "stories".

Economists have a responsiblity to communicate as simply as possible. Too often complex mathematics are an egotistic tool of the economist that merely frustrates the reader. Champ and Freeman's Modeling Monetary Economies is a wonderful volume that explains tough issues in monetary economics by building upon Wallace and Bryant's overlapping generations (OLG) model.

The OLG framework is a very simple framework that has its limitations, yet it is a powerful explanatory device. Champ and Freeman apply it to the following exercises:
* Introduce money into an economy--any grad student of economics (as I once was) will tell you this is no simple task! We take money for granted, of course, but mathematical models tend to imply that money is unnecessary! Just getting money into an economic model without unreasonable assumptions is itself an accomplishment.

* Inflation--again, not easy to do in other mathematical models of money--and anticipated inflation

* International currency exchange and the indeterminancy of the exchange rate

* Central banking and changes to the money supply

* Banks and lending

* Deficits and the national debt

* The interaction of all of the above

The book also has exercises in it that apply and extend the models introduced in each chapter.

RECOMMENDATION
I recommend this book for advanced year undergrads (in mathematical econ programs) and graduate students. It really is a great book that builds a conceptual knowledge of the interaction of the various components of monetary economics. This is useful for understanding more complicated dynamic optimization models. And it provides models that are useful in their own right and relevant as the basis for further (ie., dissertation) research.

This book is an example of how mathematics is intelligently used in economics, and the understanding of the latter is thereby enhanced. Only basic algebra is used, yet the authors are able to make non-trivial explanation about economic phenomena, from why money must exist to inflation to payment system. The text is mathematical and abstract, but as I read it, my frame of mind remains firmly that of an economist, and not of a mathematician (which is as it should be). The text is carefully written, flowing and anticipative of difficulties that a reader may have.

This is not an introductory text to economics, and I reject the idea that those with strong mathematical background should be introduced to economics in a different way from others. Any beginner, mathematical or not, should read Samuelson and the like first.

This text is one of the few to make the work of Andersen et al. (Statistical Models Based on Counting Processes, Springer, 1993) accessible to the average statistician. It has three limitations:
1) fails to mention the use of permutation tests for hypotheses regarding the Nelson-Aalen estimator,
2) fails to cite Good PI, Globally almost most powerful tests for censored data,Nonpar Statist 1992, 1:253-262.
3) fails to deal with multiple dependent events (the most common case).
The text also fails to be prescriptive; one is often left feeling that all tests are equal which simply isn't the case.

As a biostatistics PhD student I've had to endure many very poorly written textbooks (though there are many good one's too). Not only is this book a great text on applied survival analysis, it's a great piece of statistical writing and should be used as an example for all applied texts. The general approach of introducing the theory followed by examples with SAS/SPlus code makes learning the material easy and fun. I wish all statistics texts were even half this good!

Terry Therneau is a research statistician at the Mayo Clinic and Patricia Grambsch is a Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Minnesota. The Cox proportional hazards model has been one of the key methods for analyzing survival data with covariates for the last 25 years. Proportionality is a key assumption that limits its use. There has long been a need to find methods which diagnose when the hazard rates are not proportional and provide alternative methods in such situations. Using the theory of counting processes the authors are able to extend the Cox model to more general situations including multiple/correlated event data using either marginal models or random effects (frailty) models. Time dependent covariates are also covered. Some of the theory of martigales and counting processes is included to make the book self-contained. Generalized residuals are used to identify outlying and influential observations (analogous to ordinary regression) and also to assess the proportional hazards assumption.

Although the topics are advanced and the mathematical level is high the book is designed for practitioners, emphasizing applications and providing numerous examples, many from the authors' experience. Statistical analyses are done in SAS and SPlus. The authors tend to use SAS for data management and analysis and SPlus for diagnostics and other plots. Therneau is an expert programmer who has written much of the necessary software in both systems.

Therneau gave an excellent short course that I attended a couple of years ago at the Joint Statistical Meetings based on a draft of the text. The finished product is as good as I expected.

The appendices include SAS and S-Plus tutorials on survival analysis and provide SAS Macros and S functions to apply the new methodology.

If one would make of the great NLP modellers, Robert Dilts will certainly be part of the list. As well as he would make it to the top 5 list of NLP's great writers. Being one of the sudents of Dilt's Modeling & Epistemology class at NLP University, I'm quite familiar to Dilt's ideas about modelling. Much of the thinking explained in this explains the process I've been going through while writing "7 steps to emotional intelligence". The great point of NLP modelling is that it focusses on people that are excellent in a certain area (have a certain competence, supported by certain beliefs)- this book describes how you derive "the pattern that connects" by studying several experts in a domain. You get the "how" as well as examples of NLP modelling. The only problem is that it takes a considerable level of NLP skills before you can put this book into practice.

I ordered this book last year and have read it many times over. Robert succeeds in s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g out not only how to model, but how to detect patterns and replicate them. Patterns both cognitive and/or physical. He provides a framework upon which to organize all of your resources (NLP and otherwise) to get exactly what you want. What if you looked at the world in a way that everything around you was yours for the *learning* such as things which we label as 'talents', 'athletic skill', or even 'IQ'? What if everyone is truly an example of excellence, and you had the key to replicate that excellence?

I recently went to Rex Sikes' outstanding Master Prac / Modelling Seminar. This book is a welcome addition to the material presented by Rex. For those who haven't signed up for his seminar yet, this is the best book on modelling I've found.

Through modelling, the world is your oyster.

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) began with the modeling of the language patterns of three outstanding therapists by Richard Bandler and John Grinder. Since 1975 Robert Dilts has been one of the most fertile minds in consistently applying and creatively developing NLP. He has the rare gift in collaborating and co-creating with so many talented people in workshops and projects (to many of these he dedicates the present book). He is also able to model people in history through writings and biographies. His vision, productivity and leadership abilities have enriched NLP immensely and benefited humankind. The whole NLP community worldwide owes a great debt to him. This book is an excellent example of how Robert continues to be of service to anyone who wants to learn and use NLP. Here he has put together what many of us have been learning through his workshops in the past two decades, the key components of modeling. For those who have some background in NLP, it is helpful to master this book first. This is the first comprehensive account of the NLP modeling process. Other books only give piece-meal strategies. Once we grasp the whole view, if we go on to his previous books and reports on various modeling projects, we would have a much better sense of the kind of processes which are being applied. Tools for Dreamers, the 3 volumes of Strategies of Genius, Dynamic Learning, Skills for the Future, Visionary Leadership Skills will all help to concretise our assimilation of the modeling process--the heart of NLP.

This review concerns only the coding theory part.

If you want to know what's presently going on in the field of coding theory with solid technical foundation, this is the book. The importance of this book is it answers why people have been going into new directions into coding theory and provides good information about LDPC codes, turbo codes and decoding algorithms. People have solved some problems that arise in coding field without going into depths of mathematics. Till early 1990's research in coding was intensely mathematical. People thought the packing problem was the answer to the coding problem. However Mackay answers the conventional thought was wrong when one tries to attain shannon limit. He gives an argument based on GV bound (warning: This argument may not be entirely true).

Now the bad part of the book. Mackay bases his entire book on the basis that algebraic codes cannot exceed GV bound. This is wrong. If you look at Madhu Sudan's notes at MIT (The prestigious Nevenlinna award winner), he says random codes are not always the best. Specifically he cites an argument which states AG codes exceed GV bound at a faster pace. So packing problem still has a relevance to coding problem as it could help attain shannon limit at a faster pace than random codes. (Warning: Madhu does not state anything about size of blocks. But my feeling is that AG codes since they exceed GV bound faster than random codes one could achieve shannon limit with comparitively smaller blocks). So still mathematicians could hope to contribute to practical coding theory while enriching mathematics.

Inspite of this, the book is a must have for engineers and computer scientists.

This review concerns only the coding theory part.

If you want to know what's presently going on in the field of coding theory with solid technical foundation, this is the book. The importance of this book is it answers why people have been going into new directions into coding theory. People have solved some problems that arise in coding field without going into depths of mathematics. Till early 1990's research in coding was intensely mathematical. People thought the packing problem was the answer to the coding problem. However Mackay answers the conventional thought was wrong. He gives an argument based on GV bound.

Now the bad part of the book. Mackay bases his entire book on the basis that algebraic codes cannot exceed GV bound. This is wrong. If you look at Madhu Sudan's notes at MIT (The prestigious Nevenlinna award winner), he says random codes are not always the best. Specifically he cites an argument which states AG codes exceed GV bound at a faster pace. So packing problem still has a relevance to coding problem as it could help attain shannon limit at a faster pace than random codes. (Warning: Madhu does not state anything about size of blocks. But my feeling is that AG codes since they exceed GV bound faster than random codes one could achieve shannon limit with comparitively smaller blocks). So still mathematicians could hope to contribute to practical coding theory while enriching mathematics.

Another bad part is the book does not talk too much about new problems such as multi-access channels, broadcast channels, zero error information theory, communication complexity, upcoming challenges and open problems and what has been done in these fields in information theory and so on...what has been done in these. May be some author bright researcher in the area like Mackay could write a book to put a direction to these questions.

Inspite of this, the book is a must have for engineers and computer scientists.

Fantastically good value, this wide-ranging textbook covers elementary information theory, data compression, and coding theory; machine learning, Bayesian inference, Monte Carlo methods; and state of the art error-correcting coding methods, including low-density parity-check codes, turbo codes, and digital fountain codes. Theory and practical examples are covered side by side. Hundreds of exercises are included, many with worked solutions.

Two things are distinctive about this book.
First, it emphasizes the connections between information theory and machine learning - for example data compression and Bayesian data modelling are two sides of the same coin.
Second, since 1993, there's been a revolution in communication theory, with classical algebraic codes being superceded by sparse graph codes; this text covers these recent developments in detail.

I use this book in all my teaching! :-)

Don't judge a book by it's title. I had hoped that the book would be a good primer on not only the newest version of Java but of Java itself. As a novice I was disappointed. It did provide some nice insights into where Java wanted to go and how the changes would get it there. But I had hoped for more. When I get more experience with programming I look forward to coming back to this book and more fully appreciating what it offers.

This book explains for an experienced Java developer the new features introduced in JDK1.4. Particularly the sections on assestions and Collections are very lucid and I found them very helpful. All the examples in the book are presented in a detailed and clear manner and on going through them, it is easy for a reader to understand how to use the APIs.

Novice programmers may not find this book helpful as it seems to be targeted for those developers who are already using some flavour of Java 2 platform.

I found this book to be a good tutorial when upgrading to Java 1.4. Afterwards it was also useful as a reference book.

The book clearly explains the new concepts and features in Java 1.4 and has many examples. It doesn't waste time explaining how to program in Java instead sticking to the new features. It is good to have a book that focuses mainly on new features instead of being filled up with information that is already known.

It is a good book for finding out the new features of Java 1.4.

Having just taken the 70-291 exam, I can assure you that this is not a full and complete study guide for the real exam. The book is made up of something around 1000 pages, however, for each lesson review, the full questions for each lesson are repeated in the answer section, padding the book's pages quite a bit. Incompleteness in and of itself is not entirely bad, but I found the book to be often misleading and containing several errors. The book is not without its merits, though. The accompanying CD contains a trial version of the Server CD and the labs and exercises were very helpful. The book on CD is also useful to have, especially when you want to study on the go and don't want to drag the book around with you. Call-outs in the text point you to think about what's on the test, too. However, if you're going to take the exam, make sure you don't rely on this book by itself. It's pretty weak on security policies and SUS, both of which are tested on the exam. If you arleady have study guides for this exam, this isn't a bad addition to your library, but it shouldn't be your only book to help you prepare for the exam.

Having experienced the monster exam 70-216 for MCSE 2000 I was very curious whether this W2k3 book lived up to the task. The 70-216 MS Press book was poor to say the least.

I was surprised that not only this book was excellent to read, but it even filled in some things I didn't know before. The hands-on exercises were good as well.

Things like CIDR were discussed in a very clear way which made me think why did I find this difficult before. Likewise the book isn't superficial but goes for in-depth knowledge and insight, just what you also need in real-life.

Simply stated this book has excellent depth and covers nearly all subjects, only some security related things get less attention than on the exam (SUS is emphasized in every exam so it seems). Then again, these should be known from the 70-290 exam and seem to be common knowledge for just about every exam.

What was disappointing however was the exam, of the topics in the book only 1/3 was covered in the questions I got.

This is the type of book MS Press should have made for the 70-216 exam.

I hold a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.I am currently an MCSE, MCSA, MCDBA, CCNA, CCNP. I read alot of Technical Books and strongly recommend this one. Anybody that has plans to complete the MCSA/MCSE Exams, should look at the new series that Microsoft has in print. It gets down to the real facts quick and when you are ready for the Exam, you will pass it for sure. I would welcome your feedback or questions. Happy reading.......
I have included my Email: HLHAYES@MED.VA.GOV

This book very in depth on the exchange client, but I was disappointed that it only offered one chapter over MS Outlook. I was hoping for an indepth explanation on how Outlook works with 5.0, instead I got an overview on how to use Outlook.

A well written, technically sound book that is a must for anyone wanting to know the workings of Exchange and Outlook.

A clear, comprehensive guide from a first-rate organization with highly specialized practical knowledge. Don't miss their web-site, either. Before reading this book, I considered hiding the universal inbox; now, its the first place I start my business day, and its very useful. Highly recommended!

Shapiro's book is really an interesting introduction to modeling the Supply Chain. After an easy to follow overview on the tools: Linear Programming (Simplex) and Mixed Integer Programming (with an appendix over the Branch and Bound method), these fundamentals are applied to strategic and tactical issues related to modeling the SC. Some actual applications together with their outcomes make examples more credible and dowm to earth. Examples run on excel's solver are strightforward and useful to get a basic handle on the topic.

Several chapters on an unified optimization methodology for planning SC problems and databases are also interesting. The book ends up with a reviw on how decisions are taken within an organization and the role of modeling and optimization techniques. Its plain english is another positive point.

My only "but" could be an overly superficial treatment of hot topics in SC as facilities location whereas covering issues as Corporate Financial Planning far from the core of the book. All in all a profitable bought.

Para todos los latinos que esten pensando optimizar las operaciones de una empresa, sea Logística, Inventarios, Producción, les digo: Este libro es la mejor alternativa para aquellos que quieran diseñar, modelar e implementar el SCM en la empresa. Los modelos son mas prácticos que en "The Logic of Logistics" que es muy pero muy matemático, me asusté cuando lo abrí, integrales, derivadas y otras cosas que prefiero no recordar, la verdad, es que ni lo entendí, a pesar de que considero que tengo un nivel poco mas que aceptable en ese campo, debe ser porque estaba en ingles, no?. Los capitulos 3 - 6, presenta los modelos matemáticos. Es 100% Investigación de Operaciones: programación lineal, redes, simulación, es decir el libro de Taha o el Solow, o el Hillier en resumen con ejemplos muy ilustrativos. En el libro hay una dirección para que te bajes un software de optimización muy útil. Te acuerdas del LINDO, el LINGO, el método SIMPLEX, etc? Sabes usar el Solver del Excel? Ahí te explica todo, pero lo mejor de todo que podrás aterrizar esos conocimientos en tu empresa. Esencial para aquellos que trabajen en el área de Planeamiento y Control de la Producción. Yo encuentro este libro en el nivel táctico-operativo, será muy útil para los que quieren hacer un plan de operaciones como Tesis. También explica como modelar los sistemas de información para implementar eficientemente el supply chain, pero hay poco de eso (Atención Ing. de Sistemas e Informáticos, pero les puede servir para comenzar!!). Del cap. 7 al 11, estan las aplicaciones de los modelos en una empresa. Control de Inventarios, Planeación agregada, miren la tabla de contenidos del libro, les dará una buena idea. Lo encuentro mas aplicativo que Logistics and Supply Chain Management (Strategies for Reducing Cost and Improving Service) de Martin Cristopher que es muy teórico. El mismo Prentice Hall lo clasifica en Libros de Estrategia, es decir puras letritas y letritas. El libro de Shapiro te dice: "Manos a la Obra", El de Martin Christopher dice lo que dicen los Gerentes: "Esto es lo que yo quiero, ahora vean como lo logran". Espero que el modesto comentario de un alumno de Ingeniería industrial(UNI) les ayude a que encuentren lo que buscan.

This book is about math-modeling of Supply Chain Management(SCM). While only few analytical SCM books in market, this book is still different. The presentation of math-modeling does not forbid your curiousity in model by giving a proof, theory, lemma; this book shows you the modeling method to capture the complex SCM problem. I like this book over Simchi-Levi (logic of logistics) for its description, practical aspect and future direction. Also, I prefer this book over Chopra (SCM) and Simchi-levi (SCM) for its higher and better modeling issues. This book takes care the readers well since the solution technique is also given, e.g., Linear Programming, Mixed Integer Programming, Unified Optimization, even simulation. While this book is more on quantitative, the interaction between qualitative and quantitative is given -both basic and advanced level. Suggestion to adapt modeling technique to organization is well presented also. The information technology (IT) section covers most SCM issues as well as the implementation and database for SCM. If you're in this area (either academia or practitioner), you have NO EXCUSE not to get this book seriously. For its uniqueness, this book is not supplementary or option, but it's a requirement for you.