Monday, November 30, 2009

Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements for Teens or Practical CakePHP Projects

Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements for Teens

Author: Marc Campbell

You see them in magazines, pass them around in emails, and run across them everywhere on the web—incredibly cool, crazy, and sometimes strange images that you know have been doctored using Photoshop. Have you ever looked at them and wondered, "How did they do that?" Adobe Photoshop and Photoshop Elements for Teens is filled with the tips and techniques that you need to know to use these powerful programs to create your own amazing images or retouch your digital photographs. Begin with the fundamentals of Photoshop and Photoshop Elements as you conquer the essential features and functions of each program. Master the interface and learn how to create and manage layers. Next, get ready to edit your images as you develop the skills you need to paint with the Brush, draw shapes and text, and apply special effects to your images. Put your new skills to the test as you complete a variety of hands-on projects, including making prints, dressing up your computer desktop, creating animation, laying out websites, and creating logos.



New interesting textbook: Belleza universal or YMCA Healthy Back Book

Practical CakePHP Projects

Author: Kai Chan

If you’ve been using PHP for sometime now and would like to start using a web framework, you’ll want to try CakePHP, which is an open source rapid development web framework built on PHP.

PHP experts Kai Chan and John Omokore guide you through a variety of practical CakePHP applications. You will work on projects such as a video gallery, unit testing application, an e–commerce app, a blog site, and much more. Practical CakePHP Projects covers the key architectural concepts as well as including mini projects that you can use to enhance your own applications.

  • A friendly introduction for any web programmer looking to choose a PHP framework
  • Real–world projects based on current and future trends
  • Practical CakePHP techniques that you can use right away

  • What you’ll learn

  • Painlessly create a secure and dynamic web site with CakePHP and MySQL.
  • Discover how CakePHP can be used in high–level and demanding applications using CakePHP built–in components as well as methods such as Smarty, caching, and unit testing.
  • See how CakePHP integrates with technologies such as Ajax and web services.
  • Integrate your own components into CakePHP’s framework.
  • Apply CakePHP to mainstream technologies such as Google Video, blogging, mashups, and e–commerce.
  • Work through the few pitfalls of some of the CakePHP framework, for example, Access Control Lists.

  • Who is this book for?

    Aimed primarily at CakePHP novices to professionals and PHP programmers seeking to build web applications easily usingCakePHP and related web technologies, this book will also appeal to programmers using other frameworks in other languages, for example, Ruby on Rails and Java Spring.

    About the Apress Practical Series

    The Practical series from Apress is your best choice for getting the job done, period. From professional to expert, this series lets you apply project–motivated templates (or frameworks) step by step in a very direct, practical, and efficient manner toward current real–world projects that may be sitting on your desk. So whatever your career goal, Apress can be your trusted guide to take you where you want to go on your IT career empowerment path.



    Sunday, November 29, 2009

    Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 or Oracle SQL Plus Pocket Reference

    Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2: A Digital Photographer's Guide

    Author: David Huss

    Adobe Photoshop Lightroom has taken the photography world by storm! Let two industry experts, Dave Huss and David Plotkin, help you get up to speed fast with the all-new version 2. This complete reference for all users of Lightroom starts out with the basics, covering each available tool found in Lightroom with step-by-step clarity. The book then moves on to more in-depth discussions of the most often used tools and techniques, so you can customize a workflow that best suits your own needs. Start at the beginning to develop a complete set of Lightroom skills, or skip ahead to the sections that delve deeper into the tools you want to use immediately. Learn how to work smarter, faster, and more creatively to improve the overall quality of your work so you can spend less time in front of the computer and more time behind your camera!

    *Maximize your productivity and learn from two experts exactly how to incorporate Adobe Photoshop Lightroom into your own workflow, whether you use Windows or a Mac
    *Fully up-to-date with the latest features of Lightroom 2 and packed with full color, step-by-step screenshots and photographs
    *Visit focalpress.com/Lightroom for additional Lightroom tutorials, software news and updates



    Table of Contents:

    Ch. 1 Lightroom Fundamentals 1

    Ch. 2 Getting to Know the Library Module 37

    Ch. 3 Getting Your Photos into Lightroom 57

    Ch. 4 Organizing Your Photos 97

    Ch. 5 Fixing Photos Fast Using Quick Develop 153

    Ch. 6 Precision Correction and Enhancement Using Develop Module 179

    Ch. 7 Making Local Adjustments 241

    Ch. 8 Showtime: Making Slideshows 263

    Ch. 9 Web Wizard: Creating and Posting Images on the Web 293

    Ch. 10 Layout and Composition 311

    Index 361

    Read also Understanding Business or Information Campaigns

    Oracle SQL Plus Pocket Reference

    Author: Jonathan Gennick

    The Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference is a must-have for anyone working with Oracle databases, especially those looking to maximize the effectiveness of SQL*Plus. As Oracle's long-standing interactive query tool, SQL*Plus is available at every Oracle site, from the largest data warehouse to the smallest single-user system. Despite its wide use, however, SQL*Plus is still often not completely understood or fully utilized.

    Database administrators and developers alike will therefore find the Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference to be extremely beneficial. In addition to summarizing all of the SQL*Plus syntax and format options, including new Oracle Database 10g features, this handy, on-the-job guide specifically shows readers how to:

    Differentiate between SQL and SQL*Plus Interact with SQL*Plus from both the command line and the web browser Select, insert, update, and delete data Format both text and HTML reports with SQL*Plus Specify SQL*Plus commands and format elements Tune SQL queries The new third edition of this book has been updated for Oracle Database 10g to include information on both SQL*Plus and SQL. New SQL information includes the SELECT statement's new MODEL clause, flashback queries, partition outer joins, and DBMS_XPLAN.

    With its quick-reference format and compact size, the Oracle SQL*Plus Pocket Reference follows in the long line of successful "pocket references" offered by O'Reilly. It also serves as the ideal companion to O'Reilly's larger, more comprehensive book on SQL*Plus, the bestselling Oracle SQL*Plus: The Definitive Guide.

    Author Jonathan Gennick is an editor for O'Reilly specializing in database and programming titles, having amassed some 17 years of programming and database management experience.



    Friday, November 27, 2009

    Data Monitoring in Clinical Trials or Oracle Wait Interface

    Data Monitoring in Clinical Trials

    Author: David L Demets

    Randomized clinical trials are the gold standard for establishing many clinical practice guidelines and are central to evidence based medicine. Obtaining the best evidence through clinical trials must be done within the boundaries of rigorous science and ethical principles. One fundamental principle is that trials should not continue longer than necessary to reach their objectives. Therefore, trials must be monitored for recruitment progress, quality of data, adherence to patient care or prevention standards, and early evidence of benefit or harm. Frequently, a group of external experts, independent from the investigators and trial sponsor, is charged with this monitoring responsibility, especially for safety and early benefit. This group is referred to by various names, such as a data monitoring committee or a data and safety monitoring board. This book, through a series of case studies presented by many distinguished clinical trial experts, illustrates the complexity of this monitoring process. The editors provide an overview of the process and a summary of a multitude of the lessons learned from the cases presented.

    This book should be useful to anyone serving on a data and safety monitoring board, or planning to do so, for colleagues in academia, industry and governmental agencies, and for teaching students in biostatistics, epidemiology, clinical trials and medical ethics. No other text has as extensive a collection of cases which provide insight into the many issues, often conflicting, that must be examined before recommendations to continue or discontinue a trial can be made. While depth in statistical methods is not required, some familiarity with statistical design andanalysis issues in clinical trials is helpful. The cases cover trials which were terminated early for convincing evidence of benefit, or for harmful effects. Cases with complex issues are also included. This series of cases should provide broad background information for potential monitoring committee members and better prepare them for the challenges that may exist in the trials for which they are responsible.



    Table of Contents:
    1Monitoring committees : why and how3
    2Lessons learned14
    3FDA and clinical trial data monitoring committees39
    Introduction to case studies showing benefit from the intervention53
    Assessing possible late treatment effects early : the diabetic retinopathy study experience55
    Data and safety monitoring in the beta-blocker heart attack trial : early experience in formal monitoring methods64
    Data monitoring for the aspirin component of the physicians' health study : issues in early termination for a major secondary endpoint73
    Early termination of the stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation I trial : protecting participant interests in the face of scientific uncertainties and the cruel play of chance85
    Early termination of the diabetes control and complications trial93
    Data monitoring in the AIDS clinical trials group study #981 : conflicting interim results109
    Challenges in monitoring the breast cancer prevention trial118
    Data monitoring experience in the metoprolol CR/XL randomized intervention trial in chronic heart failure : potentially high-risk treatment in high-risk patients136
    Stopping the randomized aldactone evaluation study early for efficacy148
    Data monitoring in the heart outcomes prevention evaluation and the clopidogrel in unstable angina to prevent recurrent ischemic events trials : avoiding important information loss158
    The data monitoring experience in the candesartan in heart failure assessment of reduction in mortality and morbidity program166
    Introduction to case studies showing harmful effects of the intervention179
    Breaking new ground : data monitoring in the coronary drug project183
    The data monitoring experience in the cardiac arrhythmia suppression trial : the need to be prepared early198
    Data monitoring in the prospective randomized milrinone survival evaluation : dealing with an agonizing trend209
    Stopping the carotene and retinol efficacy trial : the viewpoint of the safety and endpoint monitoring committee220
    Monitoring a clinical trial with waiver of informed consent : diaspirin cross-linked hemoglobin for emergency treatment of post-traumatic shock228
    Consideration of early stopping and other challenges in monitoring the heart and estrogen/progestin replacement study236
    Data monitoring in the antihypertensive and lipid-lowering treatment to prevent heart attack trial : early termination of the doxazosin treatment arm248
    Data monitoring experience in the moxonidine congestive heart failure trial260
    Data monitoring of a placebo-controlled trial of daclizumab in acute graft-versus-host disease269
    Introduction to case studies with special issues281
    Clinical trials of herpes simplex encephalitis : the role of the data monitoring committee285
    The nocturnal oxygen therapy trial data monitoring experience : problem with reporting lags292
    Stopping a trial for futility : the cooperative new Scandinavian enalapril survival study II302
    Lessons from warfarin trials in atrial fibrillation : missing the window of opportunity312
    Data monitoring experience in the AIDS toxoplasmic encephalitis study320
    Data monitoring in the randomized evaluation of strategies for left ventricular dysfunction pilot study : when reasonable people disagree330
    The data monitoring experience in the carvedilol post-infarct survival control in left ventricular dysfunction study : hazards of changing primary outcomes337
    Controversies in the early reporting of a clinical trial in early breast cancer346
    Making independence work : monitoring the bevacizumab colorectal cancer clinical trial360

    Look this: Unimagined Community or Best Practices for Social Work with Refugees and Immigrants

    Oracle Wait Interface: A Practical Guide to Performance Diagnostics and Tuning

    Author: Richmond She

    Troubleshoot, tune, and optimize your Oracle database efficiently and successfully every time. This book explains how to take full advantage of the revolutionary Oracle Wait Interface to quickly pinpoint--and solve--core problems and bottlenecks, and increase productivity exponentially.



    Thursday, November 26, 2009

    Usability Testing and Research or Groovy Programming

    Usability Testing and Research (Part of the Allyn & Bacon Series in Technical Communication)

    Author: Carol M Barnum

    Built on a solid foundation of current research in the field, Usability Testing and Research provides a comprehensive, up-to-date perspective in this increasingly important area of technical communication. Based on the most current research in the field, this book reflects the most recent developments and studies on this topic available. Sidebars throughout the book catch the attention of the readers and highlight key concepts in the text. A chapter on web testing provides coverage of what is now the hottest area in usability testing. End of chapter discussions and exercises reinforce learning. Frequent examples of planning, conducting, and reporting usability tests present current samples of projects. An appendix on teamwork gives pertinent advice in an area neglected by other texts: building and coordinating cross-functional teams for usability testing. For those interested in usability testing and research.



    Book review: Anlagengebäude & Gemeinschaftsentwicklung

    Groovy Programming: An Introduction for Java Developers

    Author: Kenneth Barclay

    Groovy Programming: An Introduction for Java Developers
    Kenneth Barclay and John Savage

    "For a book targeting those new to scripting, OO or dynamic languages in general, this book is fabulous!"
    — Andrew Glover, President, Stelligent Incorporated

    Groovy is a unique scripting language designed to augment the Java platform. It offers Java-like syntax, native support for maps and lists, methods, classes, closures, and builders. With its dynamic weak typing and seamless access to the Java API, it is well suited to the development of many small- to medium-size applications.

    Groovy is more expressive and operates at higher levels of abstraction than Java. This results in more rapid application development and increased programmer productivity. It can be used for "gluing" applications together rather than implementing complex data structures and algorithms.

    Another major strength of Groovy is that the coding effort required is relatively small by comparison with code written in Java. Often the latter appears to be overly complex and difficult to understand and maintain. This is because it requires extensive boilerplate or conversion code not required by Groovy.

    In one of the first guides to Groovy, authors Kenneth Barclay and John Savage introduce all the major aspects of Groovy development and explain the dynamic features this innovative programming language brings to the Java platform. This book assumes only a general knowledge of Java programming. Whether a seasoned Java developer or new to scripting languages, you'll receive expert guidance on how to make Groovy work for you.

    Features
    * The first comprehensive book on Groovyprogramming that shows how writing applications and scripts for the Java platform is fast and easy

    * Written by leading software engineers and acclaimed computing instructors

    * Offers numerous programming examples, code samples, detailed case studies, exercises for self-study, and a companion website with a Windows-based Groovy editor

    About the Authors
    Kenneth Barclay and John Savage are both lecturers at the School of Computing, Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland. Their speciality is object-oriented software engineering, development, and programming. They are - coauthors of Object-Oriented Design with UML and Java (Butterworth-Heinemann, 2003).

    Java/Programming
    ISBN 978-0-12-372507-3



    Table of Contents:
    Preface; Chapter 1: Groovy; Chapter 2: Numbers and Expressions; Chapter 3: Strings and Regular Expressions; Chapter 4: Lists, Maps and Ranges; Chapter 5: Simple Input and Output; Chapter 6: Case Study: A Library Application (Modelling); Chapter 7: Methods; Chapter 8: Flow of Control; Chapter 9: Closures; Chapter 10: Files; Chapter 11: Case Study: A Library Application (Methods); Chapter 12: Classes; Chapter 13: Case Study: A Library Application (Objects); Chapter 14: Specialization; Chapter 15: Unit Testing (JUnit); Chapter 16: Case Study: A Library Application (Specialization); Chapter 17: Persistence; Chapter 18: Case Study: A Library Application (Persistence); Chapter 19: XML Builders and Parsers; Chapter 20: GUI Builders; Chapter 21: Template Engines; Chapter 22: Case Study: A Library Application (GUI); Chapter 23: Server Side Programming; Chapter 24: Case Study: A Library Application (Web); Chapter 25: Epilogue; Bibliography; Appendix A: Software Distribution; Appendix B: Groovy; Appendix C: More on Numbers and Expressions; Appendix D: More on Strings and Regular Expressions; Appendix E: More on Lists, Maps and Ranges; Appendix F: More on Simple Input and Output; Appendix G: More on Methods; Appendix H: More on Closures; Appendix I: More on Classes; Appendix J: Advanced Closures; Appendix K: More on Builders; Appendix L: More on GUI Builders; Index

    Wednesday, November 25, 2009

    Ruby Programming for the Absolute Beginner or Logistic Regression Using the SAS System

    Ruby Programming for the Absolute Beginner

    Author: Jerry Lee Ford

    Want to learn the fundamentals of Ruby programming but aren't sure where to start? Look no further! Ruby is a free, easy-to-learn, yet powerful scripting programming language that can run on any operating system. These attributes have made Ruby an extremely popular language in recent years for almost any programming task. Ruby Programming for the Absolute Beginner teaches you the basics of computer programming with Ruby through the creation of simple computer games. Not only will this "learn by doing" approach provide you with an instant sense of accomplishment, but it's also a fun way to learn. In addition to learning Ruby, you'll also learn the basics of computer programming, so you'll have a solid foundation from which you can confidently jump to other programming languages.



    Interesting book: Still Going Strong or Antipasto Table

    Logistic Regression Using the SAS System: Theory and Application

    Author: Paul D Allison

    If you are a researcher or student with experience in multiple linear regression and want to learn about logistic regression, this book is for you! Informal and nontechnical, this book both explains the theory behind logistic regression and looks at all the practical details involved in its implementation using the SAS System. Several social science real-world examples are included in full detail. This book also explains the differences and similarities among the many generalizations of the logistic regression model. The following topics are covered: binary logit analysis, logit analysis of contingency tables, multinomial logit analysis, ordered logit analysis, discrete-choice analysis with the PHREG procedure, and Poisson regression. Other highlights include discussions on how to use the GENMOD procedure to do loglinear analysis and GEE estimation for longitudinal binary data. Only basic knowledge of the SAS DATA step is assumed. Supports releases 6.12 and higher of SAS software.



    Table of Contents:
    Acknowledgments
    Ch. 1Introduction1
    Ch. 2Binary Logit Analysis: Basics5
    Ch. 3Binary Logit Analysis: Details and Options31
    Ch. 4Logit Analysis of Contingency Tables81
    Ch. 5Multinomial Logit Analysis111
    Ch. 6Logit Analysis for Ordered Categories133
    Ch. 7Discrete Choice Analysis161
    Ch. 8Logit Analysis of Longitudinal and Other Clustered Data179
    Ch. 9Poisson Regression217
    Ch. 10Loglinear Analysis of Contingency Tables233
    Appendix267
    References275
    Index279