Using Africa as a context for research, new conceptual framing is proposed to make sense of the challenges of designing effective organizations to pursue socio-economic development.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Database and Expert Systems Applications, DEXA'98, held in Vienna, Austria, in August 1998. The 81 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from a total of more than 200 submissions. The papers are organized in sections on active databases, object-oriented systems, data engineering, information retrieval, workflow and cooperative systems, spatial and temporal aspects, document management, spatial databases, adaptation and view updates, genetic algorithms, cooperative and distributed environments, interaction and communication, transcation, advanced applications, temporal aspects, oriented systems, partitioning and fragmentation, database queries, data, data warehouses, knowledge discovery and data mining, knowledge extraction, and knowledge base reduction for comprehension and reuse.

DISC, the International Symposium on DIStributed Computing, is an annual forum for research presentations on all facets of distributed computing. This volume includes 23 contributed papers and an invited lecture, all presented at DISC ’99, held on September 27-29, 1999 in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. In addition to regular submissions, the call for papers for DISC ’99 also - licited Brief Announcements (BAs). We received 60 regular submissions and 15 brief announcement submissions. These were read and evaluated by the p- gramcommittee, with the additional help of external reviewerswhen needed. At the program committee meeting on June 10-11 at Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA, 23 regular submissions and 4 BAs were selected for presentation at DISC ’99. The extended abstracts of these 23 regular papers appear in this volume, while the four BAs appear as a special publication of Comenius Univ- sity, Bratislava– the hostof DISC ’99.It is expected that the regularpapers will be submitted later, in more polished form, to fully refereed scienti?c journals. Of the 23 regular papers selected for the conference, 12 quali?ed for the Best Student Paper award. The program committee awarded this honor to the paper entitled “Revisiting the Weakest Failure Detector for Uniform Reliable Broadcast” by Marcos Aguilera, Sam Toueg, and Borislav Deianov. Marcos and Borislav, who are both students, share this award.

Readers will find this book an invaluable reference on the design of experiments. It contains hard-to-find information on topics such as change-over designs with residual effects and early treatment of analysis of covariance. Other topics include linear models and quadratic forms, experiments with one or more factors, Latin square designs, and fractions of 2n factorial designs. There is also extensive coverage of the analysis of incomplete block designs and of the existence and construction of balanced and partially balanced designs. A new preface (to the classics edition) describes the changes made in experimental design since the book was first published in 1971. It discusses the use of personal computers to analyze data and details the emergence of industrial statistics.

The rapid growth in online and virtual learning opportunities has created culturally diverse classes and corporate training sessions. Instruction for these learning opportunities must adjust to meet participant needs. Online Course Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications is a comprehensive reference source for the latest scholarly material on the trends, techniques, and management of online and distance-learning environments and examines the benefits and challenges of these developments. Highlighting a range of pertinent topics, such as blended learning, social presence, and educational online games, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for administrators, developers, instructors, staff, technical support, and students actively involved in teaching in online learning environments.

The first American academic journal to examine design history, theory, and criticism, Design Issues provokes inquiry into the cultural and intellectual issues surrounding design. Regular features include theoretical and critical articles by professional and scholarly contributors, extensive book reviews, illustrations, and a section for reader response. Special issues concentrate on particular themes, such as artificial intelligence, product seminars, design in Asia, and design education.