It is a pleasure and an honour both to organize ICB 2009, the 3rd IAPR/IEEE International Conference on Biometrics. This will be held 2–5 June in Alghero, Italy, hosted by the Computer Vision Laboratory, University of Sassari. The conference series is the premier forum for presenting research in biometrics and its allied technologies:...

Healthy SQL is about ensuring the ongoing performance health of a SQL Server database. An unhealthy database is not just an inconvenience; it can bring a business to its knees. And if you are the database administrator, the health of your SQL Server implementation can be a direct reflection on you. It's in everyone's best...

Salesforce CRM: The Definitive Admin Handbook is the complete guide to implementing Salesforce CRM. Whether you are looking to enhance the core features or you have already started customizing your Salesforce CRM system and are looking for guidance on advanced features. This book will show you how to get maximum benefit from this exciting...

Re-architect relational applications to NoSQL, integrate relational database management systems with the Hadoop ecosystem, and transform and migrate relational data to and from Hadoop components. This book covers the best-practice design approaches to re-architecting your relational applications and transforming your relational data to...

Developing software with testable requirements is the theme of this book. A testable requirement is one with an acceptance test. Acceptance tests drive the development of the software. As many development groups have experienced, creating acceptance tests prior to implementing requirements decreases defects and...

This book provides a new generation of research in which scholars are investigating mental health and human development as not merely the absence of illness or dysfunction, but also the presence of subjective well-being. Subjective well-being is a fundamental facet of the quality of life. The quality of an individual’s life can be...

The consumption of functional foods has emerged as a major consumer-driven trend, based on the needs of an ever-growing health conscious population that wants to exercise greater control over its health. Focusing on an important sector of this rapidly growing field, Asian Functional Foods discusses the theoretical and practical aspects of...