Database-backed Web pages provide many advantages for libraries: users get accurate and up-to-date information in real time, and site maintenance and data publishing are much easier. As appealing an idea as database-backed pages are, the “how-tos” of creating them remain a mystery to many librarians.

This hands-on...

Hero of Alexandria had a great idea. In the first century ad, Hero’s design of the fi rst steam engine was ingenious and workable. Indeed, classical scholars have argued that it could have been combined with other inventions of the era to create a steam locomotive and railroad, transforming commerce and military affairs in the ancient...

Consider some big ideas that have become business and cultural phenomena: how Starbucks transformed a declining coffee market by combining an experience destination with a premium product. Or how the established notion that "dolls are for girls" was shattered by a toy line called G.I. Joe. Most people mistakenly think breakthrough...

This text began as notes for a course in statistical computing for second year actuarial and statistical students at the University of Western Ontario. Both authors are interested in statistical computing, both as support for our other research and for its own sake. However, we have found that our students were not learning the right sort of...

The popularity of...