Book Description:

Moodle is a very popular e-learning tool in universities and high schools. But what does it have to offer younger students who want a fun, interesting, interactive, and informative learning experience? Moodle empowers teachers to achieve all this and more and this book will show you how!

Moodle 2 For Teaching 7-14 Year Olds will show complete beginners in Moodle with no technical background how to make the most of its features to enhance the learning and teaching of children aged around 7-14. The book focuses on the unique needs of young learners to create a fun, interesting, interactive, and informative learning environment your students will want to go to day after day.

This is a practical book for teachers, written by a teacher with two decades of practical experience, latterly in using Moodle to motivate younger students. Learn how to put your lessons online in minutes; how to set creative homework that Moodle will mark for you and how to get your students working together to build up their knowledge. Throughout the book we will build a course from scratch, adaptable for ages 7 to 14, on Rivers and Flooding. You can adapt this to any topic, as Moodle lends itself to all subjects and ages.

What you will learn from this book

• Set up your lessons directly onto Moodle to save paper and effort
• Get your students doing homework on Moodle so you can grade and give feedback online
• Use Moodle to encourage discussion and decision-making
• Introduce your children to the world of blogging within the safety of Moodle
• Get interactive with self-marking games and quizzes by including images, sounds, and animations
• Make movies and sound recordings to inspire your class
• Learn how to make games that will please both the children’s need to play and your headteacher’s need for assessment grades
• Make the most of what’s free on the Web to get your children working and learning together

Book Description:

Provided as a part of Microsoft’s Bing suite of search engines, Bing Maps is a web mapping service powered by the Bing Maps for Enterprise framework. The need for geospatial data has increased dramatically in the last few years. Adding a mapping context to any location-based data is becoming more and more common, and businesses are embracing it to improve their user experience with new data richness.

Comprising of simple, follow-along examples, Learning Bing Maps API will show you how to use the many features of Bing Maps, from dropping a simple map on a web page, to fetching geospatial data from the Microsoft servers. Through the course of this book you will build a solid foundation for creating your own geo-applications.

Following the hands-on recipes of this book, you will build a different web app in each chapter as you communicate with different APIs provided by Bing Maps. You will build your own library of JavaScript modules that talk to the Microsoft Maps API.

You will create a custom theme for the map, with your own controls. Taking advantage of the global reach of Bing Maps, you will learn how to build a route scheduler for a delivery company in Madrid, Spain, and then you will discover how to create jobs on the Bing Maps servers for geocoding addresses in California, USA.

By the end of the book you will have learned everything you need to know to embed a map on a web page, with your own geo-data, or data obtained by the Bing Map Services.

What you will learn from this book

• Place a map on a page and customize its look and feel
• Perform a query using the coordinates of a point on a map
• Display a shape, polyline, pin, or infobox when users click on the map
• Query for route information between two or more points and show it on the map
• Parse the response to the API requests in JSON and XML formats
• Set up and monitor jobs for address geocoding, as well as parsing the response when the job is complete
• Fetch geographical information in the form of polygon strings for different levels of administrative areas, from postcodes to regions or countries
• Display user data on the map, such as electoral results, over a period of time

Book Description:

Leverage the numerical and mathematical modules in Python and its standard library as well as popular open source numerical Python packages like NumPy, SciPy, FiPy, matplotlib and more. This fully revised edition, updated with the latest details of each package and changes to Jupyter projects, demonstrates how to numerically compute solutions and mathematically model applications in big data, cloud computing, financial engineering, business management and more.

Numerical Python, Second Edition, presents many brand-new case study examples of applications in data science and statistics using Python, along with extensions to many previous examples. Each of these demonstrates the power of Python for rapid development and exploratory computing due to its simple and high-level syntax and multiple options for data analysis.

After reading this book, readers will be familiar with many computing techniques including array-based and symbolic computing, visualization and numerical file I/O, equation solving, optimization, interpolation and integration, and domain-specific computational problems, such as differential equation solving, data analysis, statistical modeling and machine learning.

What You’ll Learn

Book Description:

Learn how to solve challenging machine learning problems with TensorFlow, Google’s revolutionary new software library for deep learning. If you have some background in basic linear algebra and calculus, this practical book introduces machine-learning fundamentals by showing you how to design systems capable of detecting objects in images, understanding text, analyzing video, and predicting the properties of potential medicines.

TensorFlow for Deep Learning teaches concepts through practical examples and helps you build knowledge of deep learning foundations from the ground up. It’s ideal for practicing developers with experience designing software systems, and useful for scientists and other professionals familiar with scripting but not necessarily with designing learning algorithms.

• Learn TensorFlow fundamentals, including how to perform basic computation
• Build simple learning systems to understand their mathematical foundations
• Dive into fully connected deep networks used in thousands of applications
• Turn prototypes into high-quality models with hyperparameter optimization
• Process images with convolutional neural networks
• Handle natural language datasets with recurrent neural networks
• Use reinforcement learning to solve games such as tic-tac-toe
• Train deep networks with hardware including GPUs and tensor processing units

Book Description:

Winning Design! LEGO Mindstorms NXT Design Patterns for Fun and Competition is about design that works. It’s about building with LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT for fun, for education, but especially for competition. Author James Trobaugh is an experienced coach and leader in the FIRST LEGO League. In this book, he shares his hard-won knowledge about design principles and techniques that contribute to success in robotics competitions.

Winning Design! unlocks the secrets of reliable design using LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT. You’ll learn proven design patterns that you can employ for common tasks such as turning, pushing, and pulling. You’ll reduce and compensate for variation in performance from battery charge levels and motor calibration differences. You’ll produce designs that won’t frustrate you by not working, but that will delight you with their reliable performance in the heat of competition.

Good design is about more than just the hardware. Software counts for a lot, and Winning Design! has you covered. You’ll find chapters on program design and organization with tips on effective coding and documentation practices. You’ll learn about master programs and the needed flexibility they provide. There’s even a section on presenting your robot and software designs to the judges.

Winning Design! is the book you need if your involved in competitions such as FIRST LEGO League events. Whether coach, parent, or student, you’ll find much in this book to make your design and competition experience fun and memorable, and educational.

Please note: the print version of this title is black & white; the eBook is full color.

What you’ll learn

• Build winning robots on a foundation of good chassis design
• Reduce variability in robot mechanical movements
• Design modular attachments for quick change during competition
• Solve navigation problems such as steering, squaring up, and collision detection
• Manage software using master programs and other techniques
• Power your robot attachments via motors and pneumatics

Book Description:

An easy-to-understand primer on Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) are driving the next technological revolution. If you want to get in on the action, this book helps you understand what these technologies are, their history, how they’re being used, and how they’ll affect consumers both personally and professionally in the very near future.

With VR and AR poised to become mainstream within the next few years, an accessible book to bring users up to speed on the subject is sorely needed—and that’s where this handy reference comes in! Rather than focusing on a specific piece of hardware (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, iOS ARKit) or software (Unity, Unreal Engine), Virtual & Augmented Reality For Dummies offers a broad look at both VR and AR, giving you a bird’s eye view of what you can expect as they continue to take the world by storm.

* Keeps you up-to-date on the pulse of this fast-changing technology

* Explores the many ways AR/VR are being used in fields such as healthcare, education, and entertainment

* Includes interviews with designers, developers, and technologists currently working in the fields of VR and AR

Perfect for both potential content creators and content consumers, this book will change the way you approach and contribute to these emerging technologies.

Book Description:

Consolidate your knowledge base with critical Security+ review

CompTIA Security+ Review Guide, Fourth Edition, is the smart candidate’s secret weapon for passing Exam SY0-501 with flying colors. You’ve worked through your study guide, but are you sure you’re prepared? This book provides tight, concise reviews of all essential topics throughout each of the exam’s six domains to help you reinforce what you know. Take the pre-assessment test to identify your weak areas while there is still time to review, and use your remaining prep time to turn weaknesses into strengths. The Sybex online learning environment gives you access to portable study aids, including electronic flashcards and a glossary of key terms, so you can review on the go. Hundreds of practice questions allow you to gauge your readiness, and give you a preview of the big day.

Avoid exam-day surprises by reviewing with the makers of the test—this review guide is fully approved and endorsed by CompTIA, so you can be sure that it accurately reflects the latest version of the exam. The perfect companion to the CompTIA Security+ Study Guide, Seventh Edition, this review guide can be used with any study guide to help you:

• Review the critical points of each exam topic area
• Ensure your understanding of how concepts translate into tasks
• Brush up on essential terminology, processes, and skills
• Test your readiness with hundreds of practice questions

You’ve put in the time, gained hands-on experience, and now it’s time to prove what you know. The CompTIA Security+ certification tells employers that you’re the person they need to keep their data secure; with threats becoming more and more sophisticated, the demand for your skills will only continue to grow. Don’t leave anything to chance on exam day—be absolutely sure you’re prepared with the CompTIA Security+ Review Guide, Fourth Edition.

Book Description:

Reduce the time spent analyzing infrastructure modules while lowering your cost and resources in the process. Most software project teams that develop custom software build the systems from scratch. With limited budgets and time, they often concentrate on the business functionality and try to minimize or ignore the infrastructure functionality.  This book shows you how to develop flexible and and reusable modules that can be enhanced over time.

Software infrastructure modules are the base modules in any software system. This book examines the key functionality supported by each of them and discusses the essential services for other modules.You’ll explore the infrastructure modules required in large enterprise projects and each one will be explained with high-level use-cases, wireframes, and entities.

What You’ll Learn

Book Description:

Using FreeRTOS and libopencm3 instead of the Arduino software environment, this book will help you develop multi-tasking applications that go beyond Arduino norms. In addition to the usual peripherals found in the typical Arduino device, the STM32 device includes a USB controller, RTC (Real Time Clock), DMA (Direct Memory Access controller), CAN bus and more.

Each chapter contains clear explanations of the STM32 hardware capabilities to help get you started with the device, including GPIO and several other ST Microelectronics peripherals like USB and CAN bus controller. You’ll learn how to download and set up the libopencm3 + FreeRTOS development environment, using GCC. With everything set up, you’ll leverage FreeRTOS to create tasks, queues, and mutexes. You’ll also learn to work with the I2C bus to add GPIO using the PCF8574 chip. And how to create PWM output for RC control using hardware timers.

You’ll be introduced to new concepts that are necessary to master the STM32, such as how to extend code with GCC overlays using an external Winbond ​W25Q32 flash chip. Your knowledge is tested at the end of each chapter with exercises. Upon completing this book, you’ll be ready to work with any of the devices in the STM32 family.

Book Description:

Get all the things done you’re used to doing with pricey software at a fraction of the cost. There are hundreds of free programs out there that work just as well as the commercial programs people pay hundreds of dollars for. This book tells you how to find and use the most popular and useful of these.

The Open Source movement is a system where programmers can share code and collectively improve programs.  As a result they can produce programs that are just as good, if not better than their commercial alternatives.  For example, LibreOffice comes with a database, Microsoft Office does not.

This book shows you where to get and how to use the best Open Source programs giving you not only access to high quality software, but saving you money as well. Add Practical Free Alternatives to Commercial Software to your library today.

What You’ll Learn

• Use the free spreadsheet program Libreoffice-calc to balance your checkbook, do an expense account, and other tasks
• Perform presentations with Libreoffice-impress instead of Powerpoint
• Photo edit with The Gimp, a high powered image editor
• Edit videos with Openshot
• Create video DVDs with DVDStyler

Who This Book Is For

Home or small business PC users who want to save money on software

Book Description:

Your how-to guide to become a ham

Ham radio, or amateur radio, is a way to talk with people around the world in real-time, or to send email without any sort of internet connection. It provides a way to keep in touch with friends and family, whether they are across town or across the country. It is also a very important emergency communication system. When cell phones, landlines, the internet, and other systems are down or overloaded, Amateur Radio still gets the message through. Radio amateurs, often called “hams,” enjoy radio technology as a hobby, but are often called upon to provide vital service when regular communications systems fail.

Ham Radio For Dummies is your guide to everything there is to know about ham radio. Plus, this updated edition provides new and additional information on digital mode operating, as well as use of amateur radio in student science and new operating events.

•    Set up your radio station

•    Design your ham shack

•    Provide support in emergencies and communicate with other hams

•    Study for the licensing exam and choose your call sign

If you’re looking to join a college radio club or just want to learn the latest tips and tricks, this book is a helpful reference guide to beginners, or those who have been “hams” for years.

Book Description:

Familiarize yourself with MATLAB using this concise, practical tutorial that is focused on writing code to learn concepts. Starting from the basics, this book covers array-based computing, plotting and working with files, numerical computation formalism, and the primary concepts of approximations. Introduction to MATLAB is useful for industry engineers, researchers, and students who are looking for open-source solutions for numerical computation. In this book you will learn by doing, avoiding technical jargon, which makes the concepts easy to learn. First you’ll see how to run basic calculations, absorbing technical complexities incrementally as you progress toward advanced topics. Throughout, the language is kept simple to ensure that readers at all levels can grasp the concepts. What You’ll Learn Apply sample code to your engineering or science problems Work with MATLAB arrays, functions, and loops Use MATLAB’s plotting functions for data visualization Solve numerical computing and computational engineering problems with a MATLAB case study Who This Book Is For Engineers, scientists, researchers, and students who are new to MATLAB. Some prior programming experience would be helpful but not required.

Book Description:

Understand the work of a modern UX professional and why UX is necessary for your business. Collated through years of online talks and work experience, this short collection of paraphrased discussions reveals the underlying psychology and philosophy of user experience decision making. Go beyond the rules to understand why the rules are there.

Designed for anyone in business whose work is touching on UX – from developers to hiring managers – the topics in this book supersede the current thinking established in the IT world and touches on topics not often considered in UX education or in the workplace. Each discussion provides a launchpad for your own thinking and understanding.

Written by an author with over 20 years’ experience in the field of UX, this book will show you how UX is not just about users, it’s about user welfare.

What You’ll Learn:

• Understand the psychology and philosophy of UX and why it is important
• Examine the underlying reasons behind many concepts, methods and tools
• Ensure the entire business offers a better experience to their users.

Who this Book Is For

Anyone who wants to make a career of UX design and/or architecture, including management.

Book Description:

Start a successful career in machining

Metalworking is an exciting field that’s currently experiencing a shortage of qualified machinists—and there’s no time like the present to capitalize on the recent surge in manufacturing and production opportunities. Covering everything from lathe operation to actual CNC programming, Machining For Dummies provides you with everything it takes to make a career for yourself as a skilled machinist.

Written by an expert offering real-world advice based on experience in the industry, this hands-on guide begins with basic topics like tools, work holding, and ancillary equipment, then goes into drilling, milling, turning, and other necessary metalworking processes. You’ll also learn about robotics and new developments in machining technology that are driving the future of manufacturing and the machining market.

• Be profitable in today’s competitive manufacturing environment
• Set up and operate a variety of computer-controlled and mechanically controlled machines
• Produce precision metal parts, instruments, and tools
• Become a part of an industry that’s experiencing steady growth

Manufacturing is the backbone of America, and this no-nonsense guide will provide you with valuable information to help you get a foot in the door as a machinist.

Book Description:

Why do the lights in a house turn on when you flip a switch? How does a remote-controlled car move? And what makes lights on TVs and microwaves blink? The technology around you may seem like magic, but most of it wouldn’t run without electricity.

Electronics for Kids demystifies electricity with a collection of awesome hands-on projects. In Part 1, you’ll learn how current, voltage, and circuits work by making a battery out of a lemon, turning a metal bolt into an electromagnet, and transforming a paper cup and some magnets into a spinning motor. In Part 2, you’ll make even more cool stuff as you:

–Solder a blinking LED circuit with resistors, capacitors, and relays
–Turn a circuit into a touch sensor using your finger as a resistor
–Build an alarm clock triggered by the sunrise
–Create a musical instrument that makes sci-fi soundsThen, in Part 3, you’ll learn about digital electronics—things like logic gates and memory circuits—as you make a secret code checker and an electronic coin flipper. Finally, you’ll use everything you’ve learned to make the LED Reaction Game—test your reaction time as you try to catch a blinking light!With its clear explanations and assortment of hands-on projects, Electronics for Kids will have you building your own circuits in no time.

Book Description:

Optimize your LinkedIn profile—and get results

Your LinkedIn profile is essentially a platform to shape how others see you, highlight your abilities, products, or services, and explain how your work impacts lives. Yet many people simply copy and paste their resume and expect job offers and networking opportunities to start rolling in—but that isn’t how it works. LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies shows you how to create a profile that enhances your personal brand, controls how others see you, and shapes a successful future for your career.

Whether your goal is job search, branding, reputation management, or sales, people are Googling you—and your LinkedIn profile is more often than not their first point of contact. With a focus on who you are, the value you deliver, and the culture you cultivate, the profile you’ll create with the help of this guide will make that first connection a positive one—giving you a better chance to see results.

• Create a powerful LinkedIn profile
• Discover your personal keywords
• Showcase your experience and accomplishments
• Be seen on the world’s largest professional social network

You never get a second chance to make a great first impression, and LinkedIn Profile Optimization For Dummies helps to ensure you’re presenting yourself in the best possible light.

Book Description:

Did it about kill you when “Cheers” went off the air? Want to make sure you don’t miss an appointment with Dr. Phil? Want to see anything and everything with Jessica Lange, Kate Winslet, or Clint Eastwood? Are your kids really into SpongeBob SquarePants, judo, gorillas, or the Civil War?

TiVo to the rescue. TiVo lets you watch what you want when you want to. You can pause live TV, replay missed high points, skip commercials, and even get TiVo to find and record stuff you’ll be interested in! TiVo For Dummies shows you how, even if you’re one of the millions whose VCR clock is only right twice a day! You’ll discover how to:

• Choose the right TiVo for your needs and your TV service
• Get an “instant replay” with the click of a button
• Use a Season Pass to get TiVo to seek out and record all episodes of a favorite TV show, no matter when they air
• Create a WishList so you can turn on whatever turns you on; TiVo will find and record specified TV shows, movie titles, and programs with your favorite actors or directors
• Expand your WishList to include topics such as sports (there are 93 subcategories to choose from), opera, car repair, volcanoes, or whatever, and TiVo will record related programming
• Use TiVo’s Home Media Option (HMO) to play yourMP3 music files and view digital photos
• Fast-forward through commercials, sometimes cutting an hour show to 40 minutes
• Use Parental Controls to lock out specific channels or filter individual shows based on content

TiVo For Dummies was written by Andy Rathbone, possibly the bestselling technology ever, and the author of thirty-five For Dummies books. It takes you from setting up TiVo to fine-tuning it to troubleshooting it with all kinds of info and aids including:

• A diagram of the TiVo remote with call-outs and descriptions of what all 26 buttons do
• Button shortcuts, live TV shortcuts, Now Playing screen shortcuts, and text entry shortcuts
• Suggestions about additional software you may want for TiVo HMO, including MoodLogic that becomes your personal disc jockey
• Web sites that give all kinds of TiVo information
• A glossary

TiVo puts you in control of your TV viewing, and TiVo For Dummies puts you in control of TiVo!

Book Description:

This book gives a broad look at both fundamental networking technology and new areas that support it and use it. It is a concise introduction to the most prominent, recent technological topics in computer networking. Topics include network technology such as wired and wireless networks, enabling technologies such as data centers, software defined networking, cloud and grid computing and applications such as networks on chips, space networking and network security.  The accessible writing style and non-mathematical treatment makes this a useful book for the student, network and communications engineer, computer scientist and IT professional.

Book Description:

Learning a new language is a fun and challenging feat for students at every level. Perfect for those just starting out or returning to Spanish after time away, Spanish Essentials For Dummies focuses on core concepts taught (and tested on!) in a typical introductory Spanish course. From adjectives and adverbs to understanding tenses and asking questions, students will skip the suffering and score high marks at exam time with the help of Spanish Essentials For Dummies. This guide is also a perfect reference for parents who need to review critical Spanish concepts as they help students with homework assignments, as well as for adult learners headed back to the classroom who just want to be brush up on the core concepts.

The Essentials For Dummies Series
Dummies is proud to present our new series, The Essentials For Dummies. Now students who are prepping for exams, preparing to study new material, or who just need a refresher can have a concise, easy-to-understand review guide that covers an entire course by concentrating solely on the most important concepts. From algebra and chemistry to grammar and Spanish, our expert authors focus on the skills students most need to succeed in a subject.

Book Description:

This book introduces the exciting intersection of technology and fashion known as wearable computing. Learn about the future of electronics in clothing and testiles, and be a part of creating that future! Crafting Wearables begins with the history of the field, then covers current practices and future trends. You will gain deeper insight into the strategy behind the design of wearable devices while learning about the tools and materials needed to start your own wearables toolbox.

In a time when consumer electronics are becoming smaller and seamlessly integrated into our lives, it is important to understand how technology can improve and augment your lifestyle. Wearables are in a sense the most organic and natural interface we can design, yet there is still doubt about how quickly wearable technologies will become the cultural norm. Furthermore, skills that have become less valuable over the years, such as sewing, are making a return with the wearables movement.

• Gives a better understanding of wearable technology and how it has evolved
• Teaches basic skills and techniques to familiarize you with the tools and materials
• Showcases breakthrough designs and discoveries that impact our everyday interactions