In modern medicine, imaging is the most effective tool for diagnostics, treatment planning and therapy. Almost all modalities have went to directly digital acquisition techniques and processing of this image data have become an important option for health care in future. This book is written by a team of internationally recognized experts from all over the world. It provides a brief but complete overview on medical image processing and analysis highlighting recent advances that have been made in academics. Color figures are used extensively to illustrate the methods and help the reader to understand the complex topics.

Content-Based Analysis Of Digital Video focuses on fundamental issues underlying the development of content access mechanisms for digital video. It treats topics that are critical to successfully automating the video content extraction and retrieval processes, and includes coverage of: - Video parsing, - Video content indexing and representation, - Affective video content analysis. In this well illustrated book the author integrates related information currently scattered throughout the literature and combines it with new ideas into a unified theoretical approach to video content analysis. The material also suggests ideas for future research. Systems developers, researchers and students working in the area of content-based analysis and retrieval of video and multimedia in general will find this book invaluable.

Computer vision algorithms for the analysis of video data are obtained from a camera aimed at the user of an interactive system. It is potentially useful to enhance the interface between users and machines. These image sequences provide information from which machines can identify and keep track of their users, recognize their facial expressions and gestures, and complement other forms of human-computer interfaces. Facial Analysis from Continuous Video with Applications to Human-Computer Interfaces presents a learning technique based on information-theoretic discrimination which is used to construct face and facial feature detectors. This book also describes a real-time system for face and facial feature detection and tracking in continuous video. Finally, this book presents a probabilistic framework for embedded face and facial expression recognition from image sequences. Facial Analysis from Continuous Video with Applications to Human-Computer Interfaces is designed for a professional audience composed of researchers and practitioners in industry. This book is also suitable as a secondary text for graduate-level students in computer science and engineering.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Grid and Pervasive Computing, GPC 2013, held in Seoul, Korea, in May 2013 and the following colocated workshops: International Workshop on Ubiquitous and Multimedia Application Systems, UMAS 2013; International Workshop DATICS-GPC 2013: Design, Analysis and Tools for Integrated Circuits and Systems; and International Workshop on Future Science Technologies and Applications, FSTA 2013. The 111 revised papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. They have been organized in the following topical sections: cloud, cluster and grid; middleware resource management; mobile peer-to-peer and pervasive computing; multi-core and high-performance computing; parallel and distributed systems; security and privacy; ubiquitous communications, sensor networking, and RFID; ubiquitous and multimedia application systems; design, analysis and tools for integrated circuits and systems; future science technologies and applications; and green and human information technology.

The purpose of Transporting Compressed Digital Video is to introduce fundamental principles and important technologies used in design and analysis of video transport systems for many video applications in digital networks. In the past two decades, progress in digital video processing, transmission, and storage technologies, such as video compression, digital modulation, and digital storage disk, has proceeded at an astounding pace. Digital video compression is a field in which fundamental technologies were motivated and driven by practical applications so that they often lead to many useful advances. Especially, the digital video-compression standards, developed by the Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), have enabled many successful digital-video applications. These applications range from digital-video disk (DVD) and multimedia CDs on a desktop computer, interactive digital cable television, to digital satellite networks. MPEG has become the most recognized standard for digital video compression. MPEG video is now an integral part of most digital video transmission and storage systems. Nowadays, video compression technologies are being used in almost all modern digital video systems and networks. Not only is video compression equipment being implemented to increase the bandwidth efficiency of communication systems, but video compression also provides innovative solutions to many related vid- networking problems. The subject of Transporting Compressed Digital Video includes several important topics, in particular video buffering, packet scheduling, multiplxing and synchronization.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First Webble World Summit, WWS 2013, held in Erfurt, Germany, in June 2013. The focus of the event is on Webble technology and its applications. The 14 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on challenging the Webble technology; Webble core technology; applications of Webble technology; outlook and vision; the big picture.

Enterprises all over the world are experiencing a rapid development of networked computing for applications that are required for the daily survival of an organization. Client-server computing offers great potential for cost-effective networked computing. However, many organizations have now learned that the cost of maintenance and support of these networked distributed systems far exceeds the cost of buying them. Computer Supported Creative Work (CSCW) is the new evolving area that promotes the understanding of business processes and relevant communication technologies. Cooperative Management of Enterprise Networks uses CSCW as the medium for conveying ideas on the integration of business processes with network and systems management. This book will be useful for systems management professionals wishing to know about business process integration; business managers wishing to integrate their tasks with network/systems management; software system developers wishing to adopt participatory design practices; and students and researchers.

Design is an art form in which the designer selects from a myriad of alternatives to bring an "optimum" choice to a user. In many complex of "optimum" is difficult to define. Indeed, the users systems the notion themselves will not agree, so the "best" system is simply the one in which the designer and the user have a congruent viewpoint. Compounding the design problem are tradeoffs that span a variety of technologies and user requirements. The electronic business system is a classically complex system whose tradeoff criteria and user views are constantly changing with rapidly developing underlying technology. Professor Milutinovic has chosen this area for his capstone contribution to the computer systems design. This book completes his trilogy on design issue in computer systems. His first work, "Surviving the Design of a 200 MHz RISC Microprocessor" (1997) focused on the tradeoffs and design issues within a processor. His second work, "Surviving the Design of Microprocessor and Multiprocessor Systems" (2000) considers the design issues involved with assembling a number of processors into a coherent system. Finally, this book generalizes the system design problem to electronic commerce on the Internet, a global system of immense consequence.

ICMCCA 2012 is the first International Conference on Multimedia Processing, Communication and Computing Applications and the theme of the Conference is chosen as 'Multimedia Processing and its Applications'. Multimedia processing has been an active research area contributing in many frontiers of today's science and technology. This book presents peer-reviewed quality papers on multimedia processing, which covers a very broad area of science and technology. The prime objective of the book is to familiarize readers with the latest scientific developments that are taking place in various fields of multimedia processing and is widely used in many disciplines such as Medical Diagnosis, Digital Forensic, Object Recognition, Image and Video Analysis, Robotics, Military, Automotive Industries, Surveillance and Security, Quality Inspection, etc. The book will assist the research community to get the insight of the overlapping works which are being carried out across the globe at many medical hospitals and institutions, defense labs, forensic labs, academic institutions, IT companies and security & surveillance domains. It also discusses latest state-of-the-art research problems and techniques and helps to encourage, motivate and introduce the budding researchers to a larger domain of multimedia.

Video technology promises to be the key for the transmission of motion video. A number of video compression techniques and standards have been introduced in the past few years, particularly the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 for interactive multimedia and for digital NTSC and HDTV applications, and H.2611H.263 for video telecommunications. These techniques use motion estimation techniques to reduce the amount of data that is stored and transmitted for each frame. This book is about these motion estimation algorithms, their complexity, implementations, advantages, and drawbacks. First, we present an overview of video compression techniques with an emphasis to techniques that use motion estimation, such as MPEG and H.2611H.263. Then, we give a survey of current motion estimation search algorithms, including the exhaustive search and a number of fast search algorithms. An evaluation of current search algorithms, based on a number of experiments on several test video sequences, is presented as well. The theoretical framework for a new fast search algorithm, Densely-Centered Uniform-P Search (DCUPS), is developed and presented in the book. The complexity of the DCUPS algorithm is comparable to other popular motion estimation techniques, however the algorithm shows superior results in terms of compression ratios and video qUality. We should stress out that these new results, presented in Chapters 4 and 5, have been developed by Joshua Greenberg, as part of his M.Sc. thesis entitled "Densely-Centered Uniform P-Search: A Fast Motion Estimation Algorithm" (FAU, 1996).

Representation and Retrieval of Video Data in Multimedia Systems brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this important area. Representation and Retrieval of Video Data in Multimedia Systems serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most important research issues in the field.

Video on Demand Systems brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date research results in this fast moving area. Video on Demand Systems serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most challenging research issues in the field.

Representation and Retrieval of Visual Media in Multimedia Systems brings together in one place important contributions and up-to-date researcg results in this important area. Representation and Retrieval of Visual Media in Multimedia Systems serves as an excellent reference, providing insight into some of the most important research issues in the field.

Mobile communications havepermeated the globe in both business and social cultures. In only af ew short years, Japan aloneh ash ad more than ten million subscribers enter the mobilem arket. Such explosive popularity is an indication ofa strong commercial demand for communications in both the tethered and tetherless environments. Accompanying the vibrant growth in mobile communications is the growth in multimedia communications, includingthe Internet. Mobile and multime dia communications technologies are merging, making mobile computing ak ey phrasei n the coming advanced information communication era. Thegrowth i n these dynamic industries shows that achange in our chosen method of commu nications is already well advanced. Reading e mail and connecting to various information feeds have already become a part ofdaily business activities. We are trying to grasp theo verall picture of mobile computing. Its shape and form are just starting to appear as personal digital assistants (PDA), handheld personal computers (HPC), wireless data communication services, and com mercial software designed for mobile environments. We are at the cusp of vast popularization of "computers on the go. " "Any time Anywhere Computing" provides the reader with an understand able explanationo ft he current developments and commercialization of mobile computing. Thec oret ec hnologies and applications needed to un derstand the industry are comprehensively addressed. Thebook emphasizes three infrastruc tures: (1) wireless communication network infrastructure, (2) terminal devices (or "computers on the go"), and (3) software middleware and architectures that support wireless and mobile computing.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 35th European Conference on IR Research, ECIR 2013, held in Moscow, Russia, in March 2013. The 55 full papers, 38 poster papers and 10 demonstrations presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 287 submissions. The papers are organized in the following topical sections: user aspects; multimedia and cross-media IR; data mining; IR theory and formal models; IR system architectures; classification; Web; event detection; temporal IR, and microblog search. Also included are 4 tutorial and 2 workshop presentations.

Great advances have been made in the database field. Relational and object- oriented databases, distributed and client/server databases, and large-scale data warehousing are among the more notable. However, none of these advances promises to have as great and direct an effect on the daily lives of ordinary citizens as video databases. Video databases will provide a quantum jump in our ability to deal with visual data, and in allowing people to access and manipulate visual information in ways hitherto thought impossible. Video Database Systems: Issues, Products and Applications gives practical information on academic research issues, commercial products that have already been developed, and the applications of the future driving this research and development. This book can also be considered a reference text for those entering the field of video or multimedia databases, as well as a reference for practitioners who want to identify the kinds of products needed in order to utilize video databases. Video Database Systems: Issues, Products and Applications covers concepts, products and applications. It is written at a level which is less detailed than that normally found in textbooks but more in-depth than that normally written in trade press or professional reference books. Thus, it seeks to serve both an academic and industrial audience by providing a single source of information about the research issues in the field, and the state-of-the-art of practice.

Many emerging technologies such as video conferencing, video-on-demand, and digital libraries require the efficient delivery of compressed video streams. For applications that require the delivery of compressed stored multimedia streams, the a priori knowledge available about these compressed streams can aid in the allocation of server and network resources. By using a client-side buffer, the resource requirements from the server and network can be minimized. Buffering Techniques for Delivery of Compressed Video in Video-on-Demand Systems presents a comprehensive description of buffering techniques for the delivery of compressed, prerecorded multimedia data. While these techniques can be applied to any compressed data streams, this book focusses primarily on the delivery of video streams because of the large resource requirements that they can consume. The book first describes buffering techniques for the continuous playback of stored video sources. In particular, several bandwidth smoothing (or buffering) algorithms that are provably optimal under certain conditions are presented. To provide a well-rounded discussion, the book then describes extensions that aid in the ability to provide interactive delivery of video across networks. Specifically, reservation techniques that take into account interactive functions such as fast-forward and rewind are described. In addition, extensions to the bandwidth smoothing algorithms presented in the first few chapters are described. These algorithms are designed with interactive, continuous playback of stored video in mind and are also provably optimal under certain constraints. Buffering Techniques for Delivery of Compressed Video in Video-on-Demand Systems serves as an excellent resource for multimedia systems, networking and video-on-demand designers, and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the topic.

Wireless Communication Technologies: New Multimedia Systems is based on a selection of the best papers presented at the recent International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications (PIMRC '99). All of the papers have been extended into full chapters, critiqued, and edited into a unified and structured book. Contributions to this volume are by the leading specialist from their respective fields. The topics represent the newest ideas and research involving wireless multimedia systems and wireless technologies. Part I focuses on key developments and technologies and includes coverage of wireless channel modeling, space-time coding, coding for wireless networks, OFDM, software radio, and spatial and temporal communication theory. Chapters in Part II address many of the new wireless systems currently being standardized; such as, intelligent transport systems, wireless internet, digital TV broadcasting, and IMT-2000. Insights into many of the hot and rapidly developing research topics, such as bluetooth, Mobile IP, GPRS, and others, are discussed.Each chapter includes basic concepts and technical trends in addition to providing extensive technical coverage. Researchers and engineers of wireless communication systems will benefit from insights and results reported in Wireless Communication Technologies: New Multimedia Systems. This work may also be suitable for graduate level courses on Wireless Communication Systems, Cellular Communication Systems, and Mobile Communications.

Palmprint Authentication is the first book to provide a comprehensive introduction to palmprint technologies. It reveals automatic biometric techniques for personal identification using palmprint, from the approach based on offline palmprint images, to the current state-of-the-art algorithm using online palmprint images. Palmprint Authentication provides the reader with a basic concept of Palmprint Authentication. It also includes an in-depth discussion of Palmprint Authentication technologies, a detailed description of Palmprint Authentication systems, and an up-to-date coverage of how these issues are developed. This book is suitable for different levels of readers: those who want to learn more about palmprint technology, and those who wish to understand, participate, and/or develop a palmprint authentication system. Palmprint Authentication is effectively a handbook for biometric research and development. Graduate students and researchers in computer science, electrical engineering, systems science, and information technology will all find it uniquely useful, not only as a reference book, but also as a text book. Researchers and practitioners in industry, and R&D laboratories working in the fields of security system design, biometrics, immigration, law enforcement, control, and pattern recognition will also benefit from this volume.

Welcome to the third International Conference on Management of Multimedia Networks and Services (MMNS'2000) in Fortaleza (Brazil)! The first MMNS was held in Montreal ( Canada) in july 1997 and the second MMNS was held in Versailles (France) in November 1998. The MMNS conference takes place every year and a half and is aimed to be a truly international event by bringing together researchers and practitioners from all around the world and by organising the conference each time in a different continent/country. Over the past several years, there has been a considerable amount of research within the fields of multimedia networking and network management. Much of that work has taken place within the context of managing Quality-of Service in broadband integrated services digital networks such as the A TM, and more recently in IP-based networks, to respond to the requirements of emerging multimedia applications. A TM networks were designed to support multimedia traffic with diverse characteristics and can be used as the transfer mode for both wired and wireless networks. A new set of Internet protocols is being developed to provide better quality of service, which is a prerequisite for supporting multimedia applications. Multimedia applications have a different set of requirements, which impacts the design of the underlying communication network as well as its management. Several QoS management mechanisms intervening at different layers of the communication network are required including QoS-routing, QoS-based transport, QoS negotiation, QoS adaptation, FCAPS management, and mobility management.

Testing of Communicating Systems XIV presents the latest international results in both the theory and industrial practice of the testing of communicating systems, ranging from tools and techniques for testing to test standards, frameworks, notations, algorithms, fundamentals of testing, and industrial experiences and issues. The tools and techniques discussed apply to conformance testing, interoperability testing, performance testing, Internet protocols and applications, and multimedia and distributed systems in general.

This book is a first sketch of what the overall field of performance could look like as a modern scientific field but not its stylistically differentiated practice, pedagogy, and history. Musical performance is the most complex field of music. It comprises the study of a composition's expression in terms of analysis, emotion, and gesture, and then its transformation into embodied reality, turning formulaic facts into dramatic movements of human cognition. Combining these components in a creative way is a sophisticated mix of knowledge and mastery, which more resembles the cooking of a delicate recipe than a rational procedure. This book is the first one aiming at such comprehensive coverage of the topic, and it does so also as a university text book. We include musicological and philosophical aspects as well as empirical performance research. Presenting analytical tools and case studies turns this project into a demanding enterprise in construction and experimental setups of performances, especially those generated by the music software Rubato. We are happy that this book was written following a course for performance students at the School of Music of the University of Minnesota. Their education should not be restricted to the canonical practice. They must know the rationale for their performance. It is not sufficient to learn performance with the old-fashioned imitation model of the teacher's antetype, this cannot be an exclusive tool since it dramatically lacks the poetical precision asked for by Adorno's and Benjamin's micrologic. Without such alternatives to intuitive imitation, performance risks being disconnected from the audience.

This volume contains many examples and applied methods explaining the basic architecture of the mobile terminals. It includes sufficient introductory material to enabling even non-expert readers to understand the topics and to make a step towards system integration of complex future applications.

This two-volume set of CCIS 391 and CCIS 392 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Information Computing and Applications, ICICA 2013, held in Singapore, in August 2013. The 126 revised full papers presented in both volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from 665 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on Internet computing and applications; engineering management and applications; intelligent computing and applications; control engineering and applications; cloud and evolutionary computing; knowledge management and applications; computational statistics and applications.

High Performance Networking is a state-of-the-art book that deals with issues relating to the fast-paced evolution of public, corporate and residential networks. It focuses on the practical and experimental aspects of high performance networks and introduces novel approaches and concepts aimed at improving the performance, usability, interoperability and scalability of such systems. Among others, the topics covered include: * Java applets and applications; * distributed virtual environments; * new internet streaming protocols; * web telecollaboration tools; * Internet, Intranet; * real-time services like multimedia; * quality of service; * mobility. High Performance Networking comprises the proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on High Performance Networking, sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), and was held at Vienna Univrsity of Technology, Vienna, Austria, in September 1998. High Performance Networking is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course on high performance networking, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.