Coding and Modulation for Digital Television presents a comprehensive description of all error control coding and digital modulation techniques used in Digital Television (DTV). This book illustrates the relevant elements from the expansive theory of channel coding to how the transmission environment dictates the choice of error control coding and digital modulation schemes. These elements are presented in such a way that both the mathematical integrity' and understanding for engineers' are combined in a complete form and supported by a number of practical examples. In addition, the book contains descriptions of the existing standards and provides a valuable source of corresponding references. Coding and Modulation for Digital Television also features a description of the latest techniques, providing the reader with a glimpse of future digital broadcasting. These include the concepts of soft-in-soft-out decoding, turbo-coding and cross-correlated quadrature modulation, all of which will have a prominent future in improving efficiency of the next generation DTV systems. Coding and Modulation for Digital Television is essential reading for all undergraduate and postgraduate students, broadcasting and communication engineers, researchers, marketing managers, regulatory bodies, governmental organizations and standardization institutions of the digital television industry.

With the fast growth ofmultimedia information, content-based video anal- ysis, indexing and representation have attracted increasing attention in re- cent years. Many applications have emerged in these areas such as video- on-demand, distributed multimedia systems, digital video libraries, distance learning/education, entertainment, surveillance and geographical information systems. The need for content-based video indexing and retrieval was also rec- ognized by ISOIMPEG, and a new international standard called "Multimedia Content Description Interface" (or in short, MPEG-7)was initialized in 1998 and finalized in September 2001. In this context, a systematic and thorough review ofexisting approaches as well as the state-of-the-art techniques in video content analysis, indexing and representation areas are investigated and studied in this book. In addition, we will specifically elaborate on a system which analyzes, indexes and abstracts movie contents based on the integration ofmultiple media modalities. Content ofeach part ofthis book is briefly previewed below. In the first part, we segment a video sequence into a set ofcascaded shots, where a shot consistsofone or more continuouslyrecorded image frames. Both raw and compressedvideo data will beinvestigated. Moreover, consideringthat there are always non-story units in real TV programs such as commercials, a novel commercial break detection/extraction scheme is developed which ex- ploits both audio and visual cues to achieve robust results. Specifically, we first employ visual cues such as the video data statistics, the camera cut fre- quency, and the existenceofdelimiting black frames between commercials and programs, to obtain coarse-level detection results.

Modern applications are both data and computationally intensive and require the storage and manipulation of voluminous traditional (alphanumeric) and nontraditional data sets (images, text, geometric objects, time-series). Examples of such emerging application domains are: Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Multimedia Information Systems, CAD/CAM, Time-Series Analysis, Medical Information Sstems, On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP), and Data Mining. These applications pose diverse requirements with respect to the information and the operations that need to be supported. From the database perspective, new techniques and tools therefore need to be developed towards increased processing efficiency.

This monograph explores the way spatial database management systems aim at supporting queries that involve the space characteristics of the underlying data, and discusses query processing techniques for nearest neighbor queries. It provides both basic concepts and state-of-the-art results in spatial databases and parallel processing research, and studies numerous applications of nearest neighbor queries.

This Second Edition brings readers thoroughly up to date with the emerging field of text mining, the application of techniques of machine learning in conjunction with natural language processing, information extraction, and algebraic/mathematical approaches to computational information retrieval. The book explores a broad range of issues, ranging from the development of new learning approaches to the parallelization of existing algorithms. Authors highlight open research questions in document categorization, clustering, and trend detection. In addition, the book describes new application problems in areas such as email surveillance and anomaly detection.

3D Virtual Applications: Applications with Virtual Inhabited 3D Worlds deals with the use of virtual inhabited 3D spaces in different domains of society. (Other volumes deal with interaction, production methodology and space.) From focusing on virtual reality (a reality into which users and objects from the real world should be moved) we are increasingly focusing on augmented reality (i.e. on moving computers out into the reality of real users, objects and activities). This book deals with the use of virtual inhabited 3D spaces in both contexts. Based on the structuring of the application domains, this book looks at the use of VR and augmented reality in the following major application domains:

- Production oriented applications - use of VR and augmented reality for control of complex production plants, for navigation support (ships, cars, aeroplanes) and for support of collaborative work processes

- Communication support applications - virtual spaces are used for supporting communication in learning environments and for support of organisational communication. Also virtual spaces are used for supporting the navigation of people in public spaces, i.e. as maps, planning tools

- Scientific applications - use of 3D models for medical research; use of dynamic models for representation of abstract concepts and ideas (data-mining applications); use of dynamic 3D models for simulating biological or social processes

- Artistic and cultural applications - the construction of stages representing concepts and/or emotions

This comprehensive book draws together experts to explore how knowledge technologies can be exploited to create new multimedia applications, and how multimedia technologies can provide new contexts for the use of knowledge technologies. Thorough coverage of all relevant topics is given. The step-by-step approach guides the reader from fundamental enabling technologies of ontologies, analysis and reasoning, through to applications which have hitherto had less attention.

Correcting the Great Mistake People often mistake one thing for another. That's human nature. However, one would expect the leaders in a particular ?eld of endeavour to have superior ab- ities to discriminate among the developments within that ?eld. That is why it is so perplexing that the technology elite - supposedly savvy folk such as software developers, marketers and businessmen - have continually mistaken Web-based graphics for something it is not. The ?rst great graphics technology for the Web, VRML, has been mistaken for something else since its inception. Viewed variously as a game system, a format for architectural walkthroughs, a platform for multi-user chat and an augmentation of reality, VRML may qualify as the least understood invention in the history of inf- mation technology. Perhaps it is so because when VRML was originally introduced it was touted as a tool for putting the shopping malls of the world online, at once prosaic and horrifyingly mundane to those of us who were developing it. Perhaps those ?rst two initials,"VR,"created expectations of sprawling, photorealistic f- tasy landscapes for exploration and play across the Web. Or perhaps the magnitude of the invention was simply too great to be understood at the time by the many, ironically even by those spending the money to underwrite its development. Regardless of the reasons, VRML suffered in the mainstream as it was twisted to meet unintended ends and stretched far beyond its limitations.

Both modern mathematical music theory and computer science are strongly influenced by the theory of categories and functors. One outcome of this research is the data format of denotators, which is based on set-valued presheaves over the category of modules and diaffine homomorphisms. The functorial approach of denotators deals with generalized points in the form of arrows and allows the construction of a universal concept architecture. This architecture is ideal for handling all aspects of music, especially for the analysis and composition of highly abstract musical works.

This book presents an introduction to the theory of module categories and the theory of denotators, as well as the design of a software system, called Rubato Composer, which is an implementation of the category-theoretic concept framework. The application is written in portable Java and relies on plug-in components, so-called rubettes, which may be combined in data flow networks for the generation and manipulation of denotators.

The Rubato Composer system is open to arbitrary extension and is freely available under the GPL license. It allows the developer to build specialized rubettes for tasks that are of interest to composers, who in turn combine them to create music. It equally serves music theorists, who use them to extract information from and manipulate musical structures. They may even develop new theories by experimenting with the many parameters that are at their disposal thanks to the increased flexibility of the functorial concept architecture.

Two contributed chapters by Guerino Mazzola and Florian Thalmann illustrate the application of the theory as well as the software in the development of compositional tools and the creation of a musical work with the help of the Rubato framework.

Current middleware solutions, e.g., application servers and Web services, are very complex software products that are hard to tame because of intricacies of distributed systems. Their functionalities have mostly been developed and managed with the help of administration tools and corresponding configuration files, recently in XML. Though this constitutes flexibility for developing and administrating a distributed application, the conceptual model underlying the different configurations is only implicit.

To remedy such problems, Semantic Management of Middleware contributes an ontology-based approach to support the development and administration of middleware-based applications. The ontology is an explicit conceptual model with formal logic-based semantics. Its descriptions may therefore be queried, may foresight required actions, or may be checked to avoid inconsistent system configurations.

This book builds a rigorous approach towards giving the declarative descriptions of components and services a well-defined meaning by specifying ontological foundations and by showing how such foundations may be realized in practical, up-and-running systems.

This book reports the newest research and technical achievements on the following theme blocks: Design of mobile map services and its constraints, typology and usability of mobile map services, visualization solutions on small displays for time-critical tasks, mobile map users, interaction and adaptation in mobile environments and applications of map-based mobile services.

Image and Video Encryption provides a unified overview of techniques for encryption of images and video data. This ranges from commercial applications like DVD or DVB to more research oriented topics and recently published material. This volume introduces different techniques from unified viewpoint, then evaluates these techniques with respect to their respective properties (e.g., security, speed.....).

The authors experimentally compare different approaches proposed in the literature and include an extensive bibliography of corresponding published material.

Ad-Hoc Networking Towards Seamless Communications is dedicated to an area that attracts growing interest in academia and industry and concentrates on wireless ad hoc networking paradigm. The persistent efforts to acquire the ability to establish dynamic wireless connections from anywhere to anyone with any device without prerequisite imbedded infrastructure move the communications boundaries towards ad-hoc networks. Recently, ad hoc networking has attracted growing interest due to advances in wireless communications, and developed framework for running IP based protocols. The expected degree of penetration of these networks will depend on the successful resolution of the key features.
Ad-hoc networks pose many complex and open problems for researchers. Ad-Hoc Networking Towards Seamless Communications reveals the state-of-the-art in wireless ad-hoc networking and discusses some of the key research topics that are expected to promote and accelerate the commercial applications of these networks (e.g., MAC, routing, QoS, cross-layer optimization issues, service discovery, mobility, handovers, security).

This is an edited volume, written by well-recognized international researchers with extended chapter style versions of the best papers presented at the SITIS 2006 International Conference. This book presents the state-of-the-art and recent research results on the application of advanced signal processing techniques for improving the value of image and video data. It introduces new results on video coding on time-honored topic of securing image information. The book is designed for a professional audience composed of practitioners and researchers in industry. This book is also suitable for advanced-level students in computer science.

COLLABORATIVE NETWORKS Becoming a pervasive paradigm In recent years the area of collaborative networks is being consolidated as a new discipline (Camarinha-Matos, Afsarmanesh, 2005) that encompasses and gives more structured support to a large diversity of collaboration forms. In terms of applications, besides the "traditional" sectors represented by the advanced supply chains, virtual enterprises, virtual organizations, virtual teams, and their breading environments, new forms of collaborative structures are emerging in all sectors of the society. Examples can be found in e-government, intelligent transportation systems, collaborative virtual laboratories, agribusiness, elderly care, silver economy, etc. In some cases those developments tend to adopt a terminology that is specific of that domain; often the involved actors in a given domain are not fully aware of the developments in the mainstream research on collaborative networks. For instance, the grid community adopted the term "virtual organization" but focused mainly on the resource sharing perspective, ignoring most of the other aspects involved in collaboration. The European enterprise interoperability community, which was initially focused on the intra-enterprise aspects, is moving towards inter-enterprise collaboration. Collaborative networks are thus becoming a pervasive paradigm giving basis to new socio-organizational structures.

A large number of information systems use many different individual schemas to represent data. Semantically linking these schemas is a necessary precondition to establish interoperability between agents and services. Consequently, ontology alignment and mapping for data integration has become central to building a world-wide semantic web.

Ontology Alignment: Bridging the Semantic Gap introduces novel methods and approaches for semantic integration. In addition to developing new methods for ontology alignment, the author provides extensive explanations of up-to-date case studies. The topic of this book, coupled with the application-focused methodology, will appeal to professionals from a number of different domains.

Designed for practitioners and researchers in industry, Ontology Alignment: Bridging the Semantic Web Gap is also suitable for advanced-level students in computer science and electrical engineering.

Avatars at Work and Play brings together contributions from leading social scientists and computer scientists who have conducted research on virtual environments used for collaboration and online gaming. They present a well-rounded and state-of-the-art overview of current applications of multi-user virtual environments, ranging from highly immersive virtual reality systems to internet-based virtual environments on personal computers. The volume is a follow-up to a previous essay collection, The Social Life of Avatars, which explored general issues in this field. This collection goes further, examining uses of shared virtual environments in practical settings such as scientific collaboration, distributed meetings, building models together, and others. It also covers online gaming in virtual environments, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of users and presents an opportunity for studying a myriad of social issues. Covering both work and play, the volume brings together issues common to the two areas, including:

What kind of avatar appearance is suitable for different kinds of interaction? How best to foster collaboration and promote usable shared virtual spaces? What kinds of activities work well in different types of virtual environments and systems?

Avatars at Work and Play will be required reading for computer scientists and social scientists who are researching and developing virtual worlds. It will be useful on courses in New Media and human-computer interaction"

Motion-Free Super-Resolution is a compilation of very recent work on various methods of generating super-resolution (SR) images from a set of low-resolution images. The current literature on this topic deals primarily with the use of motion cues for the purpose of generating SR images. These cues have, it is shown, their advantages and disadvantages. In contrast, this book shows that cues other than motion can also be used for the same purpose, and addresses both the merits and demerits of these new techniques.

Motion-Free Super-Resolution supersedes much of the lead author 's previous edited volume, "Super-Resolution Imaging," and includes an up-to-date account of the latest research efforts in this fast-moving field. This sequel also features a style of presentation closer to that of a textbook, with an emphasis on teaching and explanation rather than scholarly presentation.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Symposium on Information and Automation, ISIA 2010, held in Guangzhou, China, in November 2010. The 110 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The symposium provides a forum for researchers, educators, engineers, and government officials to present and discuss their latest research results and exchange views on the future research directions in the general areas of Information and Automation.

MARTENS Bob and BROWN Andre Co-conference Chairs, CAAD Futures 2005 Computer Aided Architectural Design is a particularly dynamic field that is developing through the actions of architects, software developers, researchers, technologists, users, and society alike. CAAD tools in the architectural office are no longer prominent outsiders, but have become ubiquitous tools for all professionals in the design disciplines. At the same time, techniques and tools from other fields and uses, are entering the field of architectural design. This is exemplified by the tendency to speak of Information and Communication Technology as a field in which CAAD is embedded. Exciting new combinations are possible for those, who are firmly grounded in an understanding of architectural design and who have a clear vision of the potential use of ICT. CAAD Futures 2005 called for innovative and original papers in the field of Computer Aided Architectural Design, that present rigorous, high-quality research and development work. Papers should point towards the future, but be based on a thorough understanding of the past and present.

Soft computing represents a collection of techniques, such as neural networks, evolutionary computation, fuzzy logic, and probabilistic reasoning. As - posed to conventional "hard" computing, these techniques tolerate impre- sion and uncertainty, similar to human beings. In the recent years, successful applications of these powerful methods have been published in many dis- plines in numerous journals, conferences, as well as the excellent books in this book series on Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing. This volume is dedicated to recent novel applications of soft computing in multimedia processing. The book is composed of 21 chapters written by experts in their respective fields, addressing various important and timely problems in multimedia computing such as content analysis, indexing and retrieval, recognition and compression, processing and filtering, etc. In the chapter authored by Guan, Muneesawang, Lay, Amin, and Lee, a radial basis function network with Laplacian mixture model is employed to perform image and video retrieval. D. Androutsos, P. Androutsos, Plataniotis, and Venetsanopoulos investigate color image indexing and retrieval within a small-world framework. Wu and Yap develop a framework of fuzzy relevance feedback to model the uncertainty of users' subjective perception in image retrieval.

"Sense of Touch and its Rendering" presents a unique and interdisciplinary approach highlighting the field of haptic research from a neuropsychological as well as a technological point of view. This edited book is the outcome of the TOUCH-HapSys European research project and provides an important contribution towards a new generation of high-fidelity haptic display technologies. The book is structured in two parts: A. Fundamental Psychophysical and Neuropsychological Research and B. Technology and Applications. The two parts are not however separated, and the many connections and synergies between the two complementary domains of research are highlighted in the text. The eleven chapters discuss the recent advances in the study of human haptic (kinaesthetic, tactile, temperature) and multimodal (visual, auditory, haptic) perception mechanisms. Besides the theoretical advancement, the contributions survey the state of the art in the field, report a number of practical applications to real systems, and discuss possible future developments.

For the first time, a comprehensive collection of the latest developments in scripting and representation languages for life-like characters. The text introduces toolkits for authoring animated characters which further supports the practicality and ease of use of this new interface technology. As life-like characters is a vibrant research area, various applications have been designed and implemented. The text covers the most successful and promising applications, ranging from product presentation and student training to knowledge integration and interactive gaming. It also discusses the key challenges in the area and provides design guidelines for employing life-like characters.

In the last decade, ontologies have received much attention within computer science and related disciplines, most often as the semantic web. Ontology Learning and Population from Text: Algorithms, Evaluation and Applications discusses ontologies for the semantic web, as well as knowledge management, information retrieval, text clustering and classification, as well as natural language processing.

Ontology Learning and Population from Text: Algorithms, Evaluation and Applications is structured for research scientists and practitioners in industry. This book is also suitable for graduate-level students in computer science.

Based on the Job Definition Format (JDF) new workflow concepts are developed which will help create integrated workflows in the graphic arts industry. These developments create new business opportunities that will lead to a cost reduction but also will entail risks. Starting with a comprehensive explanation of the new standard, information is offered that enables business executives to make sound decisions on software investments in the graphic arts industry. Available architectures and products are highlighted and benefits are described. The steps relevant for the process integration are discussed.

This fourth edition of Digital Storytelling: A creator's guide to interactive entertainment dives deeply into the world of interactive storytelling, a form of storytelling made possible by digital media. Carolyn Handler Miller covers both the basics - character development, structure and the use of interactivity - and the more advanced topics, such as AI (Artificial Intelligence), narratives using AR and VR, and Social Media storytelling. The fourth edition also includes a greatly expanded section on immersive media, with chapters on the exciting new world of the world of XR (AR, VR, and mixed reality), plus immersion via large screens, escape rooms and new kinds of theme park experiences. This edition covers all viable forms of New Media, from video games to interactive documentaries. With numerous case studies that delve into the processes and challenges of developing works of interactive narrative, this new edition illustrates the creative possibilities of digital storytelling. The book goes beyond using digital media for entertainment and covers its employment for education, training, information and promotion, featuring interviews with some of the industry's biggest names. Key Features: A large new section covering various forms of immersive media, including VR, AR and Mixed Reality Breakthroughs in interactive TV and Cinema The use of VR, AR and mixed reality in gaming New forms of voice-enabled storytelling and gaming Stories told via mobile apps and social media Developing Digital Storytelling for different types of audiences