Traditional wireless sensor networks (WSNs) capture scalar data such as temperature, vibration, pressure, or humidity. Motivated by the success of WSNs and also with the emergence of new technology in the form of low-cost image sensors, researchers have proposed combining image and audio sensors with WSNs to form wireless multimedia sensor networks (WMSNs). This introduces practical and research challenges, because multimedia sensors, particularly image sensors, generate huge amounts of data to be processed and distributed within the network, while sensor nodes have restricted battery power and hardware resources. This book describes how reconfigurable hardware technologies such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) offer cost-effective, flexible platforms for implementing WMSNs, with a main focus on developing efficient algorithms and architectures for information reduction, including event detection, event compression, and multicamera processing for hardware implementations. The authors include a comprehensive review of wireless multimedia sensor networks, a complete specification of a very low-complexity, low-memory FPGA WMSN node processor, and several case studies that illustrate information reduction algorithms for visual event compression, detection, and fusion. The book will be of interest to academic researchers, R&D engineers, and computer science and engineering graduate students engaged with signal and video processing, computer vision, embedded systems, and sensor networks.

Time is an exceptional dimension that is common to many application domains such as medicine, engineering, business, or science. Due to the distinct characteristics of time, appropriate visual and analytical methods are required to explore and analyze them. This book starts with an introduction to visualization and historical examples of visual representations. At its core, the book presents and discusses a systematic view of the visualization of time-oriented data along three key questions: what is being visualized (data), why something is visualized (user tasks), and how it is presented (visual representation). To support visual exploration, interaction techniques and analytical methods are required that are discussed in separate chapters. A large part of this book is devoted to a structured survey of 101 different visualization techniques as a reference for scientists conducting related research as well as for practitioners seeking information on how their time-oriented data can best be visualized.

This thesis focuses on the problem of optimizing the quality of network multimedia services. This problem spans multiple domains, from subjective perception of multimedia quality to computer networks management. The work done in this thesis approaches the problem at different levels, developing methods for modeling the subjective perception of quality based on objectively measurable parameters of the multimedia coding process as well as the transport over computer networks. The modeling of subjective perception is motivated by work done in psychophysics, while using Machine Learning techniques to map network conditions to the human perception of video services. Furthermore, the work develops models for efficient control of multimedia systems operating in dynamic networked environments with the goal of delivering optimized Quality of Experience. Overall this thesis delivers a set of methods for monitoring and optimizing the quality of multimedia services that adapt to the dynamic environment of computer networks in which they operate.

Mutative Media is a sweeping examination of how communication technologies have contributed to changes in people's thoughts and actions, and thus in the power structures of societies, in the past, at present, and in four alternative futures. We start by surveying what is generally known about the emergence of human language and speech that has enabled humans to extend their organizing abilities beyond that of other hominids. We then review research on the emergence of signs, symbols, and eventually writing, which led to new ways of thinking, acting, and organizing in scribal societies and vastly extended human influence globally. We consider the impact of the printing press in Europe, the Middle East, China, and Korea that led to various ways of thinking and organizing in modern societies, and conclude our historical survey with a discussion of the emergence and impact of electric and electronic communication technologies from the nineteenth century to the present. After a brief overview of what "futures studies" is and is not, based on our extensive experience in the field, we present four generic alternative futures, and discuss a prototype of a hybrid, mixed-reality game designed to enable players to experience the power and potential of new communication technologies within four very different environments and conditions. We think you will be intrigued by our surprising findings and what they may mean for future generations!

This book presents the first paradigm of social multimedia computing completely from the user perspective. Different from traditional multimedia and web multimedia computing which are content-centric, social multimedia computing rises under the participatory Web2.0 and is essentially user-centric. The goal of this book is to emphasize the user factor in facilitating effective solutions towards both multimedia content analysis, user modeling and customized user services. Advanced topics like cross-network social multimedia computing are also introduced as extensions and potential directions along this research line.

Intelligent multimedia surveillance concerns the analysis of multiple sensing inputs including video and audio streams, radio-frequency identification (RFID), and depth data. These data are processed for the automated detection and tracking of people, vehicles, and other objects. The goal is to locate moving targets, to understand their behavior, and to detect suspicious or abnormal activities for crime prevention. Despite its benefits, there is societal apprehension regarding the use of such technology, so an important challenge in this research area is to balance public safety and privacy. This edited book presents recent findings in the field of intelligent multimedia surveillance emerging from disciplines such as multimedia computing, computer vision, and artificial intelligence. It consists of nine chapters addressing intelligent video surveillance, video analysis of crowds, privacy issues in intelligent multimedia surveillance, RFID technology for localization of objects, object tracking using visual saliency information, estimating multiresolution depth using active stereo vision, and performance evaluation for video surveillance systems. The book will be of value to researchers and practitioners working on related problems in security, multimedia, and artificial intelligence.

The interaction between a user and a device forms the foundation of today's application design. Covering the following topics: A suite of five structural principles helping designers to structure their mockups; An agile method for exploiting desktop eye tracker equipment in combination with mobile devices; An approach to explore large-scale collections based on classification systems; A framework based on the use of modeling and components composition techniques to simplify the development of organizational collaborative systems; A low-cost virtual reality system that provides highly satisfying virtual experiences; Popular hardware and software tools and technologies for developing augmented and virtual reality applications; An implementation to handle connectivity between virtual reality applications and SensAble (R) Technology Phantom Haptic Devices; The results of a research study implementing a teaching technological strategy to help Down syndrome children develop their reading skills; Platform independent models decreasing the level of cohesion between communication technologies and software for ubiquitous computing; A method for applying gamification as a tool to improve the participation and motivation of people in performing different tasks. New Trends in Interaction, Virtual Reality and Modeling collects the best research from Interaccion 2012 and MexIHC 2012, and presents the state-of-the-art in human-computer interaction, user interfaces, user experience and virtual reality. Written by researchers from leading universities, research institutes and industry, this volume forms a valuable source of reference for researchers in HCI and VR.

Soft City Culture and Technology: The Betaville Project discusses the complete cycle of conception, development, and deployment of the Betaville platform. Betaville is a massively participatory online environment for distributed 3D design and development of proposals for changes to the built environment- an experimental integration of art, design, and software development for the public realm. Through a detailed account of Betaville from a Big Crazy Idea to a working "deep social medium", the author examines the current conditions of performance and accessibility of hardware, software, networks, and skills that can be brought together into a new form of open public design and deliberation space, for and spanning and integrating the disparate spheres of art, architecture, social media, and engineering. Betaville is an ambitious enterprise, of building compelling and constructive working relationships in situations where roles and disciplinary boundaries must be as agile as the development process of the software itself. Through a considered account and analysis of the interdependencies between Betaville's project design, development methods, and deployment, the reader can gain a deeper understanding of the potential socio-technical forms of New Soft Cities: blended virtual-physical worlds, whose "public works" must ultimately serve and succeed as massively collaborative works of art and infrastructure.

The work presented in this book focuses on modeling audiovisual quality as perceived by the users of IP-based solutions for video communication like videotelephony. It also extends the current framework for the parametric prediction of audiovisual call quality. The book addresses several aspects related to the quality perception of entire video calls, namely, the quality estimation of the single audio and video modalities in an interactive context, the audiovisual quality integration of these modalities and the temporal pooling of short sample-based quality scores to account for the perceptual quality impact of time-varying degradations.

Learn concepts central to visual special effects using the free Black Magic Design Fusion 8.0 software package. This book also provides foundational background information regarding concepts central to digital image compositing, digital video editing, digital illustration, digital painting, 3D, and digital audio in the first six chapters on new media theory, concepts and terminology. This book builds on the foundational concepts of digital image compositing, digital audio, digital video, digital illustration and digital painting. VFX Fundamentals introduces more advanced VFX concepts and pipelines as the chapters progress, covering topics such as flow node compositing, timeline animation, animated polyline masking, bluescreen and greenscreen matte pulling (generation), using Primatte and Fusion 8 Ultra Keyer, motion tracking, 3D rendering and compositing, auxiliary channels, and particle systems and particle physics dynamics, among other topics. < What You'll Learn See the new media components (raster, vector, audio, video, rendering) needed for VFX Discover the concepts behind the VFX content production workflow Install and utilize Black Magic Design Fusion 8 and its Visual Programming Language Master the concepts behind resolution, aspect ratio, bit-rate, color depth, layers, alpha, and masking Work with 2D VFX concepts such as animated masking, matte pulling (Primatte V) and motion tracking Harness 3D VFX concepts such as 3D geometry, materials, lighting, animation and auxiliary channels Use advanced VFX concepts such as particle systems animation using real-world physics (forces) Who This Book Is For SFX artists, VFX artists, video editors, website developers, filmmakers, 2D and 3D animators, digital signage producers, e-learning content creators, game developers, multimedia producers.

This book aims to provide important information about adaptivity in computer-based and/or web-based educational systems. In order to make the student modeling process clear, a literature review concerning student modeling techniques and approaches during the past decade is presented in a special chapter. A novel student modeling approach including fuzzy logic techniques is presented. Fuzzy logic is used to automatically model the learning or forgetting process of a student. The presented novel student model is responsible for tracking cognitive state transitions of learners with respect to their progress or non-progress. It maximizes the effectiveness of learning and contributes, significantly, to the adaptation of the learning process to the learning pace of each individual learner. Therefore the book provides important information to researchers, educators and software developers of computer-based educational software ranging from e-learning and mobile learning systems to educational games including stand alone educational applications and intelligent tutoring systems.

Facebook's psychological experiments and Edward Snowden's NSA leaks epitomize a world of increasing information awareness in the social media ecosystem. With over a billion monthly active users, Facebook as a nation is overtaking China as the largest country in the world. President Barack Obama, in his 2011 State of the Union Address, called America "the nation of Edison and the Wright brothers" and "of Google and Facebook." U.S. Chief Information Officer Steven VanRoekel opines that America has become a "Facebook nation" that demands increased transparency and interactivity from the federal government. Ubiquitous social networks such as Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and YouTube are creating the technologies, infrastructures, and big data necessary for Total Information Awareness - a controversial surveillance program proposed by DARPA after the 9/11 attacks. NSA's secret PRISM program has reinvigorated WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's accusation that "Facebook is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented." Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg once said, "We exist at the intersection of technology and social issues." This book offers discourse and practical advice on the privacy issue in the age of big data, business intelligence in social media, e-government and e-activism, as well as personal total information awareness. This expanded edition also includes insights from Wikipedian Emily Temple-Wood and Facebook ROI experts Dennis Yu and Alex Houg.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Collaboration and Technology, CRIWG 2016, held in Kanazawa, Japan, in September 2016. The 10 revised full papers presented together with 3 work-in-progress papers werecarefully reviewed and selected from 27 submissions. The papers reflect the current diversity of collaborative computing research and its evolution and deal with topics such as< group support, AR and 3D technology, wearable technology, intercultural collaboration, remote physical tasks, recommendation systems, collaborative learning, and health support.

This book presents 3D3C platforms - three-dimensional systems for community, creation and commerce. It discusses tools including bots in social networks, team creativity, privacy, and virtual currencies & micropayments as well as their applications in areas like healthcare, energy, collaboration, and art. More than 20 authors from 10 countries share their experiences, research fi ndings and perspectives, off ering a comprehensive resource on the emerging fi eld of 3D3C worlds. The book is designed for both the novice and the expert as a way to unleash the emerging opportunities in 3D3C worlds. This Handbook maps with breadth and insight the exciting frontier of building virtual worlds with digital technologies. David Perkins, Research Professor, Harvard Graduate School of Education This book is from one of the most adventurous and energetic persons I have ever met. Yesha takes us into new undiscovered spaces and provides insight into phenomena of social interaction and immersive experiences that transform our lives. Cees de Bont, Dean of School of Design & Chair Professor of Design, School of Design of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University When you read 3D3C Platforms you realize what a domain like ours -- 3D printing -- can and should do for the world. Clearly we are just starting. Inspiring.David Reis, CEO, Stratasys Ltd This book provides a stunning overview regarding how virtual worlds are reshaping possibilities for identity and community. Th e range of topics addressed by the authors- from privacy and taxation to fashion and health care-provide a powerful roadmap for addressing the emerging potential of these online environments. Tom Boellstorff , Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of California, Irvine Handbook on 3D3C Platforms amassed a unique collection of multidisciplinary academic thinking. A primer on innovations that will touch every aspect of the human community in the 21st century. Eli Talmor, Professor, London Business School

This book represents a new approach to musical creativity, dealing with the semiotics, mathematical principles, and software for creativity processes. After a thorough introduction, the book offers a first practical part with a detailed tutorial for students in composition and improvisation, using musical instruments and music software. The second, theoretical part deals with historical, actual, and new principles of creative processes in music, based on the results and methods developed in the first author's book Topos of Music and referring to semiotics, predicative objects, topos theory, and object-oriented concept architectures. The third part of the book details four case studies in musical creativity, including an analysis of the six variations of Beethoven's sonata op. 109, a discussion of the creative process in a CD coproduced in 2011 by the first and second authors, a recomposition of Boulez's "Structures pour deux pianos" using the Rubato software module BigBang developed by the third author, and the Escher theorem from mathematical gesture theory in music. This is both a textbook addressed to undergraduate and graduate students of music composition and improvisation, and also a state-of-the-art survey addressed to researchers in creativity studies and music technology. The book contains summaries and end-of-chapter questions, and the authors have used the book as the main reference to teach an undergraduate creativity studies program and also to teach composition. The text is supported throughout with musical score examples.

Topology-based methods are of increasing importance in the analysis and visualization of datasets from a wide variety of scientific domains such as biology, physics, engineering, and medicine. Current challenges of topology-based techniques include the management of time-dependent data, the representation of large and complex datasets, the characterization of noise and uncertainty, the effective integration of numerical methods with robust combinatorial algorithms, etc. . The editors have brought together the most prominent and best recognized researchers in the field of topology-based data analysis and visualization for a joint discussion and scientific exchange of the latest results in the field. This book contains the best 20 peer-reviewed papers resulting from the discussions and presentations at the third workshop on "Topological Methods in Data Analysis and Visualization", held 2009 in Snowbird, Utah, US. The 2009 "TopoInVis" workshop follows the two successful workshops in 2005 (Slovakia) and 2007 (Germany).

SMIL 3.0: Multimedia for the Web, Mobile Devices and Daisy Talking Books is a revised introduction to - and resource guide for - the W3C SMIL language. It covers all aspects of the SMIL specification and covers all of SMIL's implem- tation profiles, from the desktop through the world of mobile SMIL devices. Based on the first version of the book, which covered SMIL 2.0, this edition has been updated with information from the past two releases of the SMIL l- guage. We have benefitted from comments and suggestions from many readers of the first edition, and have produced what we feel is the most comprehensive guide to SMIL available anywhere. Motivation for this Book While we were working on various phases of the SMIL recommendations, it became clear to us that the richness of the SMIL language could easily ov- whelm many Web authors and designers. In the 500+ pages that the SYMM working group needed to describe the 30+ SMIL elements and the 150+ SMIL attributes, there was not much room for background information or extensive examples. The focus of the specification was on implementation aspects of the SMIL language, not on the rationale or the potential uses of SMIL's declarative power.

The link between mathematics and art remains as strong today as it was in the earliest instances of decorative and ritual art. Arts, architecture, music and painting have for a long time been sources of new developments in mathematics, and vice versa. Many great painters have seen no contradiction between artistic and mathematical endeavors, contributing to the progress of both, using mathematical principles to guide their visual creativity, enriching their visual environment with the new objects created by the mathematical science. Owing to the recent development of the so nice techniques for visualization, while mathematicians can better explore these new mathematical objects, artists can use them to emphasize their intrinsic beauty, and create quite new sceneries. This volume, the content of the first conference of the European Society for Mathematics and the Arts (ESMA), held in Paris in 2010, gives an overview on some significant and beautiful recent works where maths and art, including architecture and music, are interwoven. The book includes a wealth of mathematical illustrations from several basic mathematical fields including classical geometry, topology, differential geometry, dynamical systems. Here, artists and mathematicians alike elucidate the thought processes and the tools used to create their work

This volume contains the Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Interactive Multimedia Systems and Services (KES-IIMSS-12). The Conference was jointly organised by Nagoya University in Japan and the KES International organisation, and held in the attractive city of Gifu. The KES-IIMSS conference series, (series chairs Prof. Maria Virvou and Prof. George Tsihrintzis), presents novel research in various areas of intelligent multimedia system relevant to the development of a new generation of interactive, user-centric devices and systems. The aim of the conference is to provide an internationally respected forum for scientific research in the technologies and applications of this new and dynamic research area.

Proceedings of the FISITA 2012 World Automotive Congress are selected from nearly 2,000 papers submitted to the 34th FISITA World Automotive Congress, which is held by Society of Automotive Engineers of China (SAE-China ) and the International Federation of Automotive Engineering Societies (FISITA). This proceedings focus on solutions for sustainable mobility in all areas of passenger car, truck and bus transportation. Volume 6: Vehicle Electronics focuses on: *Engine/Chassis/Body Electronic Control *Electrical and Electronic System *Software and Hardware Development *Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) *Vehicle Sensor and Actuator *In-Vehicle Network *Multi-Media/Infotainment System Above all researchers, professional engineers and graduates in fields of automotive engineering, mechanical engineering and electronic engineering will benefit from this book. SAE-China is a national academic organization composed of enterprises and professionals who focus on research, design and education in the fields of automotive and related industries. FISITA is the umbrella organization for the national automotive societies in 37 countries around the world. It was founded in Paris in 1948 with the purpose of bringing engineers from around the world together in a spirit of cooperation to share ideas and advance the technological development of the automobile.

Proceedings of the 2012 International Conference on Information Technology and Software Engineering presents selected articles from this major event, which was held in Beijing, December 8-10, 2012. This book presents the latest research trends, methods and experimental results in the fields of information technology and software engineering, covering various state-of-the-art research theories and approaches. The subjects range from intelligent computing to information processing, software engineering, Web, unified modeling language (UML), multimedia, communication technologies, system identification, graphics and visualizing, etc. The proceedings provide a major interdisciplinary forum for researchers and engineers to present the most innovative studies and advances, which can serve as an excellent reference work for researchers and graduate students working on information technology and software engineering. Prof. Wei Lu, Dr. Guoqiang Cai, Prof. Weibin Liu and Dr. Weiwei Xing all work at Beijing Jiaotong University.

This book contributes to illustrating the methodological and technological issues of data management in Pervasive Systems by using the DataBenc project as the running case study for a variety of research contributions: sensor data management, user-originated data operation and reasoning, multimedia data management, data analytics and reasoning for event detection and decision making, context modelling and control, automatic data and service tailoring for personalization and recommendation. The book is organized into the following main parts: i) multimedia information management; ii) sensor data streams and storage; iii) social networks as information sources; iv) context awareness and personalization. The case study is used throughout the book as a reference example.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 11th Chinese Conference on Image and Graphics Technologies and Applications, IGTA 2016, held in Beijing, China in July 2016. The 27 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 69 submissions. They provide a forum for sharing progresses in the areas of image processing technology; image analysis and understanding; computer vision and pattern recognition; big data mining, computer graphics and VR; as well as image technology applications.

Digital design is not only about creating visually appealing products and promotions; it needs to possess a practical aspect in addition to being aesthetically appealing. Digital Design in Action explores these pragmatic applications and the creative design aspects for various mediums, including the web, apps, ePub, visual presentations, and PDF. Using the latest digital publishing tools and a project-based pedagogy, this book includes projects ranging from real-world to experimental. Each chapter contains the perfect balance of vibrant figures, techniques and applications to help guide the reader into harnessing their inner potential. Key Features Presents methodologies used to deploy layouts for multiple digital output, using the latest tools and techniques Includes a supporting companion website containing digital examples, plus all exercise files and supporting art Contains end-of-chapter exercises and real-world and experimental projects Structured to help design students create dynamic content in class and on the job later down the line.

Art and Technology of Entertainment Computing and Communication takes a blue sky research perspective on the field of interactive media for entertainment computing. Adrian David Cheok argues that entertainment as an end-product is useful for interactive play, however it is also a powerful tool for learning and communication and it is also a key driver for the development of information technology. This book explores the future of entertainment technologies used for communication and describes quantum step research. It will inform and inspire readers to create their own radical inventions and innovations that are not incremental, but which break through ideas and non-obvious solutions. One of the main explorations is the examination of how new forms of computer interaction can lead to radical new forms of technology and art for entertainment computing. Art and Technology of Entertainment Computing and Communication is an informative and inspirational text for students and the next generation of researchers. It's main aim is to provide information that will hopefully help change the world and society for the better, through new modes of entertainment and communication. Academics, researchers, engineers, game designers, and interaction designers, will find the content both interesting and valuable. Entertainment is the "engine" to inspire people and drive innovation in interactive digital media design. The pioneer of the field, Prof. Adrian David Cheok, takes you on an exciting tour of the future shaped by the Entertainment Technologies. Hiroshi ISHII, Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, MIT Media Laboratory.