Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer US

Coding for Channels with Feedback presents both algorithms for feedback coding and performance analyses of these algorithms, including analyses of perhaps the most important performance criterion: computational complexity. The algorithms are developed within a single framework, termed the compressed-error-cancellation framework, where data are sent via a sequence of messages: the first message contains the original data; each subsequent message contains a source-coded description of the channel distortions introduced on the message preceding it. Coding for Channels with Feedback provides an easily understood and flexible framework for deriving low-complexity, practical solutions to a wide variety of feedback communication problems. It is shown that the compressed-error-cancellation framework leads to coding schemes with the lowest possible asymptotic order of growth of computations and can be applied to discrete memoryless channels, finite state channels, channels with memory, unknown channels, and multiple-access channels, all with complete noiseless feedback, as well as to channels with partial and noisy feedback. This framework leads to coding strategies that have linear complexity and are capacity achieving, and illustrates the intimate connection between source coding theory and channel coding theory. Coding for Channels with Feedback is an excellent reference for researchers and communication engineers in the field of information theory, and can be used for advanced courses on the topic.

Concurrent constraint programming (ccp) is a recent development in programming language design. Its central contribution is the notion of partial information provided by a shared constraint store. This constraint store serves as a communication medium between concurrent threads of control and as a vehicle for their synchronization. Objects for Concurrent Constraint Programming analyzes the possibility of supporting object-oriented programming in ccp. Starting from established approaches, the book covers various object models and discusses their properties. Small Oz, a sublanguage of the ccp language Oz, is used as a model language for this analysis. This book presents a general-purpose object system for Small Oz and describes its implementation and expressivity for concurrent computation. Objects for Concurrent Constraint Programming is written for programming language researchers with an interest in programming language aspects of concurrency, object-oriented programming, or constraint programming. Programming language implementors will benefit from the rigorous treatment of the efficient implementation of Small Oz. Oz programmers will get a first-hand view of the design decisions that lie behind the Oz object system.

In knowledge-based natural language generation, issues of formal knowledge representation meet with the linguistic problems of choosing the most appropriate verbalization in a particular situation of utterance. Lexical Semantics and Knowledge Representation in Multilingual Text Generation presents a new approach to systematically linking the realms of lexical semantics and knowledge represented in a description logic. For language generation from such abstract representations, lexicalization is taken as the central step: when choosing words that cover the various parts of the content representation, the principal decisions on conveying the intended meaning are made. A preference mechanism is used to construct the utterance that is best tailored to parameters representing the context. Lexical Semantics and Knowledge Representation in Multilingual Text Generation develops the means for systematically deriving a set of paraphrases from the same underlying representation with the emphasis on events and verb meaning. Furthermore, the same mapping mechanism is used to achieve multilingual generation: English and German output are produced in parallel, on the basis of an adequate division between language-neutral and language-specific (lexical and grammatical) knowledge. Lexical Semantics and Knowledge Representation in Multilingual Text Generation provides detailed insights into designing the representations and organizing the generation process. Readers with a background in artificial intelligence, cognitive science, knowledge representation, linguistics, or natural language processing will find a model of language production that can be adapted to a variety of purposes.

There is an increasing demand for dynamic systems to become more safe and reliable. This requirement extends beyond the normally accepted safety-critical systems of nuclear reactors and aircraft where safety is paramount important, to systems such as autonomous vehicles and fast railways where the system availability is vital. It is clear that fault diagnosis (including fault detection and isolation, FDI) has been becoming an important subject in modern control theory and practice. For example, the number of papers on FDI presented in many control-related conferences has been increasing steadily. The subject of fault detection and isolation continues to mature to an established field of research in control engineering. A large amount of knowledge on model-based fault diagnosis has been ac- cumulated through the literature since the beginning of the 1970s. However, publications are scattered over many papers and a few edited books. Up to the end of 1997, there is no any book which presents the subject in an unified framework. The consequence of this is the lack of "e;common language"e;, dif- ferent researchers use different terminology. This problem has obstructed the progress of model-based FDI techniques and has been causing great concern in research community. Many survey papers have been published to tackle this problem. However, a book which presents the materials in a unified format and provides a comprehensive foundation of model-based FDI is urgently needed.

Scheduling in Parallel Computing Systems: Fuzzy and Annealing Techniques advocates the viability of using fuzzy and annealing methods in solving scheduling problems for parallel computing systems. The book proposes new techniques for both static and dynamic scheduling, using emerging paradigms that are inspired by natural phenomena such as fuzzy logic, mean-field annealing, and simulated annealing. Systems that are designed using such techniques are often referred to in the literature as `intelligent' because of their capability to adapt to sudden changes in their environments. Moreover, most of these changes cannot be anticipated in advance or included in the original design of the system. Scheduling in Parallel Computing Systems: Fuzzy and Annealing Techniques provides results that prove such approaches can become viable alternatives to orthodox solutions to the scheduling problem, which are mostly based on heuristics. Although heuristics are robust and reliable when solving certain instances of the scheduling problem, they do not perform well when one needs to obtain solutions to general forms of the scheduling problem. On the other hand, techniques inspired by natural phenomena have been successfully applied for solving a wide range of combinatorial optimization problems (e.g. traveling salesman, graph partitioning). The success of these methods motivated their use in this book to solve scheduling problems that are known to be formidable combinatorial problems. Scheduling in Parallel Computing Systems: Fuzzy and Annealing Techniques is an excellent reference and may be used for advanced courses on the topic.

Log-domain and translinear filters provide a competitive alternative to the challenges of ever increasing low-voltage, low-power and high frequency demands in the area of continuous-time filters. Since translinear filters are fundamentally large-signal linear, they are capable of realizing a large dynamic range in combination with excellent tunability characteristics. Large-signal linearity is achieved by exploiting the accurate exponential behavior of the bipolar transistor or the subthreshold MOS transistor. A generalization of the dynamic translinear principle exploiting the square law behavior of the MOS transistor is theoretically possible, but not practically relevant. Translinear and log-domain filters are based on the dynamic translinear principle, a generalization of the conventional (static) translinear principle. Besides their application for linear filters, dynamic translinear circuits can also be used for the realization of non-linear dynamic functions, such as oscillators, RMS-DC converters and phase-locked loops. Dynamic Translinear and Log-Domain Circuits: Analysis and Synthesis covers both the analysis and synthesis of translinear circuits. The theory is presented using one unifying framework for both static and dynamic translinear networks, which is based on a current-mode approach. General analysis methods are presented, including the large-signal and non-stationary analysis of noise. A well-structured synthesis method is described greatly enhancing the designability of log-domain and translinear circuits. Comparisons are made with respect to alternative analysis and synthesis methods presented in the literature. The theory is illustrated and verified by various examples and realizations. Dynamic Translinear and Log-Domain Circuits: Analysis and Synthesis is an excellent reference for researchers and circuit designers, and may be used as a text for advanced courses on the topic.

Information security is receiving a great deal of attention as computers increasingly process more and more sensitive information. A multilevel secure database management system (MLS DBMS) is designed to store, retrieve and process information in compliance with certain mandatory security requirements, essential for protecting sensitive information from unauthorized access, modification and abuse. Such systems are characterized by data objects labeled at different security levels and accessed by users cleared to those levels. Unless transaction processing modules for these systems are designed carefully, they can be exploited to leak sensitive information to unauthorized users. In recent years, considerable research has been devoted to the area of multilevel secure transactions that has impacted the design and development of trusted MLS DBMS products. Multilevel Secure Transaction Processing presents the progress and achievements made in this area. The book covers state-of-the-art research in developing secure transaction processing for popular MLS DBMS architectures, such as kernelized, replicated, and distributed architectures, and advanced transaction models such as workflows, long duration and nested models. Further, it explores the technical challenges that require future attention. Multilevel Secure Transaction Processing is an excellent reference for researchers and developers in the area of multilevel secure database systems and may be used in advanced level courses in database security, information security, advanced database systems, and transaction processing.

Multimedia has two fundamental characteristics that can be expressed by the following formula: Multimedia = Multiple Media + Hypermedia. How can software engineering take advantage of these two characteristics? Will these two characteristics pose problems in multimedia systems design? These are some of the issues to be explored in this book. The first two chapters will be of interest to managers, software engineers, programmers, and people interested in gaining an overall understanding of multimedia software engineering. The next six chapters present multimedia software engineering according to the conceptual framework introduced in Chapter One. This is of particular use to practitioners, system developers, multimedia application designers, programmers, and people interested in prototyping multimedia applications. The next three chapters are more research-oriented and are mainly intended for researchers working on the specification, modeling, and analysis of distributed multimedia systems, but will also be relevant to scientists, researchers, and software engineers interested in the systems and theoretical aspects of multimedia software engineering. Multimedia Software Engineering can be used as a textbook in a graduate course on multimedia software engineering or in an undergraduate course on software design where the emphasis is on multimedia applications. It is especially suitable for a project-oriented course.