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...

This text constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Visual Information Systems, VISUAL 2002, held in Hsin Chu, Taiwan, in March 2002. The 28 revised full papers presented together with one invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in topical sections on content-based indexing, search and retrieval visual information, system architectures, image/video databases, networked video and applications in various fields.

In the past five years, the field of electrostatic discharge (ESD) control has under gone some notable changes. Industry standards have multiplied, though not all of these, in our view, are realistic and meaningful. Increasing importance has been ascribed to the Charged Device Model (CDM) versus the Human Body Model (HBM) as a cause of device damage and, presumably, premature (latent) failure. Packaging materials have significantly evolved. Air ionization techniques have improved, and usage has grown. Finally, and importantly, the government has ceased imposing MIL-STD-1686 on all new...

This book is intended as both an introduction to the state-of-the-art in visual languages, as well as an exposition of the frontiers of research in advanced visual languages. It is for computer scientists, computer engi neers, information scientists, application programmers, and technical managers responsible for software development projects who are inter ested in the methodology and manifold applications of visual languages and visual programming. The contents of this book are drawn from invited papers, as well as selected papers from two workshops: the 1985 IEEE Workshop on Lan guages for...

Decision making is a very complex phenomenon. Modern decision makers must deal with very complex problems which are constantly changing and often ill structured, making modeling and analysis difficult. In order to provide support for the decision makers, computer-based information systems are designed to collect, store, process, and transport information. Recent advances in computer technol ogy, data communications, database systems, office automation, and knowledge engineering have made possible the design of very sophisticated information sys tems. However, rapid technological advances also...

Two central ideas in the movement toward advanced automation systems are the office-of-the-future (or office automation system), and the factory of-the-future (or factory automation system). An office automation system is an integrated system with diversified office equipment, communication devices, intelligent terminals, intelligent copiers, etc., for providing information management and control in a dis tributed office environment. A factory automation system is also an inte grated system with programmable machine tools, robots, and other pro cess equipment such as new "peripherals," for...

Covering the principles of intelligent image database system design, this text places emphasis on spatial reasoning and the techniques for image indexing and retrieval, mainly based on the theory of symbolic projection. Applications of the theory to intelligent image database systems are discussed.