Model checking is a powerful approach for the formal verification of software. It automatically provides complete proofs of correctness, or explains, via counter-examples, why a system is not correct. Here, the author provides a well written and basic introduction to the new technique. The first part describes in simple terms the theoretical...

In an ideal world, every student would...

Anybody following the discussions around “Web Services” in recent years is aware of the fuzzy definition of the term, and a little bit of history can quite easily explain some of the confusions around current terminology (or use of terminology). The general idea of using Web technologies to not only deliver Web pages (HTML...

The origin of queueing theory and its application traces back to Erlang’s historical work for telephony networks as recently celebrated by the Erlang Centennial, 100 Years of Queueing, Copenhagen, recalling his first paper in 1909. Ever since, the simplicity and fundamental flavour of Erlang’s famous expressions, such as his...

Video segmentation has been a key technique for visual information extraction and plays an important role in digital video processing, pattern recognition, and computer vision. A wide range of video-based applications will benefit from advances in video segmentation including security and surveillance, bank transactions monitoring,...

There is a scientific consensus that we need to act rapidly to cut carbon dioxide emissions if we are to limit the most extreme effects of climate change. The IT sector is in a unique position to act as a catalyst for this change. By implementing simple efficiencies, the sector can reduce its carbon footprint – which currently...

The integration of technology into public library services has been a continual process across the eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, in which libraries have responded to new technologies, altering the ways that information could be recorded, accessed, and used. The Internet is a prominent recent example,...

Step-by-step practice...

It has been over twenty years since we published the first edition of this book. Over that period, our original contention that numerical methods and computers would figure more prominently in the engineering curriculum—particularly in the early parts—has been dramatically borne out. Many universities now offer freshman,...

Understanding Digital Signal Processing, Third Edition, is quite simply the best resource for engineers and other technical professionals who want to master and apply today’s latest DSP...

Both the editors of this book were exposed to human-in-the-loop simulations while pursuing their doctoral degrees in the Center for Human-Machine Systems at Georgia Tech. In fact, S. Narayanan served as Ling Rothrock’s teaching assistant for the simulation course taught by Prof. Christine Mitchell. It has been over 15 years...

The goal of this book is to bring together and explain current practice in operating systems. This includes much of what is traditionally covered in operating-system textbooks: concurrency, scheduling, linking and loading, storage management (both real and virtual), fi le systems, and security. However, I also cover issues that come up...