The interest in nonlinear methods in signal processing is steadily increasing, since nowadays the advances in computational capacities make it possible to implement sophisticated nonlinear processing techniques which in turn allow remarkable improvements with respect to standard and well-consolidated linear processing approaches.

The aim of the book is to present a review of emerging new areas of interest involving nonlinear signal and image processing theories, techniques, and tools.

More than 30 leading researchers have contributed to this book covering the major topics relevant to nonlinear signal processing. These topics include recent theoretical contributions in different areas of digital filtering and a number of applications in genomics, speech analysis and synthesis, communication system, active noise control, digital watermarking, feature extraction, texture analysis, and color image processing.

The book is intended as a reference for recent advances and new applications of theories, techniques, and tools in the area of nonlinear signal processing. The target audience are graduate students and practitioners working on modern signal processing applications.

About the Author

Giovanni L. Sicuranza is Professor of Signal and Image Processing and head of the Image Processing Laboratory at the Dipartimento di Elettrotecnica Elettronica Informatica, University of Trieste (Italy), where he has given courses on analog circuits, digital circuits, and digital signal and image processing. He was also a teacher in European courses on image processing and analysis, and the organizer of the EURASIP course on Linear and Nonlinear Filtering of Multidimensional Signals (Trieste, Italy, 1990).His research interests include multidimensional digital filters, polynomial filters, processing of images and image sequences, image coding, and neural networks for signal processing. He has published a number of papers in international journals and conference proceedings. He contributed chapters for four books and is the co-editor of the books Multidimensional Processing of Video Signals, Kluwer Academic Publisher, 1992 and Nonlinear Image Processing, Academic Press, 2001.

Stephen Marshall received a first-class honours degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Nottingham in 1979 and a Ph.D. degree in image processing from University of Strathclyde in 1989. In between, he worked at Plessey Office Systems, Nottingham, University of Paisley, and the University of Rhode Island, USA. In recent years, his research activities have been focused in the area of nonlinear image processing. He has pioneered new design techniques for morphological filters based on a class of iterative search techniques known as genetic algorithms. The resulting filters have been applied as four-dimensional operators to successfully restore old film archive material. The work is now the subject of a Scottish Enterprise, Proof of Concept Program, to commercialise these techniques. He has published over 100 conference and journal papers on these topics including IEE, IEEE, SPIE, SIAM, ICASSP, VIE, and EUSIPCO.

ThoughtWorks is a collection of passionate, driven, intelligent individuals that delivers custom applications and no-nonsense consulting. Ask a ThoughtWorker what they like most about the company, and they will likely say it is the other ThoughtWorkers they get to meet, work with, and learn from. We’re a mixture of geeks, managers, analysts, programmers, testers, and operations folks with varied cultural, ethnic, and educational backgrounds. This diversity of background and perspective, coupled with a passion for ideas that we share, can result in some pretty lively debates.

We have created a successful company with nearly 1,000 smart, opinionated people in six countries organized with little hierarchy and a fanatical commitment to transparency. Of course, our definition of success is not the typical one either; success must encompass client satisfaction, impact on our industry, and impact on our society. We do aim high.

The voices of many ThoughtWorkers are heard in the blogosphere, on the conference circuit, on theWeb, and on the bookshelves. Indeed, part of our commitment to excellence involves ruthlessly critiquing what we’ve done and how we’ve done it to see how to improve it the next time. We’re a tough bunch to satisfy. Once we’ve learned something, we want to tell others about it.

Our battle scars come from myriad projects in different domains, technologies, and platform choices. Although we do think (a lot) about what we do, that thinking is grounded in the real world of delivering lots of software for people. There’s purity to our function that has allowed us to focus on developing software.

The strength of Java is no longer in the language itself; it's in the Java Platform (the JVM, JDK, and rich frameworks and libraries). But recently, the industry has turned to dynamic languages for increased productivity and speed to market.

Groovy is one of a new breed of dynamic languages that run on the Java platform. You can use these new languages on the JVM and intermix them with your existing Java code. You can leverage your Java investments while benefiting from advanced features including true Closures, Meta Programming, the ability to create internal DSLs, and a higher level of abstraction.

If you're an experienced Java developer, Programming Groovy will help you learn the necessary fundamentals of programming in Groovy. You'll see how to use Groovy to do advanced programming including using Meta Programming, Builders, Unit Testing with Mock objects, processing XML, working with Databases and creating your own Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs).

About the Author

Venkat Subramaniam, founder of Agile Developer, Inc., has trained and mentored thousands of software developers in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Venkat helps his clients effectively apply and succeed with agile practices on their software projects. He is a frequent invited speaker at international software conferences and user groups. He's author of .NET Gotchas (O'Reilly) and coauthor of the 2007 Jolt Productivity award-winning book Practices of an Agile Developer (Pragmatic Bookshelf).

Welcome to Fedora Unleashed, 2008 Edition! This book covers the free Linux distribution named Fedora and includes a fully functional and complete operating system produced by the Fedora Project, sponsored by Red Hat.

Fedora is directly descended from one of the most popular Linux distributions ever: Red Hat Linux. Those of you who know nothing about Linux might have heard of Red Hat; it is enough to know that it is the largest Linux vendor in North America. Fedora benefits directly from many Red Hat engineers as well as the wider contributions from free software developers across the world.

If you are new to Linux, you have made a great decision by choosing this book. Sams Publishing’s Unleashed books offer an in-depth look at their subjects, taking in both beginner and advanced users and moving them to a new level in knowledge and expertise.

Fedora is a fast-changing distribution that can be updated at least twice a year. We have tracked the development of Fedora from very early on to make sure that the information contained in this book mirrors closely the development of the distribution. A full copy of Fedora is included on the DVD, making it possible for you to install Linux in less than an hour!

This book provides all the information that you need to get up and running with Fedora. It even tells you how to keep Fedora running in top shape, as well as how to adapt Fedora to changes in your needs and requirements. Fedora can be used at home, in the workplace, or, with permission, at your school and college. In fact, you might want to poke around your school’s computer rooms: You will probably find that someone has already beaten you to the punch—Linux is commonly found in academic institutions. Feel free to make as many copies of the software as you want. No copyright lawyers are going to pound on your door, because Fedora is freely distributable all over the world.

After this brief introduction, you will get straight into the distribution, learning how to install and configure Fedora and find your way around the Gnome graphical interface and learning about the command line. We also take you through installing software, managing users, and other common administrative tasks. For the more technically minded, we cover some starting steps in programming across several languages—why not pick one and give it a go? Through the book, you will also find information on multimedia applications, digital graphics, and even gaming for after hours when you are finished tinkering. After you make it through the book, you will be well equipped with the knowledge needed to use Linux successfully. We do assume that you are at least familiar with an operating system already (even if it is not with Linux) and have some basic computer knowledge. We round off the book by giving you some reference points for you to access via the web, and we also explore the origins of Fedora and Linux.

Google is not only the search engine of choice for millions of users, it is an immensely powerful tool for savvy businesspeople who know how to use its advanced features. Go Google is a comprehensive guide to everything readers need to know about Google’s myriad applications, including Google Apps, Google Docs and Spreadsheets, Google SMS, Google Base, and other services that will help businesses get organized -- and get noticed. Companies will learn how to get their message heard and take their marketing to a new level by:

* Creating and strengthening their business websites with Google Page Creator, Google Analytics, and Google Checkout.

* Improving communication with clients and co-workers using Google Talk, Google SMS, and Google Groups.

* Marketing themselves to prospective customers using Google AdWords, AdSense, and Google directory placement.

* Improving their visibility by creating business blogs with Blogger.

Complete with information on research tools like Google Local, Google News, and Google Alerts, this is the ultimate guide for businesses of every size.

About the Author

Greg Holden (Chicago, IL) has written more than 30 books on computers and the Internet, including Starting an Online Business for Dummies , Selling Beyond eBay (978-0-8144-7349-8), and How to Do Everything with Your eBay Business. He is founder and owner of Stylus Media, his own small Internet-based business.

The Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law is a twovolume encyclopedia of practical information on laws and issues affecting people’s everyday lives. Readers will turn to this work for help in answering questions such as, “What is involved in estate planning?” “Do I have any recourse to noisy neighbors?” and “What are the consequences of an expired visa?” This Encyclopedia aims to educate people about their rights under the law, although it is not intended as a self-help or ‘do-it-yourself’ legal resource. It seeks to fill the niche between legal texts focusing on the theory and history behind the law and shallower, more practical guides to dealing with the law.

This encyclopedia, written for the layperson, is arranged alphabetically by broad subject categories and presents in-depth treatments of topics such as consumer issues, education, family, immigration, real estate, and retirement. Individual entries are organized in alphabetical order within these broad subject categories, and include information on state and local laws, as well as federal laws. In entries where it is not possible to include state and local information, references direct the reader to resources for further research.

The work contains approximately 240 articles of 2,000-5,000 words each, organized within 26 broad subject categories, which are arranged alphabetically. Each article begins with a brief description of the issue’s historical background, covering important statutes and cases. The body of the article is divided into subsections profiling the various U.S. federal laws and regulations concerning the topic.

A third section details variations of the laws and regulations from state to state. Each article closes with a comprehensive bibliography, covering print resources and web sites, and a list of relevant national and state organizations and agencies.