After alm ost three scores of years of basic and applied research, the field of speech processing is, at present, undergoing a rapid growth in terms of both performance and applications and this is fueHed by the advances being made in the areas of microelectronics, computation and algorithm design.Speech processing relates to three aspects of voice communications: -Speech Coding and transmission which is mainly concerned with man-to man voice communication. -Speech Synthesis which deals with machine-to-man communication. -Speech Recognition which is related to man-to-machine communication. Widespread application and use of low-bit rate voice codec.>, synthesizers and recognizers which are all speech processing products requires ideaHy internationally accepted quality assessment and evaluation methods as weH as speech processing standards so that they may be interconnected and used independently of their designers and manufacturers without costly interfaces. This book presents, in a tutorial manner, both fundamental and applied aspects of the above topics which have been prepared by weH-known specialists in their respective areas. The book is based on lectures which were sponsored by AGARD/NATO and delivered by the authors, in several NATO countries, to audiences consisting mainly of academic and industrial R&D engineers and physicists as weH as civil and military C3I systems planners and designers.

This compilation probably looks like one of the craziest things a human being could spend his or her time on. Yet nobody would wonder at someone taking a short walk every day - after twenty five years that person would have covered a surprisingly long distance. This is exactly the story behind this list, which appeared first as a few pages within the directory StarGuides (or whatever name it had at that time) and as a distinct sister publication since 1990. The idea behind this dictionary is to offer astronomers and related space scientists practical assistance in decoding the numerous abbreviations, acronyms, contractions and symbols which they might encounter in all aspects of the vast range of their professional activities, including traveling. Perhaps it is a bit paradoxical, but if scientists quickly grasp the meaning of an acronym solely in their own specific discipline, they will probably encounter more difficulties when dealing with adjacent fields. It is for this purpose that this dictionary might be most often used. Scientists might also refer to this compilation in order to avoid identifying a project by an acronym which already has too many meanings or confused definitions.

This accessible guide contains everything you need to get up to speed on the theory and implementation of MIMO techniques.

Component-based software development (CBD) is an emerging discipline that promises to take software engineering into a new era. Building on the achievements of object-oriented software construction, CBD aims to deliver software engineering from a cottage industry into an industrial age for Information Technology, wherein software can be assembled from components, in the manner that hardware systems are currently constructed from kits of parts. This volume provides a survey of the current state of CBD, as reflected by activities that have been taking place recently under the banner of CBD, with a view to giving pointers to future trends. The contributions report case studies - self-contained, fixed-term investigations with a finite set of clearly defined objectives and measurable outcomes - on a sample of the myriad aspects of CBD. The book includes chapters dealing with COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) components; methodologies for CBD; compositionality, i.e. how to calculate or predict properties of a composite from those of its constituents; component software testing; and grid computing.

Business intelligence has always been considered an essential ingredient for success. However, it is not until recently that the technology has enabled organizations to generate and deploy intelligence for global competition. These technologies can be leveraged to create the intelligent enterprises of the 21st century that will not only provide excellent and customized services to their customers, but will also create business efficiency for building relationships with suppliers and other business partners on a long term basis. Creating such intelligent enterprises requires the understanding and integration of diverse enterprise components into cohesive intelligent systems. Anticipating that future enterprises need to become intelligent, Intelligent Enterprises of the 21st Century brings together the experiences and knowledge from many parts of the world to provide a compendium of high quality theoretical and applied concepts, methodologies, and techniques that help diffuse knowledge and skills required to create and manage intelligent enterprises of the 21st century for gaining sustainable competitive advantage in a global environment. This book is a comprehensive compilation of the state of the art vision and thought processes needed to design and manage globally competitive business organizations.