Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science – serie

DAPSY (Austrian-Hungarian Workshop on Distributed and Parallel Systems) is an international conference series with biannual events dedicated to all aspects of distributed and parallel computing. DAPSY started under a different name in 1992 (Sopron, Hungary) as regional meeting of Austrian and Hungarian researchers focusing on transputer-related parallel computing; a hot research topic of that time. A second workshop followed in 1994 (Budapest, Hungary). As transputers became history, the scope of the workshop widened to include parallel and distributed systems in general and the 1st DAPSYS in 1996 (Miskolc, Hungary) reflected the results of these changes.Distributed and Parallel Systems: Cluster and Grid Computing is an edited volume based on DAPSYS, 2004, the 5th Austrian-Hungarian Workshop on Distributed and Parallel Systems. The workshop was held in conjunction with EuroPVM/MPI-2004, Budapest, Hungary September 19-22, 2004.

Medical imaging has been transformed over the past 30 years by the advent of computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and various advances in x-ray and ultrasonic techniques. An enabling force behind this progress has been the exponentially increasing power of computers, which has made it practical to explore fundamentally new approaches. Alternative Breast Imaging - Four Model-Based Approaches explores our research on four modalities, particularly with regard to imaging of the breast - (1) MR elastography (MRE), (2) electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), (3) microwave imaging spectroscopy (MIS), and (4) near infrared spectroscopic imaging (NIS).

QoS is an important subject which occupies a central place in overall packet network technologies. A complex subject, its analysis involves such mathematical disciplines as probability, random variables, stochastic processes and queuing. These mathematical subjects are abstract, not easy to grasp for uninitiated persons.QoS in Packet Networks is written with two objectives. The first explains the fundamental mathematical concepts used in QoS analysis as plainly as possible, in layman's terms to afford the reader a better appreciation of the subject of QoS treated in this book. The second explains in plain language, the various parts of QoS in packet networks, to provide the reader with a complete view of this complex and dynamic area of communications networking technology. Discussion of the functional requirements of the packet networks to provide QoS is included.

Privacy, Security and Trust within the Context of Pervasive Computing is an edited volume based on a post workshop at the second international conference on Pervasive Computing. The workshop was held April18-23, 2004, in Vienna, Austria.The goal of the workshop was not to focus on specific, even novel mechanisms, but rather on the interfaces between mechanisms in different technical and social problem spaces. An investigation of the interfaces between the notions of context, privacy, security, and trust will result in a deeper understanding of the "atomic" problems, leading to a more complete understanding of the social and technical issues in pervasive computing.

Thanks to the advance of semiconductor and communication technology, the wireless communication market has been booming in the last two decades. It evolved from simple pagers to emerging third-generation (3G) cellular phones. In the meanwhile, broadband communication market has also gained a rapid growth. As the market always demands hi- performance and low-cost products, circuit designers are seeking hi- integration communication devices in cheap CMOS technology. The phase-locked loop frequency synthesizer is a critical component in communication devices. It works as a local oscillator for frequency translation and channel selection in wireless transceivers and broadband cable tuners. It also plays an important role as the clock synthesizer for data converters in the analog-and-digital signal interface. This book covers the design and analysis of PLL synthesizers. It includes both fundamentals and a review of the state-of-the-art techniques. The transient analysis of the third-order charge-pump PLL reveals its locking behavior accurately. The behavioral-level simulation of PLL further clarifies its stability limit. Design examples are given to clearly illustrate the design procedure of PLL synthesizers. A complete derivation of reference spurs in the charge-pump PLL is also presented in this book. The in-depth investigation of the digital CA modulator for fractional-N synthesizers provides insightful design guidelines for this important block.

Space weather has an enormous influence on modern telecommunication systems even though we may not always appreciate it. We shall endeavor throughout this monograph to expose the relationships between space weather factors and the performance (or lack thereof) of telecommunication, navigation, and surveillance systems. Space weather is a rather new term, having found an oMicial expression as the result of several government initiatives that use the term in the title of programs. But it is the logical consequence of the realization that space also has weather, just as the lower atmosphere has weather. While the weather in space will influence space systems that operate in that special environment, it is also true that space weather will influence systems that we understand and use here on terra firma. This brings space weather home as it were. It is not some abstract topic of interest to scientists alone; it is a topic of concern to all of us. I hope to make this clear as the book unfolds. Why have I written this book? First of all, I love the topic. While at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), I had the opportunity to do research on many topics including: Thomson scatter radar and satellite beacon studies of the ionosphere, utilization of the NASA Gemini platform for ionospheric investigations, microwave radar propagation studies, I-IF signal intercept and direction-finding experiments, and multi-disciplinary studies of certain physical phenomena relevant to weapon systems development.

Matching Properties of Deep Sub-Micron MOS Transistors examines this interesting phenomenon. Microscopic fluctuations cause stochastic parameter fluctuations that affect the accuracy of the MOSFET. For analog circuits this determines the trade-off between speed, power, accuracy and yield. Furthermore, due to the down-scaling of device dimensions, transistor mismatch has an increasing impact on digital circuits. The matching properties of MOSFETs are studied at several levels of abstraction:A simple and physics-based model is presented that accurately describes the mismatch in the drain current. The model is illustrated by dimensioning the unit current cell of a current-steering D/A converter.The most commonly used methods to extract the matching properties of a technology are bench-marked with respect to model accuracy, measurement accuracy and speed, and physical contents of the extracted parameters. The physical origins of microscopic fluctuations and how they affect MOSFET operation are investigated. This leads to a refinement of the generally applied 1/area law. In addition, the analysis of simple transistor models highlights the physical mechanisms that dominate the fluctuations in the drain current and transconductance. The impact of process parameters on the matching properties is discussed. The impact of gate line-edge roughness is investigated, which is considered to be one of the roadblocks to the further down-scaling of the MOS transistor. Matching Properties of Deep Sub-Micron MOS Transistors is aimed at device physicists, characterization engineers, technology designers, circuit designers, or anybody else interested in the stochastic properties of the MOSFET.

This book is entitled Analog Design Essentials because it contains all topics of importance to the analog designer which are essential to obtain sufficient insights to do a thorough job. The book starts with elementary stages in building up operational amplifiers.

The Analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) is the most pervasive block in electronic systems. With the advent of powerful digital signal processing and digital communication techniques, ADCs are fast becoming critical components for system’s performance and flexibility. Knowing accurately all the parameters that characterise their dynamic behaviour is crucial, on one hand to select the most adequate ADC architecture and characteristics for each end application, and on the other hand, to understand how they affect performance bottlenecks in the signal processing chain.Dynamic Characterisation of Analogue-to-Digital Converters presents a state of the art overview of the methods and procedures employed for characterising ADCs’ dynamic performance behaviour using sinusoidal stimuli. The three classical methods – histogram, sine wave fitting, and spectral analysis – are thoroughly described, and new approaches are proposed to circumvent some of their limitations.This is a must-have compendium, which can be used by both academics and test professionals to understand the fundamental mathematics underlining the algorithms of ADC testing, and as an handbook to help the engineer in the most important and critical details for their implementation.

Design of Very High-Frequency Multirate Switched-Capacitor Circuits presents the theory and the corresponding CMOS implementation of the novel multirate sampled-data analog interpolation technique which has its great potential on very high-frequency analog frond-end filtering due to its inherent dual advantage of reducing the speed of data-converters and DSP core together with the specification relaxation of the post continuous-time filtering. This technique completely eliminates the traditional phenomenon of sampled-and-hold frequency-shaping at the lower input sampling rate. Also, in order to tackle physical IC imperfections at very high frequency, the state-of-the-art circuit design and layout techniques for high-speed Switched-Capacitor (SC) circuits are comprehensively discussed:-Optimum circuit architecture tradeoff analysis-Simple speed and power trade-off analysis of active elements-High-order filtering response accuracy with respect to capacitor-ratio mismatches-Time-interleaved effect with respect to gain and offset mismatch-Time-interleaved effect with respect to timing-skew and random jitter with non-uniformly holding-Stage noise analysis and allocation scheme-Substrate and supply noise reduction-Gain-and offset-compensation techniques-High-bandwidth low-power amplifier design and layout-Very low timing-skew multiphase generationTwo tailor-made optimum design examples in CMOS are presented. The first one achieves a 3-stage 8-fold SC interpolating filter with 5.5MHz bandwidth and 108MHz output sampling rate for a NTSC/PAL CCIR 601 digital video at 3 V. Another is a 15-tap 57MHz SC FIR bandpass interpolating filter with 4-fold sampling rate increase to 320MHz and the first-time embedded frequency band up-translation for DDFS system at 2.5V. The corresponding chip prototype achieves so far the highest operating frequency, highest filter order and highest center frequency with highestdynamic range under the lowest supply voltage when compared to the previously reported high-frequency SC filters in CMOS.

High-speed Photodiodes in Standard CMOS Technology describes high-speed photodiodes in standard CMOS technology which allow monolithic integration of optical receivers for short-haul communication. For short haul communication the cost aspect is important , and therefore it is desirable that the optical receiver can be integrated in the same CMOS technology as the rest of the system. If this is possible then ultimately a singe-chip system including optical inputs becomes feasible, eliminating EMC and crosstalk problems, while data rate can be extremely high.The problem of photodiodes in standard CMOS technology it that they have very limited bandwidth, allowing data rates up to only 50Mbit per second. High-speed Photodiodes in Standard CMOS Technology first analyzes the photodiode behaviour and compares existing solutions to enhance the speed. After this, the book introduces a new and robust electronic equalizer technique that makes data rates of 3Gb/s possible, without changing the manufacturing technology. The application of this technique can be found in short haul fibre communication, optical printed circuit boards, but also photodiodes for laser disks.

IGH-SPEED Digital to Analog (D/A) converters are essential components in digi- Htal communication systems providing the necessary conversion of signals encoding information in bits to signals encoding information in their amplitude vs. time domain characteristics. In general, they are parts of a larger system, the interface, which c- sists of several signal conditioning circuits. Dependent on where the converter is located within the chain of circuits in the interface, signal processing operations are partitioned in those realized with digital techniques, and those with analog. The rapid evolution of CMOS technology has established implicit and explicite trends related to the interface, and in particular to the D/A converter. The implicit relationship comes via the growth of digital systems. First, it is a global trend with respect to all interface circuits that increasing operating frequencies of digital systems place a similar demand for the interface circuits. The second trend takes place locally within the int- face. Initially, the D/A converter was placed at the beginning of the interface chain, and all signal conditioning was implemented in the analog domain after the D/A conversion. The increasing ?exibility and robustness of digital signal processing shifted the D/A converter closer to the end point of the chain where the demands for high quality high frequency operation are very high.

Adaptive Techniques for Mixed Signal Sytem on Chip discusses the concept of adaptation in the context of analog and mixed signal design along with different adaptive architectures used to control any system parameter. The first part of the book gives an overview of the different elements that are normally used in adaptive designs including tunable elements as well as voltage, current, and time references with an emphasis on the circuit design of specific blocks such as voltage-controlled transconductors, offset comparators, and a novel technique for accurate implementation of on chip resistors. While the first part of the book addresses adaptive techniques at the circuit and block levels, the second part discusses adaptive equalization architectures employed to minimize the impact of ISI (Intersymbol Interference) on the quality of received data in high-speed wire line transceivers. It presents the implementation of a 125Mbps transceiver operating over a variable length of Category 5 (CAT-5) Ethernet cable as an example of adaptive equalizers.

This edition of Ted Dangelmayer's comprehensive guide to developing, implementing, and managing an ESD program has been completely revised and updated to meet the growing demands of ESD control programs. It provides information on the 12 factors in ESD program management, the fundamentals of electrostatics, and the use of auditing in ESD program management, as well as information on Statistical Process Control (SPC) compliance with ISO-9000, and work area, supplier, and subcontractor audits. Based on end user experience, this is a guide for electronics manufacturing and quality control professionals.

Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits: Tools and Techniques provides a basic understanding of how the most commonly used tools and techniques in silicon-based semiconductors are applied to understanding the root cause of electrical failures in integrated circuits. These include applications specific to performing failure analysis such as decapsulation, deprocessing, and fail site isolation, as well as physical and chemical analysis tools and techniques. The coverage is qualitative, and it provides a general understanding for making intelligent tool choices. Also included is coverage of the shortcomings, limitations, and strengths of each technique. Failure Analysis of Integrated Circuits: Tools and Techniques is a `must have' reference work for semiconductor professionals and researchers.

The Handbook of Modern Ferromagnetic Materials is an up-to-the-minute compendium of all ferromagnetic materials, metallic and ceramic, intended for electrical and electronic applications. Coverage of the newest and most economically important materials (soft ferrites, the rare-earth magnet alloys, amorphous and nanocrystalline alloys) is extensive. The distinctive feature of this book is its correlation of basic material properties (metallurgical and ceramic) with their magnetic characteristics and eventually to the choice in an application. Unique to this work is information on the many magnetic components into which these materials can be formed and the pertinent design data. Another useful feature is the criteria (quality, stability and economic) for selection of a particular material. Included are the mechanical, thermal and physical properties of these materials. The author not only presents the latest information from suppliers and magnetism conferences but includes a section on new materials (e.g. colossal magnetostriction materials) being developed but not yet available.The format is arranged according to frequency of operation, which turns out to be almost concurrent with the application. Thus, direct current applications are considered first, then low frequency line power, followed by applications at increasing frequencies up to microwave uses. This anthology of ferromagnetic materials is an essential reference work for electrical and electronic designers and materials scientists. It may also serve as a text for a magnetic materials course and as a materials guide for purchasing agents and technical executives.

This single source encyclopaedic volume contains the answers to numerous complex shielding problems. It integrates basic concepts with hands-on techniques and practical recommendations on a broad range of EMC and shielding-related subjects: the role and significance of the shielding discipline, electromagnetic energy coupling and transfer mechanisms, shielding cables, enclosures, systems, sound shielding design, evaluation, measurement practices and other timely shielding topics. The text suggests original methods of cost-effective and optimal design selections and solutions to shielding systems and their elements. It spans all shielding levels: single chip, printed circuit board, cables and cable assemblies, whole products and systems - up to complex networks. This text is based on more than 30 years of the author's experience in the electromagnetic shielding and EMC field. A number of "non-cable" topics are included, and a general introduction to the subject is given. The handbook should be a useful resource for answers to difficult shielding-related questions.

This work is a reference for electrical engineers and computer scientists researching computer vision or computer graphics. Computer graphics and computer vision can be viewed as different sides of the same coin. In graphics, algorithms are given knowledge about the world in the form of models, cameras, lighting, etc., and infer (or render) an image of a scene. In vision, the process is the exact opposite: algorithms are presented with an image, and infer (or interpret) the configuration of the world. This work focuses on using computer graphics to interpret camera images: using interactive rendering to predict what should be visible by the camera and then testing and refining that hypothesis. Features of the book include: illustrations to supplement the text; a novel approach to the integration of graphics and vision; genetic algorithms for vision; innovations in closed loop object recognition. "Integrating Graphics and Vision for Object Recognition" should be of interest to research scientists and practitioners working in fields related to the topic. It may also be used as an advanced-level graduate text.

The ability to analyze and understand massive data sets lags far behind the ability to gather and store the data. To meet this challenge, knowledge discovery and data mining (KDD) is growing rapidly as an emerging field. However, no matter how powerful computers are now or will be in the future, KDD researchers and practitioners must consider how to manage ever-growing data which is, ironically, due to the extensive use of computers and ease of data collection with computers. Many different approaches have been used to address the data explosion issue, such as algorithm scale-up and data reduction. Instance, example, or tuple selection pertains to methods or algorithms that select or search for a representative portion of data that can fulfill a KDD task as if the whole data is used. Instance selection is directly related to data reduction and becomes increasingly important in many KDD applications due to the need for processing efficiency and/or storage efficiency. One of the major means of instance selection is sampling whereby a sample is selected for testing and analysis, and randomness is a key element in the process. Instance selection also covers methods that require search.Examples can be found in density estimation (finding the representative instances - data points - for a cluster); boundary hunting (finding the critical instances to form boundaries to differentiate data points of different classes); and data squashing (producing weighted new data with equivalent sufficient statistics). Other important issues related to instance selection extend to unwanted precision, focusing, concept drifts, noise/outlier removal, and data smoothing. This title brings researchers and practitioners together to report new developments and applications, to share hard-learned experiences in order to avoid similar pitfalls, and to shed light on the future development of instance selection. This volume serves as a comprehensive reference for graduate students, practitioners and researchers in KDD.

Analog Test Signal Generation Using Periodic SigmaDelta-Encoded Data Streams presents a new method to generate high quality analog signals with low hardware complexity. The theory of periodic SigmaDelta-encoded bitstreams is presented along with a set of empirical tables to help select the appropriate parameters of a bitstream. An optimization procedure is also outlined to help select a bit sequence with the desired attributes. A large variety of signals can be generated using this approach. Silicon implementation issues are discussed with a specific emphasis on area overhead and ease of design. One FPGA circuit and three different silicon implementations are presented along with experimental results. It is shown that simple designs are capable of generating very high precision signals-on-chip. The technique is further extended to multi-bit signal generation where it is shown how to increase the performance of arbitrary waveform, generators commonly found in past and present-day mixed-signal testers. No hardware modifications are required, only the numbers in memory are changed. Three different calibration techniques to reduce the effects of the AWG's non-linearities are also introduced, together with supporting experimental evidence. The main focus of this text is to describe an area-efficient technique for analog signal generation using SigmaDelta-encoded data stream. The main characteristics of the technique are: High quality signals (SFDR of 110 dB observed); Large variety of signals generated; Bitstreams easily obtained with a fast optimization program; Good frequency resolution, compatible with coherent sampling; Simple and fast hardware implementation; Mostly digital, except an easily testable 1-bit DAC and possibly a reconstruction filter; Memory already available on-chip can be reused, reducing area overhead; Designs can be incorporated into existing CAD tools; High frequency generation.

th The paperspresented in this book wereoriginally presented att he 10 Virginia Tech/MPRG Symposium on Wireless Personal Communications, whichw as held ont heVirginia Tech campus June 14 16,2000. Thisyear's Symposium was sponsored byVirginia Tech's M obile and Portable Radio Research Group (MPRG), the Virginia Tech D ivision ofC ontin uing Education, andthe MPRG Industrial Affiliates Program. TheIE EE Virginia Mountain Section and the Virginia Tech Joint Student Chapter ofthe IEEE Communications andVehicular Technology Societies provided technical co sponsorship. Much oft he success ofo ur annual symposium,a s well as the success of MPRG's research and educationprogram, are directlydue to the support of our industrial affiliates. The support that is provided byt he industrial affiliates program allows MPRG to serve thew irelesscommunity through research, education, andoutreach activities. MP RG's industria l affiliates include the following organizations: AnalogD evices, Inc. , AnarenMicrowave, Inc. , theA rmyResearch Office, AT&T Corporation, BAE Systems, BellSouth Cel lular Corporation, Comcast Cellular Communications, Inc. , Da tum, Inc. , Ericsson, Inc., Grayson Wireless, Hughes Electronics Corporation, ITTIndustries, LGIC, Inc. , Lucent Technologies, Inc. , Motorola, Inc. , Nokia, Inc. , Nortel Networks, Qualcomm, Inc. , Raytheon Systems Company, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Southwestern Bell, Tantivy Communications, Inc. , Tektronix, Inc. , Telcordia Technologies, Texas Instruments, andWavtrace, Inc. In 1999,t he Wireless Symposiumwas expanded to include atutorial course. This activity proved populara nd was continued in 2000.

This volume describes the design and theory of high-accuracy smart temperature sensors in CMOS technology. The book's triumph is the realization of a smart temperature sensor of such high accuracy that it can be applied without any form of calibration. In addition, the authors provide the reader with an elaborate overview of dynamic offset-cancellation techniques and CMOS bandgap references, which are the basic techniques and building blocks that determine the overall accuracy of CMOS smart temperature sensors. The book's concluding chapters focus on realizations where other aspects like ultra low-design and remote temperature sensing are discussed.

The end of the 20th century saw tremendous research devoted to the design of database systems for real-time applications, called real-time database systems (RTDBS), where transactions are associated with deadlines on their completion times, and some of the data objects in the database are associated with temporal constraints on their validity. Examples of important applications of RTDBS include stock trading systems, navigation systems and computer integrated manufacturing. Different transaction scheduling algorithms and concurrency control protocols have been proposed to satisfy transaction timing data temporal constraints. Other design issues important to the performance of a RTDBS are buffer management, index accesses and I/O scheduling. This book summarizes important research results in this area, and should serves as a reference for practitioners, researchers and educators of real-time systems and database systems.

With the increasing number of images available electronically, automatic retrieval systems are becoming essential. This book introduces a useful tool for any such system: a metric, called the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD), for comparing images in terms of their appearance. This metric describes the amount of work that is necessary to transform one image into another, in a precisely defined mathematical sense, and in a flexible and perceptually meaningful manner. An efficient linear programming algorithm enables the computation of this metric fast enough to be used for the interactive retrieval of images from large repositories. The perceptual properties of the EMD, and the speed of its computation, lead to database navigation, a new paradigm for interacting with a repository of images. When navigating, the user is shown a very large number of images in response to a query. The EMD between pairs of images, together with a multidimensional scaling method, allows these images to be displayed so that similar images appear near to each other on the computer screen.In this way, the user can grasp at a glance what is returned, and can reach the images of interest with a small number of mouse clicks. A CD-ROM with full colour images is included. Extensive benchmark evaluations and example retrieval systems show the usefulness of the EMD and the advantages of image database navigation.

This volume represents the culmination of over 40 years of research in the use of logic as a basis for representing and manipulating problems in the field of artificial intelligence. The use of logic as a basis for commonsense reasoning was started by John McCarthy in 1959. The collection consists of both original research and surveys of almost every subject that uses logic in AI, contributed by leading scientists, and grew out of preliminary work presented at the Workshop on Logic-Based Artificial Intelligence held in Washington, DC, June 1999. All papers have been extensively refereed and revised. The introductory article presents background on research that has transpired since 1959 and discusses the significance of each chapter in this context. The topics covered in the book are commonsense reasoning, knowledge representation, nonmonotonic reasoning, logic for causation and actions, planning and problem solving, cognitive robotics, logic for agents and actions, inductive reasoning, possibilistic logic, logic and beliefs, logic and language, computational logic, knowledge base system implementations, and applications of theorem proving and logic programming.

This volume is an organized and edited work of enabling technologies for the applications and services needed for future wireless networks. Its focus is the defining architectures, services and applications, with coverage of all layers, that is, from the physical layer to the information handling layers of the network. Up-to-date wireless network architectures are geared specifically for enabling mobility and location-enhanced applications. Presented first are tutorialson new network architectures, including a discussion of "infostations", the role of satellites in broadband wireless access, and the "infocity" concept. The next three chapters present material that describes the state-of-the-art in wireless geolocation systems (including "assisted GPS"), alternatives for wireless geolocation, and empirical data on wireless geolocation capabilities. The first of the last two chapters demonstrates the use of location information in next generation wireless networks, with coverage of real-time geolocation measurements in mobile connectivity. The final chapter portrays the creation of a "killer application" in wireless networks.Leading researchers in the field have contributed to this volume. Next Generation Wireless Networks is essential reading for engineers, researchers, application design specialists, and product managers in the field of wireless network architectures and wireless geolocation.

This text combines basic and advanced topics of radiowave propagation and smart antennas into a single volume. The book is interdisciplinary in nature and contains material drawn from the electromagnetics and communications areas. Physical phenomena leading to the modelling and prediction of path loss, and characterizing the small-scale and medium-scale fluctuations of the received signal, are treated in detail. Several new path loss models are included. Both narrowband and wideband radio channel characterizations are discussed. Statistical descriptions of geometrically based single bounce scattering models that are useful in developing spatial channel models for smart arrays are presented. Principles of diversity and smart antennas for reducing fading and co-channel interference are presented. Performance evaluation of these arrays in the presence of fading and shadowing is treated. Both TDMA and CMDA systems are considered. Effects of element mutual coupling and correlation in limiting the system performance are elaborated.Finally, principles of multiple-input multiple-output communication systems that are increasingly becoming attractive owing to their enormous bit rate capabilities are covered. Several practical examples are worked out throughout the text. Additional problems that help the reader assimilate the material and advance to higher-level topics are included at the end of each chapter.

Current database technology and computer hardware allow us to gather, store, access, and manipulate massive volumes of raw data in an efficient and inexpensive manner. In addition, the amount of data collected and warehoused in all industries is growing every year at a phenomenal rate. Nevertheless, our ability to discover critical, non-obvious nuggets of useful information in data that could influence or help in the decision making process, is still limited. Knowledge discovery (KDD) and Data Mining (DM) is a new, multidisciplinary field that focuses on the overall process of information discovery from large volumes of data. The field combines database concepts and theory, machine learning, pattern recognition, statistics, artificial intelligence, uncertainty management, and high-performance computing. To remain competitive, businesses must apply data mining techniques such as classification, prediction, and clustering using tools such as neural networks, fuzzy logic, and decision trees to facilitate making strategic decisions on a daily basis.This volume contains a collection of 16 articles written by experts in the KDD and DM field from the following countries: Austria, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China (Hong Kong), Estonia, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Poland, Singapore and USA.

The analog to digital converters represent one half of the link between the world we live in - analog - and the digital world of computers, which can handle the computations required in digital signal processing. These devices are mathematically very complex due to their nonlinear behaviour and thus fairly difficult to analyze without the use of simulation tools. This book presents the subject from the practising engineer's point of view rather than that of the academic, therefore a practical approach is emphasized. It is intended as a learning tool by providing building blocks that can be stacked on top of each other to build higher order systems. The book provides a guide to understanding the various topologies used in A/D converters by suggesting simple methods for the blocks used in an A/D converter. The converters discussed throughout the book constitute a class of devices called undersampled or Nyquist converters. The tools used in deriving the results presented are: TopSpiceTM by Penzar, a mixed mode SPICE simulator, version 5.90. However, most circuit files need only minor adjustments to be used on other SPICE simulators, such as PSpice, Hspice, IS_Spice and Micro-Cap IV.Also used was Mathcad 2000 - Professional by Mathsoft. This tool is useful in performing FFT analysis as well as drawing graphs. Again, the mathcad files are included to help the user analyze the data. This book not only supplies the models for the A/D converters for SPICE program, but also describes the physical reasons for the converter's performance.