Azriel Rosenfeld

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 contracts, leaving companies on their own to formulate an ESD-control policy and write implementing documents. All these changes are dealt with in five new chapters and ten new reprinted papers added to this revised edition of ESD from A to Z. Also, the original chapters have been augmented with new material such as more troubleshooting examples in Chapter 8 and a 20-question multiple-choice test for certifying operators in Chapter 9. More than ever, the book seeks to provide advice, guidance, and practical ex­ amples, not just a jumble of facts and generalizations. For instance, the added tailored versions of the model specifications for ESD-safe handling and packaging are actually in use at medium-sized corporations and could serve as patterns for many readers.

Biological visual systems employ massively parallel processing to perform real-world visual tasks in real time. A key to this remarkable performance seems to be that biological systems construct representations of their visual image data at multiple scales. A Pyramid Framework for Early Vision describes a multiscale, or `pyramid', approach to vision, including its theoretical foundations, a set of pyramid-based modules for image processing, object detection, texture discrimination, contour detection and processing, feature detection and description, and motion detection and tracking. It also shows how these modules can be implemented very efficiently on hypercube-connected processor networks. A Pyramid Framework for Early Vision is intended for both students of vision and vision system designers; it provides a general approach to vision systems design as well as a set of robust, efficient vision modules.

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 contracts, leaving companies on their own to formulate an ESD-control policy and write implementing documents. All these changes are dealt with in five new chapters and ten new reprinted papers added to this revised edition of ESD from A to Z. Also, the original chapters have been augmented with new material such as more troubleshooting examples in Chapter 8 and a 20-question multiple-choice test for certifying operators in Chapter 9. More than ever, the book seeks to provide advice, guidance, and practical ex­ amples, not just a jumble of facts and generalizations. For instance, the added tailored versions of the model specifications for ESD-safe handling and packaging are actually in use at medium-sized corporations and could serve as patterns for many readers.

Biological visual systems employ parallel processing to perform real-world visual tasks in real time. A key to this performance seems to be that biological systems construct representations of their visual image data at multiple scales. This text describes a multiscale, or "pyramid", approach to vision, including its theoretical foundations, a set of pyramid-based modules for image processing, object detection, texture discrimination, contour detection and processing, feature detection and description, and motion detection and tracking. It also shows how these modules can be efficiently implemented on hypercube-connected processor networks. The text is intended for both students of vision and vision system designers. It provides a general approach to vision systems design as well as a set of robust, efficient vision modules.

The rapid rate at which the field of digital picture processing has grown in the past five years had necessitated extensive revisions and the introduction of topics not found in the original edition.