Liang Zhou

In chapters 3, 4, and 5, the authors respectively propose three key techniques within the cross-modal communication architecture: cross-modal coding, cross-modal transmission and cross-modal signal recovery.

This SpringerBrief discusses the most recent research in the field of multimedia QoE evaluation, with a focus on how to evaluate subjective multimedia QoE problems from objective techniques. Specifically, this SpringerBrief starts from a comprehensive overview of multimedia QoE definition, its influencing factors, traditional modeling and prediction methods. Subsequently, the authors introduce the procedure of multimedia service data collection, preprocessing and feature extractions. Then, describe several proposed multimedia QoE modeling and prediction techniques in details. Finally, the authors illustrate how to implement and demonstrate multimedia QoE evaluation in the big data platform. This SpringerBrief provides readers with a clear picture on how to make full use of multimedia service data to realize multimedia QoE evaluation. With the exponential growth of the Internet technologies, multimedia services become immensely popular. Users can enjoy multimedia services from operators or content providers by TV, computers and mobile devices. User experience is important for network operators and multimedia content providers. Traditional QoS (quality of service) can not entirely and accurately describe user experience. It is natural to research the quality of multimedia service from the users’ perspective, defined as multimedia quality of experience (QoE). However, multimedia QoE evaluation is difficult, because user experience is abstract and subjective, hard to quantify and measure. Moreover, the explosion of multimedia service and emergence of big data, all call for a new and better understanding of multimedia QoE.This SpringerBrief targets advanced-level students, professors and researchers studying and working in the fields of multimedia communications and information processing. Professionals, industry managers, and government research employees working in these same fields will also benefit from this SpringerBrief.

Urban Surface Thermal Environments: A Metropolitan Area Perspective presents a comprehensive exploration of urban heat dynamics through the perspectives of climate change, urbanization, green infrastructure, and two- and three-dimensional urban morphology. It analyzes the key drivers of surface urban heat islands (SUHI), reveals spatial and temporal patterns of warming, assesses population heat risks, and proposes practical strategies to mitigate thermal impacts. Incorporating spatial analysis, multi-source data integration, and urban-scale simulation, the book provides effective solutions for megacities worldwide under increasing heat stress—supporting adaptive governance, enhancing livability, and advancing SDG 11. The book presents a series of analytical frameworks designed to capture thermal heterogeneity, identify vulnerable populations, and inform intervention strategies across scales—from site-specific cooling measures to integrated regional spatial planning. By bridging climate science, urban design, and geospatial technologies, it offers actionable approaches to enhance urban resilience and guide climate adaptation efforts. This integrated framework aligns with the Paris Agreement, including the 1.5°C climate target, and is informed by recent scientific assessments from IPCC, offering spatially explicit support for evidence-based decision-making. As a valuable reference for researchers, urban planners, environmental professionals, policymakers, and graduate students, this book informs decisions in the fields of climate adaptation, sustainable urban development, and spatial planning. It contributes to key global and national initiatives, including SDG11 and SDG13, Future Earth, and China’s new urbanization strategy. Through its interdisciplinary and geography-informed perspective, the book enhances cities’ adaptive capacity and contributes to the development of cooler, more equitable, and climate-resilient human settlements in an era of global warming.

The objective of this SpringerBrief is to present security architectures and incentive mechanisms to realize system availability for D2D communications. D2D communications enable devices to communicate directly, improving resource utilization, enhancing user’s throughput, extending battery lifetime, etc. However, due to the open nature of D2D communications, there are two substantial technical challenges when applied to large-scale applications, that is, security and availability which is demonstrated in this book.This SpringerBrief proposes a secure data sharing protocol, which merges the advantages of public key cryptography and symmetric encryption, to achieve data security in D2D communications. Furthermore, a joint framework involving both the physical and application layer security technologies is proposed for multimedia service over D2D communications thus the scalable security service can be achieved without changing the current communication framework. Additionally, as the system availability largely depends on the cooperation degree of the users, a graph-theory based cooperative content dissemination scheme is proposed to achieve maximal Quality of Experience (QoE) with fairness and efficiency.This SpringerBrief will be a valuable resource for advanced-level students and researchers who want to learn more about cellular networks.