We describe the architecture and key features of the MPEG-4 Systems specification, as well as the encoding methodology of its various components: scene description and BIFS, animation streams, object descriptors, object content infonnation, as well as delivery and multiplexing. We also describe the MPEG-4 reference software as well as our own prototype software for MPEG-4 authoring, streaming, ...

In the last chapter, I have discussed the philosophical foundation of Empirical Modelling (EM) and differences to other approaches to software systems development. So far, there has been little discussion on what kind of collaborative context may be benefited by adopting an EM approach and how EM principles such as the ODA framework can be exploited in collaborative work such as groupware devel...

During the discussion periods, various people expressed the concern that numerical software development had become poorly supported over the past decade, with funding agencies seeking projects that seem to ignore the development of algorithms and software for numerical computations. In the past, the community has emphasized the development of mathematical software libraries. Currently, there ap...