In the fields of data mining and control, the huge amount of unstructured data and the presence of uncertainty in system descriptions have always been critical issues. The book Randomized Algorithms in Automatic Control and Data Mining introduces the readers to the fundamentals of randomized algorithm applications in data mining (especially clustering) and in automatic control synthesis. The methods proposed in this book guarantee that the computational complexity of classical algorithms and the conservativeness of standard robust control techniques will be reduced. It is shown that when a problem requires "brute force" in selecting among options, algorithms based on random selection of alternatives offer good results with certain probability for a restricted time and significantly reduce the volume of operations.

This book contains the full papers presented at the MICCAI 2013 workshop Bio-Imaging and Visualization for Patient-Customized Simulations (MWBIVPCS 2013). MWBIVPCS 2013 brought together researchers representing several fields, such as Biomechanics, Engineering, Medicine, Mathematics, Physics and Statistic.

The contributions included in this book present and discuss new trends in those fields, using several methods and techniques, including the finite element method, similarity metrics, optimization processes, graphs, hidden Markov models, sensor calibration, fuzzy logic, data mining, cellular automation, active shape models, template matching and level sets. These serve as tools to address more efficiently different and timely applications involving signal and image acquisition, image processing and analysis, image segmentation, image registration and fusion, computer simulation, image based modelling, simulation and surgical planning, image guided robot assisted surgical and image based diagnosis.

This book will appeal to researchers, PhD students and graduate students with multidisciplinary interests related to the areas of medical imaging, image processing and analysis, computer vision, image segmentation, image registration and fusion, scientific data visualization and image based modeling and simulation.

Biological and other natural processes have always been a source of inspiration for computer science and information technology. Many emerging problem solving techniques integrate advanced evolution and cooperation strategies, encompassing a range of spatio-temporal scales for visionary conceptualization of evolutionary computation. This book is a collection of research works presented in the VI International Workshop on Nature Inspired Cooperative Strategies for Optimization (NICSO) held in Canterbury, UK. Previous editions of NICSO were held in Granada, Spain (2006 & 2010), Acireale, Italy (2007), Tenerife, Spain (2008), and Cluj-Napoca, Romania (2011). NICSO 2013 and this book provides a place where state-of-the-art research, latest ideas and emerging areas of nature inspired cooperative strategies for problem solving are vigorously discussed and exchanged among the scientific community. The breadth and variety of articles in this book report on nature inspired methods and applications such as Swarm Intelligence, Hyper-heuristics, Evolutionary Algorithms, Cellular Automata, Artificial Bee Colony, Dynamic Optimization, Support Vector Machines, Multi-Agent Systems, Ant Clustering, Evolutionary Design Optimisation, Game Theory and other several Cooperation Models.

This volume presents a collection of original research works by leading specialists focusing on novel and promising approaches in which the multi-agent system paradigm is used to support, enhance or replace traditional approaches to solving difficult optimization problems. The editors have invited several well-known specialists to present their solutions, tools, and models falling under the common denominator of the agent-based optimization. The book consists of eight chapters covering examples of application of the multi-agent paradigm and respective customized tools to solve difficult optimization problems arising in different areas such as machine learning, scheduling, transportation and, more generally, distributed and cooperative problem solving.

With the increasing advances in hardware technology for data collection, and advances in software technology (databases) for data organization, computer scientists have increasingly participated in the latest advancements of the outlier analysis field. Computer scientists, specifically, approach this field based on their practical experiences in managing large amounts of data, and with far fewer assumptions- the data can be of any type, structured or unstructured, and may be extremely large. Outlier Analysis is a comprehensive exposition, as understood by data mining experts, statisticians and computer scientists. The book has been organized carefully, and emphasis was placed on simplifying the content, so that students and practitioners can also benefit. Chapters will typically cover one of three areas: methods and techniques commonly used in outlier analysis, such as linear methods, proximity-based methods, subspace methods, and supervised methods; data domains, such as, text, categorical, mixed-attribute, time-series, streaming, discrete sequence, spatial and network data; and key applications of these methods as applied to diverse domains such as credit card fraud detection, intrusion detection, medical diagnosis, earth science, web log analytics, and social network analysis are covered.

The aim of this book is to explain to high-performance computing (HPC) developers how to utilize the Intel(r) Xeon Phi series products efficiently. To that end, it introduces some computing grammar, programming technology and optimization methods for using many-integrated-core (MIC) platforms and also offers tips and tricks for actual use, based on the authors first-hand optimization experience.

The material is organized in three sections. The first section, Basics of MIC, introduces the fundamentals of MIC architecture and programming, including the specific Intel MIC programming environment. Next, the section on Performance Optimization explains general MIC optimization techniques, which are then illustrated step-by-step using the classical parallel programming example of matrix multiplication. Finally, Project development presents a set of practical and experience-driven methods for using parallel computing in application projects, including how to determine if a serial or parallel CPU program is suitable for MIC and how to transplant a program onto MIC.

This book appeals to two main audiences: First, software developers for HPC applications it will enable them to fully exploit the MIC architecture and thus achieve the extreme performance usually required in biological genetics, medical imaging, aerospace, meteorology and other areas of HPC. Second, students and researchers engaged in parallel and high-performance computing it will guide them on how to push the limits of system performance for HPC applications. "

This book contains an edited selection of the papers accepted for presentation and discussion at the first International Symposium on Qualitative Research (ISQR2016), held in Porto, Portugal, July 12th-14th, 2016. The book and the symposium features the four main application fields Education, Health, Social Sciences and Engineering and Technology and seven main subjects: Rationale and Paradigms of Qualitative Research (theoretical studies, critical reflection about epistemological dimensions, ontological and axiological); Systematization of approaches with Qualitative Studies (literature review, integrating results, aggregation studies, meta -analysis, meta- analysis of qualitative meta- synthesis, meta- ethnography); Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research (emphasis in research processes that build on mixed methodologies but with priority to qualitative approaches); Data Analysis Types (content analysis , discourse analysis , thematic analysis , narrative analysis , etc.); Innovative processes of Qualitative Data Analysis (design analysis, articulation and triangulation of different sources of data - images, audio, video); Qualitative Research in Web Context (eResearch, virtual ethnography, interaction analysis , latent corpus on the internet, etc.); Qualitative Analysis with Support of Specific Software (usability studies, user experience, the impact of software on the quality of research.

This book highlights technical advances in knowledge management and their applications across a diverse range of domains. It explores the applications of knowledge computing methodologies in image processing, pattern recognition, health care and industrial contexts. The chapters also examine the knowledge engineering process involved in information management. Given its interdisciplinary nature, the book covers methods for identifying and acquiring valid, potentially useful knowledge sources. The ideas presented in the respective chapters illustrate how to effectively apply the perspectives of knowledge computing in specialized domains.

This book covers all the emerging trends in artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). The Internet of Things is a term that has been introduced in recent years to define devices that are able to connect and transfer data to other devices via the Internet. While IoT and sensors have the ability to harness large volumes of data, AI can learn patterns in the data and quickly extract insights in order to automate tasks for a variety of business benefits. Machine learning, an AI technology, brings the ability to automatically identify patterns and detect anomalies in the data that smart sensors and devices generate, and it can have significant advantages over traditional business intelligence tools for analyzing IoT data, including being able to make operational predictions up to 20 times earlier and with greater accuracy than threshold-based monitoring systems. Further, other AI technologies, such as speech recognition and computer vision can help extract insights from data that used to require human review. The powerful combination of AI and IoT technology is helping to avoid unplanned downtime, increase operating efficiency, enable new products and services, and enhance risk management.

This book primarily addresses Intelligent Information Systems (IIS) and the integration of artificial intelligence, intelligent systems and technologies, database technologies and information systems methodologies to create the next generation of information systems. It includes original and state-of-the-art research on theoretical and practical advances in IIS, system architectures, tools and techniques, as well as "success stories" in intelligent information systems. Intended as an interdisciplinary forum in which scientists and professionals could share their research results and report on new developments and advances in intelligent information systems, technologies and related areas - as well as their applications - , it offers a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners alike.

This book addresses the challenges of designing high performance analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) based on the "smart data converters" concept, which implies context awareness, on-chip intelligence and adaptation. Readers will learn to exploit various information either a-priori or a-posteriori (obtained from devices, signals, applications or the ambient situations, etc.) for circuit and architecture optimization during the design phase or adaptation during operation, to enhance data converters performance, flexibility, robustness and power-efficiency. The authors focus on exploiting the a-priori knowledge of the system/application to develop enhancement techniques for ADCs, with particular emphasis on improving the power efficiency of high-speed and high-resolution ADCs for broadband multi-carrier systems.

Cross-Disciplinary Advances in Applied Natural Language Processing: Issues and Approaches defines the role of ANLP within NLP, and alongside other disciplines such as linguistics, computer science, and cognitive science. The description also includes the categorization of current ANLP research, and examples of current research in ANLP. This book is a useful reference for teachers, students, and materials developers in fields spanning linguistics, computer science, and cognitive science.

The book shows how eastern and western perspectives and conceptions can be used to addresses recent topics laying at the crossroad between philosophy and cognitive science. It reports on new points of view and conceptions discussed during the International Conference on Philosophy and Cognitive Science (PCS2013), held at the Sun Yat-sen University, in Guangzhou, China, and the 2013 Workshop on Abductive Visual Cognition, which took place at KAIST, in Deajeon, South Korea. The book emphasizes an ever-growing cultural exchange between academics and intellectuals coming from different fields. It juxtaposes research works investigating new facets on key issues between philosophy and cognitive science, such as the role of models and causal representations in science; the status of theoretical concepts and quantum principles; abductive cognition, vision, and visualization in science from an eco-cognitive perspective. Further topics are: ignorance immunization in reasoning; moral cognition, violence, and epistemology; and models and biomorphism. The book, which presents a unique and timely account of the current state-of-the art on various aspects in philosophy and cognitive science, is expected to inspire philosophers, cognitive scientists and social scientists, and to generate fruitful exchanges and collaboration among them.

This book reports on the theoretical foundations, fundamental applications and latest advances in various aspects of connected services for health information systems. The twelve chapters highlight state-of-the-art approaches, methodologies and systems for the design, development, deployment and innovative use of multisensory systems and tools for health management in smart city ecosystems. They exploit technologies like deep learning, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, cyber physical systems and sensor networks. Presenting the latest developments, identifying remaining challenges, and outlining future research directions for sensing, computing, communications and security aspects of connected health systems, the book will mainly appeal to academic and industrial researchers in the areas of health information systems, smart cities, and augmented reality.

This book gathers contributions on fuzzy neural control, intelligent and non-linear control, dynamic systems and cyber-physical systems. It presents the latest theoretical and practical results, including numerous applications of computational intelligence in various disciplines such as engineering, medicine, technology and the environment. The book is dedicated to Imre J. Rudas on his seventieth birthday.

This book contains the proceedings of the 11th FSR (Field and Service Robotics), which is the leading single-track conference on applications of robotics in challenging environments. This conference was held in Zurich, Switzerland from 12-15 September 2017. The book contains 45 full-length, peer-reviewed papers organized into a variety of topics: Control, Computer Vision, Inspection, Machine Learning, Mapping, Navigation and Planning, and Systems and Tools. The goal of the book and the conference is to report and encourage the development and experimental evaluation of field and service robots, and to generate a vibrant exchange and discussion in the community. Field robots are non-factory robots, typically mobile, that operate in complex and dynamic environments: on the ground (Earth or other planets), under the ground, underwater, in the air or in space. Service robots are those that work closely with humans to help them with their lives. The first FSR was held in Canberra, Australia, in 1997. Since that first meeting, FSR has been held roughly every two years, cycling through Asia, Americas, and Europe.

This paper collection is the second volume of the LNMOB series on Road Vehicle Automation. The book contains a comprehensive review of current technical, socio-economic, and legal perspectives written by experts coming from public authorities, companies and universities in the U.S., Europe and Japan. It originates from the Automated Vehicle Symposium 2014, which was jointly organized by the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in Burlingame, CA, in July 2014. The contributions discuss the challenges arising from the integration of highly automated and self-driving vehicles into the transportation system, with a focus on human factors and different deployment scenarios. This book is an indispensable source of information for academic researchers, industrial engineers, and policy makers interested in the topic of road vehicle automation.

This book discusses all the major nature-inspired algorithms with a focus on their application in the context of solving navigation and routing problems. It also reviews the approximation methods and recent nature-inspired approaches for practical navigation, and compares these methods with traditional algorithms to validate the approach for the case studies discussed. Further, it examines the design of alternative solutions using nature-inspired techniques, and explores the challenges of navigation and routing problems and nature-inspired metaheuristic approaches.

This book chiefly presents a novel approach referred to as backward fuzzy rule interpolation and extrapolation (BFRI). BFRI allows observations that directly relate to the conclusion to be inferred or interpolated from other antecedents and conclusions. Based on the scale and move transformation interpolation, this approach supports both interpolation and extrapolation, which involve multiple hierarchical intertwined fuzzy rules, each with multiple antecedents. As such, it offers a means of broadening the applications of fuzzy rule interpolation and fuzzy inference. The book deals with the general situation, in which there may be more than one antecedent value missing for a given problem. Two techniques, termed the parametric approach and feedback approach, are proposed in an attempt to perform backward interpolation with multiple missing antecedent values. In addition, to further enhance the versatility and potential of BFRI, the backward fuzzy interpolation method is extended to support -cut based interpolation by employing a fuzzy interpolation mechanism for multi-dimensional input spaces (IMUL). Finally, from an integrated application analysis perspective, experimental studies based upon a real-world scenario of terrorism risk assessment are provided in order to demonstrate the potential and efficacy of the hierarchical fuzzy rule interpolation methodology.

Every day decision making and decision making in complex human-centric systems are characterized by imperfect decision-relevant information. Main drawback of the existing decision theories is namely incapability to deal with imperfect information and modeling vague preferences. Actually, a paradigm of non-numerical probabilities in decision making has a long history and arose also in Keynes's analysis of uncertainty. There is a need for further generalization - a move to decision theories with perception-based imperfect information described in NL. The languages of new decision models for human-centric systems should be not languages based on binary logic but human-centric computational schemes able to operate on NL-described information. Development of new theories is now possible due to an increased computational power of information processing systems which allows for computations with imperfect information, particularly, imprecise and partially true information, which are much more complex than computations over numbers and probabilities.

The monograph exposes the foundations of a new decision theory with imperfect decision-relevant information on environment and a decision maker's behavior. This theory is based on the synthesis of the fuzzy sets theory with perception-based information and the probability theory.

The book is self containing and represents in a systematic way the decision theory with imperfect information into the educational systems. The book will be helpful for teachers and students of universities and colleges, for managers and specialists from various fields of business and economics, production and social sphere.

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This book discusses the smooth integration of optical and RF networks in 5G and beyond (5G+) heterogeneous networks (HetNets), covering both planning and operational aspects. The integration of high-frequency air interfaces into 5G+ wireless networks can relieve the congested radio frequency (RF) bands. Visible light communication (VLC) is now emerging as a promising candidate for future generations of HetNets. Heterogeneous RF-optical networks combine the high throughput of visible light and the high reliability of RF. However, when implementing these HetNets in mobile scenarios, several challenges arise from both planning and operational perspectives. Since the mmWave, terahertz, and visible light bands share similar wave propagation characteristics, the concepts presented here can be broadly applied in all such bands. To facilitate the planning of RF-optical HetNets, the authors present an algorithm that specifies the joint optimal densities of the base stations by drawing on stochastic geometry in order to satisfy the users' quality-of-service (QoS) demands with minimum network power consumption. From an operational perspective, the book explores vertical handovers and multi-homing using a cooperative framework. For vertical handovers, it employs a data-driven approach based on deep neural networks to predict abrupt optical outages; and, on the basis of this prediction, proposes a reinforcement learning strategy that ensures minimal network latency during handovers. In terms of multi-homing support, the authors examine the aggregation of the resources from both optical and RF networks, adopting a two-timescale multi-agent reinforcement learning strategy for optimal power allocation. Presenting comprehensive planning and operational strategies, the book allows readers to gain an in-depth grasp of how to integrate future coexisting networks at high-frequency bands in a cooperative manner, yielding reliable and high-speed 5G+ HetNets.

Markov networks and other probabilistic graphical modes have recently received an upsurge in attention from Evolutionary computation community, particularly in the area of Estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs). EDAs have arisen as one of the most successful experiences in the application of machine learning methods in optimization, mainly due to their efficiency to solve complex real-world optimization problems and their suitability for theoretical analysis. This book focuses on the different steps involved in the conception, implementation and application of EDAs that use Markov networks, and undirected models in general. It can serve as a general introduction to EDAs but covers also an important current void in the study of these algorithms by explaining the specificities and benefits of modeling optimization problems by means of undirected probabilistic models. All major developments to date in the progressive introduction of Markov networks based EDAs are reviewed in the book. Hot current research trends and future perspectives in the enhancement and applicability of EDAs are also covered. The contributions included in the book address topics as relevant as the application of probabilistic-based fitness models, the use of belief propagation algorithms in EDAs and the application of Markov network based EDAs to real-world optimization problems. The book should be of interest to researchers and practitioners from areas such as optimization, evolutionary computation, and machine learning.

This book discusses a variety of methods for outlier ensembles and organizes them by the specific principles with which accuracy improvements are achieved. In addition, it covers the techniques with which such methods can be made more effective. A formal classification of these methods is provided, and the circumstances in which they work well are examined. The authors cover how outlier ensembles relate (both theoretically and practically) to the ensemble techniques used commonly for other data mining problems like classification. The similarities and (subtle) differences in the ensemble techniques for the classification and outlier detection problems are explored. These subtle differences do impact the design of ensemble algorithms for the latter problem. This book can be used for courses in data mining and related curricula. Many illustrative examples and exercises are provided in order to facilitate classroom teaching. A familiarity is assumed to the outlier detection problem and also to generic problem of ensemble analysis in classification. This is because many of the ensemble methods discussed in this book are adaptations from their counterparts in the classification domain. Some techniques explained in this book, such as wagging, randomized feature weighting, and geometric subsampling, provide new insights that are not available elsewhere. Also included is an analysis of the performance of various types of base detectors and their relative effectiveness. The book is valuable for researchers and practitioners for leveraging ensemble methods into optimal algorithmic design.