The social sciences, especially economics, management, and organizational science, are experiencing a tremendous renewed interest for their epistemological and methodological statutes, as witnessed by the many books and specialized journals established during the last two decades. Relational Methodologies and Epistemology in the Economics and Management Sciences identifies and presents the four main network-based methodologies including network analysis, Boolean network simulation modeling, artificial neural network simulation modeling, and agent-based simulation modeling in addition to their conceptual-epistemological implications and concrete applications within the social and natural sciences. Featuring a critical assessment of relational methodologies and their practical applications, this timely publication is ideal for use by corporate R&D departments, researchers, theorists, and graduate-level students.

Focusing on autonomous robotic applications, this cutting-edge resource offers a practical treatment of short-range radar processing for reliable object detection at the ground level. This unique book demonstrates probabilistic radar models and detection algorithms specifically for robotic land vehicles. Engineers and researchers may find detailed coverage of Simultaneous Localization and Map Building (SLAM) - an area referred to as the "Holy Grail" of autonomous robotics research.

The central theme of this book series is to explore the contemporary perspectives on managing technological innovations and related strategic policy issues. Specifically, this book series open to all potential topics that need attention within the broad theme of the management of technology and innovations, and promote an interdisciplinary scholarship and dialogue on the management of innovation and technological change in a global context from strategic, managerial, behavioral, and policy perspectives. The third volume of this book series concentrates on Technological Innovation Networks: Collaboration and Partnership - a theme resonating with scholars and practitioners that innovation requires a network of partners to collaborate. Authors from around the world contribute to this volume by approaching this theme from many different perspectives: an institutional understanding of international R&D networks, a stakeholder centrality potential in innovation networks, the intersection between intellectual structure and M & A, the rejections of the technological opportunities due to lock?in, the policy?practice paradox of technological innovations, Japan's national innovation strategy, immigrant entrepreneurs in patents and performance, the impact of university research parks on technology transfer, a historical narrative of cotton technology in China, and the innovative online or blended education in terms of motivation and reality. These researches have made significant attempts to address the important questions on how technological innovation touched on many aspects of our networked social life, thus I hope readers who are interested in learning the most contemporary perspectives on the technological innovation will be impressed, enriched, and intrigued by their analyses in each chapter. As the editor, I hope readers of the volume could enjoy these chapters by its global nature, the practicality orientation, the critical perspective, and the new theories and practices embedded in the selected research.

Control Loops are the feedback mechanisms that work between a sensor or site control and a set of system or component settings-such as temperature or pressure. Understanding the various dynamics that come in to play when trying to control any active system can be complex and difficult, but this book seeks to make that effort much easier and more applicable to the day-to-day job site. The new edition will have greater coverage of on new software-driven control loop systems and control loop analytics. Readers will find: Review of control loop fundamentals, including PID controllers, loop dynamics and common tuning methods Coverage of the effects of various kinds of dynamics, including process, controller, measurement, valve and nonlinear dynamics New chapters on computer-aided control loop tuning methods and smart systems Summaries with useful control loop equations and algorithms

As the world has entered the era of big data, there is a need to give a semantic perspective to the data to find unseen patterns, derive meaningful information, and make intelligent decisions. This 2-volume handbook set is a unique, comprehensive, and complete presentation of the current progress and future potential explorations in the field of data science and related topics. Handbook of Data Science with Semantic Technologies provides a roadmap for a new trend and future development of data science with semantic technologies. The first volume serves as an important guide towards applications of data science with semantic technologies for the upcoming generation and thus becomes a unique resource for both academic researchers and industry professionals. The second volume provides a roadmap for the deployment of semantic technologies in the field of data science that enables users to create intelligence through these technologies by exploring the opportunities while eradicating the current and future challenges. The set explores the optimal use of these technologies to provide the maximum benefit to the user under one comprehensive source. This set consisting of two separate volumes can be utilized independently or together as an invaluable resource for students, scholars, researchers, professionals, and practitioners in the field.

For a first course on nonlinear control that can be taught in one semester This book emerges from the award-winning book, Nonlinear Systems, but has a distinctly different mission and organization. While Nonlinear Systems was intended as a reference and a text on nonlinear system analysis and its application to control, this streamlined book is intended as a text for a first course on nonlinear control. In Nonlinear Control, author Hassan K. Khalil employs a writing style that is intended to make the book accessible to a wider audience without compromising the rigor of the presentation. Teaching and Learning Experience This program will provide a better teaching and learning experience-for you and your students. It will help: *Provide an Accessible Approach to Nonlinear Control: This streamlined book is intended as a text for a first course on nonlinear control that can be taught in one semester. *Support Learning: Over 250 end-of-chapter exercises give students plenty of opportunities to put theory into action.

Robotics is an ever-expanding field and intelligent planning continues to play a major role. Given that the intention of mobile robots is to carry out tasks independent from human aid, robot intelligence is needed to make and plan out decisions based on various sensors. Planning is the fundamental activity that implements this intelligence into the mobile robots to complete such tasks. Understanding problems, challenges, and solutions to path planning and how it fits in is important to the realm of robotics. Intelligent Planning for Mobile Robotics: Algorithmic Approaches presents content coverage on the basics of artificial intelligence, search problems, and soft computing approaches. This collection of research provides insight on both robotics and basic algorithms and could serve as a reference book for courses related to robotics, special topics in AI, planning, applied soft computing, applied AI, and applied evolutionary computing. It is an ideal choice for research students, scholars, and professors alike.

As a segment of the broader science of automation, robotics has achieved tremendous progress in recent decades due to the advances in supporting technologies such as computers, control systems, cameras and electronic vision, as well as micro and nanotechnology. Prototyping a design helps in determining system parameters, ranges, and in structuring an overall better system. Robotics is one of the industrial design fields in which prototyping is crucial for improved functionality. Prototyping of Robotic Systems: Applications of Design and Implementation provides a framework for conceptual, theoretical, and applied research in robotic prototyping and its applications. Covering the prototyping of various robotic systems including the complicated industrial robots, the tiny and delicate nanorobots, medical robots for disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as the simple robots for educational purposes, this book is a useful tool for those in the field of robotics prototyping and as a general reference tool for those in related fields.

Artificial intelligence is smarter than humans. It can process information at lightning speed and remain focused on specific tasks without distraction. AI can see into the future, predict outcomes and even use sensors to see around physical and virtual corners. So why does AI frequently get it so wrong and cause harm?

The answer is us: the human beings who write the code and teach AI to mimic our behaviour. Scary Smart explains how to fix the current trajectory now, to make sure that the AI of the future can preserve our species. This book offers a blueprint, pointing the way to what we can do to safeguard ourselves, those we love and the planet itself.

Risk detection and cyber security play a vital role in the use and success of contemporary computing. By utilizing the latest technological advances, more effective prevention techniques can be developed to protect against cyber threats. Detecting and Mitigating Robotic Cyber Security Risks is an essential reference publication for the latest research on new methodologies and applications in the areas of robotic and digital security. Featuring extensive coverage on a broad range of topics, such as authentication techniques, cloud security, and mobile robotics, this book is ideally designed for students, researchers, scientists, and engineers seeking current research on methods, models, and implementations of optimized security in digital contexts.

Modelling in polymer materials science has experienced a dramatic growth in the last two decades. Advances in modeling methodologies together with rapid growth in computational power have made it possible to address increasingly complex questions both of a fundamental and of a more applied nature.
Multiscale Modelling of Polymer Properties assembles research done on modeling of polymeric materials from a hierarchical point of view, in which several methods are combined in a multilevel approach to complex polymeric materials. Contributions from academic and industrial experts are organized in two parts: the first one addresses the methodological aspects while the second one focuses on specific applications. The book aims at comprehensively assessing the current state of the field, including the strengths and shortcomings of available modelling techniques, and at identifying future needs and trends.
* Several levels of approximation to the field of polymer modelling; ranging from first-principles to purely macroscopic
* Contributions from both academic and industrial experts with varying fields of expertise
* Assesses current state of this emerging and rapidly growing field

This multi-volume handbook is the most up-to-date and comprehensive reference work in the field of fractional calculus and its numerous applications. This sixth volume collects authoritative chapters covering several applications of fractional calculus in control theory, including fractional controllers, design methods and toolboxes, and a large number of engineering applications of control.

Intelligent Control techniques are becoming important tools in both academia and industry. Methodologies developed in the field of soft-computing, such as neural networks, fuzzy systems and evolutionary computation, can lead to accommodation of more complex processes, improved performance and considerable time savings and cost reductions. "Intelligent Control Systems Using Computational Intelligence Techniques" details the application of these tools to the field of control systems. Each chapter gives an overview of current approaches in the topic covered, with a set of the most important set references in the field, and then details the author s approach, examining both the theory and practical applications."

Cognitive architectures represent an umbrella term to describe ways in which the flow of thought can be engineered towards cerebral and behavioral outcomes. Cognitive Architectures are meant to provide top-down guidance, a knowledge base, interactive heuristics and concrete or fuzzy policies for which the virtual character can utilize for intelligent interaction with his/her/its situated virtual environment. Integrating Cognitive Architectures into Virtual Character Design presents emerging research on virtual character artificial intelligence systems and procedures and the integration of cognitive architectures. Emphasizing innovative methodologies for intelligent virtual character integration and design, this publication is an ideal reference source for graduate-level students, researchers, and professionals in the fields of artificial intelligence, gaming, and computer science.

Reliability is one of the fundamental criteria in engineering systems. Design and maintenance serve to support it throughout the systems life. As such, maintenance acts in parallel to production and can have a great impact on the availability and capacity of production and the quality of the products. The authors describe current and innovative methods useful to industry and society.

Written by a team of experts, Advances in Flowmeter Technology surveys the full range of modern flowmeters for product managers, strategic planners, engineers, distributors, and students. The origins, principles of operation,controls and instrumentation, and the relative advantages of each major flowmeter type are thoroughly explained. Extensive coverage of new types that employ cutting-edge technologies - such as coriolis, magnetic, ultrasonic, vortex, thermal flowmeters - is provided. The text includes comparative examples, placing these new types of meters in the context of more traditional ones, such as differential pressure, turbine, and positive displacement flowmeters.

This book explains the essentials of fractional calculus and demonstrates its application in control system modeling, analysis and design. It presents original research to find high-precision solutions to fractional-order differentiations and differential equations. Numerical algorithms and their implementations are proposed to analyze multivariable fractional-order control systems. Through high-quality MATLAB programs, it provides engineers and applied mathematicians with theoretical and numerical tools to design control systems. Contents Introduction to fractional calculus and fractional-order control Mathematical prerequisites Definitions and computation algorithms of fractional-order derivatives and Integrals Solutions of linear fractional-order differential equations Approximation of fractional-order operators Modelling and analysis of multivariable fractional-order transfer function Matrices State space modelling and analysis of linear fractional-order Systems Numerical solutions of nonlinear fractional-order differential Equations Design of fractional-order PID controllers Frequency domain controller design for multivariable fractional-order Systems Inverse Laplace transforms involving fractional and irrational Operations FOTF Toolbox functions and models Benchmark problems for the assessment of fractional-order differential equation algorithms

Advanced research in the field of mechatronics and robotics represents a unifying interdisciplinary and intelligent engineering science paradigm. It is a holistic, concurrent, and interdisciplinary engineering science that identifies novel possibilities of synergizing and fusing different disciplines. The Handbook of Research on Advanced Mechatronic Systems and Intelligent Robotics is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of knowledge in both theoretical and practical skills of intelligent robotics and mechatronics. While highlighting topics including green technology, machine learning, and virtual manufacturing, this book is ideally designed for researchers, students, engineers, and computer practitioners seeking current research on developing innovative ideas for intelligent robotics and autonomous and smart interdisciplinary mechatronic products.