Multi-finger Haptic Interaction presents a panorama of technologies and methods for multi-finger haptic interaction, together with an analysis of the benefits and implications of adding multiple-fingers to haptic applications. Research topics covered include: design and control of advanced haptic devices; multi-contact point simulation algorithms; interaction techniques and implications in human perception when interacting with multiple fingers. These multi-disciplinary results are integrated into applications such as medical simulators for training manual skills, simulators for virtual prototyping and precise manipulations in remote environments. Multi-finger Haptic Interaction presents the current and potential applications that can be developed with these systems, and details the systems' complexity. The research is focused on enhancing haptic interaction by providing multiple contact points to the user. This state-of-the-art volume is oriented towards researchers who are involved in haptic device design, rendering methods and perception studies, as well as readers from different disciplines who are interested in applying multi-finger haptic technologies and methods to their field of interest.

The present book includes a set of selected extended papers from the 4th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH 2014), held in Vienna, Austria, from 28 to 30 August 2014. The conference brought together researchers, engineers and practitioners interested in methodologies and applications of modeling and simulation. New and innovative solutions are reported in this book. SIMULTECH 2014 received 167 submissions, from 45 countries, in all continents. After a double blind paper review performed by the Program Committee, 23% were accepted as full papers and thus selected for oral presentation. Additional papers were accepted as short papers and posters. A further selection was made after the Conference, based also on the assessment of presentation quality and audience interest, so that this book includes the extended and revised versions of the very best papers of SIMULTECH 2014. Commitment to high quality standards is a major concern of SIMULTECH that will be maintained in the next editions, considering not only the stringent paper acceptance ratios but also the quality of the program committee, keynote lectures, participation level and logistics.

This volume constitutes the papers presented at the 15th International Conference on Computer Aided Systems Theory, EUROCAST 2015, held in February 2015 in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. The total of 107 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The contributions are organized in topical sections on Systems Theory and Applications; Modelling Biological Systems; Intelligent Information Processing; Theory and Applications of Metaheuristic Algorithms; Computer Methods, Virtual Reality and Image Processing for Clinical and Academic Medicine; Signals and Systems in Electronics; Model-Based System Design, Verification, and Simulation; Digital Signal Processing Methods and Applications; Modelling and Control of Robots; Mobile Platforms, Autonomous and Computing Traffic Systems; Cloud and Other Computing Systems; and Marine Sensors and Manipulators.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Formal Techniques for Safety-Critical Systems, FTSCS 2015, held in Paris, France, in November 2015. The 15 revised full papers presented together with one invited talk and two tool papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 41 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on timed systems; railway systems; fault tolerance; automotive systems; software and systems analysis; tools.

The main idea of this book is that to comprehend the instructional potential of simulation and to design effective simulation-based learning environments, one has to consider both what happens inside the computer and inside the students' minds. The framework adopted to do this is model-centered learning, in which simulation is seen as particularly effective when learning requires a restructuring of the individual mental models of the students, as in conceptual change. Mental models are by themeselves simulations, and thus simulation models can extend our biological capacity to carry out simulative reasoning. For this reason, recent approaches in cognitive science like embodied cognition and the extended mind hypothesis are also considered in the book. A conceptual model called the "epistemic simulation cycle" is proposed as a blueprint for the comprehension of the cognitive activies involved in simulation-based learning and for instructional design.

This volume of Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing contains papers presented at the 1st European-Middle Asian Conference on Computer Modelling, EMACOM 2015. This international conference was conceived as a brand new scientific and social event of mutual collaboration between the VSB - Technical University of Ostrava (Ostrava, Czech Republic) and the Kyrgyz National University named after J. Balasagyn (Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic). The aim of EMACOM 2015 was to present the latest development in the field of computer-aided modelling as an essential aspect of research and development of innovative systems and their applications. The conference showed that together with simulations, various modeling techniques, enabled and encouraged by the rapid development of high-performance computing platforms, are crucial for cost-efficient design, verification, and prototyping of solutions in many diverse industrial fields spanning the whole range from manufacturing, mining, machinery, and automotive industries to infrastructure planning and development, economics, energy, and modern agriculture and food industry.

In this book the authors describe the main computer modelling techniques that, having gained universal acceptance, constitute the basic framework of modern power system analysis. Some basic knowledge of power system theory, matrix analysis and numerical techniques is presumed, although several appendices and many references have been included to help the uninitiated to pick up the relevant background. An introductory chapter describes the main computational and transmission system developments which influence modern power system analysis. This is followed by three chapters on the subject of load or power flow with emphasis on the Newton-Raphson fast-decoupled algorithm. Chapter 5 describes the subject of a.c. system faults. The next two chapters deal with the electromechanical behaviour of power systems. Chapter 6 describes the basic dynamic models of power system plant and their use in multi-machine transient stability analysis. More advanced dynamic models and a quasi-steady-state representation of large converter plant and h.v.d.c. transmission are developed in Chapter 7. A description of the Electromagnetic Transients Program with the marriage between "Bergeron's and Trapezoidal" methods is presented in Chapter 8, and a generalization of the multi-phase models described in Chapter 3 is used in Chapter 9 as the framework for harmonic flow analysis. Chapter 10 describes the state of the art in power system security and optimization analysis. Finally, Chapter 11 deals with recent advances made on the subject of interactive power system analysis and developments in computer graphics with emphasis on the use of personal computers.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Symposium on Intelligence Computation and Applications, ISICA 2015, held in Guangzhou, China, in November 2015. The 77 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 189 submissions. The papers feature the most up-to-date research in analysis and theory of evolutionary computation, neural network architectures and learning; neuro-dynamics and neuro-engineering; fuzzy logic and control; collective intelligence and hybrid systems; deep learning; knowledge discovery; learning and reasoning.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Systems Simulation, Asia Simulation 2014, held in Kitakyushu, Japan, in October 2014. The 32 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 69 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on modeling and simulation technology; network simulation; high performance computing and cloud simulation; numerical simulation and visualization; simulation of instrumentation and control application; simulation technology in diversified higher education; general purpose simulation.

The ease of use of the programs in the application to ever more complex cases of disease and pestilence. The lack of need on the part of the student or modelers of mathematics beyond algebra and the lack of need of any prior computer programming experience. The surprising insights that can be gained from initially simple systems models.

This volume contains the articles presented at the 18th International Meshing Roundtable (IMR) organized, in part, by Sandia National Laboratories and held October 25-28, 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The volume presents recent results of mesh generation and adaptation which has applications to finite element simulation. It introduces theoretical and novel ideas with practical potential.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Simulation of Urban Mobility, SUMO 2013, held in Berlin, Germany, in May 2013. The 12 revised full papers presented tin this book were carefully selected and reviewed from 22 submissions. The papers are organized in two topical sections: models and technical innovations and applications and surveys.

This book includes extended and revised versions of a set of selected papers from the 3rd International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications (SIMULTECH 2013) which was co-organized by the Reykjavik University (RU) and sponsored by the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication (INSTICC). SIMULTECH 2013 was held in cooperation with the ACM SIGSIM - Special Interest Group (SIG) on SImulation and Modeling (SIM), Movimento Italiano Modellazione e Simulazione (MIMOS) and AIS Special Interest Group on Modeling and Simulation (AIS SIGMAS) and technically co-sponsored by the Society for Modeling & Simulation International (SCS), Liophant Simulation, Simulation Team and International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP). This proceedings brings together researchers, engineers, applied mathematicians and practitioners working in the advances and applications in the field of system simulation.

Computer languages and computer graphics have become the primary modes of human-computer interaction. This book provides a basic introduction to "Real and Virtual Environment" computer modelling. Graphics models are used to illustrate both the way computer languages are processed and also used to create computer models of graphic displays. Computer languages have been bootstrapped from machine code, to high-level languages such as Java, to animation scripting languages. Integrating graphic and computer models takes this support for programming, design and simulation work, one step further, allowing interactive computer graphic displays to be used to construct computer models of both real and virtual environment systems. The Java language is used to implement basic algorithms for language translation, and to generate graphic displays. It is also used to simulate the behaviour of a computer system, to explore the way programming and design-simulation environments can be put together.

This book highlights recent developments in multidimensional data visualization, presenting both new methods and modifications on classic techniques. Throughout the book, various applications of multidimensional data visualization are presented including its uses in social sciences (economy, education, politics, psychology), environmetrics, and medicine (ophthalmology, sport medicine, pharmacology, sleep medicine). The book provides recent research results in optimization-based visualization. Evolutionary algorithms and a two-level optimization method, based on combinatorial optimization and quadratic programming, are analyzed in detail. The performance of these algorithms and the development of parallel versions are discussed. The utilization of new visualization techniques to improve the capabilies of artificial neural networks (self-organizing maps, feed-forward networks) is also discussed. The book includes over 100 detailed images presenting examples of the many different visualization techniques that the book presents. This book is intended for scientists and researchers in any field of study where complex and multidimensional data must be represented visually.

This book constitutes the second part of the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Life System Modeling and Simulation, LSMS 2014, and of the International Conference on Intelligent Computing for Sustainable Energy and Environment, ICSEE 2014, held in Shanghai, China, in September 2014. The 159 revised full papers presented in the three volumes of CCIS 461-463 were carefully reviewed and selected from 572 submissions. The papers of this volume are organized in topical sections on advanced neural network theory and algorithms; advanced evolutionary computing theory and algorithms, such as particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, ant colonies, artificial life, artificial immune systems and genetic algorithm; fuzzy, neural, and fuzzy-neuro hybrids; intelligent modeling, monitoring, and control of complex nonlinear systems; intelligent modeling and simulation of climate change; communication and control for distributed networked systems.

This book deals with the analysis, the design and the implementation of the mechatronic systems. Classical and modern tools are developed for the analysis and the design for such systems. Robust control, H-Infinity and guaranteed cost control theory are also used for analysis and design of mechatronic systems. Different controller such as state feedback, static output feedback and dynamic output feedback controllers are used to stabilize mechatronic systems. Heuristic algorithms are provided to solve the design of the classical controller such as PID, phase lead, phase lag and phase lead-lag controllers while linear matrix inequalities (LMI) algorithms are provided for finding solutions to the state feedback, static output feedback and dynamic output feedback controllers. The theory presented in the different chapters of the volume is applied to numerical examples to show the usefulness of the theoretical results. Some case studies are also provided to show how the developed concepts apply for real system. Emphasis is also put on the implementation in real-time for some real systems that we have developed in our mechatronic laboratory and all the detail is provided to give an idea to the reader how to implement its own mechatronic system. Mechatronics Systems: Analysis, Design and Implementation is an excellent textbook for undergraduate and graduate students in mechatronic system and control theory and as a reference for academic researchers in control or mathematics with interest in control theory. The reader should have completed first-year graduate courses in control theory, linear algebra, and linear systems. It will also be of great value to engineers practising in fields where the systems can be modeled by linear time invariant systems.

This book presents an agile and model-driven approach to manage scientific workflows. The approach is based on the Extreme Model Driven Design (XMDD) paradigm and aims at simplifying and automating the complex data analysis processes carried out by scientists in their day-to-day work. Besides documenting the impact the workflow modeling might have on the work of natural scientists, this book serves three major purposes: 1. It acts as a primer for practitioners who are interested to learn how to think in terms of services and workflows when facing domain-specific scientific processes. 2. It provides interesting material for readers already familiar with this kind of tools, because it introduces systematically both the technologies used in each case study and the basic concepts behind them. 3. As the addressed thematic field becomes increasingly relevant for lectures in both computer science and experimental sciences, it also provides helpful material for teachers that plan similar courses.

Decision makers in large scale interconnected network systems require simulation models for decision support. The behaviour of these systems is determined by many actors, situated in a dynamic, multi-actor, multi-objective and multi-level environment. How can such systems be modelled and how can the socio-technical complexity be captured? Agent-based modelling is a proven approach to handle this challenge. This book provides a practical introduction to agent-based modelling of socio-technical systems, based on a methodology that has been developed at TU Delft and which has been deployed in a large number of case studies. The book consists of two parts: the first presents the background, theory and methodology as well as practical guidelines and procedures for building models. In the second part this theory is applied to a number of case studies, where for each model the development steps are presented extensively, preparing the reader for creating own models.

In the past decade, feature-based design and manufacturing has gained some momentum in various engineering domains to represent and reuse semantic patterns with effective applicability. However, the actual scope of feature application is still very limited. Semantic Modeling and Interoperability in Product and Process Engineering provides a systematic solution for the challenging engineering informatics field aiming at the enhancement of sustainable knowledge representation, implementation and reuse in an open and yet practically manageable scale. This semantic modeling technology supports uniform, multi-facet and multi-level collaborative system engineering with heterogeneous computer-aided tools, such as CADCAM, CAE, and ERP. This presented unified feature model can be applied to product and process representation, development, implementation and management. Practical case studies and test samples are provided to illustrate applications which can be implemented by the readers in real-world scenarios. By expanding on well-known feature-based design and manufacturing approach, Semantic Modeling and Interoperability in Product and Process Engineering provides a valuable reference for researchers, practitioners and students from both academia and engineering field.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Model Driven Engineering Languages and Systems, MODELS 2014, held in Valencia, Spain, in September/October 2014. The 41 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 126 submissions. The scope of the conference series is broad, encompassing modeling languages, methods, tools, and applications considered from theoretical and practical angles and in academic and industrial settings. The papers report on the use of modeling in a wide range of cloud, mobile, and web computing, model transformation behavioral modeling, MDE: past, present, future, formal semantics, specification, and verification, models at runtime, feature and variability modeling, composition and adaptation, practices and experience, modeling for analysis, pragmatics, model extraction, manipulation and persistence, querying, and reasoning.

This book generalizes fuzzy logic systems for different types of uncertainty, including - semantic ambiguity resulting from limited perception or lack of knowledge about exact membership functions - lack of attributes or granularity arising from discretization of real data - imprecise description of membership functions - vagueness perceived as fuzzification of conditional attributes. Consequently, the membership uncertainty can be modeled by combining methods of conventional and type-2 fuzzy logic, rough set theory and possibility theory. In particular, this book provides a number of formulae for implementing the operation extended on fuzzy-valued fuzzy sets and presents some basic structures of generalized uncertain fuzzy logic systems, as well as introduces several of methods to generate fuzzy membership uncertainty. It is desirable as a reference book for under-graduates in higher education, master and doctor graduates in the courses of computer science, computational intelligence, or fuzzy control and classification, and is especially dedicated to researchers and practitioners in industry.

The focus of this volume is comprised of the fundamentals, models, and information technologies (IT) methods and tools for disaster prediction and mitigation. A more detailed list of topics includes mathematical and computational modeling of processes leading to or producing disasters, modeling of disaster effects, IT means for disaster mitigation, including data mining tools, knowledge-based and expert systems for use in disaster circumstances, GIS-based systems for disaster prevention and mitigation and equipment for disaster-prone areas. A specific type or class of disasters (natural or human-made), however will not be part of the main focus of this work. Instead, this book was conceived to offer a comprehensive, integrative view on disasters, seeking to determine what various disasters have in common. Because disaster resilience and mitigation involve humans, societies and cultures, not only technologies and economic models, special attention was paid in this volume to gain a comprehensive view on these issues, as a foundation of the IT tool design.

Soft computing, as an engineering science, and statistics, as a classical branch of mathematics, emphasize different aspects of data analysis. Soft computing focuses on obtaining working solutions quickly, accepting approximations and unconventional approaches. Its strength lies in its flexibility to create models that suit the needs arising in applications. In addition, it emphasizes the need for intuitive and interpretable models, which are tolerant to imprecision and uncertainty. Statistics is more rigorous and focuses on establishing objective conclusions based on experimental data by analyzing the possible situations and their (relative) likelihood. It emphasizes the need for mathematical methods and tools to assess solutions and guarantee performance. Combining the two fields enhances the robustness and generalizability of data analysis methods, while preserving the flexibility to solve real-world problems efficiently and intuitively.

Fuzzy classifiers are important tools in exploratory data analysis, which is a vital set of methods used in various engineering, scientific and business applications. Fuzzy classifiers use fuzzy rules and do not require assumptions common to statistical classification. Rough set theory is useful when data sets are incomplete. It defines a formal approximation of crisp sets by providing the lower and the upper approximation of the original set. Systems based on rough sets have natural ability to work on such data and incomplete vectors do not have to be preprocessed before classification. To achieve better performance than existing machine learning systems, fuzzy classifiers and rough sets can be combined in ensembles. Such ensembles consist of a finite set of learning models, usually weak learners. The present book discusses the three aforementioned fields - fuzzy systems, rough sets and ensemble techniques. As the trained ensemble should represent a single hypothesis, a lot of attention is placed on the possibility to combine fuzzy rules from fuzzy systems being members of classification ensemble. Furthermore, an emphasis is placed on ensembles that can work on incomplete data, thanks to rough set theory. .