An overview of biomechanical modeling of human soft tissue using nonlinear theoretical mechanics and incremental finite element methods, useful for computer simulation of the human musculoskeletal system.

FEM updating allows FEMs to be tuned better to reflect measured data. It can be conducted using two different statistical frameworks: the maximum likelihood approach and Bayesian approaches. This book applies both strategies to the field of structural mechanics, using vibration data. Computational intelligence techniques including: multi-layer perceptron neural networks; particle swarm and GA-based optimization methods; simulated annealing; response surface methods; and expectation maximization algorithms, are proposed to facilitate the updating process. Based on these methods, the most appropriate updated FEM is selected, a problem that traditional FEM updating has not addressed. This is found to incorporate engineering judgment into finite elements through the formulations of prior distributions. Case studies, demonstrating the principles test the viability of the approaches, and. by critically analysing the state of the art in FEM updating, this book identifies new research directions.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 36th German Conference on Pattern Recognition, GCPR 2014, held in Munster, Germany, in September 2014. The 58 revised full papers and 8 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 153 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on variational models for depth and flow, reconstruction, bio-informatics, deep learning and segmentation, feature computation, video interpretation, segmentation and labeling, image processing and analysis, human pose and people tracking, interpolation and inpainting.

This volume contains the articles presented at the 21st International Meshing Roundtable (IMR) organized, in part, by Sandia National Laboratories and was held on October 7-10, 2012 in San Jose, CA, USA. The first IMR was held in 1992, and the conference series has been held annually since. Each year the IMR brings together researchers, developers, and application experts in a variety of disciplines, from all over the world, to present and discuss ideas on mesh generation and related topics. The technical papers in this volume present theoretical and novel ideas and algorithms with practical potential, as well as technical applications in science and engineering, geometric modeling, computer graphics, and visualization.

This book Algebraic Modeling Systems - Modeling and Solving Real World Optimization Problems - deals with the aspects of modeling and solving real-world optimization problems in a unique combination. It treats systematically the major algebraic modeling languages (AMLs) and modeling systems (AMLs) used to solve mathematical optimization problems. AMLs helped significantly to increase the usage of mathematical optimization in industry. Therefore it is logical consequence that the GOR (Gesellschaft fur Operations Research) Working Group Mathematical Optimization in Real Life had a second meeting devoted to AMLs, which, after 7 years, followed the original 71st Meeting of the GOR (Gesellschaft fur Operations Research) Working Group Mathematical Optimization in Real Life which was held under the title Modeling Languages in Mathematical Optimization during April 23-25, 2003 in the German Physics Society Conference Building in Bad Honnef, Germany. While the first meeting resulted in the book Modeling Languages in Mathematical Optimization, this book is an offspring of the 86th Meeting of the GOR working group which was again held in Bad Honnef under the title Modeling Languages in Mathematical Optimization."

Process Simulation and Parametric Modeling for Strategic Project Management will offer CIOs, CTOs and Software Development Managers, IT Graduate Students an introduction to a set of technologies that will help them understand how to better plan software development projects, manage risk and have better insight into the complexities of the software development process. A novel methodology will be introduced that allows a software development manager to better plan and access risks in the early planning of a project. By providing a better model for early software development estimation and software development, managers will be better equipped to make more effective project portfolio investment choices. Moreover, the methodology will allow the software development manager to continually simulate scenarios throughout the lifecycle of the project and determine plausible alternatives before the risk becomes a reality.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 14th International Workshop on Multi-Agent-Based Simulation, MABS 2013, held in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA, in May 2013. The workshop was help in conjunction with Twelfth International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, AAMAS 2013. The 11 revised full papers included in this volume were carefully selected from 29 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on MABS for real-time and online data, formal approaches in MABS: design and validation, MABS in environmental modeling, simulating social phenomena.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Software Language Engineering, SLE 2014, held in Vasteras, Sweden, in September 2014. The 19 revised full papers presented together with 1 invited paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 61 initial submissions. The papers observe software languages from different and yet complementary perspectives: programming languages, model driven engineering, domain specific languages, semantic web, and from different technological spaces: context-free grammars, object-oriented modeling frameworks, rich data, structured data, object-oriented programming, functional programming, logic programming, term-rewriting, attribute grammars, algebraic specification, etc.

This book presents new results on applications of geometric algebra. The time when researchers and engineers were starting to realize the potential of quaternions for - plications in electrical, mechanic, and control engineering passed a long time ago. Since the publication of Space-Time Algebra by David Hestenes (1966) and Clifford Algebra to Geometric Calculus: A Uni?ed Language for Mathematics and Physics by David Hestenes and Garret Sobczyk (1984), consistent progress in the app- cations of geometric algebra has taken place. Particularly due to the great dev- opments in computer technology and the Internet, researchers have proposed new ideas and algorithms to tackle a variety of problems in the areas of computer science and engineering using the powerful language of geometric algebra. In this process, pioneer groups started the conference series entitled "Applications of Geometric Algebra in Computer Science and Engineering" (AGACSE) in order to promote the research activity in the domain of the application of geometric algebra. The ?rst conference, AGACSE'1999, organized by Eduardo Bayro-Corrochano and Garret Sobczyk, took place in Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo, Mexico, in July 1999. The contri- tions were published in Geometric Algebra with Applications in Science and En- neering, Birkhauser, 2001. The second conference, ACACSE'2001, was held in the Engineering Department of the Cambridge University on 9-13 July 2001 and was organizedbyLeoDorst,ChrisDoran,andJoanLasenby. Thebestconferencecont- butions appeared as a book entitled Applications of Geometric Algebra in Computer Science and Engineering, Birkhauser, 2002. The third conference, AGACSE'2008, took place in August 2008 in Grimma, Leipzig, Germany.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 37th Annual German Conference on Artificial Intelligence, KI 2014, held in Stuttgart, Germany, in September 2014. The 24 revised full papers presented together with 7 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions. The papers are organized in thematic topics on cognitive modeling, computer vision, constraint satisfaction, search, and optimization, knowledge representation and reasoning, machine learning and data mining, planning and scheduling.

"Design Rules for Actuators in Active Mechanical Systems" deals with the formulation of model-based design rules to be used in the conception of optimized mechatronic and adaptronic systems. The book addresses the comparison of different actuator classes for given applications and offers answers to the following questions: What is the relationship between actuator geometry and primary output quantities? How scalable are actuators based on the same principle? How are energetic output quantities (work and power) related to mechanical load and geometry? How should actuators be designed and sized to obtain the best performance for the chosen actuator kind, and for a given application? "Design Rules for Actuators in Active Mechanical Systems" will be of use to industry professionals, such as actuator and machine designers, as well as to researchers and students of mechanical engineering, mechatronics, and electrical engineering.

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.

This volume constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Mathematical Methods for Curves and Surfaces, MMCS 2012, held in Oslo, Norway, in June/July 2012. The 28 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 135 submissions. The topics range from mathematical analysis of various methods to practical implementation on modern graphics processing units. The papers reflect the newest developments in these fields and also point to the latest literature.

This book/software package brings the tools and excitement of modeling to pre-college teachers, to researchers involved in curriculum development, and to software developers interested in the pre-college market.

The book uses STELLA software to develop simulation models, thus allowing readers to convert their understanding of a phenomenon to a computer model, and then run it to yield the inevitable dynamic consequences built into the structure. Part I provides an introduction to modeling dynamic systems, while Part II offers general modeling methods. Parts III through VIII then apply these methods to model real-world phenomena from chemistry, genetics, ecology, economics, and engineering. A clear, approachable introduction to the modeling process, of interest in any field where real problems can be illuminated by computer simulation.

When managers and ecologists need to make decisions about the environment, they use models to simulate the dynamic systems that interest them. All management decisions affect certain landscapes over time, and those landscapes are composed of intricate webs of dynamic processes that need to be considered in relation to each other. With widespread use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), there is a growing need for complex models corporating an increasing amount of data. The open-source Spatial Modeling Environment (SME) was developed to build upon common modeling software, such as STELLA (R), and Powersim (R), among others, to create, run, analyze, and present spatial models of ecosystems, watersheds, populations, and landscapes. In this book, the creators of the Spatial Modeling Environment discuss and illustrate the uses of SME as a modeling tool for all kinds of complex spatial systems. The authors demonstrate the entire process of spatial modeling, beginning with the conceptual design, continuing through formal implementation and analysis, and finally with the interpretation and presentation of the results.A variety of applications and case studies address particular types of ecological and management problems and help to identify potential problems for modelers. Researchers and students interested in spatial modeling will learn how to simulate the complex dynamics of landscapes. Managers and decision makers will acquire tools for predicting changes in landscapes while learning about both the possibilities and the limitations of simulation models.

Human-in-the-Loop Simulations is a compilation of articles from experts in the design, development, and use of human-in-the-loop simulations. The first section of the handbook consists of papers on fundamental concepts in human-in-the-loop simulations, such as object-oriented simulation development, interface design and development, and performance measurement. The second section includes papers from researchers who utilized HITL simulations to inform models of cognitive processes to include decision making and metacognition. The last section describes human-in-the-loop processes for complex simulation models in trade space exploration and epidemiological analyses. Human-in-the-Loop Simulations is a useful tool for multiple audiences, including graduate students and researchers in engineering and computer science.

The purpose of this book is to present a methodology for designing and tuning fuzzy expert systems in order to identify nonlinear objects; that is, to build input-output models using expert and experimental information. The results of these identifications are used for direct and inverse fuzzy evidence in forecasting and diagnosis problem solving. The book is organised as follows: Chapter 1 presents the basic knowledge about fuzzy sets, genetic algorithms and neural nets necessary for a clear understanding of the rest of this book. Chapter 2 analyzes direct fuzzy inference based on fuzzy if-then rules. Chapter 3 is devoted to the tuning of fuzzy rules for direct inference using genetic algorithms and neural nets. Chapter 4 presents models and algorithms for extracting fuzzy rules from experimental data. Chapter 5 describes a method for solving fuzzy logic equations necessary for the inverse fuzzy inference in diagnostic systems. Chapters 6 and 7 are devoted to inverse fuzzy inference based on fuzzy relations and fuzzy rules. Chapter 8 presents a method for extracting fuzzy relations from data. All the algorithms presented in Chapters 2-8 are validated by computer experiments and illustrated by solving medical and technical forecasting and diagnosis problems. Finally, Chapter 9 includes applications of the proposed methodology in dynamic and inventory control systems, prediction of results of football games, decision making in road accident investigations, project management and reliability analysis.

Finite Element Programs for Structural Vibrations presents detailed descriptions of how to use six computer programs (written in Fortran 77) to determine the resonant frequencies of one, two, and three-dimensional skeletal structures through the finite element method. Chapter 1 is on "The Finite Element Method" and Chapter 2 demonstrates, with the aid of hand calculations, the finite element solution of some smaller structures. Chapter 3 covers "The Modular Approach", and Chapters 4 to 9 describe the six computer programs, with a large number of worked examples. The six computer programs are given in Appendices I through VI, and on a 3 1/2'' disk included with the book. The programs are suitable for use on IBM (or compatible) PC (640K or more) or minicomputer.

Collected articles in this series are dedicated to the development and use of software for earth system modelling and aims at bridging the gap between IT solutions and climate science. The particular topic covered in this volume addresses the usefulness of coupling infrastructures and data management, strategies and tools for pre- and post-processing, and coupling software and strategies in regional and global coupled climate models. This first part in the series of 6 books sets the scene for the following volumes.

Commanding and controlling organizations in extreme situations is a challenging task in military, intelligence, and disaster management. Such command and control must be quick, effective, and considerate when dealing with the changing, complex, and risky conditions of the situation. To enable optimal command and control under extremes, robust structures and efficient operations are required of organizations. This work discusses how to design and conduct virtual experiments on resilient organizational structures and operational practices using modeling and simulation. The work illustrates key aspects of robustly networked organizations and modeled performance of human decision-makers through examples of naval-air defense, counterterrorism operations, and disaster responses.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 17th International Workshop on Job Scheduling Strategies for Parallel Processing, JSSPP 2013, held Boston, MA, USA, in May 2013. The 10 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 20 submissions. The papers cover the following topics parallel scheduling for commercial environments, scientific computing, supercomputing and cluster platforms.

Mobile Intention Recognition addresses problems of practical relevance for mobile system engineers: how can we make mobile assistance systems more intelligent? How can we model and recognize patterns of human behavior which span more than a limited spatial context? This text provides an overview on plan and intention recognition, ranging from the late 1970s to very recent approaches. This overview is unique as it discusses approaches with respect to the specificities of mobile intention recognition. This book covers problems from research on mobile assistance systems using methods from artificial intelligence and natural language processing. It thus addresses an extraordinary interdisciplinary audience.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Information Processing in Computer-Assisted Interventions, IPCAI 2014, held in Fukuoka, Japan, on June 28, 2014. The 28 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 58 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on planning, simulation, patient specific models for computer assisted interventions, medical robotics and surgical navigation, interventional imaging and advanced intra-op visualization, cognition, modeling and context awareness, clinical applications, systems, software, and validation.