This book introduces a new set of orthogonal hybrid functions (HF) which approximates time functions in a piecewise linear manner which is very suitable for practical applications. The book presents an analysis of different systems namely, time-invariant system, time-varying system, multi-delay systems---both homogeneous and non-homogeneous type- and the solutions are obtained in the form of discrete samples. The book also investigates system identification problems for many of the above systems. The book is spread over 15 chapters and contains 180 black and white figures, 18 colour figures, 85 tables and 56 illustrative examples. MATLAB codes for many such examples are included at the end of the book.

We are now entering an era where the human world assumes recognition of itself as data. Much of humanity's basis for existence is becoming subordinate to software processes that tabulate, index, and sort the relations that comprise what we perceive as reality. The acceleration of data collection threatens to relinquish ephemeral modes of representation to ceaseless processes of computation. This situation compels the human world to form relations with non-human agencies, to establish exchanges with software processes in order to allow a profound upgrade of our own ontological understanding. By mediating with a higher intelligence, we may be able to rediscover the inner logic of the age of intelligent machines. In The End of the Future, Stephanie Polsky conceives an understanding of the digital through its dynamic intersection with the advent and development of the nation-state, race, colonization, navigational warfare, mercantilism, and capitalism, and the mathematical sciences over the past five centuries, the era during which the world became "modern." The book animates the twenty-first century as an era in which the screen has split off from itself and proliferated onto multiple surfaces, allowing an inverted image of totalitarianism to flash up and be altered to support our present condition of binary apperception. It progresses through a recognition of atomized political power, whose authority lies in the control not of the means of production, but of information, and in which digital media now serves to legitimize and promote a customized micropolitics of identity management. On this new apostolate plane, humanity may be able to shape a new world in which each human soul is captured and reproduced as an autonomous individual bearing affects and identities. The digital infrastructure of the twenty-first century makes it possible for power to operate through an esoteric mathematical means, and for factual material to be manipulated in the interest of advancing the means of control. This volume travels a course from Elizabethan England, to North American slavery, through cybernetic Social Engineering, Cold War counterinsurgency, and the (neo)libertarianism of Silicon Valley in order to arrive at a place where an organizing intelligence that started from an ambition to resourcefully manipulate physical bodies has ended with their profound neutralization.

The book presents the challenges inherent in the paradigm shift of network systems from static to highly dynamic distributed systems - it proposes solutions that the symbiotic nature of biological systems can provide into altering networking systems to adapt to these changes. The author discuss how biological systems - which have the inherent capabilities of evolving, self-organizing, self-repairing and flourishing with time - are inspiring researchers to take opportunities from the biology domain and map them with the problems faced in network domain. The book revolves around the central idea of bio-inspired systems -- it begins by exploring why biology and computer network research are such a natural match. This is followed by presenting a broad overview of biologically inspired research in network systems -- it is classified by the biological field that inspired each topic and by the area of networking in which that topic lies. Each case elucidates how biological concepts have been most successfully applied in various domains. Nevertheless, it also presents a case study discussing the security aspects of wireless sensor networks and how biological solution stand out in comparison to optimized solutions. Furthermore, it also discusses novel biological solutions for solving problems in diverse engineering domains such as mechanical, electrical, civil, aerospace, energy and agriculture. The readers will not only get proper understanding of the bio inspired systems but also better insight for developing novel bio inspired solutions.

This book offers a comprehensive introduction to cooperative game theory and a practice-oriented reference guide to new models and tools for studying bilateral fuzzy relations among several agents or players. It introduces the reader to several fuzzy models, each of which is first analyzed in the context of classical games (crisp games) and subsequently in the context of fuzzy games. Special emphasis is given to the value of Shapley, which is presented for the first time in the context of fuzzy games. Students and researchers will find here a self-contained reference guide to cooperative fuzzy games, characterized by a wealth of examples, descriptions of a wide range of possible situations, step-by-step explanations of the basic mathematical concepts involved, and easy-to-follow information on axioms and properties.

This thesis provides a systematic and integral answer to an open problem concerning the universality of dynamic fuzzy controllers. It presents a number of novel ideas and approaches to various issues including universal function approximation, universal fuzzy models, universal fuzzy stabilization controllers, and universal fuzzy integral sliding mode controllers. The proposed control design criteria can be conveniently verified using the MATLAB toolbox. Moreover, the thesis provides a new, easy-to-use form of fuzzy variable structure control. Emphasis is given to the point that, in the context of deterministic/stochastic systems in general, the authors are in fact discussing non-affine nonlinear systems using a class of generalized T-S fuzzy models, which offer considerable potential in a wide range of applications.

This book introduces the latest research findings in cloud, edge, fog, and mist computing and their applications in various fields using geospatial data. It solves a number of problems of cloud computing and big data, such as scheduling, security issues using different techniques, which researchers from industry and academia have been attempting to solve in virtual environments. Some of these problems are of an intractable nature and so efficient technologies like fog, edge and mist computing play an important role in addressing these issues. By exploring emerging advances in cloud computing and big data analytics and their engineering applications, the book enables researchers to understand the mechanisms needed to implement cloud, edge, fog, and mist computing in their own endeavours, and motivates them to examine their own research findings and developments.

The goal of this book is to provide, in a friendly and refreshing manner, both theoretical concepts and practical techniques for the important and exciting field of Artificial Intelligence that can be directly applied to real-world healthcare problems. Healthcare - the final frontier. Lately, it seems like Pandora opened the box and evil was released into the world. Fortunately, there was one thing left in the box: hope. In recent decades, hope has been increasingly represented by Intelligent Decision Support Systems. Their continuing mission: to explore strange new diseases, to seek out new treatments and drugs, and to intelligently manage healthcare resources and patients. Hence, this book is designed for all those who wish to learn how to explore, analyze and find new solutions for the most challenging domain of all time: healthcare.

This book presents recent research on the evolution of artificial neural development, and searches for learning genes. It is fascinating to see how all biological cells share virtually the same traits, but humans have a decided edge over other species when it comes to intelligence. Although DNA decides the form each particular species takes, does it also account for intelligent behaviour in living beings? The authors explore the factors that are perceived as intelligent behaviour in living beings and the incorporation of these factors in machines using genetic programming, which ultimately provides a platform for exploring the possibility of machines that can learn by themselves, i.e. that can "learn how to learn". The book will be of interest not only to the specialized scientific community pursuing machine intelligence, but also general readers who would like to know more about the incorporation of intelligent behaviour in machines, inspired by the human brain.

This edited book presents scientific results of the 4th International Conference on Applied Computing and Information Technology (ACIT 2016) which was held on December 12-14, 2016 in Las Vegas, USA. The aim of this conference was to bring together researchers and scientists, businessmen and entrepreneurs, teachers, engineers, computer users, and students to discuss the numerous fields of computer science and to share their experiences and exchange new ideas and information in a meaningful way. The aim of this conference was also to bring out the research results about all aspects (theory, applications and tools) of computer and information science, and to discuss the practical challenges encountered along the way and the solutions adopted to solve them. The conference organizers selected the best papers from those papers accepted for presentation at the conference. The papers were chosen based on review scores submitted by members of the Program Committee, and underwent further rigorous rounds of review. This book captures 11 of the conference's most promising papers, and the readers impatiently await the important contributions that they know these authors are going to bring to the field of computer and information science.

This monograph aims to familiarize readers with the problem of evaluating the quality and reliability of digital geographic information in terms of their use. It identifies the key requirements for the functionality of this information and describes the system of evaluating its quality and reliability. The whole text is supplemented by examples that document the impact of different quality of the information on the entire decision-making process in command and control systems at the rescue and military levels. The monograph is primarily intended for professionals who are responsible for the implementation of digital geographic information in command and control systems, or for those who use them in their work. For this reason, particular attention is paid especially to the user aspects of the digital geographic information used. Vaclav Talhofer is Full Professor of Cartography and Geoinformatics at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. Sarka Hoskova-Mayerova is Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. Alois Hofmann is a teacher and scientist of Cartography and Geoinformatics at the University of Defense in Brno, Czech Republic. All authors contributing to this book have been extensively studying the methods and procedures for the use of digital geographic information, especially in the environment of the Czech Armed Forces.

This book emerged out of a project initiated and funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that sought to build on efforts to transform agent-based models into platforms for predicting and evaluating policy responses to real world challenges around the world. It began with the observation that social science theories of human behavior are often used to estimate the consequences of alternative policy responses to important issues and challenges. However, alternative theories that remain subject to contradictory claims are ill suited to inform policy. The vision behind the DARPA project was to mine the social sciences literature for alternative theories of human behavior, and then formalize, instantiate, and integrate them within the context of an agent-based modeling system. The research team developed an experimental platform to evaluate the conditions under which alternative theories and groups of theories applied. The end result was a proof of concept developed from the ground up of social knowledge that could be used as an informative guide for policy analysis. This book describes in detail the process of designing and implementing a pilot system that helped DARPA assess the feasibility of a computational social science project on a large scale.

Computational Intelligence in Biomedical Imaging is a comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art computational intelligence research and technologies in biomedical images with emphasis on biomedical decision making. Biomedical imaging offers useful information on patients' medical conditions and clues to causes of their symptoms and diseases. Biomedical images, however, provide a large number of images which physicians must interpret. Therefore, computer aids are demanded and become indispensable in physicians' decision making. This book discusses major technical advancements and research findings in the field of computational intelligence in biomedical imaging, for example, computational intelligence in computer-aided diagnosis for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and brain disease, in lung function analysis, and in radiation therapy. The book examines technologies and studies that have reached the practical level, and those technologies that are becoming available in clinical practices in hospitals rapidly such as computational intelligence in computer-aided diagnosis, biological image analysis, and computer-aided surgery and therapy.

Information is becoming the raw material of modern society; it is the driving force of modern service industries. Our information spaces have been pervaded by technology and are characterized by their increasing size and complexity. Furthermore, access to information spaces and the ability to use them effectively and efficiently have become key economic success factors. Interdisciplinary Advances in Adaptive and Intelligent Assistant Systems: Concepts, Techniques, Applications, and Use encourages knowledge on effective and efficient approaches to accessing information spaces. It fosters an emerging key competence: accessing and processing large, highly complex corpora of information by applying collaborative, intelligent technical systems. It is the mission of this book to trigger interdisciplinary research and cooperation at the intersection between information sciences, information technologies and communication sciences. This publication also raises awareness of the field s importance in business and management communities, thus contributing to the dissemination of scientific ideas and insights.

Future technical systems will be companion systems, competent assistants that provide their functionality in a completely individualized way, adapting to a user's capabilities, preferences, requirements, and current needs, and taking into account both the emotional state and the situation of the individual user. This book presents the enabling technology for such systems. It introduces a variety of methods and techniques to implement an individualized, adaptive, flexible, and robust behavior for technical systems by means of cognitive processes, including perception, cognition, interaction, planning, and reasoning. The technological developments are complemented by empirical studies from psychological and neurobiological perspectives.

This book focuses on a combination of theoretical advances in the Internet of Things, cloud computing and its real-life applications to serve society. The book discusses technological innovations, authentication, mobility support and security, group rekeying schemes and a range of concrete applications. The Internet has restructured not only global interrelations, but also an unbelievable number of personal characteristics. Machines are increasingly able to control innumerable autonomous gadgets via the Internet, creating the Internet of Things, which facilitates intelligent communication between humans and things, and among things. The Internet of Things is an active area of current research, and technological advances have been supported by real-life applications to establish their soundness. The material in this book includes concepts, figures, graphs, and tables to guide researchers through the Internet of Things and its applications for society.

The book consists of 35 extended chapters which have been selected and invited from the submissions to the 4th International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence Technologies and Applications (ICCCI 2012) held on November 28-30, 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The book is organized into six parts, which are semantic web and ontologies, social networks and e-learning, agent and multiagent systems, data mining methods and applications, soft computing, and optimization and control, respectively. All chapters in the book discuss theoretical and practical issues connected with computational collective intelligence and related technologies. The editors hope that the book can be useful for graduate and Ph.D. students in Computer Science, in particular participants in courses on Soft Computing, Multiagent Systems, and Data Mining. This book can be also useful for researchers working on the concept of computational collective intelligence in artificial populations. It is the hope of the editors that readers of this volume can find many inspiring ideas and use them to create new cases of intelligent collectives. Many such challenges are suggested by particular approaches and models presented in individual chapters of this book. The editors hope that readers of this volume can find many inspiring ideas and influential practical examples and use them in their future work.

This book presents adaptive logics as an intuitive and powerful framework for modeling defeasible reasoning. It examines various contexts in which defeasible reasoning is useful and offers a compact introduction into adaptive logics. The author first familiarizes readers with defeasible reasoning, the adaptive logics framework, combinations of adaptive logics, and a range of useful meta-theoretic properties. He then offers a systematic study of adaptive logics based on various applications. The book presents formal models for defeasible reasoning stemming from different contexts, such as default reasoning, argumentation, and normative reasoning. It highlights various meta-theoretic advantages of adaptive logics over other logics or logical frameworks that model defeasible reasoning. In this way the book substantiates the status of adaptive logics as a generic formal framework for defeasible reasoning.

The book studies the existing and potential connections between Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Formal Concept Analysis (FCA) by showing how standard SNA techniques, usually based on graph theory, can be supplemented by FCA methods, which rely on lattice theory. The book presents contributions to the following areas: acquisition of terminological knowledge from social networks, knowledge communities, individuality computation, other types of FCA-based analysis of bipartite graphs (two-mode networks), multimodal clustering, community detection and description in one-mode and multi-mode networks, adaptation of the dual-projection approach to weighted bipartite graphs, extensions to the Kleinberg's HITS algorithm as well as attributed graph analysis.

This book offers an essential guide to IoT Security, Smart Cities, IoT Applications, etc. In addition, it presents a structured introduction to the subject of destination marketing and an exhaustive review on the challenges of information security in smart and intelligent applications, especially for IoT and big data contexts. Highlighting the latest research on security in smart cities, it addresses essential models, applications, and challenges. Written in plain and straightforward language, the book offers a self-contained resource for readers with no prior background in the field. Primarily intended for students in Information Security and IoT applications (including smart cities systems and data heterogeneity), it will also greatly benefit academic researchers, IT professionals, policymakers and legislators. It is well suited as a reference book for both undergraduate and graduate courses on information security approaches, the Internet of Things, and real-world intelligent applications.

This book highlights some of the most fascinating current uses, thought-provoking changes, and biggest challenges that Big Data means for our society. The explosive growth of data and advances in Big Data analytics have created a new frontier for innovation, competition, productivity, and well-being in almost every sector of our society, as well as a source of immense economic and societal value. From the derivation of customer feedback-based insights to fraud detection and preserving privacy; better medical treatments; agriculture and food management; and establishing low-voltage networks - many innovations for the greater good can stem from Big Data. Given the insights it provides, this book will be of interest to both researchers in the field of Big Data, and practitioners from various fields who intend to apply Big Data technologies to improve their strategic and operational decision-making processes.

This book presents the state of the art in reinforcement learning applied to robotics both in terms of novel algorithms and applications. It discusses recent approaches that allow robots to learn motor.

skills and presents tasks that need to take into account the dynamic behavior of the robot and its environment, where a kinematic movement plan is not sufficient. The book illustrates a method that learns to generalize parameterized motor plans which is obtained by imitation or reinforcement learning, by adapting a small set of global parameters and appropriate kernel-based reinforcement learning algorithms. The presented applications explore highly dynamic tasks and exhibit a very efficient learning process. All proposed approaches have been extensively validated with benchmarks tasks, in simulation and on real robots. These tasks correspond to sports and games but the presented techniques are also applicable to more mundane household tasks. The book is based on the first author s doctoral thesis, which won the 2013 EURON Georges Giralt PhD Award."

Membrane Computing was introduced as a computational paradigm in Natural Computing. The models introduced, called Membrane (or P) Systems, provide a coherent platform to describe and study living cells as computational systems. Membrane Systems have been investigated for their computational aspects and employed to model problems in other fields, like: Computer Science, Linguistics, Biology, Economy, Computer Graphics, Robotics, etc. Their inherent parallelism, heterogeneity and intrinsic versatilityallow them to model a broad range of processes and phenomena, being also an efficient means to solve and analyze problems in a novel way.

Membrane Computing has been used to model biological systems, becoming with time a thorough modeling paradigm comparable, in its modeling and predicting capabilities, to more established models in this area. This book is the result of the need to collect, in an organic way, different facets of this paradigm.

The chapters of this book, together with the web pages accompanying them, present different applications of Membrane Systems to Biology. Deterministic, non-deterministic and stochastic systems paired with different algorithms and methodologies show the full potential of this framework.

The book is addressed to researchers interested in applications of discrete biological models and the interplay between Membrane Systems and other approaches to analyze complex systems."

This book makes available a self-contained collection of modern research addressing the general constrained optimization problems using evolutionary algorithms. Broadly the topics covered include constraint handling for single and multi-objective optimizations; penalty function based methodology; multi-objective based methodology; new constraint handling mechanism; hybrid methodology; scaling issues in constrained optimization; design of scalable test problems; parameter adaptation in constrained optimization; handling of integer, discrete and mix variables in addition to continuous variables; application of constraint handling techniques to real-world problems; and constrained optimization in dynamic environment. There is also a separate chapter on hybrid optimization, which is gaining lots of popularity nowadays due to its capability of bridging the gap between evolutionary and classical optimization. The material in the book is useful to researchers, novice, and experts alike. The book will also be useful for classroom teaching and future research.