The rapid evolution of computer science, communication, and information technology has enabled the application of control techniques to systems beyond the possibilities of control theory just a decade ago. Critical infrastructures such as electricity, water, traffic and intermodal transport networks are now in the scope of control engineers. The sheer size of such large-scale systems requires the adoption of advanced distributed control approaches. Distributed model predictive control (MPC) is one of the promising control methodologies for control of such systems. This book provides a state-of-the-art overview of distributed MPC approaches, while at the same time making clear directions of research that deserve more attention. The core and rationale of 35 approaches are carefully explained. Moreover, detailed step-by-step algorithmic descriptions of each approach are provided. These features make the book a comprehensive guide both for those seeking an introduction to distributed MPC as well as for those who want to gain a deeper insight in the wide range of distributed MPC techniques available.

This book presents and discusses mathematical models, numerical methods and computational techniques used for solving coupled problems in science and engineering. It takes a step forward in the formulation and solution of real-life problems with a multidisciplinary vision, accounting for all of the complex couplings involved in the physical description. Simulation of multifaceted physics problems is a common task in applied research and industry. Often a suitable solver is built by connecting together several single-aspect solvers into a network. In this book, research in various fields was selected for consideration: adaptive methodology for multi-physics solvers, multi-physics phenomena and coupled-field solutions, leading to computationally intensive structural analysis. The strategies which are used to keep these problems computationally affordable are of special interest, and make this an essential book.

This monograph addresses the state of the art of reduced order methods for modeling and computational reduction of complex parametrized systems, governed by ordinary and/or partial differential equations, with a special emphasis on real time computing techniques and applications in computational mechanics, bioengineering and computer graphics. Several topics are covered, including: design, optimization, and control theory in real-time with applications in engineering; data assimilation, geometry registration, and parameter estimation with special attention to real-time computing in biomedical engineering and computational physics; real-time visualization of physics-based simulations in computer science; the treatment of high-dimensional problems in state space, physical space, or parameter space; the interactions between different model reduction and dimensionality reduction approaches; the development of general error estimation frameworks which take into account both model and discretization effects. This book is primarily addressed to computational scientists interested in computational reduction techniques for large scale differential problems.

Mashups have emerged as an innovative software trend that re-interprets existing Web building blocks and leverages the composition of individual components in novel, value-adding ways. Additional appeal also derives from their potential to turn non-programmers into developers. Daniel and Matera have written the first comprehensive reference work for mashups. They systematically cover the main concepts and techniques underlying mashup design and development, the synergies among the models involved at different levels of abstraction and the way models materialize into composition paradigms and architectures of corresponding development tools. The book deliberately takes a balanced approach, combining a scientific perspective on the topic with an in-depth view on relevant technologies. To this end, the first part of the book introduces the theoretical and technological foundations for designing and developing mashups, as well as for designing tools that can aid mashup development. The second part then focuses more specifically on various aspects of mashups. It discusses a set of core component technologies, core approaches and architectural patterns, with a particular emphasis on tool-aided mashup development exploiting model-driven architectures. Development processes for mashups are also discussed and special attention is paid to composition paradigms for the end-user development of mashups and quality issues. Overall, the book is of interest to a wide range of readers. Students, lecturers, and researchers will find a comprehensive overview of core concepts and technological foundations for mashup implementation and composition. Even without low-level coding details, practitioners like software architects will find guidance on key implementation concepts, architectural patterns and development tools and approaches. A related website provides additional teaching material which can be used either as part of a course or for self study.

Cyberwarfare has become an important concern for governmental agencies as well businesses of various types.  This timely volume, with contributions from some of the internationally recognized, leaders in the field, gives readers a glimpse of the new and emerging ways that Computational Intelligence and Machine Learning methods can be applied to address problems related to cyberwarfare. The book includes a number of chapters that can be conceptually divided into three topics: chapters describing different data analysis methodologies with their applications to cyberwarfare, chapters presenting a number of intrusion detection approaches, and chapters dedicated to analysis of possible cyber attacks and their impact. The book provides the readers with a variety of methods and techniques, based on computational intelligence, which can be applied to the broad domain of cyberwarfare.

This book is devoted to the Metacognition arena. It highlights works that show relevant analysis, reviews, theoretical, and methodological proposals, as well as studies, approaches, applications, and tools that shape current state, define trends and inspire future research. As a result of the revision process fourteen manuscripts were accepted and organized into five parts as follows: · Conceptual: contains conceptual works oriented to: (1) review models of strategy instruction and tailor a hybrid strategy; (2) unveil second-order judgments and define a method to assess metacognitive judgments; (3) introduces a conceptual model to describe the metacognitive activity as an autopoietic system. · Framework: offers three works concerned with: (4) stimulate metacognitive skills and self-regulatory functions; (5) evaluate metacognitive skills and self-regulated learning at problem solving; (6) deal with executive management metacognition and strategic knowledge metacognition. · Studies: reports research related to: (7) uncover how metacognitive awareness of listening strategies bias listening proficiency; (8) unveil how metacognitive skills and motivation are achieved in science informal learning; (9) tackle stress at learning by means of coping strategies. · Approaches: focus on the following targets: (10) social metacognition to support collaborative problem solving; (11) metacognitive skills to be stimulated in computer supported collaborative learning; (12) metacognitive knowledge and metacognitive experiences are essential for teaching practices. · Tools: promotes the use of intelligent tutoring systems such as: (13) BioWorld allows learners to practice medical diagnostic by providing virtual patient cases; (14) MetaHistoReasoning provides examples to learners and inquiries about the causes of historical events. This volume will be a source of interest for researchers, practitioners, professors, and postgraduate students aimed at updating their knowledge and finding targets for future work in the metacognition arena.

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.

Legged robots are a promising locomotion system, capable of performing tasks that conventional vehicles cannot. Even more exciting is the fact that this is a rapidly developing field of study for researchers from a variety of disciplines. However, only a few books have been published on the subject of multi-legged robots. The main objective of this book is to describe some of the major control issues concerning walking robots that the authors have faced over the past 10 years. A second objective is to focus especially on very large hydraulically driven hexapod robot locomotion weighing more than 2,000 kg, making this the first specialized book on this topic. The 10 chapters of the book touch on diverse relevant topics such as design aspects, implementation issues, modeling for control, navigation and control, force and impedance control-based walking, fully autonomous walking, walking and working tasks of hexapod robots, and the future of walking robots. The construction machines of the future will very likely resemble hydraulically driven hexapod robots like the ones described in this book – no longer science fiction but now a reality.

Information architecture has changed dramatically since the mid-1990s and earlier conceptions of the world and the internet being different and separate have given way to a much more complex scenario in the present day. In the post-digital world that we now inhabit the digital and the physical blend easily and our activities and usage of information takes place through multiple contexts and via multiple devices and unstable, emergent choreographies. Information architecture now is steadily growing into a channel- or medium-specific multi-disciplinary framework, with contributions coming from architecture, urban planning, design and systems thinking, cognitive science, new media, anthropology. All these have been heavily reshaping the practice: conversations about labelling, websites, and hierarchies are replaced by conversations about sense-making, place-making, design, architecture, cross media, complexity, embodied cognition and their application to the architecture of information spaces as places we live in in an increasingly large part of our lives. Via narratives, frameworks, references, approaches and case-studies this book explores these changes and offers a way to reconceptualize the shifting role and nature of information architecture where information permeates digital and physical space, users are producers and products are increasingly becoming complex cross-channel or multi-channel services.

This book covers original research and the latest advances in symbolic, algebraic and geometric computation; computational methods for differential and difference equations, symbolic-numerical computation; mathematics software design and implementation; and scientific and engineering applications based on features, invited talks, special sessions and contributed papers presented at the 9th (in Fukuoka, Japan in 2009) and 10th (in Beijing China in 2012) Asian Symposium on Computer Mathematics (ASCM). Thirty selected and refereed articles in the book present the conference participants’ ideas and views on researching mathematics using computers.

Distributed robotics is a rapidly growing and maturing interdisciplinary research area lying at the intersection of computer science, network science, control theory, and electrical and mechanical engineering. The goal of the Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS) is to exchange and stimulate research ideas to realize advanced distributed robotic systems. This volume of proceedings includes 31 original contributions presented at the 2012 International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems (DARS 2012) held in November 2012 at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD USA. The selected papers in this volume are authored by leading researchers from Asia, Europa, and the Americas, thereby providing a broad coverage and perspective of the state-of-the-art technologies, algorithms, system architectures, and applications in distributed robotic systems. The book is organized into five parts, representative of critical long-term and emerging research thrusts in the multi-robot community: Coordination for Perception, Coverage, and Tracking; Task Allocation and Coordination Strategies; Modular Robots and Novel Mechanisms and Sensors; Formation Control and Planning for Robot Teams; and Learning, Adaptation, and Cognition for Robot Teams.

Offers a unique multidisciplinary overview of how humans interact with soft objects and how multiple sensory signals are used to perceive material properties, with an emphasis on object deformability. The authors describe a range of setups that have been employed to study and exploit sensory signals involved in interactions with compliant objects as well as techniques to simulate and modulate softness – including a psychophysical perspective of the field. Multisensory Softness focuses on the cognitive mechanisms underlying the use of multiple sources of information in softness perception. Divided into three sections, the first Perceptual Softness deals with the sensory components and computational requirements of softness perception, the second Sensorimotor Softness looks at the motor components of the interaction with soft objects and the final part Artificial Softness focuses on the identification of exploitable guidelines to help replicate softness in artificial environments.

Most of the research efforts dealing with airline scheduling have been done on off-line plan optimization. However, nowadays, with the increasingly complex and huge traffic at airports, the real challenge is how to react to unexpected events that may cause plan-disruptions, leading to flight delays. Moreover these disruptive events usually affect at least three different dimensions of the situation: the aircraft assigned to the flight, the crew assignment and often forgotten, the passengers’ journey and satisfaction. This book includes answers to this challenge and proposes the use of the Multi-agent System paradigm to rapidly compose a multi-faceted solution to the disruptive event taking into consideration possible preferences of those three key aspects of the problem. Negotiation protocols taking place between agents that are experts in solving the different problem dimensions, combination of different utility functions and not less important, the inclusion of the human in the automatic decision-making loop make MASDIMA, the system described in this book, well suited for real-life plan-disruption management applications.

This contributed volume is a result of discussions held at ABICT’13(4th International Workshop on Advances in Business ICT) in Krakow, September 8-11, 2013. The book focuses on Advances in Business ICT approached from a multidisciplinary perspective and demonstrates different ideas and tools for developing and supporting organizational creativity, as well as advances in decision support systems.This book is an interesting resource for researchers, analysts and IT professionals including software designers. The book comprises eleven chapters presenting research results on business analytics in organization, business processes modeling, problems with processing big data, nonlinear time structures and nonlinear time ontology application, simulation profiling, signal processing (including change detection problems), text processing and risk analysis.

This research monograph presents selected areas of applications in the field of control systems engineering using computational intelligence methodologies. A number of applications and case studies are introduced. These methodologies are increasing used in many applications of our daily lives. Approaches include, fuzzy-neural multi model for decentralized identification, model predictive control based on time dependent recurrent neural network development of cognitive systems, developments in the field of Intelligent Multiple Models based Adaptive Switching Control, designing military training simulators using modelling, simulation, and analysis for operational analyses and training, methods for modelling of systems  based on the application of Gaussian processes, computational intelligence techniques for process control and image segmentation technique based on modified particle swarm optimized-fuzzy entropy.

Presenting the first definitive study of the subject, this Handbook of Biometric Anti-Spoofing reviews the state of the art in covert attacks against biometric systems and in deriving countermeasures to these attacks. Topics and features: provides a detailed introduction to the field of biometric anti-spoofing and a thorough review of the associated literature; examines spoofing attacks against five biometric modalities, namely, fingerprints, face, iris, speaker and gait; discusses anti-spoofing measures for multi-model biometric systems; reviews evaluation methodologies, international standards and legal and ethical issues; describes current challenges and suggests directions for future research; presents the latest work from a global selection of experts in the field, including members of the TABULA RASA project.

How does one determine how similar two maps are? This book aims at the theory of spatial similarity relations and its application in automated map generalization, including the definitions, classification and features of spatial similarity relations. Included also are calculation models of spatial similarity relations between arbitrary individual objects and between arbitrary object groups, and the application of the theory in the automation of the algorithms and procedures in map generalization.

Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems focuses on the design of special control and scheduling algorithms based on system structural properties as well as on analysis of the influence of induced time-delay on systems performances. It treats the optimal design of distributed and embedded control systems (DCESs) with respect to communication and calculation-resource constraints, quantization aspects, and potential time-delays induced by the associated communication and calculation model. Particular emphasis is put on optimal control signal scheduling based on the system state. In order to render this complex optimization problem feasible in real time, a time decomposition is based on periodicity induced by the static scheduling is operated. The authors present a co-design approach which subsumes the synthesis of the optimal control laws and the generation of an optimal schedule of control signals on real-time networks as well as the execution of control tasks on a single processor. The authors also operate a control structure modification or a control switching based on a thorough analysis of the influence of the induced time-delay system influence on stability and system performance in order to optimize DCES performance in case of calculation and communication resource limitations. Although the richness and variety of classes of DCES preclude a completely comprehensive treatment or a single “best� method of approaching them all, this co-design approach has the best chance of rendering this problem feasible and finding the optimal or some sub-optimal solution. The text is rounded out with references to such applications as car suspension and unmanned vehicles. Optimal Design of Distributed Control and Embedded Systems will be of most interest to academic researchers working on the mathematical theory of DCES but the wide range of environments in which they are used also promotes the relevance of the text for control practitioners working in the avionics, automotive, energy-production, space exploration and many other industries.

Develops insights into solving complex problems in engineering, biomedical sciences, social science and economics based on artificial intelligence. Some of the problems studied are in interstate conflict, credit scoring, breast cancer diagnosis, condition monitoring, wine testing, image processing and optical character recognition. The author discusses and applies the concept of flexibly-bounded rationality which prescribes that the bounds in Nobel Laureate Herbert Simon’s bounded rationality theory are flexible due to advanced signal processing techniques, Moore’s Law and artificial intelligence. Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Rational Decision Making examines and defines the concepts of causal and correlation machines and applies the transmission theory of causality as a defining factor that distinguishes causality from correlation. It develops the theory of rational counterfactuals which are defined as counterfactuals that are intended to maximize the attainment of a particular goal within the context of a bounded rational decision making process. Furthermore, it studies four methods for dealing with irrelevant information in decision making: Theory of the marginalization of irrelevant information Principal component analysis Independent component analysis Automatic relevance determination method In addition it studies the concept of group decision making and various ways of effecting group decision making within the context of artificial intelligence. Rich in methods of artificial intelligence including rough sets, neural networks, support vector machines, genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, simulated annealing, incremental learning and fuzzy networks, this book will be welcomed by researchers and students working in these areas.

Cognitive Science is a discipline that brings together research in natural and artificial systems and this is clearly reflected in the diverse contributions to From Animals to Robots and Back. In tribute to Aaron Sloman and his pioneering work in Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, the editors have collected a unique collection of cross-disciplinary papers that include work on: ·        intelligent robotics; ·        philosophy of cognitive science; ·        emotional research ·        computational vision; ·        comparative psychology; and ·        human-computer interaction. Key themes such as the importance of taking an architectural view in approaching cognition, run through the text. Drawing on the expertize of leading international researchers, contemporary debates in the study of natural and artificial cognition are addressed from complementary and contrasting perspectives with key issues being outlined at various levels of abstraction. From Animals to Robots and Back, will give readers with backgrounds in the study of both natural and artificial cognition an important window on the state of the art in cognitive systems research.

This volume deals with the very novel issue of cyber laundering. The book investigates the problem of cyber laundering legally and sets out why it is of a grave legal concern locally and internationally. The book looks at the current state of laws and how they do not fully come to grips with the problem. As a growing practice in these modern times, and manifesting through technological innovations, cyber laundering is the birth child of money laundering and cybercrime. It concerns how the internet is used for 'washing' illicit proceeds of crime. In addition to exploring the meaning and ambits of the problem with concrete real-life examples, more importantly, a substantial part of the work innovates ways in which the dilemma can be curbed legally. This volume delves into a very grey area of law, daring a yet unthreaded territory and scouring undiscovered paths where money laundering, cybercrime, information technology and international law converge. In addition to unearthing such complexity, the hallmark of this book is in the innovative solutions and dynamic remedies it postulates.

In the last two decades fractional differential equations have been used more frequently in physics, signal processing, fluid mechanics, viscoelasticity, mathematical biology, electro chemistry and many others. It opens a new and more realistic way to capture memory dependent phenomena and irregularities inside the systems by using more sophisticated mathematical analysis. This monograph is based on the authors’ work on stabilization and control design for continuous and discrete fractional order systems. The initial two chapters and some parts of the third chapter are written in tutorial fashion, presenting all the basic concepts of fractional order system and a brief overview of sliding mode control of fractional order systems. The other parts contain deal with robust finite time stability of fractional order systems, integral sliding mode control of fractional order systems, co-operative control of multi-agent systems modeled as fractional differential equation, robust stabilization of discrete fractional order systems, high performance control using soft variable structure control and contraction analysis by integer and fractional order infinitesimal variations.

This book studies how technological solutions can be used to alleviate the current state of legal systems, with their clogged up courtrooms and inefficient conflict resolution methods. It reviews the shortcomings and disadvantages of traditional and alternative conflict resolution methods and turns to Artificial Intelligence for problem-solving techniques and solutions. The book is divided into four parts. The first part presents a general and systematic analysis of the current state of the legal systems, identifying the main problems and their causes. It then moves on to present UM Court: a framework for testing and prototyping conflict resolution services. This framework was developed with the objective of using Artificial Intelligence techniques to build a service environment for conflict resolution. The third part of the book takes a step into the future by analyzing the use of Intelligent Environments in the support of conflict management and resolution. It describes the approach taken and the experiments performed in the Intelligent Systems Lab of the University of Minho. The final part of the book contains the conclusions and shows the potential advantages of the use of Intelligent Environments as a way to implement better conflict resolution procedures (virtual or real), in which all the participants have access to more and better information and are able to take better informed decisions.

This book presents up-to-date research developments and novel methodologies on fuzzy control systems. It presents solutions to a series of problems with new approaches for the analysis and synthesis of fuzzy time-delay systems and fuzzy stochastic systems, including stability analysis and stabilization, dynamic output feedback control, robust filter design, and model approximation. A set of newly developed techniques such as fuzzy Lyapunov function approach, delay-partitioning, reciprocally convex, cone complementary linearization approach are presented. Fuzzy Control Systems with Time-Delay and Stochastic Perturbation: Analysis and Synthesis is a comprehensive reference for researcher and practitioners working in control engineering, system sciences and applied mathematics, and is also a useful source of information for senior undergraduates and graduates in these areas. The readers will benefit from some new concepts, new models and new methodologies with practical significance in control engineering and signal processing.    

This book presents various recent applications of Artificial Intelligence in Information and Communication Technologies such as Search and Optimization methods, Machine Learning, Data Representation and Ontologies, and Multi-agent Systems. The main aim of this book is to help Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) practitioners in managing efficiently their platforms using AI tools and methods and to provide them with sufficient Artificial Intelligence background to deal with real-life problems.