Power electronics and variable frequency drives are continuously developing multidisciplinary fields in electrical engineering and it is practically not possible to write a book covering the entire area by one individual specialist. Especially by taking account the recent fast development in the neighboring fields like control theory, computational intelligence and signal processing, which all strongly influence new solutions in control of power electronics and drives. Therefore, this book is written by individual key specialist working on the area of modern advanced control methods which penetrates current implementation of power converters and drives. Although some of the presented methods are still not adopted by industry, they create new solutions with high further research and application potential. The material of the book is presented in the following three parts: Part I: Advanced Power Electronic Control in Renewable Energy Sources (Chapters 1-4), Part II: Predictive Control of Power Converters and Drives (5-7), Part III: Neurocontrol and Nonlinear Control of Power Converters and Drives (8-11). The book is intended for engineers, researchers and students in the field of power electronics and drives who are interested in the use of advanced control methods and also for specialists from the control theory area who like to explore new area of applications.  

This book, now at the third edition, addresses the main control aspects in underwater manipulation tasks. The mathematical model with significant impact on the control strategy is discussed. The problem of controlling a 6-degrees-of-freedoms autonomous underwater vehicle is deeply investigated and a survey of fault detection/tolerant strategies for unmanned underwater vehicles is provided. Inverse kinematics, dynamic and interaction control for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems are then discussed. The code used to generate most of the numerical simulations is made available and briefly discussed.

Forecasting is a crucial function for companies in the fashion industry, but for many real-life forecasting applications in the, the data patterns are notorious for being highly volatile and it is very difficult, if not impossible, to analytically learn about the underlying patterns. As a result, many traditional methods (such as pure statistical models) will fail to make a sound prediction. Over the past decade, advances in artificial intelligence and computing technologies have provided an alternative way of generating precise and accurate forecasting results for fashion businesses. Despite being an important and timely topic, there is currently an absence of a comprehensive reference source that provides up-to-date theoretical and applied research findings on the subject of intelligent fashion forecasting systems. This three-part handbook fulfills this need and covers materials ranging from introductory studies and technical reviews, theoretical modeling research, to intelligent fashion forecasting applications and analysis. This book is suitable for academic researchers, graduate students, senior undergraduate students and practitioners who are interested in the latest research on fashion forecasting.

Single and Multi-Objective Evolutionary Computation (MOEA), Genetic Algorithms (GAs), Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), Fuzzy Controllers (FCs), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Ant colony Optimization (ACO) are becoming omnipresent in almost every intelligent system design. Unfortunately, the application of the majority of these techniques is complex and so requires a huge computational effort to yield useful and practical results. Therefore, dedicated hardware for evolutionary, neural and fuzzy computation is a key issue for designers. With the spread of reconfigurable hardware such as FPGAs, digital as well as analog hardware implementations of such computation become cost-effective. The idea behind this book is to offer a variety of hardware designs for soft computing techniques that can be embedded in any final product. Also, to introduce the successful application of soft computing technique to solve many hard problems encountered during the design of embedded hardware designs. Reconfigurable embedded designs for GAs, ANNs, FCs and PSO are presented and evaluated. Also, the application of quantum-based evolutionary computation and multi-objective evolutionary computation as well as ACO are applied to solve hard problems related to circuit synthesis, IP assignment, mapping and routing of applications on Network-On-Chip infrastructures.

This volume provides the audience with an updated, in-depth and highly coherent material on the conceptually appealing and practically sound information technology of Computational Intelligence applied to the analysis, synthesis and evaluation of social networks. The volume involves studies devoted to key issues of social networks including community structure detection in networks, online social networks, knowledge growth and evaluation, and diversity of collaboration mechanisms. The book engages a wealth of methods of Computational Intelligence along with well-known techniques of linear programming, Formal Concept Analysis, machine learning, and agent modeling. Human-centricity is of paramount relevance and this facet manifests in many ways including personalized semantics, trust metric, and personal knowledge management; just to highlight a few of these aspects. The contributors to this volume report on various essential applications including cyber attacks detection, building enterprise social networks, business intelligence and forming collaboration schemes. Given the subject area, this book is aimed at a broad audience of researchers and practitioners. Owing to the nature of the material being covered and a way it is organized, the volume will appeal to the well-established communities including those active in various disciplines in which social networks, their analysis and optimization are of genuine relevance. Those involved in operations research, management, various branches of engineering, and economics will benefit from the exposure to the subject matter.

Proceedings of the 2013 Chinese Intelligent Automation Conference presents selected research papers from the CIAC’13, held in Yangzhou, China. The topics include e.g. adaptive control, fuzzy control, neural network based control, knowledge based control, hybrid intelligent control, learning control, evolutionary mechanism based control, multi-sensor integration, failure diagnosis, and reconfigurable control. Engineers and researchers from academia, industry, and government can gain an inside view of new solutions combining ideas from multiple disciplines in the field of intelligent automation. Zengqi Sun and Zhidong Deng are professors at the Department of Computer Science, Tsinghua University, China.

The book describes a system for visual surveillance using intelligent cameras. The camera uses robust techniques for detecting and tracking moving objects. The real time capture of the objects is then stored in the database. The tracking data stored in the database is analysed to study the camera view, detect and track objects, and study object behavior. These set of models provide a robust framework for coordinating the tracking of objects between overlapping and non-overlapping cameras, and recording the activity of objects detected by the system.

This monograph by Florian Röhrbein, Germano Veiga and Ciro Natale is an edited collection of 15 authoritative contributions in the area of robot technology transfer between academia and industry. It comprises three parts on Future Industrial Robotics, Robotic Grasping as well as Human-Centered Robots. The book chapters cover almost all the topics nowadays considered ‘hot’ within the robotics community, from reliable object recognition to dexterous grasping, from speech recognition to intuitive robot programming, from mobile robot navigation to aerial robotics, from safe physical human-robot interaction to body extenders. All contributions stem from the results of ECHORD – the European Clearing House for Open Robotics Development, a large-scale integrating project funded by the European Commission within the 7th Framework Programme from 2009 to 2013. ECHORD’s two main pillars were the so-called experiments, 51 small-sized industry-driven research projects and the structured dialog a powerful interaction instrument between the stakeholders. The results described in this volume are expected to shed new light on innovation and technology transfer from academia to industry in the field of robotics.

The main purpose of the present volume is to advance our understanding of the notions of knowledge and context, the connections between them and the ways in which they can be modeled, in particular formalized – a question of prime importance and utmost relevance to such diverse disciplines as philosophy, linguistics, computer science and artificial intelligence and cognitive science. Bringing together essays written by world-leading experts and emerging researchers in epistemology, logic, philosophy of language, linguistics and theoretical computer science, the book examines the formal modeling of knowledge and the knowledge-context link at one or more of three intersections - context and epistemology, epistemology and formalism, formalism and context – and presents a novel range of approaches to the current discussions that the connections between knowledge, language, action, reasoning and context continually enlivens. It develops powerful ideas that will push the relevant fields forward and give a sense of the new directions in which mainstream and formal research on knowledge and context is heading.

Virtually all nontrivial and modern service related problems and systems involve data volumes and types that clearly fall into what is presently meant as "big data", that is, are huge, heterogeneous, complex, distributed, etc. Data mining is a series of processes which include collecting and accumulating data, modeling phenomena, and discovering new information, and it is one of the most important steps to scientific analysis of the processes of services. Data mining application in services requires a thorough understanding of the characteristics of each service and knowledge of the compatibility of data mining technology within each particular service, rather than knowledge only in calculation speed and prediction accuracy. Varied examples of services provided in this book will help readers understand the relation between services and data mining technology. This book is intended to stimulate interest among researchers and practitioners in the relation between data mining technology and its application to other fields.

Proceedings of the 2013 Chinese Intelligent Automation Conference presents selected research papers from the CIAC’13, held in Yangzhou, China. The topics include e.g. adaptive control, fuzzy control, neural network based control, knowledge based control, hybrid intelligent control, learning control, evolutionary mechanism based control, multi-sensor integration, failure diagnosis, and reconfigurable control. Engineers and researchers from academia, industry, and government can gain an inside view of new solutions combining ideas from multiple disciplines in the field of intelligent automation. Zengqi Sun and Zhidong Deng are professors at the Department of Computer Science, Tsinghua University, China.

“Intelligent Routines II: Solving Linear Algebra and Differential Geometry with Sage� contains numerous of examples and problems as well as many unsolved problems. This book extensively applies the successful software Sage, which can be found free online http://www.sagemath.org/. Sage is a recent and popular software for mathematical computation, available freely and simple to use. This book is useful to all applied scientists in mathematics, statistics and engineering, as well for late undergraduate and graduate students of above subjects. It is the first such book in solving symbolically with Sage problems in Linear Algebra and Differential Geometry. Plenty of SAGE applications are given at each step of the exposition.

In this thesis, the author explains the background of problems in quantum estimation, the necessary conditions required for estimation precision benchmarks that are applicable and meaningful for evaluating data in quantum information experiments, and provides examples of such benchmarks. The author develops mathematical methods in quantum estimation theory and analyzes the benchmarks in tests of Bell-type correlation and quantum tomography with those methods. Above all, a set of explicit formulae for evaluating the estimation precision in quantum tomography with finite data sets is derived, in contrast to the standard quantum estimation theory, which can deal only with infinite samples. This is the first result directly applicable to the evaluation of estimation errors in quantum tomography experiments, allowing experimentalists to guarantee estimation precision and verify quantitatively that their preparation is reliable.

The aim of the book is to give an accessible introduction of mathematical models and signal processing methods in speech and hearing sciences for senior undergraduate and beginning graduate students with basic knowledge of linear algebra, differential equations, numerical analysis, and probability. Speech and hearing sciences are fundamental to numerous technological advances of the digital world in the past decade, from music compression in MP3 to digital hearing aids, from network based voice enabled services to speech interaction with mobile phones. Mathematics and computation are intimately related to these leaps and bounds. On the other hand, speech and hearing are strongly interdisciplinary areas where dissimilar scientific and engineering publications and approaches often coexist and make it difficult for newcomers to enter.

With the advent and increasing popularity of Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) and e-learning technologies, the need of automatic assessment and of teacher/tutor support for the two tightly intertwined activities of comprehension of reading materials and of collaboration among peers has grown significantly. In this context, a polyphonic model of discourse derived from Bakhtin’s work as a paradigm is used for analyzing both general texts and CSCL conversations in a unique framework focused on different facets of textual cohesion. As specificity of our analysis, the individual learning perspective is focused on the identification of reading strategies and on providing a multi-dimensional textual complexity model, whereas the collaborative learning dimension is centered on the evaluation of participants’ involvement, as well as on collaboration assessment. Our approach based on advanced Natural Language Processing techniques provides a qualitative estimation of the learning process and enhances understanding as a “mediator of learning� by providing automated feedback to both learners and teachers or tutors. The main benefits are its flexibility, extensibility and nevertheless specificity for covering multiple stages, starting from reading classroom materials, to discussing on specific topics in a collaborative manner and finishing the feedback loop by verbalizing metacognitive thoughts.

This book deals with the growing challenges of using assistive robots in our everyday activities along with providing intelligent assistive services. The presented applications concern mainly healthcare and wellness such as helping elderly people, assisting dependent persons, habitat monitoring in smart environments, well-being, security, etc. These applications reveal also new challenges regarding control theory, mechanical design, mechatronics, portability, acceptability, scalability, security, etc.

The essays in this book look at the question of whether physics can be based on information, or – as John Wheeler phrased it – whether we can get “It from Bit�. They are based on the prize-winning essays submitted to the FQXi essay competition of the same name, which drew over 180 entries. The eighteen contributions address topics as diverse as quantum foundations, entropy conservation, nonlinear logic and countable spacetime. Together they provide stimulating reading for all physics aficionados interested in the possible role(s) of information in the laws of nature. The Foundational Questions Institute, FQXi, catalyzes, supports, and disseminates research on questions at the foundations of physics and cosmology, particularly new frontiers and innovative ideas integral to a deep understanding of reality, but unlikely to be supported by conventional funding sources.

This volume gathers the peer reviewed papers which were presented at the third edition of the International Workshop “Service Orientation in Holonic and Multi-agent Manufacturing and Robotics – SOHOMA’13� organized on June 20-22, 2013 by the Centre of Research in Computer Integrated Manufacturing and Robotics – CIMR Bucharest, and hosted by the University of Valenciennes, France. The book is structured in five parts, each one covering a specific research domain which represents a trend for modern manufacturing control: Distributed Intelligence for Sustainable Manufacturing, Holonic and Multi-Agent Technologies for Manufacturing Planning and Control; Service Orientation in Manufacturing Management and Control, Intelligent Products and Product-driven Automation and Robotics for Manufacturing and Services. These five evolution lines have in common concepts related to service orientation in a distributed planning and control agent-based industrial environment; today it is generally recognized that the Service Oriented Enterprise Architecture paradigm has been looked upon as a suitable and effective approach for industrial automation and management of manufacturing enterprises.

Elucidating the spatial and temporal dynamics of how things connect has become one of the most important areas of research in the 21st century. Network science now pervades nearly every science domain, resulting in new discoveries in a host of dynamic social and natural systems, including: how neurons connect and communicate in the brain, how information percolates within and among social networks, the evolution of science research through co-authorship networks, the spread of epidemics and many other complex phenomena. Over the past decade, advances in computational power have put the tools of network analysis in the hands of increasing numbers of scientists, enabling more explorations of our world than ever before possible. Information science, social sciences, systems biology, ecosystems ecology, neuroscience and physics all benefit from this movement, which combines graph theory with data sciences to develop and validate theories about the world around us. This book brings together cutting-edge research from the network science field and includes diverse and interdisciplinary topics such as: modeling the structure of urban systems, behavior in social networks, education and learning, data network architecture, structure and dynamics of organizations, crime and terrorism, as well as network topology, modularity and community detection.

This book takes a quantitative look at ICT-generated event data to highlight current trends and issues in Nigeria at the local, state and national levels. Without emphasizing a specific policy or agenda, it provides context and perspective on the relative spatial-temporal distribution of conflict factors in Nigeria. The analysis of violence at state and local levels reveals a fractal pattern of overlapping ecosystems of conflict risk that must be understood for effective, conflict-sensitive approaches to development and direct conflict mitigation efforts. Moving beyond analyses that use a broad religious, ethnic or historical lens, this book focuses on the country’s 774 local government areas and incorporates over 10,000 incidents coded by location, date and indicator to identify patterns in conflict risk between 2009 and 2013. It is the first book to track conflict in Nigeria during this period, which covers the Amnesty Agreement in the Niger Delta and the birth of Boko Haram in the North. It also includes conflict risk heat maps of each state and trend-lines of violence. The authors conclude with a discussion of the nuanced factors that lead to escalating violence, such as resource competition and trends in terrorism during this critical point in Nigeria’s history. Violence in Nigeria is designed as a reference for researchers and practitioners working in security, peacebuilding and development, including policy makers, intelligence experts, diplomats, national defense and homeland security experts. Advanced-level students studying public policy, international relations or computer science will also find this book useful as a secondary textbook or reference.

Proceedings of the 2015 Chinese Intelligent Automation Conference presents selected research papers from the CIAC’15, held in Fuzhou, China. The topics include adaptive control, fuzzy control, neural network based control, knowledge based control, hybrid intelligent control, learning control, evolutionary mechanism based control, multi-sensor integration, failure diagnosis, reconfigurable control, etc. Engineers and researchers from academia, industry and the government can gain valuable insights into interdisciplinary solutions in the field of intelligent automation.

The current book is the first publication of a complete overview of machine learning methodologies for the medical and health sector. It was written as a training companion and as a must-read, not only for physicians and students, but also for any one involved in the process and progress of health and health care. In eighty chapters eighty different machine learning methodologies are reviewed, in combination with data examples for self-assessment. Each chapter can be studied without the need to consult other chapters. The amount of data stored in the world's databases doubles every 20 months, and clinicians, familiar with traditional statistical methods, are at a loss to analyze them. Traditional methods have, indeed, difficulty to identify outliers in large datasets, and to find patterns in big data and data with multiple exposure / outcome variables. In addition, analysis-rules for surveys and questionnaires, which are currently common methods of data collection, are, essentially, missing. Fortunately, the new discipline, machine learning, is able to cover all of these limitations. So far medical professionals have been rather reluctant to use machine learning. Also, in the field of diagnosis making, few doctors may want a computer checking them, are interested in collaboration with a computer or with computer engineers. Adequate health and health care will, however, soon be impossible without proper data supervision from modern machine learning methodologies like cluster models, neural networks and other data mining methodologies. Each chapter starts with purposes and scientific questions. Then, step-by-step analyses, using data examples, are given. Finally, a paragraph with conclusion, and references to the corresponding sites of three introductory textbooks, previously written by the same authors, is given.

This book presents the state-of-the-art techniques and recent research progress on Ear Biometrics. Among the various physiological traits, the reasons for the ear to gain much attention in recent years are many folds. It has been found to be a reliable biometrics for human verification and identification. Ears are remarkably consistent and unlike face, it does not change shape with different expressions or age, and remain fixed in the middle of the side of the head against a predictable background. The book contains figures, tables and plots to illustrate the techniques in an easy and lucid manner. The book also provides an extensive literature on the subject, where readers have the benefit of receiving all the relevant material at one place in a very comprehensive manner. This book caters students, academics, researchers, practitioners who are interested in the field of Ear Biometrics and its applications in face recognition and security.

This carefully edited volume is the outcome of the eleventh edition of the Workshop on Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics (WAFR), which is the premier venue showcasing cutting edge research in algorithmic robotics. The eleventh WAFR, which was held August 3-5, 2014 at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, Turkey continued this tradition. This volume contains extended versions of the 42 papers presented at WAFR. These contributions highlight the cutting edge research in classical robotics problems (e.g.  manipulation, motion, path, multi-robot and kinodynamic planning), geometric and topological computation in robotics as well novel applications such as informative path planning, active sensing and surgical planning.  This book - rich by topics and authoritative contributors - is a unique reference on the current developments and new directions in the field of algorithmic foundations.

The aim of this book is to understand the state-of-the-art theoretical and practical advances of swarm intelligence. It comprises seven contemporary relevant chapters. In chapter 1, a review of Bacteria Foraging Optimization (BFO) techniques for both single and multiple criterions problem is presented. A survey on swarm intelligence for multiple and many objectives optimization is presented in chapter 2 along with a topical study on EEG signal analysis. Without compromising the extensive simulation study, a comparative study of variants of MOPSO is provided in chapter 3. Intractable problems like subset and job scheduling problems are discussed in chapters 4 and 7 by different hybrid swarm intelligence techniques. An attempt to study image enhancement by ant colony optimization is made in chapter 5. Finally, chapter 7 covers the aspect of uncertainty in data by hybrid PSO.