This book focuses on the emergence of creative ideas from cognitive and social dynamics. In particular, it presents data, models, and analytical methods grounded in a network dynamics approach. It has long been hypothesized that innovation arises from a recombination of older ideas and concepts, but this has been studied primarily at an abstract level. In this book, we consider the networks underlying innovation - from the brain networks supporting semantic cognition to human networks such as brainstorming groups or individuals interacting through social networks - and relate the emergence of ideas to the structure and dynamics of these networks. Methods described include experimental studies with human participants, mathematical evaluation of novelty from group brainstorming experiments, neurodynamical modeling of conceptual combination, and multi-agent modeling of collective creativity. The main distinctive features of this book are the breadth of perspectives considered, the integration of experiments with theory, and a focus on the combinatorial emergence of ideas.

This unique book gathers various scientific and mathematical approaches to and descriptions of the natural and physical world stemming from a broad range of mathematical areas - from model systems, differential equations, statistics, and probability - all of which scientifically and mathematically reveal the inherent beauty of natural and physical phenomena. Topics include Archimedean and Non-Archimedean approaches to mathematical modeling; thermography model with application to tungiasis inflammation of the skin; modeling of a tick-Killing Robot; various aspects of the mathematics for Covid-19, from simulation of social distancing scenarios to the evolution dynamics of the coronavirus in some given tropical country to the spatiotemporal modeling of the progression of the pandemic. Given its scope and approach, the book will benefit researchers and students of mathematics, the sciences and engineering, and everyone else with an appreciation for the beauty of nature. The outcome is a mathematical enrichment of nature's beauty in its various manifestations. This volume honors Dr. John Adam, a Professor at Old Dominion University, USA, for his lifetime achievements in the fields of mathematical modeling and applied mathematics. Dr. Adam has published over 110 papers and authored several books.

What causes one system to break down and another to rebound? Are we merely subject to the whim of forces beyond our control? Or, in the face of constant disruption, can we build better shock absorbers--for ourselves, our communities, our economies, and for the planet as a whole?
Reporting firsthand from the coral reefs of Palau to the back streets of Palestine, Andrew Zolli and Ann Marie Healy relate breakthrough scientific discoveries, pioneering social and ecological innovations, and important new approaches to constructing a more resilient world. Zolli and Healy show how this new concept of resilience is a powerful lens through which we can assess major issues afresh: from business planning to social develop-ment, from urban planning to national energy security--circumstances that affect us all.
Provocative, optimistic, and eye-opening, Resilience sheds light on why some systems, people, and communities fall apart in the face of disruption and, ultimately, how they can learn to bounce back.

This book describes concepts and tools needed for water resources management, including methods for modeling, simulation, optimization, big data analysis, data mining, remote sensing, geographical information system, game theory, conflict resolution, System dynamics, agent-based models, multiobjective, multicriteria, and multiattribute decision making and risk and uncertainty analysis, for better and sustainable management of water resources and consumption, thus mitigating the present and future global water shortage crisis. It presents the applications of these tools through case studies which demonstrate its benefits of proper management of water resources systems. This book acts as a reference for students, professors, industrial practitioners, and stakeholders in the field of water resources and hydrology.

Everyone wants privacy and security online, something that most computer users have more or less given up on as far as their personal data is concerned. There is no shortage of good encryption software, and no shortage of books, articles and essays that purport to be about how to use it. Yet there is precious little for ordinary users who want just enough information about encryption to use it safely and securely and appropriately--WITHOUT having to become experts in cryptography.

Data encryption is a powerful tool, if used properly. Encryption turns ordinary, readable data into what looks like gibberish, but gibberish that only the end user can turn back into readable data again. The difficulty of encryption has much to do with deciding what kinds of threats one needs to protect against and then using the proper tool in the correct way. It's kind of like a manual transmission in a car: learning to drive with one is easy; learning to build one is hard.

The goal of this title is to present just enough for an average reader to begin protecting his or her data, immediately. Books and articles currently available about encryption start out with statistics and reports on the costs of data loss, and quickly get bogged down in cryptographic theory and jargon followed by attempts to comprehensively list all the latest and greatest tools and techniques. After step-by-step walkthroughs of the download and install process, there's precious little room left for what most readers really want: how to encrypt a thumb drive or email message, or digitally sign a data file.

There are terabytes of content that explain how cryptography works, why it's important, and all the different pieces of software that can be used to do it; there is precious little content available that couples concrete threats to data with explicit responses to those threats. This title fills that niche.

By reading this title readers will be provided with a step by step hands-on guide that includes:

Simple descriptions of actual threat scenarios

Simple, step-by-step instructions for securing data

How to use open source, time-proven and peer-reviewed cryptographic software

Easy to follow tips for safer computing

Unbiased and platform-independent coverage of encryption tools and techniques
Simple descriptions of actual threat scenarios Simple, step-by-step instructions for securing dataHow to use open source, time-proven and peer-reviewed cryptographic software Easy-to-follow tips for safer computing Unbiased and platform-independent coverage of encryption tools and techniques

This book discusses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for agricultural economics. It is written with a view towards bringing the benefits of advanced analytics and prognostics capabilities to small scale farmers worldwide. This volume provides data science and software engineering teams with the skills and tools to fully utilize economic models to develop the software capabilities necessary for creating lifesaving applications. The book introduces essential agricultural economic concepts from the perspective of full-scale software development with the emphasis on creating niche blue ocean products. Chapters detail several agricultural economic and AI reference architectures with a focus on data integration, algorithm development, regression, prognostics model development and mathematical optimization. Upgrading traditional AI software development paradigms to function in dynamic agricultural and economic markets, this volume will be of great use to researchers and students in agricultural economics, data science, engineering, and machine learning as well as engineers and industry professionals in the public and private sectors.

This handbook presents state-of-the-art research in reinforcement learning, focusing on its applications in the control and game theory of dynamic systems and future directions for related research and technology. The contributions gathered in this book deal with challenges faced when using learning and adaptation methods to solve academic and industrial problems, such as optimization in dynamic environments with single and multiple agents, convergence and performance analysis, and online implementation. They explore means by which these difficulties can be solved, and cover a wide range of related topics including: deep learning; artificial intelligence; applications of game theory; mixed modality learning; and multi-agent reinforcement learning. Practicing engineers and scholars in the field of machine learning, game theory, and autonomous control will find the Handbook of Reinforcement Learning and Control to be thought-provoking, instructive and informative.

This monograph provides a comprehensive exploration of new tools for modelling, analysis, and control of networked dynamical systems. Expanding on the authors' previous work, this volume highlights how local exchange of information and cooperation among neighboring agents can lead to emergent global behaviors in a given networked dynamical system. Divided into four sections, the first part of the book begins with some preliminaries and the general networked dynamical model that is used throughout the rest of the book. The second part focuses on synchronization of networked dynamical systems, synchronization with non-expansive dynamics, periodic solutions of networked dynamical systems, and modulus consensus of cooperative-antagonistic networks. In the third section, the authors solve control problems with input constraint, large delays, and heterogeneous dynamics. The final section of the book is devoted to applications, studying control problems of spacecraft formation flying, multi-robot rendezvous, and energy resource coordination of power networks. Modelling, Analysis, and Control of Networked Dynamical Systems will appeal to researchers and graduate students interested in control theory and its applications, particularly those working in networked control systems, multi-agent systems, and cyber-physical systems. This volume can also be used in advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on networked control systems and multi-agent systems.

The discipline of engineering presumes certain foundational truths that are not reducible to mathematical formulas. It presupposes certain things about creativity, beauty, and abstraction in order to operate effectively. In short, engineering relies on philosophy. Conversely, philosophy can draw profound truths from principles derived from engineering experience. Engineering and the Ultimate crosses boundaries between a wide variety of disciplines to find truths both new and old that can be transformative to modern thought and practice.

The past few years have seen the attention and rapid developments in event-triggered sampled-data systems, in which the effect of event-triggered sensor measurements and controller updates is explored in controller analysis and design. This book offers the first systematic treatment of event-triggered sampled-data control system design using active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), an effective approach that is popular in both theoretic research and industrial applications. Extensive application examples with numerous illustrations are included to show how the event-triggered ADRC with theoretic performance guarantees can be implemented in engineering systems and how the performance can be actually achieved. For theoretic researchers and graduate students, the presented results provide new directions in theoretic research on event-triggered sampled-data systems; for control practitioners, the book offers an effective approach to achieving satisfactory performance with limited sampling rates.

This book includes the original, peer reviewed research articles from the 2nd International Conference on Cybernetics, Cognition and Machine Learning Applications (ICCCMLA 2020), held in August, 2020 at Goa, India. It covers the latest research trends or developments in areas of data science, artificial intelligence, neural networks, cognitive science and machine learning applications, cyber physical systems and cybernetics.

This book reports on the latest knowledge concerning critical phenomena arising in fluid-structure interaction due to movement and/or deformation of bodies. The focus of the book is on reporting progress in understanding turbulence and flow control to improve aerodynamic / hydrodynamic performance by reducing drag, increasing lift or thrust and reducing noise under critical conditions that may result in massive separation, strong vortex dynamics, amplification of harmful instabilities (flutter, buffet), and flow -induced vibrations. Theory together with large-scale simulations and experiments have revealed new features of turbulent flow in the boundary layer over bodies and in thin shear layers immediately downstream of separation. New insights into turbulent flow interacting with actively deformable structures, leading to new ways of adapting and controlling the body shape and vibrations to respond to these critical conditions, are investigated. The book covers new features of turbulent flows in boundary layers over wings and in shear layers immediately downstream: studies of natural and artificially generated fluctuations; reduction of noise and drag; and electromechanical conversion topics. Smart actuators as well as how smart designs lead to considerable benefits compared with conventional methods are also extensively discussed. Based on contributions presented at the IUTAM Symposium "Critical Flow Dynamics involving Moving/Deformable Structures with Design applications", held in June 18-22, 2018, in Santorini, Greece, the book provides readers with extensive information about current theories, methods and challenges in flow and turbulence control, and practical knowledge about how to use this information together with smart and bio-inspired design tools to improve aerodynamic and hydrodynamic design and safety.

This book provides awareness of methods used for functional encryption in the academic and professional communities. The book covers functional encryption algorithms and its modern applications in developing secure systems via entity authentication, message authentication, software security, cyber security, hardware security, Internet of Thing (IoT), cloud security, smart card technology, CAPTCHA, digital signature, and digital watermarking. This book is organized into fifteen chapters; topics include foundations of functional encryption, impact of group theory in cryptosystems, elliptic curve cryptography, XTR algorithm, pairing based cryptography, NTRU algorithms, ring units, cocks IBE schemes, Boneh-Franklin IBE, Sakai-Kasahara IBE, hierarchical identity based encryption, attribute based Encryption, extensions of IBE and related primitives, and digital signatures. Explains the latest functional encryption algorithms in a simple way with examples; Includes applications of functional encryption in information security, application security, and network security; Relevant to academics, research scholars, software developers, etc.

The regulation and flow of information continues to have a critical impact upon how people live their lives and the way society functions. In recent times, disinformation and privacy violation have become the 'information pollution' of the 21st century. This book explores ways and means of protecting the 'information environment' by drawing upon four theories of contemporary environmentalism: welfare economics, the commons, ecology, and public choice theory. Welfare economics highlights the need to focus on costs (as well as benefits) when evaluating regulatory structures. The commons encourages queries about the validity of propertisation. Ecology speaks to the importance of diversity and resilience. And public choice theory hazards against the regulatory effect of concentrated interests. The lessons from each inspire the proposed information environmental governance framework. By neatly capturing the metaphorical relationship between the physical environment and the information environment, Robert Cunningham explores progressive regulatory pathways for the digital age. This book will be a thought-provoking read for scholars and students with an interest in intellectual property or the regulation of information.

Force and Position Control of Mechatronic Systems provides an overview of the general concepts and technologies in the area of force and position control. Novel ideas and innovations related to this area are presented and reported in detail, and examples of applications in medical technology are given. The book begins by introducing force sensing, and modelling of contacting objects. In then moves steadily through a variety of topics, including: * disturbance observer-based force estimation; * force-based supervisory control; * stabilization systems; * controller design; and * control of tube insertion procedures. This book will be of interest to researchers, engineers and students interested in force control, particularly those with a focus on medical applications of these ideas. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

Despite their widespread impact, computer networks that provide the foundation for the World Wide Web and Internet have many limitations. These networks are vulnerable to security threats, break easily, and have a limited ability to respond to changing conditions. Recent research on overcoming these limitations has used biological systems for inspiration, resulting in the development of biologically-inspired computer networks. These networks are designed and developed using principles that are commonly found in natural and biological systems. Biologically Inspired Networking and Sensing: Algorithms and Architectures offers current perspectives and trends in biologically-inspired networking, exploring various approaches aimed at improving network paradigms. Research contained within this compendium of papers and surveys introduces studies in the fields of communication networks, performance modeling, and distributed computing, as well as new advances in networking.

This book presents several novel constructive methodologies for global stabilization and H-infinity control in switched dynamic systems by using the systems' structure information. The main features of these new approaches are twofold: i) Novel Lyapunov functions are constructed and new switching strategies are designed to guarantee global finite-time stabilization of the closed-loop switched dynamic systems,while ii) without posing any internal stability requirements on subsystems, the standard H-infinity control problem of the switched dynamic systems is solved by means of dwell-time switching techniques. Systematically presenting constructive methods for analyzing and synthesizing switched systems, the content is of great significance to theoretical research and practical applications involving switched systems alike. The book provides a unified framework for stability analysis, stabilization and H-infinity control of switched systems, making it a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students who want to learn about the state of the art in the analysis and synthesis of switched systems, as well as recent advances in switched linear systems. In addition, it offers a wealth of cutting-edge constructive methods and algorithm designs for researchers who work with switched dynamic systems and graduate students of control theory and control engineering.

This book introduces the technological innovations of robotic vehicles. It presents the concepts required for self-driving cars on the road. Besides, readers can gain invaluable knowledge in the construction, programming, and control of the six-legged robot. The book also presents the controllers and aerodynamics of several different types of rotorcrafts. It includes the simulation and flight of the various kinds of rotor-propelled air vehicles under each of their different aerodynamics environment. The book is suitable for academia, educators, students, and researchers who are interested in autonomous vehicles, robotics, and rotor-propelled vehicles.

This book features extended versions of selected papers from the International Conference on Computer Communication and Internet of Things (ICCCIoT 2020). Presenting recent research addressing new trends and challenges, and promising technologies and developments, it covers various topics related to IoT (Internet of Things) and communications, and machine learning for applications such as energy management systems, smart asthma alerts, smart irrigation systems, cloud healthcare systems, preventing side channel attacks, and cooperative spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks.