This book constitutes the revised selected papers of the 8th International Conference on Networked Systems, NETYS 2020, held in Marrakech, Morocco, in June 2020.*The 18 revised full papers and 4 short papers presented together with 3 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 46 submissions. The papers cover all aspects related to the design and the development of these systems, including, but not restricted to, concurrent and distributed algorithms, parallel/concurrent/distributed programming, multi-core architectures, formal verification, distributed databases, cloud systems, networks, security, formal verification, etc. *The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Verification, Model Checking, and Abstract Interpretation, VMCAI 2021, which was held virtually during January 17-19, 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, but changed to an online event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 23 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed from 48 submissions. VMCAI provides a forum for researchers working on verification, model checking, and abstract interpretation and facilitates interaction, cross-fertilization, and advancement of hybrid methods that combine these and related areas. The papers presented in this volume were organized in the following topical sections: hyperproperties and infinite-state systems; concurrent and distributed systems; checking; synthesis and repair; applications; and decision procedures.

As explored in this open access book, higher education in STEM fields is influenced by many factors, including education research, government and school policies, financial considerations, technology limitations, and acceptance of innovations by faculty and students. In 2018, Drs. Ryoo and Winkelmann explored the opportunities, challenges, and future research initiatives of innovative learning environments (ILEs) in higher education STEM disciplines in their pioneering project: eXploring the Future of Innovative Learning Environments (X-FILEs). Workshop participants evaluated four main ILE categories: personalized and adaptive learning, multimodal learning formats, cross/extended reality (XR), and artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). This open access book gathers the perspectives expressed during the X-FILEs workshop and its follow-up activities. It is designed to help inform education policy makers, researchers, developers, and practitioners about the adoption and implementation of ILEs in higher education.

The 6-volume set, comprising the LNCS books 12535 until 12540, constitutes the refereed proceedings of 28 out of the 45 workshops held at the 16th European Conference on Computer Vision, ECCV 2020. The conference was planned to take place in Glasgow, UK, during August 23-28, 2020, but changed to a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 249 full papers, 18 short papers, and 21 further contributions included in the workshop proceedings were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 467 submissions. The papers deal with diverse computer vision topics. Part IV focusses on advances in image manipulation; assistive computer vision and robotics; and computer vision for UAVs.

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Mobile Networks and Management, MONAMI 2020, held in Chiba, Japan, in November 2020. The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The 19 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 41 submissions. The papers are divided into groups of content as follows: Application of artificial intelligence for smart city; Advanced technology in edge computing; Recent advances in mobile communications and computing; Emerging technologies and applications in mobile networks and management.

This book contains the thoroughly refereed technical papers presented in eight workshops collocated with the International Conference on Software Technologies: Applications and Foundations, STAF 2018, held in Toulouse, France, in June 2018. The 65 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 120 submissions. The events whose papers are included in this volume are: CoSim-CPS 2018: 2nd International Workshop on Formal Co-Simulation of Cyber-Physical Systems DataMod 2018: 7th International Symposium From Data to Models and Back FMIS 2018: 7th International Workshop on Formal Methods for Interactive Systems FOCLASA 2018: 16th International Workshop on Foundations of Coordination Languages and Self-adaptative Systems GCM 2018: 9th International Workshop on Graph Computation Models MDE@DeRun 2018: 1st International Workshop on Model-Driven Engineering for Design-Runtime Interaction in Complex Systems MSE 2018: 3rd International Workshop on Microservices: Science and Engineering SecureMDE 2018: 1st International Workshop on Security for and by Model-Driven Engineering

This book includes extended and revised selected papers from the 8th International Conference on Smart Cities and Green ICT Systems, SMARTGREENS 2019, and the 5th International Conference on Vehicle Technology and Intelligent Transport Systems, VEHITS 2019, held in Heraklion, Crete, Greece, in May 2019. The 17 full papers presented during SMARTGREENS and VEHITS 2019 were carefully reviewed and selected from the 134 submissions. The papers present research on advances and applications in the fiels of smart cities, green information and communication technologies, sustainability, energy aware systems and technologies, vehicle technology and intelligent transport systems.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Verified Software, VSTTE 2020, and the 13th International Workshop on Numerical Software Verification, NSV 2020, held in Los Angeles, CA, USA, in July 2020. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held virtually. The 13 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 21 submissions. The papers describe large-scale verification efforts that involve collaboration, theory unification, tool integration, and formalized domain knowledge as well as novel experiments and case studies evaluating verification techniques and technologies. The conference was co-located with the 32nd International Conference on Computer-Aided Verification (CAV 2020).

This volume contains the technical papers presented in the workshops, which took place at the 7th European Conference on Service-Oriented and Cloud Computing, ESOCC 2018, held in Como, Italy, in September 2018:Joint Cloudways and OptiMoCS Workshop; 14th International Workshop on Engineering Service-Oriented Applications and Cloud Services. Additionally the papers from ESOCC 2018 PhD Symposium and ESOCC 2018 EU Projects Track were included in the volume. The 22 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 34 submissions. The papers focus on specific topics in service-oriented and cloud computing domains such as limits and/or advantages of existing cloud solutions, future internet technologies, efficient and adaptive deployment and management of service-based applications across multiple clouds, novel cloud service migration practices and solutions, digitization of enterprises in the cloud computing era, federated cloud networking services.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Mobile, Secure and Programmable Networking, held in Paris, France, in October 2020.The 16 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 31 submissions. They discuss new trends in networking infrastructures, security, services and applications while focusing on virtualization and cloud computing for networks, network programming, software defined networks (SDN) and their security.

For the development of clinical decision support systems based on Bayesian networks, Mario A. Cypko investigates comprehensive expert models of multidisciplinary clinical treatment decisions and solves challenges in their modeling. The presented methods, models and tools are developed in close and intensive cooperation between knowledge engineers and clinicians. In the course of this study, laryngeal cancer serves as an exemplary treatment decision. The reader is guided through a development process and new opportunities for research and development are opened up: in modeling and validation of workflows, guided modeling, semi-automated modeling, advanced Bayesian networks, model-user interaction, inter-institutional modeling and quality management.

This book constitutes refereed proceedings of the First International First International Conference on Big Data, Machine Learning, and Applications, BigDML 2019, held in Silchar, India, in December. The 6 full papers and 3 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 152 submissions. The papers present research on such topics as computing methodology; machine learning; artificial intelligence; information systems; security and privacy.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 17th International Colloquium on Theoretical Aspects of Computing, ICTAC 2020, which took place during November 30-December 4, 2020. The conference was originally planned to take place in Macau, China, but changed to a virtual only format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 15 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. The book also contains one invited talk in full paper length. The book deals with challenges in both theoretical aspects of computing and the exploitation of theory through methods and tools for system development.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 19th IFIP TC 14 International Conference on Entertainment Computing, ICEC 2020, which was supposed to take place in Xi'an, China, in November 2020, but it was instead held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 21 full papers and 18 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 72 submissions. They cover a large range of topics in the following thematic areas: games; virtual reality and augmented reality; artificial intelligence; edutainment and art; 3D modeling; and animation.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Bioinspired Optimization Methods and Their Applications, BIOMA 2020, held in Brussels, Belgium, in November 2020. The 24 full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 68 submissions. The papers in this BIOMA proceedings specialized in bioinspired algorithms as a means for solving the optimization problems and came in two categories: theoretical studies and methodology advancements on the one hand, and algorithm adjustments and their applications on the other. Due to the Corona pandemic BIOMA 2020 was held as a virtual event.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Social Robotics, ICSR 2020, held in Golden, CO, USA, in November 2020. The conference was held virtually.The 57 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 101 submissions. The theme of the 2020 conference is Entertaining Robots. The papers focus on the following topics: human-robot trust and human-robot teaming, robot understanding and following of social and moral norms, physical and interaction design of social robots, verbal and nonverbal robot communication, interactive robot learning, robot motion and proxemics, and robots in domains such as education and healthcare.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 27th International Symposium on Static Analysis, SAS 2020, held in Chicago, IL, USA, in November 2020.The 14 regular papers presented in this book together with 2 invited talks and 1 extended abstract, were carefully reviewed and selected from 34 submissions. The papers cover topics such as abstract domains; abstract interpretation; automated deduction; data flow analysis; debugging; deductive methods; emerging applications; model-checking; program transformations; predicate abstraction; security analysis; tool environments and architectures; and type checking. Due to the Corona pandemic this event was held virtually.

This book constitutes the joint refereed proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Next Generation Teletraffic and Wired/Wireless Advanced Networks and Systems, NEW2AN 2020, and the 13th Conference on Internet of Things and Smart Spaces, ruSMART 2020. The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The 79 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 225 submissions. The papers of NEW2AN address various aspects of next-generation data networks, with special attention to advanced wireless networking and applications. In particular, they deal with novel and innovative approaches to performance and efficiency analysis of 5G and beyond systems, employed game-theoretical formulations, advanced queuing theory, and stochastic geometry, while also covering the Internet of Things, cyber security, optics, signal processing, as well as business aspects. ruSMART 2020, provides a forum for academic and industrial researchers to discuss new ideas and trends in the emerging areas.

This two-volume set of LNCS 12489 and 12490 constitutes the thoroughly refereed conference proceedings of the 21th International Conference on Intelligent Data Engineering and Automated Learning, IDEAL 2020, held in Guimaraes, Portugal, in November 2020.*The 93 papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 134 submissions. These papers provided a timely sample of the latest advances in data engineering and machine learning, from methodologies, frameworks, and algorithms to applications. The core themes of IDEAL 2020 include big data challenges, machine learning, data mining, information retrieval and management, bio-/neuro-informatics, bio-inspiredmodels, agents and hybrid intelligent systems, real-world applications of intelligent techniques and AI. * The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed proceedings of the 9th International Congress on Telematics and Computing, WITCOM 2020, held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in November 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the conference was held online. The 28 full papers and 3 short papers in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 79 submissions. The papers are focused on the topics of deep and machine learning, cybersecurity, wireless networks, computer vision, communications, and education applied to different sceneries of study and COVID-19.

The three-volume set LNCS 12476 - 12478 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on Leveraging Applications of Formal Methods, ISoLA 2020, which was planned to take place during October 20-30, 2020, on Rhodes, Greece. The event itself was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the proceedings. Each volume focusses on an individual topic with topical section headings within the volume: Part I, Verification Principles: Modularity and (De-)Composition in Verification; X-by-Construction: Correctness meets Probability; 30 Years of Statistical Model Checking; Verification and Validation of Concurrent and Distributed Systems. Part II, Engineering Principles: Automating Software Re-Engineering; Rigorous Engineering of Collective Adaptive Systems. Part III, Applications: Reliable Smart Contracts: State-of-the-art, Applications, Challenges and Future Directions; Automated Verification of Embedded Control Software; Formal methods for DIStributed COmputing in future RAILway systems.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Symposium on Web and Wireless Geographical Information Systems, W2GIS 2019, held in Wuhan, China, in November 2020. The 8 full papers presented together with 15 progress papers or short papers in the volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 40 submissions. The papers cover topics that range from mobile GIS and Location-Based Services to Spatial Information Retrieval and Wireless Sensor Networks

The volume LNAI 12228 constitute the refereed proceedings of the 21th Annual Conference "Towards Autonomous Robotics," TAROS 20120, held in Nottingham, UK, in September 2020.*The 30 full papers and 11 short papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 63 submissions. The papers present and discuss significant findings and advances in autonomous robotics research and applications. They are organized in the following topical sections: soft and compliant robots; mobile robots; learning, mapping and planning; human-robot interaction; and robotic systems and applications. * The conference was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Conference on Distributed Artificial Intelligence, DAI 2020, held in Nanjing, China, in October 2020. The 9 full papers presented in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 22 submissions. DAI aims at bringing together international researchers and practitioners in related areas including general AI, multiagent systems, distributed learning, computational game theory, etc., to provide a single, high-profile, internationally renowned forum for research in the theory and practice of distributed AI. Due to the Corona pandemic this event was held virtually.

A common charge leveled against the autopoietic perspective is that it does not explain change or, consequently, knowledge creation. This book demonstrates that knowledge creation is not always an ongoing process, as is claimed in many process philosophy and autopoietic research works. The author introduces the idea of recursivity, which represents the explanatory potential for uninterrupted knowledge creation and paves the way for interaction between process (e.g. production) and stability (e.g. structure). The book describes the nature and role of recursivity in detail, especially in terms of how a system's structure and production become media for one another. The book also acknowledges the value of the systems perspective on organizations in management studies, but suggests a different approach to defining systems, one that includes autopoietic elements.