This book introduces state-of-the-art research on virtual reality, simulation and serious games for education and its chapters presented the best papers from the 4th Asia-Europe Symposium on Simulation and Serious Games (4th AESSSG) held in Turku, Finland, December 2018. The chapters of the book present a multi-facet view on different approaches to deal with challenges that surround the uptake of educational applications of virtual reality, simulations and serious games in school practices. The different approaches highlight challenges and potential solutions and provide future directions for virtual reality, simulation and serious games research, for the design of learning material and for implementation in classrooms. By doing so, the book is a useful resource for both students and scholars interested in research in this field, for designers of learning material, and for practitioners that want to embrace virtual reality, simulation and/or serious games in their education.

The Internet of Things has become a major influence on the development of new technologies and innovations. When combined with smart services, the end-user experience can be significantly enhanced. Novel Design and the Applications of Smart-M3 Platforms in the Internet of Things: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides an innovative outlook on the development of open source technology for the creation of smart spaces and services. Including a range of relevant topics such as interoperability, system architecture, and information processing, this book is an ideal reference source for academics, researchers, graduate students, and practitioners interested in the latest advancements in the Internet of things.

This book takes a deep dive into ubiquitous computing for applications in health, business, education, tourism, and transportation. The rich interdisciplinary contents of the book appeal to readers from diverse disciplines who aspire to create new and innovative research initiatives and applications in ubiquitous computing. Topics include condition monitoring and diagnostics; multi-objective optimization in design, multi-objective optimization of machining parameters, and more. The book benefits researchers, advanced students, as well as practitioners interested in applications of ubiquitous computing. Features practical, tested applications in ubiquitous computing Includes applications such as health, business, education, electronics, tourism, and transportation Applicable to researchers, academics, students, and professionals

This book provides the readers with a timely guide to the application and integration of interdisciplinary principles from the fields of kinetic design, mechanics, energy and materials engineering in the fields of architecture and engineering design. It explores the potential integration of autoreactive solutions, unpowered kinetic systems triggered by changes in the surrounding latent energy conditions, within man-made artefacts with added functionality and efficiency. Related interdisciplinary parameters are explored discussing morphology, mechanics, energy and materials in detail. Each chapter examines the implications of autoreactivity in one specific field, providing a general overview and listing relevant motion design parameters and identifying for the reader those aspects that have a high potential to open up for new design directions. The book guides readers through a highly multidisciplinary field of design, offering an extraordinary resource of knowledge for professional architects, engineers and designers, as well as for university teachers, researchers and students. Interdisciplinary research is presented throughout the book as a powerful resource that can serve architecture and design, and a learning method to rethink innovative, optimal and sustainable solutions.

This book highlights new trends and challenges in intelligent systems, which play an essential part in the digital transformation of many areas of science and practice. It includes papers offering a deeper understanding of the human-centred perspective on artificial intelligence, of intelligent value co-creation, ethics, value-oriented digital models, transparency, and intelligent digital architectures and engineering to support digital services and intelligent systems, the transformation of structures in digital business and intelligent systems based on human practices, as well as the study of interaction and co-adaptation of humans and systems. All papers were originally presented at the International KES Conference on Human Centred Intelligent Systems 2021 (KES HCIS 2021) held on June 14-16, 2021 in the KES Virtual Conference Centre.

With the proliferation of devices connected to the internet and connected to each other, the volume of data collected, stored, and processed is increasing every day, which brings new challenges in terms of information security. As big data expands with the help of public clouds, traditional security solutions tailored to private computing infrastructures and confined to a well-defined security perimeter, such as firewalls and demilitarized zones (DMZs), are no longer effective. New security functions are required to work over the heterogenous composition of diverse hardware, operating systems, and network domains. Security, Privacy, and Forensics Issues in Big Data is an essential research book that examines recent advancements in big data and the impact that these advancements have on information security and privacy measures needed for these networks. Highlighting a range of topics including cryptography, data analytics, and threat detection, this is an excellent reference source for students, software developers and engineers, security analysts, IT consultants, academicians, researchers, and professionals.

This edited volume explores the intersection between philosophy and computing. It features work presented at the 2016 annual meeting of the International Association for Computing and Philosophy. The 23 contributions to this volume neatly represent a cross section of 40 papers, four keynote addresses, and eight symposia as they cut across six distinct research agendas. The volume begins with foundational studies in computation and information, epistemology and philosophy of science, and logic. The contributions next examine research into computational aspects of cognition and philosophy of mind. This leads to a look at moral dimensions of man-machine interaction as well as issues of trust, privacy, and justice. This multi-disciplinary or, better yet, a-disciplinary investigation reveals the fruitfulness of erasing distinctions among and boundaries between established academic disciplines. This should come as no surprise. The computational turn itself is a-disciplinary and no former discipline, whether scientific, artistic, or humanistic, has remained unchanged. Rigorous reflection on the nature of these changes opens the door to inquiry into the nature of the world, what constitutes our knowledge of it, and our understanding of our place in it. These investigations are only just beginning. The contributions to this volume make this clear: many encourage further research and end with open questions.

Social media is arguably one of the most powerful technology-enabled innovations since the Internet itself. This single-volume book provides a broad and easily understandable discussion of the evolution of social media; related problems and controversies, especially for youth; key people and organizations; and useful social media data. Social media is an integral part of people's lives. More than half of the world's 2.4 billion Internet users sign in to a social network regularly-a figure that continues to grow. More than half of online adults now use two or more social media sites; 71 percent of Internet users are on Facebook. This book surveys the history of social media, addresses the power of social media for positive change, describes the problems and controversies social media have caused, and suggests potential solutions to these issues. Geared toward students and general readers, this accessibly written book covers such topics as the link between social media and body image, the psychological affects of social media use, online conversations about sexual assault, corporate use of social media data, political campaigning through social media, fan tweeting during television shows, and crisis communication through social media. Readers will also gain insights into the range of serious problems related to social media, including privacy concerns, social media addiction, social media hoaxes and scams, the pressure to project an ideal self, the curation of content presented on social media, cyberbullying, sexting, Facebook depression and envy, online shaming, and the impact of social media use on communication skills. Provides readers with a clearly written overview of the impacts of social media worldwide that highlights key people and companies in the development of social media Presents up-to-date information on the range of problems related to social media and presents potential solutions Offers a variety of voices from social media experts, supplying perspectives from creators to users

It is not possible to imagine our lives today without technology. From the moment we get up in the morning until the time that we go to bed at night, technology is present in almost every moment, even if we are not aware of it. Some of the most basic activities we need to perform regularly could not be carried out without technology. Sociological and Philosophical Aspects of Human Interaction with Technology: Advancing Concepts presents a careful blend of conceptual, theoretical and applied research in regards to the relationship between technology and humans. This book explores the importance of these interactions, aspects related with trust, communication, data protection, usability concerning organizational change, and e-learning. The advancement of these theories and practices will benefit from this publication as it provides a voice for the users.

This book explores the main elements of e-Democracy, the term normally used to describe the implementation of democratic government processes by electronic means. It provides insights into the main technological and human issues regarding governance, government, participation, inclusion, empowerment, procurement and, last but not least, ethical and privacy issues. Its main aim is to bridge the gap between technological solutions, their successful implementation, and the fruitful utilization of the main set of e-Services totally or partially delivered by governments or non-government organizations. Today, various parameters actively influence e-Services' success or failure: cultural aspects, organisational issues, bureaucracy and workflows, infrastructure and technology in general, user habits, literacy, capacity or merely interaction design. This includes having a significant population of citizens who are willing and able to adopt and use online services; as well as developing the managerial and technical capability to implement applications that meet citizens' needs. This book helps readers understand the mutual dependencies involved; further, a selection of success stories and failures, duly commented on, enables readers to identify the right approach to innovation in governmental e-Services. With its balanced humanistic and technological approach, the book mainly targets public authorities, decision-makers, stakeholders, solution developers, and graduate students.

Smart Homes (SH) offer a promising approach to assisted living for the ageing population. Yet the main obstacle to the rapid development and deployment of Smart Home (SH) solutions essentially arises from the nature of the SH field, which is multidisciplinary and involves diverse applications and various stakeholders. Accordingly, an alternative to a one-size-fits-all approach is needed in order to advance the state of the art towards an open SH infrastructure. This book makes a valuable and critical contribution to smart assisted living research through the development of new effective, integrated, and interoperable SH solutions. It focuses on four underlying aspects: (1) Sensing and Monitoring Technologies; (2) Context Interference and Behaviour Analysis; (3) Personalisation and Adaptive Interaction, and (4) Open Smart Home and Service Infrastructures, demonstrating how fundamental theories, models and algorithms can be exploited to solve real-world problems. This comprehensive and timely book offers a unique and essential reference guide for policymakers, funding bodies, researchers, technology developers and managers, end users, carers, clinicians, healthcare service providers, educators and students, helping them adopt and implement smart assisted living systems.

The human condition is affected by numerous factors in modern society. In modern times, technology is so integrated into culture that it has become necessary to perform even daily functions. Human Development and Interaction in the Age of Ubiquitous Technology is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on the widespread integration of technological innovations around the globe and examines how human-computer interaction affects various aspects of people's lives. Featuring emergent research from theoretical perspectives and case studies, this book is ideally designed for professionals, students, practitioners, and academicians.

There have arisen, in various settings, unmistakable calls for involvement of psychological factors in IT work, notably in development and deployment of information systems. Managing Psychological Factors in Information Systems Work: An Orientaion to Emotional Intelligence "pulls together" areas of existing involvement, to suggest yet new areas and to present an initial, and coherent vision and framework for, essentially, extending and humanizing the sphere of IT work. It may be indeed noteworthy that, while the Industrial Revolution may have moved the human person into intellectual predominance, the IT Revolution, with its recent calls for addressing and involving the "whole person," may indeed be initiating a re-centering of the human being in his/her essential core, giving rise to new consciousness, new vision and new, empowering experiences. May this book encourage the first few steps along a new and vivifying path!

Clouds are being positioned as the next-generation consolidated, centralized, yet federated IT infrastructure for hosting all kinds of IT platforms and for deploying, maintaining, and managing a wider variety of personal, as well as professional applications and services. Handbook of Research on Cloud Infrastructures for Big Data Analytics focuses exclusively on the topic of cloud-sponsored big data analytics for creating flexible and futuristic organizations. This book helps researchers and practitioners, as well as business entrepreneurs, to make informed decisions and consider appropriate action to simplify and streamline the arduous journey towards smarter enterprises.

The book introduces some challenging methods and solutions to solve the human activity recognition challenge. This book highlights the challenge that will lead the researchers in academia and industry to move further related to human activity recognition and behavior analysis, concentrating on cooking challenge. Current activity recognition systems focus on recognizing either the complex label (macro-activity) or the small steps (micro-activities) but their combined recognition is critical for analysis like the challenge proposed in this book. It has 10 chapters from 13 institutes and 8 countries (Japan, USA, Switzerland, France, Slovenia, China, Bangladesh, and Columbia).

This book presents a variety of perspectives on vision-based applications. These contributions are focused on optoelectronic sensors, 3D & 2D machine vision technologies, robot navigation, control schemes, motion controllers, intelligent algorithms and vision systems. The authors focus on applications of unmanned aerial vehicles, autonomous and mobile robots, industrial inspection applications and structural health monitoring. Recent advanced research in measurement and others areas where 3D & 2D machine vision and machine control play an important role, as well as surveys and reviews about vision-based applications. These topics are of interest to readers from diverse areas, including electrical, electronics and computer engineering, technologists, students and non-specialist readers. * Presents current research in image and signal sensors, methods, and 3D & 2D technologies in vision-based theories and applications; * Discusses applications such as daily use devices including robotics, detection, tracking and stereoscopic vision systems, pose estimation, avoidance of objects, control and data exchange for navigation, and aerial imagery processing; * Includes research contributions in scientific, industrial, and civil applications.

Originally designed for interpersonal communication, today mobile devices are capable of connecting their users to a wide variety of Internet-enabled services and applications. Multimodality in Mobile Computing and Mobile Devices: Methods for Adaptable Usability explores a variety of perspectives on multimodal user interface design, describes a variety of novel multimodal applications, and provides real-life experience reports. Containing research from leading international experts, this innovative publication presents core concepts that define multi-modal, multi-channel, and multi-device interactions and their role in mobile, pervasive, and ubiquitous computing.

As the disciplines of art, technology, and information science collide, computer graphics and multimedia are presenting a myriad of applications and problems to professionals and scholars in Computer Science, Information Science, Digital Art, Multimedia, Educational Technology, and Media Arts. Today's digital scholar can use Computer Graphics and Multimedia: Applications, Problems and Solutions as a tool to explore the vast parameters of the applications, problems, and solutions related to digital disciplines. Contributing authors include computer scientists, multimedia researchers, computer artists, graphic designers, and digital media specialists. The book has an extensive range of topics for the digital scholar who wants to discover and research other areas within the computer graphics and multimedia disciplines beyond their own.

Social media and new social facilities have made it necessary to develop new media design processes with different communication strategies in order to promote sustainable communication. Visual communication emphasizes messages that are transmitted through visual materials in order to effectively communicate emotions, thoughts, and concepts using symbols instead of words. Social networks present an ideal environment for utilizing this communication technique. New Media and Visual Communication in Social Networks is a pivotal scholarly publication that examines communication strategies in the context of social media and new digital media platforms and explores the effects of visual communication on social networks, visual identity, television, magazines, newspapers, and more. Highlighting a range of topics such as consumer behavior, visual identity, and digital pollution, this book is essential for researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and educators.

A volume in Research in Management Education and Development Series Editors: Charles Wankel, St. John's University Virtual Worlds are being increasingly used in business and education. With each day more people are venturing into computer generated online persistent worlds such as Second Life for increasingly diverse reasons such as commerce, education, research, and entertainment. This book explores the emerging ethical issues associated with these novel environments for human interaction and cutting-edge approaches to these new ethical problems. This volume's goal is to put forward a number of these virtual world ethical issues of which research is only commencing. The developing literature specifically regarding virtual world ethics is a recent phenomenon. Research based on the phenomenon of virtual world life has only been developing in the past four years. This volume introduces pathbreaking work in a field which is only just beginning to take shape. It is ideal as both as a library reference and a supplementary text in upper-division courses focused on the issues of applied ethics and new media. It is unique in being one of the first volumes specifically addressed to ethical problems of the "metaverse." This volume includes articles from authors from around the world exploring topics such as: employing rationalist and casuistic approaches to the controversial topic of "virtual rape" yield an increased understanding of how virtual worlds ought to be designed, the relationship between the ethical and legal dimensions of virtual world users' participation in "paratexts," utilitarian consideration of harm and freedom in the case of virtual pedophilia, norms of research ethics in virtual worlds, the ethical implications of employing virtual worlds as tools for medical education and experimenting with healthcare services, the ethics of the collective action of virtual world communities, consideration of the virtue and potential of cosmopolitanism in virtual worlds, Deleuzian ethical approaches to the experience of the disabled in virtual worlds, the ethics of virtual world design, and the ethical implications of the "illusion of reality" presented by virtual worlds.

This book provides an insight into ways of inculcating the need for applying mobile edge data analytics in bioinformatics and medicine. The book is a comprehensive reference that provides an overview of the current state of medical treatments and systems and offers emerging solutions for a more personalized approach to the healthcare field. Topics include deep learning methods for applications in object detection and identification, object tracking, human action recognition, and cross-modal and multimodal data analysis. High performance computing systems for applications in healthcare are also discussed. The contributors also include information on microarray data analysis, sequence analysis, genomics based analytics, disease network analysis, and techniques for big data Analytics and health information technology.