This book provides insights into contemporary issues and challenges in soft computing applications and techniques in healthcare. It will be a useful guide to identify, categorise and assess the role of different soft computing techniques for disease, diagnosis and prediction due to technological advancements. The book explores applications in soft computing and covers empirical properties of artificial neural network (ANN), evolutionary computing, fuzzy logic and statistical techniques. It presents basic and advanced concepts to help beginners and industry professionals get up to speed on the latest developments in soft computing and healthcare systems. It incorporates the latest methodologies and challenges facing soft computing, examines descriptive, predictive and social network techniques and discusses analytics tools and their role in providing effective solutions for science and technology. The primary users for the book include researchers, academicians, postgraduate students, specialists and practitioners. Dr. Ashish Mishra is a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Gyan Ganga Institute of Technology and Sciences, Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, India. He has contributed in organising the INSPIRE Science Internship Camp. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is a life member of the Computer Society of India. His research interests include the Internet of Things, data mining, cloud computing, image processing and knowledge-based systems. He holds nine patents in Intellectual Property, India. He has authored four books in the areas of data mining, image processing and LaTex. Dr. G. Suseendran is an assistant professor, Department of Information Technology, School of Computing Sciences, Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced Studies (VISTAS), Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. His research interests include ad-hoc networks, the Internet of Things, data mining, cloud computing, image processing, knowledge-based systems, and Web information exploration. He has published more than 75 research papers in various international journals such as Science Citation Index, Springer Book Chapter, Scopus, IEEE Access and UGC-referred journals. Prof. Trung-Nghia Phung is an associate professor and Head of Academic Affairs, Thai Nguyen University of Information and Communication Technology (ICTU). He has published more than 60 research papers. His main research interest lies in the field of speech, audio, and biomedical signal processing. He serves as a technical committee program member, track chair, session chair, and reviewer of many international conferences and journals. He was a co-Chair of the International Conference on Advances in Information and Communication Technology 2016 (ICTA 2016) and a Session Chair of the 4th International Conference on Information System Design and Intelligent Applications (INDIA 2017).

This book explores how digital technologies have proved to be a useful and necessary tool to help ensure that local and regional governments on the frontline of the emergency can continue to provide essential public services during the COVID-19 crisis. Indeed, as the demand for digital technologies grows, local and regional governments are increasingly committed to improving the lives of their citizens under the principles of privacy, freedom of expression and democracy. The Digital Revolution began between the late 1950s and 1970s and represents the evolution of technology from the mechanical and analog to the digital. The advent of digital technology has also changed how humans communicate - today using computers, smartphones and the internet. Further, the digital revolution has made a tremendous wealth of information accessible to virtually everyone. In turn, the book focuses on key challenges for local and regional governments concerning digital technologies during this crisis, e.g. the balance between privacy and security, the digital divide, and accessibility. Privacy is a challenge in the mitigation of COVID-19, as governments rely on digital technologies like contact-tracking apps and big data to help trace peoples' patterns and movements. While these methods are controversial and may infringe on rights to privacy, they also appear to be effective measures for rapidly controlling and limiting the spread of the virus. Next, the book discusses the 10 technology trends that can help build a resilient society, as well as their effects on how we do business, how we work, how we produce goods, how we learn, how we seek medical services and how we entertain ourselves. Lastly, the book addresses a range of diversified technologies, e.g. Online Shopping and Robot Deliveries, Digital and Contactless Payments, Remote Work, Distance Learning, Telehealth, Online Entertainment, Supply Chain 4.0, 3D Printing, Robotics and Drones, 5G, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

This book covers the growing convergence between Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence for Big Data, Multi-Agent systems, the Internet of Things and 5G technologies. Using real case studies and project outcomes, it illustrates the intricate details of blockchain in these real-life scenarios. The contributions from this volume bring a state-of-the-art assessment of these rapidly evolving trends in a creative way and provide a key resource for all those involved in the study and practice of AI and Blockchain.