Every human being is aware of the flow of time. This fact is embodied in the existence of such notions as the past and the future, the two domains being separated from each other by the single moment of the present. While the past is regarded as fixed and definite, the future is viewed as unknown, uncertain, and undetermined. The only perceivable moment is the present, the `now' - the ever-changing point moving from the past into the future. Physics tells us a different story: not only are the vast majority of physical laws time-reversible, but the concept of the `now' itself has no place at all in physics. In other words, the equations of physics do not distinguish between the past and the future and seem to be completely oblivious to the very idea of the present. This book discusses the biological and psychological aspects of perception of time, and the problems related to the determination of location arising from quantum physics, together with comments and opinions from philosophers and physicists.

The following are the proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Human and Machine Perception held in Pavia, Italy, on September 14 -17, 1998. This edition has been under the auspices of two Institutions: the Cybernetic and Biophysics Group (GNCB) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), the Centro Interdipartimentale di Scienze Cognitive, of Pavia University and the Centro Interdipartimentale Tecnologie della Conoscenza, of Palermo University. A wide spectrum of topics is covered in this series, ranging from computer perception to psychology and physiology of perception, for analysing and comparing biological and artificial approaches. The theme of this workshop was focused on "Emergence, Attention and Creativity". The workshop structure consisted of five modules each one composed of two invited lectures (dealing with solutions in nature and machines respectively) and a panel discussion. The lectures focused on presenting the state-of-the-art and outlining open questions. In particular, they sought to stress links, suggesting possible synergies between different cultural areas. The panel discussion was conceived as a forum for an open debate, briefly introduced by each panellist, and mainly aimed at deeper investigation for the different approaches and strictly related topics. The panellists were asked to prepare a few statements on hot-points, which were delivered in advance to the participants as a guide for a qualified discussion.

In this book are reported the main results presented at the "Fourth International Workshop on Data Analysis in Astronomy," held at the Ettore Majorana Center for Scientific Culture, Erice, Sicily, Italy, on April 12-19, 1991. The Workshop was preceded by three workshops on the same subject held in Erice in 1984, 1986 and 1988. The frrst workshop (Erice 1984) was dominated by presentations of "Systems for Data Analysis"; the main systems proposed were MIDAS, AlPS, RIAIP, and SAIA. Methodologies and image analysis topics were also presented with the emphasis on cluster analysis, multivariate analysis, bootstrap methods, time analysis, periodicity, 2D photometry, spectrometry, and data compression. A general presentation on "Parallel Processing" was made which encompassed new architectures, data structures and languages. The second workshop (Erice 1986) reviewed the "Data Handling Systems" planned for large major satellites and ground experiments (VLA, HST, ROSAT, COMPASS-COMPTEL). Data analysis methods applied to physical interpretation were mainly considered (cluster photometry, astronomical optical data compression, cluster analysis for pulsar light curves, coded aperture imaging). New parallel and vectorial machines were presented (cellular machines, PAPIA-machine, MPP-machine, vector computers in astronomy). Contributions in the field of artificial intelligence and planned applications to astronomy were also considered (expert systems, artificial intelligence in computer vision).

The following are the proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Human and Machine Perception held in Palermo, Italy, on June 20 -23, 2000, under the auspices of three Institutions: the Cybernetic and Biophysics Group (GNCB) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the two Inter-Department Centers of Cognitive Sciences of Palermo and Pavia University respectively. A broad spectrum of topics are covered in this series, ranging from computer perception to psychology and physiology of perception. The theme of this workshop on Human and Machine Perception was focused on Thinking, Deciding, and Acting. As in the past editions the final goal has been the analysis and the comparison of biological and artificial solutions. The focus of the lectures has been on presenting the state-of-the-art and outlining open questions. In particular, they sought to stress links, suggesting possible synergies between the different cultural areas. The panel discussion has been conceived as a forum for an open debate, briefly introduced by each panelist, and mainly aimed at deeper investigation of the different approaches to perception and strictly related topics. The panelists were asked to prepare a few statements on hot-points as a guide for discussion. These statements were delivered to the participants together with the final program, for a more qualified discussion.

The 8th International Workshop on Fuzzy Logic and Applications (WILF 2009) held in Palermo (Italy), June 9-12, 2009, covered topics related to theoretical and experimental areas of fuzzy sets and systems with emphasis on di?erent applications. This eventrepresentsthe continuation ofan established traditionof biannual interdisciplinary meetings. The previous editions of WILF were held, with an increasing number of participants, in Naples (1995), Bari (1997), Genoa (1999), Milan (2001), Naples (2003), Crema (2005) and Camogli (2007). Each event focused on distinct main thematic areas of fuzzy logic and related applications. WILF 2009 aimed to highlight connections and synergiesof fuzzy sets theory with nonconventional computing (e.g., neural networks, evolutionary compu- tion, support vector machines, molecular computing, quantum computing) and cognitivescience,inordertoreachabetterunderstandingofbothnaturaland- ti?cial complex systems as well as computing systems, inspired by nature, which are able to solve complex problems. From this perspective one of the main goals of the WILF workshops is to bring together researchers and developers from both academia and high-tech companies. WILF 2009receivedmorethan 60 paper submissionsfrom all overthe world, including Algeria, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Greece, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain and the USA. A rigorous peer-review selection process was applied to ultimately select nearly 40 high-quality manuscripts to be published in this volume. Moreover,thevolumealsoincludespresentationsfromthreekeynotespeakers EtienneKerre(GhentUniversity,Belgium),SankarK.Pal(ISI,India)andEnric Trillas (ECSC, Spain).

The present volume contains the contributions delivered at the 5th International Workshop on Fuzzy Logic and Applications (WILF 2003), hosted by the Istituto Italiano Studi Filoso?ci, Palazzo Serra di Cassano, Naples (Italy) and held on October 9-11, 2003. The volume includes the more recent achievements in the domain of theor- ical, experimental and applied fuzzy logic and related techniques. To emphasize the particular connotation of the modern applications of fuzzy logic, special - tention has been devoted to the recent trend of integrating and complementing fuzzy logic with rough set theory, neural networks, genetic algorithms and other formal theories and methodologies in order to de?ne ?exible and "intelligent" systems, based on the so-called paradigm of soft computing. The capabiblity of these techniques to incorporate imprecision and incomplete information, and to model complex systems, makes them useful tools in many scienti?c areas. Among these areas, WILF 2003 dedicated a Special Session on "Soft Comp- ing in Image Processing." Image processing has been a major topic in many areas of research and development, particularly in computer vision and pattern rec- nition. The majority of the methods were based on probabilistic paradigms, such as the well-known Bayesian paradigm and evidence-based decision-making s- tems, and just recently soft-computing techniques have gained a relevant role in the leading techniques to tackle image-processing problems. The special session was organized in cooperation with the SCIP group (http: //fuzzy.rug.ac.be/SCIP).

The following are the proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on Human and Machine Perception held in Palermo, Italy, on June 20 -23, 2000, under the auspices of three Institutions: the Cybernetic and Biophysics Group (GNCB) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the two Inter-Department Centers of Cognitive Sciences of Palermo and Pavia University respectively. A broad spectrum of topics are covered in this series, ranging from computer perception to psychology and physiology of perception. The theme of this workshop on Human and Machine Perception was focused on Thinking, Deciding, and Acting. As in the past editions the final goal has been the analysis and the comparison of biological and artificial solutions. The focus of the lectures has been on presenting the state-of-the-art and outlining open questions. In particular, they sought to stress links, suggesting possible synergies between the different cultural areas. The panel discussion has been conceived as a forum for an open debate, briefly introduced by each panelist, and mainly aimed at deeper investigation of the different approaches to perception and strictly related topics. The panelists were asked to prepare a few statements on hot-points as a guide for discussion. These statements were delivered to the participants together with the final program, for a more qualified discussion.

Every human being is aware of the flow of time. This fact is embodied in the existence of such notions as the past and the future, the two domains being separated from each other by the single moment of the present. While the past is regarded as fixed and definite, the future is viewed as unknown, uncertain, and undetermined. The only perceivable moment is the present, the `now' - the ever-changing point moving from the past into the future. Physics tells us a different story: not only are the vast majority of physical laws time-reversible, but the concept of the `now' itself has no place at all in physics. In other words, the equations of physics do not distinguish between the past and the future and seem to be completely oblivious to the very idea of the present. This book discusses the biological and psychological aspects of perception of time, and the problems related to the determination of location arising from quantum physics, together with comments and opinions from philosophers and physicists.

This book presents a unique collection of articles on shape, contour and grouping in computer vision. Besides revised versions of research papers originally presented at a workshop, the book contains expository articles introducing the area to a broader audience and surveying the state of the art.The 19 articles presented were carefully reviewed. They are organized in the following sections: introduction; shape; shading; grouping; representation and recognition; and statistics,learning and recognition.

The following are the proceedings of the Third International Workshop on Human and Machine Perception held in Pavia, Italy, on September 14 -17, 1998. This edition has been under the auspices of two Institutions: the Cybernetic and Biophysics Group (GNCB) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR), the Centro Interdipartimentale di Scienze Cognitive, of Pavia University and the Centro Interdipartimentale Tecnologie della Conoscenza, of Palermo University. A wide spectrum of topics is covered in this series, ranging from computer perception to psychology and physiology of perception, for analysing and comparing biological and artificial approaches. The theme of this workshop was focused on "Emergence, Attention and Creativity." The workshop structure consisted of five modules each one composed of two invited lectures (dealing with solutions in nature and machines respectively) and a panel discussion. The lectures focused on presenting the state-of-the-art and outlining open questions. In particular, they sought to stress links, suggesting possible synergies between different cultural areas. The panel discussion was conceived as a forum for an open debate, briefly introduced by each panellist, and mainly aimed at deeper investigation for the different approaches and strictly related topics. The panellists were asked to prepare a few statements on hot-points, which were delivered in advance to the participants as a guide for a qualified discussion.

The following are thEURO:" proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Human and Machine Perception held in Trabia, Italy, on July 21~25, 1996, under the auspices of two Institutions: the Cybernetic and Biophysics Group (GNCB) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) and the 'Centro Interdipartimentale di Tecnologie della Conoscenza' ofPalenno University. A broad spectrum of topics are covered in this series, ranging from computer perception to psychology and physiology of perception (visual, auditory, tactile, etc.). The theme of this workshop was: "Human and Machine Perception: Information Fusion". The goal of information and sensory data fusion is to integrate internal knowledge with complementary and/or redundant information from many sensors to achieve (and maintain) a better knowledge of the environment. The mechanism behind the integration of information is one of the most difficult challenges in understanding human and robot perception. The workshop consisted of a pilot phase of eight leCtures introducing perception sensorialities in nature and artificial systems, and of five subsequent modules each consisting of two lectures (dealing with solutions in nature and machines respectively) and a panel discussion.

Sensorialities: Information Extraction and Perceptual Grouping in the Auditory System; B.C.J. Moore. Ultrasonic Techniques for Environment Perception; D. Dotti. The Vestibular System; E. Mira. Perception and Integration: Integration and Storage of Sensory Motor Information: Computation in the Cerebellum; E. D?Angelo. Field Computation and Sensory Fusion; V. Sanguineti, et al. Panel Summary-Plasticity and Reconfigurability in Sensory Systems; S. Vallerga, et al. Perception and Decision: Solving by Redundancy and Misunderstanding by Simplification; W. Gerbino. Perception for Decision or Decision for Perception?;B.Y. Zavidovique. Perception and Action: Integrating Reflexes and Voluntary Behaviors: Coordination and Adaptation Controls in Man; G.M. Gauthier, et al. Motion Perception as an Area Process; Y. Hermush, Y. Yeshurun. Perception and Representation: Representation and Integration of Multiple Knowledge Sources: Issues and Questions; C. Castelfranchi. Symbolic, Conceptual and Subconceptual Representations; P. Gardenfors. Percepton and Communication: Picture Icon and Word Icon; J.P. Rossi, G. Querrioux-Coulombier. Panel Summary. Characters, Pixels, and Phonemes; S. Levialdi, et al. 4 Additional Articles. 4 Panel Summaries. Index.

This proceedings volume focuses on new methods of image and signal analysis in a wide range of energies (from radio to gamma ray astronomy) and advanced methodologies regarding problems and solutions in information fusion and retrieval, statistical pattern recognition, vision and advances in computing technology.A special section is devoted to the BeppoSAX mission (Satellite per Astronomia X) launched on April 30 1996, inside a program of the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programs (NIVR).