In this 2012 edition of Advances in Knowledge-Based and Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems the latest innovations and advances in Intelligent Systems and related areas are presented by leading experts from all over the world. The 228 papers that are included cover a wide range of topics. One emphasis is on Information Processing, which has become a pervasive phenomenon in our civilization. While the majority of Information Processing is becoming intelligent in a very broad sense, major research in Semantics, Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge Engineering supports the domain specific applications that are becoming more and more present in our everyday living. Ontologies play a major role in the development of Knowledge Engineering in various domains, from Semantic Web down to the design of specific Decision Support Systems. Research on Ontologies and their applications is a highly active front of current Computational Intelligence science that is addressed here. Other subjects in this volume are modern Machine Learning, Lattice Computing and Mathematical Morphology.The wide scope and high quality of these contributions clearly show that knowledge engineering is a continuous living and evolving set of technologies aimed at improving the design and understanding of systems and their relations with humans.

The two-volume set LNAI 5711 and LNAI 5712 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Sysetms, KES 2009, held in Santiago de Chile in September 2009. The 153 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The topics covered are: fuzzy and neuro-fuzzy systems, agent systems, knowledge based and expert systems, miscelleanous generic intelligent systems topics, intelligent vision and image processing, knowledge management, ontologies and data mining, web intelligence, text and multimedia mining and retrieval, other advanced knowledge-based systems, innovations in chance discovery, advanced knowledge-based systems, multi-agent negotiation and coordination, innovations in intelligent systems, intelligent technology approach to management engineering, data mining and service science for innovation, knowledge-based systems for e-business, video surveillance, social networks, advanced engineering design techniques for adaptive systems, knowledge technology in learning support, advanced information system for supporting personal activity, design of intelligent society, knowledge-based interface systems, knowledge-based multi-criteria decision support, soft computing techniques and their applications, immunity-based systems. The book also includes three keynote speaker plenary presentations.

The four-volume set LNAI 6881-LNAI 6884 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2011, held in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in September 2011. Part 2: The total of 244 high-quality papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The 70 papers of Part 2 are organized in topical sections on web intelligence, text and multimedia mining and retrieval, intelligent tutoring systems and e-learning environments, other / misc. intelligent systems topics, methods and techniques of artificial and computational intelligence in economics, finance and decision making, workshop on seamless integration of semantic technologies in computer-supported office work (sistcow), innovations in chance discovery, advanced knowledge-based systems, recent trends in knowledge engineering, smart systems, and their applications.

When men of knowledge impart this knowledge, I do not mean they will convince your reason. I mean they will awaken in you the faith that it is so. - Sri Krishna, Bhagavadgita BACKGROUND The use of computers has led to significant productivity increases in the en gineering industry. Most ofthe computer-aided engineering applications were . restricted to algorithmic computations, such as finite element programs and circuit analysis programs. However, a number ofproblems encountered in en gineering are not amenable to purely algorithmic solutions. These problems are often ill-structured; the term ill-structured problems is used here to de note problems that do not have a clearly defined algorithmic solution. An experienced engineer deals with these ill-structured problems using his/her judgment and experience. The knowledge-based systems (KBS) technology, which emerged out of research in artificial intelligence (AI), offers a method ologyto solve these ill-structuredengineering problems. The emergenceofthe KBS technology can be viewed as the knowledge revolution: other important events that led to increased productivity are the industrial revolution (17th century); the invention of the transistor and associated developments (first half of the 20th century); and the world-wide web (towards the end of the 20th century). Kurzweil, in a lecture at M. LT on December 3, 1987, linked the progress of automation to two industrial revolutions: the first industrial PREFACE xxxii revolution leveraged our physical capabilities, whereas the second industrial revolution - the knowledge revolution - is expected leverage oUr mental ca pabilities.

The four-volume set LNAI 6881-LNAI 6884 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2011, held in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in September 2011. Part 1: The total of 244 high-quality papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The 61 papers of Part 1 are organized in topical sections on artificial neural networks, connectionists systems and evolutionary computation, machine learning and classical AI, agent, multi-agentsystems, knowledge based and expert systems, intelligent vision, image processing and signal processing, knowledge management, ontologies, and data mining.

The four-volume set LNAI 6881-LNAI 6884 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2011, held in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in September 2011. Part 4: The total of 244 high-quality papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The 46 papers of Part 4 are organized in topical sections on human activity support in knowledge society, knowledge-based interface systems, model-based computing for innovative engineering, document analysis and knowledge science, immunity-based systems, natural language visualisation advances in theory and application of hybrid intelligent systems.

The four-volume set LNAI 6881-LNAI 6884 constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Knowledge-Based Intelligent Information and Engineering Systems, KES 2011, held in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in September 2011. Part 3: The total of 244 high-quality papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The 67 papers of Part 3 are organized in topical sections on skill acquisition and ubiquitous human computer interaction, intelligent network and service, management technologies from the perspective of kansei engineering and emotion, data mining and service science for innovation, knowledge-based systems for e-business, knowledge engineering applications in process systems and plant operations, advanced design techniques for adaptive hardware and systems, human-oriented learning technology and learning support environment, design of social intelligence and creativity environment.