The extremely rapid progress of science dealing with the design of new computer systems and the development of intelligent algorithmic solutions for solving c- plex problems has become apparent also in the field of computational intelligence and cognitive informatics methods. The progress of these new branches of inf- matics has only started a few years ago, but they are already making a very s- nificant contribution to the development of modern technologies, and also forming the foundations for future research on building an artificial brain and systems i- tating human thought processes. We are already able to build robots with basic machine intelligence, which can sometimes perform complex actions and also - erate by adapting to changing conditions of their surroundings. This very impr- sive development of intelligent systems is manifested in the creation of robotic devices which use artificial intelligence algorithms in their operations, mo- ments, when solving difficult problems or communicating with humans. It is also evidenced by the introduction of new methods of reasoning about and interpreting objects or events surrounding the system. One of the fields in which the need to deploy such modern solutions is obvious are cognitive vision systems used both in mobile robots and in computer systems which recognise or interpret the meaning of recorded signals or patterns.

The extremely rapid progress of science dealing with the design of new computer systems and the development of intelligent algorithmic solutions for solving c- plex problems has become apparent also in the field of computational intelligence and cognitive informatics methods. The progress of these new branches of inf- matics has only started a few years ago, but they are already making a very s- nificant contribution to the development of modern technologies, and also forming the foundations for future research on building an artificial brain and systems i- tating human thought processes. We are already able to build robots with basic machine intelligence, which can sometimes perform complex actions and also - erate by adapting to changing conditions of their surroundings. This very impr- sive development of intelligent systems is manifested in the creation of robotic devices which use artificial intelligence algorithms in their operations, mo- ments, when solving difficult problems or communicating with humans. It is also evidenced by the introduction of new methods of reasoning about and interpreting objects or events surrounding the system. One of the fields in which the need to deploy such modern solutions is obvious are cognitive vision systems used both in mobile robots and in computer systems which recognise or interpret the meaning of recorded signals or patterns.

This book brings together the latest research in this new and exciting area of visualization, looking at classifying and modelling cognitive biases, together with user studies which reveal their undesirable impact on human judgement, and demonstrating how visual analytic techniques can provide effective support for mitigating key biases. A comprehensive coverage of this very relevant topic is provided though this collection of extended papers from the successful DECISIVe workshop at IEEE VIS, together with an introduction to cognitive biases and an invited chapter from a leading expert in intelligence analysis. Cognitive Biases in Visualizations will be of interest to a wide audience from those studying cognitive biases to visualization designers and practitioners. It offers a choice of research frameworks, help with the design of user studies, and proposals for the effective measurement of biases. The impact of human visualization literacy, competence and human cognition on cognitive biases are also examined, as well as the notion of system-induced biases. The well referenced chapters provide an excellent starting point for gaining an awareness of the detrimental effect that some cognitive biases can have on users’ decision-making. Human behavior is complex and we are only just starting to unravel the processes involved and investigate ways in which the computer can assist, however the final section supports the prospect that visual analytics, in particular, can counter some of the more common cognitive errors, which have been proven to be so costly.

The Intelligent Decision Technologies (IDT) International Conference encourages an interchange of research on intelligent systems and intelligent technologies that enhance or improve decision making. The focus of IDT is interdisciplinary and includes research on all aspects of intelligent decision technologies, from fundamental development to real applications. IDT has the potential to expand their support of decision making in such areas as finance, accounting, marketing, healthcare, medical and diagnostic systems, military decisions, production and operation, networks, traffic management, crisis response, human-machine interfaces, financial and stock market monitoring and prediction, and robotics. Intelligent decision systems implement advances in intelligent agents, fuzzy logic, multi-agent systems, artificial neural networks, and genetic algorithms, among others. Emerging areas of active research include virtual decision environments, social networking, 3D human-machine interfaces, cognitive interfaces, collaborative systems, intelligent web mining, e-commerce, e-learning, e-business, bioinformatics, evolvable systems, virtual humans, and designer drugs. This volume contains papers from the Fourth KES International Symposium on Intelligent Decision Technologies (KES IDT’12), hosted by researchers in Nagoya University and other institutions in Japan. This book contains chapters based on papers selected from a large number of submissions for consideration for the conference from the international community. The volume represents the current leading thought in intelligent decision technologies.

IT changes everyday’s life, especially in education and medicine. The goal of ITME 2014 is to further explore the theoretical and practical issues of Ubiquitous Computing Application and Wireless Sensor Network. It also aims to foster new ideas and collaboration between researchers and practitioners. The organizing committee is soliciting unpublished papers for the main conference and its special tracks.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 6th KES International Conference on Agent and Multi-Agent Systems, KES-AMSTA 2012, held in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in June 2012. The conference attracted a substantial number of researchers and practitioners from all over the world who submitted their papers for ten main tracks covering the methodology and applications of agent and multi-agent systems, one workshop (TRUMAS 2012) and five special sessions on specific topics within the field. The 66 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The papers are organized in topical sections on virtual organizations, knowledge and learning agents, intelligent workflow, cloud computing and intelligent systems, self-organization, ICT-based alternative and augmentative communication, multi-agent systems, mental and holonic models, assessment methodologies in multi-agent and other paradigms, business processing agents, Trumas 2012 (first international workshop), conversational agents and agent teams, digital economy, and multi-agent systems in distributed environments.

Cognition-driven decision support system (DSS) has been recognized as a paradigm in the research and development of business intelligence (BI). Cognitive decision support aims to help managers in their decision making from human cognitive aspects, such as thinking, sensing, understanding and predicting, and fully reuse their experience. Among these cognitive aspects, decision makers’ situation awareness (SA) and mental models are considered to be two important prerequisites for decision making, particularly in ill-structured and dynamic decision situations with uncertainties, time pressure and high personal stake. In today’s business domain, decision making is becoming increasingly complex. To make a successful decision, managers’ SA about their business environments becomes a critical factor. This book presents theoretical models as well practical techniques of cognitiondriven DSS. It first introduces some important concepts of cognition orientation in decision making process and some techniques in related research areas including DSS, data warehouse and BI, offering readers a preliminary for moving forward in this book. It then proposes a cognition-driven decision process (CDDP) model which incorporates SA and experience (mental models) as its central components. The goal of the CDDP model is to facilitate cognitive decision support to managers on the basis of BI systems. It also presents relevant techniques developed to support the implementation of the CDDP model in a BI environment. Key issues addressed of a typical business decision cycle in the CDDP model include: natural language interface for a manager’s SA input, extraction of SA semantics, construction of data warehouse queries based on the manger’s SA and experience, situation information retrieval from data warehouse, how the manager perceives situation information and update SA, how the manager’s SA leads to a final decision. Finally, a cognition-driven DSS, FACETS, and two illustrative applications of this system are discussed.