The 9th Multidisciplinary Academic Conference in Prague 2017, Czech Republic

Online and blended courses are becoming increasingly prevalent in higher education settings, and the pressures to incorporate these environments highlights the increased demand to serve a generation that prefers learning through experience or through interacting with learning tools. Challenges arise in assisting instructors in facilitating and designing blended learning environments that will provide effective learning for all students. The Handbook of Research on Blended Learning Pedagogies and Professional Development in Higher Education is a critical research publication that delves into the importance of effective professional development for educators planning and teaching online or blended courses. It also establishes the benefits of technology-mediated learning environments over traditional learning methods. Highlighting a wide array of topics such as online learning environments, active learning model, and educational development, this publication explores technology-based teaching methods in higher education. This book is targeted toward educators, educational administrators, academicians, researchers, and professionals within the realm of higher education.

This book presents 18 carefully selected papers from the ninth edition of the International Conference on Soft Computing and Pattern Recognition (SoCPaR 2017), which was held in Marrakesh, Morocco from December 11 to 13, 2017. A premier conference in the Soft Computing field, SoCPaR brings together the world’s leading researchers and practitioners interested in advancing the state of the art in Soft Computing and Pattern Recognition, allowing them to exchange notes on a broad range of disciplines. The book offers a valuable reference guide for all researchers, students and practitioners in the fields of Computer Science and Engineering.

SMART AND SUSTAINABLE APPROACHES FOR OPTIMIZING PERFORMANCE OF WIRELESS NETWORK Explores the intersection of sustainable growth, green computing and automation, and performance optimization of 5G wireless networks Smart and Sustainable Approaches for Optimizing Performance of Wireless Networks explores how wireless sensing applications, green computing, and Big Data analytics can increase the energy efficiency and environmental sustainability of real-time applications across areas such as healthcare, agriculture, construction, and manufacturing. Bringing together an international team of expert contributors, this authoritative volume highlights the limitations of conventional technologies and provides methodologies and approaches for addressing Quality of Service (QOS) issues and optimizing network performance. In-depth chapters cover topics including blockchain-assisted secure data sharing, smart 5G Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios, intelligent management of ad hoc networks, and the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) techniques in smart healthcare, smart manufacturing, and smart agriculture. Covers design, implementation, optimization, and sustainability of wireless and sensor-based networks Discusses concepts of sustainability and green computing as well as their relevance to society and the environment Addresses green automation applications in various disciplines such as computer science, nanoscience, information technology (IT), and biochemistry Explores various smart and sustainable approaches for current wireless and sensor-based networks Includes detailed case studies of current methodologies, applications, and implementations Smart and Sustainable Approaches for Optimizing Performance of Wireless Networks: Real-time Applications is an essential resource for academic researchers and industry professionals working to integrate sustainable development and Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSN) are envisioned as an aquatic medium for a variety of applications including oceanographic data collection, disaster management or prevention, assisted navigation, attack protection, and pollution monitoring. Similar to terrestrial wireless sensor networks (WSN), UWSNs consist of sensor nodes that collect the information and pass it to a base station; however, researchers have to face many challenges in executing the network in an aquatic medium. Energy-Efficient Underwater Wireless Communications and Networking is a crucial reference source that covers existing and future possibilities of the area as well as the current challenges presented in the implementation of underwater sensor networks. While highlighting topics such as digital signal processing, underwater localization, and acoustic channel modeling, this publication is ideally designed for machine learning experts, IT specialists, government agencies, oceanic engineers, communication experts, researchers, academicians, students, and environmental agencies concerned with optimized data flow in communication network, securing assets, and mitigating security attacks.

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Document Image Processing" that was published in J. Imaging

This book presents the latest innovative research findings, methods, and development techniques related to intelligent social networks and collaborative systems, intelligent networking systems, mobile collaborative systems, and secure intelligent cloud systems. Offering both theoretical and practical perspectives, it also reveals synergies among various paradigms in the multi-disciplinary field of intelligent collaborative systems. With the rapid development of the Internet, we are experiencing a shift from the traditional sharing of information and applications as the main purpose of the Web to an emergent paradigm that places people at the very centre of networks, making full use of their connections, relations, and collaboration. Social networks also play a major role in the dynamics and structure of intelligent Web-based networking and collaborative systems. Virtual campuses, communities and organizations strongly leverage intelligent networking and collaborative systems through a wide variety of formal and informal electronic relations, such as business-to-business, peer-to-peer, and many types of online collaborative learning interactions, including the emerging e-learning systems. This has resulted in entangled systems that need to be managed efficiently and autonomously. In addition, while the latest powerful technologies based on grid and wireless infrastructures as well as cloud computing are currently greatly enhancing collaborative and networking applications, they are also facing new challenges. The principal purpose of the research and development community is to stimulate research that will lead to the creation of responsive environments for networking and, in the long term, the development of adaptive, secure, mobile, and intuitive intelligent systems for collaborative work and learning.