This book gravitates on the prominent theories and recent developments of swarm intelligence methods, and their application in both synthetic and real-world optimization problems. The special interest will be placed in those algorithmic variants where biological processes observed in nature have underpinned the core operators underlying their search mechanisms. In other words, the book centers its attention on swarm intelligence and nature-inspired methods for efficient optimization and problem solving. The content of this book unleashes a great opportunity for researchers, lecturers and practitioners interested in swarm intelligence, optimization problems and artificial intelligence.

This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Distributed and Computer and Communication Networks, DCCN 2020, held in Moscow, Russia, in September 2020. The 54 revised full papers and 1 revised short paper were carefully reviewed and selected from 167 submissions. The papers cover the following topics: computer and communication networks; analytical modeling of distributed systems; and distributed systems applications.

How to prevent runs on open-end mutual funds? In recent years, markets have observed an innovation that changed the way open-end funds are priced. Alternative pricing rules (known as swing pricing) adjust funds’ net asset values to pass on funds’ trading costs to transacting shareholders. Using unique data on investor transactions in U.K. corporate bond funds, we show that swing pricing eliminates the first-mover advantage arising from the traditional pricing rule and significantly reduces redemptions during stress periods. The positive impact of alternative pricing rules on fund flows reverses in calm periods when costs associated with higher tracking error dominate the pricing effect.

ICCEDI is an international seminar that is held every two years organized by the Law and Citizenship Department, Faculty of Social Science Universitas Negeri Malang. The activities aim to discuss the theoretical and practical citizenship education that becomes needed for democracy in Indonesia and other countries with a view to build academic networks by gathering academics from various research institutes and universities. Citizenship education is an urgent need for the nation in order to build a civilized democracy for several reasons. Citizenship education is important for those who are politically illiterate and do not know how to work the democracy of its institutions. Another problem is the increasing political apathy, indicated by the limited involvement of citizens in the political process. These conditions show how citizenship education becomes the means needed by a democratic country like Indonesia. The book addresses a number of important issues, such as law issues, philosophy of moral values, political government, socio-cultural and Pancasila, and civic education. Finally, it offers a conceptual framework for future democracy. This book will be of interest to students, scholars, and practitioners, governance, and other related stakeholders.