Propelled by advances in software design and increasing connectivity, distributed computational systems are acquiring characteristics reminiscent of social and biological organizations. This volume is a collection of articles dealing with the nature, design and implementation of these open computational systems. Although varied in their approach and methodology, the articles are related by the goal of understanding and building computational ecologies. They are grouped in three major sections. The first deals with general issues underlying open systems, studies of computational ecologies, and their similarities with social organizations. The second part deals with actual implementations of distributed computation, and the third discusses the overriding problem of designing suitable languages for open systems. All the articles are highly interdisciplinary, emphasizing the application of ecological ideas, game theory, market mechanisms, and evolutionary biology in the study of open systems.

Ecological community data. Spatial pattern analysis. Species-abundance relations. Species affinity. Community classification. Community ordination. Community interpretation.

Ecological Informatics promotes interdisciplinary research between ecology and computer science on elucidation of principles of information processing in ecosystems, ecological sustainability by informed decision making, and bio-inspired computation. The 2nd edition of the book consolidates the scope, concepts, and techniques of this newly emerging discipline by a new preface and additional chapters on cellular automata, qualitative reasoning, hybrid evolutionary algorithms and artificial neural networks. It illustrates numerous applications of Ecological Informatics for aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, image recognition at micro- and macro-scale as well as computer hardware design. Case studies focus on applications of artificial neural networks, evolutionary computation, cellular automata, adaptive agents, fuzzy logic as well as qualitative reasoning. The 2nd edition of the book includes an index with novel evolutionary algorithms for the discovery of multiple nonlinear functions and rule sets as well as parameter optimisation in complex ecological data.

We are facing a future of unbounded complexity. Whether that complexity is harnessed to build a world that is safe, pleasant, humane and profitable, or whether it causes us to careen off a cliff into an abyss of mind-numbing junk is an open question. The challenges and opportunities--technical, business, and human--that this technological sea change will bring are without precedent. Entire industries will be born and others will be laid to ruin as our society navigates this journey. There are already many more computing devices in the world than there are people. In a few more years, their number will climb into the trillions. We put microprocessors into nearly every significant thing that we manufacture, and the cost of routine computing and storage is rapidly becoming negligible. We have literally permeated our world with computation. But more significant than mere numbers is the fact we are quickly figuring out how to make those processors communicate with each other, and with us. We are about to be faced, not with a trillion isolated devices, but with a trillion-node network: a network whose scale and complexity will dwarf that of today’s Internet. And, unlike the Internet, this will be a network not of computation that we use, but of computation that we live in. Written by the leaders of one of America’s leading pervasive computing design firms, this book gives a no-holds-barred insiders’ account of both the promise and the risks of the age of Trillions. It is also a cautionary tale of the head-in-the-sand attitude with which many of today’s thought-leaders are at present approaching these issues. Trillions is a field guide to the future--designed to help businesses and their customers prepare to prosper, in the information.

Advanced Computational Techniques for Sustainable Computing is considered multi-disciplinary field encompassing advanced computational techniques across several domain, including, Computer Science, Statistical Computation and Electronics Engineering. The core idea of sustainable computing is to deploy algorithms, models, policies and protocols to improve energy efficiency and management of resources, enhancing ecological balance, biological sustenance and other services on societal contexts. The book offers a comprehensive coverage of some of the most essential topics: It provides an insight on building smart sustainable solutions. Includes details of applying mining, learning, IOT and sensor-based techniques for sustainable computing. Entails data extraction from various sources followed with pre-processing of data, and how to make effective use of extracted data for application-based research. Involves practical usage of data analytic language, including R, Python, etc. for improving sustainable services offered by multi-disciplinary domains. Encompasses comparison and analysis of recent technologies and trends. Includes development of smart models for information gain and effective decision making with visualization. The readers would get acquainted with the utilization of massive data sets for intelligent mining and processing. It includes the integration of data mining techniques for effective decision-making in the social, economic, and global environmental domains to achieve sustainability. The implementation of computational frameworks can be accomplished using open-source software for the building of resource-efficient models. The content of the book demonstrates the usage of data science and the internet of things for the advent of smart and realistic solutions for attaining sustainability.

The exponential progress and accessibility of computing has vastly increased data flows and revolutionized the practice of science, engineering, and communication. Computing plays a critical role in advancing research across almost every scientific discipline. Computation for Humanity: Information Technology to Advance Society is a guide for the creation of services, products, and tools that facilitate, support, and enhance progress of humanity toward more sustainable life. This book: Provides a deep understanding of the practical applications of computation to solve human-machine problems Delivers insight into theoretical approaches in an accessible manner Provides a comprehensive overview of computational science and engineering applications in selected disciplines Crosses the boundaries between different domains and shows how they interrelate and complement one another Focuses on grand challenges and issues that matter for the future of humanity Shows different perspectives of computational thinking, understanding, and reasoning Provides a basis for scientific discoveries and enables adopting scientific theories and engineering practices from other disciplines Takes a step back to provide a human-related abstraction level that is not ultimately seen in pure technological elaborations/collections The editors provide a collection of numerous computation-related projects that form a foundation from which to cross-pollinate between different disciplines and further extensive collaboration. They present a clear and profound understanding of computing in today's world, and provide fundamental solutions to some of the most pertinent humanity-related problems.

Ch. 1. Introduction. 1. Computational ecology. 2. Artificial neural networks and ecological applications -- pt. I. Artificial neural networks : principles, theories and algorithms. ch. 2. Feedforward neural networks. 1. Linear separability and perceptron. 2. Some analogies of multilayer feedforward networks. 3. Functionability of multilayer feedforward networks. ch. 3. Linear neural networks. 1. Linear neural networks. 2. LMS rule. ch. 4. Radial basis function neural networks. 1. Theory of RBF neural network. 2. Regularized RBF neural network. 3. RBF neural network learning. 4. Probabilistic neural network. 5. Generalized regression neural network. 6. Functional link neural network. 7. Wavelet neural network. ch. 5. BP neural network. 1. BP algorithm. 2. BP theorem. 3. BP training. 4. Limitations and improvements of BP algorithm. ch. 6. Self-organizing neural networks. 1. Self-organizing feature map neural network. 2. Self-organizing competitive learning neural network. 3. Hamming neural network. 4. WTA neural network. 5. LVQ neural network. 6. Adaptive resonance theory. ch. 7. Feedback neural networks. 1. Elman neural network. 2. Hopfield neural networks. 3. Simulated annealing. 4. Boltzmann machine. ch. 8. Design and customization of artificial neural networks. 1. Mixture of experts. 2. Hierarchical mixture of experts. 3. Neural network controller. 4. Customization of neural networks. ch. 9. Learning theory, architecture choice and interpretability of neural networks. 1. Learning theory. 2. Architecture choice. 3. Interpretability of neural networks. ch. 10. Mathematical foundations of artificial neural networks. 1. Bayesian methods. 2. Randomization, bootstrap and Monte Carlo techniques. 3. Stochastic process and stochastic differential equation. 4. Interpolation. 5. Function approximation. 6. Optimization methods. 7. Manifold and differential geometry. 8. Functional analysis. 9. Algebraic topology. 10. Motion stability. 11. Entropy of a system. 12. Distance or similarity measures. ch. 11. Matlab neural network toolkit. 1. Functions of perceptron. 2. Functions of linear neural networks. 3. Functions of BP neural network. 4. Functions of self-organizing neural networks. 5. Functions of radial basis neural networks. 6. Functions of probabilistic neural network. 7. Function of generalized regression neural network. 8. Functions of Hopfield neural network. 9. Function of Elman neural network -- pt. II. Applications of artificial neural networks in ecology. ch. 12. Dynamic modeling of survival process. 1. Model description. 2. Data description. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. ch. 13. Simulation of plant growth process. 1. Model description. 2. Data source. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. ch. 14. Simulation of food intake dynamics. 1. Model description. 2. Data description. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. ch. 15. Species richness estimation and sampling data documentation. 1. Estimation of plant species richness on grassland. 2. Documentation of sampling data of invertebrates. ch. 16. Modeling arthropod abundance from plant composition of grassland community. 1. Model description. 2. Data description. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. ch. 17. Pattern recognition and classification of ecosystems and functional groups. 1. Model description. 2. Data source. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. ch. 18. Modeling spatial distribution of arthropods. 1. Model description. 2. Data description. 3. Results. 4. Discussion. ch. 19. Risk assessment of species invasion and establishment. 1. Invasion risk assessment based on species assemblages. 2. Determination of abiotic factors influencing species invasion. ch. 20. Prediction of surface ozone. 1. BP prediction of daily total ozone. 2. MLP Prediction of hourly ozone levels. ch. 21. Modeling dispersion and distribution of oxide and nitrate pollutants. 1. Modeling nitrogen dioxide dispersion. 2. Simulation of nitrate distribution in ground water. ch. 22. Modeling terrestrial biomass. 1. Estimation of aboveground grassland biomass. 2. Estimation of trout biomass