As technology continues to become more sophisticated, mimicking natural processes and phenomena also becomes more of a reality. Continued research in the field of natural computing enables an understanding of the world around us, in addition to opportunities for man-made computing to mirror the natural processes and systems that have existed for centuries. Nature-Inspired Computing: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications takes an interdisciplinary approach to the topic of natural computing, including emerging technologies being developed for the purpose of simulating natural phenomena, applications across industries, and the future outlook of biologically and nature-inspired technologies. Emphasizing critical research in a comprehensive multi-volume set, this publication is designed for use by IT professionals, researchers, and graduate students studying intelligent computing.

The 4th International Conference on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence Systems (HAIS 2009), as the name suggests, attracted researchers who are involved in developing and applying symbolic and sub-symbolic techniques aimed at the construction of highly robust and reliable problem-solving techniques, and bringing the most relevant achievements in this field. Hybrid intelligent systems have become increasingly po- lar given their capabilities to handle a broad spectrum of real-world complex problems which come with inherent imprecision, uncertainty and vagueness, hi- dimensionality, and nonstationarity. These systems provide us with the opportunity to exploit existing domain knowledge as well as raw data to come up with promising solutions in an effective manner. Being truly multidisciplinary, the series of HAIS conferences offers an interesting research forum to present and discuss the latest th- retical advances and real-world applications in this exciting research field. This volume of Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence (LNAI) includes accepted papers presented at HAIS 2009 held at the University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain, June 2009. Since its inception, the main aim of the HAIS conferences has been to establish a broad and interdisciplinary forum for hybrid artificial intelligence systems and asso- ated learning paradigms, which are playing increasingly important roles in a large number of application areas.

As technology advancement has increased, so to have computational applications for forecasting, modelling and trading financial markets and information, and practitioners are finding ever more complex solutions to financial challenges. Neural networking is a highly effective, trainable algorithmic approach which emulates certain aspects of human brain functions, and is used extensively in financial forecasting allowing for quick investment decision making. This book presents the most cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI)/neural networking applications for markets, assets and other areas of finance. Split into four sections, the book first explores time series analysis for forecasting and trading across a range of assets, including derivatives, exchange traded funds, debt and equity instruments. This section will focus on pattern recognition, market timing models, forecasting and trading of financial time series. Section II provides insights into macro and microeconomics and how AI techniques could be used to better understand and predict economic variables. Section III focuses on corporate finance and credit analysis providing an insight into corporate structures and credit, and establishing a relationship between financial statement analysis and the influence of various financial scenarios. Section IV focuses on portfolio management, exploring applications for portfolio theory, asset allocation and optimization. This book also provides some of the latest research in the field of artificial intelligence and finance, and provides in-depth analysis and highly applicable tools and techniques for practitioners and researchers in this field.

An introduction to the theory and methods of empirical asset pricing, integrating classical foundations with recent developments. This book offers a comprehensive advanced introduction to asset pricing, the study of models for the prices and returns of various securities. The focus is empirical, emphasizing how the models relate to the data. The book offers a uniquely integrated treatment, combining classical foundations with more recent developments in the literature and relating some of the material to applications in investment management. It covers the theory of empirical asset pricing, the main empirical methods, and a range of applied topics. The book introduces the theory of empirical asset pricing through three main paradigms: mean variance analysis, stochastic discount factors, and beta pricing models. It describes empirical methods, beginning with the generalized method of moments (GMM) and viewing other methods as special cases of GMM; offers a comprehensive review of fund performance evaluation; and presents selected applied topics, including a substantial chapter on predictability in asset markets that covers predicting the level of returns, volatility and higher moments, and predicting cross-sectional differences in returns. Other chapters cover production-based asset pricing, long-run risk models, the Campbell-Shiller approximation, the debate on covariance versus characteristics, and the relation of volatility to the cross-section of stock returns. An extensive reference section captures the current state of the field. The book is intended for use by graduate students in finance and economics; it can also serve as a reference for professionals.

In clear, readable language, consultant and researcher Kevin Desouza accomplishes an unlikely feat: explaining artificial intelligence to nonspecialists, in a way that experts will recognize and accept as correct and immediately applicable. Workers in knowledge management are relatively isolated from each other, businesspeople are still unconvinced that artificial intelligence has much to offer, and engineers creating the latest algorithm or device seldom consider its value for businesspeople—Desouza seeks to change all that. He maintains that knowledge will be traded like physical goods, and that businesses must leverage knowledge resources within its organizations to survive in a highly competitive marketplace. Introducing us the concepts and significance of knowledge management, he shows that incorporating artificial intelligence computer-based techniques into business settings can provide truly significant gains in productivity. This book is among the first of its kind to provide a comprehensive one-stop guide to the basics of knowledge management, plus a lucid explanation of A.I., and how to use it in almost all types of organizational settings.

Researchers in the evolving fields of artificial intelligence and information systems are constantly presented with new challenges. Artificial Intelligence and Integrated Intelligent Information Systems: Emerging Technologies and Applications provides both researchers and professionals with the latest knowledge applied to customized logic systems, agent-based approaches to modeling, and human-based models. Artificial Intelligence and Integrated Intelligent Information Systems: Emerging Technologies and Applications presents the recent advances in multi-mobile agent systems, the product development process, fuzzy logic systems, neural networks, and ambient intelligent environments among many other innovations in this exciting field.