This book constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 8th IFIP WG 5.14 International Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture, CCTA 2014, held in Beijing, China, in September 2014. The 81 revised papers included in this volume were carefully selected from 216 submissions. They cover a wide range of interesting theories and applications of information technology in agriculture, including intelligent sensing, monitoring and automatic control technology; key technology and models of the Internet of things; intelligent technology for agricultural equipment; computer vision; computer graphics and virtual reality; computer simulation, optimization and modeling; cloud computing and agricultural applications; agricultural big data; decision support systems and expert systems; 3s technology and precision agriculture; quality and safety of agricultural products: detection and tracing technology; and agricultural electronic commerce technology.

The two-volume set IFIP AICT 419 and 420 constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 7th IFIP TC 5, WG 5.14 International Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture, CCTA 2013, held in Beijing, China, in September 2013. The 115 revised papers presented were carefully selected from numerous submissions. They cover a wide range of interesting theories and applications of information technology in agriculture, including Internet of things and cloud computing; simulation models and decision-support systems for agricultural production; smart sensor, monitoring, and control technology; traceability and e-commerce technology; computer vision, computer graphics, and virtual reality; the application of information and communication technology in agriculture; and universal information service technology and service systems development in rural areas.

The papers in this volume comprise the refereed proceedings of the the First International Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Ag- culture (CCTA 2007), in Wuyishan, China, 2007. This conference is organized by China Agricultural University, Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering and the Beijing Society for Information Technology in Agriculture. The purpose of this conference is to facilitate the communication and cooperation between institutions and researchers on theories, methods and implementation of computer science and information technology. By researching information technology development and the - sources integration in rural areas in China, an innovative and effective approach is expected to be explored to promote the technology application to the development of modern agriculture and contribute to the construction of new countryside. The rapid development of information technology has induced substantial changes and impact on the development of China’s rural areas. Western thoughts have exerted great impact on studies of Chinese information technology devel- ment and it helps more Chinese and western scholars to expand their studies in this academic and application area. Thus, this conference, with works by many prominent scholars, has covered computer science and technology and information development in China’s rural areas; and probed into all the important issues and the newest research topics, such as Agricultural Decision Support System and Expert System, GIS, GPS, RS and Precision Farming, CT applications in Rural Area, Agricultural System Simulation, Evolutionary Computing, etc.

The three-volume set IFIP AICT 368-370 constitutes the refereed post-conference proceedings of the 5th IFIP TC 5, SIG 5.1 International Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture, CCTA 2011, held in Beijing, China, in October 2011. The 189 revised papers presented were carefully selected from numerous submissions. They cover a wide range of interesting theories and applications of information technology in agriculture, including simulation models and decision-support systems for agricultural production, agricultural product quality testing, traceability and e-commerce technology, the application of information and communication technology in agriculture, and universal information service technology and service systems development in rural areas. The 59 papers included in the third volume focus on simulation, optimization, monitoring, and control technology.

This book dives into the achievements, opportunities, risks and dangers of ICT in the rural Global South, and takes a look at the likely future. Drawing on years of experience across 45 counties, as well as extensive original academic research, Willem van Eekelen situates the evolving role of ICT in wider development patterns in the Global South. He discusses the effects of ICT on agriculture, trade, financial flows, resource management and governmental performance. He then considers the associated risks of financial insecurity, online gambling, exclusion, misinformation and the effects of ICT on people’s freedom. The book concludes with six recommendations to maximise the usefulness of rural ICT investments and minimise the risk of them causing harm. This engaging and authoritative account of ICT and rural development will help students, academics, governmental policymakers, donors and investors wishing to support socio-economic development in the Global South.

Recent technological advancements have deeply transformed society and the way people interact with each other. Instantaneous communication platforms have allowed connections with other people, forming global communities, and creating unprecedented opportunities in many sectors, making access to online resources more ubiquitous by reducing limitations imposed by geographical distance and temporal constrains. These technological developments bear ethically relevant consequences with their deployment, and legislations often lag behind such advancements. Because the appearance and deployment of these technologies happen much faster than legislative procedures, the way these technologies affect social interactions have profound ethical effects before any legislative regulation can be built, in order to prevent and mitigate those effects. Ethics in Online AI-Based Systems: Risks and Opportunities in Current Technological Trends features a series of reflections from experts in different fields on potential ethically relevant outcomes that upcoming technological advances could bring about in our society. Creating a space to explore the ethical relevance that technologies currently still under development could have constitutes an opportunity to better understand how these technologies could or should not be used in the future in order to maximize their ethically beneficial outcomes, while avoiding potential detrimental effects. Stimulating reflection and considerations with respect to the design, deployment and use of technology will help guide current and future technological advancements from an ethically informed position in order to ensure that, tomorrow, such advancements could contribute towards solving current global and social challenges that we, as a society, have today. This will not only be useful for researchers and professional engineers, but also for educators, policy makers, and ethicists. - Investigates how "intelligent" technological advances might be used, how they will affect social interactions, and what ethical consequences they might have for society - Identifies and reflects on questions that need to be asked before the design, deployment, and application of upcoming technological advancements, aiming to both prevent and mitigate potential risks, as well as to identify potentially ethically-beneficial opportunities - Recognizes the huge potential for ethically-relevant outcomes that technological advancements have, and take proactive steps to anticipate that they be designed from an ethically-informed position - Provides reflections that highlight the importance of the relationship between technology, their users and our society, thus encouraging informed design and educational and legislative approaches that take this relationship into account

This book constitutes Part I of the refereed four-volume post-conference proceedings of the 4th IFIP TC 12 International Conference on Computer and Computing Technologies in Agriculture, CCTA 2010, held in Nanchang, China, in October 2010. The 352 revised papers presented were carefully selected from numerous submissions. They cover a wide range of interesting theories and applications of information technology in agriculture, including simulation models and decision-support systems for agricultural production, agricultural product quality testing, traceability and e-commerce technology, the application of information and communication technology in agriculture, and universal information service technology and service systems development in rural areas.