This book presents the latest research in hybrid intelligent systems. It includes 57 carefully selected papers from the 16th International Conference on Hybrid Intelligent Systems (HIS 2016) and the 8th World Congress on Nature and Biologically Inspired Computing (NaBIC 2016), held on November 21–23, 2016 in Marrakech, Morocco. HIS - NaBIC 2016 was jointly organized by the Machine Intelligence Research Labs (MIR Labs), USA; Hassan 1st University, Settat, Morocco and University of Sfax, Tunisia. Hybridization of intelligent systems is a promising research field in modern artificial/computational intelligence and is concerned with the development of the next generation of intelligent systems. The conference’s main aim is to inspire further exploration of the intriguing potential of hybrid intelligent systems and bio-inspired computing. As such, the book is a valuable resource for practicing engineers /scientists and researchers working in the field of computational intelligence and artificial intelligence.

“Maintenance Management of Wind Turbines” considers the main concepts and the state-of-the-art, as well as advances and case studies on this topic. Maintenance is a critical variable in industry in order to reach competitiveness. It is the most important variable, together with operations, in the wind energy industry. Therefore, the correct management of corrective, predictive and preventive politics in any wind turbine is required. The content also considers original research works that focus on content that is complementary to other sub-disciplines, such as economics, finance, marketing, decision and risk analysis, engineering, etc., in the maintenance management of wind turbines. This book focuses on real case studies. These case studies concern topics such as failure detection and diagnosis, fault trees and subdisciplines (e.g., FMECA, FMEA, etc.) Most of them link these topics with financial, schedule, resources, downtimes, etc., in order to increase productivity, profitability, maintainability, reliability, safety, availability, and reduce costs and downtime, etc., in a wind turbine. Advances in mathematics, models, computational techniques, dynamic analysis, etc., are employed in analytics in maintenance management in this book. Finally, the book considers computational techniques, dynamic analysis, probabilistic methods, and mathematical optimization techniques that are expertly blended to support the analysis of multi-criteria decision-making problems with defined constraints and requirements.

ITiB’2018 is the 6th Conference on Information Technology in Biomedicine, hosted every two years by the Department of Informatics & Medical Devices, Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Silesian University of Technology. The Conference is organized under the auspices of the Committee on Biocybernetics and Biomedical Engineering of the Polish Academy of Sciences. The meeting has become an established event that helps to address the demand for fast and reliable technologies capable of processing data and delivering results in a user-friendly, timely and mobile manner. Many of these areas are recognized as research and development frontiers in employing new technology in the clinical setting. Technological assistance can be found in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation alike. Homecare support for any type of disability may improve standard of living and make people’s lives safer and more comfortable. The book includes the following sections: Ø Image Processing Ø Multimodal Imaging and Computer-aided Surgery Ø Computer-aided Diagnosis Ø Signal Processing and Medical Devices Ø Bioinformatics Ø Modelling & Simulation Ø Analytics in Action on the SAS Platform Ø Assistive Technologies and Affective Computing (ATAC)

This book, the first dedicated to the topic, provides a comprehensive treatment of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in standard optical fibers. SBS interactions between guided light and sound waves have drawn much attention for over fifty years, and optical fibers provide an excellent playground for the study of Brillouin scattering as they support guided modes of both wave types and provide long interaction lengths. This book is dedicated to forward SBS processes that are driven by co-propagating optical fields. The physics of forward SBS is explained in detail, starting from the fundamentals of interactions between guided optical and acoustic waves, with emphasis given to the acoustic modes that are stimulated in the processes. The realization of forward SBS in standard single-mode, polarization-maintaining and multi-core fibers is then discussed in depth. Innovative potential applications in sensors, monitoring of coating layers, lasers, and radio-frequency oscillators are presented. This book introduces the subject to graduate students in optics and applied physics, and it will be of interest to scientists working in fiber-optics, nonlinear optics and opto-mechanics. Provides the first treatment of forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in book form; Reflects the dramatic recent increase in interest in forward SBS processes , driven in part by the promise of new fiber sensing concepts; Delivers a solid and comprehensive grounding in the physics of forward SBS along with detailed experimental set-ups, measurement protocols, and applications.

This book gathers state-of-the-art research contributions written by academics and researchers, which address emerging trends in system design and implementation for the Internet of Things (IoT), and discuss how to promote IoT technologies and applications. The book is chiefly intended for researchers and academics who want to get caught up with the latest trends in enabling technologies for IoT and related applications and services. However, it also includes chapters on the fundamentals of IoT, offering essential orientation for general readers.