This book develops allocation mechanisms that aim to ensure an efficient resource allocation in modern IT-services. Recent methods of artificial intelligence, such as neural networks and reinforcement learning, and nature-oriented optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, are advanced and applied to allocation processes in distributed IT-infrastructures, or grid systems.

This book presents the most recent advances in the research and applications of reconfigurable mechanisms and robots. It collects 93 independently reviewed papers presented at the Third ASME/IFToMM International Conference on Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots (ReMAR 2015) held in Beijing, China, 20-22 July 2015. The conference papers are organized into seven parts to cover the reconfiguration theory, topology, kinematics and design of reconfigurable mechanisms including reconfigurable parallel mechanisms. The most recent results on reconfigurable robots are presented including their analysis, design, simulation and control. Bio-inspired mechanisms are also explored in the challenging fields of rehabilitation and minimally invasive surgery. This book further addresses deployable mechanisms and origami-inspired mechanisms and showcases a wide range of successful applications of reconfigurable mechanisms and robots. Advances in Reconfigurable Mechanisms and Robots II should be of interest for researchers, engineers and postgraduate students in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science and mathematics.

The book, while introducing readers to the auction mechanism for resource provisioning in cloud computing, also endeavors to provide structured literature on the subject. Since various models have been proposed, it will help readers to formulate the cloud resource provisioning problem using the auction approach. The book also discusses challenges for resource provisioning in detail, helping to shape future research. The target audience for this book includes computer scientists, economists, industry professionals, research scholars, and postgraduate students. Computer science readers of this book will come to see that economics-based method are quite helpful in computer science, especially for resource provisioning. Readers with a cloud computing background will come to recognize the importance of dynamic pricing, the specific benefits of auctions, and how to formulate auctions for cloud computing. Lastly, readers from the economics community will come to understand their role in cloud computing, as well as where and how they can contribute.

The book discusses the evolution of future generation technologies through Internet of Things (IoT) in the scope of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The main focus of this volume is to bring all the related technologies in a single platform, so that undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, academicians, and industry people can easily understand the AI algorithms, machine learning algorithms, and learning analytics in IoT-enabled technologies. This book uses data and network engineering and intelligent decision support system-by-design principles to design a reliable AI-enabled IoT ecosystem and to implement cyber-physical pervasive infrastructure solutions. This book brings together some of the top IoT-enabled AI experts throughout the world who contribute their knowledge regarding different IoT-based technology aspects.

This book constitutes revised selected papers from the Australasian Symposium on Service Research and Innovation, ASSRI, held in Sydney Australia.The 11 full papers presented from ASSRI 2017, which took place during October 19-20, 2017, were carefully reviewed and selected from 26 submissions. The volume also contains 3 papers from ASSRI 2015, which took place during November 2-3, 2015, and one invited paper on the software development processes.The papers were organized in topical sections named: invited talk; modelling; design; quality; social, and application.

Standardization has the potential to shape, expand, and create markets. Information technology has undergone a rapid transformation in the application of standards in practice, and recent developments have augmented the need for the divulgence of supplementary research. Standardization Research in Information Technology: New Perspectives amasses cutting-edge research on the application of standards in the market, covering topics such as corporate standardization, linguistic qualities of international standards, the role of individuals in standardization, and the development, use, application, and influence of information technology in standardization techniques.

Software Product Management (SPM) is a key success factor for software products and software-intensive products. This book gives a comprehensive overview on SPM for beginners as well as best practices, methodology and in-depth discussions for experienced product managers. This includes product strategy, product planning, participation in strategic management activities and orchestration of the functional units of the company. The book is based on the results of the International Software Product Management Association (ISPMA®, SPM Body of Knowledge V.2) which is led by a group of SPM experts from industry and research with the goal to foster software product management excellence across industries. This book can be used as textbook for ISPMA®-based education and as guide for anybody interested in SPM as one of the most exciting and challenging disciplines in the business of software.

This book presents a macroeconomic dynamic model à la Solow-Swan, including the market for labor, in a discrete time structure. The model is expanded to include expenditure on R&D and public expenditure on infrastructure. For each of the three models the results are shown in time series figures, which demonstrate that even small changes in the parameters produce responses in the time behavior of the main variables: from steady growth, to regular cycles, to chaotic-like time paths.

This volume consists of selected papers presented at the Ninth International Conference on Computer-Aided Scheduling of Public Transport. Coverage includes the use of computer-aided methods and operations research techniques to improve: information management; network and route planning; vehicle and crew scheduling and rostering; vehicle monitoring and management; and practical experience with scheduling and public transport planning methods.

In this book, a social dilemma with partner selection is introduced and studied with the methods of formal game theory, experimental economics and computer simulations. It allows exploration of simultaneous dynamics of the network structure and cooperative behavior on this structure. The results of this study show that partner choice strongly facilitates cooperation and leads to networks where free-riders are likely to be excluded.