This book discusses how to build optimization tools able to generate better future studies. It aims at showing how these tools can be used to develop an adaptive learning environment that can be used for decision making in the presence of uncertainties. The book starts with existing fuzzy techniques and multicriteria decision making approaches and shows how to combine them in more effective tools to model future events and take therefore better decisions. The first part of the book is dedicated to the theories behind fuzzy optimization and fuzzy cognitive map, while the second part presents new approaches developed by the authors with their practical application to trend impact analysis, scenario planning and strategic formulation. The book is aimed at two groups of readers, interested in linking the future studies with artificial intelligence. The first group includes social scientists seeking for improved methods for strategic prospective. The second group includes computer scientists and engineers seeking for new applications and current developments of Soft Computing methods for forecasting in social science, but not limited to this.

This book addresses the different problems, practices, challenges and opportunities in sustainable resource management with the help of decision-making techniques to showcase the relevance of computational modelling approaches in sustainable management and Industry 4.0. It aims to address the inherent complexity of managing ecosystems, particularly with respect to involvement of multi-stakeholders, lack of information and uncertainties. Critical analyses are made to point out the need for, and propose a call to, a new way of thinking about sustainable resource management. This book will be useful for academicians, researchers, and industrialists in the field of industrial and production engineering.

This book discusses how to build optimization tools able to generate better future studies. It aims at showing how these tools can be used to develop an adaptive learning environment that can be used for decision making in the presence of uncertainties. The book starts with existing fuzzy techniques and multicriteria decision making approaches and shows how to combine them in more effective tools to model future events and take therefore better decisions. The first part of the book is dedicated to the theories behind fuzzy optimization and fuzzy cognitive map, while the second part presents new approaches developed by the authors with their practical application to trend impact analysis, scenario planning and strategic formulation. The book is aimed at two groups of readers, interested in linking the future studies with artificial intelligence. The first group includes social scientists seeking for improved methods for strategic prospective. The second group includes computer scientists and engineers seeking for new applications and current developments of Soft Computing methods for forecasting in social science, but not limited to this.

Distributed systems intertwine with our everyday lives. The benefits and current shortcomings of the underpinning technologies are experienced by a wide range of people and their smart devices. With the rise of large-scale IoT and similar distributed systems, cloud bursting technologies, and partial outsourcing solutions, private entities are encouraged to increase their efficiency and offer unparalleled availability and reliability to their users. The Research Anthology on Architectures, Frameworks, and Integration Strategies for Distributed and Cloud Computing is a vital reference source that provides valuable insight into current and emergent research occurring within the field of distributed computing. It also presents architectures and service frameworks to achieve highly integrated distributed systems and solutions to integration and efficient management challenges faced by current and future distributed systems. Highlighting a range of topics such as data sharing, wireless sensor networks, and scalability, this multi-volume book is ideally designed for system administrators, integrators, designers, developers, researchers, academicians, and students.

This book addresses and disseminates state-of-the-art research and development in the applications of soft computing techniques for renewable energy systems. It covers topics such as solar energy, wind energy, and solar concentrator technologies, as well as building systems and power generation systems. In all these areas, applications of soft computing methods such as artificial neural networks, genetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, cuckoo search, fuzzy logic, and a combination of these, called hybrid systems, are included. This book is a source for students interested in the fields of renewable energy and the application of the soft computing. In addition, our book can be considered as a reference for researchers and academics since it will include applications of soft computing in different renewable energy systems.

In the ever-evolving landscape of maternal healthcare, expectant mothers face a myriad of challenges, from pregnancy complications to postpartum care. Traditional approaches often fail to provide timely and personalized interventions, leading to suboptimal outcomes for both mother and child. The lack of practical tools and strategies to address these complexities underscores the pressing need for innovative solutions that can revolutionize maternal care. Modernizing Maternal Care With Digital Technologies leads the way, offering a comprehensive solution that harnesses the power of modern technology and soft computing techniques to foster environments that improve maternal patient outcomes. This pioneering book delves into the transformative role of artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics, and wearable devices in reshaping maternal care. The book presents a paradigm shift in how expectant mothers can be supported throughout their pregnancy journey by highlighting the significance of predictive modeling and real-time monitoring.

Current modern companies, which are also the key factors of a global economy, are subject to increasing pressures to conduct their business in an environmentally responsible manner, due to social and environmental problems. Improving long-term environmental performance can bring economic benefits to those companies that are innovative and environmentally sensitive, especially by integrating environmental information into their business strategies. Considering all the changes, sustainability reporting, management, and financial accounting becomes a powerful information tool for executives, managers, and employee teams to gain insights and make better decisions. Along with concepts such as ethical, controlling, auditing, management, and financial accounting, reporting provides value with the decision-making process. All these debates underline the major responsibility of users when configuring accounting and finance models and thereby in modelling business information. Sustainability Reporting, Ethics, and Strategic Management Strategies for Modern Organizations proposes an interdisciplinary perspective and explores various theoretical and practical approaches of ethical standards, management accounting, and their impact in the 21st century on different areas of activity. It contrasts external financial accounting for government regulators and the investment community with internal management accounting for managers to leverage for decision making. In addition, the book examines the role of management accounting and sustainability reporting from other points of view such as ethical standards, corporate social responsibility, creative accounting, green accounting, environmental indicators, e-accounting, KPI, lean accounting, controlling, auditing, reporting, etc., offering a number of new insights into management accounting. It is intended for chief financial officers, financial controllers, business analysts, financial planners, financial analysts, budgeting managers, executives, managers, academicians, researchers, and students.

This two-wolume set (CCIS 1395-1396) constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Futuristic Trends in Network and Communication Technologies, FTNCT 2020, held in Taganrog, Russia, in October 2020. The 80 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 291 submissions. The prime aim of the conference is to invite researchers from different domains of network and communication technologies to a single platform to showcase their research ideas. The selected papers are organized in topical sections on communication technologies; security and privacy; futuristic computing technologies; ​network and computing technologies; wireless networks and Internet of Things (IoT).

In recent years, soft computing techniques have emerged as a successful tool to understand and analyze the collective behavior of service- oriented computing software. Algorithms and mechanisms of self- organization of complex natural systems have been used to solve problems, particularly in complex systems, which are adaptive, ever- evolving, and distributed in nature across the globe. What fits more perfectly into this scenario other than the rapidly developing era of Fog, IoT, and Edge computing environment? Service- oriented computing can be enhanced with soft computing techniques embedded inside the Cloud, Fog, and IoT systems. Soft Computing Principles and Integration for Real-Time Service-Oriented Computing explores soft computing techniques that have wide application in interdisciplinary areas. These soft computing techniques provide an optimal solution to the optimization problem using single or multiple objectives.The book focuses on basic design principles and analysis of soft computing techniques. It discusses how soft computing techniques can be used to improve quality-of-service in serviceoriented architectures. The book also covers applications and integration of soft computing techniques with a service- oriented computing paradigm. Highlights of the book include: A general introduction to soft computing An extensive literature study of soft computing techniques and emerging trends Soft computing techniques based on the principles of artificial intelligence, fuzzy logic, and neural networks The implementation of SOC with a focus on service composition and orchestration, quality of service (QoS) considerations, security and privacy concerns, governance challenges, and the integration of legacy systems The applications of soft computing in adaptive service composition, intelligent service recommendation, fault detection and diagnosis, SLA management, and security Such principles underlying SOC as loose coupling, reusability, interoperability, and abstraction An IoT based framework for real time data collection and analysis using soft computing