The present book includes a set of selected papers from the third “International Conference on Informatics in Control Automation and Robotics” (ICINCO 2006), held in Setúbal, Portugal, from 1 to 5 August 2006, sponsored by the Institute for Systems and Technologies of Information, Control and Communication (INSTICC). The conference was organized in three simultaneous tracks: “Intelligent Control Systems and Optimization”, “Robotics and Automation” and “Systems Modeling, Signal Processing and Control”. The book is based on the same structure. Although ICINCO 2006 received 309 paper submissions, from more than 50 different countries in all continents, only 31 where accepted as full papers. From those, only 23 were selected for inclusion in this book, based on the classifications provided by the Program Committee. The selected papers also reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the conference. The diversity of topics is an important feature of this conference, enabling an overall perception of several important scientific and technological trends. These high quality standards will be maintained and reinforced at ICINCO 2007, to be held in Angers, France, and in future editions of this conference.

Genetic algorithms (GAs) are computer-based search techniques patterned after the genetic mechanisms of biological organisms that have adapted and flourished in changing, highly competitive environments for millions of years. GAs have been successfully applied to problems in a variety of studies, and their popularity continues to increase because of their effectiveness, applicability, and ease of use. Industrial Applications of Genetic Algorithms shows how GAs have made the leap form their origins in the laboratory to the practicing engineer's toolbox. Each chapter in the book describes a project completed by a graduate student at the University of Alabama.

Content Description #Includes bibliographical references and index.

It is our great pleasure and honor to organize the First IEEE Computer Society International Workshop on Biologically Motivated Computer Vision (BMCV 2000). The workshop BMCV 2000 aims to facilitate debates on biologically motivated vision systems and to provide an opportunity for researchers in the area of vision to see and share the latest developments in state-of-the-art technology. The rapid progress being made in the field of computer vision has had a tremendous impact on the modeling and implementation of biologically motivated computer vision. A multitude of new advances and findings in the domain of computer vision will be presented at this workshop. By December 1999 a total of 90 full papers had been submitted from 28 countries. To ensure the high quality of workshop and proceedings, the program committee selected and accepted 56 of them after a thorough review process. Of these papers 25 will be presented in 5 oral sessions and 31 in a poster session. The papers span a variety of topics in computer vision from computational theories to their implementation. In addition to these excellent presentations, there will be eight invited lectures by distinguished scientists on “hot” topics. We must add that the program committee and the reviewers did an excellent job within a tight schedule.

In recent years, complex-valued neural networks have widened the scope of application in optoelectronics, imaging, remote sensing, quantum neural devices and systems, spatiotemporal analysis of physiological neural systems, and artificial neural information processing. In this first-ever book on complex-valued neural networks, the most active scientists at the forefront of the field describe theories and applications from various points of view to provide academic and industrial researchers with a comprehensive understanding of the fundamentals, features and prospects of the powerful complex-valued networks.

Intelligent Information Technology (iiT) encompasses the theories and ap plications of artificial intelligence, statistical pattern recognition, learning theory, data warehousing, data mining and knowledge discovery, Grid com puting, and autonomous agents and multi-agent systems in the context of today's as well as future IT, such as Electronic Commerce (EC), Business Intelligence (BI), Social Intelligence (SI), Web Intelligence (WI), Knowledge Grid (KG), and Knowledge Community (KC), among others. The multi-author monograph presents the current state of the research and development in intelligent technologies for information analysis, in par ticular, advances in agents, data mining, and learning theory, from both the oretical and application aspects. It investigates the future of information technology (IT) from a new intelligent IT (iiT) perspective, and highlights major iiT-related topics by structuring an introductory chapter and 22 sur vey/research chapters into 5 parts: (1) emerging data mining technology, (2) data mining for Web intelligence, (3) emerging agent technology, ( 4) emerging soft computing technology, and (5) statistical learning theory. Each chapter includes the original work of the author(s) as well as a comprehensive survey related to the chapter's topic. This book will become a valuable source of reference for R&D profession als active in advanced intelligent information technologies. Students as well as IT professionals and ambitious practitioners concerned with advanced in telligent information technologies will appreciate the book as a useful text enhanced by numerous illustrations and examples.

The Radial Basis Function (RBF) network has gained in popularity in recent years. This is due to its desirable properties in classification and functional approximation applications, accompanied by training that is more rapid than that of many other neural-network techniques. RBF network research has focused on enhanced training algorithms and variations on the basic architecture to improve the performance of the network. In addition, the RBF network is proving to be a valuable tool in a diverse range of applications areas, for example, robotics, biomedical engineering, and the financial sector. The two-title series Theory and Applications of Radial Basis Function Networks provides a comprehensive survey of recent RBF network research. This volume, New Advances in Design, contains a wide range of applications in the laboratory and case-studies describing current use. The sister volume to this one, Recent Developments in Theory and Applications, covers advances in training algorithms, variations on the architecture and function of the basis neurons, and hybrid paradigms. The combination of the two volumes will prove extremely useful to practitioners in the field, engineers, researchers, students and technically accomplished managers.

Tenascin, a recently characterized extracellular matrix (ECM) protein which is expressed during embryonic and fetal development, wound healing and various benign and malignant tumors (but highly restricted in normal adult tissues) is believed to affect a number of cellular functions such as cellular growth, differentiation, adhesion and motility. It has been extensively studied in recent years to elucidate cellular phenomena that are associated with development, tissue regeneration and neoplastic growth and behavior. It may be a potential target in the treatment of cancers and other disorders. This book focuses mainly on tissue expression and the poorly known biological role of this ECM protein.

This book constitutes, together with its compagnion LNCS 1606, the refereed proceedings of the International Work-Conference on Artificial & Neural Networks, IWANN'99, held in Alicante, Spain in June 1999. The 91 revised papers presented were carefully reviewed & selected for inclusion in the book. This volume is devoted to applications of biologically inspired artificial neural networks in various engineering disciplines. The papers are organized in parts on artificial neural nets simulation & implementation, image processing & engineering applications.