Frederick E. Petry - Böcker

Homeland Security has become a major concern. Many agencies, including national and international law enforcement and intelligence agencies have cooperated by providing information using information in a net-centric approach. Net-centric computing covers a range of sub-specialties including - computer communication network concepts and protocols, multimedia systems, Web standards and technologies, network security, wireless and mobile computing, and distributed systems. Net-Centric Web Approaches to Intelligence and National Security presents the work from experts in this emerging field.

This volume presents the results on the use of fuzzy set theory to represent imprecision in databases. It provides background material on fuzzy sets and database theory, covering all of the major approaches and models of fuzzy databases that have been developed, including coverage of commercial/industrial systems and applications. Background and introductory material are provided in the first two chapters. The major approaches in fuzzy databases comprise the second part of the volume. This includes the use of similarity and proximity measures as the fuzzy techniques used to extend the relational data modelling and the use of possibility theory approaches in the relational model. Coverage includes extensions to the data model, querying approaches, functional dependencies and other topics including implementation issues, information measures, database security, alternative fuzzy data models, the IFO model, and the network data models. A number of object-oriented extensions are also discussed. The use of fuzzy data modelling in geographical information systems (GIS) and use of rough sets in rough and fuzzy rough relational data models are presented.Major emphasis has been given to applications and commercialization of fuzzy databases. Several specific industrial/commercial products and applications are described. These include approaches to developing fuzzy front-end systems and special-purpose systems incorporating fuzziness.

This volume considers the web architectures and recent developments that make net-centric approaches for intelligence and national security possible. The development of net-centric approaches for intelligence, national and homeland security applications has become a major concern in many areas such as defense intelligence and national and international law enforcement agencies, especially since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Net-Centric Approaches to Intelligence and National Security presents developments in information integration and recent advances in web services including the concept of the semantic web. Discovery analysis and management of web-available data poses a number of interesting challenges for research in web-based management systems. Intelligent agents and data mining are among the techniques employed. A number of specific systems that are net-centric based in various areas of military applications, intelligence and law enforcement are presented utilizing one or more of such techniques.

This volume presents the results of approximately 15 years of work from researchers around the world on the use of fuzzy set theory to represent imprecision in databases. The maturity of the research in the discipline and the recent developments in commercial/industrial fuzzy databases provided an opportunity to produce this survey. In this introduction we will describe briefly how fuzzy databases fit into the overall design of database systems and then overview the organization of the text. FUZZY DATABASE LANDSCAPE The last five years have been witness to a revolution in the database research community. The dominant data models have changed and the consensus on what constitutes worthwhile research is in flux. Also, at this time, it is possible to gain a perspective on what has been accomplished in the area of fuzzy databases. Therefore, now is an opportune time to take stock of the past and establish a framework. A framework should assist in evaluating future research through a better understanding of the different aspects of imprecision that a database can model [ 1 l.

The capabilities of modern technology are rapidly increasing, spurred on to a large extent by the tremendous advances in communications and computing. Automated vehicles and global wireless connections are some examples of these advances. In order to take advantage of such enhanced capabilities, our need to model and manipulate our knowledge of the geophysical world, using compatible representations, is also rapidly increasing. In response to this one fundamental issue of great concern in modern geographical research is how to most effectively capture the physical world around us in systems like geographical information systems (GIS). Making this task even more challenging is the fact that uncertainty plays a pervasive role in the representation, analysis and use of geospatial information. The types of uncertainty that appear in geospatial information systems are not the just simple randomness of observation, as in weather data, but are manifested in many other forms including imprecision, incompleteness and granularization. Describing the uncertainty of the boundaries of deserts and mountains clearly require different tools than those provided by probability theory. The multiplicity of modalities of uncertainty appearing in GIS requires a variety of formalisms to model these uncertainties. In light of this it is natural that fuzzy set theory has become a topic of intensive interest in many areas of geographical research and applications This volume, Fuzzy Modeling with Spatial Information for Geographic Problems, provides many stimulating examples of advances in geographical research based on approaches using fuzzy sets and related technologies.

This book focuses on research advances in approaches for incorporating explicit handling of uncertainty, especially by fuzzy sets, to address geographic problems. Over the past several years interest in the use of fuzzy sets approaches has grown across a broad spectrum of fields that use spatial information to address geographic problems. Not only has there been considerable research on incorporating fuzzy sets in the geographic information systems (GIS) supporting geographic problem solving, but increasingly the uncertainties inherent in modeling geographic problems have been addressed using soft computing methods. This book has two aims. One is to stimulate further research in both the theory and application of fuzzy sets to spatial information management and geographic problem solving. The other is to highlight the advances in research which have matured to the point that we find fuzzy modeling being used by geoscientists, computer scientists, geographers, ecologists, engineers, and others. The book includes examples of the use of fuzzy sets in representational issues such as terrain features, landscape morphology, spatial extents and approaches for spatial interpolation.A variety of applications using fuzzy sets are covered including data mining, spatial decision making, ecological simulation, and reliability in GIS.

We are facing an immense growth of digital data and information resources, both in terms of size, complexity, modalities and intrusiveness. Almost every aspect of our existence is being digitally captured. This is exemplified by the omnipresent existence of all kinds of data storage, far beyond those stored in traditional relational databases. The spectrum of data being digitally stored runs from multimedia data repositories to your purchases in most stores. Every tweet that you broadcast is captured for posterity. Needless to say this situation posses new research opportunities, challenges and problems in the ways we store, manipulate, search, and - in general - make use of such data and information. Attempts to cope with these problems have been emerging all over the world with thousands of people devoted to developing tools and techniques to deal with this new area of research. One of the prominent scholars and researchers in this field was the late Professor Ashley Morris who died suddenly and tragically at a young age. Ashley's career begun in industry, where he specialized in databases.