Call for papers: Special Session for WCCI 2014 "Applications of Computational lntelligence in Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling"

Aim

The aim of this special session is to provide a forum for recent research in the application of computational intelligence in the areas of ecological informatics, ecological modelling and environmental modelling.

Ecological informatics and the related field of ecological modelling involve constructing computational models of ecological systems. These models include such things as the distribution or abundance of particular species, models of the interaction between multiple species, and models of the future development of populations. Environmental modelling is closely related and involves constructing models of the physical environment that biological eco-systems inhabit. These models cover such topics as the climate and climate change and the detection of landscape features from geographical data. Models have also been constructed of such environmental topics as waste management systems, water quality and drainage systems and air pollution. As these are highly-complex systems, algorithms from the field of computational intelligence have already been widely applied to modelling this data. Previous work has successfully applied artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary algorithms, support vector machines and combinations of these including neuro-fuzzy and neuro-evolutionary approaches. In each case, computational intelligence methods were shown to be more effective at solving the problem than the alternative methods.

Scope

Topics relevant to this special session include, but are not limited to, the following applications of computational intelligence, including Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, and Evolutionary Algorithms:

•    Species distribution and ecological niche modelling
•    Predicting species abundance
•    Remote sensing image analysis and content-based image retrieval for Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling
•    Analysis of species assemblages
•    Issues in the preparation of ecological data for modelling
•    Modelling of pollutants in air, land or water
•    Modelling water quality
•    Predicting the effects of climate change
•    Predicting crop hazards, pests or diseases
•    Identifying landscape features
•    Modelling ecosystem biomass

Deadline

The deadline for submissions to this special session is 20 January 2014.

Information for Authors

1)    Information on the format and templates for papers can be found here:
       http://www.ieee-wcci2014.org/Paper%20Submission.htm
2)    Papers should be submitted via the IJCNN 2014 paper submission site:
       http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/ijcnn2014/upload.php3)
       Select the Special Session name in the Main Research topic dropdown list
4)    Fill out the input fields, upload the PDF file of your paper and finalize your submission by the deadline of December 20, 2013

Organisers

•    Dr Michael J Watts, AIS St Helens, Auckland, New Zealand. mjwatts@ieee.org
•    Associate Professor Russel Pears, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, russel.pears@aut.ac.nz
•    Professor Jie Yang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, jieyang@sjtu.edu.cn

Call for papers: Special Session for WCCI 2014 "Applications of Computational lntelligence in Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling"

Aim

The aim of this special session is to provide a forum for recent research in the application of computational intelligence in the areas of ecological informatics, ecological modelling and environmental modelling.

Ecological informatics and the related field of ecological modelling involve constructing computational models of ecological systems. These models include such things as the distribution or abundance of particular species, models of the interaction between multiple species, and models of the future development of populations. Environmental modelling is closely related and involves constructing models of the physical environment that biological eco-systems inhabit. These models cover such topics as the climate and climate change and the detection of landscape features from geographical data. Models have also been constructed of such environmental topics as waste management systems, water quality and drainage systems and air pollution. As these are highly-complex systems, algorithms from the field of computational intelligence have already been widely applied to modelling this data. Previous work has successfully applied artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary algorithms, support vector machines and combinations of these including neuro-fuzzy and neuro-evolutionary approaches. In each case, computational intelligence methods were shown to be more effective at solving the problem than the alternative methods.

Scope

Topics relevant to this special session include, but are not limited to, the following applications of computational intelligence, including Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, and Evolutionary Algorithms:

•    Species distribution and ecological niche modelling
•    Predicting species abundance
•    Remote sensing image analysis and content-based image retrieval for Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling
•    Analysis of species assemblages
•    Issues in the preparation of ecological data for modelling
•    Modelling of pollutants in air, land or water
•    Modelling water quality
•    Predicting the effects of climate change
•    Predicting crop hazards, pests or diseases
•    Identifying landscape features
•    Modelling ecosystem biomass

Deadline

The deadline for submissions to this special session is 20 December 2013.

Information for Authors

1)    Information on the format and templates for papers can be found here:
       http://www.ieee-wcci2014.org/Paper%20Submission.htm
2)    Papers should be submitted via the IJCNN 2014 paper submission site:
       http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/ijcnn2014/upload.php3)
       Select the Special Session name in the Main Research topic dropdown list
4)    Fill out the input fields, upload the PDF file of your paper and finalize your submission by the deadline of December 20, 2013

Organisers

•    Dr Michael J Watts, AIS St Helens, Auckland, New Zealand. mjwatts@ieee.org
•    Associate Professor Russel Pears, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, russel.pears@aut.ac.nz
•    Professor Jie Yang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, jieyang@sjtu.edu.cn

Call for papers: Special Session for WCCI 2014 "Applications of Computational lntelligence in Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling"

Aim

The aim of this special session is to provide a forum for recent research in the application of computational intelligence in the areas of ecological informatics, ecological modelling and environmental modelling.

Ecological informatics and the related field of ecological modelling involve constructing computational models of ecological systems. These models include such things as the distribution or abundance of particular species, models of the interaction between multiple species, and models of the future development of populations. Environmental modelling is closely related and involves constructing models of the physical environment that biological eco-systems inhabit. These models cover such topics as the climate and climate change and the detection of landscape features from geographical data. Models have also been constructed of such environmental topics as waste management systems, water quality and drainage systems and air pollution. As these are highly-complex systems, algorithms from the field of computational intelligence have already been widely applied to modelling this data. Previous work has successfully applied artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary algorithms, support vector machines and combinations of these including neuro-fuzzy and neuro-evolutionary approaches. In each case, computational intelligence methods were shown to be more effective at solving the problem than the alternative methods.

Scope

Topics relevant to this special session include, but are not limited to, the following applications of computational intelligence, including Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, and Evolutionary Algorithms:

•    Species distribution and ecological niche modelling
•    Predicting species abundance
•    Remote sensing image analysis and content-based image retrieval for Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling
•    Analysis of species assemblages
•    Issues in the preparation of ecological data for modelling
•    Modelling of pollutants in air, land or water
•    Modelling water quality
•    Predicting the effects of climate change
•    Predicting crop hazards, pests or diseases
•    Identifying landscape features
•    Modelling ecosystem biomass

Deadline

The deadline for submissions to this special session is 20 December 2013.

Information for Authors

1)    Information on the format and templates for papers can be found here:
       http://www.ieee-wcci2014.org/Paper%20Submission.htm
2)    Papers should be submitted via the IJCNN 2014 paper submission site:
       http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/ijcnn2014/upload.php3) 
       Select the Special Session name in the Main Research topic dropdown list
4)    Fill out the input fields, upload the PDF file of your paper and finalize your submission by the deadline of December 20, 2013

Organisers

•    Dr Michael J Watts, AIS St Helens, Auckland, New Zealand. mjwatts@ieee.org
•    Associate Professor Russel Pears, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, russel.pears@aut.ac.nz
•    Professor Jie Yang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, jieyang@sjtu.edu.cn

Prioritizing insect pests with Kohonen SOM

My research interests and activities are split between two fields: computational intelligence (obviously) and ecological modelling. Although I got into ecological modelling via computational intelligence, many of my recent publications in ecological modelling haven't had anything to do with computational intelligence. An exception to this is a recently published paper in the journal Neobiota that I am a coauthor of: "Prioritizing the risk of plant pests by clustering methods: self-organising maps, k-means and hierarchical clustering".

The problem is this: given the species that are known to exist in various geo-political regions of the world, what is the likelihood of one of those species establishing in a region where it is not already present? Species presences and absences are represented by binary vectors, where each region has a vector, a one represents a presence of a particular species in that region, and a zero represents an absence in that region. By clustering the assemblage vectors using a SOM, it is possible to infer which species pose the greatest threat to any particular region.

The rationale behind this approach is that regions that have similar species assemblages are likely to have similar environments. So if several assemblages end up in the same cluster, and a species is present in many of those regions but absent in others, then that species is likely to become established in the regions from which it is absent.

In this work the SOM were used as data clustering algorithms, with the vector quantisation abilities of the SOM being largely underutilized. My own contribution to the work was the realisation that the SOM were being used to cluster data, and hence to test the approach against the much-faster k-means clustering algorithm. I found that k-means is just as effective at producing good clusters as the SOM, and is much faster.

There are some problems with this work as well: it is virtually impossible to determine which approach is better without testing data. Which means that if you are clustering a set of species assemblages, you also need some more up-to-date data to validate the predictions. I do have some thoughts on getting around this, which I am currently investigating.

Call for papers: Special Session for WCCI 2014 "Applications of Computational lntelligence in Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling"

Aim

The aim of this special session is to provide a forum for recent research in the application of computational intelligence in the areas of ecological informatics, ecological modelling and environmental modelling.

Ecological informatics and the related field of ecological modelling involve constructing computational models of ecological systems. These models include such things as the distribution or abundance of particular species, models of the interaction between multiple species, and models of the future development of populations. Environmental modelling is closely related and involves constructing models of the physical environment that biological eco-systems inhabit. These models cover such topics as the climate and climate change and the detection of landscape features from geographical data. Models have also been constructed of such environmental topics as waste management systems, water quality and drainage systems and air pollution. As these are highly-complex systems, algorithms from the field of computational intelligence have already been widely applied to modelling this data. Previous work has successfully applied artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary algorithms, support vector machines and combinations of these including neuro-fuzzy and neuro-evolutionary approaches. In each case, computational intelligence methods were shown to be more effective at solving the problem than the alternative methods.

Scope

Topics relevant to this special session include, but are not limited to, the following applications of computational intelligence, including Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, and Evolutionary Algorithms:

•    Species distribution and ecological niche modelling
•    Predicting species abundance
•    Remote sensing image analysis and content-based image retrieval for Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling
•    Analysis of species assemblages
•    Issues in the preparation of ecological data for modelling
•    Modelling of pollutants in air, land or water
•    Modelling water quality
•    Predicting the effects of climate change
•    Predicting crop hazards, pests or diseases
•    Identifying landscape features
•    Modelling ecosystem biomass

Deadline

The deadline for submissions to this special session is 20 December 2013.

Information for Authors

1)    Information on the format and templates for papers can be found here:
       http://www.ieee-wcci2014.org/Paper%20Submission.htm
2)    Papers should be submitted via the IJCNN 2014 paper submission site:
       http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/ijcnn2014/upload.php3) 
       Select the Special Session name in the Main Research topic dropdown list
4)    Fill out the input fields, upload the PDF file of your paper and finalize your submission by the deadline of December 20, 2013

Organisers

•    Dr Michael J Watts, AIS St Helens, Auckland, New Zealand. mjwatts@ieee.org
•    Associate Professor Russel Pears, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, russel.pears@aut.ac.nz
•    Professor Jie Yang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, jieyang@sjtu.edu.cn

Call for papers: Special Session for WCCI 2014 "Applications of Computational lntelligence in Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling"

Aim

The aim of this special session is to provide a forum for recent research in the application of computational intelligence in the areas of ecological informatics, ecological modelling and environmental modelling.

Ecological informatics and the related field of ecological modelling involve constructing computational models of ecological systems. These models include such things as the distribution or abundance of particular species, models of the interaction between multiple species, and models of the future development of populations. Environmental modelling is closely related and involves constructing models of the physical environment that biological eco-systems inhabit. These models cover such topics as the climate and climate change and the detection of landscape features from geographical data. Models have also been constructed of such environmental topics as waste management systems, water quality and drainage systems and air pollution. As these are highly-complex systems, algorithms from the field of computational intelligence have already been widely applied to modelling this data. Previous work has successfully applied artificial neural networks, fuzzy systems, evolutionary algorithms, support vector machines and combinations of these including neuro-fuzzy and neuro-evolutionary approaches. In each case, computational intelligence methods were shown to be more effective at solving the problem than the alternative methods.

Scope

Topics relevant to this special session include, but are not limited to, the following applications of computational intelligence, including Artificial Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, and Evolutionary Algorithms:

•    Species distribution and ecological niche modelling
•    Predicting species abundance
•    Remote sensing image analysis and content-based image retrieval for Ecological Informatics and Environmental Modelling
•    Analysis of species assemblages
•    Issues in the preparation of ecological data for modelling
•    Modelling of pollutants in air, land or water
•    Modelling water quality
•    Predicting the effects of climate change
•    Predicting crop hazards, pests or diseases
•    Identifying landscape features
•    Modelling ecosystem biomass

Deadline

The deadline for submissions to this special session is 20 December 2013.

Information for Authors

1)    Information on the format and templates for papers can be found here:
       http://www.ieee-wcci2014.org/Paper%20Submission.htm
2)    Papers should be submitted via the IJCNN 2014 paper submission site:
       http://ieee-cis.org/conferences/ijcnn2014/upload.php3) 
       Select the Special Session name in the Main Research topic dropdown list
4)    Fill out the input fields, upload the PDF file of your paper and finalize your submission by the deadline of December 20, 2013

Organisers

•    Dr Michael J Watts, AIS St Helens, Auckland, New Zealand. mjwatts@ieee.org
•    Associate Professor Russel Pears, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand, russel.pears@aut.ac.nz
•    Professor Jie Yang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China, jieyang@sjtu.edu.cn