Editorial -Special issue on adaptive multimedia computing

In recent years, there is an emerging research area in multimedia computing, with the increasing number of related work in scalable video, adaptive multimedia documents, adaptive multimedia services, to name just a few. This new trend comes about partly due to the increasing use of mobile media devices where media requirements could change among users and devices and at different times of reception or presentation, and partly due to the changing network conditions, where best-effort service is the general practice. Any change in Quality of Services (QoS) could imply a change in the delivery or scheduling of media contents. To complicate the matter, user interruptions or requirement changes during the communication process could also occur; for example, a user may not be satisfied with the current media quality and decide an upgrade in real time. The status quo is that this new research paradigm is beginning to take shape while no effort has been made to draw a roadmap for it. We could see some major research work missing, for example, formal methods or modeling of adaptive multimedi

IEEE Access Special Section Editorial: Energy Management in Buildings

Energy usage in buildings has become a critical concern globally, and with that, the concept of energy management in buildings has emerged to help tackle these challenges. The energy management system provides a new opportunity for the building's energy requirements, and is an essential method for energy service, i.e., energy saving, consumption,

Adaptation and learning over networks for nonlinear system modeling

In this chapter, we analyze nonlinear filtering problems in distributed environments, e.g., sensor networks or peer-to-peer protocols. In these scenarios, the agents in the environment receive measurements in a streaming fashion, and they are required to estimate a common (nonlinear) model by alternating local computations and communications with their neighbors. We focus on the important distinction between single-task problems, where the underlying model is common to all agents, and multitask problems, where each agent might converge to a different model due to, e.g., spatial dependencies or other factors. Currently, most of the literature on distributed learning in the nonlinear case has focused on the single-task case, which may be a strong limitation in real-world scenarios. After introducing the problem and reviewing the existing approaches, we describe a simple kernel-based algorithm tailored for the multitask case. We evaluate the proposal on a simulated benchmark task, and we conclude by detailing currently open problems and lines of research.Comment: To be published as a chapter in `Adaptive Learning Methods for Nonlinear System Modeling', Elsevier Publishing, Eds. D. Comminiello and J.C. Principe (2018

Enabling mobile and wireless technologies for smart cities

[EN] The articles in this special section focs on mobile and wireless communications technologies and services for deployment in smart citiesAhmed, E.; Imran, M.; Guizani, M.; Rayes, A.; Lloret, J.; Han, G.; Guibene, W. (2017). Enabling mobile and wireless technologies for smart cities. IEEE Communications Magazine. 55(1):74-75. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2017.7823341S747555

Enabling mobile and wireless technologies for smart cities - Part 2

[EN] The articles in this special section focus on communications technologies for use in smart cities. Due to advancements in communication and computing technologies, smart cities have become the main innovation agenda of research organizations, technology vendors, and governments. To make a city smart, a strong communications infrastructure is required for connecting smart objects, people, and sensors. Smart cities rely on wireless and mobile technologies for providing services such as healthcare assistance, security and safety, real-time traffic monitoring, and managing the environment, to name a few. Such applications have been a main driving force in the development of smart cities. Without the appropriate communication networks, it is really difficult for a city to facilitate its citizens in a sustainable, efficient, and safer manner/environment. Considering the significance of mobile and wireless technologies for realizing the vision of smart cities, there is a need to conduct research to further investigate the standardization efforts and explore different issues/challenges in wireless technologies, mobile computing, and smart environments.Ahmed, E.; Imran, M.; Guizani, M.; Rayes, A.; Lloret, J.; Han, G.; Guibene, W. (2017). Enabling mobile and wireless technologies for smart cities - Part 2. IEEE Communications Magazine. 55(3):12-13. https://doi.org/10.1109/MCOM.2017.7876850S121355

Networking Technologies, Services, and Protocols

Mobility and Quality of Services (QoS) are the major issues in today\u27s computer networks research. Projections show that in the next few years we can expect the total number of mobile In ternet users soon to exceed that of fixed-line Internet connec- tions. The QoS perceived by the users is becoming a dominant fact or in the success of Internet-based services. Furthermore, new Internet applications may require the delivery of multimedia data in real time (e.g., streaming stored video and audio), and the information transfer through the Internet is becoming one of the principal paradigms for business, e.g., electronic sales, banking, finance and collaborative work. The aim of this issue is to address the challenges in networking technologies, services and protocols to suppor t mobility, multim edia and Qo