1. Special Session for Machine Learning Methods Applied to Computer Vision and Image Processing

Organizers:
Jair Cervantes
Autonomous University of México State, México
Email:jcervantesc@uaemex.mx

Adrian Trueba
Autonomous University of México State, México
Email: atruebae@uaemex.mx

Scope and Topics:
In recent years, the development of data collection techniques and the increase in storage capacity has allowed the storage of large amounts of data. In recent years, digital image processing and computer vision have attempted to automate the tasks that the human visual system can do. Artificial vision algorithms have been successfully applied to many real-world problems ranging from medical image analysis, to object detection, classification, and identification of plants from leaves and fault detection. In order to promote the development of this important area, The aim of this special session is to explore scientific paradigms, models, methods and technologies, and applications with both solid theoretical development and practical importance, focusing on Computer Vision and Image Processing algorithms and their applications to different fields. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Image segmentation
• Image restoration
• Object detection and classification
• Handwritten digit recognition
• Face detection and identification
• Texture image analysis
• Human activity recognition
• Visual scene analysis
• Object tracking
• Image feature extraction

2. Special Session on Artificial intelligence in Real World Applications

Organizers:
Dhiya Al-Jumeiy
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Email:d.aljumeily@ljmu.ac.uk

Ahmed Al, Shamma'a
University of Sharjah, UAE
Email: alshamma@sharjah.ac.ae

Abir Hussain
Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Email: a.hussain@ljmu.ac.uk

Jamila Mustafina, Mohamed Mahyoub
Kazan Federal University, Russia
Email: DNMustafina@kpfu.ru

Thar Baker
University of Sharjah, UAE
Email: dr.thar.m.baker@gmail.com

Scope and Topics:
The implantation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in real world applications is a very important research area to benefit the research community and society in various domains. Sensors emit a tremendous amount of data (aka big data) which can be captured and analysed using various AI and Machine Learning (ML) tools and techniques. Extensive research has been developed in this area, ranging from theoretical foundations and principles, to practical applications in diverse context including medical, industry, environment, finance, education, to name just a few. It has been widely recognized that the use of different technologies for example, sensor technologies and AI can allow researchers, academics, practitioners, and developers to get insight into their domain problems. It is important to examine the processes and results associated with obtaining and managing big data, as well as scrubbing, exploring, modelling, interpreting, communicating, and visualising data across all research domains, including health, education, environment, security, science, technology, business, humanities, and the arts. The aim of this Special Session is allowing researchers to communicate their high-quality and original ideas by presenting and publishing innovative advances in computational intelligence, AI theories/tools, ML methods/techniques and their applications. TOPICS The application of AI techniques and Machine Learning methods/tools, enabled by data science approaches and intelligent system technologies has already delivered transformative impact in the different domains. This special session investigates the intersection of AI, Machine Learning, data science, and their applications, providing a background to problem domains, considering the progress so far, assessing the potential of such approaches, and exploring possible future directions. We aim to increase the understanding and use of AI techniques in the application to real-world problems. We welcome contributions that deal with all aspects of the scientific foundations, theories, techniques and applications of computing, data and analytics, including but not limited to:

• Evolutionary Inspired Algorithms and Expert Systems
• Biomedical Intelligence, Health Informatics and Intelligent Driven Systems
• Advances in Medical Image and Signal Processing
• Computational Intelligence Technology in Health and Medicine
• Cognitive Computing and Emotional Intelligence in Health and Medicine
• Computational Intelligence Technology in Data mining
• Data Integration and Big Data Analysis for Health and Medicine
• Concepts and Technologies of AI in Digital Health and Clinical Decision Support System
• Genomic and artificial intelligence solutions
• The Application of AI in Business
• The Application of AI in Health and Medicine
• The Application of AI in Education
• The Application of AI in Environments
• The Application of AI in Logistics and Supply Chain
• The Application of AI in Streamlined Manufacturing
• The Application of AI in Autonomous Vehicles
• The Application of AI in Agriculture
• The Application of AI in Finance - The Application of AI in Banking

3. Special Session on Complex Diseases Informatics

Organizers:
Shulin Wang
College of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha
Email:books@hnu.edu.cn

Jiawei Luo
College of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Email: luojiawei@hnu.edu.cn

Eric Lu Zhang
Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong Baptist University
Email: ericluzhang@comp.hkbu.edu.hk

Xinguo Lu
College of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China
Email: hnluxinguo@126.com

Scope and Topics:
Complex diseases result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors, many of which are not understood. These diseases include various cancers, Parkinson's disease, neurodegenerative diseases, psychiatric, autoimmune disorders, etc. The purpose of this special session on complex diseases informatics including models, methods and algorithms is to bring together researchers and practitioners interested in the application of information technologies to the field of molecular biology, including the use of statistics and algorithms to understand the process of complex diseases, e.g. cancer evolution progression, with a focus on new developments in the analysis methods of biologically big data obtained by high-throughput technologies such as next-generation sequencing and single cell sequencing. The resulted discoveries have the potential to lead to how complex diseases will be diagnosed and treated as well as life-changing improvements for patients and their loved ones. This special session encourages authors to submit papers to one of the main topics as follows.

• Sequence analysis
• Various omics data analysis such as computational genomics
• Protein-protein interactions network
• Gene regulatory network
• Predicting the potential relation between non-coding RNA and complex diseases
• Cancer-related gene selection
• Biostatistics
• Biologically big data mining methods
• Disease classification and cluster with machine learning
• Computationally evolutionary biology
• Deep learning in Genomics and Single-cell RNA-seq data

4. Special Session on Visual Recognition, Processing and Automation (ViRPA)

Organizers:
Dakshina Ranjan Kisku
National Institute of Technology Durgapur, India
Email:drkisku@cse.nitdgp.ac.in

Adrian Trueba
Autonomous University of México State, México
Email: pg@gla.ac.in

Scope and Topics:
Humans are most intelligent species who make thousands of decisions in every single day. However, making decision needs efficient cognitive actions that create a functional mapping to the target object or thing. Generating an appropriate functional mapping with distinctive information is a difficult task on machines. To empower the machines to perform human like decisions in order to classify objects or understanding a particular scene in complex environments need proper analysis and utilization of subjective matter very well including performing specific tasks of image processing, and applicability of machine vision and pattern recognition techniques. These paradigms would help the systems to learn about the diverse environment with lots of entities in bit more typical way even with incomplete information. Therefore, to use the correct image processing and vision approaches might transform ill-treated and distorted patterns to a distinctive and unique features groups which further make the learning algorithm suitable for taking decision in real world scenario. Image processing, pattern recognition and computer vision are interlinked topics which initiated the industrial revolution in the areas of automated intelligent systems and machine perception. They solved many practical cognitive and machine vision problems with paramount competency and shaped up the digital world with illustrious examples. They have made significant contributions in the areas of image analysis, feature extraction, object recognition, image segmentation, image enhancement, biometrics, motion analysis, depth estimation, machine and deep learning, medical imaging, object detection, video processing, industrial automation, affective computing, etc. The objective of this special session is to provide a vibrant forum for students, researchers and technologists to present and share novel ideas and works in relevant areas. Contributions welcome on the topics of interest include but are not limited to

• Scene understanding
• Image and scene reconstruction
• Object recognition and classification
• Action recognition
• Biometrics
• Gesture recognition
• Medical, biological and microscopy imaging
• Image segmentation
• Deep learning for computer vision
• Object recognition
• Autonomous vehicles
• Robot vision
• Visual processing
• Big data in visual processing
• Video analysis, understanding and processing
• Semantic analysis
• Image compression
• Cognitive processing
• Visual healthcare systems
• Motion and tracking
• Visual reasoning
• Assistive systems for visually challenge individuals
• Text and document understanding
• Image and video retrieval
• Image and video synthesis
• Photograph and video editing and manipulation
• Natural language processing
• Music analysis and processing
• Optical character recognition

5. Special Session on Human Behavior Observation and Its Applications

Organizers:
Yoshinori Kuno
Saitama University, Japan
Email:kuno@cv.ics.saitama-u.ac.jp

Kanghyun Jo
University of Ulsan, Korea
Email: acejo@ulsan.ac.kr

Nobutaka Shimada
Ritsumeikan University, Japan
Email:nshimada@is.ritsumei.ac.jp

Scope and Topics:
Recent advances of computer vision technology allow us to observe and analyze even minute subtle human behaviors. We may find various useful applications by using such information. In this special session, we would like to present such technologies, and discuss their applications. We welcome any contribution dealing with recognition, measurement, and analysis of human behaviors and applications based on such information. The objective of this special session is to provide a vibrant forum for students, researchers and echnologists to present and share novel ideas and works in relevant areas. Contributions welcome on the topics of interest include but are not limited to

• Object recognition and classification
• Action recognition
• Gesture recognition
• Deep learning for computer vision
• Object recognition
• Autonomous vehicles
• Robot vision
• Visual processing
• Big data in visual processing
• Visual healthcare systems
• Motion and tracking
• Image and video retrieval
• Image and video synthesis

6. Special Session on Information Security

Organizers:
Yunxia Liu
Zhengzhou Normal University, Zhengzhou, China
Email:liuyunxia0110@hust.edu.cn

Scope and Topics:
Information security has become a crucial need for almost all information transaction applications due to the large diversity of the hackers and attacks, Traditional techniques such as cryptography, watermarking, and data hiding are basic notions and play an important role in developing information security algorithms and solutions. In spite of the large development in the information security techniques, there are still several challenges that need to be addressed in terms of time, accuracy and reliability. The special session targets the information security research area with respect to trends, advanced techniques and applications, which attracts researchers and practitioners from academia and industry, and provides a discussion environment in order to share their experiences in information security. Authors are encouraged to submit both theoretical and applied papers on their research in information security. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Blockchain security
• Applied cryptography
• Data protection
• Formal methods in security
• Information dissemination control
• Information hiding and watermarking
• Network security
• Privacy
• Secure group communications
• Security in social networks
• Embedded security

7. Special Session on Intelligent Computing for Cybersecurity: Detection, Mitigation and Response

Organizers:
Michal Choras
UTP University of Science and Technology, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Email:chorasm@utp.edu.pl

Rafal Kozik
UTP University of Science and Technology, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Email: rkozik@utp.edu.pl

Marek Pawlicki
UTP University of Science and Technology, Bydgoszcz, Poland
Email:marek.pawlicki@utp.edu.pl

Scope and Topics:
Cybersecurity is currently a major challenge not only in computer science and digital world, but for society in general, ranging from children to the elderly, from the very citizens to governments, critical infrastructures and homeland security. Intelligent computing methods are believed to be able to solve some of the problems of contemporary cybersecurity, including the detection, prevention, mitigation and response to cyberattacks. Therefore authors are encouraged to submit both theoretical and applied papers about intelligent computing methods to solve cybersecurity-related problems. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Cyberattack detection
• Machine learning for cybersecurity
• Deep learning for cybersecurity
• Malware, badware, ransomware detection
• Stegomalware detection
• Network security
• Security of E-commerce
• Recommendation systems for mitigation measures
• Machine learning for response and mitigation in cybersecurity

8. Special Session on Computer Human Interaction using Multiple Visual Cues and Intelligent Computing

Organizers:
Dr. Prashan Premaratne
University of Wollongong, Australia
Email:prashan@uow.edu.au

Scope and Topics:
Human computer interaction (HCI) has prominently featured in most of the consumer electronics control systems over the past decade. Every new consumer electronic ‘gadget’ is reviewed by numerous parties to highlight their user friendliness in day-to-day operations. Remote controllers are seen as ‘the’ mode of interaction with these apparatus however, many are looking forward to a flexible and natural way to communicate with these devices. Now a new trend is emerging in Intelligent Computer arena where hand gestures, head movements and eye and face movements can be accepted as a mode of communication when interacting with machines. Research developments in this area have inspired gaming devices such as Microsoft Kinect that would accept face and gaze tracking and hand gestures. This session will highlight latest research carried out in the area of human computer interaction and their potential applications in gaming industry, other modes of entertainment and communicating with disabled persons. This special issue provides an opportunity to present and discuss the latest theoretical advances and practical applications in this research field. The topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Computer Human Interaction
• Gesture Recognition and Classification
• Skin Segmentation
• Face and Gaze Detection and Recognition
• Eye Tracking
• Stereoscopy
• Technological developments in sign language
• Emotion recognition by machine
• Computer Vision Applications