Our purpose in organizing The 5^th International Multi-Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics (IMCIC 2014) jointly with The 5^th International Conference on Society and Information Technologies (ICSIT 2014) and their collocated events is to provide a multi-disciplinary forum for both disciplinary and inter-disciplinary communication.

These collocated events were organized and sponsored by the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics (IIIS, www.iiis.org), member of the International Federation for Systems Research (IFSR, www.ifsr.org). The IIIS is a multi-disciplinary organization for inter-disciplinary communication and integration, which includes about 4500 members. Consequently, a main purpose of the IIIS is to foster knowledge integration processes, interdisciplinary communication, and integration of academic activities. Based on 1) the transdisciplinarity of the systemic approach and its emphasis on relationships and integrating processes, and 2) the multi-disciplinary support of cybernetics’ and informatics’ concepts, notions, theories, technologies, and tools, the IIIS has been organizing multi-disciplinary conferences as a platform for fostering inter-disciplinary communication and knowledge integration processes.

Multi-disciplinary conferences are organized by the IIIS as support for both intra- and inter-disciplinary communication. Processes of intra-disciplinary communication are mainly achieved via traditional paper presentations in corresponding disciplines, while conversational sessions, regarding trans- and inter-disciplinary topics, are among the means used for inter-disciplinary communication. Intra- and inter-disciplinary communications might generate co-regulative cybernetic loops, via negative feedback, and synergic relationships, via positive feedback loops, in which both kinds of communications could increase their respective effectiveness. Figure (at the right side) shows at least two cybernetic loops if intra- and inter-disciplinary are adequately related. A necessary condition for the effectiveness of Inter-disciplinary communication is an adequate level of variety regarding the participating disciplines. Analogical thinking and learning processes of disciplinarians depend on it; which in turn are potential sources of the creative tension required for cross-fertilization among disciplines and the generations of new hypothesis. An extended presentation regarding this issue can be found at http://www.iiis.org/MainPurpose/

In general, IIIS is an organization dedicated to contribute to the development of the Systems Approach, Cybernetics, and Informatics potential, using both: knowledge and experience, thinking and action, for the:

1. identification of synergetic relationships among Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, and between them and society;
2. promotion of contacts among the different academic areas, through the transdisciplinarity of the systems approach;
3. identification and implementation of communication channels among the different professions;
4. supply of communication links between the academic and professional worlds, as well as between them and the business world, both public and private, political and cultural;
5. stimulus for the creation of integrative arrangements at different levels of society, as well as at the family and personal levels;
6. promotion of transdisciplinary research, both on theoretical issues and on applications to concrete problems.

Our objective organizing The 5^th International Multi-Conference on Complexity, Informatics and Cybernetics (IMCIC 2014) is to provide, in these increasingly related areas, a multi-disciplinary forum, to foster interdisciplinary communication among the participants, and to support the sharing process of diverse perspectives of the same transdisciplinary concepts and principles. Complexity, Cybernetics and Informatics are being increasingly related to each other in almost every scientific discipline, engineering area, and human activity. Their common transdisciplinarity characterizes and communicates them, generating strong relations among them and with other disciplines. They work together to create a whole new way of thinking and practice. This phenomenon persuaded the Organizing Committee to structure IMCIC 2014 as a multi-conference where participants may focus on one area, or on one discipline, while allowing them the possibility of attending events from other areas or disciplines. This systemic approach stimulates cross-fertilization among different disciplines, inspiring scholars, originating new hypothesis, supporting production of innovations and generating analogies; which is, after all, one of the very basic principles of the systems’ movement and a fundamental aim in cybernetics.

One of the main objectives of The 5^th International Conference on Society and Information Technologies (ICSIT 2014) and The 2^nd International Conference on Education, Training and Informatics (ICETI 2014) is to bring together academics, professionals, and managers from the private and the public sectors, so they can share ideas, results of research, and innovative services or products, in a multi-disciplinary and multi-sector forum.

Educational technologies, socio-economic organizations, and socio-political processes are essential domains among those involved in the evolving co-adaptation and co-transformation between societies and cultures on the one hand, and between informatics and cybernetics (communication and control) on the other hand.

ICSIT 2014 and ICETI 2014 are related to each other, as well as to IMCIC 2014 and, as a whole, are producing or might produce synergic relationships with Information and Communication Technologies. This is why the Organizing Committees have the purpose of combining their efforts in a way that would lead to the organization of an adequate joint event, where academics, researchers, consultants, professionals, innovators, and practitioners from the three areas might relate and interact with each other in the same event. These types of interaction might generate possibilities of cross-fertilization and analogical thinking, as well as possibilities of new working hypothesis, ideas, and reflections on the impact, significance, and usefulness of Informatics and Cybernetics in important dimensions of educational, socio-political, and socio-economical processes, services, and products.

In the context of this purpose the following events were also tried to organize:

1. The International Symposium on Integrating Research, Education, and Problem Solving: IREPS 2014,
2. Special Track on Case studies and methodologies: stCSM 2014, and
3. International Symposium on Interdisciplinary Research, Education, and Communication: IDREC 2014.

Cybernetic loops of regulative and positive feedback might generate synergic effects among the three events mentioned above.

We were not able to accept an adequate number of articles submitted to these three events as to organize specific sessions related to each of them. Consequently, we included the papers accepted in these three areas in other sessions with similar topics.

On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I extend our heartfelt thanks to the Program Committees’ members, to the 448 reviewers, from 66 countries, who made the double-blinded reviews, and to the 178 reviewers, from 51 countries, who made the non-blind reviews. (Some reviewers supported both: non-blind and double-blind reviewing for different submissions). A total of 1248 reviews made by 626 reviewers (who made at least one review), from 66 countries contributed to the quality achieved in IMCIC 2014 and ICSIT 2014. This means an average of 9.313 reviews per submission (134 submissions were received). Each registered author had access, via the conference web site, to the reviews that recommended the acceptance of their respective submissions. Each registered author could get information about: 1) the average of the reviewers evaluations according to 8 criteria, and the average of a global evaluation of his/her submission; and 2) the comments and the constructive feedback made by the reviewers, who recommended the acceptance of his/her submission, so the author would be able to improve the final version of the paper.

In the organizational process of IMCIC/ICSIT 2014, about 134 papers/abstracts were submitted. These post-conference proceedings include about 60 papers, from 27 countries, that were accepted for presentation. The submissions were reviewed as carefully as time permitted; it is expected that most of them will appear in a more polished and complete form in scientific journals. This information is detailed and totalized in the following table, along with the other collocated event:

Conference	# of submissions received	# of reviewers that made at least one review	# of reviews made	Average of reviews per reviewer	Average of reviews per submission	# of papers included in the proceedings	% of submissions included in the proceedings
CICIC 2014	63	187	373	1.99	5.92	25	39.68%
ICSIT 2014	62	307	596	1.94	9.61	27	43.55%
IMCIC 2014	72	319	652	2.04	9.06	33	45.83%
IMCIC&ICSIT	134	626	1248	1.99	9.313	60	44.78%
TOTAL	197	813	1621	1.99	8.23	85	43.15%

We also extend our gratitude to the co-editors of these proceedings, for the hard work, energy and eagerness they displayed in their respective activities. We express our intense gratitude to Professor William Lesso for his wise and opportune tutoring, for his eternal energy, integrity, and continuous support and advice, as the Program Committee Chair of past conferences, organized by the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics, and as Honorary President of IMCIC 2014, as well as for being a very caring old friend and intellectual father to many of us. We also extend our gratitude to Professor Belkis Sánchez, who brilliantly managed the organizing process.

Special thanks to Dr. C. Dale Zinn, Professor José Ferrer, and Michael Savoie for co-chairing IMCIC 2014 Program Committee, to Professor Hsing-Wei Chu for his General Co-chairmanship, and to Professor Belkis Sánchez for chairing its Organizing Committee. Special thanks also to Professor Friedrich Welsh for chairing ICETI 2014, Professor José Ferrer and Belkis Sanchez for co-chairing the its Program Committee, and to Professor Andrés Tremante for serving as general co-chair.

We also extend our gratitude to the following scholars, researchers, and professionals who accepted to deliver plenary workshops and/or to address the audience of the General Joint Plenary Sessions with keynote conferences.

Workshops, more details (abstracts and short bios) were included in the Conference Program booklet and at http://www.iiis.org/spring2014plenaryevents/

Professor Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University and The Air Force Research Laboratory, USA, Toward Physics of the Mind

Professor T. Grandon Gill, University of South Florida, USA, The Case Method for integrating Academic Activities and Inter-Disciplinary Research, Education, and Communication.

Plenary Keynote Speakers, more details more details (abstracts and short bios) were included in the Conference Program booklet and at http://www.iiis.org/spring2014plenaryevents/

Professor Leonid Perlovsky, Harvard University and The Air Force Research Laboratory, USA, Basic Principles of the Mind

Professor David J. Waters, Purdue University, USA, Making Sense of a World of Words: Wallace Stevens, Interdisciplinary Science Education, and Developing a Vocabulary of Self-Description.

Professor T. Grandon Gill, South Florida University, USA, Integrating Research, Practice, Education and the Disciplines: The Challenge and One Business School’s Approaches

Dr. Moez Limayem, Dean of the Business School, South Florida University, USA, Integrating Research, Practice, Education and the Disciplines: The Challenge and One Business School’s Approaches

Professors Houman A. Sadri and Madelyn Flammia, University of central Florida, USA, Interdisciplinary and Intercultural Education: The Keys to Global Competency.

Dr. Mark Donald Rahmes, Harris Corporation, USA, Wright State University, USA, Optimizing Ship Classification in the Arctic Ocean: A case Study of Multi-disciplinary Problem Solving

Professor Suzanne Lunsford, Wright State University, USA "Inter-disciplinary Inquiry-Based Science Experiences for the 21st Century. "

Professor Thomas Hanne, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland, Multi-objective multi-disciplinary decision making in real-life applications - past, present, and future

Dr. Hager Kechine, Laval University, Quebec, Canada, The Effect of Webinar Use on Students’ Performance

Professor Bettina Harriehausen-Mühlbauer, University of Applied Sciences, Germany, Mobility - a key feature in current projects

Dr. Joseph M. Woodside, Stetson University, USA, Forging Industry-Academic Alliances

We also wish to thank all the authors for the quality of their papers, and to the 805 reviewers (who reviewed at least one article of IMCIC/ICSIT 2014 and its collocated events) for the great job they did making the 1594 reviews that supported the acceptance process. We also extend our gratitude to María Sánchez, Juan Manuel Pineda, Leonisol Callaos, Dalia Sánchez, Keyla Guedez, Marcela Briceño, Freddy Callaos, José Graterol, and Paul Esqueda for their knowledgeable effort in supporting the organizational process, the help desk, and for producing the hard copy and CD versions of the proceedings.

 

Professor Nagib C. Callaos
IMCIC 2014 General Co-Chair