Bücher veröffentlicht von Springer US

Rule-Based Programming is a broad presentation of the rule-based programming method with many example programs showing the strengths of the rule-based approach. The rule-based approach has been used extensively in the development of artificial intelligence systems, such as expert systems and machine learning. This rule-based programming technique has been applied in such diverse fields as medical diagnostic systems, insurance and banking systems, as well as automated design and configuration systems. Rule-based programming is also helpful in bridging the semantic gap between an application and a program, allowing domain specialists to understand programs and participate more closely in their development. Over sixty programs are presented and all programs are available from an ftp site. Many of these programs are presented in several versions allowing the reader to see how realistic programs are elaborated from `back of envelope' models. Metaprogramming is also presented as a technique for bridging the `semantic gap'. Rule-Based Programming will be of interest to programmers, systems analysts and other developers of expert systems as well as to researchers and practitioners in artificial intelligence, computer science professionals and educators.

Reasoning and Unification over Conceptual Graphs is an exploration of automated reasoning and resolution in the expanding field of Conceptual Structures. Designed not only for computing scientists researching Conceptual Graphs, but also for anyone interested in exploring the design of knowledge bases, the book explores what are proving to be the fundamental methods for representing semantic relations in knowledge bases. While it provides the first comprehensive treatment of Conceptual Graph unification and reasoning, the book also addresses fundamental issues of graph matching, automated reasoning, knowledge bases, constraints, ontology and design. With a large number of examples, illustrations, and both formal and informal definitions and discussions, this book is excellent as a tutorial for the reader new to Conceptual Graphs, or as a reference book for a senior researcher in Artificial Intelligence, Knowledge Representation or Automated Reasoning.

Mobile Channel Characteristics introduces the principal transmission phenomena of mobile and personal communication - the ones that affect design of modems, channel simulators, smart antennas, and other system components at the physical level. It is designed to be accessible to senior undergraduates, as well as graduate students and working engineers. The treatment parallels mathematical derivations with intuitive explanations and simple approximations in order to develop the reader's understanding of the phenomena. Because of this strong tutorial flavor, the text is also suitable for those entering the area from a different academic discipline. Mobile Channel Characteristics was conceived and written as an interactive text to be viewed on a computer screen. It includes many features not found in conventional texts: The entire text resides on your hard drive. It is always ready, just a mouse-click away; It is a live document. Try different parameter values, and the equations, tables and graphs recalculate as you watch. Animated graphics illustrate dynamics of the channel. Explore propagation, modulation or system models interactively to gain additional insight; The examples and appendices are `tear-off design sheets'. You can use their programs on the job or in your thesis to speed up your work; It links you to the world. Hyperlinks connect you to websites of cited authors, to online research journals, and to employers and graduate schools, all through the Internet. Mobile Channel Characteristics includes working programs for three different methods of channel gain generation for fading channel simulation, as well as working programs to illustrate their use. Mobile Channel Characteristics is an essential reference tool for practising engineers, researchers, academics, and students. It is a self-study text equally suited for classroom use.

This book considers signal processing and physical modeling meth- ods for sound synthesis. Such methods are useful for example in mu- sic synthesizers, computer sound cards, and computer games. Physical modeling synthesis has been commercialized for the first time about 10 years ago. Recently, it has been one of the most active research topics in musical acoustics and computer music. The authors of this book, Dr. Lutz Trautmann and Dr. Rudolf Rabenstein, are active researchers and inventors in the field of sound synthesis. Together they have developed a new synthesis technique, called the functional transformation method, which can be used for pro- ducing musical sound in real time. Before this book, they have published over 20 papers on the topic in journals and conference proceedings. In this excellent textbook, the results are combined in a single volume. I believe that this will be considered an important step forward for the whole community.

Teleologically, the hemostatic mechanism is among The of Coronary Thrombosis and the most fundamental yet complex physiologic pro- in essence, represents a heartfelt gift of cesses in humans. Early scientists and physicians were knowledge from a dedicated group of scientists and fascinated by the blood's ability to remain in a liquid clinicians, who collectively have set out on a mission state only to clot in response to vascular injury. The to minimize the societal impact of"e;hemostasis in the cellular and noncellular components of normal wrong place. "e; The book is divided into four distinct hemostasis took centuries to discover, and the intrica- sections: Part 1, Scientific Principles, lays down the cies of their delicate interactions are still being unrav- supporting foundation; Part 2, Clinical Application eled today. As is so often the case, an in-depth of Scientific Principles, places the knowledge base in appreciation of physiologic hemostasis, representing a a working perspective, directly applying science to basic life-sustaining sequence of events, paved the patient care; Part 3, New Dimensions, provides a way for understanding abnormal hemostasis or glimpse of tomorrow. Steering the field clear of se- pathologic thrombosis. Aristotle, Malpighi, and proclaimed victory and the dangers of complacency as Osier, representing but a few of the founding fathers we move into the 21st century, Part 4, Evolution of in the field, would undoubtedly be honored to see Thrombocardiology, focuses on laboratory standards, their observations form the template for lifesaving clinical trials, and drugs in development.

Professor Philip G. Burke, CBE, FRS formally retired on 30 September 1998. To recognise this occasion some of his colleagues, friends, and former students decided to hold a conference in his honour and to present this volume as a dedication to his enormous contribution to the theoretical atomic physics community. The conference and this volume of the invited talks reflect very closely those areas with which he has mostly been asso- ated and his influence internationally on the development of atomic physics coupled with a parallel growth in supercomputing. Phil's wide range of interests include electron-atom/molecule collisions, scattering of photons and electrons by molecules adsorbed on surfaces, collisions involving oriented and chiral molecules, and the development of non-perturbative methods for studying multiphoton processes. His devel- ment of the theory associated with such processes has enabled important advances to be made in our understanding of the associated physics, the interpretation of experimental data, has been invaluable in application to fusion processes, and the study of astrophysical plasmas (observed by both ground- and space-based telescopes). We therefore offer this volume as our token of affection and respect to Philip G. Burke, with the hope that it may also fill a gap in the literature in these important fields.

As genetic algorithms (GAs) become increasingly popular, they are applied to difficult problems that may require considerable computations. In such cases, parallel implementations of GAs become necessary to reach high-quality solutions in reasonable times. But, even though their mechanics are simple, parallel GAs are complex non-linear algorithms that are controlled by many parameters, which are not well understood. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms is about the design of parallel GAs. It presents theoretical developments that improve our understanding of the effect of the algorithm's parameters on its search for quality and efficiency. These developments are used to formulate guidelines on how to choose the parameter values that minimize the execution time while consistently reaching solutions of high quality. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms can be read in several ways, depending on the readers' interests and their previous knowledge about these algorithms. Newcomers to the field will find the background material in each chapter useful to become acquainted with previous work, and to understand the problems that must be faced to design efficient and reliable algorithms. Potential users of parallel GAs that may have doubts about their practicality or reliability may be more confident after reading this book and understanding the algorithms better. Those who are ready to try a parallel GA on their applications may choose to skim through the background material, and use the results directly without following the derivations in detail. These readers will find that using the results can help them to choose the type of parallel GA that best suits their needs, without having to invest the time to implement and test various options. Once that is settled, even the most experienced users dread the long and frustrating experience of configuring their algorithms by trial and error. The guidelines contained herein will shorten dramatically the time spent tweaking the algorithm, although some experimentation may still be needed for fine-tuning. Efficient and Accurate Parallel Genetic Algorithms is suitable as a secondary text for a graduate level course, and as a reference for researchers and practitioners in industry.

Introduction to Fuzzy Reliability treats fuzzy methodology in hardware reliability and software reliability in a relatively systematic manner. The contents of this book are organized as follows. Chapter 1 places reliability engineering in the scope of a broader area, i.e. system failure engineering. Readers will find that although this book is confined to hardware and software reliability, it may be useful for other aspects of system failure engineering, like maintenance and quality control. Chapter 2 contains the elementary knowledge of fuzzy sets and possibility spaces which are required reading for the rest of this book. This chapter is included for the overall completeness of the book, but a few points (e.g. definition of conditional possibility and existence theorem of possibility space) may be new. Chapter 3 discusses how to calculate probist system reliability when the component reliabilities are represented by fuzzy numbers, and how to analyze fault trees when probabilities of basic events are fuzzy. Chapter 4 presents the basic theory of profust reliability, whereas Chapter 5 analyzes the profust reliability behavior of a number of engineering systems. Chapters 6 and 7 are devoted to probist reliability theory from two different perspectives. Chapter 8 discusses how to model software reliability behavior by using fuzzy methodology. Chapter 9 includes a number of mathematical problems which are raised by applications of fuzzy methodology in hardware and software reliability, but may be important for fuzzy set and possibility theories.

Recent years have seen a rapid increase in the use of enzymes as food processing tools, as an understanding of their means of control has improved. Since publication of the first edition of this book many new products have been commercially produced and the corresponding number of published papers has swollen. This second edition has been fully revised and updated to cover changes in the last five years. It continues to provide food technologists, chemists, biochemists and microbiologists with an authoritative, practical and detailed review of the subject.