The tremendous accumulation of skills, expertise, and scientific knowledge by a great diversity of institutions brings the challenge of organizing and archiving these data for use in the most efficient manner. This four-volume set is the most comprehensive reference on the engineering and technological tools needed for efficient knowledge management. Among the topics that this unique and essential reference work addresses are the infrastructure, communications, and database designs required to achieve efficient and cost-effective systems. Knowledge-based systems techniques will be one of the key technologies sustaining the economy of the new millennium.

The design of knowledge systems is finding myriad applications from corporate databases to general decision support in areas as diverse as engineering, manufacturing and other industrial processes, medicine, business, and economics. In engineering, for example, knowledge bases can be utilized for reliable electric power system operation. In medicine, they support complex diagnoses, while in business they inform the process of strategic planning. Programmed securities trading and the defeat of chess champion Kasparov by IBM's Big Blue are two familiar examples of dedicated knowledge bases in combination with an expert system for decision making.

With volumes focusing on implementation, optimization, computer techniques, and systems and applications, Knowledge-Based Systems: Techniques and Applications constitutes a unique reference source for students, practitioners, and researchers in computer science, engineering, and the broad range of applications areas for knowledge-based systems.

Intended for students, practitioners, and researchers in computer science, engineering, and the broad range of knowledge-based systems applications areas, this four-volume comprehensive reference addresses what's needed to create such systems efficiently and cost-effectively. To list the specific treated topics would require several long paragraphs, because knowledge-based systems are ubiquitous—in medicine, engineering, manufacturing, business, and economics, for example; and this burgeoning field is key to the economy of the new millennium. Under the leadership of editor Leondes (emeritus, U. of California, Los Angeles), 41 contributions from an international cast of experts are arranged in volumes devoted to implementation methods (v.1), optimization methods (v.2), computer techniques (v.3), and applications techniques (v.4). A sampling of specific topics: a communication model for module-based knowledge systems, using knowledge distribution in requirements engineering, dynamic structuring of intelligent computer control systems, case-based reasoning, automatic learning approaches for electric power systems, expert systems in foundry operations, and the integration and visualization of assembly sequences in manufacturing systems.
Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

"The authors are all to be highly commended for their splendid contributions to this four-volume set, which will provide a significant and uniquely comprehensive reference source for students, research workers, practitioners, computer scientists, and others on the international scene for years to come."

"With volumes focusing on implementation, optimization, computer techniques, and systems and applications, Knowledge-Based Systems:Techniques and Applications is bound to become the focus of intense professional attention and a vital source for practitioners and researchers.

Each contribution is accompanied by an extensive list of references. Contributors are leading practitioners and researchers from research centers, and universities in several countries..."

--CURRENT ENGINEERING PRACTICE, HANDBOOK OF MACHINERY DYNAMICS, Vol.43, Nos 2-3; July-August-Septemeber, 2000; October-November-December, 2000

CS, Vol.43, Nos 2-3; July-August-Septemeber, 2000; October-November-December, 2000

gineering, and the broad range of applications areas for knowledge-based systems.

The design of knowledge systems is finding myriad applications from corporate databases to general decision support in areas as diverse as engineering, manufacturing and other industrial processes, medicine, business, and economics. In engineering, for example, knowledge bases can be utilized for reliable electric power system operation. In medicine they support complex diagnoses, while in business they inform the process of strategic planning. Programmed securities trading and the defeat of chess champion Kasparov by IBM's Big Blue are two familiar examples of dedicated knowledge bases in combination with an expert system for decision-making.

With volumes covering "Implementation," "Optimization," "Computer Techniques," and "Systems and Applications," this comprehensive set constitutes a unique reference source for students, practitioners, and researchers in computer science, engineering, and the broad range of applications areas for knowledge-based systems.

Cornelius T. Leondes received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and has held numerous positions in industrial and academic institutions. He is currently a Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has also served as the Boeing Professor at the University of Washington and as an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author, editor, or co-author of more than 100 textbooks and handbooks and has published more than 200 technical papers. In addition, he has been a Guggenheim Fellow, Fulbright Research Scholar, IEEE Fellow, and a recipient of IEEE's Baker Prize Award and Barry Carlton Award.

ufacturing Systems.

Knowledge-Based Decision Support Systems.