Intelligent Systems for Engineers and Scientists

The third edition of this bestselling reference examines the principles of artificial intelligence and their application in engineering and science as well as techniques for developing intelligent systems to solve problems. This edition features an expanded chapter on intelligent agents that emphasizes the importance of dispersed systems, in which software agents are spread across the Internet. A new chapter presents extended coverage of evolutionary and genetic algorithms. In addition, a separate chapter is devoted to other optimization algorithms. Other highlights of the new edition include new sections addressing recurrent neural networks, Web-based knowledge-bases, robots, and support vector machines.

Adrian Hopgood earned his BSc from the University of Bristol, PhD from the University of Oxford, and MBA from the Open University. After completing his PhD in 1984, he spent 2 years developing applied intelligent systems for Systems Designers PLC. That experience set the direction of his career toward the investigation of intelligent systems and their practical applications. After leaving Systems Designers, he spent 14 years at the Open University and remains attached as a visiting professor.

During that period, he also spent 2 years at Telstra Research Laboratories in Australia, investigating the role of intelligent systems in telecommunications. He has subsequently worked for Nottingham Trent University, De Montfort University, and Sheffield Hallam University. Despite assuming senior management positions, he has not lost his passion for intelligent systems. He has recently led the development of an open-source blackboard system, DARBS. His Website is www.adrianhopgood.com.