The selection of the proper materials for a structural component is a critical activity that is governed by many, often conflicting factors. Incorporating materials expert systems into CAD/CAM operations could assist designers by suggesting potential manufacturing processes for particular products to facilitate concurrent engineering, recommending various materials for a specific part based on a given set of characteristics, or proposing possible modifications of a design if suitable materials for a particular part do not exist. This book reviews the structural design process, determines the elements, and capabilities required for a materials selection expert system to assist design engineers, and recommends the areas of expert system and materials modeling research and development required to devise a materials-specific design system.

Artificial Intelligence: State of the Art Report is a two-part report consisting of the invited papers and the analysis. The editor first gives an introduction to the invited papers before presenting each paper and the analysis, and then concludes with the list of references related to the study. The invited papers explore the various aspects of artificial intelligence. The analysis part assesses the major advances in artificial intelligence and provides a balanced analysis of the state of the art in this field. The Bibliography compiles the most important published material on the subject of artificial intelligence and includes all the materials cited in the invited paper and analysis references.

The interface between the user of a computer-based information system and the system itself has been evolving at a rapid rate. The use of a video screen, with its color and graphics capabilities, has been one factor in this evolution. The development of light pens, mice, and other screen image manipulation devices has been another. With these capabilities has come a natural desire to find more effective ways to make use of them. In particular, much work has gone into the development of interface systems that add visual elements such as icons and graphics to text. The desire to use these visual elements effectively in communication between the user and the system has resulted in a healthy competition of ideas and discussion of the principles governing the development and use of such elements. The present volume chronicles some of the more significant ideas that have recently been presented. The first volume in this series on the subject [Visual Languages (Chang, Ichikawa, and Ligomenides, eds. ), Plenum, 1986] covered work done in the early days of the field of visual languages. Here we represent ideas that have grown out of that early work, arranged in six sections: Theory, Design Systems, Visual Programming, Algorithm Animation, Simulation Animation, and Applications. I THEORY Fundamental to the concept of visual languages is the convIctIOn that diagrams and other visual representations can aid understanding and communication of ideas. We begin this volume with a chapter by Fanya S.

Expert Systems are so far the most promising achievement of artificial intelligence research. Decision making, planning, design, control, supervision and diagnosis are areas where they are showing great potential. However, the establishment of expert system technology and its actual industrial impact are still limited by the lack of a sound, general and reliable design and construction methodology.This book has a dual purpose: to offer concrete guidelines and tools to the designers of expert systems, and to promote basic and applied research on methodologies and tools. It is a coordinated collection of papers from researchers in the USA and Europe, examining important and emerging topics, methodological advances and practical experience obtained in specific applications. Each paper includes a survey introduction, and a comprehensive bibliography is provided.

A look at how IPS builds specific information and tools directly into business processes and systems, enabling workers to independently solve problems on the job. A company's success ultimately depends on each worker's completion of an infinite series of little "now's." To achieve peak efficiency in a climate of "now," organizations must use all possible resources to support each individual's performance of various tasks. "Integrated Performance Support" (IPS), a new concept developed by Andersen Consulting, helps employees perform to their optimum capability. This book shows how IPS builds specific information and tools directly into business processes and systems, enabling workers to independently solve problems on the job.