Intelligent Systems Report € March € 1996 € Volume 13 € No. 3

Book Shelf

The VRML Sourcebook, by Andrea L. Ames, David R. Nadeau and John L. Moreland, John Wiley & Sons, 650 pages, $29.95, ISBN 0-471-14159-3

This book, written by a team of experts from the San Diego Supercomputer Center (San Diego, Calif.), is a comprehensive guide for creating 3-D virtual worlds on the Internet and World Wide Web with the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML). The book focuses on step-by-step guidance along with insider tips and tricks.

The book explains how to design complex objects for a virtual world using VRML. It also describes how to use special lighting, camera angles and professional graphics techniques to create realistic worlds that people will want to explore.

Neuro-Control and Its Applications, by S. Omatu, M. Khalid and R. Yusof, Springer-Verlag, 272 pages, $59, ISBN 3-540-19965-9

This book provides a hands-on approach to intelligent control with a special focus on neuro-control. The book presents various types of neuro-control paradigms based on the back propagation neural network algorithm.

Examples from applications of neuro-control techniques to real control problems illustrate how the techniques are implemented. The book compares neuro-control methodologies with conventional and traditional control methods, enabling the reader to select the appropriate control technique.

Omatu is with the University of Tokushima (Japan), and Khalid and Yusof are with Technical University of Malaysia.

Computational Intelligence PC Tools, by Russell C. Eberhart, Patrick Simpson and Roy Dobbins, AP Professional, 350 pages, $39.95, ISBN 0-12-228630-8

Computational intelligence is an emerging field in computer science which combines fuzzy logic, neural networks and genetic algorithms for a flexible yet powerful approach to scientific computing. Because computational intelligence combines three interrelated, mathematically-based tools, it has a wide variety of applications, from engineering and process control to expert systems.

This book takes a hands-on, desktop applications approach to the topic, featuring examples of specific real-world implementations and detailed case studies with all pertinent code and software included on a floppy disk packaged with the book.

Key features of the book include a concise introduction to the concepts of fuzzy logic, neural networks and genetic algorithms, and how they relate to one another within the context of computational intelligence. Some of the applications examined include self-organizing feature maps, a fuzzy calculator, evolutionary programming, and fuzzy neural networks. Case studies from a number of disciplines are looked at, including engineering (F-16 flight mapping system), systems control (mass transit scheduling) and medicine (appendicitis diagnosis).

Fuzzy Logic and NeuroFuzzy Applications Explained, by Constantin Von Altrock, Prentice Hall, 350 pages, $39.95, ISBN 0-13-368465-2

This book looks at fuzzy logic applications in such areas as appliances, automobiles, aircraft, computers, medicine, industrial automation, and process control. More than 30 case studies are included.

The book is designed to help the reader: evaluate the potential of fuzzy logic in their own applications; choose hardware platforms and software tools for fuzzy logic development; and combine fuzzy logic with conventional control methods. The book also looks at neuro-fuzzy techniques that add learning capabilities to fuzzy logic systems by combining them with neural networks.

Included with the book on diskette is a demo version of fuzzyTech simulation software from Inform Software Corp. (Evanston, Ill.), a vendor of fuzzy logic development tools.

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