288 European Journal of Operational Research 35 (1988) 288-293 North-Holland

Book Reviews

T. GAL (ed.)

Grundlagen des Operations Research 1 + 2 + 3

Springer, Berlin, 1987, xii + 583 pages, DM160.00, xii + 509 pages, DM148.00, xii + 423 pages, DM138.00

Again three textbooks on Operations Research are added to the large inventory of such contribu- tions already existing. One wonders whether it is necessary to publish more books while excellent examples already exist on the market.

These three extensive volumes cover the major part of modem Operations Research. The follow- ing five clusters of subjects can be distinguished:

A. Introduction to OR Chapter 1: Introduction to OR (T. Gal), Chapter 2: OR as a Tool to Support Mana-

gement Decisions (H. Miiller-Merbach);

B. Mathematical Programming Chapter 3: Linear Programming (T. Gal), Chapter 4: Non-linear Programming (R.

Horst), Chapter 5: Multiobjective Programming (H.

Isermann), Chapter 8: Transportation Problems (D.

Ohse), Chapter 9: Integer Programming (R.E.

Burkard), Chapter 11: Dynamic Programming (M.J.

Beckmann); C. Networks

Chapter 6: Graph theory and Network Flow Problems (K. Neumann),

Chapter 7: Network planning (K. Neumann); D. Stochastic Models

Chapter 12: Inventory Control (Ch. Schnee- weiss),

Chapter 13: Queuing (K.P. Kistner), Chapter 14: Simulation (H. Gehring);

Operational Researches wishing to review books and pub- lishers wishing to have new books reviewed please contact C.B. Tilanus, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands, Tel. 31-40-473735.

E. Game Theory and Fuzzy Set Theory Chapter 10: Game Theory (G. SchwiSdiauer), Chapter 15: Fuzzy Set Theory (H.-J. Zimmer-

m a n n ) .

It is very difficult in our brief space to com- ment on all subjects treated in these three volumes. I should like to confine myself to the following remarks.

Cluster A contains a thorough discussion on the history, role and applicability of OR. This cluster constitutes an excellent and efficient intro- duction for people not very acquainted with OR.

Cluster B is devoted to the subject of Mathe- matical Programming. Linear Programming is dis- cussed in the usual manner. Decomposition and Post Optimality are dealt with. The chapter on Non-linear Programming contains sections on Quadratic Programming, Subgradients, Kuhn- Tucker relations, Newton and Quasi-Newton methods. Also Lemke's method (solution of the Kuhn-Tucker relations) is discussed. Furthermore some information on the subject of Global Opti- mization, is given. Unfortunately the section on Integer Programming only contains a very brief description of the role of the computer in solving Integer Programming problems.

Cluster C is devoted to Networks. The subjects, flows in networks, shortest path, CPM and PERT are treated thoroughly by the author.

Cluster D on Stochastic Models contains con- tributions on (R, Q) models, some important queuing models and optimization of queuing sys- tems. Furthermore a short introduction to simula- tion is given, however, without a discussion on simulation languages.

Cluster E contains a (short) introduction to game theory and a valuable introduction to Fuzzy Set Theory.

These three volumes on Operations Research are in my opinion appropriate for use in university courses on OR. They could also be used as books of reference for OR workers and others, although there are already many other good textbooks on the market. Almost every chapter contains a num- ber of exercises. Unfortunately little attention has

0377-2217/88/$3.50 © 1988, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)

Book Reviews 289

been paid to the role of (micro)computers in OR. Furthermore the different chapters are not always written on the same level of detail. Nevertheless I can recommend these volumes to the readers of EJOR and others.

Paul van BEEK Dept. of Operations Research

University of Wageningen Wageningen, Netherlands

W. BIBEL and Ph. JORRAND (eds.)

Fundamentals of Artificial Intelligence: An Ad- vanced Course

Volume 232 in: Lecture Notes in Computer Sci- ence, Springer, Berlin, 1986, v + 313 pages, DM45.00

Current progress in Artificial Intelligence evolves from two sources: theory and experiments. This book is a tutorial on more fundamental aspects. It consists of three parts.

Part one is on knowledge representation. In an excellent and concise way Delgrade and Mylo- poulos discuss different features of knowledge, comprising its nature, incompleteness, incon- sistency, uncertainty and imprecision, as well as nonmonotonic reasoning. The paper concentrates on raising issues and sketching possible ap- proaches to solutions. Thorough references are a valuable guide for the reader who is interested in more details.

The papers of part two cover knowledge processing. Biermann explains ' fundamental mech- anisms in machine learning and inductive in- ference'. The other three papers of this section are on deduction. In a unified framework Huet pre- sents the basic syntactic notions of deduction and computation. Less formal is the tutorial by Stickel on automated deduction using some form of reso- lution: the different methods currently used are nicely embedded into a presentation of the stream of theoretical developments. Bibel extends classi- cal logic to nonmonotonic reasoning, metalevel reasoning, and reasoning about uncertainty.

The title of part three is knowledge pro- gramming. It consists of two reports on parallel programming languages. Jorrand introduces FP2 and Shapiro outlines the concept, the history and

the performance of concurrent PROLOG. Although the chapters of this book are written

by different authors, there are a lot of cross-refer- ences, particularly among the papers of parts one and two. The text may be recommended as an introduction to knowledge representation and in- ference based on mathematical logic.

M. BASTIAN R WTH Aachen

Templergraben 64 5100 Aachen, Germany, Fed. Rep.

M.A. BRAMER (ed.)

Research and Development in Expert Systems III: Proceedings of Expert Systems '86, the Sixth An- nual Technical Conference of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems Brighton, 15-18 December 1986

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1987, 277 + pages, £22.50

The papers in this volume are those presented at Expert Systems 1986, the 6th Annual Con- ference of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems held at the Metropol Hotel, Brighton, from December 15th-18th 1986. There are 21 refereed papers plus invited papers by Professor Brian Gaines, Dr. Luc Steels and Professor Tom Stonier.

The volume consists of a mix of applied and theoretical papers, of almost philosophical contri- butions and descriptions of expert systems and tools, introductory survey type contributions and rather specific and advanced treatments of special topics. The contents of this book can be called well-balanced in the sense that it contains some- thing for everybody interested in expert systems; but there will be hardly anybody who is interested in all of the contributions of this volume. The book does not contain any classification or any grouping of articles according to areas and the reader gets the impression that the contributions have been arranged in random order. To make the contents of this book somewhat more obvious to potential readers, it seems appropriate to dis- tinguish two different kinds of contributions.

(1) More general papers which focus on rele- vant topics which are not related to specific expert