European Journal of Operational Research 43 (1989) 113 113 North- Holland

Short Book Reviews

Campbell, A., Sorge, A. and Warner, M. Microelectronic Product Applications in Great Britain & W.Germany Gower Publishing Co. Ltd., 1989, £21.00, xi + 148 pages.

Purely textual book concentrat ing on 53 case studies. By investigating the product strategy, com- petence requirements and personnel and training needs of West German and British manufacturers of equipment incorporating microelectronics, the role and nature of application are explained and the rela- tive strengths in the two countries are compared. Divided into 3 parts entitled Introduction and Con- cepts, Results of National Studies, and Analysis and Conclusions.

Holtzman, S. Intelligent Decision Systems Addison- Wesley, 1988, $45.00, xv + 304 pages.

Impressive and readable presentation of a computer based methodology for assisting decision makers. Par t I e n t i t l e d " F o u n d a t i o n s " p r e s e n t s the philosophical and theoretical issues and Part II en- titled "Applications" illustrates the methodology with a detailed example of an experimental system developed for advising infertile couples seeking medical help.

de Kloster, M.B.M. Capacity Oriented Analysis and Design of Production Systems Springer-Verlag, 1989, DM52.00, xii + 245 pages.

An analysis of capacity performance of multistage, multiproduct production systems. Special attention is given to performance criteria like throughput, average working progress and average throughput time. Various models are developed and attention is given to flow-lines, assembly/disassembly systems, buffersharing networks and control systems. The model and anMysis techniques are applied to 3 dif- ferent case situations.

Pidd, M. (ed.) Computer Modelling for Discrete Simulation John Wiley, 1989, £24.95, xvi + 274 pages.

The book describes the computer modelling re- quired to produce a working simulation. It is writ- ten by five authors viz: S.C. Mathewson, R.D. Hurrion, R.J. Paul, J.G. Crookes, M. Pidd and covers the main developments in discrete simula- tion. Chapters are devoted to the Implementation of Simulation Languages, the Support Environment, Graphics and Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. Two simulation programs in Pascal and C are described in detail.

Wallace, S.W. Algori thms and Model Formulat ions in Mathe- matical Programming Springer-Verlag, 1989, DM68.00, ix + 208 pages.

Fairly mathematical text addressing both fonnulat- ing models in mathematical programming and thereafter solving the resulting model. There are 4 major viewpoints presented separately by 4 dif- ferent authors. Intended as university course text or ma thema t i ca l p r o g r a m m e r s or opera t ions re- searchers working in real world modelling. The result of a NATO workshop held in Norway in 1987.

Operational Researchers wishing to review books and publishers wishing to have new books reviewed please contact Professor K.B. Haley or Dr A.M. Tobias, School of Engineering Production, University of Birmingham, P.O. Box 363, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK, Tel: (0)21 414 4542.

0377-2217/89/$3.50 ~3 1989, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)