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Book on adaptive agents and logistics available




BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT
-----------------

Title:     Adaptive Search and the Management of
           Logistics Systems
           Base Models for Learning Agents

Author:    Christian Bierwirth

Series:    Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces

Editors:   Ramesh Sharda
           Stefan Voß

Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston

Pages:     Hardbound, 240 pp. 

Available: November 1999, ISBN 0-7923-7704-4

Price:     USD 125.00


ABOUT THE BOOK
--------------

The management problems addressed in Adaptive Search and the
Management of Logistic Systems stem from the recent changes in the
logistics sector. Global competition and increasing consumer
expectations are forcing industrial enterprises to reorganize their
business processes to support better and more cost-efficient
services. Quick and precise customer delivery processes have been
recognized as the key to significant savings and growth for a
company. In seeking solutions to the related problems of planning and
control in today's logistic activities, the book is divided into two
parts. Part I lays down the fundamentals of evolutionary adaptive
systems before an architectural model for adaptive agents is
developed. Part II is devoted to applications of these adaptive
agents. By focusing on elementary yet complex problems, it is hoped to
glean sufficient details of the real world.

In its examination of the logistics network, the book employs a simple
yet powerful framework of evolutionary search, allowing efficient
support for reactive problem solving by the actors in the logistics
network. Following modern terminology, we refer to evolutionary
algorithms as learning or adaptive agents. Different from other
software artifacts, which are also designated as agents in the current
literature, these adaptive agents do not communicate directly by
exchanging messages. Instead, while exploring the space of logistic
operation, they communicate by mutually changing details of the common
environment they perceive.


TABLE OF CONTENTS
-----------------

Preface                                                         ix
Acknowledgments                                               xiii

Part I  Fundamentals of Evolutionary Adaptive Systems

1. FROM ARTIFICIAL TO COMPUTATIONAL INTELLIGENCE                 3
2. PRINCIPLES OF SYSTEMS                                        21
3. GENETIC ALGORITHMS                                           47
4. ADAPTATION TO STATIC ENVIRONMENTS                            61
5. ADAPTIVE AGENTS                                              85

Part II  Applications of Evolutionary Adaptive Systems

6. PROBLEM REPRESENTATION IN LOGISTICS SYSTEMS                 109
7. ADAPTIVE SCHEDULING                                         131
8. TOWARDS REAL WORLD SCHEDULING SYSTEMS                       155
9. ADAPTIVE AGENTS AT WORK                                     179

Epilogue                                                       201
References                                                     202
Index                                                          217

Best regards,

----
Dr. Christian Bierwirth

University of Bremen                    Tel:   +49-421-218-3017
Dept. of Economics                      Fax:   +49-421-218-4271 
Post Box 33 04 40                       Email: chb@logistik.uni-bremen.de
D-28334 Bremen, Germany                 Web:   www.logistik.uni-bremen.de