New Book Releases

Enterprise Networks & Servers, Jan 2005

Following are some new books released from Information Science Publishing, Hershey, Penn. Further information about the books and authors is available at www. idea-group.com.

Visions of Mind: Architectures for Cognition and Affect, Darryl N. Davis University of Hull, UK

"What is mind?" Can we build synthetic or artificial minds? Think these questions are only reserved for science fiction? Well, not anymore. This collection presents a diverse overview of where the development of artificial minds is as the 21st century begins. Examined from nearly all viewpoints, Visions of Mind includes perspectives from philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, social studies and artificial intelligence. This collection comes largely as a result of many conferences and symposiums conducted by many of the leading minds on this topic.

At the core is Professor Aaron Sloman's symposium from the spring 2000 UK Society for Artificial Intelligence conference. Authors from that symposium, as well as others from around the world, have updated their perspectives and contributed to this powerful book. The result is a multi-disciplinary approach to the long term problem of designing a human-like mind, whether for scientific, social, or engineering purposes.

The topics addressed within this text are valuable to both artificial intelligence and cognitive science, and also to the academic disciplines that they draw on and feed. Among those disciplines are philosophy, computer science, and psychology.

Design and Usability of Digital Libraries: case Studies in the Asia Pacific, Yin-Leng Theng and Schubert Foo, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Design and Usability of Digital Libraries: case Studies in the Asia Pacific showcases some of the best digital library practices from organizations in the Asia Pacific. Particular emphasis has been placed on the design, use and usability of digital libraries. Not only are digital libraries examined, but related technologies, the management of knowledge in digital libraries and the associated usability and social issues surrounding digital libraries are all examined.

Design and Usability of Digital Libraries will benefit practitioners, researchers, educators and policy makers from a variety of disciplines. In particular developers/ designers of digital libraries, librarians, users and researchers will all find this collection of case studies a valuable tool to understanding digital libraries.

Requirements Engineering for Sociotechnical Systems, Jose Luis Mate and Andres Silva, Universidad PolitEcnica de Madrid, Spain

The information society that we live in today is largely driven by the products and services that either contain software as a core element or are themselves software. At the very least, it is likely that most of those same products and services were manufactured with the help of some type of sophisticated software applications. Because of that, as well as the stresses of navigating through a truly global economy, the skills of software developers and engineers are being pushed to the limit.

As a result of those growing complexities, it has become imperative that software engineers and developers understand the methods, tools and techniques for identifying, documenting and validating the requirements of complex systems. In turn, more emphasis is now being placed on requirements engineering and the role it plays in todayis information society. Because of that, requirements engineering has now transcended its traditional role within software development and become an integral part of software engineering. Requirements Engineering for Sociotechnical Systems provides a comprehensive view of many of the system requirements for some of the hottest areas in development today.

Content and Workflow Management for Library Websites: case Studies, Holly Yu, California State University, USA

Using database-driven Web pages or Web content management (WCM) systems to manage increasingly diverse Web content and to streamline workflows is a commonly practiced solution recognized in libraries today. However, limited library Web content management models and funding constraints prevent many libraries from purchasing commercially available WCM systems. The lack of much needed technical expertise in building in-house WCM systems presents a great challenge for libraries of all types.

Content and Workflow Management for Library Websites: case Studies provides practical and applicable Web content management solutions through case studies. It contains successful database-to-Web applications as employed in a variety of academic libraries. The applications vary in scope and cover a range of practical how-to-do-it examples from database-driven Web development, locally created Web content management systems, systems for distributing content management responsibilities, dynamic content delivery, to open source tools, such as MySQL and PHP to manage the content. Issues and challenges associated with the development process are discussed. The book also discusses detours, sand traps and missteps necessary to a real learning process.