2 comments about Artificial Intelligence: A Systems Approach (w/CDROM)(Computer Science) (Engineering)(AI).

1. The book points out that AI is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Appropriately, then, the text surveys the many ideas in AI. Neural networks is one such topic. In the 80s, this was perhaps considered to be outside AI, but the tenor of the narrative is that it has since become subsumed squarely inside AI, as a powerful technique.
   
   Along these lines, space is given to showing how some models are inspired by biology. Including the idea of evolutionary computation and genetic algorithms. The use of evolution as a guiding metaphor can sometimes be fruitful in looking for optimal solutions to hard problems.
   
   Robotics is also keenly discussed. There is an entire taxonomy of hardware types, and the abilities increase every year.
   
   At the software level, cellular automata are popular. From these, studies of artificial life are summarised. Surprisingly, there is no mention of Stephen Wolfram. He made some key contributions to studies of cellular automata, and his omission from the text is puzzling.



2. I am just getting into AI and I've been looking for some good AI books. This is the first one I've found that covers a great selection of AI topics and talks about them in PLAIN ENGLISH instead of trying to baffle you with lots of academic gibberish! It's also liberally sprinkled with clear diagrams and programming code. So if you want a practical AI book you can actually use and understand, I think this is a good one. It's written by an AI professional who can actually WRITE and communicate clearly! What a surprise!

3 comments about The MIDI Manual, Third Edition: A Practical Guide to MIDI in the Project Studio.

1. this book is a required text for my son's course, and he has found it easy to follow.



2. I bought the book to be used as the text for a college class. Many good MIDI books are out there, but this one is the best from what I've seen. MIDI has not changed much over the last decade however computers have. It is therefore very important to use the newest text on the subject. Written in a straight forward manner, good aspects to MIDI are conveyed. Latest equipment is mentioned, good resource.



3. This is an excellent general overview of MIDI at this time (2008). I, however, was looking for something that had more practical tips or techniques for making more realistic MIDI files. This book only has a few tips for producing better MIDI files. I have not found a text devoted to that topic yet. But, for what it aims to do, this is an excellent text.

5 comments about Systems Analysis and Design with UML Version 2.0: An Object-Oriented Approach.

1. Item recived as presented



2. The UML writing style of this book is very easy to follow, and a great way to gradually introduce the whole concept of object-oriented analysis and design methodologies to the readers, especially the beginners. The authors did a great job illustrating the entire system development life cycle with a coherent and realistic example using the latest UML notations, practical methodologies, and various analytical artifacts. The only criticism I have is that sometimes the description of a particular topic spans over multiple pages without sub-leveling or sub-topics or highlights, making it very difficult for user to go back and perhaps mine certain important concepts embedded in the discussion. Perhaps more generalization relationship and diagrams can be helpful. Overall, it is a very good source of reference for object-oriented design in layman's term. I will strongly recommend it to my colleagues.



3. This book is just majorly confusing and really for the major eggheads. I'm using it because I have to for class but I'd rather go to another approach for learning this stuff. I'm using Learn to Program with C# by Smiley and it discusses some of the topics, from the early stages in the reading, as to the phases of development and because of that it helped me to understand this better. However, this stuff is really hard to grasp without the egghead mentality.



4. After reading a couple of 'classic' system analysis texts I felt I needed to read about system analysis and UML. This title had some good reviews so I purchased a copy.
   
   This book did cover both system analysis and UML, but I felt that it did not cover either well. I had a hard time engaging with the content and linking it with my existing knowledge of UML and systems analysis.
   
   If you are interested in UML and systems analysis I would recommend reading "Modern Structured Analysis" (Yourdon Press Computing Series) by Edward Yourdon, and finding a good UML 2 text (I'm lookging for one now).
   
   For the price, I was expecting a much better book.



5. The book is serivicable...professor loved certain sections but hated others. There is no perfect textbook on this topic.

2 comments about Fundamentals of Radar Signal Processing.

1. This is a superior book! There is nothing comparable in either the general radar or the signal processing literature. It provides an exceptionally clear treatment of difficult subject matter. The author patiently guides the reader through radar basics and then into the depths of the associated data processing concepts. The treatment is so lucid that even a neophyte can expect to develop a deep understanding of the concepts involved and be able to apply them immediately (i.e.,When the boss comes in and says, "You're my radar expert. Tell me how you're going to process the all the data!", this book is the antidote to the ensuing panic attack.). The clarity of the brief radar dicussions throughout the text (e.g., the SAR chapter)will provide glimmers of additional insight on radar even to those with indepth knowledge of the area.
   
   The sensor-related texts by Georgia Tech authors are of uniformly high quality. This is the best of the lot.



2. I have enjoyed this book enormously throughout. While there are a fairly large number of radar books available, this is the first that I have read that lays out the signal processing aspects of radar in such a coherent, pedagogically sound, and self-contained way, generally from first principles. For example, the exposition of slow and fast time processing throughout the book was very illuminating, as was the connection drawn between the Neyman-Pearson receiver and the matched filter. The only other text I have seen that combines such clarity of vision, readability, and rigor is the book by Peebles, which unfortunately has little material on digital radar signal processing.

5 comments about Introductory Circuit Analysis (11th Edition).

1. Hello to everyone who reads my review of this book. First of all for those of you who will need a TI-86 calculator which this book calls for, dont worry about because doesnt even tell you how to use it for certain applications such as Super Mesh, Method Analysis and so on. I had to go to a student who was in a College Algebra class to learn how to use this calculator for this book! Second my professor shows better examples on solve the problems in the book which the book makes it so confusing. You have to ask the professor to show several examples to learn what the book is covering. I would suggest to professors and the Director/Chairman as a student, look for a book that you can use in the class other than this where students can learn from and not become so confused over the material to where almost every student in the class has to ask the professor several questions about the topic and meet with him one on one. I am speaking for other students by the way. I am also helping the professors also. Get a book that students can learn from instead of a one on one discusssion with the professor. Some thing else other than this book! Thanks for your time reading my review. ~Scott~



2. First of all,this is the best introductory book I have ever read. Boylestadt does an excellent job of getting to the point on the subjects he talks about.The tools he explains in network theorems are very good for the ones who wish to bone up on their skills. You might want to have some other books that explain the subject a little simpler,but you have to work any way to get at that knowledge level.This is a good class room book where one is in a group and can communicate the thoughts they have leaned from the book.
   This book is not about devices such as transistors and diodes but its about how accurately you can analyze the circuit. On top of that every mistake he makes in one edition,he corrects it in another edition. So you can guess that this book is pretty good.You don't necessarily have to have a TI-86,but it makes the work flow pretty easily.You need to know what an integrand sign means but for the most part it is a very readable book.
   Boylestadt has books out on devices,too. If it's like this book
   you know its very knowledgable.



3. Is there a reason that the experiments that are suppose to accompany the 11ed book are based off the 10ed book?



4. Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack, but I'm not really that dim either. I thought I was the only one that didn't understand how they get from the example problems to the end-of-chapter problems until I read several reviews from others who had the same problem.
   
   My instructor keeps telling everyone that has problems in the class, "Wait until you get to Digital Fundamentals - that will really give you trouble." Hmm, I've had DF and earned an A. Yes, I had to study and work hard at it, but at least I was able to understand getting from point A to point D!
   
   At this juncture it is either get out while I can, without a grade penalty, or hope that I can catch up by going thru other books. I have ordered other books, but will be trying this class again next semester. I wish I had known at the beginning of the semester that I would need further texts to fill in the blanks!



5. Boylestad is still alive??
   I just ask that, tongue-in-cheek, to point out that this book has been around a long time. I used this book in a couple of college Circuit Analysis classes (1 Semester DC, 2nd Semester AC) in 1977. I had already had 2 years of electronic tech (okay, vocational school) during high school so I had no problem with this book whatsoever, it just built on what I already knew.
   But... several people in the class who were new to electrical fundamentals had significant problems with learning the material from this book. In the accompanying lab class I was excused from most of the labs and spent most of my time helping other students with their labs and tutoring them to help them understand the material that they were not absorbing from the textbook. I just took a look at a pirated copy of this book that I found online and the presentation is basically that same as it was 31 years ago, so I am not surprised that some people still have problems. After I graduated from college I came across a used circuit theory book by Floyd, which was incredibly clear in its presentation, so I grabbed that book for my reference shelf, and Mr. Boylestad's book went in the dumpster. Oh, as I recall, the beginning of the AC section was especially terse and difficult for the students; Boylestad's presentation of the j-operator math made a simple subject seem difficult.

3 comments about Instrument Engineers' Handbook, Fourth Edition, Volume Two: Process Control and Optimization.

1. The first edition was published in 1969, the second edition was released in 1982 (Volume 1) and 1985 (Volume 2). This latest edition comprises over 3000 pages between the 2 volumes. Each volume includes 8 chapters with many sub-headings per chapter.

   The Flow Measurement (29 sub-headins) and Analytical Instrumentation (60 sub-headings) chapters were heavily revised for the 1995 edition of VOLUME 1. PLC's & Other Logic Devices (10 subheadings), DCS & Computer-based Systems (16 sub-headings) and Process Control Systems (27 sub-headings) were largely rewritten for the 1995 edition of VOLUME 2. Within each product-oriented sub-heading (eg. Magnetic Flowmeters, Infrared Analyzers, DCS Basic Packages), in addition to extensive treatment of the applicable technology, a comprehesive listing of manufacturers and typical price ranges is provided. Under Process Control Systems, a diverse group of applications (Airhandler Controls, Clean Room Controls, Distillation Advanced Controls, Compressor Controls, Reactor Control & Optimation and many others) is profiled. Throughout this handbook, process control is treated in the time-domain to minimize mathematical complications implicit in frequency-domain analysis. Its focus is the practicding engineer and explains most control phoenomena visually.

   Over 250 contributing authors are listed, including many prestigious names immediately recognizable by process control professionals. Liptak personally authored a substantial number of revised and up-dated easlier contribution of pioneering practitioners. This opus is a tour de force.

   Liptak is a long-time industrial consultant, teaches a graduate course in advanced process control at Yale and writes the widely-followed Lessons Learned feature in CONTROL magazine. He has also lectured at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and been published on the editorial pages of the New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.




2. This book is a Must Have in your Engineering Library.
   Liptak provides extensive detail for this to be your one-stop-shop for controls as well as a great introduction & encyclopedia for the rookies.
   Hats off to Liptak and his team.
   Just brace yourself for the 1,500 pages of information !! ;)



3. 
   Absolutely the Very Best Process Control Reference for the Process Control Engineer - Now Updated and Expanded !!. This is the second volume of the Instrument Engineer's Handbook, and. as its title suggests, it deals with Process control and Optimization, covering everything from Control Hardware, Control Theory, Control Strategies, and the Control and Optimization of Specific Unit Operations.
   
   The Chapters on Control Hardware cover in detail transmitters, controllers, control valves, regulators and other types of final control elements, PLCs, and other logic devices, human interfaces and displays, including the design of control rooms.
   
   The Chapters on Control Theory and Control Strategies covers everything from control basics and PID controllers, to tuning methods, stability, process characteristics, process modeling and simulation, model-based control, genetic and other evolutionary algorithms, fuzzy logic programming, neural networks and other advance control strategies.
   
   The Chapters on Control and Optimization of Unit Operations provide both in-depth of both the theory of operation and control, and practical implementation for the control of pumping, distillation, chemical reaction, heat transfer and many other.
   
   While evaluating and reviewing such sophisticated topics about Process Control, this handbook also tries and succeeds to provide and reinforce the reader with the most useful tool for the Automation and Control Engineer: Common Sense. In order to emphasize the importance of Common Sense, the Author gives some practical recommendations that include the following ones:
   
   - Before we can control a process, one must fully understand it.
   - Being progressive is good, but being a guinea pig is not. Therefore is the wrong control strategy is implemented, the performance of even the most advanced digital hardware will be unacceptable.
   - And Instrumentation, Automation, and Process Control Engineer or Technician is doing a good and better job by telling plant management what they need to know, and not what they like to hear.
   - If an instrument is worth installing, it should also be worth calibrating and maintaining. No device can outperform the reference against it was calibrated.
   - Trust your common sense not the sales literature. Independent performance evaluation based on the recommendation of international and national users associations should be done before installation, and not after it.
   
   I am an Industrial Practitioner of Process Measurement & Control. I have been working in the Process Industries for more than 16 years as an Automation, Instrumentation, Process Safety and Process Control Engineer. I consider this book to be the very best reference in the field for anyone and everyone working in these areas or in areas related with their Industrial applications. You will find this handbook useful, either if your work is related with the engineering, maintenance or operation of Process Control Systems.
   
   If you are a beginner to Process Control, you may also want to consider "Process Dynamics, Modeling, and Control (Topics in Chemical Engineering)" by Babatunde A. Ogunnaike, which is an excelent introductory reference to Chemical Processes Dynamics and Control.

No comments about Student Activities Manual for Conexiones: Comunicacion y cultura.

4 comments about Switching Power Supplies A to Z.

1. 
   Dear Reader
   
   If you are Power Engineer/ IC Engineer / Applications Engineer entrying the field of Power Electronics, or someone who wants needs to re-educate in the field of power electronics I strongly urge you to keep a copy of this text on your desk.
   
   The author has spent many years gathering precious gems which only exist in the realms of universities or so called experts not willing to share the pitfalls of power design. He and has written the material that anyone who wants a good grasp of power electronics will easily gain.
   
   His chapter on stability is definitely worth its weight in gold. Such topics from the various classic textbooks either suffer the formulae syndrome, or basically the cookbook either leaving the reader, confused or tell me more syndrome. He even explains how the Laplace transform is used without having to go into lengthy math analyis, wow. It took me years to learn this.
   
   This book is written in a straight forward manner you have to go through it chapter by chapter to gain the reap the full benefits.
   
   I wish I had this book many years ago, I could have avoided a lot painful hours of debugging power circuitry.



2. I have been trying to find a book that explains in simple text how a feedback loop control works. There are two books that I find useful. One is this book and the other one is 'Practical Design for power supply.' In this book, the author went through close/open loop analysis, compensation network, current mode control, etc. He used a lot of pictorial explaination, which is great, as I don't like to read words :) Also it has a good chapter on switching power lose.
   
   The only draw back that I found is the language used. Sometime I will get confused and have to go back and read it a few times. But other then that, I think you will find this book pretty helpful. Enjoy.



3. I have a lot of switching power supply books but this one is by far the best. The author talks to you like a real person not like a computational robot. He speaks as if he really wants you to learn about switching power supplies not just to show you how much he knows. You can tell that he is very fond of this subject and he wants to share it with you. There are plenty of examples and a FAQ section; yes the math is there as well. You can clear you shelves of all the other books because this is the only one you will need.



4. Despite I have great experience in other fields, I don't have it in power electronics. I found this book very original and didactic. I gess that his author has a big experience in this matter and hi has also the experience to transmit it. Written in a easy way to understant with a lot of tables, figures and equations, all the subjects are treated very deeply. I think is an useful book for any designer that must deal with power electronics.

5 comments about Noise Reduction Techniques in Electronic Systems, 2nd Edition.

1. If you take the course then you get the book too. And, since Ott is a good lecturer, you will likely learn a lot more than trying to read the book.

   For packaging engineers like myself, this book is not worth the money. You would be better off buying Blackwell's "The Electronic Packaging Handbook" which has an excellent chapter covering all important aspects of EMC. For Electrical Engineers I suspect what you have in your "High Speed Digital Design" (Johnson and Graham) will be more than adequate.

   The real issue is simply too much information. I agree with Ott that some understanding of antennas is needed to understand EMC but not nearly the amount covered in this book. I think that Ott's ham radio hobby has caused him to overdo that material in this book.

   I highly recommend taking the course but I suspect if you buy the book you won't finish reading it.




2. There is a specific topic in this book that I have not seem covered in any of the 25+ book that I have on electromagnetic phenomena. The topic is the shield cut-off frequency of a coaxial cable. Common-mode currents at low frequencies (below a few hundred hertz) cause noise problems with coaxial cables, but signals above tens of kilohertz do not. This is vital data which is apparently not explained in many text books. For me, this topic justifies the cost of the text. Having said that, I am annoyed because the book is quite expensive relative to other books of its size and age. The point is that you have to buy it, but it is expensive to do so.

   Even an advanced designer will benefit from this book, although you, like me, won't necessarily want to read all of it. It is sufficient to pick and choose areas of particular interest. The less advanced designer would clearly benefit more and the book would therefore represent better value for them. Given a choice between this one and Morrison's Grounding and Shielding Techniques in Instrumentation, pick this one. This one is more technically accurate and useful.




3. I greatly appreciate the practicality of this book. If you can't attend one of his seminars, my recommendation is to buy this book, it will help. It's one of those that I plan to keep in the EMC lab and not just on the shelf. -doug



4. I build EEG sensors, and I started reading this book, expecting something like The Art of Electronics, except more detailed and covering only noise techniques. Instead, I got much, much more. The diagrams made *much* more sense than Horowitz and Hill's AOE, and the explanations were clear and consise. I was able to read it cover to cover in a weekend without getting bored from too much detail, and it had many many real measurements of noise in systems that made the information much more quantitative.
   
   For instance, instead of saying "in order to get the most noise reduction, you need to use a shielded cable only grounded on one end", he says "a shielded cable grounded on one end has 84dB of attenuation to magnetic noise and much more for electric, while if the shield is grounded at both ends the attenuation is more like 36dB".
   
   Those numbers are critical if you're trying to balance signal quality with cost.
   
   One of the best textbooks I've ever purchased.



5. Depite this book has a lot of years, the basic principles have not changed and I find this book very instructive to learn things as types of noise, crosstalk, radiation, grounding and shielding techniques or cabling. Henry W. Ott and his book, are a reference in the world about noise control and EMC concepts.
   
   Written in easy way to understand, with very little equations, I suggest that if you want to have a copy of one of the most famous books on this science, buy it

5 comments about Optimal State Estimation: Kalman, H Infinity, and Nonlinear Approaches.

1. I'm using this book to apply the unscented Kalman filter to multiple sensor target tracking. His exposition on the unscented transforms is very clear.



2. I have 4 books on Optimal state estimation:
   _ Applied Optimal Estimation of Arthur Gelb.
   _ Optimal Control and Estimation by Robert F. Stengel
   _ Optimal Control and Estimation Theory by George M. Siouris
   _ Optimal State Estimation By Dan Simon
   
   Of the 4, Dan Simon's Optimal State Estimation is by far the most useful for a GNC Engineer like me. He strikes a good balance between theory and practice and his examples are really useful. I find his treatment of EKF excellent.



3. I agree with a previous reviewer in that out of all the books I have come across on Optimal Estimation, this is by far the most suitable for self-study. I have found his explanations to be concise and straight-forward. That is, he goes straight to the point and delivers the concepts using simple/common language which is non-characteristic for academic books in the areas of Systems and Control. For a sample text on the subject written by him check his article on Kalman Filtering on the site embedded[dot]com
   
   While conducting research as part of an Independent Study course, I have treasured this book like no other since it continuously serves as a valuable reference. The first two chapters which review the underlying mathematics (linear algebra and probability) necessary for understanding the central themes of the book are also above the usual presentation in related books. Needless to say that readers should not expect to learn the Math from this book alone, however, they can expect to find in these chapters most of the topics that usually need a quick review to make sense of higher-level concepts in the text.
   
   I cannot stress enough that his use of language and clear explanations make this an easy-to-read textbook which simplifies the understanding of the topics. Do not get me wrong though, to really understand the problem of state estimation the readers need to be quite prepared in different areas of Engineering and Mathematics (hence my motivation for self-study).



4. A very clear, well written book that takes you step by step from the algebra and statistics basics to the most advanced developments of dynamic systems. The first part of the book is about providing all the knowledge required for the rest of the book in linear system theory (1st chapter), probability theory (2nd chapter) and least square estimation (3rd chapter). These chapters are very clear and, in my opinion, easy to follow for the non specialist. The second part is about the core subject, Kalman filter. Again, it is very clear and the fact that it very consistent with the 1st part in term of notation makes it very readable. Subsequent parts are more advanced topics but again nicely elaborate on the previous chapters and hence very easy to understand. I'll repeat myself but that really what I enjoyed most with this book: it is very progressive and takes you step by step.
   I even think this is the best technical book I have ever read. Dynamic systems made easy!



5. this book is very well written, easy to follow, with a lot of topics, and the derivations are shown thoroghly and in detail. One of the best estimation books I used. This book is recommended for both beginners andadvanced in estimation theory.