Centered around major topic areas of both theoretical and practical importance, the World Congress on Neural Networks provides its registrants -- from a diverse background encompassing industry, academia, and government -- with the latest research and applications in the neural network field.

The Self-Organizing Map (SOM), with its variants, is the most popular artificial neural network algorithm in the unsupervised learning category. About 4000 research articles on it have appeared in the open literature, and many industrial projects use the SOM as a tool for solving hard real world problems. Many fields of science have adopted the SOM as a standard analytical tool: statistics, signal processing, control theory, financial analyses, experimental physics, chemistry and medicine. This new edition includes a survey of over 2000 contemporary studies to cover the newest results. Case examples are provided with detailed formulae, illustrations, and tables. Further, a new chapter on software tools for SOM has been included whilst other chapters have been extended and reorganised.

In almost all areas of science and engineering, the use of computers and microcomputers has, in recent years, transformed entire subject areas. What was not even considered possible a decade or two ago is now not only possible but is also part of everyday practice. As a result, a new approach usually needs to be taken (in order) to get the best out of a situation. What is required is now a computer's eye view of the world. However, all is not rosy in this new world. Humans tend to think in two or three dimensions at most, whereas computers can, without complaint, work in n dimensions, where n, in practice, gets bigger and bigger each year. As a result of this, more complex problem solutions are being attempted, whether or not the problems themselves are inherently complex. If information is available, it might as well be used, but what can be done with it? Straightforward, traditional computational solutions to this new problem of complexity can, and usually do, produce very unsatisfactory, unreliable and even unworkable results. Recently however, artificial neural networks, which have been found to be very versatile and powerful when dealing with difficulties such as nonlinearities, multivariate systems and high data content, have shown their strengths in general in dealing with complex problems. This volume brings together a collection of top researchers from around the world, in the field of artificial neural networks.

Pattern recognition is a scientific discipline that is becoming increasingly important in the age of automation and information handling and retrieval. Patter Recognition, 2e covers the entire spectrum of pattern recognition applications, from image analysis to speech recognition and communications. This book presents cutting-edge material on neural networks, - a set of linked microprocessors that can form associations and uses pattern recognition to "learn" -and enhances student motivation by approaching pattern recognition from the designer's point of view. A direct result of more than 10 years of teaching experience, the text was developed by the authors through use in their own classrooms.*Approaches pattern recognition from the designer's point of view*New edition highlights latest developments in this growing field, including independent components and support vector machines, not available elsewhere*Supplemented by computer examples selected from applications of interest

These Proceedings contain the papers presented at the 1stAsian Pacific Congress on Computational Mechanics held in Sydney, on 20-23 November 2001. The theme of the first Congress of the Asian-Pacific Association for Computational Mechanics in the new millennium is New Frontiers for the New Millennium. The papers cover such new frontiers as micromechanics, contact mechanics, environmental geomechanics, chemo-thermo-mechanics, inverse techniques, homogenization, meshless methods, smart materials/smart structures and graphic visualization, besides the general topics related to the application of finite element and boundary element methods in structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, geomechanics and biomechanics.