Industrial Information and Design Issues

J. -E. DUBOIS and N. GERSHON The first volume of this series, "The Information Revolution: Impact on Science and Technology", emphasized the importance of data sharing and fast communication and the advantages l!)f current hypertext developments in creating new and flexible data access. Volume II, "Modeling Complex Data for Creating Information", dealt, in particular, with the specific constraints of science and technology data including imprecision and uncertainty. It also provided representation and handling tools and object oriented programming technology for developing data systems. The papers presented in this third volume are concerned with the very specific information problems of the technical and competitive industrial world. Here, production and selling rely on creative design, information processing, special up-to­ date data search, knowledge comprehension and fast action, all essential for decision­ making steps. The following topics are discussed in this volume: • Cognition and Recognition in Design • Knowledge Based Systems (KBS) Evaluation • Modeling Tools for Knowledge Discovery • Standards and CAD (Computer Aided Design) Aspects of Industrial Exchange and Specifications • Information Seeking Strategies of Selective Access to Intelligent Information • Special Information Resources: Complex Databases Most of these topics, inspired by the symposium on "Communication and Computer Aided Systems" held during the 14th International CODATA Conference, deal with systemic components used by various up-to-date industries in development strategies.