Contrary to popular mythology, the designs of favorable products and successful systems do not appear suddenly, or magically. This second edition of Engineering Design demonstrates that symbolic representation and related problem-solving methods, offer significant opportunities to clarify and articulate concepts of design to lay a better framework for design research and design education. Artificial Intelligence (AI) provides a substantial body of material concerned with understanding and modeling cognitive processes. This book adopts the vocabulary and a paradigm of AI to enhance the presentation and explanation of design. It includes concepts from AI because of their explanatory power and their utility as possible ingredients of practical design activity. This second edition has been enriched by the inclusion of recent work on design reasoning, computational design, AI in design, and design cognition, with pointers to a wide cross section of the current literature.

Mike Owen, a contractor from Ohio, is building a large project in northwest Pennsylvania. A beautiful engineer, Ann Lane, manages Shaffer, the company supplying the project's concrete. Mike's interested in more than a business relationship with his concrete supplier's manager. So is a rival contractor who wants Ann dead. Ann Lane understands that when evil strikes, you'll only get a moment to save your life. Best have the appropriate tool at hand. Against a backdrop of a missing college girl, fraudulent material substitution, and death threats, Ann and Mike confront enemies who consider rape and murder just additional techniques for improving profits.