The featured review of the AMS describes the author s earlier work in the field of approach spaces as, A landmark in the history of general topology . In this book, the author has expanded this study further and taken it in a new and exciting direction.

The number of conceptually and technically different systems which characterize approach spaces is increased and moreover their uniform counterpart, uniform gauge spaces, is put into the picture. An extensive study of completions, both for approach spaces and for uniform gauge spaces, as well as compactifications for approach spaces is performed. A paradigm shift is created by the new concept of index analysis.

Making use of the rich intrinsic quantitative information present in approach structures, a technique is developed whereby indices are defined that measure the extent to which properties hold, and theorems become inequalities involving indices; therefore vastly extending the realm of applicability of many classical results. The theory is then illustrated in such varied fields as topology, functional analysis, probability theory, hyperspace theory and domain theory. Finally a comprehensive analysis is made concerning the categorical aspects of the theory and its links with other topological categories.

"Index Analysis" will be useful for mathematicians working in category theory, topology, probability and statistics, functional analysis, and theoretical computer science."

This is a comprehensive overview of the basics of fuzzy control, which also brings together some recent research results in soft computing, in particular fuzzy logic using genetic algorithms and neural networks.

This book offers researchers not only a solid background but also a snapshot of the current state of the art in this field.

This book deals with combinatorial aspects of epistasis, a notion that existed for years in genetics and appeared in the ?eld of evolutionary algorithms in the early 1990s. Even thoughthe?rst chapterputsepistasisintheperspective ofevolutionary algorithms and arti?cial intelligence, and applications occasionally pop up in other chapters, thisbookisessentiallyaboutmathematics, aboutcombinatorialtechniques to compute in an e?cient and mathematically elegant way what will be de?ned as normalized epistasis. Some of the material in this book ?nds its origin in the PhD theses of Hugo Van Hove [97] and Dominique Suys [95]. The sixth chapter also contains material that appeared in the dissertation of Luk Schoofs [84]. Together with that of M. Teresa Iglesias [36], these dissertations form the backbone of a decade of mathematical ventures in the world of epistasis. The authors wish to acknowledge support from the Flemish Fund of Scienti?c - search (FWO-Vlaanderen) and of the Xunta de Galicia. They also wish to explicitly mentiontheintellectualandmoralsupporttheyreceivedthroughoutthepreparation of this work from their family and their colleagues Emilio Villanueva, Jose Mar'a Barja and Arnold Beckelheimer, as well as our local T T Xpert Jan Adriaenssens.

This volume mainly focuses on various comprehensive topological theories, with the exception of a paper on combinatorial topology versus point-set topology by I.M. James and a paper on the history of the normal Moore space problem by P. Nyikos. The history of the following theories is given: pointfree topology, locale and frame theory (P. Johnstone), non-symmetric distances in topology (H.-P. KA1/4nzi), categorical topology and topological constructs (E. Lowen-Colebunders and B. Lowen), topological groups (M. G. Tkacenko) and finally shape theory (S. Mardesic and J. Segal). Together with the first two volumes, this work focuses on the history of topology, in all its aspects. It is unique and presents important views and insights into the problems and development of topological theories and applications of topological concepts, and into the life and work of topologists. As such, it will encourage not only further study in the history of the subject, but also further mathematical research in the field. It is an invaluable tool for topology researchers and topology teachers throughout the mathematical world.

This account of the History of General Topology has grown out of the special session on this topic at the American Mathematical Society meeting in San Anto- nio, Texas, 1993. It was there that the idea grew to publish a book on the historical development of General Topology. Moreover it was felt that it was important to undertake this project while topologists who knew some of the early researchers were still active. Since the first paper by Frechet, "Generalisation d'un theoreme de Weier- strass", C.R. Acad. Sci. 139, 1904, 848-849, and Hausdorff's classic book, "Grundziige der Mengenlehre", Leipzig, 1914, there have been numerous de- velopments in a multitude of directions and there have been many interactions with a great number of other mathematical fields. We have tried to cover as many of these as possible. Most contributions concern either individual topologists, specific schools, specific periods, specific topics or a combination of these.

The purpose of this book is to provide the reader who is interested in applications of fuzzy set theory, in the first place with a text to which he or she can refer for the basic theoretical ideas, concepts and techniques in this field and in the second place with a vast and up to date account of the literature. Although there are now many books about fuzzy set theory, and mainly about its applications, e. g. in control theory, there is not really a book available which introduces the elementary theory of fuzzy sets, in what I would like to call "a good degree of generality." To write a book which would treat the entire range of results concerning the basic theoretical concepts in great detail and which would also deal with all possible variants and alternatives of the theory, such as e. g. rough sets and L-fuzzy sets for arbitrary lattices L, with the possibility-probability theories and interpretations, with the foundation of fuzzy set theory via multi-valued logic or via categorical methods and so on, would have been an altogether different project. This book is far more modest in its mathematical content and in its scope.

This book is the second volume of the Handbook of the History of General Topology. As was the case for the first volume, the contributions contained in it concern either individual topologists, specific schools of topology, specific periods of development, specific topics or a combination of these. The second volume focuses on the work of famous topologists, such as W. Sierpinski, K. Kuratowski (both by R. Engelkind), S. Mazurkiewicz (by R. Pol) and R.G. Bing (by M. Starbird). Furthermore, it contains articles covering Uniform, Proximinal and Nearness Concepts in Topology (by H.L. Bentley, H. Herrlich, M. Husek), Hausdorff Compactifications (by R.E. Chandler, G. Faulkner), Continua Theory (by J.J. Charatonik), Generalized Metrizable Spaces (by R.E. Hodel), Minimal Hausdorff Spaces and Maximally Connected Spaces (by J.R. Porter, R.M. Stephenson Jr.), Orderable Spaces (by S. Purisch), Developable Spaces (by S.D. Shore) and The Alexandroff-Sorgenfrey Line (by D.E. Cameron). Together with the first volume and the forthcoming volume(s) this work on the history of topology, in all its aspects, is unique, and presents important views and insights into the problems and development of topological theories and applications of topological concepts, and into the life and work of topologists. As such it will encourage not only further study in the history of the subject, but also further mathematical research in the field. It is an invaluable tool for topology researchers and topology teachers throughout the mathematical world.

Fuzzy Logic: State of the Art covers a wide range of both theory and applications of fuzzy sets, ranging from mathematical basics, through artificial intelligence, computer management and systems science to engineering applications. Fuzzy Logic will be of interest to researchers working in fuzzy set theory and its applications.

The featured review of the AMS describes the author’s earlier work in the field of approach spaces as, ‘A landmark in the history of general topology’. In this book, the author has expanded this study further and taken it in a new and exciting direction. The number of conceptually and technically different systems which characterize approach spaces is increased and moreover their uniform counterpart, uniform gauge spaces, is put into the picture. An extensive study of completions, both for approach spaces and for uniform gauge spaces, as well as compactifications for approach spaces is performed. A paradigm shift is created by the new concept of index analysis. Making use of the rich intrinsic quantitative information present in approach structures, a technique is developed whereby indices are defined that measure the extent to which properties hold, and theorems become inequalities involving indices; therefore vastly extending the realm of applicability of many classical results. The theory is then illustrated in such varied fields as topology, functional analysis, probability theory, hyperspace theory and domain theory. Finally a comprehensive analysis is made concerning the categorical aspects of the theory and its links with other topological categories. Index Analysis will be useful for mathematicians working in category theory, topology, probability and statistics, functional analysis, and theoretical computer science.

Fuzzy Logic: State of the Art covers a wide range of both theory and applications of fuzzy sets, ranging from mathematical basics, through artificial intelligence, computer management and systems science to engineering applications. Fuzzy Logic will be of interest to researchers working in fuzzy set theory and its applications.

This account of the History of General Topology has grown out of the special session on this topic at the American Mathematical Society meeting in San Anto- nio, Texas, 1993. It was there that the idea grew to publish a book on the historical development of General Topology. Moreover it was felt that it was important to undertake this project while topologists who knew some of the early researchers were still active. Since the first paper by Frechet, "Generalisation d'un theoreme de Weier- strass", C.R.Acad. Sci. 139, 1904, 848-849, and Hausdorff's classic book, "GrundZiige der Mengenlehre", Leipzig, 1914, there have been numerous devel- opments in a multitude of directions and there have been many interactions with a great number of other mathematical fields. We have tried to cover as many of these as possible. Most contributions concern either individual topologists, specific schools, specific periods, specific topics or a combination of these.

This account of the History of General Topology has grown out of the special session on this topic at the American Mathematical Society meeting in San Anto- nio, Texas, 1993. It was there that the idea grew to publish a book on the historical development of General Topology. Moreover it was felt that it was important to undertake this project while topologists who knew some of the early researchers were still active. Since the first paper by Frechet, "Generalisation d'un theoreme de Weier- strass", C.R. Acad. Sci. 139, 1904, 848-849, and Hausdorff's classic book, "Grundziige der Mengenlehre", Leipzig, 1914, there have been numerous de- velopments in a multitude of directions and there have been many interactions with a great number of other mathematical fields. We have tried to cover as many of these as possible. Most contributions concern either individual topologists, specific schools, specific periods, specific topics or a combination of these.

This is a comprehensive overview of the basics of fuzzy control, which also brings together some recent research results in soft computing, in particular fuzzy logic using genetic algorithms and neural networks.

This book offers researchers not only a solid background but also a snapshot of the current state of the art in this field.

The purpose of this book is to provide the reader who is interested in applications of fuzzy set theory, in the first place with a text to which he or she can refer for the basic theoretical ideas, concepts and techniques in this field and in the second place with a vast and up to date account of the literature. Although there are now many books about fuzzy set theory, and mainly about its applications, e. g. in control theory, there is not really a book available which introduces the elementary theory of fuzzy sets, in what I would like to call "a good degree of generality." To write a book which would treat the entire range of results concerning the basic theoretical concepts in great detail and which would also deal with all possible variants and alternatives of the theory, such as e. g. rough sets and L-fuzzy sets for arbitrary lattices L, with the possibility-probability theories and interpretations, with the foundation of fuzzy set theory via multi-valued logic or via categorical methods and so on, would have been an altogether different project. This book is far more modest in its mathematical content and in its scope.

This account of the History of General Topology has grown out of the special session on this topic at the American Mathematical Soeiety meeting in San Antonio, Texas, 1993. It was there that the idea grew to publish a book on the historical development of General Topology. Moreover it was feit that it was important to undertake this project while topologists who knew some of the early researchers were still active. Since the first paper by Frechet, "Generalisation d'un theoreme de Weier- strass", C.R.Acad. Sei. 139, 1904, 848-849, and Hausdorff's c1assic book, "Grundzuge der Mengenlehre", Leipzig, 1914, there have been numerous de- velopments in a multitude of directions and there have been many interactions with a great number of other mathematical fields. We have tried to cover as many of these as possible. Most contributions concern either individual topologists, speeific schools, speeific periods, speeific topics or a combination of these.

This book deals with combinatorial aspects of epistasis, a notion that existed for years in genetics and appeared in the ?eld of evolutionary algorithms in the early 1990s. Even thoughthe?rst chapterputsepistasisintheperspective ofevolutionary algorithms and arti?cial intelligence, and applications occasionally pop up in other chapters, thisbookisessentiallyaboutmathematics, aboutcombinatorialtechniques to compute in an e?cient and mathematically elegant way what will be de?ned as normalized epistasis. Some of the material in this book ?nds its origin in the PhD theses of Hugo Van Hove [97] and Dominique Suys [95]. The sixth chapter also contains material that appeared in the dissertation of Luk Schoofs [84]. Together with that of M. Teresa Iglesias [36], these dissertations form the backbone of a decade of mathematical ventures in the world of epistasis. The authors wish to acknowledge support from the Flemish Fund of Scienti?c - search (FWO-Vlaanderen) and of the Xunta de Galicia. They also wish to explicitly mentiontheintellectualandmoralsupporttheyreceivedthroughoutthepreparation of this work from their family and their colleagues Emilio Villanueva, Jose Mar'a Barja and Arnold Beckelheimer, as well as our local T T Xpert Jan Adriaenssens.

In topology the three basic concepts of metrics, topologies and uniformities have been treated so far as separate entities by means of different methods and terminology. This work treats all three concepts as a special case of the concept of approach spaces. This theory provides an answer to natural questions in the interplay between topological and metric spaces by introducing a well suited supercategory of TOP and MET. The theory makes it possible to equip initial structures of metricizable topological spaces with a canonical structure, preserving the numerical information of the metrics. It provides a solid basis for approximation theory, turning ad hoc notions into canonical concepts, and it unifies topological and metric notions. The book explains the richness of approach structures in detail; it provides a comprehensive explanation of the categorical set-up, develops the basic theory and provides many examples, displaying links with various areas of mathematics such as approximation theory, probability theory, analysis and hyperspace theory. This book is intended for lecturers, researchers and graduate students in the following areas: topology, categorical theory, category th