Intelligent Engineering Systems Through Artificial Neural Networks, Volume 18.
Editors: Cihan H. Dagli, David L. Enke, K. Mark Bryden, Halil Ceylan, and Mitsuo Gen. ASME Press, Three Park Ave., New York, NY 10016-5990. 2008. 700 pages. ASME members, $170; list, $212. ISBN 978-0-7918-0282-3.

This book documents the proceedings of the Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering Conference (ANNIE 2008), held in November 2008 in St. Louis, Mo. The conference was the 18th since it started in 1991. The papers compiled in the volume focus on the use of computational intelligence techniques in architecting engineering systems. As the world moves toward a networked society, business and government applications require integrated systems that exhibit intelligent behavior. Changing environmental and operational conditions mean that system architectures must be effective for the duration of the mission, but evolve to new system architectures as the mission changes. These systems require the use of computational intelligence in their design to meet the consumer needs of adapting and responding to changing conditions.

SWITCHPOINTS: CULTURE CHANGE ON THE FAST TRACK TO BUSINESS SUCCESS
Judy Johnson, Les Dakens, Peter Edwards, and Ned Morse. John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2008. 254 pages. $29.95. ISBN 978-0-470-28383-7.

Switchpoints are locations where railroad trains are switched from one track to another to ensure that they take the best route. Executive decisions are like switchpoints: They powerfully impact corporate culture and define the organization’s future route. This book tells the story of how company-wide culture change propelled aging transportation giant Canadian National Railway to the profitable powerhouse it is today. The book presents the switchpoints used and effective leadership practices that can be applied to other businesses. The authors—two CN executives and two consultants from the Continuous Learning Group Inc.—provide a firsthand account of how applying behavioral science transformed CN’s culture. They discuss how they clarified the company’s vision, selected critical switchpoints, employed management tools for change, assessed their impact on profitability, and sustained the changes. The accounts of the occurrences at CN are personalized and often compelling.

ENGINEERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Celeste Baine. Engineering Education Service Center, an imprint of Bonamy Publishing, 1004 5th St., Springfield, OR 97477. 2009. 144 pages. Softcover. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-9819300-0-8.

Subtitled “Motivating students to pursue an engineering education,” this book is about “showing the color” of engineering and, as a result, capturing students’ passion, imagination, curiosity, and dreams. Celeste Bain, a biomedical engineer and prolific author, seeks to inspire students to create a life of abundance, meaning, and satisfaction from such a pursuit. This book is about finding ways to attract diversity in traditionally white, male-dominated fields, and it examines how, by the use of engineering’s full rainbow of choices, the public’s perception of engineering can be enhanced, making it more understandable, captivating, and socially desirable. Baine doesn’t leave her strategy to the imagination. Chapters include “The New Face of Engineering,” “Girls in Engineering,” “Exciting Hooks That Engage Student Interest,” and “For the Parents of Budding Engineers.” And, each chapter is broken down into sections that carry alluring, specific headings. Among them: “What Does an Engineer Look Like,” “Effective Strategies for Engaging Girls,” “Catering to Diverse Cultures,” and “Celebrity Engineers.” In the chapter that covers hooks that engage student interest, Baine discusses such subjects as sports equipment design, animation engineering, music, animal engineering, and computers.

SURRENDER TO WIN: REGAIN SANITY BY STRATEGICALLY RELINQUISHING CONTROL
Laura Harris. Greenleaf Book Group Press, 4425 S. Mo Pac Expwy., Suite 600, Austin, TX 78735. 2009. 246 pages. $23.95. ISBN 978-1-929774-55-5.

The cost of replacing an employee averages about 150 percent of his salary, something few businesses can afford, according to author Laura Harris. Thus, finding good employees and getting them to stay is the key to business success, according to the book. Harris goes on to say, “We live in a time when business owners can no longer wait for possible improvements to the economy. Gas prices, the rising costs of health care, and the current mortgage crisis are adversely impacting small businesses.” Here are a few of her tips to help a business stay profitable: 1. Make your employees a real part of the team. 2. Establish a clear vision of what success means for your company. 3. Create knowledgeable employees with training. 4. Update employee training annually. 5. After defining each business process, put it all in writing. 6. Your compensation system should reward employees for team results. 7. If you must hire, hire enthusiastic candidates. “Leadership that revolves around the strength of the team, not the knowledge of the owner, creates long-term prosperity,” Harris adds. Chapters are short, and each ends with a section titled “Thought-Provoking Questions and Action Plans.”

STABILITY AND OPTIMIZATION OF STRUCTURES
Makoto Ohsaki and Kiyohiro Ikeda. Springer Science+Business Media LLC, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013. 2007. 272 pages. $149. ISBN 978-0-387-68183-2.

The authors say this is one of the first books to address issues of structural optimization against nonlinear buckling. Through the investigation of imperfection sensitivity, worst imperfection, and random imperfection based on concrete theoretical framework, the authors seek to show that optimization against buckling does not necessarily produce an imperfection-sensitive structure. The book offers insight into optimization-based and computer-assisted stability design of finite-dimensional structures, as an illustrative introduction for professional structural and mechanical engineers.

ELEMENTS OF STRESS ANALYSIS
Jacques Heyman. Cambridge University Press, 32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013. 2008. Softcover. 108 pages. $29.99. ISBN 978-0-521-73088-4.

This book discusses problems that arise in elasticity theory and are not always dealt with satisfactorily in standard texts, according to the author. Examples are the problem of shear center for thin-walled sections, and the allied problem of torsion. Similarly, according to the author, Saint-Venant’s principle is often quoted, but is often not precisely understood. The functions of diaphragms in box-beam apply to civil as well as aeronautical engineers. This work discusses a few of these less straightforward pieces of structural analysis in a simple way. At the same time, it gives an account of the basic variables in stress analysis, stress and strain, elastic constants and the elastic limit, and of equilibrium and compatibility.