Data Mining and Decision Support

Data mining deals with finding patterns in data that are by user-definition, interesting and valid. It is an interdisciplinary area involving databases, machine learning, pattern recognition, statistics, visualization and others. Decision support focuses on developing systems to help decision-makers solve problems. Decision support provides a selection of data analysis, simulation, visualization and modeling techniques, and software tools such as decision support systems, group decision support and mediation systems, expert systems, databases and data warehouses. Independently, data mining and decision support are well-developed research areas, but until now there has been no systematic attempt to integrate them. Data Mining And Decision Support: Integration and Collaboration, written by leading researchers in the field, presents a conceptual framework, plus the methods and tools for integrating the two disciplines and for applying this technology to business problems in a collaborative setting. `Physics of the Solar System, the new text by Bertotti, Farinella and Vokrouhlicky, succinctly and clearly treats the broad span of topics needed to understand the solar system's structure, formation and operation. The authors show an impressive command of a wide variety of subjects, ranging from celestial mechanics through magnetospheric physics, and on to a description of the workings of spacecraft themselves. The text contains numerous examples, not only from the historical background but also for space-age applications, including many figures from the original research literature. Each chapter ends with a useful survey of relevant texts and papers as well as an interesting collection of problems. The book is a major achievement that should attract a wide readership.' Joseph A. Burns, I.P. Church Professor of Engineering and Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY `This book delivers what its title promises. It addresses the fundamental characteristics of the solar system from a physicist's perspective, showing the diverse ways in which physics governs what is observed in, on, and among the planets. It is both encyclopaedic in its coverage and up-to-date in including the mos ecent advances in understanding and current issues of study.' Richard Greenberg, Professor of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson `This encyclopaedic book is a mine of information on the Solar System that goes well beyond usual dynamical aspects. The authors have succeeded in compromising broadness with depth, and clarity with completeness. This second edition is very up-to-date on all hot topics of modern research. This book is therefore particularly recommendable to students and researchers that seek a multidisciplinary approach to Solar System science. I wish I had it when I was a student myself.' Alessandro Morbidelli, Observatoire de Cote d'Azur, Nice