E-Commerce and Intelligent Methods (Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, 105)

This book covers significant recent developments in the field of Intelligent Meth­ ods applied to eCommerce. The Intelligent Methods considered are mainly Soft Computing Methods that include fuzzy sets, rough sets, neural networks, evolutionary computations, probabilistic and evidential reasoning, multivalued logic, and related fields. There is not doubt about the relevance of eCommerce in our daily environ­ ments and in the work carried out at many research centers throughout the world. The application of AI to Commerce is growing as fast as the computers and net­ works are being integrated in all business and commerce aspects. We felt that it was time to sit down and see how was the impact into that field of low-level AI, i.e. softcomputing. We found many scattered contributions disseminated in con­ ferences, workshops, journal, books or even technical reports, but nothing like a common framework that could serve as a basis for further research, comparison or even prototyping for a direct transfer to the industry. We felt then the need to set up a reference point, a book like this. We planned this book as a recompilation of the newest developments of re­ searchers who already made some contribution into the field. The authors were se­ lected based on the originality and quality of their work and its relevance to the field. Authors came from prestigious universities and research centers with differ­ ent backgrounds.