Raj B.K.N. Rao (COMADEM Centre, Faculty ofEngineering and Computer Technology, Birmingham Polytechnic, Perry Barr, Birmingham, UK) Y.H.J. Au and B.J. Griffiths (Department ofManufacturing and Engineering Systems, BruneI University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK) To create, to engineer, to err and to destroy are basic human traits. Human progress depends upon the balanced exploitation of some of these traits. Our quality and standards of living are closely intertwined with the effective management ofsome of these traits and the limited physical resources that are at our disposal. The only sensible approach to harmonize and blend these two spheres is to effectively monitor, diagnose and control our own actions and reactions, at every stage. We are now privileged to live in an age of advanced technology which is significantly influencing the basic infrastructures of our societies, on which our lives nowdepend. The rapid rate atwhichthe technological changesarespreading is causing much confusion and uncertainty in communities, governments and industries at different levels. This, in tum, is creating and widening gaps and mismatches of unknown dimensions in almost all human endeavours. Such undesirable tendencies mustbe monitored, diagnosed, prognosed and controlled with the utmost haste and urgency.