This book is primarily concerned with the computational aspects of predictability of dynamical systems - in particular those where observation, modeling and computation are strongly interdependent. Unlike with physical systems under control in laboratories, for instance in celestial mechanics, one is confronted with the observation and modeling of systems without the possibility of altering the key parameters of the objects studied. Therefore, the numerical simulations offer an essential tool for analyzing these systems. With the widespread use of computer simulations to solve complex dynamical systems, the reliability of the numerical calculations is of ever-increasing interest and importance. This reliability is directly related to the regularity and instability properties of the modeled flow. In this interdisciplinary scenario, the underlying physics provide the simulated models, nonlinear dynamics provides their chaoticity and instability properties, and the computer sciences provide the actual numerical implementation. This book introduces and explores precisely this link between the models and their predictability characterization based on concepts derived from the field of nonlinear dynamics, with a focus on the finite-time Lyapunov exponents approach. The method is illustrated using a number of well-known continuous dynamical systems, including the Contopoulos, Henon-Heiles and Roessler systems. To help students and newcomers quickly learn to apply these techniques, the appendix provides descriptions of the algorithms used throughout the text and details how to implement them in order to solve a given continuous dynamical system.

The papers collected in this volume focus on new perspectives on individuals, society, and science, specifically in the field of socio-economic systems. The book is the result of a scientific collaboration among experts from "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iasi (Romania), "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy), "University of Defence" of Brno (Czech Republic), and "Pablo de Olavide" University of Sevilla (Spain). The heterogeneity of the contributions presented in this volume reflects the variety and complexity of social phenomena. The book is divided in four Sections as follows. The first Section deals with recent trends in social decisions. Specifically, it aims to understand which are the driving forces of social decisions. The second Section focuses on the social and public sphere. Indeed, it is oriented on recent developments in social systems and control. Trends in quantitative theories and models are described in Section 3, where many new formal, mathematical-statistical tools for modelling complex social phenomena are presented. Finally, Section 4 shows integrative theories and models; particularly, it deals with the ethical, cultural and political approaches to social science, the pedagogical methods, and the relationship between literature, politics, religion and society. The book is addressed to sociologists, philosophers, mathematicians, statisticians, people interested in ethics, and specialists in the fields of communication, social, and political sciences.

This book presents recent research work on stochastic jump hybrid systems. Specifically, the considered stochastic jump hybrid systems include Markovian jump Ito stochastic systems, Markovian jump linear-parameter-varying (LPV) systems, Markovian jump singular systems, Markovian jump two-dimensional (2-D) systems, and Markovian jump repeated scalar nonlinear systems. Some sufficient conditions are first established respectively for the stability and performances of those kinds of stochastic jump hybrid systems in terms of solution of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). Based on the derived analysis conditions, the filtering and control problems are addressed. The book presents up-to-date research developments and novel methodologies on stochastic jump hybrid systems. The contents can be divided into two parts: the first part is focused on robust filter design problem, while the second part is put the emphasis on robust control problem. These methodologies provide a framework for stability and performance analysis, robust controller design, and robust filter design for the considered systems. Solutions to the design problems are presented in terms of LMIs. The book is a timely reflection of the developing area of filtering and control theories for Markovian jump hybrid systems with various kinds of imperfect information. It is a collection of a series of latest research results and therefore serves as a useful textbook for senior and/or graduate students who are interested in knowing 1) the state-of-the-art of linear filtering and control areas, and 2) recent advances in stochastic jump hybrid systems. The readers will also benefit from some new concepts, new models and new methodologies with practical significance in control engineering and signal processing.

This book introduces and reviews recent advances in the field in a comprehensive and non-technical way by focusing on the potential of emerging citizen-science and social-computation frameworks, coupled with the latest theoretical and modeling tools developed by physicists, mathematicians, computer and social scientists to analyse, interpret and visualize complex data sets. There is overwhelming evidence that the current organisation of our economies and societies is seriously damaging biological ecosystems and human living conditions in the short term, with potentially catastrophic effects in the long term. The need to re-organise the daily activities with the greatest impact - energy consumption, transport, housing - towards a more efficient and sustainable development model has recently been raised in the public debate on several global, environmental issues. Above all, this requires the mismatch between global, societal and individual needs to be addressed. Recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can trigger important transitions at the individual and collective level to achieve this aim. Based on the findings of the collaborative research network EveryAware the following developments among the emerging ICT technologies are discussed in depth in this volume: * Participatory sensing - where ICT development is pushed to the level where it can support informed action at the hyperlocal scale, providing capabilities for environmental monitoring, data aggregation and mining, as well as information presentation and sharing. * Web gaming, social computing and internet-mediated collaboration - where the Web will continue to acquire the status of an infrastructure for social computing, allowing users' cognitive abilities to be coordinated in online communities, and steering the collective action towards predefined goals. * Collective awareness and decision-making - where the access to both personal and community data, collected by users, processed with suitable analysis tools, and re-presented in an appropriate format by usable communication interfaces leads to a bottom-up development of collective social strategies.

In a unified form, this monograph presents fundamental results on the approximation of centralized and decentralized stochastic control problems, with uncountable state, measurement, and action spaces. It demonstrates how quantization provides a system-independent and constructive method for the reduction of a system with Borel spaces to one with finite state, measurement, and action spaces. In addition to this constructive view, the book considers both the information transmission approach for discretization of actions, and the computational approach for discretization of states and actions. Part I of the text discusses Markov decision processes and their finite-state or finite-action approximations, while Part II builds from there to finite approximations in decentralized stochastic control problems. This volume is perfect for researchers and graduate students interested in stochastic controls. With the tools presented, readers will be able to establish the convergence of approximation models to original models and the methods are general enough that researchers can build corresponding approximation results, typically with no additional assumptions.

This monograph is an exposition of a novel method for solving inverse problems, a method of parameter estimation for time series data collected from simulations of real experiments. These time series might be generated by measuring the dynamics of aircraft in flight, by the function of a hidden Markov model used in bioinformatics or speech recognition or when analyzing the dynamics of asset pricing provided by the nonlinear models of financial mathematics. Dynamic Systems Models demonstrates the use of algorithms based on polynomial approximation which have weaker requirements than already-popular iterative methods. Specifically, they do not require a first approximation of a root vector and they allow non-differentiable elements in the vector functions being approximated. The text covers all the points necessary for the understanding and use of polynomial approximation from the mathematical fundamentals, through algorithm development to the application of the method in, for instance, aeroplane flight dynamics or biological sequence analysis. The technical material is illustrated by the use of worked examples and methods for training the algorithms are included. Dynamic Systems Models provides researchers in aerospatial engineering, bioinformatics and financial mathematics (as well as computer scientists interested in any of these fields) with a reliable and effective numerical method for nonlinear estimation and solving boundary problems when carrying out control design. It will also be of interest to academic researchers studying inverse problems and their solution.

This book provides international perspective for those studying or working in the security domain, from enforcement to policy. It focuses on non-traditional threats in a landscape that has been described as transnational in nature and incorporates natural disasters, gang violence, extremism and terrorism, amongst other issues. Chapters provide innovative thinking on themes including cyber security, maritime security, transnational crime, human security, globalization and economic security. Relevant theoretical frameworks are presented and readers are expertly guided through complex threats, from matters pertaining to health security which pose threats not only to humans but also have significant national security implications, to issues regarding critical infrastructure vulnerability and the complexity of understanding terrorist operations. Authors reveal how emerging uncertainties regarding global critical infrastructure and supply chain security, food security, and health security are linked to the notion of human security. Security professionals, policy makers and academics will all gain from the insights, strategies and perspectives in this book. It builds understanding of the deepening and broadening domain of security studies and provides a valuable reference text for courses on security studies and international relations.

The book covers nonlinear physical problems and mathematical modeling, including molecular biology, genetics, neurosciences, artificial intelligence with classical problems in mechanics and astronomy and physics. The chapters present nonlinear mathematical modeling in life science and physics through nonlinear differential equations, nonlinear discrete equations and hybrid equations. Such modeling can be effectively applied to the wide spectrum of nonlinear physical problems, including the KAM (Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser (KAM)) theory, singular differential equations, impulsive dichotomous linear systems, analytical bifurcation trees of periodic motions, and almost or pseudo- almost periodic solutions in nonlinear dynamical systems.

This brief examines mathematical models in nonsmooth mechanics and nonregular electrical circuits, including evolution variational inequalities, complementarity systems, differential inclusions, second-order dynamics, Lur'e systems and Moreau's sweeping process. The field of nonsmooth dynamics is of great interest to mathematicians, mechanicians, automatic controllers and engineers. The present volume acknowledges this transversality and provides a multidisciplinary view as it outlines fundamental results in nonsmooth dynamics and explains how to use them to study various problems in engineering. In particular, the author explores the question of how to redefine the notion of dynamical systems in light of modern variational and nonsmooth analysis. With the aim of bridging between the communities of applied mathematicians, engineers and researchers in control theory and nonlinear systems, this brief outlines both relevant mathematical proofs and models in unilateral mechanics and electronics.

This book focuses on approximations under the presence of ordinary and fractional smoothness, presenting both the univariate and multivariate cases. It also explores approximations under convexity and a new trend in approximation theory -approximation by sublinear operators with applications to max-product operators, which are nonlinear and rational providing very fast and flexible approximations. The results presented have applications in numerous areas of pure and applied mathematics, especially in approximation theory and numerical analysis in both ordinary and fractional senses. As such this book is suitable for researchers, graduate students, and seminars of the above disciplines, and is a must for all science and engineering libraries.

This book focuses on structure-preserving numerical methods for flexible multibody dynamics, including nonlinear elastodynamics and geometrically exact models for beams and shells. It also deals with the newly emerging class of variational integrators as well as Lie-group integrators. It discusses two alternative approaches to the discretization in space of nonlinear beams and shells. Firstly, geometrically exact formulations, which are typically used in the finite element community and, secondly, the absolute nodal coordinate formulation, which is popular in the multibody dynamics community. Concerning the discretization in time, the energy-momentum method and its energy-decaying variants are discussed. It also addresses a number of issues that have arisen in the wake of the structure-preserving discretization in space. Among them are the parameterization of finite rotations, the incorporation of algebraic constraints and the computer implementation of the various numerical methods. The practical application of structure-preserving methods is illustrated by a number of examples dealing with, among others, nonlinear beams and shells, large deformation problems, long-term simulations and coupled thermo-mechanical multibody systems. In addition it links novel time integration methods to frequently used methods in industrial multibody system simulation.

This book presents the proceedings of the fifth International Symposium on Modelling and Implementation of Complex Systems (MISC 2018). The event was held in Laghouat, Algeria, on December 16-18, 2018. The 25 papers gathered here have been selected from 109 submissions using a strict peer-review process, and address a range of topics concerning the theory and applications of networking and distributed computing, including: cloud computing and the IoT, metaheuristics and optimization, computational intelligence, software engineering and formal methods.

This book covers the two broad areas of the electronics and electrical aspects of control applications, highlighting the many different types of control systems of relevance to real-life control system design. The control techniques presented are state-of-the-art. In the electronics section, readers will find essential information on microprocessor, microcontroller, mechatronics and electronics control. The low-level assembly programming language performs basic input/output control techniques as well as controlling the stepper motor and PWM dc motor. In the electrical section, the book addresses the complete elevator PLC system design, neural network plant control, load flow analysis, and process control, as well as machine vision topics. Illustrative diagrams, circuits and programming examples and algorithms help to explain the details of the system function design. Readers will find a wealth of computer control and industrial automation practices and applications for modern industries, as well as the educational sector.

This book highlights cutting-edge research in the field of network science, offering scientists, researchers, students, and practitioners a unique update on the latest advances in theory and a multitude of applications. It presents the peer-reviewed proceedings of the X International Conference on Complex Networks and their Applications (COMPLEX NETWORKS 2021). The carefully selected papers cover a wide range of theoretical topics such as network models and measures; community structure, network dynamics; diffusion, epidemics and spreading processes; resilience and control as well as all the main network applications, including social and political networks; networks in finance and economics; biological and neuroscience networks, and technological networks.

This standard text gives a unified treatment of passivity and L2-gain theory for nonlinear state space systems, preceded by a compact treatment of classical passivity and small-gain theorems for nonlinear input-output maps. The synthesis between passivity and L2-gain theory is provided by the theory of dissipative systems. Specifically, the small-gain and passivity theorems and their implications for nonlinear stability and stabilization are discussed from this standpoint. The connection between L2-gain and passivity via scattering is detailed. Feedback equivalence to a passive system and resulting stabilization strategies are discussed. The passivity concepts are enriched by a generalised Hamiltonian formalism, emphasising the close relations with physical modeling and control by interconnection, and leading to novel control methodologies going beyond passivity. The potential of L2-gain techniques in nonlinear control, including a theory of all-pass factorizations of nonlinear systems, and of parametrization of stabilizing controllers, is demonstrated. The nonlinear H-infinity optimal control problem is also treated and the book concludes with a geometric analysis of the solution sets of Hamilton-Jacobi inequalities and their relation with Riccati inequalities for the linearization. * L2-Gain and Passivity Techniques in Nonlinear Control (third edition) is thoroughly updated, revised, reorganized and expanded. Among the changes, readers will find: * updated and extended coverage of dissipative systems theory * substantial new material regarding converse passivity theorems and incremental/shifted passivity * coverage of recent developments on networks of passive systems with examples * a completely overhauled and succinct introduction to modeling and control of port-Hamiltonian systems, followed by an exposition of port-Hamiltonian formulation of physical network dynamics * updated treatment of all-pass factorization of nonlinear systems The book provides graduate students and researchers in systems and control with a compact presentation of a fundamental and rapidly developing area of nonlinear control theory, illustrated by a broad range of relevant examples stemming from different application areas.

This book is the first major work covering applications in thermal engineering and offering a comprehensive introduction to optimal control theory, which has applications in mechanical engineering, particularly aircraft and missile trajectory optimization. The book is organized in three parts: The first part includes a brief presentation of function optimization and variational calculus, while the second part presents a summary of the optimal control theory. Lastly, the third part describes several applications of optimal control theory in solving various thermal engineering problems. These applications are grouped in four sections: heat transfer and thermal energy storage, solar thermal engineering, heat engines and lubrication.Clearly presented and easy-to-use, it is a valuable resource for thermal engineers and thermal-system designers as well as postgraduate students.

This book introduces non-identifier-based adaptive control (with and without internal model) and its application to the current, speed and position control of mechatronic systems such as electrical synchronous machines, wind turbine systems, industrial servo systems, and rigid-link, revolute-joint robots. In mechatronics, there is often only rough knowledge of the system. Due to parameter uncertainties, nonlinearities and unknown disturbances, model-based control strategies can reach their performance or stability limits without iterative controller design and performance evaluation, or system identification and parameter estimation. The non-identifier-based adaptive control presented is an alternative that neither identifies the system nor estimates its parameters but ensures stability. The adaptive controllers are easy to implement, compensate for disturbances and are inherently robust to parameter uncertainties and nonlinearities. For controller implementation only structural system knowledge (like relative degree, input-to-state stable zero dynamics and known sign of the high-frequency gain) is required. Moreover, the presented controllers guarantee reference tracking with prescribed asymptotic or transient accuracy, i.e. the tracking error eventually tends to or for all time evolves within an a priori specified region. The book presents the theory, modeling and application in a general but detailed and self-contained manner, making it easy to read and understand, particularly for newcomers to the topics covered

This work is motivated by the ongoing open question of how information in the outside world is represented and processed by the brain. Consequently, several novel methods are developed. A new mathematical formulation is proposed for the encoding and decoding of analog signals using integrate-and-fire neuron models. Based on this formulation, a novel algorithm, significantly faster than the state-of-the-art method, is proposed for reconstructing the input of the neuron. Two new identification methods are proposed for neural circuits comprising a filter in series with a spiking neuron model. These methods reduce the number of assumptions made by the state-of-the-art identification framework, allowing for a wider range of models of sensory processing circuits to be inferred directly from input-output observations. A third contribution is an algorithm that computes the spike time sequence generated by an integrate-and-fire neuron model in response to the output of a linear filter, given the input of the filter encoded with the same neuron model.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book summarizes work being pursued in the context of the CIPRNet (Critical Infrastructure Preparedness and Resilience Research Network) research project, co-funded by the European Union under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The project is intended to provide concrete and on-going support to the Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) research communities, enhancing their preparedness for CI-related emergencies, while also providing expertise and technologies for other stakeholders to promote their understanding and mitigation of the consequences of CI disruptions, leading to enhanced resilience. The book collects the tutorial material developed by the authors for several courses on the modelling, simulation and analysis of CIs, representing extensive and integrated CIP expertise. It will help CI stakeholders, CI operators and civil protection authorities understand the complex system of CIs, and help them adapt to these changes and threats in order to be as prepared as possible for mitigating emergencies and crises affecting or arising from CIs.

This book develops applications of novel generalizations of fuzzy information measures in the field of pattern recognition, medical diagnosis, multi-criteria and multi-attribute decision making and suitability in linguistic variables. The focus of this presentation lies on introducing consistently strong and efficient generalizations of information and information-theoretic divergence measures in fuzzy and intuitionistic fuzzy environment covering different practical examples. The target audience comprises primarily researchers and practitioners in the involved fields but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students.

This monograph bridges the gap between the nonlinear predictor as a concept and as a practical tool, presenting a complete theory of the application of predictor feedback to time-invariant, uncertain systems with constant input delays and/or measurement delays. It supplies several methods for generating the necessary real-time solutions to the systems' nonlinear differential equations, which the authors refer to as approximate predictors. Predictor feedback for linear time-invariant (LTI) systems is presented in Part I to provide a solid foundation on the necessary concepts, as LTI systems pose fewer technical difficulties than nonlinear systems. Part II extends all of the concepts to nonlinear time-invariant systems. Finally, Part III explores extensions of predictor feedback to systems described by integral delay equations and to discrete-time systems. The book's core is the design of control and observer algorithms with which global stabilization, guaranteed in the previous literature with idealized (but non-implementable) predictors, is preserved with approximate predictors developed in the book. An applications-driven engineer will find a large number of explicit formulae, which are given throughout the book to assist in the application of the theory to a variety of control problems. A mathematician will find sophisticated new proof techniques, which are developed for the purpose of providing global stability guarantees for the nonlinear infinite-dimensional delay system under feedback laws employing practically implementable approximate predictors. Researchers working on global stabilization problems for time-delay systems will find this monograph to be a helpful summary of the state of the art, while graduate students in the broad field of systems and control will advance their skills in nonlinear control design and the analysis of nonlinear delay systems.

This book provides an accessible introduction to the variational formulation of Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, with a novel emphasis on global descriptions of the dynamics, which is a significant conceptual departure from more traditional approaches based on the use of local coordinates on the configuration manifold. In particular, we introduce a general methodology for obtaining globally valid equations of motion on configuration manifolds that are Lie groups, homogeneous spaces, and embedded manifolds, thereby avoiding the difficulties associated with coordinate singularities. The material is presented in an approachable fashion by considering concrete configuration manifolds of increasing complexity, which then motivates and naturally leads to the more general formulation that follows. Understanding of the material is enhanced by numerous in-depth examples throughout the book, culminating in non-trivial applications involving multi-body systems. This book is written for a general audience of mathematicians, engineers, and physicists with a basic knowledge of mechanics. Some basic background in differential geometry is helpful, but not essential, as the relevant concepts are introduced in the book, thereby making the material accessible to a broad audience, and suitable for either self-study or as the basis for a graduate course in applied mathematics, engineering, or physics.

This book constitutes the first treatment of C. S. Peirce's unique concept of habit. Habit animated the pragmatists of the 19th and early 20th centuries, who picked up the baton from classical scholars, principally Aristotle. Most prominent among the pragmatists thereafter is Charles Sanders Peirce. In our vernacular, habit connotes a pattern of conduct. Nonetheless, Peirce's concept transcends application to mere regularity or to human conduct; it extends into natural and social phenomena, making cohesive inner and outer worlds. Chapters in this anthology define and amplify Peircean habit; as such, they highlight the dialectic between doubt and belief. Doubt destabilizes habit, leaving open the possibility for new beliefs in the form of habit-change; and without habit-change, the regularity would fall short of habit - conforming to automatic/mechanistic systems. This treatment of habit showcases how, through human agency, innovative regularities of behavior and thought advance the process of making the unconscious conscious. The latter materializes when affordances (invariant habits of physical phenomena) form the basis for modifications in action schemas and modes of reasoning. Further, the book charts how indexical signs in language and action are pivotal in establishing attentional patterns; and how these habits accommodate novel orientations within event templates. It is intended for those interested in Peirce's metaphysic or semiotic, including both senior scholars and students of philosophy and religion, psychology, sociology and anthropology, as well as mathematics, and the natural sciences.

The chapters in this book originate from the research work and contributions presented at the Sixth International Symposium on Recurrence Plots held in Grenoble, France in June 2015. Scientists from numerous disciplines gathered to exchange knowledge on recent applications and developments in recurrence plots and recurrence quantification analysis. This meeting was remarkable because of the obvious expansion of recurrence strategies (theory) and applications (practice) into ever-broadening fields of science. It discusses real-world systems from various fields, including mathematics, strange attractors, applied physics, physiology, medicine, environmental and earth sciences, as well as psychology and linguistics. Even readers not actively researching any of these particular systems will benefit from discovering how other scientists are finding practical non-linear solutions to specific problems.The book is of interest to an interdisciplinary audience of recurrence plot users and researchers interested in time series analysis in particular, and in complex systems in general.

This book discusses online engineering and virtual instrumentation, typical working areas for today's engineers and inseparably connected with areas such as Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems, collaborative networks and grids, cyber cloud technologies, and service architectures, to name just a few. It presents the outcomes of the 14th International Conference on Remote Engineering and Virtual Instrumentation (REV2017), held at Columbia University in New York from 15 to 17 March 2017. The conference addressed fundamentals, applications and experiences in the field of online engineering and virtual instrumentation in the light of growing interest in and need for teleworking, remote services and collaborative working environments as a result of the globalization of education. The book also discusses guidelines for education in university-level courses for these topics.