I believe it was the message of the day one Sunday, when he preached about hell. I left church scared for the first time, in fear because of how he described hell. This then started my lifelong quest to understand why. Why is there a hell, and how could this be fair? I did not ask for this. I thought, Who would want to take such a chance to live life and not get these rules right and suffer eternity in hell? This book begins by describing the events of the war in heaven as described in Revelation 12:7-11, as a foundation establishing that life did exist before the earth was created, the proof also being found in Genesis itself. That is where we find Satan as a serpent. This is what could be considered as "Exhibit A"-Satan in the Garden of Eden, proof of his existence on earth after he was cast down from heaven into the earth. This book presents many more important questions that serve as a key to unlocking the mysteries of creation. One example is, how, why, and when our spirits were created. My research and years of study of the Bible reveal to me that our spirits were created before we were born and will still exist after we die.

This monograph is focused on control law design methods for asymptotic tracking and disturbance rejection in the presence of uncertainties. The methods are based on adaptive implementation of the Internal Model Principle (IMP). The monograph shows how this principle can be applied to the problems of asymptotic rejection/tracking of a priori uncertain exogenous signals for linear and nonlinear plants with known and unknown parameters. The book begins by introducing the problems of adaptive control, the challenges that are faced, modern methods and an overview of the IMP. It then introduces special observers for uncertain exogeneous signals affecting linear and nonlinear systems with known and unknown parameters. The basic algorithms of adaptation applied to the canonical closed-loop error models are presented. The authors then address the systematic design of adaptive systems for asymptotic rejection/tracking of a priori uncertain exosignals. The monograph also discusses the adaptive rejection/tracking of a priori uncertain exogenous signals in systems with input delay, the problems of performance improvement in disturbance rejection and reference tracking and the issue of robustness of closed-loop systems. Adaptive Regulation provides a systematic discussion of the IMP applied to a variety of control problems, making it of interest to researchers and industrial practitioners.

This original and timely monograph describes a unique self-contained excursion that reveals to the readers the roles of two basic cognitive abilities, i.e. intention recognition and arranging commitments, in the evolution of cooperative behavior. This book analyses intention recognition, an important ability that helps agents predict others behavior, in its artificial intelligence and evolutionary computational modeling aspects, and proposes a novel intention recognition method. Furthermore, the book presents a new framework for intention-based decision making and illustrates several ways in which an ability to recognize intentions of others can enhance a decision making process. By employing the new intention recognition method and the tools of evolutionary game theory, this book introduces computational models demonstrating that intention recognition promotes the emergence of cooperation within populations of self-regarding agents. Finally, the book describes how commitment provides a pathway to the evolution of cooperative behavior, and how it further empowers intention recognition, thereby leading to a combined improved strategy. "

Discontinuity in Nonlinear Physical Systems explores recent developments in experimental research in this broad field, organized in four distinct sections. Part I introduces the reader to the fractional dynamics and Lie group analysis for nonlinear partial differential equations. Part II covers chaos and complexity in nonlinear Hamiltonian systems, important to understand the resonance interactions in nonlinear dynamical systems, such as Tsunami waves and wildfire propagations; as well as Lev flights in chaotic trajectories, dynamical system synchronization and DNA information complexity analysis. Part III examines chaos and periodic motions in discontinuous dynamical systems, extensively present in a range of systems, including piecewise linear systems, vibro-impact systems and drilling systems in engineering. And in Part IV, engineering and financial nonlinearity are discussed. The mechanism of shock wave with saddle-node bifurcation and rotating disk stability will be presented, and the financial nonlinear models will be discussed.

This book uses rigorous mathematical analysis to advance opinion dynamics models for social networks in three major directions. First, a novel model is proposed to capture how a discrepancy between an individual's private and expressed opinions can develop due to social pressures that arise in group situations or through extremists deliberately shaping public opinion. Detailed theoretical analysis of the final opinion distribution is followed by use of the model to study Asch's seminal experiments on conformity, and the phenomenon of pluralistic ignorance. Second, the DeGroot-Friedkin model for evolution of an individual's social power (self-confidence) is developed in a number of directions. The key result establishes that an individual's initial social power is forgotten exponentially fast, even when the network changes over time; eventually, an individual's social power depends only on the (changing) network structure. Last, a model for the simultaneous discussion of multiple logically interdependent topics is proposed. To ensure that a consensus across the opinions of all individuals is achieved, it turns out that the interpersonal interactions must be weaker than an individual's introspective cognitive process for establishing logical consistency among the topics. Otherwise, the individual may experience cognitive overload and the opinion system becomes unstable. Conclusions of interest to control engineers, social scientists, and researchers from other relevant disciplines are discussed throughout the thesis with support from both social science and control literature.

This book is inspired by the development of distributed model predictive control of networked systems to save computation and communication sources. The significant new contribution is to show how to design efficient DMPCs that can be coordinated asynchronously with the increasing effectiveness of the event-triggering mechanism and how to improve the event-triggered DMPC for different requirements improvement of control performance, extension to interconnected networked systems, etc. The book is likely to be of interest to the persons who are engaged in researching control theory in academic institutes, the persons who go in for developing control systems in R&D institutes or companies, the control engineers who are engaged in the implementation of control algorithms, and people who are interested in the distributed MPC.

These proceedings from the 2013 symposium on "Chaos, complexity and leadership" reflect current research results from all branches of Chaos, Complex Systems and their applications in Management. Included are the diverse results in the fields of applied nonlinear methods, modeling of data and simulations, as well as theoretical achievements of Chaos and Complex Systems. Also highlighted are Leadership and Management applications of Chaos and Complexity Theory.

Computing Tools for Modeling, Optimization and Simulation reflects the need for preserving the marriage between operations research and computing in order to create more efficient and powerful software tools in the years ahead. The 17 papers included in this volume were carefully selected to cover a wide range of topics related to the interface between operations research and computer science. The volume includes the now perennial applications of rnetaheuristics (such as genetic algorithms, scatter search, and tabu search) as well as research on global optimization, knowledge management, software rnaintainability and object-oriented modeling. These topics reflect the complexity and variety of the problems that current and future software tools must be capable of tackling. The OR/CS interface is frequently at the core of successful applications and the development of new methodologies, making the research in this book a relevant reference in the future. The editors' goal for this book has been to increase the interest in the interface of computer science and operations research. Both researchers and practitioners will benefit from this book. The tutorial papers may spark the interest of practitioners for developing and applying new techniques to complex problems. In addition, the book includes papers that explore new angles of well-established methods for problems in the area of nonlinear optimization and mixed integer programming, which seasoned researchers in these fields may find fascinating.

This book gathers contributions on analytical, numerical, and application aspects of time-delay systems, under the paradigm of control theory, and discusses recent advances in these different contexts, also highlighting the interdisciplinary connections. The book will serve as a useful tool for graduate students and researchers in the fields of dynamical systems, automatic control, numerical methods, and functional analysis.

This book presents the fundamental theory for non-standard diffusion problems in movement ecology. Levy processes and anomalous diffusion have shown to be both powerful and useful tools for qualitatively and quantitatively describing a wide variety of spatial population ecological phenomena and dynamics, such as invasion fronts and search strategies. Adopting a self-contained, textbook-style approach, the authors provide the elements of statistical physics and stochastic processes on which the modeling of movement ecology is based and systematically introduce the physical characterization of ecological processes at the microscopic, mesoscopic and macroscopic levels. The explicit definition of these levels and their interrelations is particularly suitable to coping with the broad spectrum of space and time scales involved in bio-ecological problems. Including numerous exercises (with solutions), this text is aimed at graduate students and newcomers in this field at the interface of theoretical ecology, mathematical biology and physics.

System Theory: Modeling, Analysis and Control contains thirty-three scientific papers covering a wide range of topics in systems and control. These papers have been contributed to a symposium organized to celebrate Sanjoy K. Mitter's 65th birthday. The following research topics are addressed: distributed parameter systems, stochastic control, filtering and estimation, optimization and optimal control, image processing and vision, hierarchical systems and hybrid control, nonlinear systems, and linear systems. Also included are three survey papers on optimization, nonlinear filtering, and nonlinear systems. Recent advances are reported on the behavioral approach to systems, the relationship between differential games and robust control, estimation of diffusion processes, Markov processes, optimal control, hybrid control, stochastic control, spectral estimation, nonconvex quadratic programming, robust control, control algorithms and quantized linear systems. Innovative explorations are carried out on quantum systems from a control theory perspective, option valuation and hedging, three-dimensional medical visualization, computational structure biology image processing, and hierarchical approaches to complex systems, flow control, scheduling and force feedback in fluid mechanics. The contents reflect on past research accomplishments, current research activity, and future research directions in systems and control theory.

Decomposition methods aim to reduce large-scale problems to simpler problems. This monograph presents selected aspects of the dimension-reduction problem. Exact and approximate aggregations of multidimensional systems are developed and from a known model of input-output balance, aggregation methods are categorized. The issues of loss of accuracy, recovery of original variables (disaggregation), and compatibility conditions are analyzed in detail. The method of iterative aggregation in large-scale problems is studied. For fixed weights, successively simpler aggregated problems are solved and the convergence of their solution to that of the original problem is analyzed. An introduction to block integer programming is considered. Duality theory, which is widely used in continuous block programming, does not work for the integer problem. A survey of alternative methods is presented and special attention is given to combined methods of decomposition. Block problems in which the coupling variables do not enter the binding constraints are studied. These models are worthwhile because they permit a decomposition with respect to primal and dual variables by two-level algorithms instead of three-level algorithms. Audience: This book is addressed to specialists in operations research, optimization, and optimal control.

This book focuses on the nonlinear dynamics based on the vector fields with univariate quadratic functions. This book is a unique monograph for two-dimensional quadratic nonlinear systems. It provides different points of view about nonlinear dynamics and bifurcations of the quadratic dynamical systems. Such a two-dimensional dynamical system is one of simplest dynamical systems in nonlinear dynamics, but the local and global structures of equilibriums and flows in such two-dimensional quadratic systems help us understand other nonlinear dynamical systems, which is also a crucial step toward solving the Hilbert's sixteenth problem. Possible singular dynamics of the two-dimensional quadratic systems are discussed in detail. The dynamics of equilibriums and one-dimensional flows in two-dimensional systems are presented. Saddle-sink and saddle-source bifurcations are discussed, and saddle-center bifurcations are presented. The infinite-equilibrium states are switching bifurcations for nonlinear systems. From the first integral manifolds, the saddle-center networks are developed, and the networks of saddles, source, and sink are also presented. This book serves as a reference book on dynamical systems and control for researchers, students, and engineering in mathematics, mechanical, and electrical engineering.

This book brings together the impact of Prof. John Horton Conway, the playful and legendary mathematician's wide range of contributions in science which includes research areas-Game of Life in cellular automata, theory of finite groups, knot theory, number theory, combinatorial game theory, and coding theory. It contains transcripts where some eminent scientists have shared their first-hand experience of interacting with Conway, as well as some invited research articles from the experts focusing on Game of Life, cellular automata, and the diverse research directions that started with Conway's Game of Life. The book paints a portrait of Conway's research life and philosophical direction in mathematics and is of interest to whoever wants to explore his contribution to the history and philosophy of mathematics and computer science. It is designed as a small tribute to Prof. Conway whom we lost on April 11, 2020.

This book focuses on the emergence of creative ideas from cognitive and social dynamics. In particular, it presents data, models, and analytical methods grounded in a network dynamics approach. It has long been hypothesized that innovation arises from a recombination of older ideas and concepts, but this has been studied primarily at an abstract level. In this book, we consider the networks underlying innovation - from the brain networks supporting semantic cognition to human networks such as brainstorming groups or individuals interacting through social networks - and relate the emergence of ideas to the structure and dynamics of these networks. Methods described include experimental studies with human participants, mathematical evaluation of novelty from group brainstorming experiments, neurodynamical modeling of conceptual combination, and multi-agent modeling of collective creativity. The main distinctive features of this book are the breadth of perspectives considered, the integration of experiments with theory, and a focus on the combinatorial emergence of ideas.

Wind energy systems are central contributors to renewable energy generation, and their technology is continuously improved and updated. Without losing sight of theory, Control of Large Wind Energy Systems demonstrates how to implement concrete control systems for modern wind turbines, explaining the reasons behind choices and decisions. This book provides an extended treatment of different control topics divided into three thematic parts including modelling, control and implementation. Solutions for real-life difficulties such as multi-parameter tuning of several controllers, curve fitting of nonlinear power curves, and filter design for concrete signals are also undertaken. Examples and a case study are included to illustrate the parametrization of models, the control systems design with problems and possible solutions. Advice for the selection of control laws, calculation of specific parameters, which are necessary for the control laws, as the sensitivity functions, is given, as well as an evaluation of control performance based on indices and load calculation. Control of Large Wind Energy Systems covers methodologies which are not usually found in literature on this topic, including fractional order PID and nonlinear PID for pitch control, peak shaving control and extremum seeking control for the generator control, yaw control and shutdown control. This makes it an ideal book for postgraduate students, researchers and industrial engineers in the field of wind turbine control. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

This book offers a complete and detailed introduction to the theory of discrete dynamical systems, with special attention to stability of fixed points and periodic orbits. It provides a solid mathematical background and the essential basic knowledge for further developments such as, for instance, deterministic chaos theory, for which many other references are available (but sometimes, without an exhaustive presentation of preliminary notions). Readers will find a discussion of topics sometimes neglected in the research literature, such as a comparison between different predictions achievable by the discrete time model and the continuous time model of the same application. Another novel aspect of this book is an accurate analysis of the way a fixed point may lose stability, introducing and comparing several notions of instability: simple instability, repulsivity, and complete instability. To help the reader and to show the flexibility and potentiality of the discrete approach to dynamics, many examples, numerical simulations, and figures have been included. The book is used as a reference material for courses at a doctoral or upper undergraduate level in mathematics and theoretical engineering.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of recent developments in network dynamics and control with applications to supply chains, manufacturing and logistics systems. It systemizes these developments in the form of new taxonomies and methodological principles to shape the research domain of supply network dynamics control. Uniquely, the book links the fundamentals of control and system theories and artificial intelligence with supply chain and operations management. It addresses the needs of researchers and practitioners alike, revealing the challenges and opportunities of supply chain and operations management by means of dynamic system analysis.

This unique book gathers various scientific and mathematical approaches to and descriptions of the natural and physical world stemming from a broad range of mathematical areas - from model systems, differential equations, statistics, and probability - all of which scientifically and mathematically reveal the inherent beauty of natural and physical phenomena. Topics include Archimedean and Non-Archimedean approaches to mathematical modeling; thermography model with application to tungiasis inflammation of the skin; modeling of a tick-Killing Robot; various aspects of the mathematics for Covid-19, from simulation of social distancing scenarios to the evolution dynamics of the coronavirus in some given tropical country to the spatiotemporal modeling of the progression of the pandemic. Given its scope and approach, the book will benefit researchers and students of mathematics, the sciences and engineering, and everyone else with an appreciation for the beauty of nature. The outcome is a mathematical enrichment of nature's beauty in its various manifestations. This volume honors Dr. John Adam, a Professor at Old Dominion University, USA, for his lifetime achievements in the fields of mathematical modeling and applied mathematics. Dr. Adam has published over 110 papers and authored several books.

This book is a useful tool for researchers in both academia and industry who are interested in improving the performances of magnetic recording systems using new coding schemes. Coding and Iterative Detection for Magnetic Recording Channels proposes several new approaches for enhancing the performance of magnetic recording systems by coding and interpolated timing recovery. It provides a tutorial introduction to turbo codes, LDPC codes and their iterative detection schemes. The main emphasis, however, is placed on the simplification of the detector structures for the implementation of various codes. Chapter 1 introduces the model for magnetic recording channels and the challenges to the read channel detector designs. Chapter 2 discusses the turbo codes and the turbo equalization structure for ISI channels. Chapter 3 summarizes the major concepts of LDPC codes and their iterative detection algorithms based on belief propagation. Chapter 4 introduces the Decision Aid Equalization (DAE) structure to simplify iterative detection for ISI channels. Chapter 6 proposes an interpolated timing recovery scheme that facilitates symbol timing recovery by its re-sampling' capability. The combination of the above-mentioned chapters leads to a new structure for implementing iterative detection on recording channels. Chapter 5 deviates from iterative detection to propose a simple code, the Interleaved Parity Check (IPC) code, and its reduced-complexity decoder, which is considered practical for implementation with currently available integrated circuit technology. Chapter 7 summarizes the book with a discussion on future research topics in this field. Coding and Iterative Detection for MagneticRecording Channels is a valuable reference for researchers and design engineers working on signal processing and coding for magnetic recording channels. It may also be used as a graduate text for courses on turbo codes.

This book uses a system-based approach to decipher and organize the concepts and conclusions relevant for creating and capturing value in business. It develops a scientific theory based on systems science and logical reasoning that is commonly employed in mathematics and natural science. The resulting new theory focuses on the organizational nature of the world and the organic and holistic feature of human organizations and their interactions. To this end, this book identifies a few axioms, instead of empirical discoveries, on which it reliably constructs the entire theory.

From the reviews:

"This book [...] gives a comprehensive overview of the implementation of OFDM systems. [ ] For those who study or work on broadband communication in a wireless multipath environment, this book is a useful and easy-to-read reference. [...]"
(Zongsen Wu, Shaowen Song and Tianying Ji, Physics and Computing Dept., Wilfrid Laurier University, ON)