The Soft Machine, originally published in 1985, represents a significant contribution to the study of contemporary literature in the larger cultural and scientific context. David Porush shows how the concepts of cybernetics and artificial intelligence that have sparked our present revolution in computer and information technology have also become the source for images and techniques in our most highly sophisticated literature, postmodern fiction by Barthelme, Barth, Pynchon, Beckett, Burroughs, Vonnegut and others. With considerable skill, Porush traces the growth of "the metaphor of the machine" as it evolves both technologically and in literature of the twentieth century. He describes the birth of cybernetics, gives one of the clearest accounts for a lay audience of its major concepts and shows the growth of philosophical resistance to the mechanical model for human intelligence and communication which cybernetics promotes, a model that had grown increasingly influential in the previous decade. The Soft Machine shows postmodern fiction synthesizing the inviting metaphors and concepts of cybernetics with the ideals of art, a synthesis that results in what Porush calls "cybernetic fiction" alive to the myths and images of a cybernetic age.

The book outlines selected projects conducted under the supervision of the author. Moreover, it discusses significant relations between Interactive Granular Computing (IGrC) and numerous dynamically developing scientific domains worldwide, along with features characteristic of the author's approach to IGrC. The results presented are a continuation and elaboration of various aspects of Wisdom Technology, initiated and developed in cooperation with Professor Andrzej Skowron. Based on the empirical findings from these projects, the author explores the following areas: (a) understanding the causes of the theory and practice gap problem (TPGP) in complex systems engineering (CSE);(b) generalizing computing models of complex adaptive systems (CAS) (in particular, natural computing models) by constructing an interactive granular computing (IGrC) model of networks of interrelated interacting complex granules (c-granules), belonging to a single agent and/or to a group of agents; (c) developing methodologies based on the IGrC model to minimize the negative consequences of the TPGP. The book introduces approaches to the above issues, using the proposed IGrC model. In particular, the IGrC model refers to the key mechanisms used to control the processes related to the implementation of CSE projects. One of the main aims was to develop a mechanism of IGrC control over computations that model a project's implementation processes to maximize the chances of its success, while at the same time minimizing the emerging risks. In this regard, the IGrC control is usually performed by means of properly selected and enforced (among project participants) project principles. These principles constitute examples of c-granules, expressed by complex vague concepts (represented by c-granules too). The c-granules evolve with time (in particular, the meaning of the concepts is also subject of change). This methodology is illustrated using project principles applied by the author during the implementation of the POLTAX, AlgoTradix, Merix, and Excavio projects outlined in the book.

Why are the instruction manuals for cell phones incomprehensible?
Why is a truck driver's job as hard as a CEO's?
How can 10 percent of every medical dollar cure 90 percent of the world's disease?
Why do bad teams win so many games? Complexity, as any scientist will tell you, is a slippery idea. Things that seem complicated can be astoundingly simple; things that seem simple can be dizzyingly complex. A houseplant may be more intricate than a manufacturing plant. A colony of garden ants may be more complicated than a community of people. A sentence may be richer than a book, a couplet more complicated than a song. These and other paradoxes are driving a whole new science--simplexity--that is redefining how we look at the world and using that new view to improve our lives in fields as diverse as economics, biology, cosmology, chemistry, psychology, politics, child development, the arts, and more. Seen through the lens of this surprising new science, the world becomes a delicate place filled with predictable patterns--patterns we often fail to see as we're time and again fooled by our instincts, by our fear, by the size of things, and even by their beauty. In Simplexity, Time senior writer Jeffrey Kluger shows how a drinking straw can save thousands of lives; how a million cars can be on the streets but just a few hundred of them can lead to gridlock; how investors behave like atoms; how arithmetic governs abstract art and physics drives jazz; why swatting a TV indeed makes it work better. As simplexity moves from the research lab into popular consciousness it will challenge our models for modern living. Jeffrey Kluger adeptly translates newly evolving theory into a delightful theory of everything that will have you rethinking the rules of business, family, art--your world.

This monograph is a technical survey of concepts and techniques for describing and analyzing large-scale time-series data streams. Some topics covered are algorithms for query by humming, gamma-ray burst detection, pairs trading, and density detection. Included are self-contained descriptions of wavelets, fast Fourier transforms, and sketches as they apply to time-series analysis. Detailed applications are built on a solid scientific basis.

This book examines some issues involving climate change, human trafficking, and other serious world challenges made worse by climate change. Climate change increases the risk of natural disasters and thus creates poverty and can cause situations of conflict and instability. Displacement can occur giving traffickers an opportunity to exploit affected people. In the fuzzy graph theory part of the book, the relatively new concepts of fuzzy soft semigraphs and graph structures are used to study human trafficking, as well as its time intuitionistic fuzzy sets that have been introduced to model forest fires. The notion of legal and illegal incidence strength is used to analyze immigration to the USA. The examination of return refugees to their origin countries is undertaken. The neighborhood connectivity index is determined for trafficking in various regions in the world. The cycle connectivity measure for the directed graph of the flow from South America to the USA is calculated. It is determined that there is a need for improvement in government response by countries. Outside the area of fuzzy graph theory, a new approach to examine climate change is introduced. Social network theory is used to study feedback processes that effect climate forcing. Tipping points in climate change are considered. The relationship between terrorism and climate change is examined. Ethical issues concerning the obligation of business organizations to reduce carbon emissions are also considered. Nonstandard analysis is a possible new area that could be used by scholars of mathematics of uncertainty. A foundation is laid to aid the researcher in the understanding of nonstandard analysis. In order to accomplish this, a discussion of some basic concepts from first-order logic is presented as some concepts of mathematics of uncertainty. An application to the theory of relativity is presented.

Computing Reality is a rare and challenging research output in the area of cybernetic and system theory explaining the meaning behind the understanding, interpretation and application of scientific methodology for knowing scientific truth. The fundamental goal of Computing Reality is to explain how knowledge in scientific investigation can be derived, organized and deciphered in the light of unity of knowledge as the episteme. The book uses these foundational socio-scientific ideas in areas of philosophy of science, economics, society and science and computer modeling to explain specific socio-scientific problems in the light of the foundational conceptions and their application. Computing Reality invites the reader into understanding a fresh new look at the nature of relations between reasoning, science, and society. Special reference is given to certain fundamental issues of economics and world-system in the context of liberalism, globalization and Islam. The technical along with a generalist treatment in the book presents a comprehensive originality of a phenomenological model whose origin lies in a systemic and cybernetic view of unity of knowledge.Some of the new ideas presented here can be of a substantively provocative nature to the serious student, academic and researcher in philosophy of science. The book is nonetheless written for the generalist informed reader as well, enabling the interface with today's increasing consciousness on the relationship between religion, morality, ethics, science and society. The book may be considered as a pioneering contributing to post-modernist criticism of foundational questions of science and society. Computing Reality is a contribution inthe area of system and cybernetic theory examined from the perspective of science and society interrelationship. It goes beyond the modern contributions in this area by proving with conceptual and applied depth the function nature of the phenomenological model of unity of knowledge qua religion, science and society. Masadul A. Choudhury Ph.D., is presently Professor of Economics in the Department of Economics and Finance, College of Commerce and Economics, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman; and International Chair of the Postgraduate Program in Islamic Economics and Finance, Trisakti University Jakarta, Indonesia M.Shahadat Hossain, Ph.D. is Associate Professor and Chairman of Computer Science in the Department of Computer Science, Chittagong University, Bangladesh.

This volume is a collection of chapters covering the latest developments in applications of financial mathematics and statistics to topics in energy, commodity financial markets and environmental economics. The research presented is based on the presentations and discussions that took place during the Fields Institute Focus Program on Commodities, Energy and Environmental Finance in August 2013. The authors include applied mathematicians, economists and industry practitioners, providing for a multi-disciplinary spectrum of perspectives on the subject. The volume consists of four sections: Electricity Markets; Real Options; Trading in Commodity Markets; and Oligopolistic Models for Energy Production. Taken together, the chapters give a comprehensive summary of the current state of the art in quantitative analysis of commodities and energy finance. The topics covered include structural models of electricity markets, financialization of commodities, valuation of commodity real options, game-theory analysis of exhaustible resource management and analysis of commodity ETFs. The volume also includes two survey articles that provide a source for new researchers interested in getting into these topics.

Stabilization of Navier Stokes Flows presents recent notable progress in the mathematical theory of stabilization of Newtonian fluid flows. Finite-dimensional feedback controllers are used to stabilize exponentially the equilibrium solutions of Navier Stokes equations, reducing or eliminating turbulence. Stochastic stabilization and robustness of stabilizable feedback are also discussed. The analysis developed here provides a rigorous pattern for the design of efficient stabilizable feedback controllers to meet the needs of practical problems and the conceptual controllers actually detailed will render the reader 's task of application easier still.Stabilization of Navier Stokes Flows avoids the tedious and technical details often present in mathematical treatments of control and Navier Stokes equations and will appeal to a sizeable audience of researchers and graduate students interested in the mathematics of flow and turbulence control and in Navier-Stokes equations in particular.

In almost 60 articles this book reviews the current state of second-order cybernetics and investigates which new research methods second-order cybernetics can offer to tackle wicked problems in science and in society. The contributions explore its application to both scientific fields (such as mathematics, psychology and consciousness research) and non-scientific ones (such as design theory and theater science). The book uses a pluralistic, multifaceted approach to discuss these applications: Each main article is accompanied by several commentaries and author responses, which together allow the reader to discover further perspectives than in the original article alone. This procedure shows that second-order cybernetics is already on its way to becoming an idea shared by many researchers in a variety of disciplines.

The second edition of this monograph describes the set-theoretic approach for the control and analysis of dynamic systems, both from a theoretical and practical standpoint. This approach is linked to fundamental control problems, such as Lyapunov stability analysis and stabilization, optimal control, control under constraints, persistent disturbance rejection, and uncertain systems analysis and synthesis. Completely self-contained, this book provides a solid foundation of mathematical techniques and applications, extensive references to the relevant literature, and numerous avenues for further theoretical study. All the material from the first edition has been updated to reflect the most recent developments in the field, and a new chapter on switching systems has been added. Each chapter contains examples, case studies, and exercises to allow for a better understanding of theoretical concepts by practical application. The mathematical language is kept to the minimum level necessary for the adequate formulation and statement of the main concepts, yet allowing for a detailed exposition of the numerical algorithms for the solution of the proposed problems. Set-Theoretic Methods in Control will appeal to both researchers and practitioners in control engineering and applied mathematics. It is also well-suited as a textbook for graduate students in these areas. Praise for the First Edition "This is an excellent book, full of new ideas and collecting a lot of diverse material related to set-theoretic methods. It can be recommended to a wide control community audience." - B. T. Polyak, Mathematical Reviews "This book is an outstanding monograph of a recent research trend in control. It reflects the vast experience of the authors as well as their noticeable contributions to the development of this field...[It] is highly recommended to PhD students and researchers working in control engineering or applied mathematics. The material can also be used for graduate courses in these areas." - Octavian Pastravanu, Zentralblatt MATH

This book presents recent developments in nonlinear and complex systems. It provides recent theoretic developments and new techniques based on a nonlinear dynamical systems approach that can be used to model and understand complex behavior in nonlinear dynamical systems. It covers information theory, relativistic chaotic dynamics, data analysis, relativistic chaotic dynamics, solvability issues in integro-differential equations, and inverse problems for parabolic differential equations, synchronization and chaotic transient. Presents new concepts for understanding and modeling complex systems

This book reports on the state of the art in the field of multiphysics systems. It consists of accurately reviewed contributions to the MMSSD'2014 conference, which was held from December 17 to 19, 2004 in Hammamet, Tunisia. The different chapters, covering new theories, methods and a number of case studies, provide readers with an up-to-date picture of multiphysics modeling and simulation. They highlight the role played by high-performance computing and newly available software in promoting the study of multiphysics coupling effects, and show how these technologies can be practically implemented to bring about significant improvements in the field of design, control and monitoring of machines. In addition to providing a detailed description of the methods and their applications, the book also identifies new research issues, challenges and opportunities, thus providing researchers and practitioners with both technical information to support their daily work and a new source of inspiration for their future research.

The main goal is to offer to readers a panorama of recent progress in nonlinear physics, complexity and transport with attractive chapters readable by a broad audience. It allows to gain an insight into these active fields of research and notably promotes the interdisciplinary studies from mathematics to experimental physics. To reach this aim, the book collects a selection of contributions to the third edition of the CCT conference (Marseilles, 1-5 June 2015).

This book leads readers from a basic foundation to an advanced level understanding of dynamical and complex systems. It is the perfect text for graduate or PhD mathematical-science students looking for support in topics such as applied dynamical systems, Lotka-Volterra dynamical systems, applied dynamical systems theory, dynamical systems in cosmology, aperiodic order, and complex systems dynamics.Dynamical and Complex Systems is the fifth volume of the LTCC Advanced Mathematics Series. This series is the first to provide advanced introductions to mathematical science topics to advanced students of mathematics. Edited by the three joint heads of the London Taught Course Centre for PhD Students in the Mathematical Sciences (LTCC), each book supports readers in broadening their mathematical knowledge outside of their immediate research disciplines while also covering specialized key areas.

This book addresses the realization problem of positive and fractional continuous-time and discrete-time linear systems. Roughly speaking the essence of the realization problem can be stated as follows: Find the matrices of the state space equations of linear systems for given their transfer matrices. This first book on this topic shows how many well-known classical approaches have been extended to the new classes of positive and fractional linear systems. The modified Gilbert method for multi-input multi-output linear systems, the method for determination of realizations in the controller canonical forms and in observer canonical forms are presented. The realization problem for linear systems described by differential operators, the realization problem in the Weierstrass canonical forms and of the descriptor linear systems for given Markov parameters are addressed. The book also presents a method for the determination of minimal realizations of descriptor linear systems and an extension for cone linear systems. This monographs summarizes recent original investigations of the authors in the new field of the positive and fractional linear systems.

In the context of life sciences, we are constantly confronted with information that possesses precise semantic values and appears essentially immersed in a specific evolutionary trend. In such a framework, Nature appears, in Monod's words, as a tinkerer characterized by the presence of precise principles of self-organization. However, while Monod was obliged to incorporate his brilliant intuitions into the framework of first-order cybernetics and a theory of information with an exclusively syntactic character such as that defined by Shannon, research advances in recent decades have led not only to the definition of a second-order cybernetics but also to an exploration of the boundaries of semantic information. As H. Atlan states, on a biological level "the function self-organizes together with its meaning". Hence the need to refer to a conceptual theory of complexity and to a theory of self-organization characterized in an intentional sense. There is also a need to introduce, at the genetic level, a distinction between coder and ruler as well as the opportunity to define a real software space for natural evolution. The recourse to non-standard model theory, the opening to a new general semantics, and the innovative definition of the relationship between coder and ruler can be considered, today, among the most powerful theoretical tools at our disposal in order to correctly define the contours of that new conceptual revolution increasingly referred to as metabiology. This book focuses on identifying and investigating the role played by these particular theoretical tools in the development of this new scientific paradigm. Nature "speaks" by means of mathematical forms: we can observe these forms, but they are, at the same time, inside us as they populate our organs of cognition. In this context, the volume highlights how metabiology appears primarily to refer to the growth itself of our instruments of participatory knowledge of the world.

Calculus Without Derivatives expounds the foundations and recent advances in nonsmooth analysis, a powerful compound of mathematical tools that obviates the usual smoothness assumptions. This textbook also provides significant tools and methods towards applications, in particular optimization problems. Whereas most books on this subject focus on a particular theory, this text takes a general approach including all main theories. In order to be self-contained, the book includes three chapters of preliminary material, each of which can be used as an independent course if needed. The first chapter deals with metric properties, variational principles, decrease principles, methods of error bounds, calmness and metric regularity. The second one presents the classical tools of differential calculus and includes a section about the calculus of variations. The third contains a clear exposition of convex analysis.

The book is a collection of peer-reviewed scientific papers submitted by active researchers in the 36th National System Conference (NSC 2012). NSC is an annual event of the Systems Society of India (SSI), primarily oriented to strengthen the systems movement and its applications for the welfare of humanity. A galaxy of academicians, professionals, scientists, statesman and researchers from different parts of the country and abroad are invited to attend the Conference. The book presents various research articles in the area of system modelling in all disciplines of engineering sciences as well as socio-economic systems. The book can be used as a tool for further research.

Regulation of the Power Sector is a unified, consistent and comprehensive treatment of the theories and practicalities of regulation in modern power-supply systems. The need for generation to occur at the time of use occasioned by the impracticality of large-scale electricity storage coupled with constant and often unpredictable changes in demand make electricity-supply systems large, dynamic and complex and their regulation a daunting task. Arranged in four parts, this book addresses both traditional regulatory frameworks and also liberalized and re-regulated environments. First, an introduction gives a full characterization of power supply including engineering, economic and regulatory viewpoints. The second part presents the fundamentals of regulation and the third looks at the regulation of particular components of the power sector in detail. Advanced topics and subjects still open or subject to dispute form the content of Part IV. In a sector where regulatory design is the key driver of both the industry efficiency and the returns on investment, Regulation of the Power Sector is directed at regulators, policy decision makers, business managers and researchers. It is a pragmatic text, well-tested by the authors' quarter-century of experience of power systems from around the world. Power system professionals and students at all levels will derive much benefit from the authors' wealth of blended theory and real-world-derived know-how.

With the advent of the National Curriculum, computer based modelling CBM is now a compulsory part of the school curriculum. Teachers are increasingly being encouraged to seek out opportunities for CBM in their own subject and across the curriculum. The new demands on the curriculum have left eachers and teacher trainers concerned as to their lack of experience in the area. This book sets out to provide a comprehensive guide to the area through an examination of a number of funded projects on CBM and their application to the school curriculum, setting them in the context of wider theoretical and practical concerns. It is acknowledged that computers bring about change in the classroom, both in teachers' professional development and innovative practices in teaching and learning. In highlighting how CBM can aid in the effective delivery of the curriculum, this book should be essential reading for teachers and researchers in the field.

Revised and updated, this concise new edition of the pioneering book on multidimensional signal processing is ideal for a new generation of students. Multidimensional systems or m-D systems are the necessary mathematical background for modern digital image processing with applications in biomedicine, X-ray technology and satellite communications. Serving as a firm basis for graduate engineering students and researchers seeking applications in mathematical theories, this edition eschews detailed mathematical theory not useful to students. Presentation of the theory has been revised to make it more readable for students, and introduce some new topics that are emerging as multidimensional DSP topics in the interdisciplinary fields of image processing. New topics include Groebner bases, wavelets, and filter banks.

This volume consists of selected essays by participants of the workshop Control at Large Scales: Energy Markets and Responsive Grids held at the Institute for Mathematics and its Applications, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A. from May 9-13, 2016. The workshop brought together a diverse group of experts to discuss current and future challenges in energy markets and controls, along with potential solutions. The volume includes chapters on significant challenges in the design of markets and incentives, integration of renewable energy and energy storage, risk management and resilience, and distributed and multi-scale optimization and control. Contributors include leading experts from academia and industry in power systems and markets as well as control science and engineering. This volume will be of use to experts and newcomers interested in all aspects of the challenges facing the creation of a more sustainable electricity infrastructure, in areas such as distributed and stochastic optimization and control, stability theory, economics, policy, and financial mathematics, as well as in all aspects of power system operation.

"Impulsive Control in Continuous and Discrete-Continuous Systems" is an up-to-date introduction to the theory of impulsive control in nonlinear systems. This is a new branch of the Optimal Control Theory, which is tightly connected to the Theory of Hybrid Systems. The text introduces the reader to the interesting area of optimal control problems with discontinuous solutions, discussing the application of a new and effective method of discontinuous time-transformation. With a large number of examples, illustrations, and applied problems arising in the area of observation control, this book is excellent as a textbook or reference for a senior or graduate-level course on the subject, as well as a reference for researchers in related fields.

This book introduces a comprehensive and mathematically rigorous controller design for families of nonlinear systems with time-varying parameters and unstructured uncertainties. Although the presented methodology is general, the specific family of systems considered is the latest, NextGen, unconventional fixed-wing unmanned aircraft with circulation control or morphing wings, or a combination of both. The approach considers various sources of model and parameter uncertainty, while the controller design depends not on a nominal plant model, but instead on a family of admissible plants. In contrast to existing controller designs that consider multiple models and multiple controllers, the proposed approach is based on the 'one controller fits all models' within the unstructured uncertainty interval. The book presents a modeling-based analysis and synthesis approach with additive uncertainty weighting functions for accurate realization of the candidate systems. This differs significantly from existing designs in that it is capable of handling time-varying characteristics. This research monograph is suitable for scientists, engineers, researchers and graduate students with a background in control system theory who are interested in complex engineering nonlinear systems.

This book provides comprehensive coverage on a new direction in computational mathematics research: automatic search for formulas. Formulas must be sought in all areas of science and life: these are the laws of the universe, the macro and micro world, fundamental physics, engineering, weather and natural disasters forecasting; the search for new laws in economics, politics, sociology. Accumulating many years of experience in the development and application of numerical methods of symbolic regression to solving control problems, the authors offer new possibilities not only in the field of control automation, but also in the design of completely different optimal structures in many fields. For specialists in the field of control, Machine Learning Control by Symbolic Regression opens up a new promising direction of research and acquaints scientists with the methods of automatic construction of control systems.For specialists in the field of machine learning, the book opens up a new, much broader direction than neural networks: methods of symbolic regression. This book makes it easy to master this new area in machine learning and apply this approach everywhere neural networks are used. For mathematicians, the book opens up a new approach to the construction of numerical methods for obtaining analytical solutions to unsolvable problems; for example, numerical analytical solutions of algebraic equations, differential equations, non-trivial integrals, etc. For specialists in the field of artificial intelligence, the book offers a machine way to solve problems, framed in the form of analytical relationships.