One criterion for classifying books is whether they are written for a single pur pose or for multiple purposes. This book belongs to the category of multipurpose books, but one of its roles is predominant-it is primarily a textbook. As such, it can be used for a variety ofcourses at the first-year graduate or upper-division undergraduate level. A common characteristic of these courses is that they cover fundamental systems concepts, major categories of systems problems, and some selected methods for dealing with these problems at a rather general level. A unique feature of the book is that the concepts, problems, and methods are introduced in the context of an architectural formulation of an expert system referred to as the general systems problem solver or aSPS-whose aim is to provide users ofall kinds with computer-based systems knowledge and methodo logy. Theasps architecture, which is developed throughout the book, facilitates a framework that is conducive to acoherent, comprehensive, and pragmaticcoverage ofsystems fundamentals-concepts, problems, and methods. A course that covers systems fundamentals is now offered not only in sys tems science, information science, or systems engineering programs, but in many programs in other disciplines as well. Although the level ofcoverage for systems science or engineering students is surely different from that used for students in other disciplines, this book is designed to serve both of these needs."

Relatively new research ?elds such as ambient intelligence, intelligent envir- ments, ubiquitous computing, and wearable devices have emerged in recent years. These ?elds are related by a common theme: making use of novel technologies to enhance user experience by providing user-centric intelligent environments, - moving computers from the desktop and making computing available anywhere and anytime. It must be said that the concept of intelligent environments is not new and beganwithhomeautomation. Thechoiceofnameforthe?eldvariessomewhatfrom continent to continent in the English-speaking world. In general intelligent space is synonymous to intelligent environments or smart spaces of which smart homes is a sub?eld. In this collection, the terms intelligent environments and ambient int- ligence are used interchangeably throughout. Such environments are made possible by permeating living spaces with intelligent technology that enhances quality of life. In particular, advances in technologies such as miniaturized sensors, advances in communication and networking technology including high-bandwidth wireless devices and the reduction in power consumption have made possible the concept of intelligent environments. Environments such as a home, an of?ce, a shopping mall, and a travel port utilize data provided by users to adapt the environment to meet the user's needs and improve human-machine interactions. The user information is gathered either via wearable devices or by pervasive sensors or a combination of both. Intelligent environments brings together a number of research ?elds from computer science, such as arti?cial intelligence, computer vision, machine learning, and robotics as well as engineering and architecture.

The systems movement is made up of many systems societies as well as of disciplinary researchers and researches, explicitly or implicitly focusing on the subject of systemics, officially introduced in the scientific community fifty years ago. Many researches in different fields have been and continue to be sources of new ideas and challenges for the systems community. To this regard, a very important topic is the one of EMERGENCE. Between the goals for the actual and future systems scientists there is certainly the definition of a general theory of emergence and the building of a general model of it. The Italian Systems Society, Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sui Sistemi (AIRS), decided to devote its Second National Conference to this subject. Because AIRS is organized under the form of a network of researchers, institutions, scholars, professionals, and teachers, its research activity has an impact at different levels and in different ways. Thus the topic of emergence was not only the focus of this conference but it is actually the main subject of many AIRS activities.

Circuit simulation has been a topic of great interest to the integrated circuit design community for many years. It is a difficult, and interesting, problem be cause circuit simulators are very heavily used, consuming thousands of computer hours every year, and therefore the algorithms must be very efficient. In addi tion, circuit simulators are heavily relied upon, with millions of dollars being gambled on their accuracy, and therefore the algorithms must be very robust. At the University of California, Berkeley, a great deal of research has been devoted to the study of both the numerical properties and the efficient imple mentation of circuit simulation algorithms. Research efforts have led to several programs, starting with CANCER in the 1960's and the enormously successful SPICE program in the early 1970's, to MOTIS-C, SPLICE, and RELAX in the late 1970's, and finally to SPLICE2 and RELAX2 in the 1980's. Our primary goal in writing this book was to present some of the results of our current research on the application of relaxation algorithms to circuit simu lation. As we began, we realized that a large body of mathematical and exper imental results had been amassed over the past twenty years by graduate students, professors, and industry researchers working on circuit simulation. It became a secondary goal to try to find an organization of this mass of material that was mathematically rigorous, had practical relevance, and still retained the natural intuitive simplicity of the circuit simulation subject."

Self-organizing maps (SOM) have proven to be of significant economic value in the areas of finance, economic and marketing applications. As a result, this area is rapidly becoming a non-academic technology. This book looks at near state-of-the-art SOM applications in the above areas, and is a multi-authored volume, edited by Guido Deboeck, a leading exponent in the use of computational methods in financial and economic forecasting, and by the originator of SOM, Teuvo Kohonen. The book contains chapters on applications of unsupervised neural networks using Kohonen's self-organizing map approach.

Active networking is an exciting new paradigm in digital networking that has the potential to revolutionize the manner in which communication takes place. It is an emerging technology, one in which new ideas are constantly being formulated and new topics of research are springing up even as this book is being written. This technology is very likely to appeal to a broad spectrum of users from academia and industry. Therefore, this book was written in a way that enables all these groups to understand the impact of active networking in their sphere of interest. Information services managers, network administrators, and e-commerce developers would like to know the potential benefits of the new technology to their businesses, networks, and applications. The book introduces the basic active networking paradigm and its potential impacts on the future of information handling in general and on communications in particular. This is useful for forward-looking businesses that wish to actively participate in the development of active networks and ensure a head start in the integration of the technology in their future products, be they applications or networks. Areas in which active networking is likely to make significant impact are identified, and the reader is pointed to any related ongoing research efforts in the area. The book also provides a deeper insight into the active networking model for students and researchers, who seek challenging topics that define or extend frontiers of the technology. It describes basic components of the model, explains some of the terms used by the active networking community, and provides the reader with taxonomy of the research being conducted at the time this book was written. Current efforts are classified based on typical research areas such as mobility, security, and management. The intent is to introduce the serious reader to the background regarding some of the models adopted by the community, to outline outstanding issues concerning active networking, and to provide a snapshot of the fast-changing landscape in active networking research. Management is a very important issue in active networks because of its open nature. The latter half of the book explains the architectural concepts of a model for managing active networks and the motivation for a reference model that addresses limitations of the current network management framework by leveraging the powerful features of active networking to develop an integrated framework. It also describes a novel application enabled by active network technology called the Active Virtual Network Management Prediction (AVNMP) algorithm. AVNMP is a pro-active management system; in other words, it provides the ability to solve a potential problem before it impacts the system by modeling network devices within the network itself and running that model ahead of real time.

viii The experimental research presented at the conference and reported here deals mainly with the visible wavelength region and slight extensions to either side (roughly from 150 nrn to 1000 nrn, 8. 3 eV to 1. 2 eV). A single exception was that dealing with a description of spin-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy at energies up to 40 eV (31 nm). This work was done using circularly polarized radiation emitted above and below the plane of the circulating electrons in a synchrotron ring. The device at BESSY (West Germany) in which the experiments were carried out seems to be the only one presently capable of providing circularly polarized radiation in the X--ray through vacuum ultraviolet energy range. A much more intense source is needed in this range. A possible solution was proposed which could provide not only circularly polarized photons over a wide energy range, but could in principle modulate the polarization of the beam between two orthogonal polarization states. Realization of this device, or an equivalent one, would be a vital step towards the goal of determining all components of the Mueller matrix for each spectroscopic experiment. A variety of theoretical treatments are presented describing the different phenomena emerging from the interaction of matter and polarized radiation in a wide range of energies. From this work we expect to learn what are the most useful wavelength regions and what types of samples are the most suitable for study.

This unique volume explores cutting-edge management approaches to developing complex software that is efficient, scalable, sustainable, and suitable for distributed environments. Practical insights are offered by an international selection of pre-eminent authorities, including case studies, best practices, and balanced corporate analyses. Emphasis is placed on the use of the latest software technologies and frameworks for life-cycle methods, including the design, implementation and testing stages of software development. Topics and features: * Reviews approaches for reusability, cost and time estimation, and for functional size measurement of distributed software applications * Discusses the core characteristics of a large-scale defense system, and the design of software project management (SPM) as a service * Introduces the 3PR framework, research on crowdsourcing software development, and an innovative approach to modeling large-scale multi-agent software systems * Examines a system architecture for ambient assisted living, and an approach to cloud migration and management assessment * Describes a software error proneness mechanism, a novel Scrum process for use in the defense domain, and an ontology annotation for SPM in distributed environments* Investigates the benefits of agile project management for higher education institutions, and SPM that combines software and data engineering This important text/reference is essential reading for project managers and software engineers involved in developing software for distributed computing environments. Students and researchers interested in SPM technologies and frameworks will also find the work to be an invaluable resource. Prof. Zaigham Mahmood is a Senior Technology Consultant at Debesis Education UK and an Associate Lecturer (Research) at the University of Derby, UK. He also holds positions as Foreign Professor at NUST and IIU in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Professor Extraordinaire at the North West University Potchefstroom, South Africa.

The technique of randomization has been employed to solve numerous prob lems of computing both sequentially and in parallel. Examples of randomized algorithms that are asymptotically better than their deterministic counterparts in solving various fundamental problems abound. Randomized algorithms have the advantages of simplicity and better performance both in theory and often is a collection of articles written by renowned experts in practice. This book in the area of randomized parallel computing. A brief introduction to randomized algorithms In the analysis of algorithms, at least three different measures of performance can be used: the best case, the worst case, and the average case. Often, the average case run time of an algorithm is much smaller than the worst case. 2 For instance, the worst case run time of Hoare's quicksort is O(n ), whereas its average case run time is only O(nlogn). The average case analysis is conducted with an assumption on the input space. The assumption made to arrive at the O(n logn) average run time for quicksort is that each input permutation is equally likely. Clearly, any average case analysis is only as good as how valid the assumption made on the input space is. Randomized algorithms achieve superior performances without making any assumptions on the inputs by making coin flips within the algorithm. Any analysis done of randomized algorithms will be valid for all possible inputs.

One of the fastest growing areas in computer science, granular computing, covers theories, methodologies, techniques, and tools that make use of granules in complex problem solving and reasoning. Novel Developments in Granular Computing: Applications for Advanced Human Reasoning and Soft Computation analyzes developments and current trends of granular computing, reviewing the most influential research and predicting future trends. This book not only presents a comprehensive summary of existing practices, but enhances understanding on human reasoning.

1. Introduction.- 2. Classification of Parallel Processors.- 2.1. A Brief History of Classification Schemes.- 2.2. The Classification Scheme Used in This Work.- 2.3. A Look at the Classification Characteristics.- 2.3.1. Applications.- 2.3.2. Control.- 2.3.3. Data Exchange and Synchronization.- 2.3.4. Number and Type of Processors.- 2.3.5. Interconnection Network.- 2.3.6. Memory Organization and Addressing.- 2.3.7. Type of Constructing Institution.- 2.3.8. Period of Construction.- 2.4. Information-Gathering Details.- 2.4.1. Classification Choices.- 2.4.2. Qualifications for Inclusion.- 2.4.3. Extent.- 2.4.4. Sources.- 2.5. An Apology.- 3. Emergent Trends.- 3.1. Applications.- 3.1.1. Correlation with Period of Construction.- 3.1.2. Correlation with Constructing Institution.- 3.1.3. Correlation with the Control Mechanism.- 3.1.4. Correlation with the Data Exchange and Synchronization Mechanism.- 3.1.5. Correlation with the Number and Type of Processors.- 3.1.6. Correlation with the Interconnection Network.- 3.1.7. Correlation with the Memory Organization.- 3.2. Mode of Control.- 3.2.1. Correlation with the Period of Construction.- 3.2.2. Correlation with the Type of Constructing Institution.- 3.2.3. Correlation with the Data Exchange and Synchronization Mechanism.- 3.2.4. Correlation with the Number and Type of Processors.- 3.2.5. Correlation with the Interconnection Network.- 3.2.6. Correlation with the Memory Organization.- 3.3. Data Exchange and Synchronization.- 3.3.1. Correlation with the Period of Construction.- 3.3.2. Correlation with the Type of Constructing Institution.- 3.3.3. Correlation with the Number and Type of PEs.- 3.3.4. Correlation with the Interconnection Network.- 3.3.5. Correlation with the Memory Organization.- 3.4. The Number and Type of PEs.- 3.4.1. Correlation with the Period of Construction.- 3.4.2. Correlation with the Constructing Institution.- 3.4.3. Correlation with the Interconnection Network.- 3.4.4. Correlation with the Memory Organization.- 3.5. Interconnection Network.- 3.5.1. Correlation with the Period of Construction.- 3.5.2. Correlation with the Type of Constructing Institution.- 3.5.3. Correlation with the Memory Organization.- 3.6. Memory Organization.- 3.6.1. Correlation with the Period of Construction.- 3.6.2. Correlation with the Type of Constructing Institution.- 3.7. Type of Constructing Institution.- 3.7.1. Correlation with the Construction Period.- 3.8. Period of Construction.- 3.9. Summary of the Correlations.- 4. Popular Machine Models.- 4.1. Exposing the Complex Patterns.- 4.2. General-Purpose Machines.- 4.2.1. Model I - MIMD, Shared Memory.- 4.2.2. Model I, the High-End, Numeric Variant.- 4.2.3. Model II - MIMD, Message Passing.- 4.2.4. Model II, the High End.- 4.2.5. Model III - General Purpose SIMD Machines.- 4.3. Model IV - Image (and Signal) Processing SIMD Machines.- 4.4. Model V - Database MIMD Machines, Two Variants.- 4.5. Trends in Commercialization.- 4.5.1. The Number Crunchers.- 4.5.2. The Multiprocessor Midrange.- 4.5.3. The Hypercube.- 5. The Shape of Things to Come?.- 5.1. Underlying Assumptions.- 5.2. Applications.- 5.3. Control.- 5.4. Data Exchange and Synchronization.- 5.5. Number and Type of PEs.- 5.6. Interconnection Networks.- 5.7. Memory Organization.- 5.8. Sources.- 5.9. Classification of Parallel Computers.- 5.10. Summary.- Appendix: Information about the Systems.

This handbook provides design considerations and rules-of-thumb to ensure the functionality you want will work. It brings together all the information needed by systems designers to develop applications that include configurability, from the simplest implementations to the most complicated.

The design of digital (computer) systems requires several design phases: from the behavioural design, over the logical structural design to the physical design, where the logical structure is implemented in the physical structure of the system (the chip). Due to the ever increasing demands on computer system performance, the physical design phase being one of the most complex design steps in the entire process. The major goal of this book is to develop a priori wire length estimation methods that can help the designer in finding a good lay-out of a circuit in less iterations of physical design steps and that are useful to compare different physical architectures. For modelling digital circuits, the interconnection complexity is of major importance. It can be described by the so called Rent's rule and the Rent exponent. A Priori Wire Length Estimates for Digital Design will provide the reader with more insight in this rule and clearly outlines when and where the rule can be used and when and where it fails. Also, for the first time, a comprehensive model for the partitioning behaviour of multi-terminal nets is developed. This leads to a new parameter for circuits that describes the distribution of net degrees over the nets in the circuit. This multi-terminal net model is used throughout the book for the wire length estimates but it also induces a method for the generation of synthetic benchmark circuits that has major advantages over existing benchmark generators. In the domain of wire length estimations, the most important contributions of this work are (i) a new model for placement optimization in a physical (computer) architecture and (ii) the inclusion of the multi-terminal net modelin the wire length estimates. The combination of the placement optimization model with Donath's model for a hierarchical partitioning and placement results in more accurate wire length estimates. The multi-terminal net model allows accurate assessments of the impact of multi-terminal nets on wire length estimates. We distinguish between delay-related applications, ' for which the length of source-sink pairs is important, and routing-related applications, ' for which the entire (Steiner) length of the multi-terminal net has to be taken into account. The wire length models are further extended by taking into account the interconnections between internal components and the chip boundary. The application of the models to three-dimensional systems broadens the scope to more exotic architectures and to opto-electronic design techniques. We focus on anisotropic three-dimensional systems and propose a way to estimate wire lengths for opto-electronic systems. The wire length estimates can be used for prediction of circuit characteristics, for improving placement and routing tools in Computer-Aided Design and for evaluating new computer architectures. All new models are validated with experiments on benchmark circuits.

This monograph develops a framework for modeling and solving utility maximization problems in nonconvex wireless systems. The first part develops a model for utility optimization in wireless systems. The model is general enough to encompass a wide array of system configurations and performance objectives. Based on the general model, a set of methods for solving utility maximization problems is developed in the second part of the book. The development is based on a careful examination of the properties that are required for the application of each method. This part focuses on problems whose initial formulation does not allow for a solution by standard methods and discusses alternative approaches. The last part presents two case studies to demonstrate the application of the proposed framework. In both cases, utility maximization in multi-antenna broadcast channels is investigated.

This book investigates in detail the emerging deep learning (DL) technique in computational physics, assessing its promising potential to substitute conventional numerical solvers for calculating the fields in real-time. After good training, the proposed architecture can resolve both the forward computing and the inverse retrieve problems. Pursuing a holistic perspective, the book includes the following areas. The first chapter discusses the basic DL frameworks. Then, the steady heat conduction problem is solved by the classical U-net in Chapter 2, involving both the passive and active cases. Afterwards, the sophisticated heat flux on a curved surface is reconstructed by the presented Conv-LSTM, exhibiting high accuracy and efficiency. Besides, the electromagnetic parameters of complex medium such as the permittivity and conductivity are retrieved by a cascaded framework in Chapter 4. Additionally, a physics-informed DL structure along with a nonlinear mapping module are employed to obtain the space/temperature/time-related thermal conductivity via the transient temperature in Chapter 5. Finally, in Chapter 6, a series of the latest advanced frameworks and the corresponding physics applications are introduced. As deep learning techniques are experiencing vigorous development in computational physics, more people desire related reading materials. This book is intended for graduate students, professional practitioners, and researchers who are interested in DL for computational physics.

A Designer's Guide to VHDL Synthesis is intended for both design engineers who want to use VHDL-based logic synthesis ASICs and for managers who need to gain a practical understanding of the issues involved in using this technology. The emphasis is placed more on practical applications of VHDL and synthesis based on actual experiences, rather than on a more theoretical approach to the language. VHDL and logic synthesis tools provide very powerful capabilities for ASIC design, but are also very complex and represent a radical departure from traditional design methods. This situation has made it difficult to get started in using this technology for both designers and management, since a major learning effort and culture' change is required. A Designer's Guide to VHDL Synthesis has been written to help design engineers and other professionals successfully make the transition to a design methodology based on VHDL and log synthesis instead of the more traditional schematic based approach. While there are a number of texts on the VHDL language and its use in simulation, little has been written from a designer's viewpoint on how to use VHDL and logic synthesis to design real ASIC systems. The material in this book is based on experience gained in successfully using these techniques for ASIC design and relies heavily on realistic examples to demonstrate the principles involved.

The advent of multimedia technology is creating a number of new problems in the fields of computer and communication systems. Perhaps the most important of these problems in communication, and certainly the most interesting, is that of designing networks to carry multimedia traffic, including digital audio and video, with acceptable quality. The main challenge in integrating the different services needed by the different types of traffic into the same network (an objective that is made worthwhile by its obvious economic advantages) is to satisfy the performance requirements of continuous media applications, as the quality of audio and video streams at the receiver can be guaranteed only if bounds on delay, delay jitters, bandwidth, and reliability are guaranteed by the network. Since such guarantees cannot be provided by traditional packet-switching technology, a number of researchers and research groups during the last several years have tried to meet the challenge by proposing new protocols or modifications of old ones, to make packet-switching networks capable of delivering audio and video with good quality while carrying all sorts of other traffic. The focus of this book is on HeiTS (the Heidelberg Transport System), and its contributions to integrated services network design. The HeiTS architecture is based on using the Internet Stream Protocol Version 2 (ST-II) at the network layer. The Heidelberg researchers were the first to implement ST-II. The author documents this activity in the book and provides thorough coverage of the improvements made to the protocol. The book also includes coverage of HeiTP as used in error handling, error control, congestion control, and the full specification of ST2+, a new version of ST-II. The ideas and techniques implemented by the Heidelberg group and their coverage in this volume apply to many other approaches to multimedia networking.

This useful book addresses electrothermal problems in modern VLSI systems. It discusses electrothermal phenomena and the fundamental building blocks that electrothermal simulation requires. The authors present three important applications of VLSI electrothermal analysis: temperature-dependent electromigration diagnosis, cell-level thermal placement, and temperature-driven power and timing analysis.

AND BACKGROUND 1. 1 CAD, Specification and Simulation Computer Aided Design (CAD) is today a widely used expression referring to the study of ways in which computers can be used to expedite the design process. This can include the design of physical systems, architectural environments, manufacturing processes, and many other areas. This book concentrates on one area of CAD: the design of computer systems. Within this area, it focusses on just two aspects of computer design, the specification and the simulation of digital systems. VLSI design requires support in many other CAD areas, induding automatic layout. IC fabrication analysis, test generation, and others. The problem of specification is unique, however, in that it i > often the first one encountered in large chip designs, and one that is unlikely ever to be completely automated. This is true because until a design's objectives are specified in a machine-readable form, there is no way for other CAD tools to verify that the target system meets them. And unless the specifications can be simulated, it is unlikely that designers will have confidence in them, since specifications are potentially erroneous themselves. (In this context the term target system refers to the hardware and/or software that will ultimately be fabricated. ) On the other hand, since the functionality of a VLSI chip is ultimately determined by its layout geometry, one might question the need for CAD tools that work with areas other than layout.

Targeted audience * Specialists in numerical computations, especially in numerical optimiza tion, who are interested in designing algorithms with automatie result ver ification, and who would therefore be interested in knowing how general their algorithms caIi in principle be. * Mathematicians and computer scientists who are interested in the theory 0/ computing and computational complexity, especially computational com plexity of numerical computations. * Students in applied mathematics and computer science who are interested in computational complexity of different numerical methods and in learning general techniques for estimating this computational complexity. The book is written with all explanations and definitions added, so that it can be used as a graduate level textbook. What this book .is about Data processing. In many real-life situations, we are interested in the value of a physical quantity y that is diflicult (or even impossible) to measure directly. For example, it is impossible to directly measure the amount of oil in an oil field or a distance to a star. Since we cannot measure such quantities directly, we measure them indirectly, by measuring some other quantities Xi and using the known relation between y and Xi'S to reconstruct y. The algorithm that transforms the results Xi of measuring Xi into an estimate fj for y is called data processing.

This book contains the papers from the IFIP Working Group 8.1 conference on Situational Method Engineering. Over the last decade, Method Engineering, defined as the engineering discipline to design, construct and adapt methods, including supportive tools, has emerged as the research and application area for using methods for systems development.

This guidebook on e-science presents real-world examples of practices and applications, demonstrating how a range of computational technologies and tools can be employed to build essential infrastructures supporting next-generation scientific research. Each chapter provides introductory material on core concepts and principles, as well as descriptions and discussions of relevant e-science methodologies, architectures, tools, systems, services and frameworks. Features: includes contributions from an international selection of preeminent e-science experts and practitioners; discusses use of mainstream grid computing and peer-to-peer grid technology for "open" research and resource sharing in scientific research; presents varied methods for data management in data-intensive research; investigates issues of e-infrastructure interoperability, security, trust and privacy for collaborative research; examines workflow technology for the automation of scientific processes; describes applications of e-science.

The availability of effective global communication facilities in the last decade has changed the business goals of many manufacturing enterprises. They need to remain competitive by developing products and processes which are specific to individual requirements, completely packaged and manufactured globally. Networks of enterprises are formed to operate across time and space with world-wide distributed functions such as manufacturing, sales, customer support, engineering, quality assurance, supply chain management and so on. Research and technology development need to address architectures, methodologies, models and tools supporting intra- and inter-enterprise operation and management. Throughout the life cycle of products and enterprises there is the requirement to transform information sourced from globally distributed offices and partners into knowledge for decision and action. Building on the success of previous DrrSM conferences (Tokyo 1993, Eindhoven 1996, Fort Worth 1998), the fourth International Conference on Design of Information Infrastructure Systems for Manufacturing (DrrSM 2000) aims to: * Establish and manage the dynamics of virtual enterprises, define the information system requirements and develop solutions; * Develop and deploy information management in multi-cultural systems with universal applicability of the proposed architecture and solutions; * Develop enterprise integration architectures, methodologies and information infrastructure support for reconfigurable enterprises; * Explore information transformation into knowledge for decision and action by machine and skilful people; These objectives reflect changes of the business processes due to advancements of information and communication technologies (ICT) in the last couple of years.

This book brings together in one place important contributions and state-of-the-art research in the rapidly advancing area of analog VLSI neural networks. The book serves as an excellent reference, providing insights into some of the most important issues in analog VLSI neural networks research efforts.

Here is a comprehensive presentation of methodology for the design and synthesis of an intelligent complex robotic system, connecting formal tools from discrete system theory, artificial intelligence, neural network, and fuzzy logic. The necessary methods for solving real time action planning, coordination and control problems are described. A notable chapter presents a new approach to intelligent robotic agent control acting in a realworld environment based on a lifelong learning approach combining cognitive and reactive capabilities. Another key feature is the homogeneous description of all solutions and methods based on system theory formalism.