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 organizational world today has been characterized in various terms - turmoil, chaos, the age of paradox and unreason. Common to all these characterizations is that the conventional wisdom fails in responding to novel challenges triggered by the pervasive and radical change of organizations. Information, knowledge, information worker and information technology are at the epicenter of these changes and surprises. This book explores new organizational designs, such as, the network and virtual organization from the information perspective. In addition, proposed is a model of the nontraditional organization in which information work evolves around teams that directly serve customers. This model was put on a test, and elements of the nontraditional organization were identified in firms that have been around for quite some time - the public accounting industry, and specifically its technologically most advanced segment. The book aims at transferring experience and facilitating interest for methods of organizing suitable for the information age.

Provides a comprehensive introduction to multi-robot systems planning and task allocation; Explores multi robot aerial planning, flight planning, orienteering and coverage, and deployment, patrolling, and foraging; Includes real-world case studies; Treats different aspects of cooperation in multi-agent systems.

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 book opens a novel dimension in the 50 year history of mathematical theory of "information" since the birth of Shannon theory. First of all, it introduces, in place of the traditional notion of entropy and mutual information, the completely new and highly unconventional approach of "information-spectrum" as a basic but powerful tool for constructing the general theory of information. Reconstructing step-by-step all the essential major topics in information theory from the viewpoint of such an "information-spectrum", this comprehensive work provides an accessible introduction to the new type of mathematical theory of information that focuses mainly on general nonstationary and /or nonergodic sources and channels, in clear contrast with the traditional theories of information. This book is a new non-traditional theoretical reference for communication professionals and statisticians specializing in information theory.

Conservation and balance laws on networks have been the subject of much research interest given their wide range of applications to real-world processes, particularly traffic flow. This open access monograph is the first to investigate different types of control problems for conservation laws that arise in the modeling of vehicular traffic. Four types of control problems are discussed - boundary, decentralized, distributed, and Lagrangian control - corresponding to, respectively, entrance points and tolls, traffic signals at junctions, variable speed limits, and the use of autonomy and communication. Because conservation laws are strictly connected to Hamilton-Jacobi equations, control of the latter is also considered. An appendix reviewing the general theory of initial-boundary value problems for balance laws is included, as well as an appendix illustrating the main concepts in the theory of conservation laws on networks.

This book describes the active vibration control techniques which have been developed to suppress excessive vibrations of structures. It covers the fundamental principles of active control methods and their applications and shows how active vibration control techniques have replaced traditional passive vibration control. The book includes coverage of dynamic modeling, control design, sensing methodology, actuator mechanism and electronic circuit design, and the implementation of control algorithms via digital controllers. An in-depth approach has been taken to describe the modeling of structures for control design, the development of control algorithms suitable for structural control, and the implementation of control algorithms by means of Simulink block diagrams or C language. Details of currently available actuators and sensors and electronic circuits for signal conditioning and filtering have been provided based on the most recent advances in the field. The book is used as a textbook for students and a reference for researchers who are interested in studying cutting-edge technology. It will be a valuable resource for academic and industrial researchers and professionals involved in the design and manufacture of active vibration controllers for structures in a wide variety of fields and industries including the automotive, rail, aerospace, and civil engineering sectors.

With many areas of science reaching across their boundaries and becoming more and more interdisciplinary, students and researchers in these fields are confronted with techniques and tools not covered by their particular education. Especially in the life- and neurosciences quantitative models based on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems are becoming as frequently implemented as traditional statistical analysis. Unfamiliarity with the terminology and rigorous mathematics may discourage many scientists to adopt these methods for their own work, even though such reluctance in most cases is not justified.

This book bridges this gap by introducing the procedures and methods used for analyzing nonlinear dynamical systems. In Part I, the concepts of fixed points, phase space, stability and transitions, among others, are discussed in great detail and implemented on the basis of example elementary systems. Part II is devoted to specific, non-trivial applications: coordination of human limb movement (Haken-Kelso-Bunz model), self-organization and pattern formation in complex systems (Synergetics), and models of dynamical properties of neurons (Hodgkin-Huxley, Fitzhugh-Nagumo and Hindmarsh-Rose). Part III may serve as a refresher and companion of some mathematical basics that have been forgotten or were not covered in basic math courses. Finally, the appendix contains an explicit derivation and basic numerical methods together with some programming examples as well as solutions to the exercises provided at the end of certain chapters. Throughout this book all derivations are as detailed and explicit as possible, and everybody with some knowledge of calculus should be able to extract meaningful guidance follow and apply the methods of nonlinear dynamics to their own work.

"This book is a masterful treatment, one might even say a gift, to the interdisciplinary scientist of the future."

"With the authoritative voice of a genuine practitioner, Fuchs is a master teacher of how to handle complex dynamical systems."

"What I find beautiful in this book is its clarity, the clear definition of terms, every step explained simply and systematically."

(J.A.Scott Kelso, excerpts from the foreword)

For the Love of Cybernetics: Personal Narratives by Cyberneticians is a collection of personal accounts that offer unique insights into cybernetics via the personal journeys of nine individuals. For the authors in this collection, cybernetics is not their "area of interest"-it is how they think about what they do, and it is their practice. Ray Ison, Bruce Clarke, Frank Galuzska, Paul Pangaro, Klaus Krippendorff, Peter Tuddenham, Lucas Pawlik, Bernard Scott, and Jocelyn Chapman differ in their lineage, emphasis, and engagement with cybernetics. What they have in common is that they share the belief that cybernetics is not a tool to apply here and there, but a unifying way of seeing the world that transforms how we behave, thus increasing possibilities for positive systemic change. This book was originally published as a special issue of the journal, World Futures.

This book presents a novel unified treatment of inverse problems in optimal control and noncooperative dynamic game theory. It provides readers with fundamental tools for the development of practical algorithms to solve inverse problems in control, robotics, biology, and economics. The treatment involves the application of Pontryagin's minimum principle to a variety of inverse problems and proposes algorithms founded on the elegance of dynamic optimization theory. There is a balanced emphasis between fundamental theoretical questions and practical matters. The text begins by providing an introduction and background to its topics. It then discusses discrete-time and continuous-time inverse optimal control. The focus moves on to differential and dynamic games and the book is completed by consideration of relevant applications. The algorithms and theoretical results developed in Inverse Optimal Control and Inverse Noncooperative Dynamic Game Theory provide new insights into information requirements for solving inverse problems, including the structure, quantity, and types of state and control data. These insights have significant practical consequences in the design of technologies seeking to exploit inverse techniques such as collaborative robots, driver-assistance technologies, and autonomous systems. The book will therefore be of interest to researchers, engineers, and postgraduate students in several disciplines within the area of control and robotics.

Available for the first time in English, this two-volume course on theoretical and applied mechanics has been honed over decades by leading scientists and teachers, and is a primary teaching resource for engineering and maths students at St. Petersburg University. The course addresses classical branches of theoretical mechanics (Vol. 1), along with a wide range of advanced topics, special problems and applications (Vol. 2). Among the special applications addressed in this second volume are: stability of motion, nonlinear oscillations, dynamics and statics of the Stewart platform, mechanics under random forces, elements of control theory, relations between nonholonomic mechanics and the control theory, vibration and autobalancing of rotor systems, physical theory of impact, statics and dynamics of a thin rod. This textbook is aimed at students in mathematics and mechanics and at post-graduates and researchers in analytical mechanics.

This textbook summarizes the course of engineering mechanics, designed for one or two semesters, at the undergraduate or graduate level for a range of academic majors. The book covers all the main components of the discipline including: Theoretical Mechanics, Theory of Mechanisms and Machines, Resistance of Materials, Machine Parts and Design Basic; and Interchangeability, Standardization, and Technical Measurements. It can also be used by students of other technical areas in to achieve competence in each of the listed disciplines. The concise presentation facilitates concentration on the most important elements of the concepts presented while also outlining the current state of mechanics, demonstrating engineering applications using various computer packages (MathCad, CosmosWorks, Inkscape, AutoCad), and updating data on engineering materials. Examples of both simple and complex engineering calculations are given at the end of each chapter along with self-assessment questions.

This book presents a snapshot of the state-of-art in the field of turbulence modeling, with an emphasis on numerical methods. Topics include direct numerical simulations, large eddy simulations, compressible turbulence, coherent structures, two-phase flow simulation and many more. It includes both theoretical contributions and experimental works, as well as chapters derived from keynote lectures, presented at the fifth Turbulence and Interactions Conference (TI 2018), which was held on June 25-29 in Martinique, France. This multifaceted collection, which reflects the conferences emphasis on the interplay of theory, experiments and computing in the process of understanding and predicting the physics of complex flows and solving related engineering problems, offers a timely guide for students, researchers and professionals in the field of applied computational fluid dynamics, turbulence modeling and related areas.

The volume that you have before you is the result of a growing realization that fluctuations in nonequilibrium systems playa much more important role than was 1 first believed. It has become clear that in nonequilibrium systems noise plays an active, one might even say a creative, role in processes involving self-organization, pattern formation, and coherence, as well as in biological information processing, energy transduction, and functionality. Now is not the time for a comprehensive summary of these new ideas, and I am certainly not the person to attempt such a thing. Rather, this short introductory essay (and the book as a whole) is an attempt to describe where we are at present and how the viewpoint that has evolved in the last decade or so differs from those of past decades. Fluctuations arise either because of the coupling of a particular system to an ex ternal unknown or "unknowable" system or because the particular description we are using is only a coarse-grained description which on some level is an approxima tion. We describe the unpredictable and random deviations from our deterministic equations of motion as noise or fluctuations. A nonequilibrium system is one in which there is a net flow of energy. There are, as I see it, four basic levels of sophistication, or paradigms, con cerning fluctuations in nature. At the lowest level of sophistication, there is an implicit assumption that noise is negligible: the deterministic paradigm."

Introduction to Theory of Control in Organizations explains how methodologies from systems analysis and control theory, including game and graph theory, can be applied to improve organizational management. The theory presented extends the traditional approach to management science by introducing the optimization and game-theoretical tools required to account for the special nature of human beings being viewed as control objects. The book introduces a version of mechanism design that has been customized to solve the problems that today's managers must contend with. All mathematical models and mechanisms studied are motivated by the most common problems encountered by managers in firms and non-profit organizations. Requiring no prior knowledge of game theory or mechanism design, the book includes a systematic introduction to the underlying methodology of modern theory of control in organizations. The authors use formal methods to construct robust and efficient decision-making procedures which support all aspects and stages of management activity over all decision horizons-from operational to strategic management. The mathematical and methodological backgrounds of the organizational mechanisms discussed are not limited to game theory but also include systems analysis, control theory, operations research, and discrete mathematics. The book includes a set of exercises in each chapter-from simple to advanced-that provide the reader with the understanding required to integrate advanced methods of optimization, game theory, and mechanism design into daily managerial practice.

In this volume, the authors close the gap between abstract mathematical approaches, such as abstract algebra, number theory, nonlinear functional analysis, partial differential equations, methods of nonlinear and multi-valued analysis, on the one hand, and practical applications in nonlinear mechanics, decision making theory and control theory on the other.

Readers will also benefit from the presentation of modern mathematical modeling methods for the numerical solution of complicated engineering problems in hydromechanics, geophysics and mechanics of continua. This compilation will be of interest to mathematicians and engineers working at the interface of these field. It presents selected works of the open seminar series of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the National Technical University of Ukraine Kyiv Polytechnic Institute . The authors come from Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Ukraine, and the USA."

In this book the author presents a new approach to the study of weakly structurable dynamic systems. It differs from other approaches by considering time as a source of fuzzy uncertainty in dynamic systems. It begins with a thorough introduction, where the general research domain, the problems, and ways of their solutions are discussed. The book then progresses systematically by first covering the theoretical aspects before tackling the applications. In the application section, a software library is described, which contains discrete EFDS identification methods elaborated during fundamental research of the book.

"Extremal Fuzzy Dynamic Systems" will be of interest to theoreticians interested in modeling fuzzy processes, to researchers who use fuzzy statistics, as well as practitioners from different disciplines whose research interests include abnormal, extreme and monotone processes in nature and society. Graduate students could also find this book useful.

This book introduces readers to essential tools for the measurement and analysis of information loss in signal processing systems. Employing a new information-theoretic systems theory, the book analyzes various systems in the signal processing engineer's toolbox: polynomials, quantizers, rectifiers, linear filters with and without quantization effects, principal components analysis, multirate systems, etc. The user benefit of signal processing is further highlighted with the concept of relevant information loss. Signal or data processing operates on the physical representation of information so that users can easily access and extract that information. However, a fundamental theorem in information theory-data processing inequality-states that deterministic processing always involves information loss. These measures form the basis of a new information-theoretic systems theory, which complements the currently prevailing approaches based on second-order statistics, such as the mean-squared error or error energy. This theory not only provides a deeper understanding but also extends the design space for the applied engineer with a wide range of methods rooted in information theory, adding to existing methods based on energy or quadratic representations.

Provides well-written self-contained chapters, including problem sets and exercises, making it ideal for the classroom setting; Introduces applied optimization to the hazardous waste blending problem; Explores linear programming, nonlinear programming, discrete optimization, global optimization, optimization under uncertainty, multi-objective optimization, optimal control and stochastic optimal control; Includes an extensive bibliography at the end of each chapter and an index; GAMS files of case studies for Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 are linked to http://www.springer.com/math/book/978-0-387-76634-8; Solutions manual available upon adoptions.

We present an improved and enlarged version of our book Nonlinear - namics of Chaotic and Stochastic Systems published by Springer in 2002. Basically, the new edition of the book corresponds to its ?rst version. While preparingthiseditionwemadesomeclari?cationsinseveralsectionsandalso corrected the misprints noticed in some formulas. Besides, three new sections have been added to Chapter 2. They are "Statistical Properties of Dynamical Chaos," "E?ects of Synchronization in Extended Self-Sustained Oscillatory Systems," and "Synchronization in Living Systems." The sections indicated re?ect the most interesting results obtained by the authors after publication of the ?rst edition. We hope that the new edition of the book will be of great interest for a widesectionofreaderswhoarealreadyspecialistsorthosewhoarebeginning research in the ?elds of nonlinear oscillation and wave theory, dynamical chaos, synchronization, and stochastic process theory. Saratov, Berlin, and St. Louis V.S. Anishchenko November 2006 A.B. Neiman T.E. Vadiavasova V.V. Astakhov L. Schimansky-Geier Preface to the First Edition Thisbookisdevotedtotheclassicalbackgroundandtocontemporaryresults on nonlinear dynamics of deterministic and stochastic systems. Considerable attentionisgiventothee?ectsofnoiseonvariousregimesofdynamicsystems with noise-induced order. On the one hand, there exists a rich literature of excellent books on n- linear dynamics and chaos; on the other hand, there are many marvelous monographs and textbooks on the statistical physics of far-from-equilibrium andstochasticprocesses.Thisbookisanattempttocombinetheapproachof nonlinear dynamics based on the deterministic evolution equations with the approach of statistical physics based on stochastic or kinetic equations. One of our main aims is to show the important role of noise in the organization and properties of dynamic regimes of nonlinear dissipative systems.

Time-delays are fundamental to understand phenomena in control applications as networked systems, traffic management, control of vibrations, and supply chains. The need for a performance and reliability on these systems has to overcome challenges related to the constraints in the controlled systems. These constraints can be physical, such as input magnitude saturation on actuators, or technological, such as the limited bandwidth in a networked system or the fixed structure in a control architecture, where only a few parameters can be set. This volume provides a wide-ranging collection of methods for the analysis and design of control laws for delay systems with constraints. These methods cover fundamental analytical aspects as, for instance, the stability analysis of Positive Delay systems or the achievable performance of PID controls for delay systems. The book gives valuable material for researchers and graduate students in Automatic Control.

This book presents best selected research papers presented at Innovation in Sustainable Energy and Technology India (ISET 2020), organized by Energy Institute Bangalore (A unit of RGIPT, an Institute of National Importance), India, during 3-4 December 2020. The book covers various topics of sustainable energy and technologies which includes renewable energy (solar photovoltaic, solar thermal and CSP, biomass, wind energy, micro hydro power, hydrogen energy, geothermal energy, energy materials, energy storage, hybrid energy), smart energy systems (electrical vehicle, cybersecurity, charging infrastructures, IOT & AI, waste management, PHEV (CNG/EV) and mobility (smart grids, IOT & AI, energy-efficient buildings, mart agriculture).

The reach of algebraic curves in cryptography goes far beyond elliptic curve or public key cryptography yet these other application areas have not been systematically covered in the literature. Addressing this gap, Algebraic Curves in Cryptography explores the rich uses of algebraic curves in a range of cryptographic applications, such as secret sharing, frameproof codes, and broadcast encryption. Suitable for researchers and graduate students in mathematics and computer science, this self-contained book is one of the first to focus on many topics in cryptography involving algebraic curves. After supplying the necessary background on algebraic curves, the authors discuss error-correcting codes, including algebraic geometry codes, and provide an introduction to elliptic curves. Each chapter in the remainder of the book deals with a selected topic in cryptography (other than elliptic curve cryptography). The topics covered include secret sharing schemes, authentication codes, frameproof codes, key distribution schemes, broadcast encryption, and sequences. Chapters begin with introductory material before featuring the application of algebraic curves.

Cyber and its related technologies such as the Internet was introduced to the world only in late 1980s, and today it is unimaginable to think of a life without it. Despite being ubiquitous, cyber technology is still seen as an enigma by many, mainly due to its rapid development and the high level of science involved. In addition to the existing complexities of the technology, the level of threat matrix surrounding the cyber domain further leads to various misconceptions and exaggerations. Cyber technology is the future, thus forcing us to understand this complex domain to survive and evolve as technological beings. To understand the enigma, the book analyzes and disentangles the issues related to cyber technology. The author unravels the threats that terrorize the cyber world and aims to decrypt its domain. It also presents the existing reality of cyber environment in India and charts out a few recommendations for enhancing the country's cyber security architecture. Further, the book delves into detailed analysis of various issues like hacking, dark web, cyber enabled terrorism and covert cyber capabilities of countries like the US and China. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka

This book applies cutting-edge methods from cognitive and evolutionary theories to develop models of conflict between hierarchically-structured cognitive entities under circumstances of imprecision, uncertainty and stress. Characterized as friction and the fog-of-war by the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, such conditions impair institutional cognition in real-time conflict and pose a real and continuing threat to organizations, such as the US military. In a linked collection of formal essays and a mathematical appendix, the book explores different aspects of cognitive and evolutionary process as conducted under the direction of doctrine that acts as a kind of genome for retention of what is learned through Lamarckian evolutionary selection pressures: armies and corporate entities learn from conflict, and incorporate that learning into their ongoing procedures. The book proposes models and policy solutions for strategic competence. A central feature of the book is a formal description of the famous OODA loop of the US military theorist John Boyd in terms of the Data Rate Theorem that links control and information theories. That description is expanded to cover more fully the impact of stochastic fog-of-war effects on tactical and operational scales of conflict. Subsequent chapters examine in more detail the role of doctrine, and the particular effect of embedding culture on cognitive and Lamarckian evolutionary processes associated with conflict on tactical, operational, and strategic scales and levels of organization. A scientifically sophisticated exercise in applied mathematics, history, evolutionary theory, and ecosystem theory, this book will be appropriate for researchers and students interested in defense, security, and international relations, as well as non-academic career professionals in government and industry.