These proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Difference Equations and Applications cover the areas of difference equations, discrete dynamical systems, fractal geometry, difference equations and biomedical models, and discrete models in the natural sciences, social sciences and engineering. The conference was held at the Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Hubei, China), under the auspices of the International Society of Difference Equations (ISDE) in July 2014. Its purpose was to bring together renowned researchers working actively in the respective fields, to discuss the latest developments, and to promote international cooperation on the theory and applications of difference equations. This book will appeal to researchers and scientists working in the fields of difference equations, discrete dynamical systems and their applications.

Research into social systems is challenging due to their complex nature. Traditional methods of analysis are often difficult to apply effectively as theories evolve over time. This can be due to a lack of appropriate data, or too much uncertainty. It can also be the result of problems which are not yet understood well enough in the general sense so that they can be classified, and an appropriate solution quickly identified. Simulation is one tool that deals well with these challenges, fits in well with the deductive process, and is useful for testing theory. This field is still relatively new, and much of the work is necessarily innovative, although it builds upon a rich and varied foundation. There are a number of existing modelling paradigms being applied to complex social systems research. Additionally, new methods and measures are being devised through the process of conducting research. We expect that readers will enjoy the collection of high quality research works from new and accomplished researchers.    

This book reports on an in-depth study of fuzzy time series (FTS) modeling. It reviews and summarizes previous research work in FTS modeling and also provides a brief introduction to other soft-computing techniques, such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), rough sets (RS) and evolutionary computing (EC), focusing on how these techniques can be integrated into different phases of the FTS modeling approach. In particular, the book describes novel methods resulting from the hybridization of FTS modeling approaches with neural networks and particle swarm optimization. It also demonstrates how a new ANN-based model can be successfully applied in the context of predicting Indian summer monsoon rainfall. Thanks to its easy-to-read style and the clear explanations of the models, the book can be used as a concise yet comprehensive reference guide to fuzzy time series modeling, and will be valuable not only for graduate students, but also for researchers and professionals working for academic, business and government organizations.

Hermann Haken (born 1927) is one of the "fathers" of the quantum-mechanical laser theory, formulated between 1962 and 1966, in strong competition with American researchers. Later on, he created Synergetics, the science of cooperation in multicomponent systems. The book concentrates on the development of his scientific work during the first thirty-five years of his career. In 1970 he and his doctoral student Robert Graham were able to show that the laser is an example of a nonlinear system far from thermal equilibrium that shows a phase-transition like behavior. Subsequently, this insight opened the way for the formulation of Synergetics. Synergetics is able to explain, how very large systems show the phenomenon of self-organization that can be mathematically described by only very few order parameters. The results of Haken's research were published in two seminal books Synergetics (1977) and Advanced Synergetics (1983). After the year 1985 Haken concentrated his research on the macroscopic foundation of Synergetics. This led him towards the application of synergetic principles in medicine, cognitive research and, finally, in psychology. A comprehensive bibliography of Hermann Haken's publications (nearly 600 numbers) is included in the book.

Dynamics, Games and Science I and II are a selection of surveys and research articles written by leading researchers in mathematics. The majority of the contributions are on dynamical systems and game theory, focusing either on fundamental and theoretical developments or on applications to modeling in biology, ecomonics, engineering, finances and psychology. The papers are based on talks given at the International Conference DYNA 2008, held in honor of Mauricio Peixoto and David Rand at the University of Braga, Portugal, on September 8-12, 2008. The aim of these volumes is to present cutting-edge research in these areas to encourage graduate students and researchers in mathematics and other fields to develop them further.

Dynamics, Games and Science I and II are a selection of surveys and research articles written by leading researchers in mathematics. The majority of the contributions are on dynamical systems and game theory, focusing either on fundamental and theoretical developments or on applications to modeling in biology, ecomonics, engineering, finances and psychology. The papers are based on talks given at the International Conference DYNA 2008, held in honor of Mauricio Peixoto and David Rand at the University of Braga, Portugal, on September 8-12, 2008. The aim of these volumes is to present cutting-edge research in these areas to encourage graduate students and researchers in mathematics and other fields to develop them further.

This book examines theoretical and applied aspects of wavelet analysis in neurophysics, describing in detail different practical applications of the wavelet theory in the areas of neurodynamics and neurophysiology and providing a review of fundamental work that has been carried out in these fields over the last decade. Chapters 1 and 2 introduce and review the relevant foundations of neurophysics and wavelet theory, respectively, pointing on one hand to the various current challenges in neuroscience and introducing on the other the mathematical techniques of the wavelet transform in its two variants (discrete and continuous) as a powerful and versatile tool for investigating the relevant neuronal dynamics. Chapter 3 then analyzes results from examining individual neuron dynamics and intracellular processes. The principles for recognizing neuronal spikes from extracellular recordings and the advantages of using wavelets to address these issues are described and combined with approaches based on wavelet neural networks (chapter 4). The features of time-frequency organization of EEG signals are then extensively discussed, from theory to practical applications (chapters 5 and 6). Lastly, the technical details of automatic diagnostics and processing of EEG signals using wavelets are examined (chapter 7). The book will be a useful resource for neurophysiologists and physicists familiar with nonlinear dynamical systems and data processing, as well as for graduat e students specializing in the corresponding areas.

The goal of this book is to serve both as a practical technical reference and a resource for gaining a fuller understanding of the state of the art of spacecraft momentum control systems, specifically looking at control moment gyroscopes (CMGs). As a result, the subject matter includes theory, technology, and systems engineering. The authors combine material on system-level architecture of spacecraft that feature momentum-control systems with material about the momentum-control hardware and software. This also encompasses material on the theoretical and algorithmic approaches to the control of space vehicles with CMGs. In essence, CMGs are the attitude-control actuators that make contemporary highly agile spacecraft possible. The rise of commercial Earth imaging, the advances in privately built spacecraft (including small satellites), and the growing popularity of the subject matter in academic circles over the past decade argues that now is the time for an in-depth treatment of the topic. CMGs are augmented by reaction wheels and related algorithms for steering all such actuators, which together comprise the field of spacecraft momentum control systems. The material is presented at a level suitable for practicing engineers and those with an undergraduate degree in mechanical, electrical, and/or aerospace engineering.

This volume contains a collection of papers based on lectures and presentations delivered at the International Conference on Constructive Nonsmooth Analysis (CNSA) held in St. Petersburg (Russia) from June 18-23, 2012. This conference was organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of nonsmooth analysis and nondifferentiable optimization and was dedicated to J.-J. Moreau and the late B.N. Pshenichnyi, A.M. Rubinov, and N.Z. Shor, whose contributions to NSA and NDO remain invaluable. The first four chapters of the book are devoted to the theory of nonsmooth analysis. Chapters 5-8 contain new results in nonsmooth mechanics and calculus of variations. Chapters 9-13 are related to nondifferentiable optimization, and the volume concludes with four chapters containing interesting and important historical chapters, including tributes to three giants of nonsmooth analysis, convexity, and optimization: Alexandr Alexandrov, Leonid Kantorovich, and Alex Rubinov. The last chapter provides an overview and important snapshots of the 50-year history of convex analysis and optimization.

This volume reviews the theory and simulation methods of stochastic kinetics by integrating historical and recent perspectives, presents applications, mostly in the context of systems biology and also in combustion theory. In recent years, due to the development in experimental techniques, such as optical imaging, single cell analysis, and fluorescence spectroscopy, biochemical kinetic data inside single living cells have increasingly been available. The emergence of systems biology brought renaissance in the application of stochastic kinetic methods.

The high reliability required in industrial processes has created the necessity of detecting abnormal conditions, called faults, while processes are operating. The term fault generically refers to any type of process degradation, or degradation in equipment performance because of changes in the process's physical characteristics, process inputs or environmental conditions. This book is about the fundamentals of fault detection and diagnosis in a variety of nonlinear systems which are represented by ordinary differential equations. The fault detection problem is approached from a differential algebraic viewpoint, using residual generators based upon high-gain nonlinear auxiliary systems ('observers'). A prominent role is played by the type of mathematical tools that will be used, requiring knowledge of differential algebra and differential equations. Specific theorems tailored to the needs of the problem-solving procedures are developed and proved. Applications to real-world problems, both with constant and time-varying faults, are made throughout the book and include electromechanical positioning systems, the Continuous Stirred Tank Reactor (CSTR), bioreactor models and belt drive systems, to name but a few.

This compact monograph is focused on disturbance attenuation in nonsmooth dynamic systems, developing an H approach in the nonsmooth setting. Similar to the standard nonlinear H approach, the proposed nonsmooth design guarantees both the internal asymptotic stability of a nominal closed-loop system and the dissipativity inequality, which states that the size of an error signal is uniformly bounded with respect to the worst-case size of an external disturbance signal. This guarantee is achieved by constructing an energy or storage function that satisfies the dissipativity inequality and is then utilized as a Lyapunov function to ensure the internal stability requirements. Advanced H Control is unique in the literature for its treatment of disturbance attenuation in nonsmooth systems. It synthesizes various tools, including Hamilton-Jacobi-Isaacs partial differential inequalities as well as Linear Matrix Inequalities. Along with the finite-dimensional treatment, the synthesis is extended to infinite-dimensional setting, involving time-delay and distributed parameter systems. To help illustrate this synthesis, the book focuses on electromechanical applications with nonsmooth phenomena caused by dry friction, backlash, and sampled-data measurements. Special attention is devoted to implementation issues. Requiring familiarity with nonlinear systems theory, this book will be accessible to g raduate students interested in systems analysis and design, and is a welcome addition to the literature for researchers and practitioners in these areas.

This book collects papers presented during the European Workshop on High Order Nonlinear Numerical Methods for Evolutionary PDEs (HONOM 2013) that was held at INRIA Bordeaux Sud-Ouest, Talence, France in March, 2013. The central topic is high order methods for compressible fluid dynamics. In the workshop, and in this proceedings, greater emphasis is placed on the numerical than the theoretical aspects of this scientific field. The range of topics is broad, extending through algorithm design, accuracy, large scale computing, complex geometries, discontinuous Galerkin, finite element methods, Lagrangian hydrodynamics, finite difference methods and applications and uncertainty quantification. These techniques find practical applications in such fields as fluid mechanics, magnetohydrodynamics, nonlinear solid mechanics, and others for which genuinely nonlinear methods are needed.

This book focuses on complex geometry and covers highly active topics centered around geometric problems in several complex variables and complex dynamics, written by some of the world's leading experts in their respective fields. This book features research and expository contributions from the 2013 Abel Symposium, held at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim on July 2-5, 2013. The purpose of the symposium was to present the state of the art on the topics, and to discuss future research directions.

This award-winning thesis investigates the mechanisms underlying cardiac arrhythmia development and termination from an entirely new perspective. By viewing the heart as a complex system, the author uses theoretical tools from nonlinear dynamics combined with numerical simulations and experiments to achieve insights into the relationship between its structure and dynamics, thereby paving the way towards innovative low-energy defibrillation strategies. The work tackles, among other things: the effect of substrate heterogeneity on the spatial-temporal dynamics of cardiac arrhythmias and ways in which weak pulsed electric fields can be used to control these dynamics in heterogeneous cardiac tissue. The long-term vision of this research is to replace the current strategy of applying painful and sometimes tissue damaging electric shock – currently the only reliable way to terminate life-threatening fibrillation – by a more subtle but equally effective intervention. The book maps out a number of promising research directions for biophysicists and medical researchers working on the origins and treatment of cardiac arrhythmias.

In the field of Dynamical Systems, nonlinear iterative processes play an important role. Nonlinear mappings can be found as immediate models for many systems from different scientific areas, such as engineering, economics, biology, or can also be obtained via numerical methods permitting to solve non-linear differential equations. In both cases, the understanding of specific dynamical behaviors and phenomena is of the greatest interest for scientists. This volume contains papers that were presented at the International Workshop on Nonlinear Maps and their Applications (NOMA 2013) held in Zaragoza, Spain, on September 3-4, 2013. This kind of collaborative effort is of paramount importance in promoting communication among the various groups that work in dynamical systems and networks in their research theoretical studies as well as for applications. This volume is suitable for graduate students as well as researchers in the field.

This volume is the first of the new series Advances in Dynamics and Delays. It offers the latest advances in the research of analyzing and controlling dynamical systems with delays, which arise in many real-world problems. The contributions in this series are a collection across various disciplines, encompassing engineering, physics, biology, and economics, and some are extensions of those presented at the IFAC (International Federation of Automatic Control) conferences since 2011. The series is categorized in five parts covering the main themes of the contributions: ·         Stability Analysis and Control Design ·         Networks and Graphs ·         Time Delay and Sampled-Data Systems ·         Computational  and Software Tools ·         Applications This volume will become a good reference point for researchers and PhD students in the field of delay systems, and for those willing to learn more about the field, and it will also be a resource for control engineers, who will find innovative control methodologies for relevant applications, from both theory and numerical analysis perspectives.

Delay differential and difference equations serve as models for a range of processes in biology, physics, engineering and control theory. In this volume, the participants of the International Conference on Delay Differential and Difference Equations and Applications, Balatonfüred, Hungary, July 15-19, 2013 present recent research in this quickly-evolving field. The papers relate to the existence, asymptotic and oscillatory properties of the solutions; stability theory; numerical approximations; and applications to real world phenomena using deterministic and stochastic discrete and continuous dynamical systems.

This book deals with the economic aspects of changing attitudes in arts and sciences. The effects of the public good character of culture, along with the very long production period and lifetime for its products, are emphasized, since both contribute to the failure of normal market solutions. Embodiment of ideas and the consequences of modern reproduction technology for protection of property rights are closely examined. The evolution within arts and sciences, which often seems to return to previously scrapped ideals, is illustrated by detailed case studies, in which the importance of changing tastes, rather than progress proper, is emphasized. The author attempts an understanding for this using Darwinian evolution in combination with modern mathematical complexity theory, expressed in terms accessible to the general reader. The second edition is extended and updated especially as regards the illustration material.

The contributions of this volume stem from the “Fifth International Conference on the Dynamics of Information Systems� held in Gainesville, FL in February 2013, and discuss state-of the-art techniques in handling problems and solutions in the broad field of information systems. Dynamics of Information Systems: Computational and Mathematical Challenges presents diverse aspects of modern information systems with an emphasis on interconnected network systems and related topics, such as signal and message reconstruction, network connectivity, stochastic network analysis, cyber and computer security, community and cohesive structures in complex networks. Information systems are a vital part of modern societies. They are essential to our daily actions, including social networking, business and bank transactions, as well as sensor communications. The rapid increase in these capabilities has enabled us with more powerful systems, readily available to sense, control, disperse, and analyze information.

The book is a collection of contributions devoted to analytical, numerical and experimental techniques of dynamical systems, presented at the International Conference on Dynamical Systems: Theory and Applications, held in �ódź, Poland on December 2-5, 2013. The studies give deep insight into both the theory and applications of non-linear dynamical systems, emphasizing directions for future research. Topics covered include: constrained motion of mechanical systems and tracking control; diversities in the inverse dynamics; singularly perturbed ODEs with periodic coefficients; asymptotic solutions to the problem of vortex structure around a cylinder; investigation of the regular and chaotic dynamics; rare phenomena and chaos in power converters; non-holonomic constraints in wheeled robots; exotic bifurcations in non-smooth systems; micro-chaos; energy exchange of coupled oscillators; HIV dynamics; homogenous transformations with applications to off-shore slender structures; novel approaches to a qualitative study of a dissipative system; chaos of postural sway in humans; oscillators with fractional derivatives; controlling chaos via bifurcation diagrams; theories relating to optical choppers with rotating wheels; dynamics in expert systems; shooting methods for non-standard boundary value problems; automatic sleep scoring governed by delay differential equations; isochronous oscillations; the aerodynamics pendulum and its limit cycles; constrained N-body problems; nano-fractal oscillators and dynamically-coupled dry friction.

This book presents a new approach to the analysis of networks, which emphasizes how one can compress a network while preserving all information relative to the network's spectrum. Besides these compression techniques, the authors introduce a number of other isospectral transformations and demonstrate how, together, these methods can be applied to gain new results in a number of areas. This includes the stability of time-delayed and non time-delayed dynamical networks, eigenvalue estimation, pseudospectra analysis and the estimation of survival probabilities in open dynamical systems. The theory of isospectral transformations, developed in this text, can be readily applied in any area that involves the analysis of multidimensional systems and is especially applicable to the analysis of network dynamics. This book will be of interest to Mathematicians, Physicists, Biologists, Engineers and to anyone who has an interest in the dynamics of networks.

Environmental variation plays an important role in many biological and ecological dynamical systems. This monograph focuses on the study of oscillation and the stability of delay models occurring in biology. The book presents recent research results on the qualitative behavior of mathematical models under different physical and environmental conditions, covering dynamics including the distribution and consumption of food. Researchers in the fields of mathematical modeling, mathematical biology, and population dynamics will be particularly interested in this material.

This volume contains the proceedings of the 19th International Conference on Difference Equations and Applications, held at Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman in May 2013. The conference brought together experts and novices in the theory and applications of difference equations and discrete dynamical systems. The volume features papers in difference equations and discrete time dynamical systems with applications to mathematical sciences and, in particular, mathematical biology, ecology, and epidemiology.  It includes four invited papers and eight contributed papers. Topics covered include: competitive exclusion through discrete time models, Benford solutions of linear difference equations, chaos and wild chaos in Lorenz-type systems, advances in periodic difference equations, the periodic decomposition problem, dynamic selection systems and replicator equations, and asymptotic equivalence of difference equations in Banach Space. This book will appeal to researchers, scientists, and educators who work in the fields of difference equations, discrete time dynamical systems and their applications.

This thesis deals with the dynamics of state-of-the-art nanophotonic semiconductor structures, providing essential information on fundamental aspects of nonlinear dynamical systems on the one hand, and technological applications in modern telecommunication on the other. Three different complex laser structures are considered in detail: (i) a quantum-dot-based semiconductor laser under optical injection from a master laser, (ii) a quantum-dot laser with optical feedback from an external resonator, and (iii) a passively mode-locked quantum-well semiconductor laser with saturable absorber under optical feedback from an external resonator. Using a broad spectrum of methods, both numerical and analytical, this work achieves new fundamental insights into the interplay of microscopically based nonlinear laser dynamics and optical perturbations by delayed feedback and injection.