Over the last four decades there has been extensive development in the theory of dynamical systems. This book aims at a wide audience where the first four chapters have been used for an undergraduate course in Dynamical Systems. Material from the last two chapters and from the appendices has been used quite a lot for master and PhD courses. All chapters are concluded by an exercise section. The book is also directed towards researchers, where one of the challenges is to help applied researchers acquire background for a better understanding of the data that computer simulation or experiment may provide them with the development of the theory.

During the past decade model predictive control (MPC), also referred to as receding horizon control or moving horizon control, has become the preferred control strategy for quite a number of industrial processes. There have been many significant advances in this area over the past years, one of the most important ones being its extension to nonlinear systems. This book gives an up-to-date assessment of the current state of the art in the new field of nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC). The main topic areas that appear to be of central importance for NMPC are covered, namely receding horizon control theory, modeling for NMPC, computational aspects of on-line optimization and application issues. The book consists of selected papers presented at the International Symposium on Nonlinear Model Predictive Control Assessment and Future Directions, which took place from June 3 to 5, 1998, in Ascona, Switzerland.
The book is geared towards researchers and practitioners in the area of control engineering and control theory. It is also suited for postgraduate students as the book contains several overview articles that give a tutorial introduction into the various aspects of nonlinear model predictive control, including systems theory, computations, modeling and applications."

This illustrated book provides a modern investigation into the bifurcation phenomena of physical and engineering problems. Systematic methods are used to examine experimental and computational data from numerous examples (soil, sand, kaolin, concrete, domes).

Foliations, groups and pseudogroups are objects which are closely related via the notion of holonomy. In the 1980s they became considered as general dynamical systems. This book deals with their dynamics. Since "dynamics is a very extensive term, we focus on some of its aspects only. Roughly speaking, we concentrate on notions and results related to different ways of measuring complexity of the systems under consideration. More precisely, we deal with different types of growth, entropies and dimensions of limiting objects. Invented in the 1980s (by E. Ghys, R. Langevin and the author) geometric entropy of a foliation is the principal object of interest among all of them.

Throughout the book, the reader will find a good number of inspirating problems related to the topics covered."

This self-contained treatment covers all aspects of nonlinear dynamics, from fundamentals to recent developments, in a unified and comprehensive way. Numerous examples and exercises will help the student to assimilate and apply the techniques presented.

This elegant book presents a rigorous introduction to the theory of nonlinear mechanics and chaos. It turns out that many simple mechanical systems suffer from a peculiar malady. They are deterministic in the sense that their motion can be described with partial differential equations, but these equations have no proper solutions and the behavior they describe can be wildly unpredictable. This is implicit in Newtonian physics, and although it was analyzed in the pioneering work of Poincare in the 19th century, its full significance has only been realized since the advent of modern computing. This book follows this development in the context of classical mechanics as it is usually taught in most graduate programs in physics. It starts with the seminal work of Laplace, Hamilton, and Liouville in the early 19th century and shows how their formulation of mechanics inevitably leads to systems that cannot be 'solved' in the usual sense of the word. It then discusses perturbation theory which, rather than providing approximate solutions, fails catastrophically due to the problem of small denominators. It then goes on to describe chaotic motion using the tools of discrete maps and Poincare sections. This leads to the two great landmarks of chaos theory, the Poincare-Birkhoff theorem and the so-called KAM theorem, one of the signal results in modern mathematics. The book concludes with an appendix discussing the relevance of the KAM theorem to the ergodic hypothesis and the second law of thermodynamics.Lectures on Nonlinear Mechanics and Chaos Theory is written in the easy conversational style of a great teacher. It features numerous computer-drawn figures illustrating the behavior of nonlinear systems. It also contains homework exercises and a selection of more detailed computational projects. The book will be valuable to students and faculty in physics, mathematics, and engineering.See Press Release: Problems in mechanics open the door to the orderly world of chaos

This book, the first in a series on this subject, is the outcome of many years of efforts to give a new all-encompassing approach to complex systems in nature based on chaos theory. While maintaining a high level of rigor, the authors avoid an overly complicated mathematical apparatus, making the book accessible to a wider interdisciplinary readership.

Nonlinear diffusion equations have held a prominent place in the theory of partial differential equations, both for the challenging and deep math ematical questions posed by such equations and the important role they play in many areas of science and technology. Examples of current inter est are biological and chemical pattern formation, semiconductor design, environmental problems such as solute transport in groundwater flow, phase transitions and combustion theory. Central to the theory is the equation Ut = ~cp(U) + f(u). Here ~ denotes the n-dimensional Laplacian, cp and f are given functions and the solution is defined on some domain n x [0, T] in space-time. FUn damental questions concern the existence, uniqueness and regularity of so lutions, the existence of interfaces or free boundaries, the question as to whether or not the solution can be continued for all time, the asymptotic behavior, both in time and space, and the development of singularities, for instance when the solution ceases to exist after finite time, either through extinction or through blow up.

Based on chaos theory two very important points are clear: (I) random looking aperiodic behavior may be the product of determinism, and (2) nonlinear problems should be treated as nonlinear problems and not as simplified linear problems. The theoretical aspects ofchaos have been presented in great detail in several excellent books published in the last five years or so. However, while the problems associated with applications of the theory-such as dimension and Lyapunov exponentsestimation, chaosand nonlinear pre diction, and noise reduction-have been discussed in workshops and ar ticles, they have not been presented in book form. This book has been prepared to fill this gap between theory and ap plicationsand to assist studentsand scientists wishingto apply ideas from the theory ofnonlinear dynamical systems to problems from their areas of interest. The book is intended to be used as a text for an upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level course, as well as a reference source for researchers. My philosophy behind writing this book was to keep it simple and informative without compromising accuracy. I have made an effort to presentthe conceptsby usingsimplesystemsand step-by-stepderivations. Anyone with an understanding ofbasic differential equations and matrix theory should follow the text without difficulty. The book was designed to be self-contained. When applicable, examples accompany the theory. The reader will notice, however, that in the later chapters specific examples become less frequent. This is purposely done in the hope that individuals will draw on their own ideas and research projects for examples.

The past decade has seen a considerable surge of interest in historical and philo sophical studies of gravitation and relativity, due not only to the tremendous amount of world-wide research in general relativity and its theoretical and observational consequences, but also to an increasing awareness that a collaboration between working scientists, historians and philosophers of science is, in this field, partic ularly promising for all participants. The expanding activity in this field is well documented by recent volumes in this Einstein Studies series on the History of General Relativity as well as by a series of international conferences on this topic at Osgood Hill (1986), Luminy (1988), and Pittsburgh (1991). The fourth of these conferences, hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, was held in Berlin from 31 July to 3 August 1995, with a record attendance of some 80 historians and philosophers of science, physicists, mathematicians, and as tronomers. Based on presentations at the Berlin conference, this volume provides an overview of the present state of research in this field, documenting not only the increasing scope of recent investigations in the history of relativity and gravitation but also the emergence of several key issues that will probably remain at the focus of debate in the near future. RELATIVITY IN THE MAKING The papers of this section deal with the origins and genesis of relativity theory."

The purpose of this monograph is to give the broad aspects of nonlinear identification and control using neural networks. It uses a number of simulated and industrial examples throughout, to demonstrate the operation of nonlinear identification and control techniques using neural networks.

Modeling and Applied Mathematics Modeling the behavior of real physical systems by suitable evolution equa tions is a relevant, maybe the fundamental, aspect of the interactions be tween mathematics and applied sciences. Modeling is, however, only the first step toward the mathematical description and simulation of systems belonging to real world. Indeed, once the evolution equation is proposed, one has to deal with mathematical problems and develop suitable simula tions to provide the description of the real system according to the model. Within this framework, one has an evolution equation and the re lated mathematical problems obtained by adding all necessary conditions for their solution. Then, a qualitative analysis should be developed: this means proof of existence of solutions and analysis of their qualitative be havior. Asymptotic analysis may include a detailed description of stability properties. Quantitative analysis, based upon the application ofsuitable methods and algorithms for the solution of problems, ends up with the simulation that is the representation of the dependent variable versus the independent one. The information obtained by the model has to be compared with those deriving from the experimental observation of the real system. This comparison may finally lead to the validation of the model followed by its application and, maybe, further generalization."

The aim of this Book is to give an overview, based on the results of nearly three decades of intensive research, of transient chaos. One belief that motivates us to write this book is that, transient chaos may not have been appreciated even within the nonlinear-science community, let alone other scientific disciplines.

This the second volume of five from the 28th IMAC on Structural Dynamics and Renewable Energy, 2010, bringing together 17 chapters on Applications of Non-Linear Dynamics. It presents early findings from experimental and computational investigations on Non-Linear Dynamics including studies on Dynamics of a System of Coupled Oscillators with Geometrically Nonlinear Damping, Assigning the Nonlinear Distortions of a Two-input Single-output System, A Multi-harmonic Approach to Updating Locally Nonlinear Structures, A Block Rocking on a Seesawing Foundation, and Enhanced Order Reduction of Forced Nonlinear Systems Using New Ritz Vectors.

Inverse limits with set-valued functions are quickly becoming a popular topic of research due to their potential applications in dynamical systems and economics. This brief provides a concise introduction dedicated specifically to such inverse limits. The theory is presented along with detailed examples which form the distinguishing feature of this work. The major differences between the theory of inverse limits with mappings and the theory with set-valued functions are featured prominently in this book in a positive light. The reader is assumed to have taken a senior level course in analysis and a basic course in topology. Advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers working in this area will find this brief useful.

The asymptotic behaviour, in particular "stability" in some sense, is studied systematically for discrete and for continuous linear dynamical systems on Banach spaces. Of particular concern is convergence to an equilibrium with respect to various topologies. Parallels and differences between the discrete and the continuous situation are emphasised.

The aim here is to provide an introduction to the mathematical theory of infinite dimensional dynamical systems by focusing on a relatively simple - yet rich - class of examples, delay differential equations. This textbook contains detailed proofs and many exercises, intended both for self-study and for courses at graduate level, as well as a reference for basic results. As the subtitle indicates, this book is about concepts, ideas, results and methods from linear functional analysis, complex function theory, the qualitative theory of dynamical systems and nonlinear analysis. The book provides the reader with a working knowledge of applied functional analysis and dynamical systems.

Ergodic theory of dynamical systems i.e., the qualitative analysis of iterations of a single transformation is nowadays a well developed theory. In 1945 S. Ulam and J. von Neumann in their short note [44] suggested to study ergodic theorems for the more general situation when one applies in turn different transforma tions chosen at random. Their program was fulfilled by S. Kakutani [23] in 1951. 'Both papers considered the case of transformations with a common invariant measure. Recently Ohno [38] noticed that this condition was excessive. Ergodic theorems are just the beginning of ergodic theory. Among further major developments are the notions of entropy and characteristic exponents. The purpose of this book is the study of the variety of ergodic theoretical properties of evolution processes generated by independent applications of transformations chosen at random from a certain class according to some probability distribution. The book exhibits the first systematic treatment of ergodic theory of random transformations i.e., an analysis of composed actions of independent random maps. This set up allows a unified approach to many problems of dynamical systems, products of random matrices and stochastic flows generated by stochastic differential equations.

In the study of mathematical models that arise in the context of concrete - plications, the following two questions are of fundamental importance: (i) we- posedness of the model, including existence and uniqueness of solutions; and (ii) qualitative properties of solutions. A positive answer to the ?rst question, - ing of prime interest on purely mathematical grounds, also provides an important test of the viability of the model as a description of a given physical phenomenon. An answer or insight to the second question provides a wealth of information about the model, hence about the process it describes. Of particular interest are questions related to long-time behavior of solutions. Such an evolution property cannot be v- i?ed empirically, thus any in a-priori information about the long-time asymptotics can be used in predicting an ultimate long-time response and dynamical behavior of solutions. In recent years, this set of investigations has attracted a great deal of attention. Consequent efforts have then resulted in the creation and infusion of new methods and new tools that have been responsible for carrying out a successful an- ysis of long-time behavior of several classes of nonlinear PDEs.

Mathematicians often face the question to which extent mathematical models describe processes of the real world. These models are derived from experimental data, hence they describe real phenomena only approximately. Thus a mathematical approach must begin with choosing properties which are not very sensitive to small changes in the model, and so may be viewed as properties of the real process. In particular, this concerns real processes which can be described by means of ordinary differential equations. By this reason different notions of stability played an important role in the qualitative theory of ordinary differential equations commonly known nowdays as the theory of dynamical systems. Since physical processes are usually affected by an enormous number of small external fluctuations whose resulting action would be natural to consider as random, the stability of dynamical systems with respect to random perturbations comes into the picture. There are differences between the study of stability properties of single trajectories, i. e. , the Lyapunov stability, and the global stability of dynamical systems. The stochastic Lyapunov stability was dealt with in Hasminskii [Has]. In this book we are concerned mainly with questions of global stability in the presence of noise which can be described as recovering parameters of dynamical systems from the study of their random perturbations. The parameters which is possible to obtain in this way can be considered as stable under random perturbations, and so having physical sense. -1- Our set up is the following.

Probably the first book to describe computational methods for numerically computing steady state and Hopf bifurcations. Requiring only a basic knowledge of calculus, and using detailed examples, problems, and figures, this is an ideal textbook for graduate students.

Synchronization of chaotic systems, a patently nonlinear phenomenon, has emerged as a highly active interdisciplinary research topic at the interface of physics, biology, applied mathematics and engineering sciences. In this connection, time-delay systems described by delay differential equations have developed as particularly
suitable tools for modeling specific dynamical systems. Indeed, time-delay is ubiquitous in many physical systems, for example due to finite
switching speeds of amplifiers in electronic circuits, finite lengths of vehicles in traffic flows, finite signal propagation times in biological networks and circuits, and quite generally whenever memory effects are relevant.
This monograph presents the basics of chaotic time-delay systems and their synchronization with an emphasis on the effects of time-delay feedback which give rise to new collective dynamics.
Special attention is devoted to scalar chaotic/hyperchaotic time-delay
systems, and some higher order models, occurring in different branches of science and technology as well as to the synchronization of their coupled versions.

Last but not least, the presentation as a whole strives for a balance between the necessary mathematical description of the basics
and the detailed presentation of real-world applications.

Over the past years the field of synergetics has been mushrooming. An ever increasing number of scientific papers are published on the subject, and numerous conferences all over the world are devoted to it. Depending on the particular aspects of synergetics being treated, these conferences can have such varied titles as "Nonequilibrium Nonlinear Statistical Physics," "Self-Organization," "Chaos and Order," and others. Many professors and students have expressed the view that the present book provides a good introduction to this new field. This is also reflected by the fact that it has been translated into Russian, Japanese, Chinese, German, and other languages, and that the second edition has also sold out. I am taking the third edition as an opportunity to cover some important recent developments and to make the book still more readable. First, I have largely revised the section on self-organization in continuously extended media and entirely rewritten the section on the Benard instability. Sec ond, because the methods of synergetics are penetrating such fields as eco nomics, I have included an economic model on the transition from full employ ment to underemployment in which I use the concept of nonequilibrium phase transitions developed elsewhere in the book. Third, because a great many papers are currently devoted to the fascinating problem of chaotic motion, I have added a section on discrete maps. These maps are widely used in such problems, and can reveal period-doubling bifurcations, intermittency, and chaos."

Over the last years, stochastic analysis has had an enormous progress with the impetus originating from different branches of mathematics: PDE's and the Malliavin calculus, quantum physics, path space analysis on curved manifolds via probabilistic methods, and more.

This volume contains selected contributions which were presented at the 8th Silivri Workshop on Stochastic Analysis and Related Topics, held in September 2000 in Gazimagusa, North Cyprus.

The topics include stochastic control theory, generalized functions in a nonlinear setting, tangent spaces of manifold-valued paths with quasi-invariant measures, and applications in game theory, theoretical biology and theoretical physics.

Contributors: A.E. Bashirov, A. Bensoussan and J. Frehse, U. Capar and H. Aktuglul, A.B. Cruzeiro and Kai-Nan Xiang, E. Hausenblas, Y. Ishikawa, N. Mahmudov, P. Malliavin and U. Taneri, N. Privault, A.S. Ustunel"

This book is based on a course given at the University of Chicago in 1980-81. As with the course, the main motivation of this work is to present an accessible treatment, assuming minimal background, of the profound work of G. A. Margulis concerning rigidity, arithmeticity, and structure of lattices in semi simple groups, and related work of the author on the actions of semisimple groups and their lattice subgroups. In doing so, we develop the necessary prerequisites from earlier work of Borel, Furstenberg, Kazhdan, Moore, and others. One of the difficulties involved in an exposition of this material is the continuous interplay between ideas from the theory of algebraic groups on the one hand and ergodic theory on the other. This, of course, is not so much a mathematical difficulty as a cultural one, as the number of persons comfortable in both areas has not traditionally been large. We hope this work will also serve as a contribution towards improving that situation. While there are a number of satisfactory introductory expositions of the ergodic theory of integer or real line actions, there is no such exposition of the type of ergodic theoretic results with which we shall be dealing (concerning actions of more general groups), and hence we have assumed absolutely no knowledge of ergodic theory (not even the definition of "ergodic") on the part of the reader. All results are developed in full detail."