This brief introduces people with a basic background in probability theory to various problems in cancer biology that are amenable to analysis using methods of probability theory and statistics. The title mentions cancer biology and the specific illustrative applications reference cancer data but the methods themselves are more broadly applicable to all aspects of computational biology.
Aside from providing a self-contained introduction to basic biology and to cancer, the brief describes four specific problems in cancer biology that are amenable to the application of probability-based methods. The application of these methods is illustrated by applying each of them to actual data from the biology literature.
After reading the brief, engineers and mathematicians should be able to collaborate fruitfully with their biologist colleagues on a wide variety of problems."

System and Control theory is one of the most exciting areas of contemporary engineering mathematics. From the analysis of Watt's steam engine governor - which enabled the Industrial Revolution - to the design of controllers for consumer items, chemical plants and modern aircraft, the area has always drawn from a broad range of tools. It has provided many challenges and possibilities for interaction between engineering and established areas of 'pure' and 'applied' mathematics. This impressive volume collects a discussion of more than fifty open problems which touch upon a variety of subfields, including: chaotic observers, nonlinear local controlability, discrete event and hybrid systems, neural network learning, matrix inequalities, Lyapunov exponents, and many other issues. Proposed and explained by leading researchers, they are offered with the intention of generating further work, as well as inspiration for many other similar problems which may naturally arise from them. With extensive references, this book will be a useful reference source - as well as an excellent addendum to the textbooks in the area.

This book introduces the so-called ""stable factorization approach"" to the synthesis of feedback controllers for linear control systems. The key to this approach is to view the multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) plant for which one wishes to design a controller as a matrix over the fraction field F associated with a commutative ring with identity, denoted by R, which also has no divisors of zero. In this setting, the set of single-input, single-output (SISO) stable control systems is precisely the ring R, while the set of stable MIMO control systems is the set of matrices whose elements all belong to R. The set of unstable, meaning not necessarily stable, control systems is then taken to be the field of fractions F associated with R in the SISO case, and the set of matrices with elements in F in the MIMO case. The central notion introduced in the book is that, in most situations of practical interest, every matrix P whose elements belong to F can be ""factored"" as a ""ratio"" of two matrices N,D whose elements belong to R, in such a way that N,D are coprime. In the familiar case where the ring R corresponds to the set of bounded-input, bounded-output (BIBO)-stable rational transfer functions, coprimeness is equivalent to two functions not having any common zeros in the closed right half-plane including infinity. However, the notion of coprimeness extends readily to discrete-time systems, distributed-parameter systems in both the continuous- as well as discrete-time domains, and to multi-dimensional systems. Thus the stable factorization approach enables one to capture all these situations within a common framework. The key result in the stable factorization approach is the parametrization of all controllers that stabilize a given plant. It is shown that the set of all stabilizing controllers can be parametrized by a single parameter R, whose elements all belong to R. Moreover, every transfer matrix in the closed-loop system is an affine function of the design parameter R. Thus problems of reliable stabilization, disturbance rejection, robust stabilization etc. can all be formulated in terms of choosing an appropriate R. This is a reprint of the book Control System Synthesis: A Factorization Approach originally published by M.I.T. Press in 1985. Table of Contents: Introduction / Proper Stable Rational Functions / Scalar Systems: An Introduction / Matrix Rings / Stabilization

This book introduces the so-called ""stable factorization approach"" to the synthesis of feedback controllers for linear control systems. The key to this approach is to view the multi-input, multi-output (MIMO) plant for which one wishes to design a controller as a matrix over the fraction field F associated with a commutative ring with identity, denoted by R, which also has no divisors of zero. In this setting, the set of single-input, single-output (SISO) stable control systems is precisely the ring R, while the set of stable MIMO control systems is the set of matrices whose elements all belong to R. The set of unstable, meaning not necessarily stable, control systems is then taken to be the field of fractions F associated with R in the SISO case, and the set of matrices with elements in F in the MIMO case. The central notion introduced in the book is that, in most situations of practical interest, every matrix P whose elements belong to F can be ""factored"" as a ""ratio"" of two matrices N,D whose elements belong to R, in such a way that N,D are coprime. In the familiar case where the ring R corresponds to the set of bounded-input, bounded-output (BIBO)-stable rational transfer functions, coprimeness is equivalent to two functions not having any common zeros in the closed right half-plane including infinity. However, the notion of coprimeness extends readily to discrete-time systems, distributed-parameter systems in both the continuous- as well as discrete-time domains, and to multi-dimensional systems. Thus the stable factorization approach enables one to capture all these situations within a common framework. The key result in the stable factorization approach is the parametrization of all controllers that stabilize a given plant. It is shown that the set of all stabilizing controllers can be parametrized by a single parameter R, whose elements all belong to R. Moreover, every transfer matrix in the closed-loop system is an affine function of the design parameter R. Thus problems of reliable stabilization, disturbance rejection, robust stabilization etc. can all be formulated in terms of choosing an appropriate R. This is a reprint of the book Control System Synthesis: A Factorization Approach originally published by M.I.T. Press in 1985. Table of Contents: Filtering and Sensitivity Minimization / Robustness / Extensions to General Settings

How does a machine learn a new concept on the basis of examples? This second edition takes account of important new developments in the field. It also deals extensively with the theory of learning control systems, now comparably mature to learning of neural networks.

Learning and Generalization provides a formal mathematical theory for addressing intuitive questions of the type: * How does a machine learn a new concept on the basis of examples? * How can a neural network, after sufficient training, correctly predict the outcome of a previously unseen input? * How much training is required to achieve a specified level of accuracy in the prediction? * How can one identify the dynamical behaviour of a nonlinear control system by observing its input-output behaviour over a finite interval of time? The first edition, A Theory of Learning and Generalization, was the first book to treat the problem of machine learning in conjunction with the theory of empirical process, the latter being a well-established branch of probability theory. The treatment of both topics side-by-side leads to new insights, as well as new results in both topics. The second edition extends and improves upon this material, covering new areas including: * Support vector machines (SVM's) * Fat-shattering dimensions and applications to neural network learning * Learning with dependent samples generated by a beta-mixing process * Connections between system identification and learning theory * Probabilistic solution of 'intractable problems' in robust control and matrix theory using randomized algorithms It also contains solutions to some of the open problems posed in the first edition, while adding new open problems. This book is essential reading for control and system theorists, neural network researchers, theoretical computer scientists and probabilists The Communications and Control Engineering series reflects the major technological advances which have a great impact in the fields of communication and control. It reports on the research in industrial and academic institutions around the world to exploit the new possibilities which are becoming available