Many new technologies – like RFID, GPS, and sensor networks – that dominate innovative developments in logistics are based on the idea of autonomous cooperation and control. This self-organisational concept describes „...processes of decentralized decision-making in heterarchical structures. It presumes interacting elements in non-deterministic systems, which possess the capability and possibility to render decisions. The objective of autonomous cooperation and control is the achievement of increased robustness and positive emergence of the total system due to distributed and flexible coping with dynamics and complexity“ (Hülsmann & Windt, 2007). In order to underlie these technology-driven developments with a fundamental theoretical foundation this edited volume asks for contributions and limitations of applying the principles of autonomous cooperation and control to logistics processes and systems. It intends to identify, describe, and explain – in the context of production and distribution logistics – the effects on performance and robustness, the enablers and impediments for the feasibility, the essential cause-effect-relations, etc. of concepts, methods, technologies, and routines of autonomous cooperation and control in logistics. Therefore, the analyses collected in this edited volume aim to develop a framework for finding the optimal degree as well as the upper and lower boundaries of autonomous cooperation and control of logistics processes from the different perspectives of production technology, electronics and communication engineering, informatics and mathematics, as well as management sciences and economics.

This volume contains papers from the IFAC Workshop on Real-Time Programming. The aim of the Workshop was to bring together academic practitioners and industrialists involved in this important and expanding area of interest in order to exchange experiences on recent advances in this field. Contents include: * DEPENDABILITY AND SAFETY FOR REAL TIME SYSTEMS * REAL-TIME PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES * SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT ENGINEERING * CONTROL SYSTEMS DESIGN * SOFTWARE DESIGN * SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND COMPLEX ENGINEERINGSYSTEMS

Cost Oriented Automation 2004 addresses a new integration environment that enables the evolution of collaborative e-design paradigm. This design paradigm aims at seamless and dynamic integration of distributed design objects and engineering tools over the internet.