Authoritative and visionary, this festschrift features 12 highly readable expositions of virtually all currently active aspects of nonlinear science. It has been painstakingly researched and written by leading scientists and eminent expositors, including L Shilnikov, R Seydel, I Prigogine, W Porod, C Mira, M Lakshmanan, W Lauterborn, A Holden, H Haken, C Grebogi, E Doedel and L Chua; each chapter addresses a current and intensively researched area of nonlinear science and chaos, including nonlinear dynamics, mathematics, numerics and technology. Handsomely produced with high resolution color graphics for enhanced readability, this book has been carefully written at a high level of exposition and is somewhat self-contained. Each chapter includes a tutorial and background information, as well as a survey of each area's main results and state of the art. Of special interest to both beginners and seasoned researchers is the identification of future trends and challenging yet tractable problems thatare likely,to be solved before the end of the 21st century. The visionary and provocative nature of this book makes it a valuable and lasting reference.

Rapid developments in nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory have led to publication of many valuable monographs and books. However, most of these texts are devoted to the classical nonlinear dynamics systems, for example the Duffing or van der Pol oscillators, and either neglect or refer only briefly to systems with motion-dependent discontinuities. In engineering practice a good part of problems is discontinuous in nature, due to either deliberate reasons such as the introduction of working clearance, and/or the finite accuracy of the manufacturing processes.The main objective of this volume is to provide a general methodology for describing, solving and analysing discontinuous systems. It is compiled from the dedicated contributions written by experts in the field of applied nonlinear dynamics and chaos.The main focus is on mechanical engineering problems where clearances, piecewise stiffness, intermittent contact, variable friction or other forms of discontinuity occur. Practical applications include vibration absorbers, percussive drilling of hard materials and dynamics of metal cutting.

In 438 alphabetically-arranged essays, this work provides a useful overview of the core mathematical background for nonlinear science, as well as its applications to key problems in ecology and biological systems, chemical reaction-diffusion problems, geophysics, economics, electrical and mechanical oscillations in engineering systems, lasers and nonlinear optics, fluid mechanics and turbulence, and condensed matter physics, among others.

Bifurcation and chaos has dominated research in nonlinear dynamics for over two decades, and numerous introductory and advanced books have been published on this subject. There remains, however, a dire need for a textbook which provides a pedagogically appealing yet rigorous mathematical bridge between these two disparate levels of exposition. This book has been written to serve that unfulfilled need. Following the footsteps of Poincar(r), and the renowned Andronov school of nonlinear oscillations, this book focuses on the qualitative study of high-dimensional nonlinear dynamical systems. Many of the qualitative methods and tools presented in the book have been developed only recently and have not yet appeared in textbook form. In keeping with the self-contained nature of the book, all the topics are developed with introductory background and complete mathematical rigor. Generously illustrated and written at a high level of exposition, this invaluable book will appeal to both the beginner and the advanced student of nonlinear dynamics interested in learning a rigorous mathematical foundation of this fascinating subject. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction to Part II (124 KB). Chapter 7.1: Rough systems on a plane. Andronov-Pontryagin theorem (218 KB). Chapter 7.2: The set of center motions (158 KB). Chapter 7.3: General classification of center motions (155 KB). Chapter 7.4: Remarks on roughness of high-order dynamical systems (136 KB). Chapter 7.5: Morse-Smale systems (435 KB). Chapter 7.6: Some properties of Morse-Smale systems (211 KB). Contents: Structurally Stable Systems; Bifurcations of Dynamical Systems; The Behavior of Dynamical Systems on Stability Boundaries of Equilibrium States; The Behavior of Dynamical Systems on Stability Boundaries of Periodic Trajectories; Local Bifurcations on the Route Over Stability Boundaries; Global Bifurcations at the Disappearance of a Saddle-Node Equilibrium States and Periodic Orbits; Bifurcations of Homoclinic Loops of Saddle Equilibrium States; Safe and Dangerous Boundaries. Readership: Engineers, students, mathematicians and researchers in nonlinear dynamics and dynamical systems.

Every reader will find something of interest in this book — from superdiffusion of the ocean surface to fetal heartbeats, from solar wind to the wearing-out of tools, from radioactive contamination to texture analysis, from image rendering to neural developments. The all-pervading link connecting these disparate disciplines is the realization that a linear approach to the majority of natural processes is at best only an approximation that can frequently be downright misleading. Consequently, the rise of what is broadly called the theory of complexity has gained tremendous momentum in the last decade or two. This modern approach aims at, and frequently succeeds in, correctly explaining many natural processes.The papers in this volume are based on presentations of the sixth international conference exploring the above-mentioned issues. These conferences are now regular and well established among the nonlinear series of conferences. This conference series is organized in different geographical regions, to encourage international collaboration. Among the distinguishing features of the series is its multidisciplinary nature, which has been growing steadily.

This volume covers the fundamental theory of Cellular Neural Networks as well as their applications in various fields such as science and technology. It contains all 83 papers of the 7th International Workshop on Cellular Neural Networks and their Applications. The workshop follows a biennial series of six workshops consecutively hosted in Budapest (1990), Munich, Rome, Seville, London and Catania (2000).

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.