Contents: methodology; complex system; production systems; decision aid; planning; transportation systems; resources; allocation & scheduling.

Trends and Progress in System Identification is a three-part book that focuses on model considerations, identification methods, and experimental conditions involved in system identification. Organized into 10 chapters, this book begins with a discussion of model method in system identification, citing four examples differing on the nature of the models involved, the nature of the fields, and their goals. Subsequent chapters describe the most important aspects of model theory; the ""classical"" methods and time series estimation; application of least squares and related techniques for the estimation of dynamic system parameters; the maximum likelihood and error prediction methods; and the modern development of statistical methods. Non-parametric approaches, identification of nonlinear systems by piecewise approximation, and the minimax identification are then explained. Other chapters explore the Bayesian approach to system identification; choice of input signals; and choice and effect of different feedback configurations in system identification. This book will be useful for control engineers, system scientists, biologists, and members of other disciplines dealing withdynamical relations.

Ecosystem analysis and ecological modelling is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary branch of science used in theoretical developments in ecology and having practical applications in environmental protection. In this book, the authors introduce new holistic, particularly cybernetic, concepts into ecosystem theory and modelling, and provide a concise treatment of mathematical modelling of freshwater ecosystems which covers methods, subsystem models, applications and theoretical developments.Part I begins with a brief introduction to the principles of systems theory and their applications to ecosystems, and provides a summary of various methods of systems analysis. In Part II emphasis is laid on the pelagic processes in standing water, characterised by relatively uninvolved structures from which models can be readily developed. Part III describes applications of the technique of modelling to solutions of theoretical and practical problems, with different modelling methods and objectives being used in the various chapters. More recent developments in the methods and theory of ecosystem modelling are covered in Part IV which also includes a discussion of future trends. The book is addressed to practising ecologists and engineers in the fields of ecology, limnology, environmental protection, and water quality managements, as well as to graduate/post-graduate university students in science and engineering. Students and researchers involved in environmental applications of mathematics and cybernetics will also find the book of interest.