With many areas of science reaching across their boundaries and becoming more and more interdisciplinary, students and researchers in these fields are confronted with techniques and tools not covered by their particular education. Especially in the life- and neurosciences quantitative models based on nonlinear dynamics and complex systems are becoming as frequently implemented as traditional statistical analysis. Unfamiliarity with the terminology and rigorous mathematics may discourage many scientists to adopt these methods for their own work, even though such reluctance in most cases is not justified. This book bridges this gap by introducing the procedures and methods used for analyzing nonlinear dynamical systems. In Part I, the concepts of fixed points, phase space, stability and transitions, among others, are discussed in great detail and implemented on the basis of example elementary systems. Part II is devoted to specific, non-trivial applications: coordination of human limb movement (Haken-Kelso-Bunz model), self-organization and pattern formation in complex systems (Synergetics), and models of dynamical properties of neurons (Hodgkin-Huxley, Fitzhugh-Nagumo and Hindmarsh-Rose). Part III may serve as a refresher and companion of some mathematical basics that have been forgotten or were not covered in basic math courses. Finally, the appendix contains an explicit derivation and basic numerical methods together with some programming examples as well as solutions to the exercises provided at the end of certain chapters. Throughout this book all derivations are as detailed and explicit as possible, and everybody with some knowledge of calculus should be able to extract meaningful guidance follow and apply the methods of nonlinear dynamics to their own work. “This book is a masterful treatment, one might even say a gift, to the interdisciplinary scientist of the future.” “With the authoritative voice of a genuine practitioner, Fuchs is a master teacher of how to handle complex dynamical systems.” “What I find beautiful in this book is its clarity, the clear definition of terms, every step explained simply and systematically.” (J.A.Scott Kelso, excerpts from the foreword)

This book aims to develop models and modeling techniques that are useful when applied to all complex systems. It adopts both analytic tools and computer simulation. The book is intended for students and researchers with a variety of backgrounds.

This book demonstrates how mathematical methods and techniques can be used in synergy and create a new way of looking at complex systems. It becomes clear nowadays that the standard (graph-based) network approach, in which observable events and transportation hubs are represented by nodes and relations between them are represented by edges, fails to describe the important properties of complex systems, capture the dependence between their scales, and anticipate their future developments. Therefore, authors in this book discuss the new generalized theories capable to describe a complex nexus of dependences in multi-level complex systems and to effectively engineer their important functions. The collection of works devoted to the memory of Professor Valentin Afraimovich introduces new concepts, methods, and applications in nonlinear dynamical systems covering physical problems and mathematical modelling relevant to molecular biology, genetics, neurosciences, artificial intelligence as well as classic problems in physics, machine learning, brain and urban dynamics. The book can be read by mathematicians, physicists, complex systems scientists, IT specialists, civil engineers, data scientists, urban planners, and even musicians (with some mathematical background).

The ?eld of applied nonlinear dynamics has attracted scientists and engineers across many different disciplines to develop innovative ideas and methods to study c- plex behavior exhibited by relatively simple systems. Examples include: population dynamics, ?uidization processes, applied optics, stochastic resonance, ?ocking and ?ightformations,lasers,andmechanicalandelectricaloscillators. Acommontheme among these and many other examples is the underlying universal laws of nonl- ear science that govern the behavior, in space and time, of a given system. These laws are universal in the sense that they transcend the model-speci?c features of a system and so they can be readily applied to explain and predict the behavior of a wide ranging phenomena, natural and arti?cial ones. Thus the emphasis in the past decades has been in explaining nonlinear phenomena with signi?cantly less att- tion paid to exploiting the rich behavior of nonlinear systems to design and fabricate new devices that can operate more ef?ciently. Recently, there has been a series of meetings on topics such as Experimental Chaos, Neural Coding, and Stochastic Resonance, which have brought together many researchers in the ?eld of nonlinear dynamics to discuss, mainly, theoretical ideas that may have the potential for further implementation. In contrast, the goal of the 2007 ICAND (International Conference on Applied Nonlinear Dynamics) was focused more sharply on the implementation of theoretical ideas into actual - vices and systems.

This book is the first comprehensive volume on nonlinear dynamics and chaos in optical systems. A few books have been published recently, but they summarize applied mathematical methodologies toward understanding of nonlinear dynamics in laser systems with small degrees of freedom focusing on linearized perturbation and bifurcation analyses. In contrast to these publications, this book summarizes nonlinear dynamic problems in optical complex systems possessing large degrees of freedom, systematically featuring our original experimental results and their theoretical treatments. The new concepts introduced in this book will have a wide appeal to audiences involved in a rapidly-growing field of nonlinear dynamics. This book focuses on nonlinear dynamics and cooperative functions in realistic optical complex systems, such as multimode lasers, laser array, coupled nonlinear-element systems, and their applications to optical processing. This book is prepared for graduate students majoring in optical and laser physics, but the generic nature of complex systems described in this book may stimulate researchers in the field of nonlinear dynamics covering different academic areas including applied mathematics, hydrodynamics, celestial mechanics, chemistry, biology, and economics.

Nonlinear Dynamics of Complex Systems describes chaos, fractal and stochasticities within celestial mechanics, financial systems and biochemical systems. Part I discusses methods and applications in celestial systems and new results in such areas as low energy impact dynamics, low-thrust planar trajectories to the moon and earth-to-halo transfers in the sun, earth and moon. Part II presents the dynamics of complex systems including bio-systems, neural systems, chemical systems and hydro-dynamical systems. Finally, Part III covers economic and financial systems including market uncertainty, inflation, economic activity and foreign competition and the role of nonlinear dynamics in each.

Complexity is emerging as a post-Newtonian paradigm for approaching a large body of phenomena of concern at the crossroads of physical, engineering, environmental, life and human sciences from a unifying point of view. This book outlines the foundations of modern complexity research as it arose from the cross-fertilization of ideas and tools from nonlinear science, statistical physics and numerical simulation. It is shown how these developments lead to an understanding, both qualitative and quantitative, of the complex systems encountered in nature and in everyday experience and, conversely, how natural complexity acts as a source of inspiration for progress at the fundamental level.