The IUT AM / IFToMM Symposium on Synthesis of Nonlinear Dynamical Systems, held in Riga, Latvia, 24-28 August 1998, was one of a series of IUTAM sponsored symposia which focus on the theory and application of methods of nonlinear dynamics in mechanics. The symposium follows eighteen symposia on Analysis and Synthesis of Nonlinear Mechanical Oscillatory Systems held at Riga Technical University from 1971 to 1991 and in 1996 (prof. E. Lavendelis and Prof. M. Zakrzhevsky). Early in the late fifties and sixties Prof. J. G. Panovko organised several successful conferences in Riga on Nonlinear...