This book, written by two well-known scientists, represents an excellent ad- dition to the Springer Series in Synergetics in several ways. It shows how by rather simple models we can gain remarkable insights into the behavior of complex systems. At the same time it demonstrates the progress made in this interdisciplinary field. While in the early days of Synergetics, the self- organized coherent action of atoms in the laser - a physical device - was in the foreground of interest (cf. my book Synergetics: An Introduction (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1977)), the coherent action of...

Large populations of interacting active elements, periodic or chaotic, can undergo spontaneous transitions to dynamically ordered states. These collective states are characterized by self-organized coherence revealed by full mutual synchronization of individual dynamics or the formation of multiple synchronous clusters. Such self-organization phenomena are essential for the functioning of complex systems of various origins, both natural and artificial. This book provides a detailed introduction to the theory of collective synchronization phenomena in large complex systems. Transitions to...

This review volume is devoted to a discussion of analogies and differences of complex production systems - natural, as in biological cells, or man-made, as in economic systems or industrial production. Taking this unified look at production is based on two observations: Cells and many biological networks are complex production units that have evolved to solve production problems in a reliable and optimal way in a highly stochastic environment. On the other hand, industrial production is becoming increasingly complex and often hard to predict. As a result, modeling and control of such...

This book, written by two well-known scientists, represents an excellent ad- dition to the Springer Series in Synergetics in several ways. It shows how by rather simple models we can gain remarkable insights into the behavior of complex systems. At the same time it demonstrates the progress made in this interdisciplinary field. While in the early days of Synergetics, the self- organized coherent action of atoms in the laser - a physical device - was in the foreground of interest (cf. my book Synergetics: An Introduction (Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York 1977)), the coherent action of...

This book provides an outline of theoretical concepts and their experimental verification in studies of self-organization phenomena in chemical systems, as they emerged in the mid-20th century and have evolved since. Presenting essays on selected topics, it was prepared by authors who have made profound contributions to the field.

Traditionally, physical chemistry has been concerned with interactions between atoms and molecules that produce a variety of equilibrium structures - or the 'dead' order - in a stationary state. But biological cells exhibit a different 'living' kind of order,...