Control of nonlinear systems, one of the most active research areas in control theory, has always been a domain of natural convergence of research interests in applied mathematics and control engineering. The theory has developed from the early phase of its history, when the basic tool was essentially only the Lyapunov second method, to the present day, where the mathematics ranges from differential geometry, calculus of variations, ordinary and partial differential equations, functional analysis, abstract algebra and stochastic processes, while the applications to advanced engineering design...

Some algebraic, combinatorial and algebraic-differential me- thods have beenused in recent years in order to solve many problems in control theory, by effective algorithms. Imple- mentation of these algorithms generally involves algebraic computation systems and tools. Software realizations are al- ready developed in an increasing number of research centres. The goal of the "First European Conference on Algebraic Com- puting in Control" has been to present the main actual me- thods for analysis and control of systems which naturally lead to the use of algebraic computing. The maintopics and...