The paradigm of complexity is pervading both science and engineering, le- ing to the emergence of novel approaches oriented at the development of a systemic view of the phenomena under study; the de?nition of powerful tools for modelling, estimation, and control; and the cross-fertilization of di?erent disciplines and approaches. One of the most promising paradigms to cope with complexity is that of networked systems. Complex, dynamical networks are powerful tools to model, estimate, and control many interesting phenomena, like agent coordination, synch- nization, social and economics events, networks of critical infrastructures, resourcesallocation,informationprocessing,controlovercommunicationn- works, etc. Advances in this ?eld are highlighting approaches that are more and more oftenbasedondynamicalandtime-varyingnetworks,i.e.networksconsisting of dynamical nodes with links that can change over time. Moreover, recent technological advances in wireless communication and decreasing cost and size of electronic devices are promoting the appearance of large inexpensive interconnected systems, each with computational, sensing and mobile ca- bilities. This is fostering the development of many engineering applications, which exploit the availability of these systems of systems to monitor and control very large-scale phenomena with ?ne resolution.

This book presents recent advances in optimization and control methods with applications to industrial engineering and construction management. It consists of 15 chapters authored by recognized experts in a variety of fields including control and operation research, industrial engineering and project management. Topics include numerical methods in unconstrained optimization, robust optimal control problems, set splitting problems, optimum confidence interval analysis, a monitoring networks optimization survey, distributed fault detection, nonferrous industrial optimization approaches, neural networks in traffic flows, economic scheduling of CCHP systems, a project scheduling optimization survey, lean and agile construction project management, practical construction projects in Hong Kong, dynamic project management, production control in PC4P and target contracts optimization. The book offers a valuable reference work for scientists, engineers, researchers and practitioners in industrial engineering and construction management.

The focus of this thesis is the interplay of synchrony and adaptivity in complex networks. Synchronization is a ubiquitous phenomenon observed in different contexts in physics, chemistry, biology, neuroscience, medicine, socioeconomic systems, and engineering. Most prominently, synchronization takes place in the brain, where it is associated with cognitive capacities like learning and memory, but is also a characteristic of neurological diseases like Parkinson and epilepsy. Adaptivity is common in many networks in nature and technology, where the connectivity changes in time, i.e., the strength of the coupling is continuously adjusted depending upon the dynamic state of the system, for instance synaptic neuronal plasticity in the brain. This research contributes to a fundamental understanding of various synchronization patterns, including hierarchical multifrequency clusters, chimeras and other partial synchronization states. After a concise survey of the fundamentals of adaptive and complex dynamical networks and synaptic plasticity, in the first part of the thesis the existence and stability of cluster synchronization in globally coupled adaptive networks is discussed for simple paradigmatic phase oscillators as well as for a more realistic neuronal oscillator model with spike-timing dependent plasticity. In the second part of the thesis the interplay of adaptivity and connectivity is investigated for more complex network structures like nonlocally coupled rings, random networks, and multilayer systems. Besides presenting a plethora of novel, sometimes intriguing patterns of synchrony, the thesis makes a number of pioneering methodological advances, where rigorous mathematical proofs are given in the Appendices. These results are of interest not only from a fundamental point of view, but also with respect to challenging applications in neuroscience and technological systems.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Systems Simulation, Asia Simulation 2013, held in Singapore, in November 2013. The 45 revised full papers presented together with 18 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers address issues such as agent based simulation, scheduling algorithms, simulation methods and tools, simulation and visualization, modeling methodology, simulation in science and engineering, high performance computing and simulation and parallel and distributed simulation.

This book deals with nonlinear dynamics of electronic circuits, which could be used in robot control, secure communications, sensors and synchronized networks. The genesis of the content is related to a course on complex adaptive systems that has been held at the University of Catania since 2005. The efforts are devoted in order to emulate with nonlinear electronic circuits nonlinear dynamics. Step-by-step methods show the essential concepts of complex systems by using the Varela diagrams and accompanying MATLAB® exercises to reinforce new information. Special attention has been devoted to chaotic systems and networks of chaotic circuits by exploring the fundamentals, such as synchronization and control. The aim of the book is to give to readers a comprehensive view of the main concepts of nonlinear dynamics to help them better understand complex systems and their control through the use of electronics devices.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th IFIP WG 8.5 International Conference on Electronic Government, EGOV 2015, held in Thessaloniki, Greece, in August/September 2015 in conjunction with the 7th International Conference on eParticipation, ePart 2015. The 25 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 53 submissions. The papers have been organized in the following topical sections: foundations; open and smart government; services, processes and infrastructure; and application areas and evaluation.

Focusing on fundamental principles, Hydro-Environmental Analysis: Freshwater Environments presents in-depth information about freshwater environments and how they are influenced by regulation. It provides a holistic approach, exploring the factors that impact water quality and quantity, and the regulations, policy and management methods that are necessary to maintain this vital resource. It offers a historical viewpoint as well as an overview and foundation of the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics affecting the management of freshwater environments. The book concentrates on broad and general concepts, providing an interdisciplinary foundation. The author covers the methods of measurement and classification; chemical, physical, and biological characteristics; indicators of ecological health; and management and restoration. He also considers common indicators of environmental health; characteristics and operations of regulatory control structures; applicable laws and regulations; and restoration methods. The text delves into rivers and streams in the first half and lakes and reservoirs in the second half. Each section centers on the characteristics of those systems and methods of classification, and then moves on to discuss the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of each. In the section on lakes and reservoirs, it examines the characteristics and operations of regulatory structures, and presents the methods commonly used to assess the environmental health or integrity of these water bodies. It also introduces considerations for restoration, and presents two unique aquatic environments: wetlands and reservoir tailwaters. Written from an engineering perspective, the book is an ideal introduction to the aquatic and limnological sciences for students of environmental science, as well as students of environmental engineering. It also serves as a reference for engineers and scientists involved in the management, regulation, or restoration of freshwater environments.

Safety, Reliability, Risk and Life-Cycle Performance of Structures and Infrastructures contains the plenary lectures and papers presented at the 11th International Conference on STRUCTURAL SAFETY AND RELIABILITY (ICOSSAR2013, New York, NY, USA, 16-20 June 2013), and covers major aspects of safety, reliability, risk and life-cycle performance of str

This book analyzes coalitional control schemes by incorporating concepts of cooperative game theory into a distributed control framework. It considers a networked architecture where the nodes are the agents and the edges are their communication links and either the agents or the links are established as the players of cooperative games related to the cost function of the coalitional schemes. The book discusses various cooperative game theory tools that are used to measure/analyze the players’ features, impose constraints on them, provide alternative methods of game computation, detect critical players inside the control scheme, and perform system partitioning of large-scale systems, such as the Barcelona drinking water network, which is described in a case study.

This volume provides a comprehensive state of the art overview of a series of advanced trends and concepts that have recently been proposed in the area of green information technologies engineering as well as of design and development methodologies for models and complex systems architectures and their intelligent components. The contributions included in the volume have their roots in the authors’ presentations, and vivid discussions that have followed the presentations, at a series of workshop and seminars held within the international TEMPUS-project GreenCo project in United Kingdom, Italy, Portugal, Sweden and the Ukraine, during 2013-2015 and at the 1st - 5th Workshops on Green and Safe Computing (GreenSCom) held in Russia, Slovakia and the Ukraine. The book presents a systematic exposition of research on principles, models, components and complex systems and a description of industry- and society-oriented aspects of the green IT engineering. A chapter-oriented structure has been adopted for this book following a “vertical view” of the green IT, from hardware (CPU and FPGA) and software components to complex industrial systems. The 15 chapters of the book are grouped into five sections: (1) Methodology and Principles of Green IT Engineering for Complex Systems, (2) Green Components and Programmable Systems, (3) Green Internet Computing, Cloud and Communication Systems, (4) Modeling and Assessment of Green Computer Systems and Infrastructures, and (5) Green PLC-Based Systems for Industry Applications. The chapters provide an easy to follow, comprehensive introduction to the topics that are addressed, including the most relevant references, so that anyone interested in them can start the study by being able to easily find an introduction to the topic through these references. At the same time, all of them correspond to different aspects of the work in progress being carried out by various research groups throughout the world and, therefore, provide information on the state of the art of some of these topics, challenges and perspectives.