Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science Series

The Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science series of topical volumes provides an authoritative source for understanding and applying the concepts of complexity theory, together with the tools and measures for analyzing complex systems in all fields of science and engineering. Many phenomena at all scales in science and engineering have the characteristics of complex systems, and can be fully understood only through the transdisciplinary perspectives, theories, and tools of self-organization, synergetics, dynamical systems, turbulence, catastrophes, instabilities, nonlinearity, stochastic processes, chaos, neural networks, cellular automata, adaptive systems, genetic algorithms, and so on. Examples of near-term problems and major unknowns that can be approached through complexity and systems science include: The structure, history and future of the universe; the biological basis of consciousness; the integration of genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics as systems biology; human longevity limits; the limits of computing; sustainability of human societies and life on earth; predictability, dynamics and extent of earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters; the dynamics of turbulent flows; lasers or fluids in physics, microprocessor design; macromolecular assembly in chemistry and biophysics; brain functions in cognitive neuroscience; climate change; ecosystem management; traffic management; and business cycles. All these seemingly diverse kinds of phenomena and structure formation have a number of important features and underlying structures in common. These deep structural similarities can be exploited to transfer analytical methods and understanding from one field to another. This unique work will extend the influence of complexity and system science to a much wider audience than has been possible to date.