Book Description

Despite the industrial importance of extrusion troubleshooting, no book currently deals exclusively with this topic. This book rectifies this situation.

This book addresses all issues crucial in extrusion troubleshooting. In addition, industrial case studies, which are richly illustrating with color photographs and photomicrographs, are used to provide exemplary approaches to efficient problem analysis and problem solving.

Both authors have worked in extrusion for many years and have been involved in many troubleshooting projects. Although it is impossible to discuss all possible extrusion problems, it is possible to discuss the main categories and to develop a systematic and methodical approach to solving extrusion problems. In this book, the authors frequently use flow charts and fishbone charts to allow systematic troubleshooting. ... Read more

Book Description

Compared to the last edition, this worldwide-respected dictionary has been updated and enlarged by about 35%. It is the standard work for all those requiring a comprehensive and reliable compilation of terms from the fields of power generation, transmission and distribution, drive engineering, automation, switchgear and installation engineering, power electronics as well as measurement, analysis and test engineering. Including also a great number of basic electrotechnical terms, with about 90,000 entries and 125,000 translations in Volume 1 (German-English) and 75,000 entries and 109,000 translations in Volume 2 (English-German) it comprehensively covers large fields of industrially applied electrical engineering. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A must for German-English technical translators.
This is a reliable dictionary covering a wider area than is immediately apparent from the title. ... Read more

Book Description

The pioneering young scientist whose work on the structure of small worlds has triggered an avalanche of interest in networks. In this remarkable book, Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of network theory, sets out to explain the innovative research that he and other scientists are spearheading to create a blueprint of our connected planet. Whether they bind computers, economies, or terrorist organizations, networks are everywhere in the real world, yet only recently have scientists attempted to explain their mysterious workings.

From epidemics of disease to outbreaks of market madness, from people searching for information to firms surviving crisis and change, from the structure of personal relationships to the technological and social choices of entire societies, Watts weaves together a network of discoveries across an array of disciplines to tell the story of an explosive new field of knowledge, the people who are building it, and his own peculiar path in forging this new science. 24 b/w illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

Uncertainly networked world
Our world is narrower and people are closer to each other than ever before due to the development of a variety of transportation and telecommunications technologies. We can jet any foreign country within a few days. What is more surprising is the flow of information. The advent of Internet made it possible to access to global information with a series of clicks. We can be connected to each other through diverse network systems. Duncan J. Watts shows this well through his book, Six Degrees: the science of a connected age.
The author attempts to define our world as a complex network and develop simple mathematical models such as ¥á and ¥â to represent the dynamics of it and on it. What is intriguing in this book is that it shows interdisciplinary efforts to understand and explain small world phenomena, in which people can be connected within fewer steps than expected. The author could gain insight and develop his models through direct and indirect academic encounters with mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and sociologists.
Furthermore, he tries to develop more plausible model through interaction between existing models and actual natural and social phenomena. Taking the contagion of disease such as AIDS/HIV, Ebola, and plague as examples, he introduces the concept of percolation and threshold. It is especially important that characteristics of a network can produce both robustness and weakness. For example, a network which has a few large clusters and a high degree of connectivity can be efficient in terms of information transmission, but it also has the risk of catastrophic contagion of diseases or computer viruses.
This book starts from general mathematical models of our world and ends with the difference and uncertainty in specific situations. We can be taught two points based on this process. First, the science of network is necessary to make a better understand of our world. People are still geographically separated and do not know most of others. But it is also true that individual people or actions can be connected sometimes to cause globally influential accidents. Behind these are invisible and intangible mechanisms of network system which depend on the specific network systems. The author argues that the science of network is required to understand those mechanisms rather than predict them. Second, the new science can be effective only if we take interdisciplinary perspective. That is shown well in the process which the author develop his model to understand our world.
It seems impossible that we make a perfectly accurate model of our connected world and devise network system with perfect robustness. Because of environmental uncertainty and ambiguity, there are always accidental factors. Still, we can do our best to make our systems as tolerant and flexible as possible. That is the way the science of network goes.

"New" Science of Networks?
At the core of this book, which is easy to miss especially due to all of the wonderful examples of how connected we all are and that make you want to sing "It's a small world after all," is the argument that a new science of networks has been developed and that this science of networks is "new" because in the author's own words its view has "as an integral part of a continously evolving and self-constituting system." (Read: we don't view the network as static and it's structure as explicit like the previous models). Duncan Watts uses the first two chapters to make this argument so that he can go on to talk about how exciting this new science of networks is and what an integral role he played and is playing in it. After all, how could he and his publishers sell so many copies of this book if they couldn't make grand claims like they do on the side-cover of the jacket where they say, "...Duncan Watts, one of the principal architects of the new science of networks, lays out nothing less than a new way to understand our connected planet?"

The main problem I have with this book is that like many science books written for lay-people by self-important scientists, such as Laszlo Barabasi and Stephen Wolfram, who extol their scientific research as a singular event of such magnificent proportions that nothing less than a scientific revolution a la Karl Popper would suffice in recognition of the brilliance of their ideas, you have a situation where the author at some point decided not to actually mention the competing work and ideas that either pre-existed or co-evolved with his own work because doing so would diminish the work's importance. Instead, they choose to go the route of setting up a straw man, whether it's intentional I know not, where they identify a few strains of ideas that are clearly not as powerful as their own in the context in which they are explained and then proceed to knock them down in order to motivate the significance of their own accomplishments. Wolfram did this by simply claiming to have invented the field of cellular automata and then failed to cite all of the other work in the area. In this case, Watts uses centrality measures and block models as his strawman, both widely used in sociology and indeed normally only used on static graphs thus supposedly making them inferior to his "new" models. (Ironically, the small world model, which he is most famous for and implicitly argues was the watershed event of the evolution of the "new" science has no real concept of dynamics build into it either unless you consider tuning a parameter as "dynamic".) If Watts was being honest and had done his homework he would have toned down the rhetoric and mentioned such work as the many statistical models of networks that abound in the literature, models of social networks dynamics, for example, exponential random graphs, such as the work by Snijders, Pattison, Skvoretz, etc.

Another problem I have with this book is that the models he describes as being part of the "new science of networks" are not backed up by reliable data. He describes one of the great achievements being that his model which takes into account different social dimensions produces results very similar to Stanley Milgram's results, the only real data set on finding targets in a small world network that exists. But earlier in the book he admits that this data is very small, unreliable, and even questionable in its veracity. Furthermore, he describes a project he is heading up involving collecting data (email chains) from 150,000 people but he doesn't even wait until this project is completed to report its findings. In other words, it could turn out that the findings invalidate the models he has built. (You have to wonder "Why the rush to print?") So all he has done so far, from what I can tell, is give a possible explanation for how small worlds might be created and used to navigate through without actually verifying whether these models are emprically reasonable. Funny enough, a point he mentions throughout the book is that there are many different ways, e.g. different parameters one could use, to do this.

Although I think this book is very informative and actually has a lot to say, for example, nice vignettes about the process of scientific discovery, the revolutionary self-important tone of his book, the exaggeration of how powerful these models are, and the omission of other strong work which actually complements this work, will, in my opinion, only help to make this "new" science a passing fad much like chaos theory was a decade ago.

One of the best written books of the year
This was one of the most fascinating books I've read recently. Although I had heard of the concept of at most six links between any two people on the earth and the connection with Kevin Bacon as well as a famous mathematician whose name I forget right now, I was not aware of the origin of this concept. Watts tells a fascinating tale of statisticians, social workers, mathematicians, physicists, network engineers, and several other disciplines whose work derives from or adds to the whole science of networks and connectedness. The networking and connectedness of people studying connectedness is as fascinating as any topic in the book. It almost makes me want to go back to college and choose some aspect of network theory as a thesis. Exciting book.

six degrees?
Six Degrees has been the only book that I¡¦ve been reading lately. It was the description of this book to me by a friend that caught my attention. Can I possibly be just 6 people away from any other person on the other side or the world? After I started reading it, the book sucked me right in, and I found this book quite different from other books in the same genera. Duncan J. Watts, the author of this book, unlike other specialists in their area who often take an absolute and definite view in their opinions, instead adapted a more humble attitude in his own works. He open questioned the possible flaws and mistakes in his own theories and opinions, in which I think granted the readers some space to think, and to better digest the contents of this book.

Duncan J. Watts gathered opinions and research results from different areas to develop his theories. Network, as Duncan himself had mentioned, is an area of science with much more yet to be discovered. I got to say, this is some hard science that this book is discussing. It covers materials all the way from the study of social structures, advanced math, to advanced physics, and much more. Also according to Duncan, the science of network could actually be more closely to our lives then we imagined. Diseases, social structure, and economy are all under the fields of network. There¡¦s no way that a regular high school student like me could get a complete hold of such a complex structure of materials. Yet, Duncan¡¦s explanations and thoughtful examples successfully illustrated a number of clear pictures in my minds and really helped me a lot in the understanding of his concepts.

I suggest everyone to read this book, even though one might not fully understand the book, it does give inspirations and provide new perspectives. I am glad that I read this book, it had an great impact upon my view of the world, and reminded how closely things could be related unexpectedly.

I Liked It
I picked up the book to get an introduction into social network theory. Unlike the other critics, I enjoyed the descriptions of his working relationships with others. The book provides good food for thought for the uninitiated, which includes me. I particularly liked his historical description of what was known prior to his research (graph theory, random graphs, Milgrams work). In particular, his use of contemporary events provided a foundation for understanding the significance to his work. I detected, and the author admits, that there were a few areas not fully substantiated yet.

There was one aspect particularly exciting for me. As a Christian, I revisited the Book of Acts after reading this book. I thought about the fact that if Christ had lived the 12 apostles might not have dispersed - they would have remained clustered in one group. Their disbursement was crucial to the proliferation of a network and in a sense provides another form of validating the author's thoughts on thresholds and cascading effects. An incredible mind was certainly at work!

I gave one start less than five, though, due to the author's tendency for age discrimination in the area of people doing graduate work. I started graduate school well into my forties. :-) ... Read more

Book Description

Bridging the gap between research and industry, this volume systematically and comprehensively presents the latest advances in control and estimation. With emphasis on applications, industrial problems illustrate the use of transfer function and state space methods for modelling and design.
Combining theroy with practice, Industrial Control Systems Design will appeal to practising engineers and academic researchers in control engineering.
This unique reference:
* spans fundamental state space and polynomial systems theory and introduces quantitative feedback theory.
* Includes design case studies with illustrative problem descriptions and analysis from the steel, marine, process control, aerospace and power generation sectors.
* Focuses on the challenges in predictive optimal control, now an indispensable method in advanced control applications.
* Provides an introduction to safety-critical control systems design and combined fault monitoring and control techniques.
* Discusses the design of LQG and H-controllers with several degrees of freedom, including feedback, tracking and feedforward functions. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Powerful Toolkit
I started to use the companion free software "visualization toolkit" back to the first edition of this book. My goal was to write a Windows application called "3D Groundwater Explorer" for the 3D Visualizaiton of data and results from groundwater flow and contaminant transport simulations. It was a tough time, partly because this book focuses on algorithms and does not explain how to use the Toolkit in details (maybe the Toolkit is too "big" to be explained in details). Despite of the rather high learning curve, the Toolkit provides virtually everything that one might need in creating impressive and informative visualization image. The Visualization Toolkit is a real tremendous accomplishment.

Excellent book on scientific visualization
This book is poorly titled, because it discusses the algorithms and techniques of visualization much more than the use of the Visualization Toolkit software. However, it is a good introduction to scientific visualization, and the free software included on the CD is an extremely powerful and useful tool. However, if you only wish to learn to use the software, The Visualization Toolkit User's Guide would be much more appropriate for you.

Great for understanding visualization algorithms
This book is great for gaining an in-depth understanding of the underlying visualization algorithms used in the Visualization Toolkit.

If you would like understand how to use the VTK software, you should purchase The Visualization Toolkit User's Guide. This companion book is updated for each major release of VTK, and contains many detailed examples.

Understanding and programming graphical algorithms!
The book gives you a good overview of the most important modern algorithms in computational geometry and computer graphics. AND: On the CD included you find a professional programming system with implementations of the mentioned algorithms in SourceCode! You can easily extend the system by your own algorithms in C++. Every Researcher who starts to work in this field should read this book and use these implementations.

Hands Off
This is clearly one of the worst books I've ever seen. I do admit there's lots of detail in there on visualization techniques etc. However, buying a book named "The Visualization Toolkit" I expect information about exactly this. Instead, what you get with this book is in-depth coverage of how the marching cubes algorithm works for example. Now let me ask you: Does that information help you using the toolkit? Definitely not. Consequently, if you want a practical guide to using VTK, do NOT consider this one. ... Read more

Book Description

SIMATIC S7 programmable controllers are used to implement industrial control systems for machines, manufacturing plants and industrial processes. The relevant open-loop and closed-loop control tasks can be solved using the STEP 7 programming software, which has been developed on the basis of STEP 5, with its various programming languages.
This book describes elements and applications of the text-oriented programming languages STL (statement list) and SCL (structured control language) for use with both SIMATIC S7-300 and SIMATIC S7-400. It is aimed at all users of SIMATIC S7 programmable controllers. First-time users will be introduced to the field of programmable logic control whereas advanced users will learn about specific applications of SIMATIC S7 programmable controllers.
The enclosed diskette contains many programming examples written in STL and SCL and archived within block libraries. The examples can be viewed, modified and tested using STEP 7. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A book for the development of system ideas.
This book is quite old now and shows some of its age. At the time the idea of system theory was new and invigorating although it still appears that the theory was not radically new by any means even then.

Bertalanffy discusses the idea of a system mainly through dynamical systems in his early chapters but also discusses important issues such as open systems, teleology and the organism considered as a system. By no means does this remove the dogma of the reductionists but the whole idea can be incorporated within it by some adjustments and expansions of the original concept. In that sense it is still possible for a biologist to consider animals and plants as complex machines. Nothing in this book really forces anyone to onsider an alternative.

On the other hand his later chapters from chapter 8 onwards discuss truly fascinating questions in psychology and the study of language especially noting the work of Whorf. It is these last chapters which make the book interesting. In its day it would have been something that evoked interest and fascination but now its the as yet unexplord aspects of the study of man which remain as they have always been an enigma and a source of endless wonder.

A book for the development of system ideas.

The system behind the system, are you aware of?
A very important body of knowledge for anyone.

Have you ever said "the current system is wrong" but never known a definitive answer?

This book lays a base for understanding the system behind the system.

Of historical interest
Somewhat outdated, rehashed and self aggrandizing. More historical than cutting edge. You can do better!!

A new way of looking at how things work together
Perhaps the best way to start this review is with Bertalanffy's own words: "Compared to the analytical procedure of classical science with resolution into component elements and one-way or linear causality as basic category, the investigation of organized wholes of many variables requires new catagories of interaction, transaction, organization, teleology..."

"These considerations lead to the postulate of a new scientific discipline which we call general system theory. It's subject matter is formulation of principles that are valid for "systems" in general, whatever the nature of the component elements and the relations or "forces" between them...

"General system theory, therefore, is a general science of wholeness"...

Wholeness is not new, the Chinese and Greeks had their own versions, but what Bertalanffy did is make it an authentic science.

The best intent to transcend the mechanistic worldview
GST is certainly the best intent we have to transcend the mechanistic worldview from the point of view of the new science. And there is just one way to transcend that framework and it just by positing a new sphere to manage complexity: the sphere of life.Teilhard, Bergson, Bertanffy were "biologists" but also philosophers, great philosophers and this is probably why today the Science of Complexity is looking at Life, and why the new thinkers are more and more aware that if we want to understand organizations, human organizations, we must first understand life. So we find a clear turn in books about complexity and administration trying to learn from the lesson of life...this is the only way to enter the age of adaptation as Thomas Petzinger calls it. Our time owes to GST a great deal, and as so, GST stands as a monument to that whole movement toward the global nature of our civilization of the same kind of The Phenomenon of Man and Creative Evolution. ... Read more

Book Description

As Chaos explained the science of disorder, Nexus reveals the new science of connection and the odd logic of six degrees of separation. How can geometry explain the puzzles of human behavior? In this incisive, insightful work Mark Buchanan presents the fundamental principles of the emerging field of "small worlds" theory—the idea that a hidden pattern is the key to how networks interact and exchange information, whether that network is the information highway or the firing of neurons in the brain. Mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists, and social scientists are working to decipher this complex organizational system, for it may yield a blueprint of dynamic interactions within our physical as well as social worlds. Highlighting groundbreaking research behind network theory, Buchanan documents mounting support for the small-worlds idea and demonstrates its multiple applications to diverse problems—whether explaining the volatile global economy or the Human Genome Project, the spread of infectious disease or ecological damage. Nexus is an exciting introduction to the hidden geometry that weaves our lives so inextricably together. 20 illustrations. ... Read more

Reviews (21)

Terrific snapshot of a hot new field!
I wasn't sure I would like this book when my brother bought it for me -- but I did! It covers a truly wide range of material. Extremely impressive. Amazingly, as the book shows, strong mathematical links seem to connect the workings of biological cells with the Internet, social networks and many other complex networks, even neural networks and the human brain. The writing is extremely clear and there is little chance of misunderstanding. This is one of those areas of "hyped" research that really lives up to the hype.

From a personal point of view, I especially enjoyed the final chapters on economics and social capital. Something really seems to be emerging here -- a deep link between social patterns and natural patterns in the physical world

Six Degrees of seperation.
Actually, I bought this book with the intention of reading about genetics algorithms although I was pleasantly surprised with the out come of the book.

The book is about how our large world is small and what seems chaotic is actually an organized small network.

The author starts with how networks in nature relate to networks in technology. A very strong case for "6 degrees of separation" for our society and "19 degrees of (link) separation" for the Internet. The rest of the book explains with historical examples how scientists were able to prove the networking concepts through human decision and thought process.

I gave this book 4 star because I did not think that the conclusion had the continuity of the other chapters. I would recommend this book to all individuals who would be interested in reading and understanding the connections and influences of nature in our "connected" world.

Have fun understanding that you closer then you think to the person next door.

Good introduction to a broad subject
The author makes a strong case that many diverse phenomena can be modelled in very similar ways. This book can be summarized as a very brief introduction to network models, followed by numerous examples from the real world.

The level of mathematical sophistication needed to comprehend the matterial is minimal. I do not believe there are any equations in the entire book. There are many easily understood graphs and a few percentages.

The basic concept of the networks is very easy to explain and to understand. The applications are the interesting part. Thoughout the pages are clear and interesting examples that make you want to turn the page to see what is coming next. In my case I often found myself thinking how I would have approached the problem and more importantly what problems could this have been applied to. Any book that can do that is a good one in my book!

Like many good books, this one leaves more questions unanswered than it answers. The subject area is a generic one that allows it's self to be applied in many many different fields. The question becomes not is this model of the world valid but rather how can it be applied.

This was a quick read, certain to change my views on how the world works.

It's a small world after all.
I just finished reading Nexus right after I finished Steven Johnson's book, Emergence. Both are great, quick reads. The ideas are fascinating and build upon chaos theory that James Gleick gives a history of in Chaos, which is the last book I read that addressed topics such as complexity. It's a great thrill to receive journalistic reports on what has happened in the small-worlds theory and gaining a cursory understanding of its current and future applications. I also just started reading Harold Morowitz's The Emergence of Everything, which is interesting in its subject matter while the writing is much more austere than in Emergence and Nexus. I look forward to reading everything I can on the small-worlds, complexity theory-type popular science books.

Networks of sex partners and the Net-Are they really related
The surprising answer is yes. I picked this book up after reading Steven Strogatz's Sync which mentions a great deal about the science of networks. Buchanan explains how networks exist everywhere - the net, the web, the power grid, our circle of friends, our sex partners - and that they are in fact very similar to one another.

The phrase "six degrees of separation" comes from the fact that two randomly chosen people, A and B, will on average be connected by six social links. A knows C who knows D who knows E who knows F who knows G who finally knows B. Considering the world has over 6 billion people, an average separation of 6 seems unbelievable small, but the explanation of this incredible phenomenon lies in the makeup of our social network. Our close friends know each other but our cluster of friends has weak ties to other clusters through acquaintances, people we really don't know that well - that's why when one is looking for a job, it's better to tell an acquaintance rather than a friend so that our inquiry can jump to other clusters. Our social network is essentially highly clustered but enough links exist between these clusters to allow us to jump from ourselves to any other person through just an average of six links. Buchanan shows us how this kind of network exists everywhere as mentioned above although he distinguishes between egalitarian networks where clusters are roughly the same size and aristocratic networks such as the WWW where gigantic hubs like Amazon.com exist that link to millions of websites.

One of the most interesting chapters in the book deals with sexual networks. It turns out that in the network of sex partners, certain people have a great many more links than the average person in the network. Buchanan explains how the structure of the sexual network actually accounts for the rapid spread of HIV. The virus spread quickly because the hubs in the network spread it to their numerous partners. In fact, it turns out that a significant percentage of the inital HIV cases had a sexual relationship with one particular flight attendant.

As I wrote in my review for Strogatz's Sync, we are entering an era of science where disparate fields of study are being linked because many phenomena that we used to regard as unrelated now appear to have very similar underlying bases. It is exciting to read books like Nexus because it illustrates this point. You should definitely read this book if your are interested in the science of networks and want to know how so many different phenomena are being explained by the same underlying principles. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Excellent Chaos Primer
My first intro to chaos was Gleick's book *Chaos: Making a New Science* which focused on the history of the discovery of chaos. Although this was fascinating - and a good read for those just learning about dynamical systems, strange attractors, and the like - Lorenz's *Essence of Chaos* was much more satisfying. Lorenz analyzes specific chaotic functions, gives you the math (equations are in the appendix) and generally accomplishes what the title suggests - that is, exploring the essence of chaos. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in this deeply fascinating subject.

Great Stuff from the Great One
Lorenz has done it again. This is a terrific inside look at chaos by the man who made Gleick's book possible. And it had a few interesting new ideas too--who would have thought there was a different way to present fourth-order Runge-Kutta? Who would have thought Runge-Kutta could convert a phase-space circle to a nice-looking fractal attractor? A good book for the air plane.

The Essence of Chaos: A great primer on chaos theory.
Edward Lorenz takes a complicated topic and makes it accessible for all people, regardless of prior knowledge of chaos theory. He provides interesting and easy to follow examples of chaos, fractals and complexity. The illustrations are helpful and he includes a glossary of terms to aid the beginning chaos enthusiasts to quickly become familiar with the terminology. Mr. Lorenz gives a brief history of chaos and explains how it is used in the study of mathematics, meteorology, economics, music, and other fields. The book is very interesting and is highly recommended for those who would like to acquaint themselves with the exciting world of chaos. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent explanation of systems theory!
If you would like to learn about systems theory with minimal background knowledge, this is an excellent book! It shows how we are all inseperable parts of nature and that everything we do to everyone and everything else influences ourselves as well. It shows us how nature is organized into many levels of whole units. It eloquently shows how we are all parts of larger whole units made of smaller whole units. It is just a wonderful book that reminds us of our connection with the rest of the universe. If you are interested in systems theory, I also recommend another super-fascinating book called "The Ever-Transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato that discusses this in relation to human consciousness. It is also one of my favorites! I am sure you will feel that these books are well worth the money.

Fundamental to understand modern science and philosophy

Systems thinking is more than another new field of scientific and philosophical research. It leads to a new world view, integrating the sciences of nature and man. It is a world view for our times, explaining some some of our most cherished successes and some of our most distressing problems, and showing ways to resume progress toward new achievements. Knowledge of systems thinking is a key to understand modern developments in areas such as physics, business management, ecology, politics, natural resources, etc.

Ervin Laszlo is one of the most important contributors to the development of systems science and philosophy. With "The Systems View of the World" he achieved a remarkably accurate condensation, in a hundred clearly written and pleasantly readable pages, of the fundamental ideas of systems thinking.

The book begins contrasting the systems view of the world, based on integration an understanding of relationships, with the atomistic view of the world, based on decomposition and understanding of parts. He proceeds presenting the concept of system, leading the reader through a series of distinctions and examples. It is interesting to remark that Laszlo does not present a definition of system, coherently with the idea that system is a basic, primitive concept.

Laszlo follows with the explanation of the systems view of nature, summarized in four propositions, which are developed and exemplified:
1. Natural systems are wholes with irreducible properties;
2. Natural systems maintain themselves in a changing environment;
3. Natural systems create themselves in response to self-creativity in other systems;
4. Natural systems are coordinating interfaces in nature's holarchy.

The book's final part deals wit the system's view of ourselves. To do this, Laszlo begins from our cosmic origins, proceeding to the appearance of matter, life, consciousness and finally culture. He emphasizes the importance of values and explains why even traditional values, in spite of their permanent character, must be reformulated to meet the requirements of our times. Laszlo shows how the systems view of the world has a place for freedom and differentiation in an integrated world. He finishes the book stressing the role of religion in human life and proposes that the systems view of the world may offer some openings for conciliation of science with the different religious traditions. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

Excellent, but hard to understand
This book is that dangerous combination of being theoretical without being rigorous. It's very deep and subtle, and it is not unusual to ponder a particular point for several weeks, as no derivation or explanation is given. Many statements are just thrown out there for the reader to figure out for himself. I have now read the book more or less from cover to cover, and that's how it has been, but I have to say, in the end it is worth it. I now truly feel that I know a lot about linear systems.

It's really not possible to read this book without having a number of other references around: linear algebra (Strang), abstract algebra (Artin), control theory (Brogan) and multivariable systems (Kaczorek) were most useful to me.

This book is excellent in that you will find results in here that you would not find anywhere else, including recent results and some developed by Kailath himself. On the other hand, frankly, the somewhat haphazard presentation style is a real impediment to understanding. In summary, this is a very good book, but you will have to work very hard to get something out of it.

For a Complete State-Space Perspective
If you are an engineer with least span of attention, this book is certainly not for you. But if you are somebody who likes things to be concise and profound, and takes thrill in riding through theoretical maze, only to wonder in the end at it's simplicity and completeness, you would love this. I would say, second chapter on State-Space theory is the core of the book. Helps you to look at systems from different view-points, elaborating on different proprerties a system can and should have, meanwhile relating one with the other, filling the reader with sheer joy by giving him a complete picture.

Huge list of references at the end of every chapter and a brief appendix on Matrix algebra adds further value to this ultimate book on Linear System Theory.

Exhausting
This book is exhausting to read. A far better source to learn linear systems is _Linear System Theory and Design_ by Chi-Tsong Chen.

There are numerous other books that cover certain topics in Kailth's book much better, too. Look at _Optimal Filtering_ by Anderson and Moore, _Linear Optimal Control Systems_ by Kwakernaak and Sivan, _Digital Control of Dynamical Systems_ by Franklin, Powell, and Workman, and even _Digital Control_ by Franklin and Powell.

Linear Systems review
Very well written, comprehensive, and my favourite book on the subject

One of the Best Books on Linear Systems
I highly recomend this book for anyone interested in linear systems and related topics. ... Read more

Book Description

This accessible volume is an algorithmically oriented, research-centered guide to some of the most interesting techniques of complexity theory. The book's thesis is that simple algorithms are at the heart of complexity theory. From the tree-pruning and interval-pruning algorithms that shape the first chapter to the query simulation procedures that dominate the last, the central proof methods of the book are algorithmic. To more clearly highlight the role of algorithmic techniques in complexity theory, the book is organized by technique rather than by topic. Each chapter of this book focuses on one technique: what it is and what results and applications it yields.

This textbook was developed at the University of Rochester in courses given to graduate students and advanced undergraduates. Researchers also will find this book a valuable source of reference due to the comprehensive bibliography of close to five hundred entries, the thirty-five page subject index, and the appendices giving overviews of complexity classes and reductions. ... Read more

Book Description

Conservation biology relies not only on the general concepts, but on the specific methods, of population ecology to both understand and predict the viability of rare and endangered species and to determine how best to manage these populations. The need to conduct quantitative analyses of viability and management has spawned the field of "population viability analysis," or PVA, which, in turn, has driven much of the recent development of useful and realistic population analysis and modeling in ecology in general. However, despite calls for the increased use of PVA in real-world settings?developing recovery plans for endangered species, for example?a misperception remains among field-oriented conservation biologists that PVA models can only be constructed and understood by a select group of mathematical population ecologists.

Part of the reason for the ongoing gap between conservation practitioners and population modelers has been the lack of an easy-to-understand introduction to PVA for conservation biologists with little prior exposure to mathematical modeling as well as in-depth coverage of the underlying theory and its applications. Quantitative Conservation Biology fills this void through a unified presentation of the three major areas of PVA: count-based, demographic, and multi-site, or metapopulation, models. The authors first present general concepts and approaches to viability assessment. Then, in sections addressing each of the three fields of PVA, they guide the reader from considerations for collection and analysis of data to model construction, analysis, and interpretation, progressing from simple to complex approaches to answering PVA questions. Detailed case studies use data from real endangered species, and computer programs to perform all described analyses accompany the text.

The goal of this book is to provide practical, intelligible, and intuitive explanations of population modeling to empirical ecologists and conservation biologists. Modeling methods that do not require large amounts of data (typically unavailable for endangered species) are emphasized. As such, the book is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate students interested in quantitative conservation biology, managers charged with preserving endangered species, and, in short, for any conservation biologist or ecologist ... Read more

Book Description

A must-have resource for any parent or educator who wants to help children think about interconnections in our world.

Each chapter focuses on a favorite children's picture book--and reveals the systems principle inherent in the story, general points for discussion, illustrations of key concepts, and questions to spark conversation for both younger and older readers. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

Systems Thinking Through Stories - A Winning Combination!
Systems thinking provides structure to understanding our complex world. Stories, whether our own or selections from literature, offer a powerful hook to recognition of the interconnectedness within a system.

As an educator, I've been intrigued with the idea of systems thinking, but somewhat intimidated by its complexity. After reading and rereading WHEN A BUTTERFLY SNEEZES, I have a far deeper understanding of its power.

I''ve long believed in the power of story to enhance understanding. This little book affirms that belief.

Thank you, Linda Booth Sweeney, for this fine work.

Systems thinking is good for kids and adults.
I have used some of the same stories described in Linda's book in training courses with environmental professionals from many countries as well as in introducing systems thinking into my own organization. There is a universal appeal to stories by Dr. Seuss, for example, and much wisdom hidden just behind the wild drawings and imaginative language. Linda's unique contribution lies in showing teachers and parents how they can use a wide range of enchanting stories to tap into this deeper meaning in order to improve problem solving abilities in everyday life. The book's recommendations on using stories can easily be applied to improving our parenting and teaching skills by listening more carefully to the stories children tell, asking better questions, and sharing responsibility with our children for interpreting the answers.

Stories as a structure for sustained learning
The mark of a great story is that it plants a deep seed in ones psyche that penetrates and grows slowly but oh so steadily. Like a koan, it imbeds itself and connects the limbic system with the neo-cortex, the emotions with the intellect. As one encounters the world, the story keeps resurfacing just when appropriate, deepening ones learning. Linda Booth Sweeney has found magical ways to plant seeds in kids (young and old), about critical messages of connectedness and life, and elegantly woven ways of learning that are ancient and current. Readers are in some ways left with a living question in their hearts and minds: What is life asking of me now?

Stories: A Gateway to Systems Thinking
"When a Butterfly Sneezes" uses stories to help introduce the basics of systems thinking. This book was written for parents and educators as a guide for helping children gain a richer and deeper understanding of the world around them through their favorite stories. This is a much needed book for parents who enjoy reading to their children and for educators, particularly those who work with students in the K-4 classroom where there is a focus on literacy. "When a Butterfly Sneezes" is a first of a kind book on this subject and at this level. It offers parents, teachers and teacher educator's a practical means for introducing systems to young minds. I will use this book in teacher education courses and recommend it highly to others. ... Read more

Book Description

In The Emerging Consensus of Social Systems Theory Bausch summarizes the works of over 30 major systemic theorists. He then goes on to show the converging areas of consensus among these out-standing thinkers.Bausch categorizes the social aspects of current systemic thinking as falling into five broadly thematic areas: designing social systems, the structure of the social world, communication, cognition and epistemology.These five areas are foundational for a theoretic and practical systemic synthesis. They were topics of contention in a historic debate between Habermas and Luhmann in the early 1970's. They continue to be contentious topics within the study of social philosophy.Since the 1970's, systemic thinking has taken great strides in the areas of mathematics, physics, biology, psychology, and sociology. This book presents a spectrum of those theoretical advances. It synthesizes what various strains of contemporary systems science have to say about social processes and assesses the quality of the resulting integrated explanations.Bausch gives a detailed study of the works of many present-day systems theorists, both in general terms, and with regard to social processes. He then creates and validates integrated representations of their thoughts with respect to his own thematic classifications. He provides a background of systemic thinking from an historical context, as well as detailed studies of developments in sociological, cognitive and evolutionary theory.This book presents a coherent, dynamic model of a self-organizing world. It proposes a creative and ethical method of decision-making and design. It makes explicit the relations between structure and process in the realms of knowledge and being. The new methodology that evolves in this book allows us to deal with enormous complexity, and to relate ideas so as to draw out previously unsuspected conclusions and syntheses. Therein lies the elegance and utility of this model. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

No end to the fresh ideas
People new to systems thinking and cybernetics are looking for handy resources to get started. This book requires something more. However, once a person gains a basic understanding, this book has proven to me to be one of the best. It points the reader in a number of directions for further study, and gives a useful summary of what the reader will find there.

Its treatment of the famous Luhmann-Habermas debates was especially helpful, and I plan to use a number of other sections in my own studies and college teaching for some time to come. I find that the writer understood the importance of orienting the reader who hadn't been comfortable with the science and mathematics that often go with systems thinking.

The author does an especially good job trying to integrate certain concerns with democracy, participative management, and widespread involvement that a systems approach sometimes neglects in pursuit of social engineering by a technical elite.

This book was heavier than a simple introduction, so it is not exactly the front door to systems thinking, but I have found it to be a hallway to many rooms that I am still exploring -- thanks to Kenneth Bausch. ... Read more

Book Description

Complex interacting networks are observed in systems from such diverse areas as physics, biology, economics, ecology, and computer science. For example, economic or social interactions often organize themselves in complex network structures. Similar phenomena are observed in traffic flow and in communication networks as the internet. In current problems of the Biosciences, prominent examples are protein networks in the living cell, as well as molecular networks in the genome. On larger scales one finds networks of cells as in neural networks, up to the scale of organisms in ecological food webs.
This book defines the field of complex interacting networks in its infancy and presents the dynamics of networks and their structure as a key concept across disciplines.
The contributions present common underlying principles of network dynamics and their theoretical description and are of interest to specialists as well as to the non-specialized reader looking for an introduction to this new exciting field.
Theoretical concepts include modeling networks as dynamical systems with numerical methods and new graph theoretical methods, but also focus on networks that change their topology as in morphogenesis and self-organization. The authors offer concepts to model network structures and dynamics, focussing on approaches applicable across disciplines.

... Read more

Reviews (1)

Crosses Many Disciplines
The attraction of this book is the chance of serendipity. The sheer joy and possibility of thumbing through it and stumbling across something germane to your research, but totally unforeseen by you or others.

The book sits astride several disciplines. Mostly biology. But also computer networks, of which, of course, the Internet is the primary and largest example. But the book also covers some portions of sociology. The classic six degrees of separation between any two people in the world. Actually this is more a metaphor than the literal truth. But still useful in understanding human networks.

If you are currently working with some type of network, your expertise in it, while being a strength, may also be a weakness if it makes you unaware of qualitatively different networks that yet have some commonality with yours. ... Read more

Book Description

Systems as diverse as clocks, singing crickets, cardiac pacemakers, firing neurons and applauding audiences exhibit a tendency to operate in synchrony. These phenomena are universal and can be understood within a common framework based on modern nonlinear dynamics. The first half of this book describes synchronization without formulae, and is based on qualitative intuitive ideas. The main effects are illustrated with experimental examples and figures, and the historical development is also outlined. The second half of the book presents the main effects of synchronization in a rigorous and systematic manner, describing both classical results on synchronization of periodic oscillators, and recent developments in chaotic systems, large ensembles, and oscillatory media. ... Read more

Book Description

Unique in that it focuses on formulation and case studies rather than solutions procedures covering applications for pure, generalized and integer networks, equivalent formulations plus successful techniques of network models. Every chapter contains a simple model which is expanded to handle more complicated developments, a synopsis of existing applications, one or more case studies, at least 20 exercises and invaluable references. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A practical, how-to tutorial on network flow modeling
This is the only book I have encountered that is devoted exclusively to the design of network optimization models. Written in a tutorial style, starting with the fundamentals, and illustrated with an enormous number ofexamples, it shows in great detail how to build network flow models forreal decision problems. Although solution algorithms are not covered, perse, the user learns to build models for optimizing a wide range of decisionsituations, from production and logistics systems to personnel andportfolio planning. There is plenty of software around to implement theformulations described. I have used this book in conjunction with mynetwork optimization course, and the modeling exercises (at the end of eachchapter) are the student's favorite part of thisotherwise-algorithm-oriented course. While the general reader is not giventhe solution to the exercises (a solution manual is available to adoptinginstructors), this does not take away from the enjoyment and insightgleaned by the reader of this highly accessible guide. ... Read more

Book Description

The book presents the methodology applicable to the modeling and analysis of a variety of dynamic systems, regardless of their physical origin. It includes detailed modeling of mechanical, electrical, electro-mechanical, thermal, and fluid systems. Models are developed in the form of state-variable equations, input-output differential equations, transfer functions, and block diagrams. The Laplace-transform is used for analytical solutions. Computer solutions are based on MATLAB and Simulink. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A good introduction to the subject
Professional engineering these days strongly rely on accurate mathematical modelling of systems. This book is a good introduction to the subject without loosing the link to the numeral solving techniques. Advanced mathematical equations are omitted so this text will serve only as an introduction and not as a complete treatment. Nevertheless, it is a good book when starting to study mathematical modelling of physical systems. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A good book, but not the best reference
Software Inspection by Gilb covers the subject a lot better. However, Freedman and Weinberg's book has a lot of good points on group dynamics and politics and such that Gilb doesn't get into. Freedman's book is a quick read too.

The Question-Answer format makes this title a poor pick.
Having launced a comprehensive software review & inspection process for several major corporations, most recently United Airlines, I found this particular book confusing and almost impossible as a ready reference or resource. The question-answer format provides information based on the questions the author believes you should ask, and makes referencing for specific information frustrating and time-consuming, if not impossible. The examples are elementary and lack significant value. A far better resource is "Software Inspection," by Gilb and Graham; Addison-Wesley publishers. ... Read more