A M ALBANO LBNO PASSAMANTE N B ABRAHAM – författare

The papers in this volume summarizes the state-of-the-art in the use of concepts of dynamical systems theory to study chaotic evolution and spatiotemporal complexity.The central results of dynamical systems theory have demonstrated that simple deterministic mathematical systems can produce highly disordered dynamical behaviour, suggesting that it might be possible to explain complex natural phenomena with relatively simple models. This proved to be far more difficult than had been initially anticipated. It is increasingly clear that the naive application of dynamical methods can readily produce spurions indications of deterministic behavior. Many dynamicists are currently preoccupied with the development of methods that can bring increased rigor and reliability to the anlaysis of experimental data. At the same time, techniques have been developed for controlling the behavior of complex systems, for predicting their evolution, and for describing their behavior even when this behavior displays complexity in space as well as in time. The papers in this collection dicuss techniques used to confirm the existence of chaotic behavior by means of surrogate data, topological information and quantitative measures of determinism, techniques for controlling and predicting chaotic behavior, and illustrations of the use of these techniques in laser physics, acoustics, hydrodynamics, oceanography, climatology, biology, medicine and economics.