"Evolution of Dynamical Structures in Complex Systems" is dedicated to the founder of synergetics, Hermann Haken, on the occasion of his 65th birthday. This volume is an attempt to gather together and review the new results and de velopments achieved by researchers from various fields during the last few years. The contents bear witness to the great success in the development of general approaches to synergetic systems as well as remarkable progress in the more tra ditional fields of synergetics such as lasers and nonlinear optics, hydrodynamics, condensed matter physics, biology, and sociology. Since their inception, the concepts of synergetics and rigorous mathematical theories have been extended to other scientific disciplines such as medicine, artifi cial intelligence and synergetic computers, and psychology. Here too, these ideas have yielded new insights, raised unexpected questions and produced innovations in both theoretical and experimental projects. The conception of self-organization, the central theme of Hermann Haken' s scientific work, has stimulated epistemo logical studies that draw relations between synergetics and the German romantic "Naturphilosophie". It is fascinating to observe how these intuitive notions of self-organization, etc., have now evolved into a precise and holistic scientific comprehension of synergetic systems. We express our deep gratitude to Dr. Angela Lahee from Springer-Verlag for her valuable help during the preparation of this book. Stuttgart R. Frjedrjch March 1992 .4.. Wunder}jn Contents Part I General Approaches On the Principles of Synergetics By A. Wunderlin ...................................... 3 Elements of a Synergetics of Evolutionary Processes By W. Ebeling ......................... . . . . . . . . . . .. . .42 .

Autorentext
Rudolf Friedrich (Jg. 1922) ist als Diplom-Bergingenieur fachlich ausgewiesen. Der vielseitige Autor und Herausgeber hat sich nicht nur mit Industriegeschichte auseinandergesetzt. Einen Namen gemacht hat sich Rudolf Friedrich vor allem in der keltisch-fränkischen Sprach- und Migrationsforschung.

Inhalt
I General Approaches.- On the Principles of Synergetics.- Elements of a Synergetics of Evolutionary Processes.- Nonequilibrium Potentials.- II Lasers and Nonlinear Optics.- Spatio-Temporal Instabilities in Nonlinear Optical Systems.- The Laser with a Saturable Absorber: A Paradigm for the Study of Laser Instabilities.- Dislocations in Laser Fields.- On the Role of Noise in Nonlinear Optics.- III Fluid Dynamics and Solid State Physics.- Pattern Formation in Fluids Variational and Non-Variational Models.- Dynamic Theory of Planetary Magnetism and Laboratory Experiments.- Influence of Colored Noise on Energy Transport and Optical Line Shapes in Dimers.- IV Biology and Medicine.- Coordination Dynamics of Human Brain and Behavior.- Brain Electric Fields and Brain Functional States.- Synergetic Analysis of Human Electroencephalograms: Petit-Mal Epilepsy.- Synergetics, Resonance Phenomena and Brain Internal Codes.- Synergetics, Self-Simplification, and the Ability to Undo.- V Artificial Intelligence and Synergetic Computers.- Artificial Life: An Engineering Perspective.- Path Finding with a Network of Oscillators.- Synergetic Approach to Phenomena of Perception in Natural and Artificial Systems.- VI Psychology and Social Sciences.- Application of Synergetics to Psychology.- Organization and Self-Organization.- VII Epistemology.- Schelling's Concept of Self-Organization.- Index of Contributors.