1. Introduction.- 1.1 Basic Types of Distributed Active Systems.- 1.2 Engineering and Control of Active Systems.- 2. Bistable Media.- 2.1 One-Component Models of Bistable Media.- 2.2 Trigger Waves.- 2.3 General Properties of Patterns in One-Component Bistable Media.- 2.4 Waves of Transition from an Unstable State.- 3. Excitable Media.- 3.1 Travelling Pulses.- 3.2 Cellular Automaton Models.- 3.3 Spiral Waves.- 3.4 Front Kinematics.- 3.5 Resonance, Drift, and Meandering of Spiral Waves.- 3.6 Wave Patterns in Three Dimensions.- 4. Oscillatory Media.- 4.1 Phase Dynamics.- 4.2 Plane Waves.- 4.3 Pacemakers.- 4.4 Spiral Waves.- 5. Active Media with Long-Range Inhibition.- 5.1 Integral Negative Feedback.- 5.2 Spike Patterns.- 5.3 Broad Strata.- 6. Neural Networks.- 6.1 Automata, Spins, and Neurons.- 6.2 Associative Memories.- 6.3 Complex Combinatorial Optimization.- 6.4 The Perceptron.- 6.5 Back Propagation of Errors.- 6.6 The Boltzmann Machine.- 6.7 Storage of Temporal Sequences.- 6.8 Networks with Mediators.- 7. Reproductive Networks.- 7.1 Competition and Cooperation of Reproductive Agents.- 7.2 Selection.- 7.3 Coexistence and Multistability.- 7.4 Waves of Reproduction.- 7.5 Evolution and Information Processing.- References.
SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
This textbook (the first of two volumes) provides an introduction to the general theory of cooperative behavior in active systems of various origins. The treatment is at a level accessible to undergraduate students. Important topics include pattern formation and properties and applications of neural networks.