The book you hold in your hands is the outcome of the 2014 Interdisciplinary Symposium on
Complex Systems held in the historical city of Florence. The book consists of 37 chapters from
4 areas of Physical Modeling of Complex Systems Evolutionary Computations Complex Biological
Systems and Complex Networks. All 4 parts contain contributions that give interesting point of
view on complexity in different areas in science and technology. The book starts with a
comprehensive overview and classification of complexity problems entitled Physics in the world
of ideas: Complexity as Energy followed by chapters about complexity measures and physical
principles its observation modeling and its applications to solving various problems
including real-life applications. Further chapters contain recent research about evolution
randomness and complexity as well as complexity in biological systems and complex networks.
All selected papers represent innovative ideas philosophical overviews and state-of-the-art
discussions on aspects of complexity. The book will be useful as an instructional material for
senior undergraduate and entry-level graduate students in computer science physics applied
mathematics and engineering-type work in the area of complexity. The book will also be valuable
as a resource of knowledge for practitioners who want to apply complexity to solve real-life
problems in their own challenging applications.
