Bücher von J. C. Williams

In the last five years or so there has been an important renaissance in the area of (mathematical) modeling, identification and (stochastic) control. It was the purpose of the Advanced Study Institute of which the present volume constitutes the proceedings to review recent developments in this area with par- ticular emphasis on identification and filtering and to do so in such a manner that the material is accessible to a wide variety of both embryo scientists and the various breeds of established researchers to whom identification, filtering, etc. are important (such as control engineers, time series analysts, econometricians, probabilists, mathematical geologists, and various kinds of pure and applied mathematicians; all of these were represented at the ASI). For these proceedings we have taken particular care to see to it that the material presented will be understandable for a quite diverse audience. To that end we have added a fifth tutorial section (besides the four presented at the meeting) and have also included an extensive introduction which explains in detail the main problem areas and themes of these proceedings and which outlines how the various contributions fit together to form a coherent, integrated whole. The prerequisites needed to understand the material in this volume are modest and most graduate students in e. g. mathematical systems theory, applied mathematics, econo- metrics or control engineering will qualify.

This book is a direct result of a symposium held in December 1988, in Washington, DC, honoring Professor Emeritus Miodrag Ristic for his contributions to rickettsial disease research, in general, and, to ehrlichiosis, in particular. He and his colleagues in the United States Army Medical Research Unit brought to the world's attention an epidemic of ehrlichiosis, that occurred in German shepherd dogs during the Vietnam War. The group was able to culture the microorganism Ehrlichia canis and to fulfill Koch's postulates. They eventually developed an indirect immunofluorescent antibody (IFA) test which has been adopted internationally. The same group joined a national effort to decipher another mysterious disease known as Potomac horse fever (PHF). They used the same technology developed by Nyindo in Dr. Ristic's laboratory to isolate, characterize, and again develop a similar IFA test for PHF. Today PHF has been diagnosed, at least serologically, practically across the entire United States, in some provinces of Canada, and reports are beginning to trickle in of its occurrence in European countries. Thus, the etiologic agent of PHF, now named after Professor Ristic, Ehrlichia risticii, historically places this scientist side by side with the other 2 "R's", i. e. , Ricketts and da Rochalima. Ehrlichiosis is not limited to domestic animals. Sennetsu rickettsiosis, long known by Japanese scientists as an imitator of "infectious mononucleosis," was subsequently shown to be caused by an ehrlichial agent, through collaborative efforts among the United States Army, the University of Illinois, and Dr.