Since the first part of the twentieth century, cybernetics and systems research have been developed as scientific disciplines. Investigations, launched in the area of cybernetics, previously dealt with control and information processing. In a more narrow sense, they consisted in the consideration of analogies of the control and the information processing between life beings and systems of different nature, e.g. technical, economic, social as well as of activities requiring traditionally understood intelligence. Nowadays, a notion ‘cybernetics’ is used more and more rarely, but the corresponding research is continued and developed, e.g. in the framework of artificial intelligence, intelligent computing, control theory. The cybernetics as an interdisciplinary scientific and research discipline is strongly connected with systems studies dealing, among others, with methodological and applied problems of analysis and decision making (synthesis) for systems of different nature. From many known systems theories, only mathematical systems and their applications are addressed in this book. Other aspects of systems-based research are not considered.

Systems research in the area distinguished provides scientists from different disciplines with useful tools for solving analysis and decision making problems. On the other hand, the development of computer science technology enables researchers and practitioners to computerize and to automate more and more effectively such man’s activities as reasoning, understanding, learning, perception. It leads to the advancement of intelligent systems which now are intensively developed and investigated as a vital scientific discipline. It seems that nowadays knowledge – understood, roughly speaking, as facts, principles and the ability of reasoning on their basis – is an indispensable element of any intelligent system.

Taking into account mentioned methodological tools developed in systems research, it is interesting and useful to apply them also for intelligent systems. In particular, these tools concern modeling and identification of systems, analysis and simulation of systems as well as decision making for systems of different nature, e.g. control, diagnosis, pattern recognition, clustering.

The following well recognized general topics are represented in chapters collected and presented in this volume: complex systems, control theory and engineering, cybernetics and economy, fuzzy systems, information and communication systems, systems modeling, control, management and decision making. Particular specific investigations presented in any chapter refer to one or more system-based tools. On the other hand, knowledge, information or data are used in different aspects as well as existing artificial intelligence-based facets are highlighted in the problems considered.

A considerable part of the book is based on original presentations delivered during the 14th International Congress of Cybernetics and Systems of World Organisation of Systems and Cybernetics (WOSC) which was held in Wroclaw, Poland in September 2008. These chapters encompass updated and substantially extended results of previously conducted studies as well as of fruitful discussions during the Congress.