This book is more than a standard proceedings volume, although it is an almost direct result of the workshop on "Nonlinear Analysis of Physiologi cal Time Series" held in Freital near Dresden, Germany, in October 1995. The idea of the meeting was, as for previous meetings devoted to related topics, such as the conference on dynamical diseases held near Montreal in February 1994 (see CHAOS Vol. 5(1), 1995), to bring together experts on the techniques of nonlinear analysis and the theory of chaos and applicants from the most fascinating field where such methods could potentially be useful: the life sciences. The former group consisted mainly of physicists and mathe maticians, the latter was represented by physiologists and medical researchers and practitioners. Many aspects of this workshop were unusual and not previously expe rienced. Also, the hosting institution, the Max Planck Institute for Physics of Complex Systems (MPIPKS), at this time was brand new. The organiz ers' rather unconventional intention was to bring specialists of both groups together to really work together. Therefore, there was an excessive availabil ity of computers and the possibility to numerically study time series data sets practitioners had supplied from their own fields, e. g. electrocardiogram (ECG) data, electroencephalogram (EEG) data, data from the respiratory system, from human voice, human posture control, and several others. These data formed a much stronger link between theoreticians and applicants than any of the common ideas.

I Directions in Nonlinear Data Analysis

Processing of Physiological Data
Problems in the Reconstruction of High-dimensional Deterministic Dynamics from Time Series
Chaotic Measures and Real-World Systems: Does the Lyapunov Exponent Always Measure Chaos
Ranking and Entropy Estimation in Nonlinear Time Series Analysis
Analysing Synchronization Phenomena from Bivariate Data by Means of the Hilbert Transform
Analyzing Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Complex Systems
II Cardio-Respiratory System
Are R-R-Interval Data Appropriate to Study the Dynamics of the Heart
New Nonlinear Algorithms for Analysis of Heart Rate Variability: Low-Dimensional Chaos Predicts Lethal Arrhythmias
Nonlinear Analysis of the Cardiorespiratory Coordination in a Newborn Piglet
Cardiorespiratory Synchronization
III EEG Analysis
EEG Signal Analysis by Continuous Wavelet Transform Techniques
Relativity of Dynamical Measures in Study of the Human Brain: Local Lyapunov Exponent as a Tool for Comparative Studies
Classification of EEG Signals Prom a Music Perception Experiment Using Empirical Dynamical Models
IV Perception and Motor Control
Nonlinear Analysis of Perceptual-Motor Coupling in the Developement of Postural Control
Symbolic Dynamics of Bimanual Production of Polyrhythms
Human Postural Control: Force Plate Experiments and Modelling
Delay Induced Patterns of Visually Guided Movements
V Voice
Detecting Bifurcations in Voice Signals.