Complex Systems Reading Group
During the winter term, the complex systems reading group will meet on
Mondays at 7pm at the Old Town tavern (corner of Liberty and Ashley),
under the large Rubenesque painting in the back.
We will start out with a theme of "self-organized criticality".
At our first meeting, this Monday, January 28, at 7pm at the Old Town, we
will discuss:
Winslow, Nathan. (1997). Introduction to self-organized criticality and
earthquakes. http://www.geo.lsa.umich.edu/~ruff/Geo105.W97/SOC/SOCeq.html
and
Bak, Per. (1999). E-mail to Nature debates from March 11, 1999.
http://www.nature.com/nature/debates/earthquake/equake_10.html
The first paper is an introduction to self-organized criticality (SOC),
the second is a very short review by the theory's originator. Both focus
on SOC and earthquakes.
Please send me any suggestions you have for future papers or topics.
-Ted
Meeting on Monday, February 4 at 7pm at the Old Town (Liberty and Ashley)
Tonight, Monday, February 4 at 7pm at the Old Town (Ashley and Liberty),
in back under the large Rubenesque painting, we will discuss:
Raup, David M. (1997). How nature works: The science of self-organized
criticality. (Book review). Complexity 2(6):30-33.
UM network (PDF):
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/issuetoc?Type=DD&ID=56579
others (PDF):
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~streak/papers/others/bak-review.pdf
Suggestions for future papers are welcome.
-Ted
Meeting on Monday, February 11 at 7pm at the Old Town (Liberty and Ashley)
At our this meeting on Monday, Feb. 11 at 7pm at the Old Town (corner of
Liberty and Ashley, under the large Rubenesque painting in the back), we
will discuss:
Newman, M. E. J. (1999). Simple models of evolution and extinction. To
appear in Computing in Science and Engineering. adap-org/9910003
http://arxiv.org/abs/adap-org/9910003
Abstract:
This article gives a brief introduction to the mathematical modeling of
large-scale biological evolution and extinction. We give three examples of
simple models in this field: the coevolutionary avalanche model of Bak and
Sneppen, the environmental stress model of Newman, and the increasing
fitness model of Sibani, Schmidt, and Alstrom. We describe the features of
real evolution which these models are intended to explain and compare the
results of simulations against data drawn from the fossil record.
ALSO, I am happy to be able to tell all of you that John Holland will be
joining us at our March 4 meeting to talk with us about his paper on the
evolution of signalling networks:
http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/publications/Working-Papers/01-10-062.pdf
I hope to have other local researchers join us during the term as well.
-Ted
Meeting on Monday, February 18 at 7pm at the Old Town (Liberty and Ashley)
At our this meeting on Monday, Feb. 18 at 7pm at the Old Town (corner of
Liberty and Ashley, under the large Rubenesque painting in the back), we
will discuss:
Carlson, J. M., and John Doyle. (to appear). Complexity and robustness.
PNAS. http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~doyle/jmcab/PNAS/1_wfigs.pdf
Abstract:
Highly Optimized Tolerance (HOT) was recently introduced as a conceptual
framework to study fundamental aspects of complexity. HOT is motivated
primarily by systems from biology and engineering and emphasizes 1) highly
structured, nongeneric, self-dissimilar internal configurations and 2)
robust, yet fragile external behavior. HOT claims these are the most
important features of complexity and are not accidents of evolution or
artifices of engineering design, but are inevitably intertwined and
mutually reinforcing. In the spirit of this collection, our paper
contrasts HOT with alternative perspectives on complexity, drawing on both
real world examples and also model systems, particularly those from
Self-Organized Criticality (SOC).
Upcoming meetings:
Feb. 25: no meeting (spring break)
March 4: John Holland (UM computer science) will talk with us about his
recent paper:
Holland, J.H. (2001). Exploring the evolution of complexity in signaling
networks. SFI Working Paper 01-10-062. To appear in Complexity.
http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/publications/Working-Papers/01-10-062.pdf
