Modeling Complex Phenomena: Proceedings of the Third Woodward Conference, San Jose State University, April 12-13, 1991

ISBN-13: 9781461392316 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 313 str.

Lui Lam; Vladimir Naroditsky

Opis

Once upon a time, science was not divided into disciplines as we know it today. There was no distinction between so-called social and natural sciences, not to mention the fragmentation of the latter into physics, chemistry, biology, geology, etc. According to legend, the scientists those days would do their research in whatever environment they happened to find comfortable, which more often than not was in bathtubs or giant hot tubs - remember Archimedes Then, somehow, these days we find ourselves compartmentalized into different departments in our universities, or divisions in our research institutes. (We suspect, for one thing, that is to ensure that we will get our paychecks delivered on time at the end of each month. ) Anyway, as anyone who has worked in the real world knows: when one is confronted with a completely new problem or phenomenon, it is usually impossible to neatly assign the problem to physics, chemistry, or, for that matter, computer science. One needs to recall and fuse together the knowledge one learned before and, if that alone is insufficient, to consult experts in other areas. This points to the shortcomings of the compartmentalization of knowledge in our educational systems. In recent years, something has changed. Under the banner of Complex Systems, some brave souls are not afraid to tackle problems that are considered intractable by others, and dare to venture out of their trained disciplines or departments to which they are attached.

Spis treści

A Complex Phenomenon: The Human Mind.- I Paradigms, Complexity, and Learning.- Modeling and Control of Complex Systems: Paradigms and Applications.- Knowledge and Meaning: Chaos and Complexity.- Complexity Issues in Robotic Machine Learning of Natural Languages.- II Forecasting and Arms Race.- Nonlinear Forecasting, Chaos and Statistics.- Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos in Arms Race Models.- III Economic Systems.- Chaotic Dynamics in Economic Equilibrium Theory.- Chaos and the Foreign Exchange Market.- IV Earthquakes and Sandpiles.- Earthquakes as a Complex Phenomenon.- Application of a Mean Field Approximation to Two Systems that Exhibit Self-Organized Criticality.- V Fluids and Crystal Growths.- Modeling the Hydrodynamics of Materials Processing.- Modeling Complex Phenomena in Fluids.- VI Complex Patterns.- Consensus in Small and Large Audiences.- Nonhomogeneous Response of Reaction-Diffusion Systems to Local Perturbations.- Nonequilibrium Transient Near a Noise-Induced Instability.- Active Walker Models for Filamentary Growth Patterns.- Index of Contributors.