1990 Lectures in Complex Systems: The Proceedings of the 1990 Complex Systems Summer School, Santa Fe, New Mexico, June 1990 (Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity Lectures)

The idea of a 'complex system' remains, despite nebulous, despite persistent attempts at classification and characterization. In its three-year history, the Complex Systems Summer School had developed as a leading force in complexity education and research and contributed in a lasting way to the search for a true definition of a complex system. Booknews An excellent series presenting top lecturers from the best institute for complex systems. Topics covered include: stochastic processes; fluid flow; pattern formation; information-based complexity; motor system problems; and the nature of adaptive change. Computer science, economics and business, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and linguistics all enter into this diverse field. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) This report contains the following papers: modeling complex systems: Stochastic processes, stochastic differential equations, and fokker-planck equations; complexity in fluids; pattern formation in chemical systems: Roles of open reactors; experimental analysis of disordered systems; theory and applications of information-based complexity; some learning tasks from a control perspective; moving a human or robot arm with many degrees of freedom: Issues and ideas; control of tongue movement dynamics; models of somatotopic map organization; sex and evolution; dynamics of neutral excitability; linking structure and function: Information processing in the brain; physiological studies in silico; nonlinear dynamics of neutral delayed feedback; functional self-organization in complex systems; forecasting chaotic computational ecosystems; singularities for complex hyperbolic equations; an overview of the minimum description length principle; equations of motion from data with hidden variables; spectral entropy and self-organization; asynchronous parallel simulated annealing; dynamics of a trapped ion driven by stochastic optical processes; undecidability in the adaptive system; bifurications and chaos in a Paradigm equation for delayed mixed feedback; asymptotic periodicity in one-dimensional maps; and theme and variations: Spin glasses, neutral networks, and prebiotic evolution This book reflects the topics discussed in the 1990 Complex Systems Summer School, covering both the nature and substance of the lectures and seminars that deal with experimental results and numerical simulations on sand piles, avalanches, and self-organized criticality.