The ISU Complex Adaptive Systems Workshop
Fall 1999 Schedule

Fall 1999 Regular Meeting Time and Place:

Wednesday, 3:30-5:00 A.M., 3004/3006 Black Engineering (unless otherwise indicated)

Last Updated: 2 November 1999

Site maintained by:

Leigh Tesfatsion
Department of Economics
Iowa State University
Ames, Iowa 50011-1070
http://www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/
tesfatsi@iastate.edu

CAS Workshop Homepage

September 8: "Overview of Complex Systems" moderated by VASANT HONAVAR (CS). Reading: Introductory chapters from Yaneer Bar-Yam, Dynamics of Complex Systems, Addison-Wesley, MA, 1997. ISBN 0-201-55748-7

Abstract: The main focus of the Fall 1999 CAS Workshop will be on a set of topics that cut across different systems that are often labeled as complex systems, e.g., neural networks, economies, ecologies, proteins, cells, etc. The main readings for the first portion of the Fall 1999 CAS Workshop will be drawn from the Bar-Yam text, which focuses on the following four questions: The September 8 workshop will initiate a discussion of these four questions.

September 15: "Defining CAS: A Test of the Hypothesis `You Know One When You See One'" moderated by LEIGH TESFATSION (Econ).

Abstract: Leigh will repeat her tutorial from a few years back, where she presented a series of artificial life (alife) models including models from the molecular level (RNA experiments), cellular automata (Conway's Game of Life), hardware and software modellings of organisms (the robot Genghis, the Genesis Tracker model of a foraging ant), and hardware and software modellings of interacting populations (robot herds, SimBioSys, trade network games, Simbots, Tierra, Echo, Sugarscape). This time, however, she will intersperse the examples with some of Vasant's transparencies from his September 8 talk in which he suggests a list of attributes for defining complex adaptive systems (CAS). The question will be which (if any) of these examples do workshop participants agree are CAS, and why, and how does this relate to Vasant's list of candidate attributes?"

September 22: "The Restless Genotype-Phenotype Map: An Exploration of Genetic Architecture and Evolutionary Opportunity in Protein Space" moderated by GAVIN NAYLOR (Zoology/Genetics).

Abstract: There are a huge number of different life forms on earth. This diversity suggests that change from one kind of life form to another (evolution) is a fairly easy thing to do. Evolutionary biologists would like to know how organisms acquire new traits and how the underlying "permissive" genetic architecture is structured to facilitate innovation and evolutionary change. It may be possible to get some clues as to how the process works by looking at an analogous problem: how proteins evolve and how they acquire new functions. I will present a multidimensional graphical representation of protein evolution that mirrors many of the problems and processes that occur at higher levels of organization.

September 29: "An Introduction to Cellular Automata" moderated by DAN ASHLOCK (Mathematics).

Abstract: One tool in the study of complex systems is the cellular automaton. An example presented this semester is Conway's game of life. In general, cellular automata are discrete dynamical systems in which a set of cells, organized into neighborhoods, each take on some state. These states may be as simple as on-off or as complex as real values of finite state machines. The states are updated with a neighborhood-based rule, generating dynamical behavior. In this talk cellular automata will be introduced. We will also cover:

October 6: "Dissipative Systems and the Emergence of Order", moderated by RON NELSON (Mechanical Engineering). Reading: Pages 57--72 of Klaus Manzer, Thinking in Complexity: The Complex Dynamics of Matter, Mind, and Mankind, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.

Abstract: A brief review of equilibrium thermodynamics will first be presented, followed by a discussion of some topics from nonequilibrium thermodynamics. We will try to figure out how nonconservative, irreversible, nonequilibrium, and nonlinear processes relate to CAS. These processes lead to dissipative structures that can create ordered behaviors in physical systems.

October 13: Continuation of October 6th discussion of "Dissipative Systems and the Emergence of Order", moderated by RON NELSON (Mechanical Engineering).

October 20: No Meeting

October 27: "Information and Adaptation", moderated by JOHN MAYFIELD (Zoology/Genetics).

Shannon's approach will first be placed in a general perspective, a way to relate "information" to "depth" will be introduced, and a definition of adaptation as an information accumulating process will then be presented.

November 3: "Foundations of Kolmogorov Complexity", moderated by JACK LUTZ (Computer Science).