Complex Systems And Society

Author : R. Keith Sawyer
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780521844642
Total Pages : 296 pages
Book Rating : 4.49/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Social Emergence written by R. Keith Sawyer and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2005-10-27 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that societies are complex dynamical systems that can be understood through the concept of emergence.

Author : Nicola Bellomo
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 1461472423
Total Pages : 102 pages
Book Rating : 4.21/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complex Systems and Society written by Nicola Bellomo and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-05-24 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work aims to foster the interdisciplinary dialogue between mathematicians and socio-economic scientists. Interaction among scholars and practitioners traditionally coming from different research areas is necessary more than ever in order to better understand many real-world problems we face today. On the one hand, mathematicians need economists and social scientists to better address the methodologies they design in a more realistic way; on the other hand, economists and social scientists need to be aware of sound mathematical modelling tools in order to understand and, ultimately, solve the complex problems they encounter in their research. With this goal in mind, this work is designed to take into account a multidisciplinary approach that will encourage the transfer of knowledge, ideas, and methodology from one discipline to the other. In particular, the work has three main themes: Demystifying and unravelling complex systems; Introducing models of individual behaviours in the social and economic sciences; Modelling socio-economic sciences as complex living systems. Specific tools examined in the work include a recently developed modelling approach using stochastic game theory within the framework of statistical mechanics and progressing up to modeling Darwinian evolution. Special attention is also devoted to social network theory as a fundamental instrument for the understanding of socio-economic systems.​

Author : Philip Ball
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 3642290000
Total Pages : 71 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Why Society is a Complex Matter written by Philip Ball and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-06-09 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Society is complicated. But this book argues that this does not place it beyond the reach of a science that can help to explain and perhaps even to predict social behaviour. As a system made up of many interacting agents – people, groups, institutions and governments, as well as physical and technological structures such as roads and computer networks – society can be regarded as a complex system. In recent years, scientists have made great progress in understanding how such complex systems operate, ranging from animal populations to earthquakes and weather. These systems show behaviours that cannot be predicted or intuited by focusing on the individual components, but which emerge spontaneously as a consequence of their interactions: they are said to be ‘self-organized’. Attempts to direct or manage such emergent properties generally reveal that ‘top-down’ approaches, which try to dictate a particular outcome, are ineffectual, and that what is needed instead is a ‘bottom-up’ approach that aims to guide self-organization towards desirable states. This book shows how some of these ideas from the science of complexity can be applied to the study and management of social phenomena, including traffic flow, economic markets, opinion formation and the growth and structure of cities. Building on these successes, the book argues that the complex-systems view of the social sciences has now matured sufficiently for it to be possible, desirable and perhaps essential to attempt a grander objective: to integrate these efforts into a unified scheme for studying, understanding and ultimately predicting what happens in the world we have made. Such a scheme would require the mobilization and collaboration of many different research communities, and would allow society and its interactions with the physical environment to be explored through realistic models and large-scale data collection and analysis. It should enable us to find new and effective solutions to major global problems such as conflict, disease, financial instability, environmental despoliation and poverty, while avoiding unintended policy consequences. It could give us the foresight to anticipate and ameliorate crises, and to begin tackling some of the most intractable problems of the twenty-first century.

Author : Guillaume Deffuant
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3642204236
Total Pages : 227 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Viability and Resilience of Complex Systems written by Guillaume Deffuant and published by Springer. This book was released on 2011-08-03 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One common characteristics of a complex system is its ability to withstand major disturbances and the capacity to rebuild itself. Understanding how such systems demonstrate resilience by absorbing or recovering from major external perturbations requires both quantitative foundations and a multidisciplinary view on the topic. This book demonstrates how new methods can be used to identify the actions favouring the recovery from perturbations. Examples discussed include bacterial biofilms resisting detachment, grassland savannahs recovering from fire, the dynamics of language competition and Internet social networking sites overcoming vandalism. The reader is taken through an introduction to the idea of resilience and viability and shown the mathematical basis of the techniques used to analyse systems. The idea of individual or agent-based modelling of complex systems is introduced and related to analytically tractable approximations of such models. A set of case studies illustrates the use of the techniques in real applications, and the final section describes how one can use new and elaborate software tools for carrying out the necessary calculations. The book is intended for a general scientific audience of readers from the natural and social sciences, yet requires some mathematics to gain a full understanding of the more theoretical chapters. It is an essential point of reference for those interested in the practical application of the concepts of resilience and viability

Author : Anamaria Berea
Publisher : BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN 13 : 1789857791
Total Pages : 100 pages
Book Rating : 4.95/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Complex Systems Perspective of Communication from Cells to Societies written by Anamaria Berea and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2019-03-20 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an interdisciplinary effort to understand the evolution of communication from cells to societies, both in living organisms and in non-living ones, such as designed or emergent systems from socio-technological innovations (i.e., digital communication, institutional communication). It aims to provide better understanding of the universal versus contextual patterns of communication that we can potentially classify and identify if we look deeper into the history and evolution of this phenomenon at large. Novel research from a variety of disciplines, such as information theory, biology, linguistics, culture and social science that take a complex perspective is being explored, for an integrated understanding of what communication is at a fundamental level.

Author : John H. Miller
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 0465073867
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.63/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Crude Look at the Whole written by John H. Miller and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2016-01-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A top expert explains why a social and economic understanding of complex systems will help society to anticipate and confront our biggest challenges Imagine trying to understand a stained glass window by breaking it into pieces and examining it one shard at a time. While you could probably learn a lot about each piece, you would have no idea about what the entire picture looks like. This is reductionism -- the idea that to understand the world we only need to study its pieces -- and it is how most social scientists approach their work. In A Crude Look at the Whole, social scientist and economist John H. Miller shows why we need to start looking at whole pictures. For one thing, whether we are talking about stock markets, computer networks, or biological organisms, individual parts only make sense when we remember that they are part of larger wholes. And perhaps more importantly, those wholes can take on behaviors that are strikingly different from that of their pieces. Miller, a leading expert in the computational study of complex adaptive systems, reveals astounding global patterns linking the organization of otherwise radically different structures: It might seem crude, but a beehive's temperature control system can help predict market fluctuations and a mammal's heartbeat can help us understand the "heartbeat" of a city and adapt urban planning accordingly. From enduring racial segregation to sudden stock market disasters, once we start drawing links between complex systems, we can start solving what otherwise might be totally intractable problems. Thanks to this revolutionary perspective, we can finally transcend the limits of reductionism and discover crucial new ideas. Scientifically founded and beautifully written, A Crude Look at the Whole is a powerful exploration of the challenges that we face as a society. As it reveals, taking the crude look might be the only way to truly see.

Author : Vaclav Smil
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262195658
Total Pages : 495 pages
Book Rating : 4.52/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Energy in Nature and Society written by Vaclav Smil and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive, systematic, analytically unified, and interdisciplinary treatment of energy in nature and society, from solar radiation and photosynthesis to our fossil fueled civilization and its environmental consequences.

Author : Yorghos Apostolopoulos
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190880767
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Complex Systems and Population Health written by Yorghos Apostolopoulos and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-29 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Currently, population health science is an integral part of global academic curricula. For over a century, the principles of the reductionist paradigm have guided population health curricula, training, research, and action. Researchers continue to draw upon these principles when theorizing, conceptualizing, designing studies, analyzing, and devising interventions to tackle complex population health problems. However, unresolved impasses in addressing pressing population health challenges have catalyzed calls for the integration of complex-systems-science-grounded approaches into population health science. Mounting evidence denotes that a complex systems paradigm can bring about dramatic, multipronged changes for education and training, and lead to innovative research, interventions, and policies. Despite the large and untapped promise of complex systems, the haphazard knowledge base from which academics, researchers, students, policymakers, and practitioners can draw has slowed their integration into the population health sciences. This volume fulfils this growing need by providing the knowledge base necessary to introduce a holistic complex systems paradigm in population health science. As such, it is the first comprehensive book in population health science that meaningfully integrates complex systems theory, methodology, modeling, computational simulation, and real-world applications, while incorporating current population health theoretical, methodological and analytical perspectives. It is intended as a programmatic primer across a broad spectrum of population health stakeholders: from university professors and graduate students, to researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

Author : George E. Mobus
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1493919202
Total Pages : 782 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Principles of Systems Science written by George E. Mobus and published by Springer. This book was released on 2014-11-10 with total page 782 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering text provides a comprehensive introduction to systems structure, function, and modeling as applied in all fields of science and engineering. Systems understanding is increasingly recognized as a key to a more holistic education and greater problem solving skills, and is also reflected in the trend toward interdisciplinary approaches to research on complex phenomena. While the concepts and components of systems science will continue to be distributed throughout the various disciplines, undergraduate degree programs in systems science are also being developed, including at the authors’ own institutions. However, the subject is approached, systems science as a basis for understanding the components and drivers of phenomena at all scales should be viewed with the same importance as a traditional liberal arts education. Principles of Systems Science contains many graphs, illustrations, side bars, examples, and problems to enhance understanding. From basic principles of organization, complexity, abstract representations, and behavior (dynamics) to deeper aspects such as the relations between information, knowledge, computation, and system control, to higher order aspects such as auto-organization, emergence and evolution, the book provides an integrated perspective on the comprehensive nature of systems. It ends with practical aspects such as systems analysis, computer modeling, and systems engineering that demonstrate how the knowledge of systems can be used to solve problems in the real world. Each chapter is broken into parts beginning with qualitative descriptions that stand alone for students who have taken intermediate algebra. The second part presents quantitative descriptions that are based on pre-calculus and advanced algebra, providing a more formal treatment for students who have the necessary mathematical background. Numerous examples of systems from every realm of life, including the physical and biological sciences, humanities, social sciences, engineering, pre-med and pre-law, are based on the fundamental systems concepts of boundaries, components as subsystems, processes as flows of materials, energy, and messages, work accomplished, functions performed, hierarchical structures, and more. Understanding these basics enables further understanding both of how systems endure and how they may become increasingly complex and exhibit new properties or characteristics. Serves as a textbook for teaching systems fundamentals in any discipline or for use in an introductory course in systems science degree programs Addresses a wide range of audiences with different levels of mathematical sophistication Includes open-ended questions in special boxes intended to stimulate integrated thinking and class discussion Describes numerous examples of systems in science and society Captures the trend towards interdisciplinary research and problem solving

Author : Robert B. Northrop
Publisher : CRC Press
ISBN 13 : 1439894981
Total Pages : 551 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Introduction to Complexity and Complex Systems written by Robert B. Northrop and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2010-12-10 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The boundaries between simple and complicated, and complicated and complex system designations are fuzzy and debatable, even using quantitative measures of complexity. However, if you are a biomedical engineer, a biologist, physiologist, economist, politician, stock market speculator, or politician, you have encountered complex systems. Furthermore, your success depends on your ability to successfully interact with and manage a variety of complex systems. In order not to be blindsided by unexpected results, we need a systematic, comprehensive way of analyzing, modeling, and simulating complex systems to predict non-anticipated outcomes. In its engaging first chapters, the book introduces complex systems, Campbell's Law, and the Law of Unintended Consequences, and mathematics necessary for conversations in complex systems. Subsequent chapters illustrate concepts via commonly studied biological mechanisms. The final chapters focus on higher-level complexity problems, and introduce complexity in economic systems. Designed as a reference for biologists and biological engineers, Introduction to Complexity and Complex Systems lends itself to use in a classroom course to introduce advanced students studying biomedical engineering, biophysics, or physiology to complex systems. Engaging and illustrative, this book aids scientists and decision makers in managing biological complexity and complex systems.