Experimental econophysics: Complexity, self-organization, and emergent properties

2015 ◽  
Vol 564 ◽  
pp. 1-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.P. Huang
Keyword(s):  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties

scholarly journals Data-driven modeling reveals cell behaviors controlling self-organization during Myxococcus xanthus development

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (23) ◽  
pp. E4592-E4601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher R. Cotter ◽  
Heinz-Bernd Schüttler ◽  
Oleg A. Igoshin ◽  
Lawrence J. Shimkets
Keyword(s):  
Cell Tracking ◽  
Myxococcus Xanthus ◽  
Cell Movement ◽  
Modeling Method ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Developmental Cycle ◽  
Fluorescent Cell ◽  
Cell Behaviors

Collective cell movement is critical to the emergent properties of many multicellular systems, including microbial self-organization in biofilms, embryogenesis, wound healing, and cancer metastasis. However, even the best-studied systems lack a complete picture of how diverse physical and chemical cues act upon individual cells to ensure coordinated multicellular behavior. Known for its social developmental cycle, the bacterium Myxococcus xanthus uses coordinated movement to generate three-dimensional aggregates called fruiting bodies. Despite extensive progress in identifying genes controlling fruiting body development, cell behaviors and cell–cell communication mechanisms that mediate aggregation are largely unknown. We developed an approach to examine emergent behaviors that couples fluorescent cell tracking with data-driven models. A unique feature of this approach is the ability to identify cell behaviors affecting the observed aggregation dynamics without full knowledge of the underlying biological mechanisms. The fluorescent cell tracking revealed large deviations in the behavior of individual cells. Our modeling method indicated that decreased cell motility inside the aggregates, a biased walk toward aggregate centroids, and alignment among neighboring cells in a radial direction to the nearest aggregate are behaviors that enhance aggregation dynamics. Our modeling method also revealed that aggregation is generally robust to perturbations in these behaviors and identified possible compensatory mechanisms. The resulting approach of directly combining behavior quantification with data-driven simulations can be applied to more complex systems of collective cell movement without prior knowledge of the cellular machinery and behavioral cues.

Epilogue

2020 ◽  
pp. 133-134
Author(s):  
Daniel Oro
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Group Versus ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Animal Groups ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Share Information

Complex social animal groups behave as self-organized, single structures: they feed together, they defend against predators together, they escape from perturbations and disperse and migrate together and they share information. It is modestly evident that many individuals sharing information about their environment may be more successful in coping with perturbations than solitary individuals gathering information on their own. The group exists for and by means of all the individuals, and these exist for and by means of the group. Social groups have emergent properties that cannot be easily explained by either selection or self-organization. Yet, sociality has been shaped by the two forces. How sociality has evolved by selection is puzzling also because it confronts the benefits of the group versus the benefits of the individual, which is a historically debated theme. There are many other open questions about sociality that I have explored in this book. But in the end, the process that has fascinated me the most is social copying. Despite the sophisticated mechanisms evolved in increasing information in social groups—which has culminated in humans with language and technological interconnections—it is impressive how a simple behaviour such as social copying has maintained its strength when individuals make any kind of decisions, from insignificant to transcendent....

scholarly journals Curriculum Studies Based on Complexity Science

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang Shihui ◽  
Guo Shaodong
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive System ◽  
Complex Adaptive System ◽  
Complexity Science ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Scientific Development ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
System Complexity ◽  
Curriculum Research ◽  
Complex Adaptive ◽  
Research Curriculum

Complexity science is in the forefront of contemporary scientific development; its rise and development triggered the breakthrough and innovation of methodology in scientific research. Curriculum is a complex adaptive system. Complexity curriculum research also includes nonlinearity, uncertainty, self-organization and emergent properties.

scholarly journals Insights from the study of complex systems for the ecology and evolution of animal populations

2019 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
David N Fisher ◽  
Jonathan N Pruitt
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Complex Systems ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Complexity Science ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Ecological Data ◽  
Animal Populations ◽  
Key Characteristics ◽  
And Behavior

Abstract Populations of animals comprise many individuals, interacting in multiple contexts, and displaying heterogeneous behaviors. The interactions among individuals can often create population dynamics that are fundamentally deterministic yet display unpredictable dynamics. Animal populations can, therefore, be thought of as complex systems. Complex systems display properties such as nonlinearity and uncertainty and show emergent properties that cannot be explained by a simple sum of the interacting components. Any system where entities compete, cooperate, or interfere with one another may possess such qualities, making animal populations similar on many levels to complex systems. Some fields are already embracing elements of complexity to help understand the dynamics of animal populations, but a wider application of complexity science in ecology and evolution has not occurred. We review here how approaches from complexity science could be applied to the study of the interactions and behavior of individuals within animal populations and highlight how this way of thinking can enhance our understanding of population dynamics in animals. We focus on 8 key characteristics of complex systems: hierarchy, heterogeneity, self-organization, openness, adaptation, memory, nonlinearity, and uncertainty. For each topic we discuss how concepts from complexity theory are applicable in animal populations and emphasize the unique insights they provide. We finish by outlining outstanding questions or predictions to be evaluated using behavioral and ecological data. Our goal throughout this article is to familiarize animal ecologists with the basics of each of these concepts and highlight the new perspectives that they could bring to variety of subfields.

scholarly journals Self-organization of river vegetation leads to emergent buffering of river flows and water levels

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1931) ◽  
pp. 20201147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loreta Cornacchia ◽  
Geraldene Wharton ◽  
Grieg Davies ◽  
Robert C. Grabowski ◽  
Stijn Temmerman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Field Data ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Low Flow ◽  
Stream Ecosystems ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Hydrodynamic Conditions ◽  
Local Flow ◽  
Hydrological Conditions ◽  
Flow Velocities

Global climate change is expected to impact hydrodynamic conditions in stream ecosystems. There is limited understanding of how stream ecosystems interact and possibly adapt to novel hydrodynamic conditions. Combining mathematical modelling with field data, we demonstrate that bio-physical feedback between plant growth and flow redistribution triggers spatial self-organization of in-channel vegetation that buffers for changed hydrological conditions. The interplay of vegetation growth and hydrodynamics results in a spatial separation of the stream into densely vegetated, low-flow zones divided by unvegetated channels of higher flow velocities. This self-organization process decouples both local flow velocities and water levels from the forcing effect of changing stream discharge. Field data from two lowland, baseflow-dominated streams support model predictions and highlight two important stream-level emergent properties: vegetation controls flow conveyance in fast-flowing channels throughout the annual growth cycle, and this buffering of discharge variations maintains water depths and wetted habitat for the stream community. Our results provide important evidence of how plant-driven self-organization allows stream ecosystems to adapt to changing hydrological conditions, maintaining suitable hydrodynamic conditions to support high biodiversity.

Ansatz for Dynamical Hierarchies

2001 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steen Rasmussen ◽  
Nils A. Baas ◽  
Bernd Mayer ◽  
Martin Nilsson
Keyword(s):  
Self Assembly ◽  
Lattice Gas ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Simulation Framework ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Polymer Aggregates ◽  
Physicochemical Simulation ◽  
Different Levels

Complex, robust functionalities can be generated naturally in at least two ways: by the assembly of structures and by the evolution of structures. This work is concerned with spontaneous formation of structures. We define the notion of dynamical hierarchies in natural systems and show the importance of this particular kind of organization for living systems. We then define a framework that enables us to formulate, investigate, and manipulate such dynamical hierarchies. This framework allows us to simultaneously investigate different levels of description together with their interrelationship, which is necessary to understand the nature of dynamical hierarchies. Our framework is then applied to a concrete and very simple formal, physicochemical, dynamical hierarchy involving water and monomers at level one, polymers and water at level two, and micelles (polymer aggregates) and water at level three. Formulating this system as a simple two-dimensional molecular dynamics (MD) lattice gas allows us within one dynamical system to demonstrate the successive emergence of two higher levels (three levels all together) of robust structures with associated properties. Second, we demonstrate how the framework for dynamical hierarchies can be used for realistic (predictive) physicochemical simulation of molecular self-assembly and self-organization processes. We discuss the detailed process of micellation using the three-dimensional MD lattice gas. Finally, from these examples we can infer principles about formal dynamical hierarchies. We present an ansatz for how to generate robust, higher-order emergent properties in formal dynamical systems that is based on a conjecture of a necessary minimal complexity within the fundamental interacting structures once a particular simulation framework is chosen.

The role of self-organisation in the emergence of phonological systems

1999 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier Demolin ◽  
Alain Soquet
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Regulatory Networks ◽  
Vocal Tract ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
External Influence ◽  
Self Organized ◽  
Sound Patterns

The origin of phonological systems is examined from the paradigm of self-organization. We claim that phonological systems could have emerged as the product of self-organizing processes. Self-organization may have facilitated the evolution of structures within the sounds that humans were able to produce. One of the main points of the paper concerns the identification of the processes which could account for the self-organized behavior of sound systems used in languages spoken by humans. In this paradigm, phonological systems or sound patterns of human languages are emergent properties of these systems rather than properties imposed by some external influence. Regulations are defined as the constraints that adjust the rate of production of the elements of a system to the state of the system and of relevant environmental variables. The main operators of these adjustments are feedback loops. Two types of processes can be distinguished in regulatory networks, homeostatic and epigenetic. Since the origin of sound patterns, of human languages, is in the vocal tract constraints, we make the hypothesis that sound change does not reflect any adaptive character but rather is the phonetic modality of differentiation understood as epigenetic regulation.

scholarly journals Alternative mechanisms alter the emergent properties of self-organization in mussel beds

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1739) ◽  
pp. 2744-2753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quan-Xing Liu ◽  
Ellen J. Weerman ◽  
Peter M. J. Herman ◽  
Han Olff ◽  
Johan van de Koppel
Keyword(s):  
Pattern Formation ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Ecosystem Functioning ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Mussel Beds ◽  
Contrasting Effect ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Facilitative Interactions

Theoretical models predict that spatial self-organization can have important, unexpected implications by affecting the functioning of ecosystems in terms of resilience and productivity. Whether and how these emergent effects depend on specific formulations of the underlying mechanisms are questions that are often ignored. Here, we compare two alternative models of regular spatial pattern formation in mussel beds that have different mechanistic descriptions of the facilitative interactions between mussels. The first mechanism involves a reduced mussel loss rate at high density owing to mutual protection between the mussels, which is the basis of prior studies on the pattern formation in mussels. The second mechanism assumes, based on novel experimental evidence, that mussels feed more efficiently on top of mussel-generated hummocks. Model simulations point out that the second mechanism produces very similar types of spatial patterns in mussel beds. Yet the mechanisms predict a strikingly contrasting effect of these spatial patterns on ecosystem functioning, in terms of productivity and resilience. In the first model, where high mussel densities reduce mussel loss rates, patterns are predicted to strongly increase productivity and decrease the recovery time of the bed following a disturbance. When pattern formation is generated by increased feeding efficiency on hummocks, only minor emergent effects of pattern formation on ecosystem functioning are predicted. Our results provide a warning against predictions of the implications and emergent properties of spatial self-organization, when the mechanisms that underlie self-organization are incompletely understood and not based on the experimental study.

scholarly journals Visioning a Sustainable Energy Future: The Case of Urban Food-Growing

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 183-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Biel
Keyword(s):  
Soil Structure ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Emergent Properties ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
High Productivity ◽  
Class Society ◽  
Energy Needs ◽  
Physical Energy

This article outlines a future where society re-energizes itself, in the sense both of recapturing creative dynamism and of applying creativity to meeting physical energy needs. Both require us to embrace self-organizing properties, whether in nature or society. The author critically appraises backcasting as a methodology for visioning, arguing that backcasting’s potential for radical, outside-the-box thinking is restricted unless it contemplates a break with class society, connects with existing grassroots struggles (notably over land) and dialogues with the utopian socialist tradition. The article develops a case study of food, starting from the physical parameters of combating the entropy expressed in the loss of soil structure, and applies this to urban food-growing. Drawing upon ‘real utopias’ of existing practice, the author proposes a threefold categorization – subsistence plots, an urban forest, and an ultra-high productivity sector – and emphasizes the emergent properties of such a complex system characterized by the ‘free energy’ of societal self-organization.

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