Foundations of complex systems : emergence, information and predicition / G. Nicolis, C. Nicolis.

This book provides a self-contained presentation of the physical and mathematical laws governing complex systems. Complex systems arising in natural, engineering, environmental, life and social sciences are approached from a unifying point of view using an array of methodologies such as microscopic and macroscopic level formulations, deterministic and probabilistic tools, modeling and simulation. The book can be used as a textbook by graduate students, researchers and teachers in science, as well as non-experts who wish to have an overview of one of the most open, markedly interdisciplinary an.

Preface; Preface to the Second Edition; Contents; 1 The Phenomenology of Complex Systems; 1.1 Complexity, a new paradigm; 1.2 Signatures of complexity; 1.3 Onset of complexity; 1.4 Four case studies; 1.4.1 Emergence of macroscopic order: Rayleigh-Benard convection; 1.4.2 The challenge of prediction: atmospheric and climatic variability; 1.4.3 Information transfer and collective decision making: food recruitment in ants; 1.4.4 Human systems; 1.5 Summing up; Exercises and Problems; Relevant references; 2 Deterministic View; 2.1 Dynamical systems, phase space, stability.

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