UMBC
Fall 2003, TTh 11:30-12:45, FH227
Prof. Marie desJardins
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Gary Flake, "The Computational Beauty of Nature," MIT Press, 1998 (primary textbook) |
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Y. Bar-Yam, "Unifying Principles in Complex Systems" |
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Douglas Hofstadter, "Godel, Escher, Bach" (excerpts) |
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D. A. Hoskins, "An iterated function systems approach to emergence" |
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Steven Strogatz, "Exploring Complex Networks" |
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J. Lygeros et al., "A design framework for hierarchical, hybrid control" |
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Additional readings TBA |
Week 1: Introduction to Emergence. Assignment: Find emergent systems in daily life. Play the MIT Beer Game.
Week 2: Computation (Flake, Part I; Hofstadter excerpts). Assignment: Begin hands-on system design.
Week 3: Fractals (Flake, Part II; paper TBA on L-systems).
Week 4/5: Chaos (Flake, Part III). Hands-on system design due. In-class demonstrations.
Week 6/7: Complex Systems (Flake, Part IV; Bar-Yam; Strogatz). Proposals for in-depth paper due.
Week 8/9: Adaptation (Flake, Part V; papers TBA on evolutionary programming; papers TBA on artificial life)
Week 10: Survey paper planning. Assignment: Bibliography annotations.
Week 11: Further reading. Research proposal planning. Assignment: Survey paper draft sections.
Weeks 12/13: Student presentations.
Weeks 14/15: Further reading. Polish survey paper and research proposals.