Disordered Systems and Biological Organization

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-XXI

   PDF

2. Automata Theory

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

      PDF

   2. Cellular Automata Models of Disorder And Organization

      • Gérard Y. Vichniac

      Pages 3-20

   3. Dynamics and Self-Organization in One-Dimensional Arrays

      • Maurice Tchuente

      Pages 21-32

   4. Basic Results for the Behaviour of Discrete Iterations

      • François Robert

      Pages 33-47

   5. On Some Dynamical Properties of Monotone Networks

      • Yves Robert, Maurice Tchuente

      Pages 49-52

   6. Inhomogeneous Cellular Automata (INCA)

      • H. Hartman, G. Y. Vichniac

      Pages 53-57

   7. The Ising Model And The Rudin-Shapiro Sequence

      • Jean-Paul Allouche

      Pages 59-62

   8. Dynamical Properties of An Automaton with Memory

      • Michel Cosnard, Eric Goles Chacc

      Pages 63-66

   9. Dynamics of Random Boolean Networks

      • Didier Pellegrin

      Pages 67-70

   10. Random Fields And Spatial Renewal Potentials

       • J. Demongeot, J. Fricot

       Pages 71-84

   11. Lyapunov Functions and Their USE in Automata Networks

       • F. Fogelman Soulie

       Pages 85-100

   12. Positive Automata Networks

       • E. Goles

       Pages 101-112

   13. Directional Entropies of Cellular Automaton-Maps

       • John Milnor

       Pages 113-115

3. Physical Disordered Systems

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 117-117

      PDF

   2. On the Statistical Physics of Spin Glasses

      • M. Mézard

      Pages 119-132

   3. Symbolic Computation Methods for Some Spin Glasses Problems

      • Bernard Lacolle

      Pages 133-148

   4. Order and Defects in Geometrically Frustrated Systems

      • R. Mosseri, J. F. Sadoc

      Pages 149-152

4. Formal Neural Networks

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 153-153

      PDF

   2. Collective Computation With Continuous Variables

      • J. J. Hopfield, D. W. Tank

      Pages 155-170

The NATO workshop on Disordered Systems and Biological Organization was attended, in march 1985, by 65 scientists representing a large variety of fields: Mathematics, Computer Science, Physics and Biology. It was the purpose of this interdisciplinary workshop to shed light on the conceptual connections existing between fields of research apparently as different as: automata theory, combinatorial optimization, spin glasses and modeling of biological systems, all of them concerned with the global organization of complex systems, locally interconnected. Common to many contributions to this volume is the underlying analogy between biological systems and spin glasses: they share the same properties of stability and diversity. This is the case for instance of primary sequences of biopo Iymers I ike proteins and nucleic acids considered as the result of mutation-selection processes [P. W. Anderson, 1983] or of evolving biological species [G. Weisbuch, 1984]. Some of the most striking aspects of our cognitive apparatus, involved In learning and recognttlon [J. Hopfield, 19821, can also be described in terms of stability and diversity in a suitable configuration space. These interpretations and preoccupations merge with those of theoretical biologists like S. Kauffman [1969] (genetic networks) and of mathematicians of automata theory: the dynamics of networks of automata can be interpreted in terms of organization of a system in multiple possible attractors. The present introduction outlInes the relationships between the contributions presented at the workshop and brIefly discusses each paper in its particular scientific context.

• automata
• combinatorial optimization
• computer science
• learning
• mathematics
• modeling
• mutation
• optimization

• Laboratoire de Neurobiologie du Développement, Université de Paris XI, Orsay, France

  E. Bienenstock

• Laboratoire de Dynamique des Reseaux, L.D.R. CESTA, Paris, France

  F. Fogelman Soulié

• Groupe de Physique des Solides, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

  G. Weisbuch

Policies and ethics