{"product_id":"signals-and-boundaries-john-h-holland-9780262525930","title":"Signals and Boundaries: Building Blocks for Complex Adaptive Systems","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn overarching framework for comparing and steering complex adaptive systems is developed through understanding the mechanisms that generate their intricate signal\/boundary hierarchies.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003eComplex adaptive systems (cas), including ecosystems, governments, biological cells, and markets, are characterized by intricate hierarchical arrangements of boundaries and signals. In ecosystems, for example, niches act as semi-permeable boundaries, and smells and visual patterns serve as signals; governments have departmental hierarchies with memoranda acting as signals; and so it is with other cas. Despite a wealth of data and descriptions concerning different cas, there remain many unanswered questions about \"steering\" these systems. In \u003ci\u003eSignals and Boundaries\u003c\/i\u003e, John Holland argues that understanding the origin of the intricate signal\/border hierarchies of these systems is the key to answering such questions. He develops an overarching framework for comparing and steering cas through the mechanisms that generate their signal\/boundary hierarchies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHolland lays out a path for developing the framework that emphasizes agents, niches, theory, and mathematical models. He discusses, among other topics, theory construction; signal-processing agents; networks as representations of signal\/boundary interaction; adaptation; recombination and reproduction; the use of tagged urn models (adapted from elementary probability theory) to represent boundary hierarchies; finitely generated systems as a way to tie the models examined into a single framework; the framework itself, illustrated by a simple finitely generated version of the development of a multi-celled organism; and Markov processes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e John H. Holland\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0262525933\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780262525930\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e MIT Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 01\/10\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 316\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.69lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.67h x 5.30w x 0.64d","brand":"John H. Holland","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43987273023743,"sku":"9780262525930","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_bc6f053f-529a-4d7d-a0b0-0d6cc92edf9b.jpg?v=1683287995","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/signals-and-boundaries-john-h-holland-9780262525930","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}