Madison 2008 Pre-Conference Workshops

Workshop 1

KEY TOOLS FOR DOING SYSTEMS SCIENCE

TOOLS FOR INTEGRATION & SYNTHESIS RULES FOR ABSTRACTION & DEABSTRACTION

Led by: Professor Len Troncale

Sunday, July 13th, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Integration and Synthesis are among the most recognized and honored of intellectual achievements. Everything from radically successful entrepreneurs in business, industry, and engineering to Nobel prizes in the natural and economic sciences depends on new integration and synthesis. But while we honor and reward such accomplishments, we do not have an acceptable and consensus toolbox of techniques for integration and synthesis. In fact, synthesis and integration are not serious topics in our curricula at any level. If it is so crucial, why are integration and synthesis not taught anywhere?

The goal of this 2-hour Workshop will be to diagnose this problem and present a series of practical tools and techniques to do synthesis and integration in any field. During the Workshop, we will cover the much neglected, but powerful tool of General Morphology introduced by Fritz Zwicky at Caltech. This tool is relevant to systems theory and demonstrated practicality in a range of engineering applications.

Some of the topics that will be discussed will include:

Presenter: Dr. Len Troncale was Managing Director of the ISSS for nearly ten years, and then ISSS President. He has been on the Boards of the IFSR, and WISINET and on the Editorial Boards of several systems journals. He was Director of the Institute for Advanced Systems Studies for 30 years and author of systems science curricula. Professor Emeritus of Biology.

Method: Fifteen minutes of intense ppt presentation on each of the above topics will be followed by fifteen minutes of open discussion by the group on that topic continuing until the time is exhausted. PPts will be distributed to participants. A major Workshop goal is to stimulate international collaboration to continue work on integration of GTS’s between annual conferences and enable cooperation in disseminating SSP across the many new systems conference venues.

Fee: $15, payable at the event

Venue: Look for signs in ISSS Registration area. Receipts will be available for use as educational or business tax deduction. RSVP to lrtroncale@csupomona.edu of intent to attend so appropriate numbers of handouts can be printed.

Workshop 2

FUNDAMENTALS OF RELATIONAL SCIENCE: BUILDING A CURRICULUM

Led by: John Kineman and Judith Rosen

Sunday, July 13, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

This workshop will focus on foundational concepts in the emerging field of relational science. As a group, we will review the basic assumptions of this science, which were derived primarily from the work of Dr. Robert Rosen, mathematical biologist and former ISSS president. The workshop will go beyond Rosen's development, following his many hints and leads, to establish a clear and teachable set of ideas at the foundation of a new science. This new science is the sceince and analysis of relational entailments and how they construct the natural world. While most of Rosen's work was focused on applications in biology, and addressing the question "What is Life", what he discovered in terms of the nature of complexity turns out to be revolutionary in that it applies to all of science, underlying even physics. It provides a different mode of analysis than traditional quantitative and state-based concepts. Accordingly it is not itself predictive of states but of system types. These, in turn, can identify constraints on quantitative analysis and prediction. In this way, the relational view does not contradict mechanistic science, but instead it provides a broader conceptual and analytical framework in which new phenomena can be investigated. In this one-day experimental workshop, we will introduce the basic assumptions of this world view, showing where they come from, and we will explore various implications. As a group we will discuss specific definitions of terms and evaluate specific epistemological criteria. The main goal of the workshop is to begin a collaborative, community approach to pursuing and developing this theory, as was done in the very successful development of mechanistic theory. By focusing on education and simplifying concepts appropriately for that, we believe we can make rapid initial progress. All ISSS participants are welcome to participate. The only prerequisite is the willingness to begin with a basic working assumption that nature can be described entirely in terms of natural  modeling relations. We will work from that premise to its logical implications.

The importance of this work, aside from providing science with new tools to study poorly understood complex phenomena, is also to provide a counter perspective to current mechanistic models that are inadvertently transferred to society and perceptions of our future. The original memo suggesting this workshop expressed concern that an alternative voice must attain sufficient strength to challenge current views that have been popularized, that huan agency can design not only our own future, but the future of all life on Earth, controlling evolution according to human interests. It is clear that as long as we continue to believe that nature is fundamentally mechanical our models for enacting such control over our natural world will be seriously flawed. Furthermore, these same models guide and condition our management and governance approaches, ensuring that we will not have sufficient understanding for ethical decision-making. Many people have said that we must find a new paradigm in science, because science does drive Western society, and that this new science must be broad enough to afford clear integration of living and non-living phenomena. We believe that relational theory and a relational science that we can now articulare, can at least begin this process.

Workshop Coordinators: Dr. John J. Kineman, Ph.D. and Mrs. Judith Rosen
Email contact: john.kineman 'at ' colorado.edu
Phone contact: 303-443-7544

Workshop 3

INTRODUCING A SYSTEM OF SYSTEMS PROCESSES (SSP)

General Theory, Research Potential, Tools for Use

Led by: Professor Len Troncale

Sunday, July 13, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.

How many schools of thought or candidate general theories of system can you name? These are the knowledge base for the ISSS; they should be the source of many insights and guidelines for applications to solve complex systems problems. We (of the ISSS) should be more informed than anyone about all the alternatives that are available, and what are the strengths and weaknesses of each theory or approach.

The System of Systems Processes general theory is an attempted synthesis of many other candidate general theories and techniques. This 4-hour workshop will present a concise summary of the following features of this comprehensive school of thought:

Presenter: Dr. Len Troncale was Managing Director of the ISSS for nearly ten years, and then ISSS President. He has been on the Boards of the IFSR, and WISINET and on the Editorial Boards of several systems journals. He was Director of the Institute for Advanced Systems Studies for 30 years and author of systems science curricula. Professor Emeritus of Biology.

Method: Fifteen minutes of intense ppt presentation on each of the above topics will be followed by fifteen minutes of open discussion by the group on that topic continuing until the time is exhausted. A major workshop goal is to stimulate international collaboration to continue work on integration of GTS’s between annual conferences and enable cooperation in disseminating SSP across the many new systems conference venues.

Fee: $60 payable at the door. Look for signs in ISSS Registration area.

RSVP: Please notify lrtroncale@csupomona.edu of intent to attend so appropriate numbers of handouts can be printed.

Workshop 4

LIVING SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND SCIENCE OF SOCIETY

Wednesday 16th July: 9 am to 10:30 am

Reception Room

The workshop describes the developments, to date, of a natural science for living systems, which includes the science of society. A timeline is presented that chronicles advances in the development of a science of society.  These developments include: (1) proof that living systems science is a natural science with the same characteristics of the existing natural sciences, (2) describes the objective measures that make living systems a natural science, (3) demonstrates that living systems science is at the stage physics was in the 1680s when Newton published Principia, and (4) proof that the fundamental principles of a natural science of society exist. Future developments of the science of society are a subject for discussion.

Madison 2008 Wednesday Afternoon Tours

For all tours, contact Nancy in the Madison Conference Office at isss2008@union.wisc.edu to book a tour option.

TOUR ONE

WISCONSIN ECOLOGY FIELD TRIP

PROFESSOR TIM ALLEN

COST $15

Leaves Memorial Union at 13:30 prompt

PLEASE BRING EXTRA BOTTLED WATER FOR THIS TRIP!

Wisconsin is one of the best described vegetations in the world, thanks to the work of Curtis and his students four decades ago and a continuing research effort.  Our trip will walk some 2 miles to Hemlock draw in the Baraboo hills, one of the oldest ranges in the world (1.5 billion years).  That region was unglaciated.  Southern Wisconsin is now too warm for Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) but populations from glacial times survive on cool north facing slopes deep in the forest, hundreds of miles south of the species' normal present habitat.  We will see new forests on Southern slopes and cool moist northern forests on north slopes.  We will see sea stack cliffs a billion years old, remerged from the being buried in sedimentary rocks.  Recent storm damage is impressive but Hemlock Draw remains a spiritual place. We will also see a historic shot tower, and a sand prairie near conservationist Aldo Leopold's shack (Sand County Almanac is his classic work).

Timothy F. H. Allen

Botany Dept, 430 Lincoln Drive

University of Wisconsin

Madison WI 53706-1381

tfallen@wisc.edu for additional details.

TOUR TWO

TALIESIN: TOUR OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT’S HOUSE AND PERSONAL STUDIO    

COST $75

Meet outside the Memorial Union front doors no later than 12:25 p.m. to travel by air-conditioned coach to Taliesin. The cost covers the coach travel and tour tickets. Box lunches should be picked up from the Buffet area before coming to the coach. Be prompt, the coach will leave on time at 12:30 p.m. to make sure we meet the timing for the Taliesin tour schedule.

Your group will travel scenic rural roads as they tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s home, underscored with lively commentary from a professional, knowledgeable guide. Taliesin, the most personal of Wright’s masterpieces, was constructed of simple, inexpensive materials – limestone and sandstone quarried nearby, plaster, and wood. Wright built the house over 48 years, and never stopped adding to it or changing it until he died. Often described as more of a village on a hill than a home, the house seems to grow from the site, with vistas of the surrounding countryside to the east and an intimate hill garden to the west. The tour at Taliesin takes two hours.

One of the many highlights your group will enjoy is the 28’x36’ living room, a masterful interplay of vertical and horizontal spaces, flooded with light from banks of windows overlooking the valley and water gardens below. Next to the house, connected to it by a covered breezeway, is Wright’s 24’x30’ personal studio.

What to Expect: This fascinating tour winds through a picturesque rural estate and has some unique characteristics. We share this information so that all guests will understand what to expect during the course of the tour.

• Your coach will have to park at the base of a hill and your group must climb a gravel driveway to the House.
• The tour entails a significant amount of STANDING, STAIR CLIMBING, and WALKING on uneven terrain.
• The tour is up to 2 hours of mostly standing and walking with no opportunity to leave the group should you wish to stay behind.

Dress: The tour goes on, rain or shine. Please dress appropriately for the weather. Wear comfortable walking shoes.

Further details from isssoffice@dsl.pipex.com

TOUR THREE

GENOMICS LAB VISIT

LED BY: PROFESSOR DAVID SCHWARTZ

There is no cost for this tour.

Meet in the Memorial Union, Main Lounge, to be escorted over at 13:30.

We have the opportunity for up to 15 people to visit the Laboratory for Molecular and Computational Genomics, right on the campus at Madison, hosted by David C. Schwartz, the Director and Principle Investigator. 

The human genome is formidably complex, consisting of over 3 billion basepairs. Efforts to sequence and to ultimately understand the function of all 100,000 genes has been a major focus of the Human Genome Initiative. Only recently has the genomics community come to grips with the need to analyze in detail, large numbers of individuals in terms of detailed sequence information and careful annotation. Unfortunately, the physical and computational means to accomplish these goals are rather nascent.

Our laboratory is developing genome analysis approaches based on using individual DNA molecules as the main substrate for our analysis. Remarkably, single DNA molecules can be readily imaged using fluorescence microscopy. Developments in our laboratory have enabled the biochemical analysis of individual DNA molecules that we fix in large numbers to positively charged surfaces. An automated system combining image analysis and map construction algorithms (Optical Mapping), enables construction of high-resolution restriction maps from a variety of DNA sources. Using large DNA molecules directly extracted from genomes, Optical mapping generated whole genome maps of several microorganisms, including Deinocccus radiodurans, Plasmodium falciparum, and several strains of E. coli.

Recent accomplishments have included the mapping of over 60% of the human genome. Such maps are useful scaffolds for sequence assembly, and point the way to large-scale genome analysis of large populations.

Further details from isssoffice@dsl.pipex.com