Recruiting parakeet research technicians!   The Hobson Lab at the University of Cincinnati is recruiting research contractors on our Monk Parakeet sociality and cognition project at our resear…

Binghamton Center of Complex Systems (CoCo) Seminar September 30, 2026 Jeffrey Ventrella (Independent Algorithmic Artist, Researcher, and Author) "Particle Systems with Attitude"

Let $Z_n(z,t)$ denote the partition function of the $q$-state Potts Model on the rooted binary Cayley tree of depth~$n$. Here, $z = {\rm e}^{-h/T}$ and $t = {\rm e}^{-J/T}$ with $h$ denoting an extern...

Public exchange data mimics institutional price impact but cannot verify order splitting, University of Cape Town research on JSE trades finds.

Global trade is more than a single network of aggregate flows. Beneath the observable exchange of products among economies lies a complex multilayer structure, formed by thousands of product-specific ...

Sebastian Sander-Oest Synthese Volume 208, article number 143 (2026) Self-assembly and self-organization are central concepts in theories of how patterns form in natural systems. However, literature on the topic has for long been riddled with inconsistent uses of these concepts, which often conflate their meaning or define them idiosyncratically. This is problematic as it struggles to make sense of the ubiquitous interaction between self-assembly and self-organization in chemistry and biology. The thermodynamic account is an attempt to draw up clear definitions of the concepts using thermodynamics as the appropriate framework for distinguishing the two concepts from each other. In this paper, I challenge this account and argue that self-assembly shouldn’t primarily be understood in terms of thermodynamics. I offer a philosophical analysis of core conceptual challenges for self-assembly and self-organization and argue that the thermodynamic approach follows a misguided conceptualization strategy. Drawing on recent philosophical work on scientific definitions, I propose an alternative account that treats the concept as a conceptual tool that directs our attention towards the kinds of features that are explanatorily relevant for the pattern-formation process and towards the features the resulting pattern itself will possess.Self-assembly and self-organization are central concepts in theories of how patterns form in natural systems. However, literature on the topic has for long been riddled with inconsistent uses of these concepts, which often conflate their meaning or define them idiosyncratically. This is problematic as it struggles to make sense of the ubiquitous interaction between self-assembly and self-organization in chemistry and biology. The thermodynamic account is an attempt to draw up clear definitions of the concepts using thermodynamics as the appropriate framework for distinguishing the two concepts from each other. In this paper, I challenge this account and argue that self-assembly shouldn’t primarily be understood in terms of thermodynamics. I offer a philosophical analysis of core conceptual challenges for self-assembly and self-organization and argue that the thermodynamic approach follows a misguided conceptualization strategy. Drawing on recent philosophical work on scientific definitions, I propose an alternative account that treats the concept as a conceptual tool that directs our attention towards the kinds of features that are explanatorily relevant for the pattern-formation process and towards the features the resulting pattern itself will possess. Read the full article at: link.springer.com

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Modeling how networks change under structural perturbations can yield foundational insights into network robustness, which is critical in many real-world applications. The largest connected component ...