Speaker
Michael Falk

Description Oftentimes materials physics concerns itself with how the structure of the system dictates the rules it will follow when subjected to extreme conditions. This presents a particular challenge in the context of glassy materials, granular media and gels that have no orderly crystal structure. Such materials are referred to as amorphous solids, but, while the term amorphous may suggest that they are without structure, these materials can exhibit a range of disorder depending on their compositions and their thermal and mechanical histories. Characterizing such a wide range of structure is a challenge for materials scientists. In these systems generalizing some of the basic principles of thermodynamics has yielded a surprisingly effective mathematical framework for placing constraints on physical theories of material response. In this lecture I will discuss some such theories, the two-temperature hypothesis, and the implications for how thermodynamics can be used to constrain the e theories. We will consider tests of these hypotheses that can be performed via atomic scale simulation and comparison with experiment.

Speaker
Anita Mehta

Description I will present an outline of my recent research, which uses the tools of statistical physics to examine problems in cognition and neuroscience. First, I will discuss our analysis of experiments on cognition related to audiovisual processing in humans. Eye movements are of two types: those where our eyes wander in search of information and those where our eyes rest on specific targets. The former are known as saccades and the latter as fixations. Among other things, we found an interesting scale- invariance in saccades, which we were able to characterise as Levy-like (rather than, for example, Brownian) in their dynamics. Next, I will describe an agent-based modelling approach to synaptic plasticity, which underlies processes such as learning and forgetting in the brain. Synapses in this model ‘compete’ with each other according to rules specified by neuroscience; the outcome is a phase diagram which allows one to predict the optimal mixture of synaptic strengths which facilitate fast learning and slow forgetting. In the last part of the talk, I will talk about model ‘metaplastic’ synapses, where memories can be stored at different ‘levels’ to enable the incorporation of short- as well as long-term memories. The recent use of this model to explain experimental data on neurons in Lymnaea snails will also be touched upon.

Speaker
Prof. Jon Otto Fossum

Description We show through very simple experiments, that electro-hydrodynamic and electro-rheological effects in leaky-dielectric liquid drops can be used to structure and dynamically control colloidal particle assemblies at drop surfaces, including electric-field-assisted convective assembly of jammed colloidal “ribbons” and electro-rheological colloidal chains confined to a two-dimensional surface. Our development and understanding of such phenomena enable creation of a “pupil-like” structure that can be actively controlled, i.e. a colloidal shell that extracts and contracts as electric field strength is changed. The observed phenomena also serve as a basis for fabrication of different jammed colloidal shells, including Janus and patchy shells. The studies were published in [1], and very recently in [2]. In addition, several extensions of those works that are presently in progress will be mentioned. [1] Active structuring of colloidal armour on liquid drops, P. Dommersnes, Z. Rozynek, A. Mikkelsen, R. Castberg, K. Kjerstad, K. Hersvik and J.O. Fossum, NATURE COMMUNIUCATIONS 4:2066, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3066 (2013) [2] Electroformation of Janus and patchy capsules, Z. Rozynek, A. Mikkelsen, P.Dommersnes and J.O. Fossum, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS 5:3945, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4945 (2014)

Speaker
Salvador Pueyo and contributed speakers

Description p{color:#ff6600;font-weight:bold;font-size:20px;}. PROGRAM All activities taking place in aula master, except the world café * 9:55 Presentació jornada * 10:00 FLASH TALKS I ** 10:00 – 10:05 M. Boguñá, TBA ** 10:10 – 10:15 S. Skardal, Disorder induces explosive synchronization ** 10:20 – 10:25 N. Balagué, Psychobiology of endurance. A nonlinear dynamic approach ** 10:30 – 10:35 A. Solé-Ribalta, Versatile nodes in complex interconnected networks ** 10:40 – 10:45 M. Ribezzi, Statistical Mechanics meets single-molecule biophysics at the Small Bio-systems Lab ** 10:50 – 10:55 M. Rosas Casals, A georeferenced Agent-Based Model to analyze the climate change impacts on the ski tourism and the adaptation of individuals at a regional scale * 11:00 Presentació empreses ** Enerbyte, Pep Salas, "http://www.enerbyte.com":http:///www.enerbyte.com ** Search Engine Marketing - El nuevo Wall Street del Márketing, Alberto Cabezas-Castellanos "http://www.clacktion.com":http://www.clacktion.com * 11:30 World-Café (Coffee break temàtic + grups de discussió a les aules A2 102--105 ** Té cabuda la ciència dels sistemes complexos als estudis universitaris? A2-102 ** La complexitat de publicar a l'àrea de sistemes complexos: que, on, com? A2-103 ** Big data: complexitat o nomès complicació? A2-104 ** Les dificultats de l'escala i la complexitat: hi han fenòmens emergents forts que necessiten noves lleis fonamentals? La conciència? A2-105 * 12:30 Taula rodona * 13:30 DINAR (no inclos amb la inscripció) * 15:30 FLASH TALKS II ** 15:30 – 15:35 R. J. Requejo, LASAGNE project: Agent based modeling in the multiplex ** 15:40 – 15:45 C. Torrents, Complex systems approach to study creativity in sport sciences ** 15:50 – 15:55 J. Baró, Scale Invariance, Universality or How to Create Earthquakes Inside a Lab ** 16:00 – 16:05 M. Sales, TBA * 16:15 Sessió posters (amb coffee break) * 17:00 Xerrada plenaria: La ciència dels sistemes complexos i l'esperança d'una economia sostenible i equitativa. Salvador Pueyo. Institut Català de Ciències del Clima * 18:00 Assemblea general de l’associació de complexitat.cat * 19:00 Beer Party. p{color:#ff6600;font-weight:bold;font-size:20px;}. ORGANIZERS Grup d'Innovació en Docència de la Física (GIDF-RIMA) Institut de Ciències de l'Educació de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (ICE-UPC) **Local Committee:** * Andrés Aragoneses * Ramon Ferrer-i-Cancho * Antoni Hernández * Romualdo Pastor-Satorras * Núria Salán !{width: 300px;}http://www.complexitat.cat/media/other_images/RIMA.png! !{width: 300px;}http://www.complexitat.cat/media/other_images/upclogo.jpg! p{color:#ff6600;font-weight:bold;font-size:20px;}. CALL FOR ABSTRACTS The call for abstracts is open until: **June 7** If you are interested in presenting a poster and/or a Flash Talk (5 min duration, PechaKucha style or similar) please send an abstract to: complexitat.cat@gmail.com The abstract should be in an attached pdf, including title, authors, affiliation and abstract, in no more than 1 page. In the email please clarify if you prefer poster or flash talk, and if you would accept your proposal of Flash talk to be transformed into a poster. In the subject of the email please verify that the words “call for abstracts” appear. You should receive a confirmation of receipt. Please note that there are no thematic guidelines regarding posters, but flash talks are supposed to be somewhat general, mostly representing the topics of a research group rather than individual projects. There is a very limited number and the idea is that they cover the wide spectrum of fields represented in complexitat.cat p{color:#ff6600;font-weight:bold;font-size:20px;}. REGISTRATION * 10€ for predoctoral researchers * 15€ for postdoctoral and beyond * 0€ for master students and below "Online registration link":https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SZFajiqnhDyf72qy2uLPlIehVYE3ebH7lm6Z_mEXyyc/viewform To pay the registration you should transfer the money to the following account: ES21 2100-3642-16-2200113323 (FACULTAT DE FISICA I QUIMICA, UB) specificing complexitat.cat and your name in the transfer concept. You should also send the receipt of the transfer to complexitat.cat@gmail.com. Official certificates of attendance will be issued by ICE UPC. Additional registration through ICE UPC is strongly encouraged: "ICE Registration link":http://gcice.upc.edu/fitxa_cursos.asp?id=53316 (click on the right of the "Inscripció" line) This activity is recognized as "formación del profesorado" by the ICE UPC

Description

In the last decade, network theory has been revealed to be a perfect instrument to model the structure of complex systems and the dynamical process they are involved into. The wide variety of applications to social sciences, technological networks, biology, transportation and economic, to cite just only some of them, showed that network theory is suitable to provide new insights into many problems. The goal of this school is twofold: Provide a theoretical background to PhD students and young researchers in the field ( application from undergraduate students might be considered as well ), with particular attention to current trends in Network Science; Promote philosophical and scientific exchange between all participants, i.e., lecturers and attendants. For this reason, the program will involve lectures from experts in different fields (social science, game theory, biology, neuroscience, etc) for 50% of the duration of the school. The remaining time will be dedicated to: Flash talks given by attendants, followed by debates; Thematic round tables involving lecturers and attendants. The School will award two prizes: i) to one attendant, for the best flash talk; ii) to one lecturer, for the best lecture. The school will take place in Salina, a small island in the north of Sicily (Italy). Salina, fully covered by green vegetation and surrounded by the sea, represents a suitable small and quite environment to achieve the purposes of this school.

Organizers
Alex Arenas, Manlio de Domeico