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Nature 427, 399 (29 January 2004) | doi:10.1038/427399a

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Concept Engineering complex systems

J. M. Ottino1

  1. J. M. Ottino is at the R. R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.

Complex systems can be identified by what they do (display organization without a central organizing authority — emergence), and also by how they may or may not be analysed (as decomposing the system and analysing sub-parts do not necessarily give a clue as to the behaviour of the whole). Systems that fall within the scope of complex systems include metabolic pathways, ecosystems, the web, the US power grid and the propagation of HIV infections.

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