edited by Hans Liljenström (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden) & Uno Svedin (Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning (Formas), Sweden)

Table of Contents (94k)
Preface (202k)
Chapter 1: System Features, Dynamics and Resilience - Some Introductory Remarks (651k)

Hans Liljenström, PhD, is Professor at the Department of Biometry and Engineering, SLU, Uppsala, Sweden. His main research concerns mathematical and computational modeling of biological systems and processes on different organizational scales. He is the founding Director of Agora for Biosystems, an interdisciplinary research center under the auspices of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He is also Chairman of the Centre for Environment and Development Studies, and of the Centre for Research Ethics in Uppsala.
 

Uno Svedin, PhD, is Director of International Affairs at The Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Science and Spatial Planning (Formas). He is also part-time Professor at the Department of Water and Environmental studies at The Tema Institute, University of Linköping, Sweden. His main research interests concern sustainable development, systems analysis and research policy. He is also Chairman of IGFA (The International Group of Funding Agencies for Global Change Research) and has been the Chairman of the EU appointed European Consultative Forum on the Environment and Sustainable Development. The following two books are examples of volumes where the authors earlier have contributed to themes similar to the ones dealt with in the present book: Matter Matters — On the Material Basis of the Cognitive Activity of Mind, eds P Arhem, H Liljenström and U Svedin (Springer, Berlin 1997) and Disorder Versus Order in Brain Function — Essays in Theoretical Neurobiology, eds. P Arhem, C Blomberg and H. Liljenström (World Scientific, Singapore, 2000).
 

In the domain of science concerned with systems structure and behavior, the issue of the relationship between the micro and the macro level is of key importance. This book concentrates on the interplay between these levels and has a special focus on the level “in between” — the meso level.

An investigation of those links is made through a number of cases from different domains of science, including physics, chemistry, ecology, social science, economics and technology. What is evident is that there are facets regarding meso-level issues that are similar between cases, but also that the domains differ in various ways. This is particularly exemplified by the differences in perspectives from which the natural and social sciences deal with scaling issues. The various examples provided in this book mirror its overriding theme: systems complexity.

• The “Vertical” System Structure and Meso-Level Characteristics:Mesoscopic Levels in Science — Some Comments (H Haken)
  • The Necessity for Mesoscopic Organization to Connect Neural Function to Brain Function (W J Freeman)
  • A Revolution in the Middle Kingdom (R E Ulanowicz)
• Inner and Outer Dynamics:
  • Time Rescaling and Generalized Entropy in Relation to the Internal Measurement Concept (I Rojdestvenski & M G Cottam)
  • Resource Dynamics, Social Interactions, and the Tragedy of the Commons (A Mashanova & R Law)
  • Stability of Social Interaction (S D Flåm)
• Resilience and Shocks:
  • Systems, Shocks and Time Bombs (N Winder)
  • Resilience in Utility Technologies (R Seaton)
  • Risk and Crisis Management in Complex Systems (K Bertels & J-M Jacques)
  • and other articles