A formal approach to the study of the evolution and commonality of patterns

The formal approach outlined in this paper uses symbolic memes as a framework for the hierarchical deconstruction of a cultural artefact, the traditional Korean pattern known as bosangwhamun, to describe the evolutionary development of such a pattern using shape grammar rules. The formal descriptions of this pattern are thus the basis for generating its variations, and the process is used to evaluate the validity of the rules and their appropriateness for the study of bosangwhamun

Radical Constructivism and Radical Constructedness: Luhmann’s Sociology and the Non-linear Dynamics of Expectations

The communication (and reflexive translation) of denotations between semantic domains can generate “horizons of meaning” as reflexive orders that remain structurally coupled to individual minds. Luhmann noted that this elusive order contains a trade-off between “organization” at interfaces integrating (differently coded) expectations at each moment of time, and the potential of further differentiation among symbolically generalized codes of communication in a “self-organization” over time. One can model the coding in the communication of meaning as eigenvectors which evolve as an implication of the interacting intentions and expectations. The interacting horizons of meaning generate new options (redundancy) against the arrow of time, since meaning is provided to events from the perspective of hindsight. Using the theory and computation of anticipatory systems, “self-organization” and “interaction” can be considered as hyper-incursive routines that use (expectations of) future states for their reconstruction, whereas “organization” operates in terms of instantiations (of expectations). Mathematical metaphors can guide us in further exploring the nonlinear dynamics of a social order of intentions and expectations without reification

The Kinetics of Gas-Liquid Metal Reactions Involving Levitated Drops. Carburization and Decarburization of Molten Iron in CO-CO₂ Gas Mixtures at High Pressures

The kinetics of decarburization and carburization of levitated molten iron-carbon alloy drops at 1650° in CO-CO2 gas mixtures were studied at a pressure of 40 atm. The results showed that, under the experimental conditions used, the rates were controlled by transport in the gas phase (decarburization) or by mixed transport control (carburization). The levitated drops behaved as static spherical particles as far as transport in the liquid phase was concerned since the effective diffusivity of carbon in the liquid was close to the atomic diffusivity. The transport model developed in the paper was applied to explain the data from some earlier investigations