Results obtained in the last decades in the field of the nonlinear approach of natural phenomena, the founding of new disciplines with synthesis-character like: synergetics, complexity physics, theory of catastrophes, the emergence of mathematical models that are more appropriate for the description of the surrounding reality: fractals, chaos theory, as well as the one of cellular automata and of neural networks , made it possible to approach, from a new angle of view, a domain of maximal difficulty: the existence of the living and its relation with the inorganic environment - a field synthesising the scientific knowledge obtained from antiquity until today. Being materialized in studies and investigations in ecology, in biotechnology and bioengineering, in biogeophysics and life quality, modern scientific research needs a specific theme structure and a specific methodology , relying on the latest achievements, as well as a proper organizing structure: an important part thereof is represented by the developing of international, interdisciplinary research groups.

In this context, on the 2nd February 1996, the Centre for Complex Studies was born, a nongovernmental, nonprofit association, having as its leading aims:

to represent the interest of a group of people concerned with the promotion and the development of research in the field of fractal physics, nonlinear dynamics, as well as complex systems evolving far from thermodynamic equilibrium;

to provide an interface between theory and application;

to support, by means of courses, lectures, summer schools, conferences, by publications and other audio-video media forms, a continuous information of a large mass of young people, in view of a generalization of an effective communication mode between disciplines that seem today to be distinct and separated.

Fields of interest &
Developing projects

Direction 1. Studies on the process of morphogenesis

Key words: form, pattern, morphogenesis, self-organization, fractals, aggregation, fragmentation, time series analysis, pattern analysis, industrial applications;

Theme 1. Form in nature: analysis and synthesis

PF01-p Collection of archetypal images obtained by experiment or found in nature

goals:
- identification of the variability of patterns obtained in different processes - physical, chemical, biochemical, biological (growth of colonies of bacteria);
- identification of specific techniques dedicated to the acquisition and the digital processing of images, in view of an optimal emphasizing of the archetypal structure.

PF01-p Collection of archetypal images obtained by numerical modelling

goals:
- conception of numerical programs capable to generate geometrical structures similar with images found in nature;
- identification of the variability of patterns generated by numerical modelling.

PF03-p Complex methodology for the quantitative evaluation, classification and discrimination of spatial anisotropies (lines, surfaces, volumes)

goals:
- creativity stimulation regarding the identification of new methods for the analysis and the classification/discrimination of the forms in nature;
- delimitation of the applicability domains of the methodologies already acknowledged or proposed for the analysis of natural forms.

PF03-1-a Global and local anisotropy evaluation by Angle Distribution of Percolation Length (ADPL)

PF04-p Theoretical and experimental delimitation of the morphogenesis process

goals:
- establishing of contacts to institutions and persons interested in the theoretical formalization of the morphogenesis process, in view of the creation of an international group, addressing this process in the framework of a unitary research program;
- defining an experimental context able to emphasize the existence of a morphogenetic field beyond the effect of the known physical fields;

Theme 2. Features of structuring in a gradient - process properties that do not depend upon the nature of the materials or of the implied interaction mechanisms;

PS01-p Theoretical and experimental studies on the structuring by aggregation

goals:
- modelling of the structuring by aggregation: particle-particle, particle-cluster, cluster-cluster;
- identification of optimal methods dedicated to the evaluation of the aggregates' geometry;
- identification of properties - physical, chemical, technological - as a function of the aggregate structure.

PS02-p Theoretical and experimental studies on the structuring by solidification

goals:
- modelling of solidification phenomena;
- identification of optimal methods dedicated to the evaluation of the geometry of structural anisotropies in the solidified body;
- identification of properties - physical, chemical, technological - as a function of the chemical anisotropy and of the solidification defects.

PS03-p Theoretical and experimental studies on the structuring by fragmentation

goals:
- modelling of fragmentation phenomena;
- identification of optimal methods dedicated to the quantitative evaluation of fracturing and fragmentation processes;
- identification of specific fingerprints linked to structuring by fragmentation.

PS04-a Practical applications of pattern analysis methods in industrial processes

PS04-1-a Fractal methods for the characterization of the quality of surfaces

PS04-2-a Fractal methods for the characterization of fragmentation processes (discrimination/classification of fragments obtained by rupture, with applications in the investigation of industrial accidents)

PS04-1-a Identification of the effectiveness of fractal methods in the milling industry and the cement industry

Theme 3. Form: a parameter for the characterization of bodies and of their interactions with the environment

PA01-p The use of archetypal structures in the understanding of the unity of the material world (discerning the role of the form in nature)

PA07-1-t Generalization of the Golden Cut in n-dimensional space

PA07-1-1 Identification of the golden numbers in the description of natural forms

Theme 4. Time series analysis and synthesis

PT01-p Collection of time series obtained in physical measurements

goals:
- identification of the variability in the structure of time series obtained in different processes
- physical, chemical, biochemical, and the growth and the developing of the living;
- identification of specific techniques dedicated to a preliminary digital processing, in view of an optimal emphasis - in the structure of time series - of features representing fingerprints of certain processes - physical, chemical, biochemical a.s.o.

PT02-p Collection of time series produced by theoretical models or in numerical experiments

goals:
- stimulation of the creativity in the field of the generation of numerical programs able to produce time series;
- identification of the variability in the structure of time series obtained by numerical modelling.

PT03-p Complex methodology for the quantitative evaluation, classification and discrimination of temporal anisotropies (stationary regimes, transient regimes)

goals:
- creativity stimulation regarding the identification of new methods for the analysis and the classification/discrimination of time series obtained in measurements made on natural systems;
- delimitation of the applicability domains of the methodologies already acknowledged or proposed for the analysis of time series.

PT03-01-a Methods for the determination of the fractal character of time series (implications for the cognition of the model)

Theme 1. Identification of principial differences between the living and the nonliving

PV01-p Theoretical and experimental delimitation of the concept of biostructure

goals:
- an update of the concept of biostructure (introduced in 1959 by Acad. member Macovski);
- identification of methods for the experimental emphasizing of the biostructure;
- analysis of the stability of the biostructure (influencing factors, degradation velocity, conservation factors).

PV01-1-a Monitoring of biostructure quality by pattern analysis following heterogeneous chemical reactions in porous media

PV02-p The living - a sensor in the study of nonlinear phenomena and in the experimental validation of theoretical phenomenological models

goals:
- delimitation of the concepts: biological transducer, biological sensor and biosensor;
- generation of a specific experimental context dedicated to the monitoring of the dynamics and of the evolution of the living;
- identification of the experimental context and of the specific sensor dedicated to the validation of the main notions defined in the orthophysical model of the material world.

Theme 2. Genesis, dynamics and evolution of living hierarchic structures

PI01-p Morphogenesis and social stability - models and case studies

goals:
- applying the knowledge offered by studies in the field of artificial life (cellular automata, neural automata, genetic algorithms a.s.o.) in view of the understanding and the modelling of organization and self-organization of social hierarchic structures (family, clan, nation, humanity);
- applying the methodology for measurement and classification/discrimination - dedicated to complex analysis of space-time anisotropies - in view of the objectivation of processes linked with social structuring, with the dynamics and the evolution of a collectivity (society);
- implications for history, archeology, architecture, urbanism a.o.

PI02-p Methodologies for the identification and characterization of culture types

PI02-a-1 Characterization of the Romanian manager culture in an European and in a worldwide context

PI03-p Management on the edge between organization and self-organization of economic processes

goals:
- modelling the dynamics and the evolution of a hierarchic system with self-organization;
- identification of the limits in which a self-organized system may be controlled by organization;
- defining general rules to conduct a productive process in which the dynamics of self- organization interferes with the goal stipulated by organization.

PI04-p Complex methods for the analysis of stock market fluctuations and of the fluctuations in the quality of work force, able to offer information to be used in the manager activity

Theme 3. Delimitation and definition of the concept of 'global quality' of a product (technical quality, biological quality, ecological quality, its integration in the environment)

Direction 3. Studies on cognition phenomena

Key words: cognitive sciences, neural processing, artificial intelligence, perception, psychology, semiotics, semantics, hermeneutics

Theme 1. Delimiting the concept of INFORMATION and identifying its relations with energy and matter

Theme 2. Universality and specificity in the sensory perception

Theme 3. Myth and its role in the perception of the world. Implications for the contemporaneous approach in research

Theme 4. Extrasensory perception - a modality of global information of the living

Direction 4. Structuring of educational programs meant to enable a complex vision of the youth upon reality, a dynamic balance between analytic and synthetic methodologies in the study of nature

Key words: learning, knowledge structuring, memorizing, education, tradition conservation

Theme 1. Education programs and didactic technologies meant to increase the degree of social-cultural integration of the population

Theme 2. Education programs and didactic technologies meant to complete and to complement knowledge in fields of the sciences and the technology marked by high dynamics (itinerant school, school by Internet)

PROG.1 Creation camp Atlantykron (prospective sciences)

PROG.2 Summer school dedicated to the study of fractals (Fractal '95 Valiug, Fractal '96 Valiug)

PROG.3 Electronic book - interactive course on Internet