ComplexSimplex Group
A Group of Complex Systems, at the Chemical Biology Laboratory
of the National Institute of Chemical Physics & Biophysics, Tallinn
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Welcome to the home page of the ComplexSimplex Group!
Our group studies complex systems at the Chemical Biology Laboratory of the National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Tallinn, Estonia.
In this page you can find information about our activities. You can follow us also on facebook and Bluesky !
"Connecting Sciences" is the motto of our institute. We study various types of systems from different disciplines using a complex systems, physics-based approach with the goal to understand and connect the different processes and mechanisms underlying their emergent properties. Check this site to find information about our activities and feel free to contact us if you have any questions !
Language Dynamics is our current research focus, within the project "Learning Processes in Language Dynamics", supported by the Estonian Research Council through grant PRG1059.
LAST NEWS
LAST NEWS
Getting ready for Compila-2025!
We are organizing CompiLa2025, the fourth edition of the CompiLa interdisciplinary meetings devoted to Complexity in Language.
This year CompiLa2025 will be take place on September 4th, 2025, as a satellite meeting of CCS2025, the annual Conference on Complex Systems, in Siena, Tuscany.
At the XLV edition of Dynamics Days 2025, a major international meeting of Dynamical Systems, our group was present with two contributions:
Stefano Scialla gave a talk on our last results on the collective oscillations in biological excitable media: "Effect of diversity distribution symmetry on global oscillations of networks of excitable units".
Marco Patriarca presented an overview of language contact and spread using the new Axelrod-Shelling-like model worked out with Clément Zankoc, Els Heinsalu, and Marco Patriarca. For details see: ✅ Clément Zankoc, Els Heinsalu, and Marco Patriarca, Language dynamics model with finite-range interactions influencing the diffusion of linguistic traits and human dispersal, Eur. Phys. J. B (2024) 97: 66
Dr. Tanguy Solliec, expert of Breton Dialectology, visited our group in Tallinn.
This was a collaboration visit within the framework of our joint French-Estonian Parrot project:
"Algorithmic Complexity in Comparative Gallo-Romance and Finnic Dialectology",
in which also Prof. Jean Léo Léonard, University of Montperllier 3, is collaborating.
Dr. Tanguy Solliec also gave a very interesting talk on the Breton language.
Many thanks to the French-Estonian Parrot Mobility Program, which made all this possible.
We made another important step in our project ! 🇪🇪 🇨🇵
NEWS ARCHIVE
NEWS ARCHIVE
2024
Marco Patriarca and Els Heinsalu, together with David Sanchez, have completed the editing of the Frontiers in Complex Systems Research Topic "Complexity in Language Variation and Change".
Here is the reference of the editorial: Els Heinsalu, Marco Patriarca, and David Sanchez, Frontiers in Complex Systems, Vol. 2 (2024) doi: 10.3389/fcpxs.2024.1497038
And here you can find the articles of the collection:
https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/52099/complexity-in-language-variation-and-change/articles
We have presented a contribution at the International Meeting "Fra Italia e Baltico Orientale: incontri culturali, traduttivi e linguistici", October 14-15, Tallinn University
September 26th was the European Day of Languages. It was proclaimed by the Council of Europe on December 6th, 2001, with the goal to inform about the importance of language learning and diversity, increase pluri-lingualism and intercultural understanding, and promote linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe!
We are back from CCS2024, the Conference of Complex Systems 2024 (Exeter, England; September 2-6 2024).
It was a great conference and we are grateful to all the organizers, because we learned a lot, met new and old fantastic colleagues, and presented 5 contributions:Vivian Dornelas, Celia Anteneodo, Els Heinsalu, Marco Patriarca, An extended Axelrod’s model of innovation spreading and emergence of linguistic diversity.
Renan O. Nunes, Vivian Dornelas, Marco Patriarca, Els Heinsalu, Exploring the dynamics of multiple language coexistence in real networks.
Mikhail Tamm, Els Heinsalu, Stefano Scialla, Marco Patriarca, Thresholds for learning language lead to a variety of stable states in bilingual societies.
Mikhail Tamm, Els Heinsalu, Stefano Scialla, Marco Patriarca, Can language learning be responsible for language coexistence?
Stefano Scialla, Marco Patriarca; Els Heinsalu, Marius Yamakou, Julyan Cartwright, Asymmetry in the distribution of unit properties is the key factor determining the efficiency of collective oscillations in FitzHugh-Nagumo networks.
Compℹ︎La 2024
At the Conference on Complex Sstems CCS2024 in Exeter we have organized the language complexity satellite COMPILA2024! It was a great success in terms of audience and level of contributions. For details, see https://sites.google.com/view/compila2024/home
The next Conference on Complex Systems CCS2025 has been announced officially at the end of CCS2024: it is planned to take place in Siena. For the updates check https://www.congressi.unisi.it/ccs25/
A very beautiful and inspiring conference. Thanks to the organizers and the community of dynamical systems! Our contribution:
Marco Patriarca, Julyan Cartwright, Els Heinsalu, Stefano Scialla, Marius Yamakou, Asymmetry in the distribution of unit properties is the key factor determining the efficiency of collective oscillations in FitzHugh-Nagumo networks.
2023
Now you can follow us also on Bluesky!
https://bsky.app/profile/complexsimplex.bsky.social
New preprint on language dynamics available on line:
Mikhail V. Tamm, Els Heinsalu, Stefano Scialla, Marco Patriarca,
Learning thresholds lead to stable language coexistence,
submitted, arXiv:2406.14522
New paper on language dynamics online:
Language dynamics model with finite-range interactions influencing the diffusion of linguistic traits and human dispersal,
Clément Zankoc, Els Heinsalu, Marco Patriarca,
European Physical Journal B 97, 66 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/s10051-024-00706-3
COMPILA 2023
We have co-organized, together with Yoshifumi Kawasaki (University of Tokyo, Japan) and David Sanchez (Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems IFISC, Mallorca, Spain), the meeting COMPILA 2023 - Complexity in Language Variation and Change, which has taken place on Friday, August 4 2023, as a satellite meeting of StatPhy28 - 28th edition of the International Conference of Statistical Physics.
https://sites.google.com/g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/compila2023/home
2022
We have co-organized, together with David Sanchez (Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems IFISC, Mallorca, Spain), the meeting COMPILA2022-Complexity in Language Variation and Change.
CompiLa has taken place on October 20, 2022, as a satellite meeting of CCS2022, the 2022 Conference of Complex Systems, Palma de Mallorca.
Photo by Tom Podmore https://unsplash.com/@tompodmore86
In the News / Outreach. The new video by Physics World about our article "Physics of Language", by Marco Patriarca, Els Heinsalu, and David Sánchez, Physics World, 13 June 2023, is online with mentions to our works and an interview to our colleague Dr. Els Heinsalu !
And the corresponding printed article made it on the August 2023 cover page!
Dr. Marco Patriarca was interviewed by the Sicomoro Association at the yearly official conference of the Complex Systems Society CCS2022.
Dr. Els Heinsalu has spoken on the Estonian national TV channel about Complex Systems and our research on econophysics and languages! The interview was hosted by the scientific program "Curiosity Excellence Center" ("Uudishimu tippkeskus") and is available online!
June 5th, 2022. Dr. Els Heinsalu's interview at the Estonian national radio (vikerradio.err.ee) on movement ecology, plant and animal dispersal, and complex systems! The interview is online!
Estonian Physics Days (Füüsikapäevad) 2022: Dr. Els Heinsalu has spoken about our research work in language dynamics in the talk "Languages through the Lens of Complex Systems Theory", October 28-29, 2022, LI Füüsikapäevad,Nelijärve Puhkekeskus.
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