Cellular Automata (CA) models & resulting fractal behavior

David Griffeath's Sink of CA links contains many useful links to CA software & info

Primordial Soup Kitchen & new recipes

 Mirek's Java Cellebration by Mirek Wójtowicz : 300+ CA rules + links to other CA software

Santa Fe Institute

Wim Hordijk, James P. Crutchfield, and Melanie Mitchell, "Mechanisms of Emergent Computation in Cellular Automata", In Parallel Problem Solving from Nature-V, A. E. Eiben, T. Bäck, M. Schoenauer, and H.-P. Schwefel (eds.), Springer-Verlag (1998) 613-622.

James P. Crutchfield. Melanie Mitchell, and Rajarshi Das, "The Evolutionary Design of Collective Computation in Cellular Automata", Machine Learning Journal, submitted.

James P. Crutchfield, "When Evolution is Revolution—Origins of Innovation", In Evolutionary Dynamics—Exploring the Interplay of Selection, Neutrality, Accident, and Function, J. P. Crutchfield and P. Schuster (eds.), Santa Fe Institute Series in the Science of Complexity, Oxford University Press, New York (2002).
CA applied (to decision making in organizational settings) Includes nice introductory descriptions of CA & DS concepts:
'Hunch engine' by Bonabeau's 'Icosystems uses evolutonary algorithms in deriving 'high level' solutions. This 'guided natural selection' approach proves more fruitful than traditional linear & logistic decision making models.
This is a great illustration of how CA approach can be effectively used in solving sophisticated problems. While Icosystems focus is on business applications, their use of network theory and complexity science is applicable to wide-range of problems including those of info-search. MIT Tech review (9/8/06: '.. Art of the Possible..') describes how these CAs produce better solutions than those involving logistics & explicit definition of parameters typically thought to be used in real world decisions.

More introductory 'Icosystems links describing the underlying technology using complex adaptive systems & principles from dynamical systems approach.

Related articles:
Wired (March, 2006) : Software helps develop Hunches..
'a user of the hunch engine may not know what they are looking for, but they will "know it when they see it,
',, hunch engine might be useful when people are aiming for a result that they cannot predict, but are able to recognize'. Dave Weinberger

Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences has treasure trove of CA & DS materials

Tutorials
Bazant's MIT Course: Random Walks and Diffusion Clint Sprott's course: Chaos & Time series