[Biomedical-cybernetics] The #5 reason for submitting an abstract for the 26th Annual SCTPLS International Conference

[Guastello, Stephen]

The #5 reason for submitting an abstract for this year’s conference is

because technically it will not be our 25th anniversary

but our 25.1916843… anniversary!


CALL FOR ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS, SYMPOSIA, AND POSTERS

 To present at the

Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences
26th Annual International Conference
29-31 JULY, 2016
UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, SALT LAKE CITY, UT USA
 
Submissions deadline is April 30, 2016

Celebrating 25 years!

Submit your abstract(s) electronically at 

http://www.societyforchaostheory.org/conf/2016/cfp

We want you to benefit from the leading edge of a new SCTPLS

Workshop tradition that will get us all

Further ahead in nonlinear science with this

Collaborative “consulting group” approach to learning!

Introducing our Dynamic Workshop Facilitators:

 Jonathan Butner, Ph.D.  My training is actually as a traditional social and quantitative psychologist, but I have spent my career integrating systems concepts with behavioral data analytic techniques and methodologies.   I publish broadly including on the application of cusp catastrophe models to budget overruns at NASA, the fractal nature of conversations, soft-assembly models of diabetes management in adolescents, and the coordination of affect among couples.  Striving to work with data collected through lab and field experiments, I have expanded the literature on modeling nonlinear and coupled attractor dynamics both with and without oscillatory components.  I specialize in how to adapt common statistical approaches like Regression, Multilevel Modeling, and Structural Equation Modeling, but also experiment with systems specific time series approaches including a variety of fractal analytic techniques (DFA, Wavelet, Spectral Analysis), dimensionality estimates (FNN, Correlation Dimension), and nonlinear tests of causality (Convergent Cross Mapping).

 Adam W. Kiefer, Ph.D.  I am trained as an Experimental Psychologist, and currently serve as an assistant professor of both pediatrics and psychology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the University of Cincinnati. My expertise and interests in both behavioral dynamics and dynamical dis-ease provide for an innovative approach to measuring, modeling and analyzing the complexity of healthy and pathological human behavior, and associated physiologies.

This year's workshop.  Nonlinear dynamical systems function across a variety of temporal and spatial scales requiring refinement of linear and nonlinear analytic tools to index and model such aspects of data. A variety of linear and nonlinear analytic tools currently exist, each providing a specific analysis function to uncover different characteristics of the system in question. In order to provide a more complete description of the system, more than one analytic tool is typically employed facilitating the understanding of the complex interrelationships between system components. The purpose of this workshop is to train individuals in such a multi-faceted analysis approach to nonlinear dynamical systems. Specifically, the workshop will entail a brief introduction and tutorial on how attractor dynamics can be captured through common statistical tools like regression and multilevel modeling (Dr. Jonathan Butner) and also how tools specifically designed for systems analyses work such as recurrence quantification analysis (Dr. Adam Kiefer). This will be followed by a presentation of the application of these tools to a single data set. The remainder of the workshop will focus on utilizing these specific techniques on data from attendees.

Workshop Part 1 - Attractor Dynamics (8am to noon)

Jonathan Butner, Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Utah

The methodology I will focus on in this conference is to show how we can capitalize on techniques we already know from traditional social science training.  Regression analysis, for example, can also be thought of as equation testing.  If we build equations consistent with systems theory then we are testing those systems properties on the data.  It requires us to ask where systems properties such as perturbations ‘go’ in a regression equation or how we translate different properties of change.  Though imperfect, the techniques are surprisingly effective and are the foundations for a plethora of innovations on systems analyses presently occurring in the literature.  This allows us to translate known regression graphics tools to ‘see’ the dynamics of the system.  Further, we can test inferential models that have linear and nonlinear dynamic properties including control parameters, multistability, coordination, oscil-lations and more.  Some of the graphics techniques I will illustrate will be through R, an open source analytic package.  Most of the analyses I will show can be conducted in any known statistical package capable of regression, and multilevel modeling.  In those cases, examples will be provided in SPSS. A portion of what will be discussed is illustrated in Butner, J., et Al (2014), Using topology to generate and test theories of change, Psychological Methods., where I explore change as outcome equations in regression and multilevel modeling.

Workshop Part 2 - Recurrence Quantification Analysis (RQA) (1-5 pm)

Adam W. Kiefer, PhD, Assistant Professor, Center for Cognition, Action & Perception, Department of Psychology, University of Cincinnati

The methodology I will share with attendees is an analysis developed by Charles Webber and Joe Zbilut in 1992. RQA is an amalgamation of univariate, bivariate and multivariate nonlinear analyses that quantify the nature of recurrent patterns, or repeating states, within or between discrete or continuous behavioral time series. Norbert Marwan has developed a powerful Cross-Recurrence Plot Toolbox of MATLAB routines that is freely available: http:// tocsy. pik-potsdam. de/ CRPtoolbox  / (mac and windows versions). RQA produces both a recurrence plot (RP) for the visualization of dynamic properties for a given system, and a suite of output measures that quantify specific characteristics of the time series (or multiple time series) that underlie the RP. These measures can inform on the behavioral dynamics of the system such as piecewise determinism, stability and, in well-understood systems, the presence of singularities. More recently, three vertical line measures have also become more prominent in the literature: (1) %Laminarity, (2) Trapping Time, and (3) Vertical Line Max. These vertical line structures typically mark time intervals when a state does not change or changes very slowly, and are useful in their characterization of intermittency (i.e., the permanency of states) for a given system. They can also identify transitions between different types of behavior (e.g., periodic to chaotic, chaotic to periodic, or chaotic of one type to chaotic of a different type) in well-understood systems. This makes RQA additionally well suited to elucidate the coordination dynamics of two time series (e.g., a speaker-listener or leader-follower dyad) with Cross-RQA, or the comparison of different systems made up of different physical units or phase space dimensions through Joint-RQA.

Now for ways you and your work can make a contribution…   

We invite scholars and practitioners interested in working together to turn one of the best-kept secrets on the planet into THE WAY to research nonlinear dynamical systems and to develop practice-approaches that will serve the world in areas such as healthcare, education/academia, as well as our social and physical environment. Presentations and conversations will explore practice applications and enhance knowledge of chaos theory, fractals, complex systems and related topics. Over the years, the annual conferences of the Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences have inspired and supported people from many disciplines to become leaders in theoretical, empirical and practice applications. Steadily, we are building a knowledge base that provides an integrated approach to life sciences, health and wellness, global peace and environmental sustainability.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ABSTRACTS

Length

·       Abstracts are between 150-250 words for posters, individual papers, short workshops and other alternative formats. Clear connections to nonlinear dynamics, chaos, complexity, fractals or related concepts are important. Include each speaker or author’s organizational affiliation and/or contact information.
·       Abstracts for symposia or panel discussions may be longer at up to 500 words. For symposia, it is important to include the content of EACH speaker's contribution. The typical format for a symposium is for all speakers to give presentations with time following for discussion. The typical format for a panel discussion is inquiry-based and dialogic. Please communicate the theme of your research or practice-based applications of nonlinear science within the title of your abstract.
 Content

·       For experimental work, you will want the background, aims and framework, mode of inquiry, methods and samples, outcomes, conclusions and implications to be clear and explicit.
·       For panel discussions, you will want to provide a brief overview of and introduction to the topic, relevant background of panelists and sample questions that will be used to prompt your panel member discussion.
·       For symposia or workshops, you will want to describe your current research, the techniques you used for conducting your research and how it applies to nonlinear behavioral, social and/or life science. Please emphasize the skills and new learning that attendees can expect to acquire.
·       For all abstracts: Assist the reader in understanding your connection to nonlinear dynamics, chaos, complexity, fractals and/or related concepts. Please highlight the overall value added to your area of practice (e.g., introduces a new method, information, perspective, issue; calls into question, confirms present knowledge or clarifies understanding). 
·       Choose a category: The web-submission form allows you to select from the following: 1) Empirical (e.g., presentation of empirical results of a study), 2) Theoretical (e.g., empirically testable theoretical development), 3) Applied (e.g., social, cultural, organizational and/or inter-relational dynamics; business, product and/or marketing development; practice-based applications involving clinical interventions), 4) Quantitative (e.g., computational or statistical modeling), 5) Qualitative (e.g., non-quantitative analysis of empirical data), 6) Philosophical or artistic (e.g., epistemology, philosophy of science, aesthetics, or audio-visual demonstrations).
 
Additional Information

·        Each person may submit up to two presentations as first author and serve as co-author on additional work submitted by others. 
·       All presenters are invited to prepare your papers for possible publication in the Society’s peer reviewed research journal Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences.NDPLS uses American Psychological Association (APA) style. Click JOURNAL on the SCTPLS web site to access Instructions for Authors. NDPLS accepts manuscripts all through the year, but please use October 1, 2016 as the target date for submitting to allow us to make up a special Conference Presentations issue. 
 
REGISTRATION for the conference and workshops is now open at

http://www.societyforchaostheory.org/conf/2016/


 
 
 


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