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Updated: May 23, 2026

Characterization of Complex Systems Using the Design of Experiments Approach: Transient Protein Expression in Tobacco as a Case Study
Published on: January 31, 2014
Experimental design: Problems in understanding the dynamical behavior-environment system
Abstract:
In this paper, I attempt to describe the implications of dynamical approaches to science for research in the experimental study of behavior. I discuss the differences between classical and dynamical science, and focus on how dynamical science might see replication differently from classical science. Focusing on replication specifically, I present some problems that the classical approach has in dealing with dynamics and multiple causation. I ask about the status and meaning of "error" variance, and whether it may be a potent source of information. I show how a dynamical approach can handle the sort of control by past events that is hard for classical science to understand. These concerns require, I believe, an approach to variability that is quite different from the one most researchers currently employ. I suggest that some of these problems can be overcome by a notion of "behavioral state," which is a distillation of an organism's history.
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