Emergence of Leadership in Communication

We study a neuro-inspired model that mimics a discussion (or information dissemination) process in a network of agents. During their interaction, agents redistribute activity and network weights, resulting in emergence of leader(s). The model is able to reproduce the basic scenarios of leadership known in nature and society: laissez-faire (irregular activity, weak leadership, sizable inter-follower interaction, autonomous sub-leaders); participative or democratic (strong leadership, but with feedback from followers); and autocratic (no feedback, one-way influence). Several pertinent aspects of these scenarios are found as well---e.g., hidden leadership (a hidden clique of agents driving the official autocratic leader), and successive leadership (two leaders influence followers by turns). We study how these scenarios emerge from inter-agent dynamics and how they depend on behavior rules of agents---in particular, on their inertia against state changes.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure

Semiotic analysis of neuroenergetic networks in the construction of intelligent agents

Orientador: Ricardo Ribeiro GudwinDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: Neste trabalho desenvolvemos uma análise das redes neuroenergéticas (propostas por Leonid B. Emelyanov-Yaroslavsky) e a especificação de um agente inteligente constru'ido com estas redes, comparando-o com outras especificaçoes de agentes existentes na literatura e também avaliando suas capacidades semióticas. As redes neuroenergéticas caracterizam-se por serem autoorganizáveis em torno do objetivo de minimização do consumo de energia de seus neurônios. A partir deste objetivo, e dadas algumas restrições, Emelyanov-Yaroslavsky sugere que deveriam surgir no agente neuroenergético características típicas de sistemas inteligentes como memória, volição, aprendizado, capacidade de generalização, etc. Este trabalho visa dar os primeiros passos na validação das propostas de Emelyanov-Yaroslavsky por meio da compreensão das características básicas do modelo e sua reprodução e simulação. Uma versão computacional da rede neuroenergética foi implementada demonstrando sua viabilidade operacional e capacidade de auto-organização. Embora não tenha sido implementado, o modelo do agente neuroenergético abre perspectivas no sentido de criar sistemas cognitivos capazes de atuar nos mais diversos ambientes e domíniosAbstract: This work presents an analysis of the neuroenergetic networks (proposed by Leonid B. Emelyanov-Yaroslavsky) and the specification of an intelligent agent constructed with these networks, comparing it to other existing agent specifications in the literature and also evaluating its semiotic capabilities. The neuroenergetic networks are characterized by their capability of selforganizing, aiming at minimizing the energy consumption of their neurons. With this aim in mind, and given some restrictions, Emelyanov-Yaroslavsky suggests that the neuroenergetic agent should develop some typical characteristics of intelligent systems such as: memory, volition, learning and, generalizationcapabilities, etc. This work aims at making the first steps validating Emelyanov-Yaroslavsky¿s proposals through the comprehension of the model¿s basic features and its reproduction and simulation. A computational version of the neuroenergetic network was implemented, demonstrating its operational viability and capacity of selforganization. Even though it has not yet been implemented, the model of the neuroenergetic agent opens perspectives in the direction of creating cognitive systems, capable to act in most diverse environments and domainsMestradoEngenharia de ComputaçãoMestre em Engenharia Elétric