86,886 research outputs found
Complex Systems: A Survey
A complex system is a system composed of many interacting parts, often called
agents, which displays collective behavior that does not follow trivially from
the behaviors of the individual parts. Examples include condensed matter
systems, ecosystems, stock markets and economies, biological evolution, and
indeed the whole of human society. Substantial progress has been made in the
quantitative understanding of complex systems, particularly since the 1980s,
using a combination of basic theory, much of it derived from physics, and
computer simulation. The subject is a broad one, drawing on techniques and
ideas from a wide range of areas. Here I give a survey of the main themes and
methods of complex systems science and an annotated bibliography of resources,
ranging from classic papers to recent books and reviews.Comment: 10 page
Prospects for large-scale financial systems simulation
As the 21st century unfolds, we find ourselves having to control, support, manage or otherwise cope with large-scale complex adaptive systems to an extent that is unprecedented in human history. Whether we are concerned with issues of food security, infrastructural resilience, climate change, health care, web science, security, or financial stability, we face problems that combine scale, connectivity, adaptive dynamics, and criticality. Complex systems simulation is emerging as the key scientific tool for dealing with such complex adaptive systems. Although a relatively new paradigm, it is one that has already established a track record in fields as varied as ecology (Grimm and Railsback, 2005), transport (Nagel et al., 1999), neuroscience (Markram, 2006), and ICT (Bullock and Cliff, 2004). In this report, we consider the application of simulation methodologies to financial systems, assessing the prospects for continued progress in this line of research
Towards homeostatic architecture: simulation of the generative process of a termite mound construction
This report sets out to the theme of the generation of a âlivingâ,
homeostatic and self-organizing architectural structure. The main research
question this project addresses is what innovative techniques of design,
construction and materials could prospectively be developed and eventually
applied to create and sustain human-made buildings which are mostly
adaptive, self-controlled and self-functioning, without option to a vast supply
of materials and peripheral services. The hypothesis is that through the
implementation of the biological building behaviour of termites, in terms of
collective construction mechanisms that are based on environmental stimuli,
we could achieve a simulation of the generative process of their adaptive
structures, capable to inform in many ways human construction. The essay
explicates the development of the 3-dimensional, agent-based simulation of
the termite collective construction and analyzes the results, which involve
besides physical modelling of the evolved structures. It finally elucidates the
potential of this emerging and adaptive architectural performance to be
translated to human practice and thus enlighten new ecological engineering
and design methodologies
From Social Simulation to Integrative System Design
As the recent financial crisis showed, today there is a strong need to gain
"ecological perspective" of all relevant interactions in
socio-economic-techno-environmental systems. For this, we suggested to set-up a
network of Centers for integrative systems design, which shall be able to run
all potentially relevant scenarios, identify causality chains, explore feedback
and cascading effects for a number of model variants, and determine the
reliability of their implications (given the validity of the underlying
models). They will be able to detect possible negative side effect of policy
decisions, before they occur. The Centers belonging to this network of
Integrative Systems Design Centers would be focused on a particular field, but
they would be part of an attempt to eventually cover all relevant areas of
society and economy and integrate them within a "Living Earth Simulator". The
results of all research activities of such Centers would be turned into
informative input for political Decision Arenas. For example, Crisis
Observatories (for financial instabilities, shortages of resources,
environmental change, conflict, spreading of diseases, etc.) would be connected
with such Decision Arenas for the purpose of visualization, in order to make
complex interdependencies understandable to scientists, decision-makers, and
the general public.Comment: 34 pages, Visioneer White Paper, see http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
Modeling Life as Cognitive Info-Computation
This article presents a naturalist approach to cognition understood as a
network of info-computational, autopoietic processes in living systems. It
provides a conceptual framework for the unified view of cognition as evolved
from the simplest to the most complex organisms, based on new empirical and
theoretical results. It addresses three fundamental questions: what cognition
is, how cognition works and what cognition does at different levels of
complexity of living organisms. By explicating the info-computational character
of cognition, its evolution, agent-dependency and generative mechanisms we can
better understand its life-sustaining and life-propagating role. The
info-computational approach contributes to rethinking cognition as a process of
natural computation in living beings that can be applied for cognitive
computation in artificial systems.Comment: Manuscript submitted to Computability in Europe CiE 201
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Using agent based simulation to empirically examine complexity in carbon footprint business process
Through the critical analysis of the extant literature, it is observed that Simulation is widely used as a research method in Natural Sciences, Engineering and Social Sciences, in addition to argumentation and formalisation as the third way of carrying out research. Simulation is not so widely used in Business and Management research as it ought to have been, though this is changing for the better with the technological advances in computers and their computational power. These technological advances enhance the capability of theoretical research models, in defining a problem and their use in empirically examining a solution to the problem in simulated reality, like never before. Management journal searches for âSimulation and Complexity Theoryâ returned nil or zero returns, which explain that this combination is not popular in management research, though they are used individually more often. The major objective of this paper is to analyse some of the conceptual (or theoretical) and methodological (or empirical) contributions that Agent Based Simulation and Complexity Theory can make to the business and management community in their business process related research In view of this, some basic ideas are discussed of using Agent Based Simulation as a method in Business and Management Studies research and how an Agent Based Model can be applied to a business process as complex as Carbon Footprint. It is in this context that the use of Complexity as the base theory to empirically examine a business process is discussed. Throughout this article, our research on complex adaptive systems (e.g., Accounting Information System) in continuously changing organisations managing complex business processes (e.g., Carbon Footprint business process) is considered as the basis for illustrating some of the concepts. Through this article, avenues for further management research using these tools and methodology are suggested
Embodied Robot Models for Interdisciplinary Emotion Research
Due to their complex nature, emotions cannot be properly understood from the perspective of a single discipline. In this paper, I discuss how the use of robots as models is beneficial for interdisciplinary emotion research. Addressing this issue through the lens of my own research, I focus on a critical analysis of embodied robots models of different aspects of emotion, relate them to theories in psychology and neuroscience, and provide representative examples. I discuss concrete ways in which embodied robot models can be used to carry out interdisciplinary emotion research, assessing their contributions: as hypothetical models, and as operational models of specific emotional phenomena, of general emotion principles, and of specific emotion ``dimensions''. I conclude by discussing the advantages of using embodied robot models over other models.Peer reviewe
Behaviour-based Knowledge Systems: An Epigenetic Path from Behaviour to Knowledge
In this paper we expose the theoretical background underlying our current research.
This consists in the development of behaviour-based knowledge systems, for closing
the gaps between behaviour-based and knowledge-based systems, and also
between the understandings of the phenomena they model. We expose the
requirements and stages for developing behaviour-based knowledge systems and
discuss their limits. We believe that these are necessary conditions for the
development of higher order cognitive capacities, in artificial and natural cognitive
systems
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