17,155 research outputs found
Agent-based pedestrian modelling
When the focus of interest in geographical systems is at the very fine scale, at the level of
streets and buildings for example, movement becomes central to simulations of how spatial
activities are used and develop. Recent advances in computing power and the acquisition of
fine scale digital data now mean that we are able to attempt to understand and predict such
phenomena with the focus in spatial modelling changing to dynamic simulations of the
individual and collective behaviour of individual decision-making at such scales. In this
Chapter, we develop ideas about how such phenomena can be modelled showing first how
randomness and geometry are all important to local movement and how ordered spatial
structures emerge from such actions. We focus on developing these ideas for pedestrians
showing how random walks constrained by geometry but aided by what agents can see,
determine how individuals respond to locational patterns. We illustrate these ideas with three
types of example: first for local scale street scenes where congestion and flocking is all
important, second for coarser scale shopping centres such as malls where economic
preference interferes much more with local geometry, and finally for semi-organised street
festivals where management and control by police and related authorities is integral to the
way crowds move
Physics as Quantum Information Processing: Quantum Fields as Quantum Automata
Can we reduce Quantum Field Theory (QFT) to a quantum computation? Can
physics be simulated by a quantum computer? Do we believe that a quantum field
is ultimately made of a numerable set of quantum systems that are unitarily
interacting? A positive answer to these questions corresponds to substituting
QFT with a theory of quantum cellular automata (QCA), and the present work is
examining this hypothesis. These investigations are part of a large research
program on a "quantum-digitalization" of physics, with Quantum Theory as a
special theory of information, and Physics as emergent from the same
quantum-information processing. A QCA-based QFT has tremendous potential
advantages compared to QFT, being quantum "ab-initio" and free from the
problems plaguing QFT due to the continuum hypothesis. Here I will show how
dynamics emerges from the quantum processing, how the QCA can reproduce the
Dirac-field phenomenology at large scales, and the kind of departures from QFT
that that should be expected at a Planck-scale discreteness. I will introduce
the notions of linear field quantum automaton and local-matrix quantum
automaton, in terms of which I will provide the solution to the Feynman's
problem about the possibility of simulating a Fermi field with a quantum
computer.Comment: This version: further improvements in notation. Added reference. Work
presented at the conference "Foundations of Probability and Physics-6" (FPP6)
held on 12-15 June 2011 at the Linnaeus University, Vaaxjo, Sweden. Many new
results, e.g. Feynman problem of qubit-ization of Fermi fields solved
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Theory of deferred action: Agent-based simulation model for designing complex adaptive systems
Deferred action is the axiom that agents act in emergent organisation to achieve predetermined goals. Enabling deferred action in designed artificial complex adaptive systems like business organisations and IS is problematical. Emergence is an intractable problem for designers because it cannot be predicted. We develop proof-of-concept, conceptual proto-agent model, of emergent organisation and emergent IS to understand better design principles to enable deferred action as a mechanism for coping with emergence in artefacts. We focus on understanding the effect of emergence when designing artificial complex adaptive systems by developing an exploratory proto-agent model and evaluate its suitability for implementation as agent-based simulation
Scientific requirements for an engineered model of consciousness
The building of a non-natural conscious system requires more than the design of physical or virtual machines with intuitively conceived abilities, philosophically elucidated architecture or hardware homologous to an animalâs brain. Human society might one day treat a type of robot or computing system as an artificial person. Yet that would not answer scientific questions about the machineâs consciousness or otherwise. Indeed, empirical tests for consciousness are impossible because no such entity is denoted within the theoretical structure of the science of mind, i.e. psychology. However, contemporary experimental psychology can identify if a specific mental process is conscious in particular circumstances, by theory-based interpretation of the overt performance of human beings. Thus, if we are to build a conscious machine, the artificial systems must be used as a test-bed for theory developed from the existing science that distinguishes conscious from non-conscious causation in natural systems. Only such a rich and realistic account of hypothetical processes accounting for observed input/output relationships can establish whether or not an engineered system is a model of consciousness. It follows that any research project on machine consciousness needs a programme of psychological experiments on the demonstration systems and that the programme should be designed to deliver a fully detailed scientific theory of the type of artificial mind being developed â a Psychology of that Machine
Numerical Relativity: A review
Computer simulations are enabling researchers to investigate systems which
are extremely difficult to handle analytically. In the particular case of
General Relativity, numerical models have proved extremely valuable for
investigations of strong field scenarios and been crucial to reveal unexpected
phenomena. Considerable efforts are being spent to simulate astrophysically
relevant simulations, understand different aspects of the theory and even
provide insights in the search for a quantum theory of gravity. In the present
article I review the present status of the field of Numerical Relativity,
describe the techniques most commonly used and discuss open problems and (some)
future prospects.Comment: 2 References added; 1 corrected. 67 pages. To appear in Classical and
Quantum Gravity. (uses iopart.cls
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