Engineering Resilient Collective Adaptive Systems by Self-Stabilisation

Collective adaptive systems are an emerging class of networked computational systems, particularly suited in application domains such as smart cities, complex sensor networks, and the Internet of Things. These systems tend to feature large scale, heterogeneity of communication model (including opportunistic peer-to-peer wireless interaction), and require inherent self-adaptiveness properties to address unforeseen changes in operating conditions. In this context, it is extremely difficult (if not seemingly intractable) to engineer reusable pieces of distributed behaviour so as to make them provably correct and smoothly composable. Building on the field calculus, a computational model (and associated toolchain) capturing the notion of aggregate network-level computation, we address this problem with an engineering methodology coupling formal theory and computer simulation. On the one hand, functional properties are addressed by identifying the largest-to-date field calculus fragment generating self-stabilising behaviour, guaranteed to eventually attain a correct and stable final state despite any transient perturbation in state or topology, and including highly reusable building blocks for information spreading, aggregation, and time evolution. On the other hand, dynamical properties are addressed by simulation, empirically evaluating the different performances that can be obtained by switching between implementations of building blocks with provably equivalent functional properties. Overall, our methodology sheds light on how to identify core building blocks of collective behaviour, and how to select implementations that improve system performance while leaving overall system function and resiliency properties unchanged.Comment: To appear on ACM Transactions on Modeling and Computer Simulatio

Novel forms of Organizing for Institutional Work: Communities as Powerhouse of Resilience, Trust and Positive Social Change

1Dottorato di Ricerca in Management (XXX ciclo), Luiss Guido Carli, Roma, 2019. Relatori: Prof. Luca Giustiniano, Prof. Tomislav Rimac (ESCI - Pompeu Fabra University).openCommunity resilience building for institutional work. Effective community building by trusting as institutional work. Collective social entrepreneurship for inclusive growth: the case of the self-employed women’s association (sewa).openDottorato di Ricerca in ManagementKELLA, CHINTANKella, Chinta

Biological and Chemical Information Technologies

Biological and chemical information technologies (bio/chem IT) have the potential to reshape the scientific and technological landscape. In this paper we briefly review the main challenges and opportunities in the field, before presenting several case studies based on ongoing FP7 research projects

Self-Healing Protocols for Connectivity Maintenance in Unstructured Overlays

In this paper, we discuss on the use of self-organizing protocols to improve the reliability of dynamic Peer-to-Peer (P2P) overlay networks. Two similar approaches are studied, which are based on local knowledge of the nodes' 2nd neighborhood. The first scheme is a simple protocol requiring interactions among nodes and their direct neighbors. The second scheme adds a check on the Edge Clustering Coefficient (ECC), a local measure that allows determining edges connecting different clusters in the network. The performed simulation assessment evaluates these protocols over uniform networks, clustered networks and scale-free networks. Different failure modes are considered. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposal.Comment: The paper has been accepted to the journal Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12083-015-0384-

Spatio-Temporal Patterns act as Computational Mechanisms governing Emergent behavior in Robotic Swarms

open access articleOur goal is to control a robotic swarm without removing its swarm-like nature. In other words, we aim to intrinsically control a robotic swarm emergent behavior. Past attempts at governing robotic swarms or their selfcoordinating emergent behavior, has proven ineffective, largely due to the swarm’s inherent randomness (making it difficult to predict) and utter simplicity (they lack a leader, any kind of centralized control, long-range communication, global knowledge, complex internal models and only operate on a couple of basic, reactive rules). The main problem is that emergent phenomena itself is not fully understood, despite being at the forefront of current research. Research into 1D and 2D Cellular Automata has uncovered a hidden computational layer which bridges the micromacro gap (i.e., how individual behaviors at the micro-level influence the global behaviors on the macro-level). We hypothesize that there also lie embedded computational mechanisms at the heart of a robotic swarm’s emergent behavior. To test this theory, we proceeded to simulate robotic swarms (represented as both particles and dynamic networks) and then designed local rules to induce various types of intelligent, emergent behaviors (as well as designing genetic algorithms to evolve robotic swarms with emergent behaviors). Finally, we analysed these robotic swarms and successfully confirmed our hypothesis; analyzing their developments and interactions over time revealed various forms of embedded spatiotemporal patterns which store, propagate and parallel process information across the swarm according to some internal, collision-based logic (solving the mystery of how simple robots are able to self-coordinate and allow global behaviors to emerge across the swarm)

Synergy between biology and systems resilience

Resilient systems have the ability to endure and successfully recover from disturbances by identifying problems and mobilizing the available resources to cope with the disturbance. Resiliency lets a system recover from disruptions, variations, and a degradation of expected working conditions. Biological systems are resilient. Immune systems are highly adaptive and scalable, with the ability to cope with multiple data sources, fuse information together, makes decisions, have multiple interacting agents, operate in a distributed manner over a multiple scales, and have a memory structure to facilitate learning. Ecosystems are resilient since they have the capacity to absorb disturbance and are able to tolerate the disturbances. Ants build colonies that are dispersed, modular, fine grained, and standardized in design, yet they manage to forage intelligently for food and also organize collective defenses by the property of resilience. Are there any rules that we can identify to explain the resilience in these systems? The answer is yes. In insect colonies, rules determine the division of labor and how individual insects act towards each other and respond to different environmental possibilities. It is possible to group these rules based on attributes. These attributes are distributability, redundancy, adaptability, flexibility, interoperability, and diversity. It is also possible to incorporate these rules into engineering systems in their design to make them resilient. It is also possible to develop a qualitative model to generate resilience heuristics for engineering system based on a given attribute. The rules seen in nature and those of an engineering system are integrated to incorporate the desired characteristics for system resilience. The qualitative model for systems resilience will be able to generate system resilience heuristics. This model is simple and it can be applied to any system by using attribute based heuristics that are domain dependent. It also provides basic foundation for building computational models for designing resilient system architectures. This model was tested on recent catastrophes like the Mumbai terror attack and hurricane Katrina. With the disturbances surrounding the current world this resilience model based on heuristics will help a system to deal with crisis and still function in the best way possible by depending mainly on internal variables within the system --Abstract, page iii

Equity and Resilience: Can Cities of the Future Achieve Both?

Within the concept of city resilience lies an opportunity to transform current systems of power and oppression that perpetuate social inequities and deny basic human rights to much of the world’s population. This research examines how current resilience practices, if left unchecked, might affect the future equity of a city’s neighbourhoods and communities by fortifying oppressive power structures and systems dominant in today’s society. It questions how we might use systems thinking and foresight tools to re-engineer processes for building resilience that supports the transition to more equitable and just cities. A design research methodology was used to explore 1) what makes a future equitable; 2) the process by which we define a term, in this case, resilience; and 3) how this definition might hold power to inform how resilience is built, distributed, and regulated in the future. The methodology consists of field observation and semi-structured subject matter expert interviews while employing foresight methods, systems analysis, and generative design research techniques to facilitate multi-stakeholder engagements. Contributions of this research include recommendations on how we might re-engineer foundational processes for building definitions of resilience that consider equity and support the building and repairing of a just city. Additionally, this study introduces a conceptual tool, Dream Capital, for adapting and designing more equitable approaches to building resilience that can aid cities in overcoming social, political, economic, and cultural inequities in the future

Toward sustainable lifestyles through collaborative consumption platforms: a case study of a community from Montevideo city.

In a world in which market-oriented economies steer human endeavours on a global scale, the urgency for moving towards more sustainable futures has become more than evident. The role design plays as co-producer of everyday life, both in its physical and social construction, demands today designers to lead collective action through visions of sustainable lifestyles (Manzini, 2015; Irwin, 2015). Urban citizens, concerned with the unsustainability of dominant practices have been actively participating in such transitions, bringing changes into the lifestyles of their communities. Described as collaborative organizations, these bottom-up initiatives use social media and act as grassroots organizations (Manzini, 2015). Alternatively, these initiatives also fall under the umbrella notion of the collaborative or sharing economy. However, this notion is not representative of the diversity in those organizations as the phenomenon encompasses diverse endeavours wherein aims, motivations, organizational structures, and consequent societal and environmental impact vary widely from case to case. This research aims to learn, from an empirical viewpoint, how and why citizens interact and engage in these practices, through a case study of a citizen-led initiative from Montevideo, Uruguay. This platform and community propose a solution to the problem of accumulation of disused goods, configuring alternative practices of consuming, using, and disposing of goods. The case is analyzed with literature from collaborative economy studies; relevant concepts from Design for Social Innovation; and several theories brought together by Transition Design, used as a conceptual framework for sustainable lifestyles. The study suggests that on top of various motivations, engagement in community-oriented collaborative platforms can be explained by technological and cultural arrangements that foster a sense of belonging through giving active roles to participants in the community. Therefore, it is argued that these practices represent a step in transitions toward sustainable lifestyles as they engage citizens in self-organization and increase the possibilities of local and endogenous satisfaction of needs, at a global scale (in the sense of ‘cosmopolitan localism’). However, challenges for these platforms are building governance that prevents centralization of power and supporting its technological infrastructure without compromising their non-profit character with financial arrangements. Moreover, an important shortcoming is the reliance on centralized mass production and consumption, as these systems do not propose a distributed alternative to production but only to consumption practices. For that reason, environmental benefits cannot be claimed without further research

Amorphous Computing

The goal of amorphous computing is to identify organizationalprinciples and create programming technologies for obtainingintentional, pre-specified behavior from the cooperation of myriadunreliable parts that are arranged in unknown, irregular, andtime-varying ways. The heightened relevance of amorphous computingtoday stems from the emergence of new technologies that could serve assubstrates for information processing systems of immense power atunprecedentedly low cost, if only we could master the challenge ofprogramming them. This document is a review of amorphous computing