A Decentralized Mobile Computing Network for Multi-Robot Systems Operations

Collective animal behaviors are paradigmatic examples of fully decentralized operations involving complex collective computations such as collective turns in flocks of birds or collective harvesting by ants. These systems offer a unique source of inspiration for the development of fault-tolerant and self-healing multi-robot systems capable of operating in dynamic environments. Specifically, swarm robotics emerged and is significantly growing on these premises. However, to date, most swarm robotics systems reported in the literature involve basic computational tasks---averages and other algebraic operations. In this paper, we introduce a novel Collective computing framework based on the swarming paradigm, which exhibits the key innate features of swarms: robustness, scalability and flexibility. Unlike Edge computing, the proposed Collective computing framework is truly decentralized and does not require user intervention or additional servers to sustain its operations. This Collective computing framework is applied to the complex task of collective mapping, in which multiple robots aim at cooperatively map a large area. Our results confirm the effectiveness of the cooperative strategy, its robustness to the loss of multiple units, as well as its scalability. Furthermore, the topology of the interconnecting network is found to greatly influence the performance of the collective action.Comment: Accepted for Publication in Proc. 9th IEEE Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics & Mobile Communication Conferenc

Entrepreneurial Energy in a Far-From-Equilibrium Opportunity Driving Entrepreneurial Actions

Disequilibrium and complexity are the distinguishing characteristics of entrepreneurial phenomena. How do the entrepreneurs arbitrage, leverage and benefit in the disequilibria and what spur them to action? The force that drives entrepreneurial ventures, from creation to sustaining through to exit, and then through innovation to extend the game or recreate another play is an imminent force that holds and sustains entrepreneurial momentum. Entrepreneurial energy, a coined terminology in this paper, is that endogenous force. There are scarce relevant researches. In particular, there is no specific mention of the “entrepreneurial energy” in the theory of entrepreneurship. The closest proxy is entrepreneurial passions. Passion cannot be held in equal doses throughout the venture pathway. John Maynard Keynes coined the phrase "animal spirits" in his 1936 book “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money”. He used the term to describe emotions that influence human economic behaviour. Animal spirits create an ambience of trust and faith and are necessary for human actions, more than quantitative logic. Keynes felt animal spirits were needed as a goad to economic action rather than inaction. Schumpeter came up with the German word Unternehmergeist, meaning entrepreneur-spirit, adding that these individuals controlled the economy because they are responsible for delivering innovation and technological change. Whether its entrepreneurial energy, animal spirit or entrepreneur-spirit, it is a force that needs reckoning with in entrepreneurship study. Entrepreneurship is a science of turbulence and change, not continuity. A certain force causes turbulence. Such is the force in entrepreneurship like the wind is felt but not seen through the leaves' ruffle but not the wind itself. This paper will demonstrate that entrepreneurial energy can be better understood if examined through the lens of complexity and quantum science to address this omission. The indeterminacy in uncertainties and chaos theories best describe the dynamically complex, fast, volatile, uncertain disrupted, diverse, ambiguous, hyper-turbulent and hyperconnected entrepreneurial ecosystem. This paper contributes to entrepreneurship research by developing a complexity-based and uncertainty-based definition of entrepreneurial energy. This energy will be referred to in the context of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (space) where the entrepreneurs (object) exist over time. Building on this definition, it connects the research on the entrepreneur to venture-level complexity and entrepreneurial multi-finalities/pathways. It explores how these force originates and is sustained- that will influence entrepreneurial emergence and continuation- from the intentionality of entrepreneurs and the coherence of entrepreneurial activities, through the exploration and exploitation of perceived opportunities within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Beyond theory development, it explores how scholars can examine entrepreneurial energy as a complex play of forces through interpretivist methods. This paper has implications for entrepreneurs and policymakers. Research paper Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Complexity science; Far-from-equilibrium; Structuration theory Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Leong, D. (2021). Entrepreneurial Energy in a Far-From-Equilibrium Opportunity Driving Entrepreneurial Actions. Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, 9(1), 1–31

Entrepreneurial Energy and Opportunities Existing in Space

The space within which the entrepreneurs exist is filled with risks, opportunities and other environmental resources. Scholars have argued that entrepreneurs are constantly discovering and identifying value potentials because significant values arise from the existence of positive externalities which can be captured and exploited. Positive externalities or opportunities can create substantial and desirable gains if they can be monetized, leveraged and exploited. These externalities refer to the natural environmental resources within the space where the entrepreneurs operate. From the perspective of space, this paper will explore the emergence of opportunities or risks within the space through the theoretical lens of structuration and complex science and will, specifically, discuss the collision and the meeting of opportunities with the entrepreneurs at the nexus from the perspective of entrepreneurial energy excitation. Entrepreneurship originates from a nexus of individuals and opportunities. The unique juncture in space or nexus in which the entrepreneurs and opportunities exist is central to the study of entrepreneurship because it is in this juncture or nexus that identification and evaluation of risks and opportunities take place. It is the subsequent human actions, driven by the level of entrepreneurial energy that will lead to the myriad of possible venture pathways. For risks, entrepreneurs perceive them and will subsequently work towards mitigation or avoidance through various measures. The exploitation of opportunities is concerned with acquiring and employing resources in the space to gain certain advantages. Likewise, with risks, entrepreneurs perceive the risks and work towards the mitigation or avoidance of the perceived risk in the venture pathways. In this paper, entrepreneurship is viewed through the structuration and complexity science lens to present the entrepreneurial venture as the instantiated outcome of the entrepreneur–opportunity interaction through time and space. Complexity science offers a theoretical lens for exploring the complex interdependencies of a complex, and adaptive pluralistic world with irreversibility and randomness being the rules- dynamical systems in the natural and physical worlds. The key central concept of complexity is that interactivities between parts of open systems that creates unpredictable and seemingly random patterns. While the history of the open system is relevant in understanding its dynamics, the specific isolation of individual parts of the system does not reveal the system's casual mechanisms. The paper explores whether how entrepreneurial energy arises from the convergence/ collision of entrepreneurs with opportunities in a dynamical, unpredictable and random way in a nexus in space. Research paper Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Risks; Opportunities; Complex science Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Leong, D. (2020). Entrepreneurial Energy and Opportunities Existing in Space, Journal of Entrepreneurship, Business and Economics, 8(2), 196–218. Preprint available at: https://doi.org/10.31124/advance.13363433.v

Inhibition of translation by poliovirus: Inactivation of a specific initiation factor

Translation of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) mRNA, like host mRNA translation, is inhibited in cells infected with poliovirus. To study the mechanism of poliovirus-induced inhibition of protein synthesis, we prepared extracts from poliovirus-infected and uninfected HeLa cells. Poliovirus mRNA was translated in lysates from both infected and uninfected cells, while VSV mRNA was translated only in the lysate from uninfected cells. Addition of purified translation initiation factors to the extract from infected cells showed that one factor, eIF-4B, could restore VSV mRNA translation in the infected lysate, but did not increase poliovirus mRNA translation. Further experiments involving translation of VSV mRNA in mixed extracts from poliovirus-infected and uninfected cells showed (i) that there was not an excess of an inhibitor of VSV mRNA translation in the infected lysate, but (ii) that an activity that caused a slow inactivation of eIF-4B was present in the infected lysate. Inactivation of eIF-4B appears to be the mechanism by which poliovirus infection causes a selective inhibition of translation

A Pan1/End3/Sla1 complex links Arp2/3-mediated actin assembly to sites of clathrin-mediated endocytosis.

More than 60 highly conserved proteins appear sequentially at sites of clathrin-mediated endocytosis in yeast and mammals. The yeast Eps15-related proteins Pan1 and End3 and the CIN85-related protein Sla1 are known to interact with each other in vitro, and they all appear after endocytic-site initiation but before endocytic actin assembly, which facilitates membrane invagination/scission. Here we used live-cell imaging in parallel with genetics and biochemistry to explore comprehensively the dynamic interactions and functions of Pan1, End3, and Sla1. Our results indicate that Pan1 and End3 associate in a stable manner and appear at endocytic sites before Sla1. The End3 C-terminus is necessary and sufficient for its cortical localization via interaction with Pan1, whereas the End3 N-terminus plays a crucial role in Sla1 recruitment. We systematically examined the dynamic behaviors of endocytic proteins in cells in which Pan1 and End3 were simultaneously eliminated, using the auxin-inducible degron system. The results lead us to propose that endocytic-site initiation and actin assembly are separable processes linked by a Pan1/End3/Sla1 complex. Finally, our study provides mechanistic insights into how Pan1 and End3 function with Sla1 to coordinate cargo capture with actin assembly

A Comparison of the NZTM and FPS Models of the New Zealand Economy

This paper investigates and compares the dynamic properties of the New Zealand Treasury model (NZTM) and the current version of the Reserve Bank’s Forecasting and Policy System model (FPS). The main use of both two models is to produce macroeconomic forecasts. The NZTM model produces forecasts that are used as an input into the final forecast numbers presented in the Economic and Fiscal Updates. The FPS model is used to produce the published forecasts in the Reserve Bank’s quarterly Monetary Policy Statement. Both models contain a number of judgements around the structure of the economy, the key shocks that impact on the economy, and how the economy evolves in response to these shocks. The paper concludes that one of the main differences between the two models occurs in the impact of a world price shock on the real exchange rate and subsequently on exports and imports. Another key difference is the mechanism through which the net foreign asset position returns towards equilibrium. In FPS, the external balance is partly attained by forward-looking consumers who adjust spending to reach desired wealth positions. In contrast, the real exchange rate is the key mechanism in NZTM for re-establishing equilibrium.New Zealand; NZTM; FPS; Macroeconomic forecasts; Net foreign asset position; forwarding-looking consumers; Real exchange rate

Byzantine modification detection in multicast networks using randomized network coding

Distributed randomized network coding, a robust approach to multicasting in distributed network settings, can be extended to provide Byzantine modification detection without the use of cryptographic functions is presented in this paper