PhD thesis: "final" version online

After making several minor corrections, I have a "final" version of my thesis, which you can download here. I should defend it privately on April 20th, and if everything goes well, the public defense would be on May 2nd. Everybody's welcome!

Design and Control of Self-organizing Systems

PhD Dissertation presented by

Carlos Gershenson

Promoters:
Prof. Dr. Bart D’Hooghe and
Prof. Dr. Francis Heylighen
Advisors:
Prof. Dr. Bruce Edmonds
Prof. Dr. Bernard Manderick
Prof. Dr. Peter McBurney
Prof. Dr. Ann Nowé


Abstract

Complex systems are usually difficult to design and control. There are several particular methods for coping with complexity, but there is no general approach to build complex systems. In this thesis I propose a methodology to aid engineers in the design and control of complex systems. This is based on the description of systems as self-organizing. Starting from the agent metaphor, the methodology proposes a conceptual framework and a series of steps to follow to find proper mechanisms that will promote elements to find solutions by actively interacting among themselves. The main premise of the methodology claims that reducing the “friction” of interactions between elements of a system will result in a higher “satisfaction” of the system, i.e. better performance.

A general introduction to complex thinking is given, since designing self-organizing systems requires a non-classical thought, while practical notions of complexity and self-organization are put forward. To illustrate the methodology, I present three case studies. Self-organizing traffic light controllers are proposed and studied with multi-agent simulations, outperforming traditional methods. Methods for improving communication within self-organizing bureaucracies are advanced, introducing a simple computational model to illustrate the benefits of self-organization. In the last case study, requirements for self-organizing artifacts in an ambient intelligence scenario are discussed. Philosophical implications of the conceptual framework are also put forward.

Comments

MiKE said…
Good Luck !! I hope you're well before this presentation ?
Gali said…
Looking forward to reading your PhD dissertation.
The PDF link that you have now returns an error message. I do hope you will post the file again
Carlos said…
Hi Gali,

Thanks for pointing out the broken link, I fixed it
(the server name changed...)
Mickey said…
Hi Carlos, the link seems to be broken again.
Cheers
Michael
Carlos said…
Thanks Mickey, I updated the link.

Best wishes,
Carlos

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