Complexes

Feedback, suggestions, and criticisms are more than welcome. Gershenson, C. (2010) "Computing Networks: A General Framework to Contrast Neural and Swarm Architectures". C3 Report No. 2010.01. Abstract : Computing Networks (CNs) are defined. These are used to generalize neural and swarm architectures, namely artificial neural networks, ant colony optimization, and particle swarm optimization. The description of these architectures as CNs allows their comparison, distinguishing which properties enable them to perform complex computations and exhibit complex cognitive abilities. In this context, the most relevant characteristics of CNs are the existence multiple dynamical and functional scales. Full paper : http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/1001.5244

Today Lama Jampa visited our sangha , giving several teachings. He mentioned (or at least Eduardo translated it that way from Tibetan) that when one is in the state of the Buddha, things are perceived as they really are. Since I had learned from Eduardo that in Buddhism things are composed by object, subject, and action, I did not understand the meaning of Lama Jampa's words, so I asked. My translated summary of what I understood of the translation of Lama Jampa's summary is the following: You cannot really see things (they are in between being, not being, being and being, and not {being and not being}). The phrase "things as they really are" means that one realizes causality and relationships between all things, i.e. that no thing is isolated. I find this very interesting, because this is precisely what the scientific study of complex systems does, as opposed to traditional reductionistic science (since Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Laplace). We study the relevance of...

//Please redistribute //Apologies for multiple copies Call for Papers Session on Complex Networks at ALife XII: 12th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems Odense, Denmark, 19-23 August 2010 Coordinators: Mikhail Prokopenko and Carlos Gershenson http://www.prokopenko.net/ComplexNetworks.html Motivation Many complex systems are amenable to be described as networks. These include genetic regulatory, structural or functional cortical networks, ecological systems, metabolism of biological species, author collaborations, interaction of autonomous systems in the Internet, etc. A recent trend suggests to study common global topological features of such networks, e.g. network diameter, clustering coefficients, assortativity, modularity, community structure, etc. Various network growth models have also been proposed and studied to emulate the features of the real-world networks, e.g. the preferential attachment model, which explains scale-free power law degr...

My wife Nadya started working as a wellness coach a few months ago. I have received great benefits from her recently acquired knowledge. We already had "healthy" diets, we had "normal" weights, but it turns out that we could do much better. In few weeks, with the help of the latest "nutrition technology", we got much more energy (useful when an active toddler is jumping around...), had much better digestion, recovered the weight we had when we were teens... (I recovered the muscles I had when I swam 50Km a week, but I barely exercise: nutrition seems to be more important than physical activity for health (which is also important)). If you would like to know more about how to feel better and improve your health through nutrition, feel free to contact my wife nadya.bienestar@gmail.com Now, why most people feed on "dark age" food, instead of receiving benefits from the latest scientific discoveries in nutrition? Well, many people simply inherit thei...

2010 seems to be a promising year. Here in Mexico, we will celebrate 200 years of the beginning of the Independence (September 16th, 1810) and 100 years of the beginning of the Revolution (November 20th, 1910). By linear extrapolation, we all expect a great event to occur in 2010. But there are different opinions on what precisely will occur. The hope of the people: winning the World Cup. The fear of the people: collapse of the country. The most possible outcome: financial difficulties of historic proportions. The Guajiran dream: the refoundation of the Republic (it has been going down the drain for too long). My personal bet/conspiracy theory: druglords taking over the country followed by a foreign invasion rescue operation.

Self-organizing urban transportation systems Carlos Gershenson. To be published in " Complexity theories of cities have come of age ", edited by Juval Portugali and Han Meyer (Springer, 2010). Abstract : Urban transportation is a complex phenomenon. Since many agents are constantly interacting in parallel, it is difficult to predict the future state of a transportation system. Because of this, optimization techniques tend to give obsolete solutions, as the problem changes before it can be optimized. An alternative lies in seeking adaptive solutions. This adaptation can be achieved with self-organization. In a self-organizing transportation system, the elements of the system follow local rules to achieve a global solution. Like this, when the problem changes the system can adapt by itself to the new configuration. In this chapter, I will review recent, current, and future work on self-organizing transportation systems. Self-organizing traffic lights have proven to improve traf...

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