Satellite workshop of the
European
Conference on Complex Systems
ECE'05 workshop news:
>> updated workshop programme now available <<
>> special issue publication in TAAS <<
| ECE Workshop Programme (subject to change) |
|
| Day 1 - Tuesday 15th November |
|
13:30 |
Welcome and Introduction - Chair: Ozalp Babaoglu |
13:40 |
Geoff Canright, Telenor R&D, Norway Engineering, without complexity, maybe with emergence |
| Abstract: There are three interesting and important nouns in the title of this workshop. In this talk, I will critically analyze these three nouns: what do they mean, and how do they fit together? I will avoid empty words as much as possible, by trying to ground my discussion in both the scientific and the engineering points of view. Furthermore, I will refer to some of my own work (using chemotaxis for load balancing), done in connection with the EU BISON project, to illustrate my points via concrete examples. Finally—as indicated by my title—I will propose that “complexity” is not (yet) a useful term for engineering purposes, whereas “emergence”, while in serious need of improvement, has some utility for practical engineers who need to solve real-world problems. | |
14:25 |
Mark Jelasity, University of Bologna, Italy. Fully decentralized and robust ranking protocols |
| Abstract:
Emergence is often associated with a "surprise-factor": local
interactions result in something unexpected at the global level.
Engineering emergence is about removing this surprise. We give examples
of how not to be surprised by the results of certain kinds of local
interactions. In the example we focus on the local interactions
(that otherwise make some sense on their own) can be interpreted as
calculating the dominant eigenvector of certain graphs that are
related to the adjacency matrix of the network topology graph, thereby
providing each node with a rank value that can be used e.g. to order
search hits. Credits go to Geoff Canright who directed my attention to
this problem. |
|
15:10 |
Coffee Break |
15:40 |
Vincent Chevrier, LORIA, France. Natural inspiration for the design of complex systems |
| Abstract:
We are interested in the design of systems being able to produce
a collective response from interactions between simple individuals.
Such systems are able to exhibit a lot of “self-star” properties.
To design them, we have to define the individual behaviors (as
simple as possible) such as to obtain the expected collective behavior.
To tackle this engineering issue we take inspiration in natural
self-organized systems: it will be the topic of the talk. After a
general overview of our approach; we will present an original model of
specialisation inspired from a phenomenon in rats' groups; and then; we
will review the problems we face while engineering systems. |
|
16:25 |
Andreas Deutsch, Technical University Dresden Self-organization in interacting cell networks: from microscopic rules to emergent behavior |
| Abstract: The purpose of this talk is two-fold. First, we demonstrate that interacting cell networks are prime candidates to study principles of self-organized pattern formation. In addition, they offer a multitude of possibilities for microscopic interactions that might also be relevant for dynamic communication networks. Examples of interacting cell systems are life cycles of bacteria or social amoebae, embryonic tissue formation, wound healing or tumour growth and metastasis. Then, we show that mathematical modeling of dynamic cell networks (biomathematics) has developed techniques which allow to analyze how specific microscopic interactions imply the emergence of a particular macroscopic behavior. These techniques might also be applied in the context of dynamic communication networks. | |
17:10 |
Manolis Koubarakis, Technical University of Crete Using self-organising data structures to build distributed resource sharing applications |
| Abstract: Distributed hash tables are self-organising data structures that have recently become prominent for the implementation of distributed resource sharing applications. In this talk, we show how to use a distributed hash table to provide information retrieval and filtering functionality in digital library environments. In an information retrieval scenario, a user poses a query and the system returns information about matching digital resources. In an information filtering scenario, a user posts a continuous query to the system to receive notifications whenever certain events of interest take place. We demonstrate that information retrieval and filtering applications are a good candidate for the application of self-organising data structures to improve system functionality, performance and availability. This is joint work with my students Christos Tryfonopoulos and Stratos Idreos. | |
17:55 |
End of Tuesday Session |
Day 2 - Wednesday 16th November |
|
14:20 |
Introduction - Chair: David Hales |
14:25 |
Franco Zambonelli, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy. Tackling the "engineering emergence" oxymoron: some preliminary thoughts |
| Abstract: It is getting more and more recognized that the exploitation of self-organization and emergent behaviors can be a feasible way to bear the complexities and dynamics of modern ICT systems. However, attempting at defining a practice of engineering such emergent and self-organizing systems in a reliable and repeatable way appears a contradiction in terms. This talk develops some preliminary thoughts on how such an challenge can be possibly tackled, i.e., on which concepts and guidelines promise to properly pave the way to a practice of engineering emergent systems. | |
15:10 |
Coffee Break |
15:40 |
Alberto Montresor, University of Trento, Italy. Engineering topologies: from self-organization to self-maintenance |
| Abstract: The role of topologies in large-scale overlay networks is becoming more and more important. But building and maintaining topologies is not simple: it is not a case that many popular overlay networks are based on unstructured, "unwanted" topologies. The goal of this talk is to show how several different topologies may be built using a simple, common mechanism. Credits go to Mark Jelasity and his T-Man protocol. | |
16:25 |
Gianni Di Caro, IDSIA, Switzerland Swarm intelligence for adaptive routing in dynamic networks |
| Abstract:
We introduce AntHocNet, a novel swarm intelligence algorithm for
adaptive routing in heterogeneous networks. Building on ideas from
previous work on the application of the Ant Colony Optimization
framework to routing, and in combination with techniques from dynamic
programming, AntHocNet is a reactive-proactive algorithm tailored to
deal with the challenges posed by highly dynamic network environments.
We apply AntHocNet to both mobile ad hoc networks and wired datagram
networks. Extensive experimental results will show the
effectiveness of the general swarm intelligence approach over a broad
range of network scenarios characterized by different sources of
non-stationarity. We compare
the algorithm with popular state-of-the-art approaches and show its
superiority in all the considered situations. We also present results
indicating that the algorithm is remarkably scalable in terms of
performance and generated overhead. |
|
17:10 |
Panel Discussion |
17:40 |
Close |
