TY - JOUR T1 - Boolean Networks and Their Applications in Science and Engineering JF - Complexity Y1 - 2020 A1 - Valverde, Jose C. A1 - Mortveit, Henning S. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Shi, Yongtang VL - 2020 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6183798 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Ecosystem antifragility: beyond integrity and resilience JF - PeerJ Y1 - 2020 A1 - Equihua, Miguel A1 - Espinosa Aldama, Mariana A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - López-Corona, Oliver A1 - Munguía, Mariana A1 - Pérez-Maqueo, Octavio A1 - Ramírez-Carrillo, Elvia KW - Antifragility KW - Complexity KW - Ecosystem integrity KW - Resilience AB - We review the concept of ecosystem resilience in its relation to ecosystem integrity from an information theory approach. We summarize the literature on the subject identifying three main narratives: ecosystem properties that enable them to be more resilient; ecosystem response to perturbations; and complexity. We also include original ideas with theoretical and quantitative developments with application examples. The main contribution is a new way to rethink resilience, that is mathematically formal and easy to evaluate heuristically in real-world applications: ecosystem antifragility. An ecosystem is antifragile if it benefits from environmental variability. Antifragility therefore goes beyond robustness or resilience because while resilient/robust systems are merely perturbation-resistant, antifragile structures not only withstand stress but also benefit from it. VL - 8 UR - https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8533 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Forecasting of Population Narcotization under the Implementation of a Drug Use Reduction Policy JF - Complexity Y1 - 2020 A1 - Mityagin, Sergey A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Boukhanovsky, Alexander AB - In this paper, we present an approach to drug addiction simulation and forecasting in the medium and long terms in cities having a high population density and a high rate of social communication. Drug addiction forecasting is one of the basic components of the antidrug policy, giving informational and analytic support both at the regional and at the governmental level. However, views on the drug consumption problem vary in different regions, and as a consequence, several approaches to antidrug policy implementation exist. Thereby, notwithstanding the fact that the phenomenology of the population narcotization process is similar in the different regions, approaches to the modeling of drug addiction may also substantially differ for different kinds of antidrug policies. This paper presents a survey of the available antidrug policies and the corresponding approaches to the simulation of population narcotization. This article considers the approach to the construction of the regression model of anesthesia on the main components formed on the basis of indicators of social and economic development. The substantiation of the chosen method is given, which is associated with a significant correlation of indicators, which characterizes the presence of a small number of superfactors. This allows us to form a conclusion about the general level of development of the region as the main factor determining the drug addiction. A new model is proposed for one of the most widespread antidrug policies, namely, the drug use reduction policy. The model helps determine the significant factors of population narcotization and allows to estimate its damage. The model is tested successfully using St. Petersburg data. VL - 2020 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Guiding the Self-Organization of Cyber-Physical Systems JF - Frontiers in Robotics and AI Y1 - 2020 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - Self-organization offers a promising approach for designing adaptive systems. Given the inherent complexity of most cyber-physical systems, adaptivity is desired, as predictability is limited. Here I summarize different concepts and approaches that can facilitate self-organization in cyber-physical systems, and thus be exploited for design. Then I mention real-world examples of systems where self-organization has managed to provide solutions that outperform classical approaches, in particular related to urban mobility. Finally, I identify when a centralized, distributed, or self-organizing control is more appropriate. VL - 7 UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2020.00041 ER - TY - Generic T1 - On two information-theoretic measures of random fuzzy networks T2 - Artificial Life Conference Proceedings Y1 - 2020 A1 - Zapata, Octavio A1 - Kim, Hyobin A1 - Gershenson, Carlos JF - Artificial Life Conference Proceedings VL - 32 UR - https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/isal_a_00342 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Anger while driving in Mexico City JF - PLOS ONE Y1 - 2019 A1 - Hernández-Hernández, Ana María A1 - Siqueiros-García, Jesús M. A1 - Robles-Belmont, Eduardo A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - This study aims to analyze the level of anger developed by drivers in Mexico City and also understand the behavior that those drivers use to express that anger, using four different survey methods. The first focuses on personal information, the second Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX), the third refers to a shorten version of Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and the fourth being the Dula Dangerous Driving Index (DDDI). These have previously been applied and validated in several different countries. The questionnaires were filled out online by 626 drivers. Using the data collected through the online platform, it was possible to identify the kind of reactions volunteers displayed while driving. Also, it was possible to identify that people in Mexico City developed anger depending on their driving area. Our analyses shows that in the Adaptive/Constructive Expression subscale, males and females show a significant difference in their mean score, with women express their anger in a more constructive way than males. PB - Public Library of Science VL - 14 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223048 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Effects of Antimodularity and Multiscale Influence in Random Boolean Networks JF - Complexity Y1 - 2019 A1 - Escobar, Luis A. A1 - Kim, Hyobin A1 - Gershenson, Carlos VL - 2019 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/8209146 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Efficient sentinel surveillance strategies for preventing epidemics on networks JF - PLOS Computational Biology Y1 - 2019 A1 - Colman, Ewan A1 - Holme, Petter A1 - Sayama, Hiroki A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - Author summary In a network of individuals susceptible to some infectious disease, what are the best locations to monitor in order to detect the infection before most damage can be done? In this paper we address this question by considering various heuristic strategies for sentinel placement that can potentially be implemented in real-world situations without requiring excessive amounts of computation, or even having perfect data about the structure of the network. We find that strategies that attempt to distribute sentinels over different regions of the network perform best in highly modular or spatially embedded networks, whereas the strategy of targeting the most well connected individuals works best when there is a considerable amount of contact heterogeneity between individuals. Our results may be used as a guideline to help decide when certain strategies should, or should not, be implemented. PB - Public Library of Science VL - 15 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1007517 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Multilayer Structure Facilitates the Production of Antifragile Systems in Boolean Network Models JF - Complexity Y1 - 2019 A1 - Kim, Hyobin A1 - Pineda, Omar K. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - Antifragility is a property from which systems are able to resist stress and furthermore benefit from it. Even though antifragile dynamics is found in various real-world complex systems where multiple subsystems interact with each other, the attribute has not been quantitatively explored yet in those complex systems which can be regarded as multilayer networks. Here we study how the multilayer structure affects the antifragility of the whole system. By comparing single-layer and multilayer Boolean networks based on our recently proposed antifragility measure, we found that the multilayer structure facilitated the production of antifragile systems. Our measure and findings will be useful for various applications such as exploring properties of biological systems with multilayer structures and creating more antifragile engineered systems. VL - 2019 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/2783217 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Novel Antifragility Measure Based on Satisfaction and Its Application to Random and Biological Boolean Networks JF - Complexity Y1 - 2019 A1 - Pineda, Omar K. A1 - Kim, Hyobin A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - Antifragility is a property that enhances the capability of a system in response to external perturbations. Although the concept has been applied in many areas, a practical measure of antifragility has not been developed yet. Here we propose a simply calculable measure of antifragility, based on the change of ``satisfaction'' before and after adding perturbations, and apply it to random Boolean networks (RBNs). Using the measure, we found that ordered RBNs are the most antifragile. Also, we demonstrated that seven biological systems are antifragile. Our measure and results can be used in various applications of Boolean networks (BNs) including creating antifragile engineering systems, identifying the genetic mechanism of antifragile biological systems, and developing new treatment strategies for various diseases. VL - 2019 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/3728621 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A robustness approach to the distributed management of traffic intersections JF - Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing Y1 - 2019 A1 - González, Cesar L. A1 - Zapotecatl, Jorge L. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Alberola, Juan M. A1 - Julian, Vicente AB - Nowadays, the development of autonomous vehicles has emerged as an approach to considerably improve the traffic management in urban zones. Thanks to automation in vehicles as well as in other sectors, the probability of errors, typically due to repetitive tasks, has been drastically reduced. Therefore, technological aids in current driving systems are aimed to avoid or reduce human errors like imprudences or distractions. According to this, it is possible to tackle complex scenarios such as the automation of the vehicles traffic at intersections, as this is one of the points with the highest probability of accidents. In this sense, the coordination of autonomous vehicles at intersections is a trending topic. In the last few years, several approaches have been proposed using centralized solutions. However, centralized systems for traffic coordination have a limited fault-tolerance. This paper proposes a distributed coordination management system for intersections of autonomous vehicles through the employment of some well-defined rules to be followed by vehicles. To validate our proposal, we have developed different experiments in order to compare our proposal with other centralized approaches. Furthermore, we have incorporated the management of communication faults during the execution in our proposal. This improvement has also been tested in front of centralized or semi-centralized solutions. The introduction of failures in the communication process demonstrates the sensitivity of the system to possible disturbances, providing a satisfactory coordination of vehicles during the intersection. As final result, our proposal is kept with a suitable flow of autonomous vehicles still with a high communication fails rate. SN - 1868-5145 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s12652-019-01424-w ER - TY - JOUR T1 - ALife and Society: Editorial Introduction to the Artificial Life Conference 2016 Special Issue JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2018 A1 - Siqueiros-García, Jesús M. A1 - Froese, Tom A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Aguilar, Wendy A1 - Sayama, Hiroki A1 - Izquierdo, Eduardo PB - MIT Press VL - 24 SN - 1064-5462 UR - https://doi.org/10.1162/ARTL_e_00256 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - From neuroscience to computer science: a topical approach on Twitter JF - Journal of Computational Social Science Y1 - 2018 A1 - Piña-García, C. A. A1 - Siqueiros-García, J. Mario A1 - Robles-Belmont, E. A1 - Carreón, Gustavo A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - López, Julio Amador Díaz AB - Twitter is perhaps the most influential microblogging service, with 271 million regular users producing approximately 500 million tweets per day. Previous studies of tweets discussing scientific topics are limited to local surveys or may not be representative geographically. This indicates a need to harvest and analyse tweets with the aim of understanding the level of dissemination of science related topics worldwide. In this study, we use Twitter as case of study and explore the hypothesis of science popularization via the social stream. We present and discuss tweets related to popular science around the world using eleven keywords. We analyze a sample of 306,163 tweets posted by 91,557 users with the aim of identifying tweets and those categories formed around temporally similar topics. We systematically examined the data to track and analyze the online activity around users tweeting about popular science. In addition, we identify locations of high Twitter activity that occur in several places around the world. We also examine which sources (mobile devices, apps, and other social networks) are used to share popular science related links. Furthermore, this study provides insights into the geographic density of popular science tweets worldwide. We show that emergent topics related to popular science are important because they could help to explore how science becomes of public interest. The study also offers some important insights for studying the type of scientific content that users are more likely to tweet. VL - 1 SN - 2432-2725 UR - https://doi.org/10.1007/s42001-017-0002-9 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Rank Dynamics of Word Usage at Multiple Scales JF - Frontiers in Physics Y1 - 2018 A1 - Morales, José A. A1 - Colman, Ewan A1 - Sánchez, Sergio A1 - Sánchez-Puig, Fernanda A1 - Pineda, Carlos A1 - Iñiguez, Gerardo A1 - Cocho, Germinal A1 - Flores, Jorge A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - The recent dramatic increase in online data availability has allowed researchers to explore human culture with unprecedented detail, such as the growth and diversification of language. In particular, it provides statistical tools to explore whether word use is similar across languages, and if so, whether these generic features appear at different scales of language structure. Here we use the Google Books $N$-grams dataset to analyze the temporal evolution of word usage in several languages. We apply measures proposed recently to study rank dynamics, such as the diversity of $N$-grams in a given rank, the probability that an $N$-gram changes rank between successive time intervals, the rank entropy, and the rank complexity. Using different methods, results show that there are generic properties for different languages at different scales, such as a core of words necessary to minimally understand a language. We also propose a null model to explore the relevance of linguistic structure across multiple scales, concluding that $N$-gram statistics cannot be reduced to word statistics. We expect our results to be useful in improving text prediction algorithms, as well as in shedding light on the large-scale features of language use, beyond linguistic and cultural differences across human populations. VL - 6 UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphy.2018.00045 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Self-Organization and Artificial Life: A Review T2 - The 2018 Conference on Artificial Life: A Hybrid of the European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL) and the International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE) Y1 - 2018 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Trianni, Vito A1 - Werfel, Justin A1 - Sayama, Hiroki ED - Takashi Ikegami ED - Nathaniel Virgo ED - Olaf Witkowski ED - Mizuki Oka ED - Reiji Suzuki ED - Hiroyuki Iizuka AB - Self-organization has been an important concept within a number of disciplines, which Artificial Life (ALife) also has heavily utilized since its inception. The term and its implications, however, are often confusing or misinterpreted. In this work, we provide a mini-review of self-organization and its relationship with ALife, aiming at initiating discussions on this important topic with the interested audience. We first articulate some fundamental aspects of self-organization, outline its usage, and review its applications to ALife within its soft, hard, and wet domains. We also provide perspectives for further research. JF - The 2018 Conference on Artificial Life: A Hybrid of the European Conference on Artificial Life (ECAL) and the International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE) PB - MIT Press CY - Tokyo, Japan UR - https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/isal_a_00094 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Trajectory Stability in the Traveling Salesman Problem JF - Complexity Y1 - 2018 A1 - Sánchez, Sergio A1 - Cocho, Germinal A1 - Flores, Jorge A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Iñiguez, Gerardo A1 - Pineda, Carlos AB - Two generalizations of the traveling salesman problem in which sites change their position in time are presented. The way the rank of different trajectory lengths changes in time is studied using the rank diversity. We analyze the statistical properties of rank distributions and rank dynamics and give evidence that the shortest and longest trajectories are more predictable and robust to change, that is, more stable. VL - 2018 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2826082 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Complexity of lakes in a latitudinal gradient JF - Ecological Complexity Y1 - 2017 A1 - Fernández, Nelson A1 - Aguilar, José A1 - Piña-García, C. A. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos KW - Autopoiesis KW - Biocomplexity KW - Emergence KW - Homeostasis KW - Information theory KW - Self-organization AB - Measuring complexity is fast becoming a key instrument to compare different ecosystems at various scales in ecology. To date there has been little agreement on how to properly describe complexity in terms of ecology. In this regard, this manuscript assesses the significance of using a set of proposed measures based on information theory. These measures are as follows: emergence, self-organization, complexity, homeostasis and autopoiesis. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches was used in the data analysis with the aim to apply these proposed measures. This study systematically reviews the data previously collected and generated by a model carried out on four aquatic ecosystems located between the Arctic region and the tropical zone. Thus, this research discusses the case of exploring a high level of self-organization in terms of movement, distribution, and quality of water between the northern temperate zone and the tropics. Moreover, it was assessed the significance of the presence of a complex variable (pH) in the middle of the latitudinal transect. Similarly, this study explores the relationship between self-organization and limiting nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus and silicates). Furthermore, the importance of how a biomass subsystem is affected by seasonal variations is highlighted in this manuscript. This case study seeks to examine the changing nature of how seasonality affects the complexity dynamics of photosynthetic taxa (lakes located in northern temperate zone) at high latitudes, and it also investigates how a high level of self-organization at the tropical zone can lead to increase the amount of planktonic and benthic fish which determines the dynamics of complexity. This research also compares the emerging role of how a biomass subsystem has a highest temporal dynamics compared to he limiting nutrients' subsystem. In the same way, the results associated to autopoiesis reflect a moderate degree of autonomy of photosynthetic biomass. It is also discussed the case of how complexity values change in the middle of the latitudinal gradient for all components. Finally, a comparison with Tsallis information was carried out in order to determine that these proposed measures are more suitable due to they are independent of any other parameter. Thus, this approach considers some elements closely related to information theory which determine and better describe ecological dynamics. VL - 31 SN - 1476-945X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ecocom.2017.02.002 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Deliberative Self-Organizing Traffic Lights with Elementary Cellular Automata JF - Complexity Y1 - 2017 A1 - Zapotecatl, Jorge L. A1 - Rosenblueth, David A. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - Self-organizing traffic lights have shown considerable improvements compared to traditional methods in computer simulations. Self-organizing methods, however, use sophisticated sensors, increasing their cost and limiting their deployment. We propose a novel approach using simple sensors to achieve self-organizing traffic light coordination. The proposed approach involves placing a computer and a presence sensor at the beginning of each block; each such sensor detects a single vehicle. Each computer builds a virtual environment simulating vehicle movement to predict arrivals and departures at the downstream intersection. At each intersection, a computer receives information across a data network from the computers of the neighboring blocks and runs a self-organizing method to control traffic lights. Our simulations showed a superior performance for our approach compared with a traditional method (a green wave) and a similar performance (close to optimal) compared with a self-organizing method using sophisticated sensors but at a lower cost. Moreover, the developed sensing approach exhibited greater robustness against sensor failures. VL - 2017 UR - https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7691370/7691370 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Improving public transportation systems with self-organization: A headway-based model and regulation of passenger alighting and boarding JF - PLOS ONE Y1 - 2017 A1 - Carreón, Gustavo A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Pineda, Luis A. AB - The equal headway instability—the fact that a configuration with regular time intervals between vehicles tends to be volatile—is a common regulation problem in public transportation systems. An unsatisfactory regulation results in low efficiency and possible collapses of the service. Computational simulations have shown that self-organizing methods can regulate the headway adaptively beyond the theoretical optimum. In this work, we develop a computer simulation for metro systems fed with real data from the Mexico City Metro to test the current regulatory method with a novel self-organizing approach. The current model considers overall system’s data such as minimum and maximum waiting times at stations, while the self-organizing method regulates the headway in a decentralized manner using local information such as the passenger’s inflow and the positions of neighboring trains. The simulation shows that the self-organizing method improves the performance over the current one as it adapts to environmental changes at the timescale they occur. The correlation between the simulation of the current model and empirical observations carried out in the Mexico City Metro provides a base to calculate the expected performance of the self-organizing method in case it is implemented in the real system. We also performed a pilot study at the Balderas station to regulate the alighting and boarding of passengers through guide signs on platforms. The analysis of empirical data shows a delay reduction of the waiting time of trains at stations. Finally, we provide recommendations to improve public transportation systems. PB - Public Library of Science VL - 12 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0190100 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - A Package for Measuring Emergence, Self-organization, and Complexity Based on Shannon Entropy JF - Frontiers in Robotics and AI Y1 - 2017 A1 - Santamaría-Bonfil, Guillermo A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Fernández, Nelson AB - We present Matlab/Octave functions to calculate measures of emergence, self-organization, and complexity of discrete and continuous data. The measures are based on Shannon's information and differential entropy, respectively. Examples from different datasets and probability distributions are used to illustrate the usage of the code. VL - 4 UR - http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/frobt.2017.00010 ER - TY - UNPB T1 - Self-Organization in Traffic Lights: Evolution of Signal Control with Advances in Sensors and Communications Y1 - 2017 A1 - Goel, Sanjay A1 - Bush, Stephen F A1 - Gershenson, Carlos UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/1708.07188 N1 - arXiv:1708.07188 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Generic temporal features of performance rankings in sports and games JF - EPJ Data Science Y1 - 2016 A1 - Morales, José A. A1 - Sánchez, Sergio A1 - Flores, Jorge A1 - Pineda, Carlos A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Cocho, Germinal A1 - Zizumbo, Jerónimo A1 - Rodríguez, Rosalío F. A1 - Iñiguez, Gerardo AB - Many complex phenomena, from trait selection in biological systems to hierarchy formation in social and economic entities, show signs of competition and heterogeneous performance in the temporal evolution of their components, which may eventually lead to stratified structures such as the worldwide wealth distribution. However, it is still unclear whether the road to hierarchical complexity is determined by the particularities of each phenomena, or if there are generic mechanisms of stratification common to many systems. Human sports and games, with their (varied but simple) rules of competition and measures of performance, serve as an ideal test-bed to look for universal features of hierarchy formation. With this goal in mind, we analyse here the behaviour of performance rankings over time of players and teams for several sports and games, and find statistical regularities in the dynamics of ranks. Specifically the rank diversity, a measure of the number of elements occupying a given rank over a length of time, has the same functional form in sports and games as in languages, another system where competition is determined by the use or disuse of grammatical structures. We use a Gaussian random walk model to reproduce the rank diversity of the studied sports and games. We also discuss the relation between rank diversity and the cumulative rank distribution. Our results support the notion that hierarchical phenomena may be driven by the same underlying mechanisms of rank formation, regardless of the nature of their components. Moreover, such regularities can in principle be used to predict lifetimes of rank occupancy, thus increasing our ability to forecast stratification in the presence of competition. VL - 5 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjds/s13688-016-0096-y ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring the Complexity of Continuous Distributions JF - Entropy Y1 - 2016 A1 - Santamaría-Bonfil, Guillermo A1 - Fernández, Nelson A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - We extend previously proposed measures of complexity, emergence, and self-organization to continuous distributions using differential entropy. Given that the measures were based on Shannon's information, the novel continuous complexity measures describe how a system's predictability changes in terms of the probability distribution parameters. This allows us to calculate the complexity of phenomena for which distributions are known. We find that a broad range of common parameters found in Gaussian and scale-free distributions present high complexity values. We also explore the relationship between our measure of complexity and information adaptation. VL - 18 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/18/3/72 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Traffic Games: Modeling Freeway Traffic with Game Theory JF - PLOS ONE Y1 - 2016 A1 - Cortés-Berrueco, Luis E. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Stephens, Christopher R. AB - We apply game theory to a vehicular traffic model to study the effect of driver strategies on traffic flow. The resulting model inherits the realistic dynamics achieved by a two-lane traffic model and aims to incorporate phenomena caused by driver-driver interactions. To achieve this goal, a game-theoretic description of driver interaction was developed. This game-theoretic formalization allows one to model different lane-changing behaviors and to keep track of mobility performance. We simulate the evolution of cooperation, traffic flow, and mobility performance for different modeled behaviors. The analysis of these results indicates a mobility optimization process achieved by drivers' interactions. PB - Public Library of Science VL - 11 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0165381 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Measuring the complexity of adaptive peer-to-peer systems JF - Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications Y1 - 2015 A1 - Amoretti, Michele A1 - Gershenson, Carlos KW - Adaptive peer-to-peer system KW - Complexity KW - Evolution KW - Information theory AB - To improve the efficiency of peer-to-peer (P2P) systems while adapting to changing environmental conditions, static peer-to-peer protocols can be replaced by adaptive plans. The resulting systems are inherently complex, which makes their development and characterization a challenge for traditional methods. Here we propose the design and analysis of adaptive P2P systems using measures of complexity, emergence, self-organization, and homeostasis based on information theory. These measures allow the evaluation of adaptive P2P systems and thus can be used to guide their design. We evaluate the proposal with a P2P computing system provided with adaptation mechanisms. We show the evolution of the system with static and also changing workload, using different fitness functions. When the adaptive plan forces the system to converge to a predefined performance level, the nodes may result in highly unstable configurations, which correspond to a high variance in time of the measured complexity. Conversely, if the adaptive plan is less ``aggressive'', the system may be more stable, but the optimal performance may not be achieved. SN - 1936-6442 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12083-015-0385-4 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Rank Diversity of Languages: Generic Behavior in Computational Linguistics JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2015 A1 - Cocho, Germinal A1 - Flores, Jorge A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Pineda, Carlos A1 - Sánchez, Sergio AB -

Statistical studies of languages have focused on the rank-frequency distribution of words. Instead, we introduce here a measure of how word ranks change in time and call this distribution rank diversity. We calculate this diversity for books published in six European languages since 1800, and find that it follows a universal lognormal distribution. Based on the mean and standard deviation associated with the lognormal distribution, we define three different word regimes of languages: “heads” consist of words which almost do not change their rank in time, “bodies” are words of general use, while “tails” are comprised by context-specific words and vary their rank considerably in time. The heads and bodies reflect the size of language cores identified by linguists for basic communication. We propose a Gaussian random walk model which reproduces the rank variation of words in time and thus the diversity. Rank diversity of words can be understood as the result of random variations in rank, where the size of the variation depends on the rank itself. We find that the core size is similar for all languages studied.

PB - Public Library of Science VL - 10 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0121898 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Urban Transfer Entropy across Scales JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2015 A1 - Murcio, Roberto A1 - Morphet, Robin A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Batty, Michael AB -

The morphology of urban agglomeration is studied here in the context of information exchange between different spatio-temporal scales. Urban migration to and from cities is characterised as non-random and following non-random pathways. Cities are multidimensional non-linear phenomena, so understanding the relationships and connectivity between scales is important in determining how the interplay of local/regional urban policies may affect the distribution of urban settlements. In order to quantify these relationships, we follow an information theoretic approach using the concept of Transfer Entropy. Our analysis is based on a stochastic urban fractal model, which mimics urban growing settlements and migration waves. The results indicate how different policies could affect urban morphology in terms of the information generated across geographical scales.

VL - 10 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0133780 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - When slower is faster JF - Complexity Y1 - 2015 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Helbing, Dirk KW - cascading effects KW - collective motion KW - Evolution KW - phase transitions AB - The slower is faster (SIF) effect occurs when a system performs worse as its components try to do better. Thus, a moderate individual efficiency actually leads to a better systemic performance. The SIF effect takes place in a variety of phenomena. We review studies and examples of the SIF effect in pedestrian dynamics, vehicle traffic, traffic light control, logistics, public transport, social dynamics, ecological systems, and adaptation. Drawing on these examples, we generalize common features of the SIF effect and suggest possible future lines of research. {\copyright} 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 21: 9–15, 2015 VL - 21 UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.06796 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Can Government Be Self-Organized? A Mathematical Model of the Collective Social Organization of Ancient {Teotihuacan}, Central {Mexico} JF - PLoS ONE Y1 - 2014 A1 - Froese, Tom A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Manzanilla, Linda R. AB -

Teotihuacan was the first urban civilization of Mesoamerica and one of the largest of the ancient world. Following a tradition in archaeology to equate social complexity with centralized hierarchy, it is widely believed that the city's origin and growth was controlled by a lineage of powerful individuals. However, much data is indicative of a government of co-rulers, and artistic traditions expressed an egalitarian ideology. Yet this alternative keeps being marginalized because the problems of collective action make it difficult to conceive how such a coalition could have functioned in principle. We therefore devised a mathematical model of the city's hypothetical network of representatives as a formal proof of concept that widespread cooperation was realizable in a fully distributed manner. In the model, decisions become self-organized into globally optimal configurations even though local representatives behave and modify their relations in a rational and selfish manner. This self-optimization crucially depends on occasional communal interruptions of normal activity, and it is impeded when sections of the network are too independent. We relate these insights to theories about community-wide rituals at Teotihuacan and the city's eventual disintegration.

PB - Public Library of Science VL - 9 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0109966 ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Measuring Complexity in an Aquatic Ecosystem T2 - Advances in Computational Biology Y1 - 2014 A1 - Fernández, Nelson A1 - Gershenson, Carlos ED - Castillo, Luis F. ED - Cristancho, Marco ED - Isaza, Gustavo ED - Pinzón, Andrés ED - Corchado Rodríguez, Juan Manuel AB - We apply formal measures of emergence, self-organization, homeostasis, autopoiesis and complexity to an aquatic ecosystem; in particular to the physiochemical component of an Arctic lake. These measures are based on information theory. Variables with an homogeneous distribution have higher values of emergence, while variables with a more heterogeneous distribution have a higher self-organization. Variables with a high complexity reflect a balance between change (emergence) and regularity/order (self-organization). In addition, homeostasis values coincide with the variation of the winter and summer seasons. Autopoiesis values show a higher degree of independence of biological components over their environment. Our approach shows how the ecological dynamics can be described in terms of information. JF - Advances in Computational Biology T3 - Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing PB - Springer VL - 232 UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/1305.5413 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - The Past, Present, and Future of Artificial Life JF - Frontiers in Robotics and AI Y1 - 2014 A1 - Aguilar, Wendy A1 - Santamaría Bonfil, Guillermo A1 - Froese, Tom A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB -

For millennia people have wondered what makes the living different from the non-living. Beginning in the mid-1980s, artificial life has studied living systems using a synthetic approach: build life in order to understand it better, be it by means of software, hardware, or wetware. This review provides a summary of the advances that led to the development of artificial life, its current research topics, and open problems and opportunities. We classify artificial life research into fourteen themes: origins of life, autonomy, self-organization, adaptation (including evolution, development, and learning), ecology, artificial societies, behavior, computational biology, artificial chemistries, information, living technology, art, and philosophy. Being interdisciplinary, artificial life seems to be losing its boundaries and merging with other fields.

VL - 1 UR - http://www.frontiersin.org/computational_intelligence/10.3389/frobt.2014.00008/abstract ER - TY - CHAP T1 - Self-organization Promotes the Evolution of Cooperation with Cultural Propagation T2 - Self-Organizing Systems Y1 - 2014 A1 - Cortés-Berrueco, LuisEnrique A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Stephens, ChristopherR. ED - Elmenreich, Wilfried ED - Dressler, Falko ED - Loreto, Vittorio AB - In this paper three computational models for the study of the evolution of cooperation under cultural propagation are studied: Kin Selection, Direct Reciprocity and Indirect Reciprocity. Two analyzes are reported, one comparing their behavior between them and a second one identifying the impact that different parameters have in the model dynamics. The results of these analyzes illustrate how game transitions may occur depending of some parameters within the models and also explain how agents adapt to these transitions by individually choosing their attachment to a cooperative attitude. These parameters regulate how cooperation can self-organize under different circumstances. The emergence of the evolution of cooperation as a result of the agent's adapting processes is also discussed. JF - Self-Organizing Systems T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science PB - Springer CY - Berlin Heidelberg VL - 8221 SN - 978-3-642-54139-1 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54140-7_13 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Living is Information Processing: From Molecules to Global Systems JF - Acta Biotheoretica Y1 - 2013 A1 - Farnsworth, Keith D. A1 - Nelson, John A1 - Gershenson, Carlos AB - We extend the concept that life is an informational phenomenon, at every level of organisation, from molecules to the global ecological system. According to this thesis: (a) living is information processing, in which memory is maintained by both molecular states and ecological states as well as the more obvious nucleic acid coding; (b) this information processing has one overall function–-to perpetuate itself; and (c) the processing method is filtration (cognition) of, and synthesis of, information at lower levels to appear at higher levels in complex systems (emergence). We show how information patterns, are united by the creation of mutual context, generating persistent consequences, to result in `functional information'. This constructive process forms arbitrarily large complexes of information, the combined effects of which include the functions of life. Molecules and simple organisms have already been measured in terms of functional information content; we show how quantification may be extended to each level of organisation up to the ecological. In terms of a computer analogy, life is both the data and the program and its biochemical structure is the way the information is embodied. This idea supports the seamless integration of life at all scales with the physical universe. The innovation reported here is essentially to integrate these ideas, basing information on the `general definition' of information, rather than simply the statistics of information, thereby explaining how functional information operates throughout life. VL - 61 UR - http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.5908 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Life as Thermodynamic Evidence of Algorithmic Structure in Natural Environments JF - Entropy Y1 - 2012 A1 - Zenil, Hector A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Marshall, James A. R. A1 - Rosenblueth, David A. AB - In evolutionary biology, attention to the relationship between stochastic organisms and their stochastic environments has leaned towards the adaptability and learning capabilities of the organisms rather than toward the properties of the environment. This article is devoted to the algorithmic aspects of the environment and its interaction with living organisms. We ask whether one may use the fact of the existence of life to establish how far nature is removed from algorithmic randomness. The paper uses a novel approach to behavioral evolutionary questions, using tools drawn from information theory, algorithmic complexity and the thermodynamics of computation to support an intuitive assumption about the near optimal structure of a physical environment that would prove conducive to the evolution and survival of organisms, and sketches the potential of these tools, at present alien to biology, that could be used in the future to address different and deeper questions. We contribute to the discussion of the algorithmic structure of natural environments and provide statistical and computational arguments for the intuitive claim that living systems would not be able to survive in completely unpredictable environments, even if adaptable and equipped with storage and learning capabilities by natural selection (brain memory or DNA). VL - 14 UR - http://www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/14/11/2173 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reviving the Living: Meaning Making in Living Systems. Yair Neuman. (2008, Elsevier, Studies in Multidisciplinarity, Vol. 6). $197 (hardbound), 320 pages. JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2011 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos VL - 17 UR - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/artl_a_00026 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Mechanical Love. Phie Ambo. (2009, Icarus Films.) $390, 52 min. JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2010 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Meza, Iván V. A1 - Avilés, Héctor A1 - Pineda, Luis A. VL - 16 UR - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/artl_r_00004 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion. Stuart A. Kauffman. (2008, Basic Books.) $27. JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2009 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos VL - 15 UR - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/artl.2009.Gershenson.B6 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Self-Organization and Emergence in Life Sciences. Bernard Feltz, Marc Crommelinck, and Philippe Goujon (Eds.). (2006, Synthese Library Vol. 331, Springer.) Hardcover, €139, $179, 360 pages JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2008 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos VL - 14 UR - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/artl.2008.14.2.239 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - Live Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning. Christian De Duve. (2003, Oxford University Press.) Hardback, £25, $39. 358 pages JF - Artificial Life Y1 - 2007 A1 - Gershenson, Carlos VL - 13 UR - http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/artl.2007.13.1.91 ER - TY - CONF T1 - Smartocracy: Social Networks for Collective Decision Making T2 - Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS) Y1 - 2007 A1 - Rodriguez, Marko A. A1 - Steinbock, Daniel J. A1 - Watkins, Jennifer H. A1 - Gershenson, Carlos A1 - Bollen, Johan A1 - Grey, Victor A1 - deGraf, Brad AB - Smartocracy is a social software system for collec- tive decision making. The system is composed of a social network that links individuals to those they trust to make good decisions and a decision network that links individuals to their voted-on solutions. Such networks allow a variety of algorithms to convert the link choices made by individual participants into specific decision outcomes. Simply interpreting the linkages differently (e.g. ignoring trust links, or using them to weight an individual's vote) provides a variety of outcomes fit for different decision making scenarios. This paper will discuss the Smartocracy network data structures, the suite of collective decision making algorithms currently supported, and the results of two collective decisions regarding the design of the system. JF - Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS) PB - IEEE Computer Society UR - http://tinyurl.com/ybojp8 ER -