The realization of Mark Weiser’s vision of ubiquitous computing, of “machines that fit the human environment” (1991), is predicated on large numbers of massively interconnected devices that can move fluidly between the edges and the focus of our perception. The number of potential interactions between these devices, their environment, and the humans within it makes it difficult to design both a...

Complex adaptive systems theory can be distinguished from complex systems theory in terms of the emphasis the former places on self-organizing agents. This paper uses Simon’s hierarchic view of complex systems as adaptive and self-organizing to frame an explanation of complex adaptive systems as ultimately occupied by individuals understood as ‘basic’ agents. What distinguishes ‘basic’ agents f...

disconnects and defects in care – such as duplication, poor integration between services or avoidable adverse events – are costly to the health system and potentially harmful to patients and families. for patients living with multiple chronic conditions, such disconnects can be particularly detrimental. lean is an approach to optimizing value by reducing waste (eg, duplication and defects) and ...

see http://www.wintersim.org/pastprog.htm). This article provides a brief introduction to ABMS. We illustrate the main concepts of agent-based modelling *Correspondence: CM Macal, Center for Complex Adaptive Agent Systems Simulation, Decision & Information Sciences Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439-4867, USA. E-mail: [email protected] Journal of Simulatio...

Most of the prior work in ubiquitous computing focused on small Context-Aware Services (CASs). However, there is a trend to build also large-scale applications where many context sources, CASs, and users are spread over a large area. These kinds of CASs are subject to strong scalability problems. In my work I show how scalable CASs can be built. The main idea is to dynamically replicate and dis...

Abstract This theory note argues that international norms, as currently understood by scholars of relations, can be seen emergent properties a complex adaptive system (the political system). Arising from the microlevel interactions agents within and across various levels analysis, they have potential to become (a) influence constitution, relationships, behavior (b) are not analytically reducibl...