Integration Decentralization And Self Organization

Public transport brings undisputed benefits to modern-day societies. Aside from providing an affordable means to get around, its supreme efficiency in comparison with private transport plays a crucial role in curbing congestion and pollution, highlighting the importance of adequate design and operation of public transport systems. The first part of this thesis seeks to improve the planning process of public transport operators by integrating planning steps that are traditionally performed sequentially. The first study considers a combination of line planning and vehicle scheduling, and presents methods that estimate how many vehicles are required to operate a line plan, without having to compute a timetable. The second study combines timetabling and vehicle scheduling, and develops a novel optimization model for jointly optimizing a periodic timetable and vehicle circulation schedule. The second part of this thesis investigates decentralized strategies for operating public transport, with a focus on railway systems. Such strategies could be preferable over conventional centralized and schedule-based control in various scenarios. The first study in this part presents a theoretical analysis of a simple, decentralized strategy for dispatching vehicles. The second study considers the application of decentralized control to out-of-control situations in railways, which includes the development of a solution algorithm to find line plans that are suited for these circumstances. The final study in this thesis tests decentralized dispatching of both vehicles and crew in a microscopic railway simulation.

This book explores a range of plausible futures for environmental law in the new era of the Earth’s history: the Anthropocene. The book discusses multiple contemporary and future challenges facing the planet and humanity. It examines the relationship between environmental law and the Anthropocene at governance scales from the global to the local. The breadth of issues and jurisdictions covered by the book, its forward-looking nature, and the unique generational perspective of the contributing authors means that this publication appeals to a wide audience from specialist academics and policy-makers to a broader lay readership.

This book reports on research on innovative human systems integration and human-machine interaction, with an emphasis on artificial intelligence and automation, as well as computational modeling and simulation. It covers a wide range of applications in the area of design, construction and operation of products, systems and services, including lifecycle development and human-technology interaction. The book describes advanced methodologies and tools for evaluating and improving interface usability, new models, as well as case studies and best practices in virtual, augmented and mixed reality systems, with a special focus on dynamic environments. It also discusses different factors concerning the human, hardware, and artificial intelligence software. Based on the proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Intelligent Human Systems Integration (IHSI 2018), held on January 7-9, 2018, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the book also examines the forces that are currently shaping the nature of computing and cognitive systems, such as the need for decreasing hardware costs; the importance of infusing intelligence and automation, and the related trend toward hardware miniaturization and power reduction; the necessity for a better assimilation of computation in the environment; and the social concerns regarding access to computers and systems for people with special needs. It offers a timely survey and a practice-oriented reference guide to policy- and decision-makers, human factors engineers, systems developers and users alike.

Peer-to-peer systems are evolving with new information-system architectures, leading to the idea that the principles of decentralization and self-organization will offer new approaches in informatics, especially for systems that scale with the number of users or for which central authorities do not prevail. This book describes a new way of building

This book uses historical analysis, constitutional economics, and complexity theory to furnish an account of city subsidiarity as a legal, ethical, political, and economic principle. The book contemplates subsidiarity as a constitutional principle, where cities would benefit from much wider local autonomy. Constitutional economics suggests an optimal limit to jurisdictional footprints (territories). This entails preference for political orders where sovereignty is shared between different cities rather states where capital cities dominate. The introduction of city subsidiarity as a constitutional principle holds the key to economic prosperity in a globalizing world. Moreover, insights from complexity theory suggest subsidiarity is the only effective response to the ‘problem of scale.’ It is a fitness trait that prevents highly complex systems from collapsing. The nation-state is a highly complex system within which cities function as ‘attractors.’ The collapse of such systems would ensue if there were strong coupling between attractors. Such coupling obtains under legal monism. Only subsidiarity can make the eventuality of collapse improbable. The emergent and self-organizing properties of subsidiarity entail a shift in policy emphasis towards cities with a wide margin of autonomy.

Entrepreneurs as well as seasoned business leaders are struggling to innovate and stay ahead of change in the age of decentralization. What separates the companies that get disrupted from the ones that thrive when faced with decentralization? What tactics can be deployed to decentralize large monolithic organizations? Drawing on their experience as researchers and tech entrepreneurs, Professors Calcaterra and Kaal show how to Learn to embrace the change that comes with decentralization Evolve technology, communication, and culture as the business encounters decentralization Use best practices to maintain profitability in the emerging environments of decentralization across industries Combine responsibility with velocity to leverage the advantages of decentralization for the common good The book examines the core infrastructure elements that are needed before the first genuinely decentralized transaction can happen including a legal environment, underwriting, a truly decentralized blockchain that can overcome the blockchain trilemma (decentralization, scaling, security), and efficient governance of blockchains. Decentralization is essential reading for businesses seeking to win in an increasingly decentralized world where adaptation speed is the competitive advantage that matters most.

This book offers a comprehensive reference guide for the theory and practice of intelligent and fuzzy techniques in Aviation 4.0. It provides readers with the necessary intelligent and fuzzy tools for Aviation 4.0 when incomplete, vague, and imprecise information or insufficient data exist in hand, where classical modeling approaches cannot be applied. The respective chapters, written by prominent researchers, explain a wealth of both basic and advanced concepts including baggage services, catering services, check-in and boarding services, maintenance and cargo management, security, etc. To foster reader comprehension, all chapters include relevant numerical examples or case studies. Taken together, they form an excellent reference guide for researchers, lecturers, and postgraduate students pursuing research on Aviation 4.0. Moreover, by extending all the main aspects of Aviation 4.0 to its intelligent and fuzzy counterparts, the book presents a dynamic snapshot of the field that is expected to stimulate new directions, ideas, and developments.