Complexity
Contents |
[Crowcroft-2010 (doi) .]
Jon Crowcroft
“Internet Failures: an Emergent Sea of Complex Systems and Critical Design Errors?”,
The Computer Journal, Vol 53, No.10, 2010, pp. 1752-1757
ResiliNets Keywords: complexity
Keywords: internet complexity, network complexity, robustness, simplicity
Abstract: “Complex systems researchers have looked to the Internet as a possible source of interesting emergent behaviour. Indeed, some high-profile failures, and some low-level phenomena, might easily be construed as evidence of a complex system. In this paper, I look at the local and global consequences of the Internet design, and show that few, if any, of these problems are actually consequences of emergent properties in the pure technical sense. However, there are lessons for network architecture from these problems. The influence of local decisions on global behaviour of the network is a source of some of the difficulties that protocol designers must cope with, but it is also a source of great wealth and innovation, and as such should be regarded in a positive light.”
Notes: importance and relevance to ResiliNets
[Behringer-2009 (doi) .]
Michael H. Behringer
“Classifying network complexity”,
ReArch '09: Proceedings of the 2009 workshop on Re-architecting the internet, 2009, pp. 13–18
ResiliNets Keywords: complexity
Keywords: internet complexity, network complexity, robustness, simplicity
Abstract: “Growing complexity in the Internet is the subject of many debates. While there is extensive research on complexity in some specific areas such as graph theory or software design, the complexity of a real life network is not very well defined or understood. This position paper provides a proposed classification of network complexity, some observations, and an overview of approaches to control network complexity. The goal is to stimulate and aid future discussions on the subject.”
Notes: importance and relevance to ResiliNets
[Barabasi-2007 (doi) .]
A.-L. Barabasi,
“Classifying network complexity”,
IEEE Control Systems Magazine, vol.27, #4, Aug. 2007, pp. 33–42
ResiliNets Keywords: complexity
Keywords: Internet;WWW;complex systems;complexity architecture;data sets availability;data-driven models;human dynamics;network architecture;network structure;network topology;Internet;complex networks;large-scale systems;telecommunication network topology;
Abstract: “The purpose of this article is to illustrate, through the example of human dynamics, that a thorough understanding of complex systems requires an understanding of network dynamics as well as network topology and architecture. After an overview of the topology of complex networks, such as the Internet and the WWW, data-driven models for human dynamics are given. These models motivate the study of network dynamics and suggest that complexity theory must incorporate the interactions between dynamics and structure. The article also advances the notion that an understanding of network dynamics is facilitated by the availability of large data sets and analysis tools gained from the study of network structure.”
Notes: importance and relevance to ResiliNets
[Prokopenko-Boschetti-Ryan-2008 (doi) .]
Mikhail Prokopenko, Fabio Boschetti, and Alex J. Ryan,
“An information-theoretic primer on complexity, self-organization, and emergence”,
Complexity, vol.15, #1, Oct. 2008, pp. 11–28
ResiliNets Keywords: list
Keywords: complexity, information theory, self-organization, emergence, predictive information, excess entropy, entropy rate, assortativeness, predictive efficiency, adaptation
Abstract: “Complex Systems Science aims to understand concepts like complexity, self-organization, emergence and adaptation, among others. The inherent fuzziness in complex systems definitions is complicated by the unclear relation among these central processes: does self-organisation emerge or does it set the preconditions for emergence? Does complexity arise by adaptation or is complexity necessary for adaptation to arise? The inevitable consequence of the current impasse is miscommunication among scientists within and across disciplines. We propose a set of concepts, together with their possible information-theoretic interpretations, which can be used to facilitate the Complex Systems Science discourse. Our hope is that the suggested information-theoretic baseline may promote consistent communications among practitioners, and provide new insights into the field.”
Notes: importance and relevance to ResiliNets
[Willinger-Doyle-2005 (doi) .]
Walter Willinger and John Doyle,
“Robustness and the Internet: Design and evolution”,
Robust Design: A Repertoire of Biological, Ecological, and Engineering Case Studies,
Erica Jen, ed., Oxford University Press, 2005, pp. 231–271
ResiliNets Keywords: robustness, complexity, Internet design and architecture
Abstract: “The objective of this paper is to provide a historical account of the design and evolution of the Internet and use it as a concrete starting point for a scientific exploration of the broader issues of robustness in complex systems. To this end, we argue that anyone interested in complex systems should care about the Internet and its workings, and why anyone interested in the Internet should be concerned about complexity, robustness, fragility, and their trade-offs.”
Notes: importance and relevance to ResiliNets
[Doyle-Alderson-Li-Low-2005 (doi) .]
J.C. Doyle, D.L. Alderson, L. Li, S. Low, M. Roughan, S. Shalunov, R. Tanaka, and W. Willinger
“The "robust yet fragile" nature of the Internet”,
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol.102, #41, 2005, pp. 14497–14502
ResiliNets Keywords: list
Keywords: complex network, HOT, Internet topology, network design,scale-free network
Abstract: “The search for unifying properties of complex networks is popular, challenging, and important. For modeling approaches that focus on robustness and fragility as unifying concepts, the Internet is an especially attractive case study, mainly because its applications are ubiquitous and pervasive, and widely available expositions exist at every level of detail. Nevertheless, alternative approaches to modeling the Internet often make extremely different assumptions and derive opposite conclusions about fundamental properties of one and the same system. Fortunately, a detailed understanding of Internet technology combined with a unique ability to measure the network means that these differences can be understood thoroughly and resolved unambiguously. This article aims to make recent results of this process accessible beyond Internet specialists to the broader scientific community and to clarify several sources of basic methodological differences that are relevant beyond either the Internet or the two specific approaches focused on here (i.e., scale-free networks and highly optimized tolerance networks).”
Notes: Bibliographic Entries
Links
John C. Doyle Nets & Robustness
