Related papers: On the Abstract Structure of the Behavioral Approa…

This paper formulates a framework for the analysis and distributed control of interconnected systems from the behavioural perspective. The discussions are carried out from the viewpoint of set theory and the results are completely…

We propose the concept of a system algebra with a parallel composition operation and an interface connection operation, and formalize composition-order invariance, which postulates that the order of composing and connecting systems is…

While the utility of well-chosen abstractions for understanding and predicting the behaviour of complex systems is well appreciated, precisely what an abstraction $\textit{is}$ has so far has largely eluded mathematical formalization. In…

We propose a process calculus, named AbC, to study the behavioural theory of interactions in collective-adaptive systems by relying on attribute-based communication. An AbC system consists of a set of parallel components each of which is…

The infrastructure upon which the functioning of society depends is composed of complex ecosystems of systems. Consequently, we must reason about the properties of such ecosystems, which requires that we construct models of them. There are…

One of the basic frameworks in science views behavioral products as a process within a dynamic system. The mechanism might be seen as a representation of many instances of centralized control in real time. Many real systems, however,…

A central challenge for cognitive science is to explain how abstract concepts are acquired from limited experience. This has often been framed in terms of a dichotomy between connectionist and symbolic cognitive models. Here, we highlight a…

A foundational principle in cognitive science holds that intelligent agents do not learn by storing experiences as isolated instances, but by forming abstract schemas that capture relational structure shared across situations. Even though…

The principle of abstraction guides the design of interactive systems, yet we lack a conceptual framework to understand how it shapes interaction design. Existing models, such as the gulfs of execution and evaluation, do not explicitly…

Induction is the process by which we obtain predictive laws or theories or models of the world. We consider the structural aspect of induction. We answer the question as to whether we can find a finite and minmalistic set of operations on…

Finite-state abstractions (a.k.a. symbolic models) present a promising avenue for the formal verification and synthesis of controllers in continuous-space control systems. These abstractions provide simplified models that capture the…

Common-sense physical reasoning in the real world requires learning about the interactions of objects and their dynamics. The notion of an abstract object, however, encompasses a wide variety of physical objects that differ greatly in terms…

These lecture notes concern the basics of the theory of process behaviour. First the concept of a (labelled) transition system receives ample treatment and then the following issues concerning process behaviour are elaborated in the setting…

Emergent collective group processes and capabilities have been studied through analysis of transactive memory, measures of group task performance, and group intelligence, among others. In their approach to collective behaviors, these…

According to a mainstream position in contemporary cognitive science and philosophy, the use of abstract compositional concepts is both a necessary and a sufficient condition for the presence of genuine thought. In this article, we show how…

This paper presents the foundational ideas for a new way of modeling social aggregation. Traditional approaches have been using network theory, and the theory of random networks. Under that paradigm, every social agent is represented by a…

We propose a means to relate properties of an interconnected system to its separate component systems in the presence of cascade-like phenomena. Building on a theory of interconnection reminiscent of the behavioral approach to systems…

This series of papers models the dynamics of a large set of interacting neurons within the framework of statistical field theory. The system is described using a two-field model. The first field represents the neuronal activity, while the…

This contribution shortly outlines and reviews a theoretical and computational approach for a theory of change concerning systems where it is not possible to apply the laws of motion ab initio. The concept of meta-structure relates to the…

Several approaches to cognition and intelligence research rely on statistics-based models testing, namely factor analysis. In the present work we exploit the emerging dynamical systems perspective putting the focus on the role of the…