Rugby sevens is a small-sided variant of rugby union characterised by fast-moving, high-intensity gameplay and is an example of a team invasion sport, where players work together to achieve a shared ...goal of attacking and defending as a cohesive unit. The dynamics of such sports can be viewed as self-organizing systems, where individual players form collective patterns without a centralized mechanism of control. Inspired by the analysis of collective movement in animals, this novel study investigates the emergent patterns of order and disorder in sub-elite female rugby sevens using order parameters (typically used to analyse particle systems) to characterize the team's collective state during different phases of play. The findings demonstrate that defensive gameplay is more ordered, with more compact formations, compared to attacking play, and there is a correlation between alignment/order in player motion and group speed. The work further suggests that the collective states formed differ between sequences of play with different levels of ground gained by the attacking team. These observations provide a sound justification for player training with a focus on cohesive defensive movements to resist disruptions from opposing attackers, while employing attacking tactics that disrupt the cohesion and order of opposing teams.
•We identify and discuss attributes and indicators of livelihood resilience.•We propose an assessment framework that can be used as a communication tool with farmers and practitioners to evaluate and ...monitor contributions of policies and practices to livelihood resilience.•The framework can be used as a practitioner or policy decision support tool for identifying dimensions of livelihood resilience to support.
Livelihood resilience draws attention to the factors and processes that keep livelihoods functioning despite change and thus enriches the livelihood approach which puts people, their differential capabilities to cope with shocks and how to reduce poverty and improve adaptive capacity at the centre of analysis. However, the few studies addressing resilience from a livelihood perspective take different approaches and focus only on some dimensions of livelihoods. This paper presents a framework that can be used for a comprehensive empirical analysis of livelihood resilience. We use a concept of resilience that considers agency as well as structure. A review of both theoretical and empirical literature related to livelihoods and resilience served as the basis to integrate the perspectives. The paper identifies the attributes and indicators of the three dimensions of resilience, namely, buffer capacity, self-organisation and capacity for learning. The framework has not yet been systematically tested; however, potentials and limitations of the components of the framework are explored and discussed by drawing on empirical examples from literature on farming systems. Besides providing a basis for applying the resilience concept in livelihood-oriented research, the framework offers a way to communicate with practitioners on identifying and improving the factors that build resilience. It can thus serve as a tool for monitoring the effectiveness of policies and practices aimed at building livelihood resilience.
Path integrals, particular kinds, and strange things Friston, Karl; Da Costa, Lancelot; Sakthivadivel, Dalton A.R. ...
Physics of life reviews,
December 2023, 2023-Dec, 2023-12-00, 20231201, Volume:
47
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This paper describes a path integral formulation of the free energy principle. The ensuing account expresses the paths or trajectories that a particle takes as it evolves over time. The main results ...are a method or principle of least action that can be used to emulate the behaviour of particles in open exchange with their external milieu. Particles are defined by a particular partition, in which internal states are individuated from external states by active and sensory blanket states. The variational principle at hand allows one to interpret internal dynamics—of certain kinds of particles—as inferring external states that are hidden behind blanket states. We consider different kinds of particles, and to what extent they can be imbued with an elementary form of inference or sentience. Specifically, we consider the distinction between dissipative and conservative particles, inert and active particles and, finally, ordinary and strange particles. Strange particles can be described as inferring their own actions, endowing them with apparent autonomy or agency. In short—of the kinds of particles afforded by a particular partition—strange kinds may be apt for describing sentient behaviour.
•This paper describes a path integral formulation of the free energy principle.•We consider different kinds of particles, and to what extent they can be described as exhibiting inference or sentience.•We offer a method to emulate the behaviour of any such particle or agent.•We distinguish between dissipative and conservative particles, inert and active particles and ordinary and strange particles.•Of these kinds of particles, strange kinds may be apt for describing sentient behaviour.
Heterotopias are other spaces that play a crucial role in the adaptive capacity of cities. They balance the city by hosting the abnormal, nurture alternative cultures and allow novel practices that ...act as seeds of change. In this paper, we study the life cycle and regenerative nature of heterotopias by analysing the expansion of 400 self-organising coworking spaces (CWSs) in Helsinki from 2010 to 2018. This brings a new understanding of how CWSs contribute to broader urban contexts. In examining the heterotopic character of CWSs, we found diversification of otherness relating to the spaces used and the variety of professionals working there. The cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of the CWS network revealed alternating dynamics between specialisation and mixing, leading to diversification and different rhythms between the micro-level and the urban scale. We introduce a new concept of networking heterotopias and argue that both diversity and scalar dimensions should be examined when analysing change in and by them.
•The heterotopia can be used as an analytic tool for urban dynamics driven by CWSs.•The diversity of CWSs affects the adaptive capacity of cities.•The new concept of networking heterotopias allows for examining multiscale urban dynamics.•Self-organisation can be guided to support the bottom-up renovation of cities.
In software engineering, knowledge about recurrent problems, along with blueprints of associated solutions for diverse design contexts, are often captured in so-called design patterns. Identifying ...design patterns is particularly valuable for novel and still largely unexplored application contexts such as the Internet of Things, Cyber–Physical Systems, and Edge Computing, as it would help keeping a balanced trade-off between generality and applicability, guiding the mainstream development of language mechanisms, algorithms, architectures, and supporting platforms. Based on recurrence of related solutions found in the literature, in this work we present a design pattern for self-adaptive systems, named Self-organising Coordination Regions (SCR): its goal is to organise a process of interconnecting devices into teams, to solve local tasks in cooperation. Specifically, it is a decentralised coordination pattern for partitioned integration and coordination of devices, which relies on continuous adaptivity to context change to provide resilient distributed decision-making in large-scale situated systems. It leverages the divide-and-conquer principle, partitioning (in a self-organising fashion) the network of devices into regions, where internal coordination activities are regulated via feedback/control flows among leaders and subordinate nodes. We present the pattern, provide a template implementation in the Aggregate Computing framework, and evaluate it through simulation of two case studies in edge computing and hierarchical, heterogeneous networks.
•Self-organising Coordination Regions (SCR) is a design pattern for decentralised self-integration in dynamic environments.•SCR captures recurrent design approaches in a variety of domains including swarm control, resource management, and service orchestration.•SCR consists of a dynamic process involving leader election, coalition formation, and feedback loops between leaders and subordinates.•SCR can be straightforwardly implemented as continuous collective workflows in Aggregate Programming languages.•SCR is versatile, as shown through case studies in edge computing and hierarchical, heterogeneous networks.
Control over crystal structure, size, shape, and organization of TiO2 nanocrystals has been achieved by means of wet chemistry. Hydrolysis and polycondensation of titanium alkoxide Ti(OR)4 has been ...performed in the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (Me4NOH). This base both catalyzes the reaction and provides an organic cation that stabilizes the anatase polyanionic cores formed in this medium. These anatase clusters are organized so as to favour self‐assembly into intermediate nanocrystals, which, in turn, self‐assemble into superlattices. This self‐assembling process has been exploited for the processing of highly structured titania films. Furthermore, larger anatase TiO2 nanocrystals of different sizes and shapes have been obtained by adjusting the relative concentrations of titanium alkoxide and Me4NOH, the reaction temperature, and the pressure. HRTEM, XRD, and EXAFS have been used to characterize the various samples and to elucidate the growth of titania anatase. Our observations are in accordance with theoretically predicted condensation and growth pathways. The formation of mesoscopic structures through a self‐assembling process of the multiply charged polytitanate anions in the presence of Me4N+ is also discussed.
Nano-porosity in amorphous Ge formed by swift heavy ion irradiation displays a peculiar self-organisation process. Initially almost randomly distributed pores grow with increasing irradiation fluence ...and segregate in layers orientated parallel to the sample surface. This self-organisation mechanism depends on the ion energy, thickness of the amorphous Ge layer and the angle of ion incidence and shows a characteristic length depending on ion energy and irradiation angle. Molecular dynamics simulations of individual ion tracks show that voids form due to the transition from the low-density amorphous to the high-density liquid phase, which also gives rise to a flow directed away from large pores and surfaces. The flow results in a characteristic distance from surfaces and larger pores, below which new voids do not form, and supports the formation of voids at the amorphous/crystalline interface. Simulations also demonstrate that, while direct impacts can reposition small voids, partial or nearby impacts promote their growth at the same location. These processes are plausible drivers for the self-organization.
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Plasmonic colour from metals has been recently attracting attention because it is less likely to deteriorate due to environmental change. However, metals such as silver easily react chemically with ...the atmosphere. Although plasmonic colour in various materials and structures has been assessed, the effects of chemical changes on plasmonic properties have not been deeply investigated. In this paper, we have evaluated the changes in optical properties and structure of silver plasmonic colour from the viewpoint of a phase diagram. As a result, we report remarkable colour changes and the formation of nanorings with a diameter of approximately 100 nm by vacuum ultraviolet light irradiation and heat annealing.
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