A comprehensive political and design theory of planetary-scale computation proposing that The Stack—an accidental megastructure—is both a technological apparatus and a model for a new geopolitical ...architecture.
What has planetary-scale computation done to our geopolitical realities? It takes different forms at different scales—from energy and mineral sourcing and subterranean cloud infrastructure to urban software and massive universal addressing systems; from interfaces drawn by the augmentation of the hand and eye to users identified by self—quantification and the arrival of legions of sensors, algorithms, and robots. Together, how do these distort and deform modern political geographies and produce new territories in their own image?
In The Stack, Benjamin Bratton proposes that these different genres of computation—smart grids, cloud platforms, mobile apps, smart cities, the Internet of Things, automation—can be seen not as so many species evolving on their own, but as forming a coherent whole: an accidental megastructure called The Stack that is both a computational apparatus and a new governing architecture. We are inside The Stack and it is inside of us.
In an account that is both theoretical and technical, drawing on political philosophy, architectural theory, and software studies, Bratton explores six layers of The Stack: Earth, Cloud, City, Address, Interface, User. Each is mapped on its own terms and understood as a component within the larger whole built from hard and soft systems intermingling—not only computational forms but also social, human, and physical forces. This model, informed by the logic of the multilayered structure of protocol “stacks,” in which network technologies operate within a modular and vertical order, offers a comprehensive image of our emerging infrastructure and a platform for its ongoing reinvention.
The Stack is an interdisciplinary design brief for a new geopolitics that works with and for planetary-scale computation. Interweaving the continental, urban, and perceptual scales, it shows how we can better build, dwell within, communicate with, and govern our worlds.
thestack.org
This unique book brings together a comprehensive set of papers on the background, theory, technical issues and applications of agent-based modelling (ABM) within geographical systems. This collection ...of papers is an invaluable reference point for the experienced agent-based modeller as well those new to the area. Specific geographical issues such as handling scale and space are dealt with as well as practical advice from leading experts about designing and creating ABMs, handling complexity, visualising and validating model outputs. With contributions from many of the worlds leading research institutions, the latest applied research (micro and macro applications) from around the globe exemplify what can be achieved in geographical context. This book is relevant to researchers, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students, and professionals in the areas of quantitative geography, spatial analysis, spatial modelling, social simulation modelling and geographical information sciences.
Today, when computing is pervasive and deployed over a range of devices by a multiplicity of users, we need to develop computer software to interact with both the ever-increasing complexity of the ...technical world and the growing fluidity of social organizations. The Art of Agent-Oriented Modeling presents a new conceptual model for developing software systems that are open, intelligent, and adaptive. It describes an approach for modeling complex systems that consist of people, devices, and software agents in a changing environment (sometimes known as distributed sociotechnical systems). The authors take an agent-oriented view, as opposed to the more common object-oriented approach. Thinking in terms of agents (which they define as the human and man-made components of a system), they argue, can change the way people think of software and the tasks it can perform. The book offers an integrated and coherent set of concepts and models, presenting the models at three levels of abstraction corresponding to a motivation layer (where the purpose, goals, and requirements of the system are described), a design layer, and an implementation layer. It compares platforms by implementing the same models in four different languages; compares methodologies by using a common example; includes extensive case studies; and offers exercises suitable for either class use or independent study.
Software Reliability Assessment with OR Applications provides a comprehensive guide to software reliability measurement, prediction, and control. Readers will find solutions to decision-making ...problems that software developers and engineers often face.
Software has become omnipresent and vital in our information-based society, so all software producers should assume responsibility for its reliability. While 'reliable' originally assumed ...implementations that were effective and mainly error-free, additional issues like adaptability and maintainability have gained equal importance recently. For example, the 2004 ACM/IEEE Software Engineering Curriculum Guidelines list software evolution as one of ten key areas of software engineering education. Mens and Demeyer, both international authorities in the field of software evolution, together with the invited contributors, focus on novel trends in software evolution research and its relations with other emerging disciplines such as model-driven software engineering, service-oriented software development, and aspect-oriented software development. They do not restrict themselves to the evolution of source code but also address the evolution of other, equally important software artifacts such as databases and database schemas, design models, software architectures, and process management. The contributing authors provide broad overviews of related work, and they also contribute to a comprehensive glossary, a list of acronyms, and a list of books, journals, websites, standards and conferences that together represent the community’s body of knowledge. Combining all these features, this book is the indispensable source for researchers and professionals looking for an introduction and comprehensive overview of the state of the art. In addition, it is an ideal basis for an advanced course on software evolution.
Software product lines represent perhaps the most exciting paradigm shift in software development since the advent of high-level programming languages. Nowhere else in software engineering have we ...seen such breathtaking improvements in cost, quality, time to market, and developer productivity, often registering in the order-of-magnitude range. While the underlying concepts are straightforward enough building a family of related products or systems by planned and careful reuse of a base of generalized software development assets the devil can be in the details, as successful product line practice can involve organizational change, business process change, and technology change. The authors ideally combine academic research results with industrial real-world experiences, thus presenting a broad view on product line engineering so that both managers and technical specialists will benefit from reading it. After presenting a common framework for the description of the industrial case studies, they capture the wealth of knowledge that eight companies have gathered during the introduction of the software product line engineering approach in their daily practice. After reading this book, you will understand all the relevant aspects, regarding business, architecture, process, and organizational issues, of applying software product line engineering. If you consider using a product line approach in your organization, or if you want to improve your current practices you will find a rich set of useful information at your fingertips from practitioners to practitioners.
Herein we report the design and the synthesis of a library of new and more hydrophilic bisindole analogues based on our previously identified antileishmanial compound URB1483 that failed the ...preliminary in vivo test. The novel bisindoles were phenotypically screened for efficacy against Leishmania infantum promastigotes and simultaneously for toxicity on human macrophage-like THP-1 cells. Among the less toxic compounds, eight bisindoles showed IC.sub.50 below 10 muM. The most selective compound 1h (selectivity index = 10.1, comparable to miltefosine) and the most potent compound 2c (IC.sub.50 = 2.7 muM) were tested for their efficacy on L. infantum intracellular amastigotes. The compounds also demonstrated their efficacy in the in vitro infection model, showing IC.sub.50 of 11.1 and 6.8 muM for 1h and 2c, respectively. Moreover, 1h showed a better toxicity profile than the commercial drug miltefosine. For all these reasons, 1h could be a possible new starting point for hydrophilic antileishmanial agents with low cytotoxicity on human macrophage-like cells.
Herein we report the design and the synthesis of a library of new and more hydrophilic bisindole analogues based on our previously identified antileishmanial compound URB1483 that failed the ...preliminary in vivo test. The novel bisindoles were phenotypically screened for efficacy against Leishmania infantum promastigotes and simultaneously for toxicity on human macrophage-like THP-1 cells. Among the less toxic compounds, eight bisindoles showed IC.sub.50 below 10 muM. The most selective compound 1h (selectivity index = 10.1, comparable to miltefosine) and the most potent compound 2c (IC.sub.50 = 2.7 muM) were tested for their efficacy on L. infantum intracellular amastigotes. The compounds also demonstrated their efficacy in the in vitro infection model, showing IC.sub.50 of 11.1 and 6.8 muM for 1h and 2c, respectively. Moreover, 1h showed a better toxicity profile than the commercial drug miltefosine. For all these reasons, 1h could be a possible new starting point for hydrophilic antileishmanial agents with low cytotoxicity on human macrophage-like cells.
