FoCAS 2014 - 2nd Workshop on Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems (FoCAS 2014)

Organizing Committee:
Emma Hart, Edinburgh Napier University, UK
Giacomo Cabri, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italy
Collective Adaptive Systems (CAS) is a broad term that describes large scale systems that comprise of many units/nodes, each of which may have their own individual properties, objectives and actions. Decision-making in such a system is distributed and possibly highly dispersed, and interaction between the units may lead to the emergence of unexpected phenomena. CASs are open, in that nodes may enter or leave the collective at any time, and boundaries between CASs are fluid. The units can be highly heterogeneous (computers, robots, agents, devices, biological entities, etc.), each operating at different temporal and spatial scales, and having different (potentially conflicting) objectives and goals, even if often the system has a global goal that is pursued by means of collective actions. Our society increasingly depends on such systems, in which collections of heterogeneous technological nodes are tightly entangled with human and social structures to form artificial societies. Yet, to properly exploit them, we need to develop a deeper scientific understanding of the principles by which they operate, in order to better design them.
This workshop solicits papers that address new methodologies, theories and principles that can be used in order to develop a better understanding of the fundamental factors underpinning the operation of such systems, so that we can better design, build, and analyse such systems. We welcome inter-disciplinary approaches.
Invited contributions from the workshop will be published in a Special Issue of the Journal of Scalable Computing: Practice and Experience (http://scpe.org/)