Marco Villani – författare

This book constitutes the revised selected papers of the 13th Italian Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, WIVACE 2018, held in Parma, Italy, in September 2018.The 12 full papers presented were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 30 submissions. They cover the following topics: Boolean networks and complex systems; economic, societal and technological applications; chemical, biological and medical applications.The chapter “Unveiling Latent Relations in the Photonics Techno-Economic Complex System” is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com.

This book constitutes the refereed post proceedings of the 17th Italian Workshop on Artificial Life and Evolutionary Computation, WIVACE 2023, held in  Venice, Italy, during September 6–8, 2023.The 30 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 55 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: Algorithms for complex systems, Biologically inspired models, Complex chemical systems, Adaptation and swarms, Learning, Medicine and Social systems.

How life can emerge in a lifeless environment is one of the major open scientific challenges. This book pays particular attention to self-organization phenomena that might have led to the appearance of the first protocells, i.e. cell-like structures, much simpler than present-day cells, endowed with some primitive kinds of metabolism and heredity. After a brief description of the known facts and main hypotheses, mathematical and computational models of protocells are discussed: they should complement laboratory experiments, allowing rapid explorations of the dynamical properties of several alternative types of protocell architectures. Given the great uncertainties about the actual origin of life, it seems impossible to provide a detailed and complete reconstruction of the first life forms. It is therefore necessary to identify plausible pathways, highlighting the main physical and chemical processes “towards life” that can take place. Generic models, which are abstract enough to encompass different specific hypotheses, are particularly relevant, as they allow one to identify properties which are common to several different detailed scenarios. They are widely discussed, and a particular case is described in detail, namely that of synchronization between the rate of molecular replication and that of reproduction of the whole protocell, which is a necessary condition for sustainable growth of a population and a prerequisite for further evolution. Using generic models, it is shown that such synchronization spontaneously emerges in successive generations, under very general assumptions.  The book also contains extensive descriptions of the emergence of long polymers, of autocatalytic sets and of the interactions between protocells and their environments. The book is not meant only for specialists, but also for scientists working in different fields, as well as for laymen with an interest in science. It requires a basic knowledge of chemistry and biology, and an interest in simulation models.

How life can emerge in a lifeless environment is one of the major open scientific challenges. This book pays particular attention to self-organization phenomena that might have led to the appearance of the first protocells, i.e. cell-like structures, much simpler than present-day cells, endowed with some primitive kinds of metabolism and heredity. After a brief description of the known facts and main hypotheses, mathematical and computational models of protocells are discussed: they should complement laboratory experiments, allowing rapid explorations of the dynamical properties of several alternative types of protocell architectures. Given the great uncertainties about the actual origin of life, it seems impossible to provide a detailed and complete reconstruction of the first life forms. It is therefore necessary to identify plausible pathways, highlighting the main physical and chemical processes “towards life” that can take place. Generic models, which are abstract enough to encompass different specific hypotheses, are particularly relevant, as they allow one to identify properties which are common to several different detailed scenarios. They are widely discussed, and a particular case is described in detail, namely that of synchronization between the rate of molecular replication and that of reproduction of the whole protocell, which is a necessary condition for sustainable growth of a population and a prerequisite for further evolution. Using generic models, it is shown that such synchronization spontaneously emerges in successive generations, under very general assumptions.  The book also contains extensive descriptions of the emergence of long polymers, of autocatalytic sets and of the interactions between protocells and their environments. The book is not meant only for specialists, but also for scientists working in different fields, as well as for laymen with an interest in science. It requires a basic knowledge of chemistry and biology, and an interest in simulation models.

This book constitutes the revised selected papers of the 12th Italian Workshop on Advances in Artificial Life, Evolutionary Computation, WIVACE 2017, held in Venice, Italy, in September 2017.The 23 full papers presented were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 33 submissions. They cover the following topics: physical-chemical phenomena; biological systems; economy and society; complexity; optimization.

This book constitutes the revised selected papers of the 12th Italian Workshop on Advances in Artificial Life, Evolutionary Computation, WIVACE 2017, held in Venice, Italy, in September 2017.The 23 full papers presented were thoroughly reviewed and selected from 33 submissions. They cover the following topics: physical-chemical phenomena; biological systems; economy and society; complexity; optimization.

Evolution and complexity characterize both biological and artificial life – by direct modeling of biological processes and the creation of populations of interacting entities from which complex behaviors can emerge and evolve. This edited book includes invited chapters from leading scientists in the fields of artificial life, complex systems, and evolutionary computing. The contributions identify both fundamental theoretical issues and state-of-the-art real-world applications. The book is intended for researchers and graduate students in the related domains.

Evolution and complexity characterize both biological and artificial life – by direct modeling of biological processes and the creation of populations of interacting entities from which complex behaviors can emerge and evolve. This edited book includes invited chapters from leading scientists in the fields of artificial life, complex systems, and evolutionary computing. The contributions identify both fundamental theoretical issues and state-of-the-art real-world applications. The book is intended for researchers and graduate students in the related domains.

The monograph discusses models of synthetic protocells, which are cell-like structures obtained from non-living matter endowed with some rudimentary kind of metabolism and genetics, but much simpler than biological cells. They should grow and proliferate, generating offsprings that resemble in some way the parent protocells with some variation, so that selection may take place. Sustainable protocell populations have not yet been obtained experimentally and mathematical models are therefore extremely important to address key questions concerning their synthesis and behavior. Different protocell “architectures” have been proposed and high-level abstract models like those that are presented in this book are particularly relevant to gain a better understanding of the different properites. These models are able to treat all the major dynamical phenomena in a unified framework, so they can be seen as “virtual laboratories” for protocell research. Particular attention is paid to the problem of synchronization of the fission rate of the whole protocell and the duplication rate of its "protogenetic" material, which is shown to be an emergent property that spontaneously develops in successive generations.The book is of interest for a broad range of scientists working in soft matter physics, chemistry and biology, interested in the role protocells may play on the development of new technologies with medical, environmental and industrial applications as well as scientists interested in the origin of life.

The monograph discusses models of synthetic protocells, which are cell-like structures obtained from non-living matter endowed with some rudimentary kind of metabolism and genetics, but much simpler than biological cells. They should grow and proliferate, generating offsprings that resemble in some way the parent protocells with some variation, so that selection may take place. Sustainable protocell populations have not yet been obtained experimentally and mathematical models are therefore extremely important to address key questions concerning their synthesis and behavior. Different protocell “architectures” have been proposed and high-level abstract models like those that are presented in this book are particularly relevant to gain a better understanding of the different properites. These models are able to treat all the major dynamical phenomena in a unified framework, so they can be seen as “virtual laboratories” for protocell research. Particular attention is paid to the problem of synchronization of the fission rate of the whole protocell and the duplication rate of its "protogenetic" material, which is shown to be an emergent property that spontaneously develops in successive generations.The book is of interest for a broad range of scientists working in soft matter physics, chemistry and biology, interested in the role protocells may play on the development of new technologies with medical, environmental and industrial applications as well as scientists interested in the origin of life.

The monograph discusses models of synthetic protocells, which are cell-like structures obtained from non-living matter endowed with some rudimentary kind of metabolism and genetics, but much simpler than biological cells. They should grow and proliferate, generating offsprings that resemble in some way the parent protocells with some variation, so that selection may take place. Sustainable protocell populations have not yet been obtained experimentally and mathematical models are therefore extremely important to address key questions concerning their synthesis and behavior. Different protocell “architectures” have been proposed and high-level abstract models like those that are presented in this book are particularly relevant to gain a better understanding of the different properites. These models are able to treat all the major dynamical phenomena in a unified framework, so they can be seen as “virtual laboratories” for protocell research. Particular attention is paid to the problem of synchronization of the fission rate of the whole protocell and the duplication rate of its "protogenetic" material, which is shown to be an emergent property that spontaneously develops in successive generations.The book is of interest for a broad range of scientists working in soft matter physics, chemistry and biology, interested in the role protocells may play on the development of new technologies with medical, environmental and industrial applications as well as scientists interested in the origin of life.