Introduction to the theory of heavy-ion collisions

New paradigms for communication/networking systems are needed in order to tackle such emerging issues as heterogeneity, complexity and management of evolvable infrastructures, thus requiring approaches that are both task- and knowledge-driven. The networking and seamless integration of concepts, technologies and devices in a dynamically changing environment poses many challenges to the research community, including interoperability, programmability, management, openness, reliability, performance, context awareness, intelligence, autonomy, security, privacy, safety, and semantics. Inspired by biological systems, autonomic communication envisions communication systems that can organize, configure, optimize, protect, and heal themselves with minimal involvement of human administrators. Autonomic Communication explores conceptual models and associated technologies that will uphold the vision of autonomic communication where devices and applications blur the boundaries between virtual and real worlds as they seamlessly interconnect, intelligently cooperate, and autonomously manage themselves. Written by leading international researchers, the contributions give testimony to the challenges and prospects of this rapidly growing area. The volume is composed of chapters covering a wide range of issues related to autonomic communication.