In recent years several strategies for inferring gene regulatory networks from observed time series data of gene expression have been suggested based on Evolutionary Algorithms. But often only few problem instances are investigated and the proposed strategies are rarely compared to alternative strategies. In this paper we compare Evolution Strategies and Genetic Programming with respect to thei...

Evolutionary algorithms applied to dynamic optimization problems has become a promising research area. So far, all papers in the area have assumed that the environment changes only between generations. In this paper, we take a first look at possibilities to handle a change during a generation. For that purpose, we derive an analytical model for a (1, 2) evolution strategy and show that sometime...

This paper reports on novel work using clonal selection (CS) for dynamic function optimisation. A comparison is made between evolution strategies (ES) and CS, for the optimisation of two significantly different dynamic functions at 2, 5 and 10 dimensions. Firstly a sensitivity analysis was performed for both the CS and the ES for both fitness functions. Secondly the performance of the two algor...

The ridge function class is a parameterised family of test functions that is often used to evaluate the capabilities and limitations of optimisation strategies. Past research with the goal of analytically determining the performance of evolution strategies on the ridge has focused either on the parabolic case or on simple one-parent strategies without step length adaptation. This paper extends ...

Various steps in the RNA world required cooperation. Why did life's first inhabitants, from polymerases to synthetases, cooperate? We develop kin selection models of the RNA world to answer these questions. We develop a very simple model of RNA cooperation and then elaborate it to model three relevant issues in RNA biology: (1) whether cooperative RNAs receive the benefits of cooperation; (2) t...

Social organisms in many taxa cooperate to produce resources that are shared among group members. Some cooperatively produced resources may be monopolized by individuals who invest in within-group competition, but these have largely been overlooked in empirical and theoretical research on human cooperation, which has focused on noncontestable public goods. In this study, we allow for the potent...

I develop a model of R&D cooperation with uncertain research outcomes. In this model asymmetric outcomes of R&D competition emerge naturally. Therefore ex-ante and ex-post R&D cooperation can be studied as alternatives for firms. Using this model I compare welfare losses under ex-ante and ex-post R&D cooperation as the degree of product market competition varies. It emerges that the relative si...

In the last few decades, numerous experiments have shown that humans do not always behave so as to maximize their material payoff. Cooperative behavior when non-cooperation is a dominant strategy (with respect to the material payoffs) is particularly puzzling. Here we propose a novel approach to explain cooperation, assuming what Halpern and Pass (2013) call translucent players. Typically, play...

How do people consider other minds during cooperation versus competition? Some accounts predict that theory of mind (ToM) is recruited more for cooperation versus competition or competition versus cooperation, whereas other accounts predict similar recruitment across these two contexts. The present fMRI study examined activity in brain regions for ToM (bilateral temporoparietal junction, precun...