Even though many authors use embodied systems for their research on adaptive behavior, only few deal explicitly with shape or morphology. The adaptive potential is seen at the level of the control architecture in artificial systems or the neural substrate in natural systems. Moreover, discussion of materials is almost entirely absent. On closer inspection, it turns out that control depends cruc...

The 21st New Phytologist symposium entitled ‘The ecology of ectomycorrhizal fungi’ attracted over 100 participants to Montpellier, France, for a two-day meeting in early December. Marc-André Selosse (Université Montpellier, France) and Ian Alexander (University of Aberdeen, UK) organized the talks around the classic ecological hierarchy of individuals, populations and communities. The meeting a...

This paper compares systematically the two theoretical models of adaptation, ecological and evolutionary. Using notions from innovation, learning, and balanced change, the two models are contrasted in the context of 73 European, Japanese, and U.S. industrial robotics firms that introduced new robotics products in 1984-1997. A hybrid of ecological and evolutionary views is found to predict innov...

A representational approach to ecological psychology is presented. This paper identifies a computational-level commonality in ecological psychology research related to passability of apertures. It is argued that a cognitive mechanism capable of comparing the geometric properties of an environment and the geometric properties of the agent can be used to support judgments for action in space.

An alternative view of presence is introduced based on existential philosophy and ecological psychology. This view favors a Heideggerian/Gibsonian metaphysic over the more conventional rationalistic orientation. In this alternative view, notions of subjective presence and objective presence no longer exist. Presence is instead tied to one’s successfully supported action in the environment, this...

Living systems are typically characterized by irreversible processes. A condition equivalent to the reversibility is the detailed balance, whose absence is an obstacle for analytically solving ecological models. We revisit a promising model with an elegant field-theoretic analytic solution and show that the theoretical analysis is invalid because of an implicit assumption of detailed balance. A...

Very little information exists in regards to the control options available for potato flea beetles, Epitrix spp. This short review covers both chemical and ecological options currently available for control of Epitrix spp. Synthetic pyrethroids are the weapon of choice for the beetles. However, the impetus in integrated pest management is to do timely (early-season) applicatio...