Social niche construction: evolutionary explanations for cooperative group formation

Cooperative behaviours can be defined as those that benefit others at an apparent cost to self. How these kinds of behaviours can evolve has been a topic of great interest in evolutionary biology, for at first sight we would not expect one organism to evolve to help another. Explanations for cooperation rely on the presence of a population structure that clusters cooperators together, such that they enjoy the benefits of each others' actions. But, the question that has been left largely unaddressed is, how does this structure itself evolve? If we want to really explain why organisms cooperate, then we need to explain not just their adaptation to their social environment, but why they live in that environment.It is well-known that individual genetic traits can affect population structure; an example is extracellular matrix production by bacteria in a biofilm. Yet, the concurrent evolution of such traits with social behaviour is very rarely considered. We show here that social behaviour can exert indirect selection pressure on population structure-modifying traits, causing individuals to adaptively modify their population structure to support greater cooperation. Moreover, we argue that any component of selection on structure modifying traits that is due to social behaviour must be in the direction of increased cooperation; that component of selection cannot be in favour of the conditions for greater selfishness. We then examine the conditions under which this component of selection on population structure exists. Thus, we argue that not only can population structure drive the evolution of cooperation, as in classical models, but that the benefits of greater cooperation can in turn drive the evolution of population structure - a positive feedback process that we call social niche construction.We argue that this process is necessary in providing an adaptive explanation for some of the major transitions in evolution (such as from single- to multi- celled organisms, and from solitary insects to eusocial colonies). Any satisfactory account of these transitions must explain how the individuals came to live in a population structure that supported high degrees of cooperation, as well as showing that cooperation is individually advantageous given that structure

7e Nederlandse testdag, Eindhoven, 8 November 2001 : proceedings

These are the proceedings of the seventh edition of the Nederlandse Testdag (a.k.a. Dutch Testing Day), held on November 8, 2001 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The increase in the complexity of software and hardware systems was the predominant concern in the software design of the last decades. This increase is still going on today. and mastering this complexity is possible, only by investigating, discussing and evaluating methods and techniques for testing such systems. The Nederlandse Testdag serves as a forum in which researchers from the industry and the academia discuss and present their latest experiences and theories in the area of testing. The initiative for organising the Nederlandse Testdag is, and has always been, the result of the combined efforts of the Dutch academia and the industry. The Nederlandse Testdag is an annual event which was first held in 1995. This year's edition again consists of one invited presentation by Jens Grabowski, on ITCN-3. and six regular presentations, both from the academia and from the industry. The presentations capture a broad field of the entire testing spectrum. In the presentation by Martin Gijsen (CMG), test automation for Graphical User Interface (GUI), dedicated and embedded systems according to the TestFrame methodology is explained. Klaas Mateboer (Collis) presents the test-tool Conclusion. René de Vries (University of Twente) reports on specification testing in practice and illustrates this by means of an example. In the presentation by Loe Feijs (Eindhoven University of Technology), testing is related to game-theory. Marcel Verhoef (Chess) and Bertil Oving (NLR) present their experiences using real-time simulation, UML and VDM to obtain more reliable spacecraft avionics. Finally, Ben van Buitenen (Baan), provides an insight in service pack testing: how to efficiently test customised software components and packages. The organisation of the Nederlandse Testdag is grateful for the sponsorship it received from the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Eindhoven Embedded Systems Institute, and the financial support from Dutch Research School IPA. We are very much indebted to CMG and Telelogic's willingness to sponsor this event financially. Over the years, both companies have profiled themselves as companies investing both time and resources in advancing the current state in testing. Finally, the organisation thanks Marcella de Rooij and EIize Russell for their organisational assistance

7e Nederlandse testdag, Eindhoven, 8 November 2001 : proceedings

These are the proceedings of the seventh edition of the Nederlandse Testdag (a.k.a. Dutch Testing Day), held on November 8, 2001 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The increase in the complexity of software and hardware systems was the predominant concern in the software design of the last decades. This increase is still going on today. and mastering this complexity is possible, only by investigating, discussing and evaluating methods and techniques for testing such systems. The Nederlandse Testdag serves as a forum in which researchers from the industry and the academia discuss and present their latest experiences and theories in the area of testing. The initiative for organising the Nederlandse Testdag is, and has always been, the result of the combined efforts of the Dutch academia and the industry. The Nederlandse Testdag is an annual event which was first held in 1995. This year's edition again consists of one invited presentation by Jens Grabowski, on ITCN-3. and six regular presentations, both from the academia and from the industry. The presentations capture a broad field of the entire testing spectrum. In the presentation by Martin Gijsen (CMG), test automation for Graphical User Interface (GUI), dedicated and embedded systems according to the TestFrame methodology is explained. Klaas Mateboer (Collis) presents the test-tool Conclusion. René de Vries (University of Twente) reports on specification testing in practice and illustrates this by means of an example. In the presentation by Loe Feijs (Eindhoven University of Technology), testing is related to game-theory. Marcel Verhoef (Chess) and Bertil Oving (NLR) present their experiences using real-time simulation, UML and VDM to obtain more reliable spacecraft avionics. Finally, Ben van Buitenen (Baan), provides an insight in service pack testing: how to efficiently test customised software components and packages. The organisation of the Nederlandse Testdag is grateful for the sponsorship it received from the Eindhoven University of Technology, the Eindhoven Embedded Systems Institute, and the financial support from Dutch Research School IPA. We are very much indebted to CMG and Telelogic's willingness to sponsor this event financially. Over the years, both companies have profiled themselves as companies investing both time and resources in advancing the current state in testing. Finally, the organisation thanks Marcella de Rooij and EIize Russell for their organisational assistance

Information system's project management and the phenomenon of trust.

The aim of this research was to investigate how the continual low success rate of IS projects could be improved through an evaluation of success and failure factors. A literature review revealed a comprehensive but uncoordinated history of research into the identification of the critical factors. This proved to be inconclusive, but did indicate that project management contributed more to the failures than the technology. A model for expressing the complexity of IS project environments is proposed to aid project teams with their strategy. Also, the criteria for measuring success of both project managemenat nd IS projects has been extended. Although many disciplines had considered trust as a success factor, this was missing within the domain of project management. To examine the effect of trust in an IS project environment a game termed Project Paradox was designed and run. A lack of trust was found to be compounded by conflicting objectives inherent within IS projects. It is recommended that the issues relating to trust should be considered and managed as an integral part of a risk analysis. To enable this to be realised in practice a framework for a Trust Audit is proposed. The thesis concludes with a number of research initiatives aimed at improving the success rate of IS projects

Homo Socionicus: a Case Study of Simulation Models of Norms

This paper describes a survey of normative agent-based social simulation models. These models are examined from the perspective of the foundations of social theory. Agent-based modelling contributes to the research program of methodological individualism. Norms are a central concept in the role theoretic concept of action in the tradition of Durkheim and Parsons. This paper investigates to what extend normative agent-based models are able to capture the role theoretic concept of norms. Three methodological core problems are identified: the question of norm transmission, normative transformation of agents and what kind of analysis the models contribute. It can be shown that initially the models appeared only to address some of these problems rather than all of them simultaneously. More recent developments, however, show progress in that direction. However, the degree of resolution of intra agent processes remains too low for a comprehensive understanding of normative behaviour regulation.Norms, Normative Agent-Based Social Simulation, Role Theory, Methodological Individualism

Information system's project management and the phenomenon of trust

The aim of this research was to investigate how the continual low success rate of IS projects could be improved through an evaluation of success and failure factors. A literature review revealed a comprehensive but uncoordinated history of research into the identification of the critical factors. This proved to be inconclusive, but did indicate that project management contributed more to the failures than the technology. A model for expressing the complexity of IS project environments is proposed to aid project teams with their strategy. Also, the criteria for measuring success of both project managemenat nd IS projects has been extended. Although many disciplines had considered trust as a success factor, this was missing within the domain of project management. To examine the effect of trust in an IS project environment a game termed Project Paradox was designed and run. A lack of trust was found to be compounded by conflicting objectives inherent within IS projects. It is recommended that the issues relating to trust should be considered and managed as an integral part of a risk analysis. To enable this to be realised in practice a framework for a Trust Audit is proposed. The thesis concludes with a number of research initiatives aimed at improving the success rate of IS projects.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Information system's project management and the phenomenon of trust

The aim of this research was to investigate how the continual low success rate of IS projects could be improved through an evaluation of success and failure factors. A literature review revealed a comprehensive but uncoordinated history of research into the identification of the critical factors. This proved to be inconclusive, but did indicate that project management contributed more to the failures than the technology. A model for expressing the complexity of IS project environments is proposed to aid project teams with their strategy. Also, the criteria for measuring success of both project managemenat nd IS projects has been extended. Although many disciplines had considered trust as a success factor, this was missing within the domain of project management. To examine the effect of trust in an IS project environment a game termed Project Paradox was designed and run. A lack of trust was found to be compounded by conflicting objectives inherent within IS projects. It is recommended that the issues relating to trust should be considered and managed as an integral part of a risk analysis. To enable this to be realised in practice a framework for a Trust Audit is proposed. The thesis concludes with a number of research initiatives aimed at improving the success rate of IS projects.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Tool Migration: A Framework to Study the Cross-disciplinary Use of Mathematical Constructs in Science

This dissertation is concerned with the scientific practice in which a mathematical construct that was originally developed to study a particular subject matter subsequently used in other disciplines or sub-disciplines for a different subject matter, a phenomenon that I call ‘tool migration.’ I argue that tool migration can be ‘epistemically risky.’ Specifically, uprooting a research tool from one disciplinary context and re-situating it for use in another can change how the tool is applied; whatever has made the tool useful and reliable in the first place may not have stayed the same in the new context. Using the migrations of game theory and formal language theory as examples, I identify three kinds of epistemic risks associated with tool migration: mischaracterization (i.e., characterizing a new phenomenon with inappropriate assumptions), misinterpretation, (i.e., using ill- fitted background contexts to interpret the result), and misjudgment (i.e., incorrectly rejecting or accepting a novel use of a migrating research tool). However, my analyses of these tool migration stories show that (1) proactive modifications to a tool in migration are conducive to successfully applying an old tool in a new context, (2) being aware of the changes to a tool due to migration is crucial to avoid misinterpretation and misjudgment, and (3) there is a need for a study of tool migration to understand how scientists manage (or may manage) these risks