Nash Equilibria, collusion in games and the coevolutionary particle swarm algorithm

In recent work, we presented a deterministic algorithm to investigate collusion between players in a game where the players’ payoff functions are subject to a variational inequality describing the equilibrium of a transportation system. In investigating the potential for collusion between players, the diagonalization algorithm returned a local optimum. In this paper, we apply a coevolutionary particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm developed in earlier research in an attempt to return the global maximum. A numerical experiment is used to verify the performance of the algorithm in overcoming local optimum

Bipolarity and Ambivalence in Landscape Architecture

Our discipline of landscape architecture contains bipolarity, not only in terms of landscape and architecture but also because the idea of landscape is both aesthetic and scientific. Furthermore, within landscape architecture there is a gap between design (as implied by architecture) and planning (implying land-use plan and policy orientation) on one hand, and a similar gap between design (associated with artistic activity, concerned with aesthetics as well as science) and research (considered as scientific activity Landscape architects often retain as much ambivalence between design and planning, as they do between design and research

Shifting Core and Slipping Foundation: An Uncertain Future of Landscape Architecture in European Universities

Faced with the dual and often conflicting necessity to be scientific and design practices the discipline of landscape architecture today is challenged to re-examine its core and intellectual foundation. There is a growing trend toward design as reflective practice. The discipline is maturing and needs autonomous theories and methods. Global and social externalities favor attention to landscape and landscape-based design. Landscape is not only an integrative and evolving concept and practice but also a trans-disciplinary cultural concern. Under such circumstances the core of landscape architecture is shifting and its intellectual foundation is questione

Elasticity of demand and highway scheme benefit evaluation

DIADEM (Dynamic Integrated Assignment and Demand Modelling) software package has been recently introduced to complement the variable demand modeling process. The fundamental impetus of DIADEM is to test the robustness of highway scheme benefits and this software package is intended to be complementary to conventional demand modeling software. This paper tests a small hypothetical network of a town in the UK to compare the benefits under the current conventional methodology and under the DIADEM methodology