7 research outputs found
Understanding responses to environments for the Prisoner's Dilemma: A meta analysis, multidimensional optimisation and machine learning approach
This thesis investigates the behaviour that Iterated Prisonerās Dilemma strategies
should adopt as a response to diļ¬erent environments. The Iterated Prisonerās Dilemma
(IPD) is a particular topic of game theory that has attracted academic attention due
to its applications in the understanding of the balance between cooperation and com
petition in social and biological settings.
This thesis uses a variety of mathematical and computational ļ¬elds such as linear al
gebra, research software engineering, data mining, network theory, natural language
processing, data analysis, mathematical optimisation, resultant theory, markov mod
elling, agent based simulation, heuristics and machine learning.
The literature around the IPD has been exploring the performance of strategies in the
game for years. The results of this thesis contribute to the discussion of successful
performances using various novel approaches.
Initially, this thesis evaluates the performance of 195 strategies in 45,600 computer
tournaments. A large portion of the 195 strategies are drawn from the known and
named strategies in the IPD literature, including many previous tournament winners.
The 45,600 computer tournaments include tournament variations such as tournaments
with noise, probabilistic match length, and both noise and probabilistic match length.
This diversity of strategies and tournament types has resulted in the largest and most
diverse collection of computer tournaments in the ļ¬eld. The impact of features on
the performance of the 195 strategies is evaluated using modern machine learning and
statistical techniques. The results reinforce the idea that there are properties associated
with success, these are: be nice, be provocable and generous, be a little envious, be
clever, and adapt to the environment.
Secondly, this thesis explores well performed behaviour focused on a speciļ¬c set of IPD
strategies called memory-one, and speciļ¬cally a subset of them that are considered extortionate. These strategies have gained much attention in the research ļ¬eld and
have been acclaimed for their performance against single opponents. This thesis uses
mathematical modelling to explore the best responses to a collection of memory-one
strategies as a multidimensional non-linear optimisation problem, and the beneļ¬ts of
extortionate/manipulative behaviour. The results contribute to the discussion that
behaving in an extortionate way is not the optimal play in the IPD, and provide
evidence that memory-one strategies suļ¬er from their limited memory in multi agent
interactions and can be out performed by longer memory strategies.
Following this, the thesis investigates best response strategies in the form of static
sequences of moves. It introduces an evolutionary algorithm which can successfully
identify best response sequences, and uses a list of 192 opponents to generate a large
data set of best response sequences. This data set is then used to train a type of
recurrent neural network called the long short-term memory network, which have not
gained much attention in the literature. A number of long short-term memory networks
are trained to predict the actions of the best response sequences. The trained networks
are used to introduce a total of 24 new IPD strategies which were shown to successfully
win standard tournaments.
From this research the following conclusions are made: there is not a single best strategy
in the IPD for varying environments, however, there are properties associated with the
strategiesā success distinct to diļ¬erent environments. These properties reinforce and
contradict well established results. They include being nice, opening with cooperation,
being a little envious, being complex, adapting to the environment and using longer
memory when possible
2007 Abstract Booklet
Complete Schedule of Events for the 9th Annual Undergraduate Research Conference at Minnesota State University, Mankato
Coevolution in Complex Networks : An analysis of socio-natural interactions for wetlands management
Coevolution between natural and social systems comprises interaction, reciprocal dynamics and reciprocal adaptation. The notion derives primarily from evolutionary biology, but also from the study of complex systems. This dissertation aims to:
ādevelop the means to assess the effects of different human interventions on the future coevolution of interacting natural and social systems.ā
The method that I develop is termed ātopological network analysisā, highlighting my focus on the topology ā number and pattern of interactions ā of complex networks. A socio-natural network integrates interactions within and between a natural and a social system. Topological network analysis simulates and compares the effect of different human interventions on the networkās topology. It comprises four steps:
1. construction of a reference socio-natural network capturing the current situation for a given region;
2. specification of alternative development paths for the region;
3. translation of these paths into change in the network; and
4. comparison of the alternative paths according to their estimate impacts on the robustness of the network and so the stability of the system .
This last step leads to management insights. Topological network analysis is illustrated by considering conversion of a stand of mangroves in the Philippines.
The dissertation focuses on human intervention into ecosystem and on the potential for subsequent biodiversity loss. Topological network may be best applied to decision problems or management issues involving differential effects on speciesā survival.Nijkamp, P. [Promotor]Opschoor, J.B. [Promotor
An Initial Framework Assessing the Safety of Complex Systems
Trabajo presentado en la Conference on Complex Systems, celebrada online del 7 al 11 de diciembre de 2020.Atmospheric blocking events, that is large-scale nearly stationary atmospheric pressure patterns, are often associated with extreme weather in the mid-latitudes, such as heat waves and cold spells which have significant consequences on ecosystems, human health and economy. The high impact of blocking events has motivated numerous studies. However, there is not yet a comprehensive theory explaining their onset, maintenance and decay and their numerical prediction remains a challenge. In recent years, a number of studies have successfully employed complex network descriptions of fluid transport to characterize dynamical patterns in geophysical flows. The aim of the current work is to investigate the potential of so called Lagrangian flow networks for the detection and perhaps forecasting of atmospheric blocking events. The network is constructed by associating nodes to regions of the atmosphere and establishing links based on the flux of material between these nodes during a given time interval. One can then use effective tools and metrics developed in the context of graph theory to explore the atmospheric flow properties. In particular, Ser-Giacomi et al. [1] showed how optimal paths in a Lagrangian flow network highlight distinctive circulation patterns associated with atmospheric blocking events. We extend these results by studying the behavior of selected network measures (such as degree, entropy and harmonic closeness centrality)at the onset of and during blocking situations, demonstrating their ability to trace the spatio-temporal characteristics of these events.This research was conducted as part of the CAFE (Climate Advanced Forecasting of sub-seasonal Extremes) Innovative Training Network which has received funding from the European Unionās Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie SkÅodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 813844
The medicalization of deviance in China
äŗę“²ēÆē½ŖåøåøęConference Theme: Asian Innovations in Criminology and Criminal JusticePart 5: Juvenile Delinquency and JusticeConrad and Schneiderās now classical work on the historical transformation of definitions of deviance from ābadnessā to āsicknessā is relevant for the situation in China today, although with some modifications. The weakly founded medical/psychiatric profession and the strong political/ideological discourse in China leads to a strange combination of medicalization and moralization, even criminalization of deviance. The āsickā is often combined with the ābadā, and āsicknessā is often seen as a secondary sign of ābadnessā. The pan-moralist tradition of ancient China seems to be closely combined with the Communist eraās strong belief in political-ideological correctness, and its strong belief in social engineering. It is interesting to note that my research on crime and deviance in China in the 1980s and 1990s seems to be confirmed by todayās discourse, although there are new moral panics and new forms of medical-moralistic definitions of deviance in China today. Still, the categories of deviance are very much socially constructed entities closely related to the moral-political order of present day China. I will use three cases to underline my argument. First, the type of deviance I call āmajority devianceā, related to the case of the prejudice and dangers associated with the only-child. My second example has to do with what I term the āwayward girlā and the moral panics concerning so-called zaolian ā or āpremature loveā among young girls. The third example is the new panic surrounding āinternet addiction disorderā or IAD. While the ādiscoā and the ādance hallā were the sites of disorder in the 1980s and 90s, the wangba ā or āinternet barā is now seen as the most dangerous site of crime and deviance.postprin