86,172 research outputs found
Topological localization in out-of-equilibrium dissipative systems
In this paper we report that notions of topological protection can be applied
to stationary configurations that are driven far from equilibrium by active,
dissipative processes. We show this for physically two disparate cases :
stochastic networks governed by microscopic single particle dynamics as well as
collections of driven, interacting particles described by coarse-grained
hydrodynamic theory. In both cases, the presence of dissipative couplings to
the environment that break time reversal symmetry are crucial to ensuring
topologically protection. These examples constitute proof of principle that
notions of topological protection, established in the context of electronic and
mechanical systems, do indeed extend generically to processes that operate out
of equilibrium. Such topologically robust boundary modes have implications for
both biological and synthetic systems.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures (SI: 8 pages 3 figures
Equilibria, Fixed Points, and Complexity Classes
Many models from a variety of areas involve the computation of an equilibrium
or fixed point of some kind. Examples include Nash equilibria in games; market
equilibria; computing optimal strategies and the values of competitive games
(stochastic and other games); stable configurations of neural networks;
analysing basic stochastic models for evolution like branching processes and
for language like stochastic context-free grammars; and models that incorporate
the basic primitives of probability and recursion like recursive Markov chains.
It is not known whether these problems can be solved in polynomial time. There
are certain common computational principles underlying different types of
equilibria, which are captured by the complexity classes PLS, PPAD, and FIXP.
Representative complete problems for these classes are respectively, pure Nash
equilibria in games where they are guaranteed to exist, (mixed) Nash equilibria
in 2-player normal form games, and (mixed) Nash equilibria in normal form games
with 3 (or more) players. This paper reviews the underlying computational
principles and the corresponding classes
Erratum: Signal propagation in proteins and relation to equilibrium fluctuations (PLoS Computational Biology (2007) 3, 9, (e172) DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.0030172))
Elastic network (EN) models have been widely used in recent years for describing protein dynamics, based on the premise that the motions naturally accessible to native structures are relevant to biological function. We posit that equilibrium motions also determine communication mechanisms inherent to the network architecture. To this end, we explore the stochastics of a discrete-time, discrete-state Markov process of information transfer across the network of residues. We measure the communication abilities of residue pairs in terms of hit and commute times, i.e., the number of steps it takes on an average to send and receive signals. Functionally active residues are found to possess enhanced communication propensities, evidenced by their short hit times. Furthermore, secondary structural elements emerge as efficient mediators of communication. The present findings provide us with insights on the topological basis of communication in proteins and design principles for efficient signal transduction. While hit/commute times are information-theoretic concepts, a central contribution of this work is to rigorously show that they have physical origins directly relevant to the equilibrium fluctuations of residues predicted by EN models
A Coevolutionary Particle Swarm Algorithm for Bi-Level Variational Inequalities: Applications to Competition in Highway Transportation Networks
A climate of increasing deregulation in traditional highway transportation,
where the private sector has an expanded role in the provision of traditional
transportation services, provides a background for practical policy issues to be investigated.
One of the key issues of interest, and the focus of this chapter, would
be the equilibrium decision variables offered by participants in this market. By assuming
that the private sector participants play a Nash game, the above problem can
be described as a Bi-Level Variational Inequality (BLVI). Our problem differs from
the classical Cournot-Nash game because each and every player’s actions is constrained
by another variational inequality describing the equilibrium route choice of
users on the network. In this chapter, we discuss this BLVI and suggest a heuristic
coevolutionary particle swarm algorithm for its resolution. Our proposed algorithm
is subsequently tested on example problems drawn from the literature. The numerical
experiments suggest that the proposed algorithm is a viable solution method for
this problem
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