A COEVOLUTIONARY APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING THE PARADOX OF SOCIAL PRESSURES VERSUS ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY ACROSS THE WORLD'S FOOD CHAINS

Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

Continuous transition from the extensive to the non-extensive statistics in an agent-based herding model

Systems with long-range interactions often exhibit power-law distributions and can by described by the non-extensive statistical mechanics framework proposed by Tsallis. In this contribution we consider a simple model reproducing continuous transition from the extensive to the non-extensive statistics. The considered model is composed of agents interacting among themselves on a certain network topology. To generate the underlying network we propose a new network formation algorithm, in which the mean degree scales sub-linearly with a number of nodes in the network (the scaling depends on a single parameter). By changing this parameter we are able to continuously transition from short-range to long-range interactions in the agent-based model.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Emergence of communities on a coevolutive model of wealth interchange

We present a model in which we investigate the structure and evolution of a random network that connects agents capable of exchanging wealth. Economic interactions between neighbors can occur only if the difference between their wealth is less than a threshold value that defines the width of the economic classes. If the interchange of wealth cannot be done, agents are reconnected with another randomly selected agent, allowing the network to evolve in time. On each interaction there is a probability of favoring the poorer agent, simulating the action of the government. We measure the Gini index, having real world values attached to reality. Besides the network structure showed a very close connection with the economic dynamic of the system.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Actor-relational planning in deprived areas : challenges and opportunities in luchtbal Antwerpen, Belgium

In this article we report and discuss our experience with actor relational approaches in the regeneration of a post war housing estate in Luchtbal, Antwerp, Belgium. Actor relational approaches are informed by post-structuralist ideas of space, complexity theory and actor network theory. Although ARA itself is not new, the application of ARA to deprived area’s such as Luchtbal is novel. We report how the approach has been elaborated, its process and outcome. We conclude with our evaluation from an insider’s perspective

Inverse Statistical Physics of Protein Sequences: A Key Issues Review

In the course of evolution, proteins undergo important changes in their amino acid sequences, while their three-dimensional folded structure and their biological function remain remarkably conserved. Thanks to modern sequencing techniques, sequence data accumulate at unprecedented pace. This provides large sets of so-called homologous, i.e.~evolutionarily related protein sequences, to which methods of inverse statistical physics can be applied. Using sequence data as the basis for the inference of Boltzmann distributions from samples of microscopic configurations or observables, it is possible to extract information about evolutionary constraints and thus protein function and structure. Here we give an overview over some biologically important questions, and how statistical-mechanics inspired modeling approaches can help to answer them. Finally, we discuss some open questions, which we expect to be addressed over the next years.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure