Cooperative coevolution of partially heterogeneous multiagent systems

Cooperative coevolution algorithms (CCEAs) facilitate the evolution of heterogeneous, cooperating multiagent systems. Such algorithms are, however, subject to inherent scalability issues, since the number of required evaluations increases with the number of agents. A possible solution is to use partially heterogeneous (hybrid) teams: behaviourally heterogeneous teams composed of homogeneous sub-teams. By having different agents share controllers, the number of coevolving populations in the system is reduced. We propose HybCCEA, an extension of cooperative coevolution to partially heterogeneous multiagent systems. In Hyb-CCEA, both the agent controllers and the team composition are under evolutionary control. During the evolutionary process, we rely on measures of behaviour similarity for the formation of homogeneous sub-teams (merging), and propose a stochastic mechanism to increase heterogeneity (splitting). We evaluate Hyb-CCEA in multiple variants of a simulated herding task, and compare it with a fully heterogeneous CCEA. Our results show that Hyb-CCEA can achieve solutions of similar quality using significantly fewer evaluations, and in most setups, Hyb-CCEA even achieves significantly higher fitness scores than the CCEA. Overall, we show that merging and splitting populations are viable mechanisms for the cooperative coevolution of hybrid teams.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Swine Day 2016 Full Report

It is with great pleasure that we present the 2016 Swine Industry Day Report of Progress. This report contains updates and summaries of applied and basic research conducted at Kansas State University during the past year. We hope that the information will be of benefit as we attempt to meet the needs of the Kansas swine industry

Suffolk University Academic Catalog, College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School, 2012-2013

This catalog contains information for both the undergraduate and graduate programs. The catalog is a pdf version of the Suffolk website, and the pages are not in numerical order. In order to navigate the program descriptions and degree requirements, please use the menu links on the left side of each page. To view the course descriptions, refer to the A-Z list of courses starting on page 1,220 (these are also included here as separate pdf files with lists of CAS and SBS courses). You can also search for a particular course or program by clicking ctrl+f and typing in the course number or name. Please contact the Archives if you need assistance navigating this catalog or finding information on degree requirements or course descriptions.https://dc.suffolk.edu/cassbs-catalogs/1165/thumbnail.jp

The psychology of bio-banding: a Vygotskian perspective

Context Bio-banding is the process of grouping players by their maturational status rather than chronological age. It is designed to limit the impact of maturational timing on talent identification and development and expose early and late maturing players to new learning experiences and challenges. A common criticism of bio-banding is that it does not consider age related differences in psychosocial and behaviour development. Objective The purpose of this case study is to describe how theory and research pertaining to the design and delivery of mixed-aged classrooms can be used to prepare early and late maturing players for bio-banding and optimise the benefits of this practice. Method After placing the players in their bio-banded groups, one Elite Premier League Academy provided bespoke group psychology sessions for early and late maturing players for six weeks. Results Providing bespoke psychology sessions for players maturation age allows for the cognitive processes of both early and late maturity status to work within the zone of proximal development. Conclusion Pedagogical practice associated with mixed age classrooms can be used in bio-banded contexts to benefit both early and late maturing players. Delivering psychological sessions alongside bio-banding permits learning and development to both ends of the maturity spectrum

Structured sequences emerge from random pool when replicated by templated ligation

The central question in the origin of life is to understand how structure can emerge from randomness. The Eigen theory of replication states for sequences that are copied one base at a time, the replication fidelity has to surpass an error threshold to avoid that replicated specific sequences become random due to the incorporated replication errors [M. Eigen, Naturwissenschaften 58(10), 465-523 (1971)]. Here we showed that linking short oligomers from a random sequence pool in a templated ligation reaction reduced the sequences space of product strands. We started from 12mer oligonucleotides with two bases in all possible combinations and triggered enzymatic ligation under temperature cycles. Surprisingly, we found the robust creation of long, highly structured sequences with low entropy. At the ligation site, omplementary and alternating sequence patterns developed. However, between the ligation sites, we found either an A-rich or a T-rich sequence within a single oligonucleotide. Our modeling suggests that avoidance of hairpins was the likely cause for these two complementary sequence pools. What emerged was a network of complementary sequences that acted both as templates and substrates of the reaction. This autocatalytic ligation reaction could be restarted by only a few majority sequences. The findings showed that replication by random templated ligation from a random sequence input will lead to a highly structured, long and non-random sequence pool. This is a favorable starting point for a subsequent Darwinian evolution searching for higher catalytic functions in an RNA world scenario