Dynamic instabilities induced by asymmetric influence: Prisoners' dilemma game on small-world networks

A two-dimensional small-world type network, subject to spatial prisoners' dilemma dynamics and containing an influential node defined as a special node with a finite density of directed random links to the other nodes in the network, is numerically investigated. It is shown that the degree of cooperation does not remain at a steady state level but displays a punctuated equilibrium type behavior manifested by the existence of sudden breakdowns of cooperation. The breakdown of cooperation is linked to an imitation of a successful selfish strategy of the influential node. It is also found that while the breakdown of cooperation occurs suddenly, the recovery of it requires longer time. This recovery time may, depending on the degree of steady state cooperation, either increase or decrease with an increasing number of long range connections.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Disordered Environments in Spatial Games

The Prisoner's dilemma is the main game theoretical framework in which the onset and maintainance of cooperation in biological populations is studied. In the spatial version of the model, we study the robustness of cooperation in heterogeneous ecosystems in spatial evolutionary games by considering site diluted lattices. The main result is that due to disorder, the fraction of cooperators in the population is enhanced. Moreover, the system presents a dynamical transition at $\rho^*$, separating a region with spatial chaos from one with localized, stable groups of cooperators.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Occupational health practices for wastewater treatment workers

The increase in the global population entails large production of wastewaters (WW) around the world. WW treatment plants (WWTP) may represent a challenging and hazardous work environment, since various biological agents (viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites), as well as endotoxins, can be transmitted to the ambient air in WW bioaerosols and cause various disorders. No occupational exposure limit values are currently available. Thus, the potential biohazard (BH) to WWTP workers (WWTPW) has become an increasingly relevant occupational health and safety (OHS) issue. Aims of our contribution are: to provide a state-of-the-art overview on the occupational BH to WWTPW and to elaborate good OHS practices, based on a field study

Effects of two different types of exercise on GH/IGF axis in athletes. Is the free/total IGF-I ratio a new investigative approach?

BACKGROUND: Human growth hormone (hGH) responds to bouts of exercise by increasing, while the insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) responses are conflicting. METHODS: Twenty well-trained male cyclists completed a brief duration exercise (A: warm up+increasing workload until exhaustion, lasting 25 min) and a medium duration exercise (B: warm up+70-80%VO(2 max)+increasing workload until exhaustion, lasting 40 min). The immunoreactivity of plasma hGH, the IGF-I in its total and free fraction were measured before and at the end of the exercise, and the free/total IGF-I ratio response to the two cycling exercise bouts was examined. RESULTS: Both A and B demonstrated increased hGH (from 77+/-122 to 544+/-327 and 28+/-68 to 369+/-276 pmol/l respectively) and total IGF-I (from 67+/-10 to 70+/-10 and 55+/-14 to 61+/-15 nmol/l respectively). The free IGF-I was decreased only in A (from 0.38+/-0.16 to 0.32+/-0.14 nmol/l). Both A and B demonstrated a decreased free/total IGF-I ratio (from 0.57+/-0.30 to 0.46+/-0.22 and 0.61+/-0.37 to 0.52+/-0.29). CONCLUSION: Brief and medium duration physical exercise influences the hGH, the total and free IGF-I concentrations. The free/total IGF-I ratio was also influenced and it might be related to the GH/IGF system. Its investigation might be a way of studying the training conditio