Memory distribution in complex fitness landscapes

In a co-evolutionary context, the survive probability of individual elements of a system depends on their relation with their neighbors. The natural selection process depends on the whole population, which is determined by local events between individuals. Particular characteristics assigned to each individual, as larger memory, usually improve the individual fitness, but an agent possess also endogenous characteristics that induce to re-evaluate her fitness landscape and choose the best-suited kind of interaction, inducing a non absolute value of the outcomes of the interaction. In this work, a novel model with agents combining memory and rational choice is introduced, where individual choices in a complex fitness landscape induce changes in the distribution of the number of agents as a function of the time. In particular, the tail of this distribution is fat compared with distributions for agents interacting only with memory.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submited to Physica

proposal of improvement for the insertion of Ecuador into the 21st century economy

Thesis(Master) -- KDI School: Master of Public Policy, 2021Ecuador has executed various industrial policies during the XX century with different focuses and results. Still, none of them could achieve the primary purpose, “creating a prosperous and developed nation.” Currently, Ecuador has in force the “Industrial Policy 2016- 2025.” However, it is not under execution since there is a disconnection between the projects, goals, and strategies with Ecuador''s competitive advantages and future global demands and trends. Besides, Ecuador does not have a formal trade policy; instead, the Ministry of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments, and Fisheries are executing trade agendas trying to sign free trade agreements with key commercial partners. Still, those agreements aim to take advantage of the current economic structure of Ecuador, which is characterized for promoting agriculture products, low-skill jobs, and no innovation. In this regard, this research describes a new approach of trade and industrial-innovation policy, outlining factors that determine its success or failure. Moreover, the study revised up-to-date bibliography to identify characteristics for increasing the odds for designing and executing trade and industrial-innovation policies. Besides, it describes the actors and roles that must develop the design and execution of the policy. Finally, a logical framework matrix is presented with general activities that will guide the update of the current industrial policy, to build a new approach for the insertion of Ecuador to the 21st century. The principal findings of the research show that the current industrial policy of Ecuador is not efficient and must be updated. The trade agenda should be transformed into a policy integrated into the industrial one. Moreover, for the updating, the Government should consider factors such as climate change, COVID-19, political issues like the trade war between China and the United States, the structure of a new global economy by 2050, and the rise of the African Free Trade Agreement. All those situations bring about opportunities and threats that must be tackled with a long-term, adequately financed innovation policy, structured after discussions with the private sector, academia, and civil society. Indeed, the new trade and industrial policy should be the outcome from communication with different actors instead of being a set of top-down actions proposed by the public sector. Finally, the trade policy must be built in concordance with the industrial policy and focused not only on the current supply but also on the future international demands and needs.Acknowledgment Executive Summary Table of contents Methodology Analysis and findings Policy Recommendations ReferencesmasterpublishedPaul Marcelo ZARATE DIA

Heathland creation on improved grassland using sulphur: is there a conflict between optimal application rates for plant and animal communities?

We examined the effectiveness of using elemental sulphur (a soil acidifier) as a method for creating heathland on improved pasture. We determined i) optimal rate of sulphur application to control mesotrophic grasses ii) if invertebrates avoid areas of sulphur application. Results indicated that optimal sulphur application attracted invertebrates

Algorithm Plans Collision-Free Path for Robotic Manipulator

An algorithm has been developed to enable a computer aboard a robot to autonomously plan the path of the manipulator arm of the robot to avoid collisions between the arm and any obstacle, which could be another part of the robot or an external object in the vicinity of the robot. In simplified terms, the algorithm generates trial path segments and tests each segment for potential collisions in an iterative process that ends when a sequence of collision-free segments reaches from the starting point to the destination. The main advantage of this algorithm, relative to prior such algorithms, is computational efficiency: the algorithm is designed to make minimal demands upon the limited computational resources available aboard a robot. This path-planning algorithm utilizes a modified version of the collision-detection method described in "Improved Collision-Detection Method for Robotic Manipulator" (NPO-30356), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 27, No. 3 (June 2003), page 72. The method involves utilization of mathematical models of the robot constructed prior to operation and similar models of external objects constructed automatically from sensory data acquired during operation. This method incorporates a previously developed method, known in the art as the method of oriented bounding boxes (OBBs), in which an object is represented approximately, for computational purposes, by a box that encloses its outer boundary. Because many parts of a robotic manipulator are cylindrical, the OBB method has been extended in this method to enable the approximate representation of cylindrical parts by use of octagonal or other multiple-OBB assemblies denoted oriented bounding prisms (OBPs). A multiresolution OBB/OBP representation of the robot and its manipulator arm and a multiresolution OBB representation of external objects (including terrain) are constructed and used in a process in which collisions at successively finer resolutions are detected through computational detection of overlaps between the corresponding OBB and OBP models. For computational efficiency, the process is started at the coarsest resolution and stopped as soon as possible, preferably before reaching the finest resolution. At the coarsest resolution, there is a single OBB enclosing all relevant external objects and a single OBB enclosing the entire robot. At the next finer level of resolution, the coarsest-resolution OBB is divided into two OBBs, and so forth. If no collision is detected at the coarsest resolution, then there is no need for further computation to detect collisions. If a collision is detected at the coarsest resolution, then tests for collisions are performed at the next finer level of resolution. This process is continued to successively finer resolutions until either no more collisions are detected or the finest resolution is reached

Safe, Remote-Access Swarm Robotics Research on the Robotarium

This paper describes the development of the Robotarium -- a remotely accessible, multi-robot research facility. The impetus behind the Robotarium is that multi-robot testbeds constitute an integral and essential part of the multi-agent research cycle, yet they are expensive, complex, and time-consuming to develop, operate, and maintain. These resource constraints, in turn, limit access for large groups of researchers and students, which is what the Robotarium is remedying by providing users with remote access to a state-of-the-art multi-robot test facility. This paper details the design and operation of the Robotarium as well as connects these to the particular considerations one must take when making complex hardware remotely accessible. In particular, safety must be built in already at the design phase without overly constraining which coordinated control programs the users can upload and execute, which calls for minimally invasive safety routines with provable performance guarantees.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 3 code samples, 72 reference