92,598 research outputs found
Stochastic group selection model for the evolution of altruism
We study numerically and analytically a stochastic group selection model in
which a population of asexually reproducing individuals, each of which can be
either altruist or non-altruist, is subdivided into reproductively isolated
groups (demes) of size . The cost associated with being altruistic is
modelled by assigning the fitness , with , to the
altruists and the fitness 1 to the non-altruists. In the case that the
altruistic disadvantage is not too large, we show that the finite
fluctuations are small and practically do not alter the deterministic results
obtained for . However, for large these fluctuations
greatly increase the instability of the altruistic demes to mutations. These
results may be relevant to the dynamics of parasite-host systems and, in
particular, to explain the importance of mutation in the evolution of parasite
virulence.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Influence of Refractory Periods in the Hopfield model
We study both analytically and numerically the effects of including
refractory periods in the Hopfield model for associative memory. These periods
are introduced in the dynamics of the network as thresholds that depend on the
state of the neuron at the previous time. Both the retrieval properties and the
dynamical behaviour are analyzed.Comment: Revtex, 7 pages, 7 figure
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