Selfishness versus functional cooperation in a stochastic protocell model

How to design an "evolvable" artificial system capable to increase in complexity? Although Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection obviously offers a firm foundation, little hope of success seems to be expected from the explanatory adequacy of modern evolutionary theory, which does a good job at explaining what has already happened but remains practically helpless at predicting what will occur. However, the study of the major transitions in evolution clearly suggests that increases in complexity have occurred on those occasions when the conflicting interests between competing individuals were partly subjugated. This immediately raises the issue about "levels of selection" in evolutionary biology, and the idea that multi-level selection scenarios are required for complexity to emerge. After analyzing the dynamical behaviour of competing replicators within compartments, we show here that a proliferation of differentiated catalysts and/or improvement of catalytic efficiency of ribozymes can potentially evolve in properly designed artificial cells. Experimental evolution in these systems will likely stand as beautiful examples of artificial adaptive systems, and will provide new insights to understand possible evolutionary paths to the evolution of metabolic complexity

Toward major evolutionary transitions theory 2.0

The impressive body of work on the major evolutionary transitions in the last 20 y calls for a reconstruction of the theory although a 2D account (evolution of informational systems and transitions in individuality) remains. Significant advances include the concept of fraternal and egalitarian transitions (lower-level units like and unlike, respectively). Multilevel selection, first without, then with, the collectives in focus is an important explanatory mechanism. Transitions are decomposed into phases of origin, maintenance, and transformation (i.e., further evolution) of the higher level units, which helps reduce the number of transitions in the revised list by two so that it is less top-heavy. After the transition, units show strong cooperation and very limited realized conflict. The origins of cells, the emergence of the genetic code and translation, the evolution of the eukaryotic cell, multicellularity, and the origin of human groups with language are reconsidered in some detail in the light of new data and considerations. Arguments are given why sex is not in the revised list as a separate transition. Some of the transitions can be recursive (e.g., plastids, multicellularity) or limited (transitions that share the usual features of major transitions without a massive phylogenetic impact, such as the micro- and macronuclei in ciliates). During transitions, new units of reproduction emerge, and establishment of such units requires high fidelity of reproduction (as opposed to mere replication)

Closed Association Rules

In this paper we present a new basis for association rules called Closed Association Rules (CR). This basis contains all valid association rules that can be generated from frequent closed itemsets. CR is a lossless representation of all association rules. Regarding the number of rules, our basis is between all association rules (AR) and minimal non-redundant association rules (MNR), filling a gap between them. The new basis provides a framework for some other bases and we show that MNR is a subset of CR. Our experiments show that CR is a good alternative for all association rules. The number of generated rules can be much less, and beside frequent closed itemsets nothing else is required

Observations on anthropological research concerning the period of Hungarian conquest and the Arpadian age

The present paper is aimed at providing a summary of the contributions of anthropological research into the Carpathian Basin history of the 10th-13th century ancient Hungarians relying on the strength of anatomical, demographical and sociological database. Special attention is paid to the moments in population development which proved to have diverged during the pagan era (10th century) and the early Christian era (11th-13th century)