Does evolution lead to maximizing behavior?

A long-standing question in biology and economics is whether individual organisms evolve to behave as if they were striving to maximize some goal function. We here formalize this "as if" question in a patch-structured population in which individuals obtain material payoffs from (perhaps very complex multimove) social interactions. These material payoffs determine personal fitness and, ultimately, invasion fitness. We ask whether individuals in uninvadable population states will appear to be maximizing conventional goal functions (with population-structure coefficients exogenous to the individual's behavior), when what is really being maximized is invasion fitness at the genetic level. We reach two broad conclusions. First, no simple and general individual-centered goal function emerges from the analysis. This stems from the fact that invasion fitness is a gene-centered multigenerational measure of evolutionary success. Second, when selection is weak, all multigenerational effects of selection can be summarized in a neutral type-distribution quantifying identity-by-descent between individuals within patches. Individuals then behave as if they were striving to maximize a weighted sum of material payoffs (own and others). At an uninvadable state it is as if individuals would freely choose their actions and play a Nash equilibrium of a game with a goal function that combines self-interest (own material payoff), group interest (group material payoff if everyone does the same), and local rivalry (material payoff differences)

Advanced information processing system: Inter-computer communication services

The purpose is to document the functional requirements and detailed specifications for the Inter-Computer Communications Services (ICCS) of the Advanced Information Processing System (AIPS). An introductory section is provided to outline the overall architecture and functional requirements of the AIPS and to present an overview of the ICCS. An overview of the AIPS architecture as well as a brief description of the AIPS software is given. The guarantees of the ICCS are provided, and the ICCS is described as a seven-layered International Standards Organization (ISO) Model. The ICCS functional requirements, functional design, and detailed specifications as well as each layer of the ICCS are also described. A summary of results and suggestions for future work are presented

Fatigue failure of regenerator screens in a high frequency Stirling engine

Failure of Stirling Space Power Demonstrator Engine (SPDE) regenerator screens was investigated. After several hours of operation the SPDE was shut down for inspection and on removing the regenerator screens, debris of unknown origin was discovered along with considerable cracking of the screens in localized areas. Metallurgical analysis of the debris determined it to be cracked-off-deformed pieces of the 41 micron thickness Type 304 stainless steel wire screen. Scanning electron microscopy of the cracked screens revealed failures occurring at wire crossovers and fatigue striations on the fracture surface of the wires. Thus, the screen failure can be characterized as a fatigue failure of the wires. The crossovers were determined to contain a 30 percent reduction in wire thickness and a highly worked microstructure occurring from the manufacturing process of the wire screens. Later it was found that reduction in wire thickness occurred because the screen fabricator had subjected it to a light cold-roll process after weaving. Installation of this screen left a clearance in the regenerator allowing the screens to move. The combined effects of the reduction in wire thickness, stress concentration (caused by screen movement), and highly worked microstructure at the wire crossovers led to the fatigue failure of the screens

Snow groomer assembly

A snow groomer includes a movable platform, a prime mover mounted to the platform and a grooming drum rotatably driven by the prime mover for rotation in a direction opposite the traveling direction of the snow groomer. The grooming drum includes axially spaced apart and radially protruding ribs that extend circumferentially around the drum. The ribs include circumferentially spaced apart apertures and the apertures of each rib are aligned with the apertures of the other ribs. Elongated cutting teeth extend through the apertures of the ribs and have a cross-sectional area that is smaller than the apertures such that the cutting teeth are free to vibrate within the apertures as the drum rotates, thereby enhancing the pulverization of chunks of snow and ice.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/patents/1055/thumbnail.jp

A Comparison of Restorative Justice Ideology Between Administrators, Teachers, and Parents

Researchers suggest that restorative justice processes in schools are a successful alternative to traditional punishments for school discipline, and are used for both reactive and proactive responses to behavior issues. However, the processes are not sustainable if the administration implementing restorative justice do not promote a restorative justice ideology (RJI), and if all systems that impact the student are not aligned. Therefore, study was conducted to compare the level of restorative justice ideology between groups of administrators, teachers, and parents with a validated restorative justice ideology survey instrument that includes cooperation, restoration, and healing, and an accumulative score for RJI as a whole. Data were collected and analyzed with a One-Way ANOVA test at a selected convenience sample of 45 schools in a Western state. Using the theories of restorative justice, pedagogy, and Bronfenbrenner\u27s ecological systems model, the comparison of ideologies between these groups indicated a statistically significant difference between administrators and parents in the restorative justice ideology belief of restoration, and in the overall belief of restorative justice ideology, showing a lack of alignment. The findings can impact social change by the identification of barriers in sustainable implementation of restorative justice in schools. The findings can also be used to suggest an evidence-based model that includes parents and families in all stages of planning, implementation, and continued practice, along with consideration that restorative justice is a belief system rather than a behavior intervention

Radio Galaxy Zoo: Knowledge Transfer Using Rotationally Invariant Self-Organising Maps

With the advent of large scale surveys the manual analysis and classification of individual radio source morphologies is rendered impossible as existing approaches do not scale. The analysis of complex morphological features in the spatial domain is a particularly important task. Here we discuss the challenges of transferring crowdsourced labels obtained from the Radio Galaxy Zoo project and introduce a proper transfer mechanism via quantile random forest regression. By using parallelized rotation and flipping invariant Kohonen-maps, image cubes of Radio Galaxy Zoo selected galaxies formed from the FIRST radio continuum and WISE infrared all sky surveys are first projected down to a two-dimensional embedding in an unsupervised way. This embedding can be seen as a discretised space of shapes with the coordinates reflecting morphological features as expressed by the automatically derived prototypes. We find that these prototypes have reconstructed physically meaningful processes across two channel images at radio and infrared wavelengths in an unsupervised manner. In the second step, images are compared with those prototypes to create a heat-map, which is the morphological fingerprint of each object and the basis for transferring the user generated labels. These heat-maps have reduced the feature space by a factor of 248 and are able to be used as the basis for subsequent ML methods. Using an ensemble of decision trees we achieve upwards of 85.7% and 80.7% accuracy when predicting the number of components and peaks in an image, respectively, using these heat-maps. We also question the currently used discrete classification schema and introduce a continuous scale that better reflects the uncertainty in transition between two classes, caused by sensitivity and resolution limits

Frontal Asymmetry Changes Following Passive Hypo-Hydration

INTRODUCTION: Universal fluid consumption prescriptions among both athletic and non-athletic populations continue to elicit both hypo- and hyper-hydration (hypo-natremia). Thus, the need to find novel, identifiable traits within individuals who may be at higher risk to experience hypo-hydration, as well as hypo-natremia, is warranted. Of interest here, behavior is encapsulated by two motivational systems, referred to as approach/reward (R) or avoidance/non-reward (NR), respectively, in response to a behavioral stimulus. Past literature has revealed individual differences in consumptive traits of various types of foods between these motivational systems. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate changes in R/NR via frontal asymmetry (FA) in response to water exposure during eu-hydrated and hypo-hydrated conditions. METHODS: Participants included 11 active college-aged males. Electroencephalogram (EEG) assessed motivational orientations to water exposure in both eu-hydrated and hypo-hydrated states. A 5-minute nature video was used to stabilize mood, followed by 2 minutes of resting EEG recordings. Then, FA was assessed with the presentation of a glass of ice water, with instructions to observe, but not consume for 3 minutes. FA was re-assessed in the same manner following a dehydration trial (~90 minutes). Dehydration trials were performed in a controlled hot water bath at a mean of 39°C. Participants remained in the bath until 2% body mass loss, with no fluids consumed during the trials. Urine voids were collected before and after trials to assess specific gravity and color. Body core temperature was monitored throughout the protocol, with \u3e38.7°C set as criteria for removal of the subject. Participants reported perceptual affective measures using Feeling Scale (FS) and Felt Arousal Scale (FAS) throughout the session to account for any unusual affective states. RESULTS: EEG recordings were applied to the Frontal Asymmetry Index (FAI) (log right alpha power minus log left alpha power). Higher scores on the FAI indicate higher relative left frontal lobe activity, corresponding with an affinity to the water (R). Where as a lower score indicates higher relative right frontal activity, thus less reward motivation (NR). Data revealed that FAI decreased by a mean of 0.055 ±0.193 from eu-hydrated to hypo-hydrated states, with eu-hydration and hypo-hydration FAI of 0.06 and 0.004 respectively. In total, 37.4% of participants showed an increased affinity(R) for water from eu-hydrated to hypo-hydrated states. Pre and post FS were 2.91 ±1.51 and .45 ±2.88, respectively. Pre and post FAS were 2.73 ±.91 and 2.73 ±1.49. DISCUSSION: Reward/non-reward motivational orientations (affinity to water) changes were less than anticipated following hypo-hydration trials. However, data revealed that 37.4% of participants exhibited an increased affinity for water according to the FAI scale, supporting the hypothesis. It is possible that 2% body mass loss is insufficient to create distinct motivational orientation changes within the present sample. Due to the small sample size of the current study, little can be concluded thus far. Additional research addressing the aforementioned methods, as well as larger sample sizes is warranted. If motivational orientation state variability can be established during eu-hydrated and hypo-hydrated states, it may be possible to identify the consumptive tendencies of fluids among individuals

Advanced information processing system: The Army fault tolerant architecture conceptual study. Volume 1: Army fault tolerant architecture overview

Digital computing systems needed for Army programs such as the Computer-Aided Low Altitude Helicopter Flight Program and the Armored Systems Modernization (ASM) vehicles may be characterized by high computational throughput and input/output bandwidth, hard real-time response, high reliability and availability, and maintainability, testability, and producibility requirements. In addition, such a system should be affordable to produce, procure, maintain, and upgrade. To address these needs, the Army Fault Tolerant Architecture (AFTA) is being designed and constructed under a three-year program comprised of a conceptual study, detailed design and fabrication, and demonstration and validation phases. Described here are the results of the conceptual study phase of the AFTA development. Given here is an introduction to the AFTA program, its objectives, and key elements of its technical approach. A format is designed for representing mission requirements in a manner suitable for first order AFTA sizing and analysis, followed by a discussion of the current state of mission requirements acquisition for the targeted Army missions. An overview is given of AFTA's architectural theory of operation

Advanced information processing system: The Army fault tolerant architecture conceptual study. Volume 2: Army fault tolerant architecture design and analysis

Described here is the Army Fault Tolerant Architecture (AFTA) hardware architecture and components and the operating system. The architectural and operational theory of the AFTA Fault Tolerant Data Bus is discussed. The test and maintenance strategy developed for use in fielded AFTA installations is presented. An approach to be used in reducing the probability of AFTA failure due to common mode faults is described. Analytical models for AFTA performance, reliability, availability, life cycle cost, weight, power, and volume are developed. An approach is presented for using VHSIC Hardware Description Language (VHDL) to describe and design AFTA's developmental hardware. A plan is described for verifying and validating key AFTA concepts during the Dem/Val phase. Analytical models and partial mission requirements are used to generate AFTA configurations for the TF/TA/NOE and Ground Vehicle missions

Electron Magnetic Resonance: The Modified Bloch Equation

We find a modified Bloch equation for the electronic magnetic moment when the magnetic moment explicitly contains a diamagnetic contribution (a magnetic field induced magnetic moment arising from the electronic orbital angular momentum) in addition to the intrinsic magnetic moment of the electron. The modified Bloch is coupled to equations of motion for the position and momentum operators. In the presence of static and time varying magnetic field components, the magnetic moment oscillates out of phase with the magnetic field and power is absorbed by virtue of the magnetic field induced magnetic moment, even in the absence of coupling to the environment. We explicitly work out the spectrum and absorption for the case of a $p$ state electron