Flocking Behaviour: Agent-Based Simulation and Hierarchical Leadership

We have studied how leaders emerge in a group as a consequence of interactions among its members. We propose that leaders can emerge as a consequence of a self-organized process based on local rules of dyadic interactions among individuals. Flocks are an example of self-organized behaviour in a group and properties similar to those observed in flocks might also explain some of the dynamics and organization of human groups. We developed an agent-based model that generated flocks in a virtual world and implemented it in a multi-agent simulation computer program that computed indices at each time step of the simulation to quantify the degree to which a group moved in a coordinated way (index of flocking behaviour) and the degree to which specific individuals led the group (index of hierarchical leadership). We ran several series of simulations in order to test our model and determine how these indices behaved under specific agent and world conditions. We identified the agent, world property, and model parameters that made stable, compact flocks emerge, and explored possible environmental properties that predicted the probability of becoming a leader.Flocking Behaviour; Hierarchical Leadership; Agent-Based Simulation; Social Dynamics

Spatial Behavior in Groups: an Agent-Based Approach

We present an agent-based model with the aim of studying how macro-level dynamics of spatial distances among interacting individuals in a closed space emerge from micro-level dyadic and local interactions. Our agents moved on a lattice (referred to as a room) using a model implemented in a computer program called P-Space in order to minimize their dissatisfaction, defined as a function of the discrepancy between the real distance and the ideal, or desired, distance between agents. Ideal distances evolved in accordance with the agent\'s personal and social space, which changed throughout the dynamics of the interactions among the agents. In the first set of simulations we studied the effects of the parameters of the function that generated ideal distances, and in a second set we explored how group macro-level behavior depended on model parameters and other variables. We learned that certain parameter values yielded consistent patterns in the agents\' personal and social spaces, which in turn led to avoidance and approaching behaviors in the agents. We also found that the spatial behavior of the group of agents as a whole was influenced by the values of the model parameters, as well as by other variables such as the number of agents. Our work demonstrates that the bottom-up approach is a useful way of explaining macro-level spatial behavior. The proposed model is also shown to be a powerful tool for simulating the spatial behavior of groups of interacting individuals.Spatial Behavior, Proxemics, Agent-Based Modeling, Minimum Dissatisfaction Model, Small Groups, Social Interaction

De la sublimitat cortesa a l'efusió llibertina.: L'altra cara de la Fin'amor

Review of satirical and obscene poetry, from the Galician/Portuguese and Provençal traditions to the «Cancionero de obras provocantes a risa» including Baena’s «Cancionero» and the «Cancionero General» by Hernando del Castillo. The author shows there is continuity in the use of these themes that is independent of their treatment and the rhetorical settings.The last pages are dedicated to the «Carajicomedia», the work of an author who is familiar with Valencia and perhaps with the milieu of Fenollar and company