Evolution of Robotic Behaviour Using Gene Expression Programming

The main objective in automatic robot controller development is to devise mechanisms whereby robot controllers can be developed with less reliance on human developers. One such mechanism is the use of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) to automatically develop robot controllers and occasionally, robot morphology. This area of research is referred to as evolutionary robotics (ER). Through the use of evolutionary techniques such as genetic algorithms (GAs) and genetic programming (GP), ER has shown to be a promising approach through which robust robot controllers can be developed. The standard ER techniques use monolithic evolution to evolve robot behaviour: monolithic evolution involves the use of one chromosome to code for an entire target behaviour. In complex problems, monolithic evolution has been shown to suffer from bootstrap problems; that is, a lack of improvement in fitness due to randomness in the solution set [103, 105, 100, 90]. Thus, approaches to dividing the tasks, such that the main behaviours emerge from the interaction of these simple tasks with the robot environment have been devised. These techniques include the subsumption architecture in behaviour based robotics, incremental learning and more recently the layered learning approach [55, 103, 56, 105, 136, 95]. These new techniques enable ER to develop complex controllers for autonomous robot. Work presented in this thesis extends the field of evolutionary robotics by introducing Gene Expression Programming (GEP) to the ER field. GEP is a newly developed evolutionary algorithm akin to GA and GP, which has shown great promise in optimisation problems. The presented research shows through experimentation that the unique formulation of GEP genes is sufficient for robot controller representation and development. The obtained results show that GEP is a plausible technique for ER problems. Additionally, it is shown that controllers evolved using GEP algorithm are able to adapt when introduced to new environments. Further, the capabilities of GEP chromosomes to code for more than one gene have been utilised to show that GEP can be used to evolve manually sub-divided robot behaviours. Additionally, this thesis extends the GEP algorithm by proposing two new evolutionary techniques named multigenic GEP with Linker Evolution (mgGEP-LE) and multigenic GEP with a Regulator Gene (mgGEP-RG). The results obtained from the proposed algorithms show that the new techniques can be used to automatically evolve modularity in robot behaviour. This ability to automate the process of behaviour sub-division and optimisation in a modular chromosome is unique to the GEP formulations discussed, and is an important advance in the development of machines that are able to evolve stratified behavioural architectures with little human intervention

Evolving robot sub-behaviour modules using Gene Expression Programming

Many approaches to AI in robotics use a multi-layered approach to determine levels of behaviour from basic operations to goal-directed behaviour, the most well-known of which is the subsumption architecture. In this paper, the performances of the unigenic gene expression programming (ugGEP) and multigenic GEP (mgGEP) in evolving robot controllers for a wall following robot is analysed. Additionally, the paper introduces Regulatory Multigenic Gene Expression Programming (RMGEP), a new evolutionary technique that can be utilised to automatically evolve modularity in robot behaviour. The proposed technique extends the mgGEP algorithm, by incorporating a regulatory gene as part of the GEP chromosome. The regulatory gene, just as in systems biology, determines which of the genes in the chromosome to express and therefore how the controller solves the problem. In the initial experiments, the proposed algorithm is implemented for a robot wall following problem and the results compared to that of ugGEP and mgGEP. In addition to the wall following behaviour, a robot foraging behaviour is implemented with the aim of investigating whether the position of a speci c module (sub-expression tree (ET)) in the overall ET is of importance when coding for a problem.http://link.springer.com/journal/107102016-05-30hb201

Taking steps to combat barriers to ethnic minority enterprise in Scotland

While it is widely recognised that Ethnic Minority-led Businesses (EMBs) make a variety of economic and social contributions to their communities and the wider society in Scotland, there are longstanding concerns that Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurs (EMEs) do still experience relative disadvantage in a number of areas. This report highlights ten areas of such disadvantage amongst EMEs in Scotland by examining statistics from three key entrepreneurship and small business databases (the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the Longitudinal Small Business Survey (LSBS), and the SME Finance Monitor (SMEFM)). The report also draws on actual experiences of ethnic minority entrepreneurs in Scotland gathered from interviews with 45 business-owners from various ethnic minority backgrounds, and five key informants from local government agencies, charities, community associations and other organisations that work with entrepreneurs from ethnic minority communities

Parenting Styles as Predictors of Suicidal Behaviors among Selected Public Secondary School Students in Embu County, Kenya

Secondary school students are faced with challenges of navigating safely through their adolescence in a world full of depressive challenges. As adolescents’ transit this stage they increasingly face a milliard of challenges which are depressive and at times lead to suicidal behaviors.   Parents play a primary role in socializing their children on dealing with life challenges; however, the extent to which parenting styles predetermine students’ suicidal behaviors remains obscure. The study investigated parenting styles, (authoritative, authoritarian, permissive indulgent and permissive neglectful) as predictors of suicidal behaviors among students in Embu county. The study was guided by the objective; to investigate the extent to which parenting styles significantly predict secondary school students’ suicidal behaviors. The study was informed by Bronfernbrenners’ bioecological theory and parenting styles theory by Maccoby and Martins. Survey research design was adopted for the study.  Stratified random sampling method was used to select a sample of 15 schools.  Stratified random sampling and systematic random sampling were used to select 399 participants (221 girls and 178 boys). Purposive sampling was used to select 15 Guidance and counseling teachers and 70 secondary school drop outs. A reliability of cronbach alpha (α) of α = 0.82 for parenting styles questionnaires was reported and for risky behaviors α = 0.78.  The major findings of the study based on the objective of  the study showed that parenting styles have a positive and significant prediction of risky sexual behaviors among secondary school students, and that  parenting styles accounts for; 57.2% (R2=0.572, p< 0.05) of secondary school students risky sexual behaviors, The study recommended that, the government through the ministry of education (MOE) and the school boards of management maintain a trained resident school counselors or psychologists in schools, who do not have teaching duties, in order to enable them have enough time to identify students with depressive signs which are precursors of suicidal behavior. Such counselors would be available to help students and   make follow-ups with parents. Keywords:  Parenting styles, authoritative, authoritarian, permissive indulgence permissive neglectful, students, suicidal behaviors

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor : United Kingdom 2019 Monitoring Report

This report documents Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration in the United Kingdom (UK) and compares the rates to those in Germany and the United States (US). It also summarizes entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspiration across the four nations of the UK and reports on business start-up funding expectations

Starting Over : Migrant Entrepreneurship in Scotland

Over the last couple of years immigration has been the subject of much scrutiny and public discourse in the UK. However, this debate has largely focused on UK-wide immigration issues, neglecting other dimensions such as the economic, social and cultural contributions of migrant entrepreneurship. This report, commissioned by the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, draws on the analysis of statistical data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the Small Business Survey (SBS) and the Wealth and Assets Survey (WAS), published research, and over 40 interviews with migrant entrepreneurs and key informants to articulate the substantive contributions migrant entrepreneurship makes to Scotland. The report also advances recommendations as to how such contributions could be enhanced further. This report finds that entrepreneurs who have moved to Scotland from elsewhere in the UK, Europe or the rest of the world have a positive and tangible impact on economies and communities across the country. The economic contribution they make to the Scottish economy is vast. Immigrant-led SMEs, to highlight one group, generate £13 billion in revenues and 107,000 jobs for the Scottish economy. By being significantly more likely to have post-graduate qualifications and family business experience, they are more likely to identity business opportunities and start new promising ventures in Scotland. This is true of all migrant entrepreneurs whether they have migrated from England, Estonia or Ethiopia; or located in Scotland’s largest cities or remotest settlements. The overall picture that emerges from this research is that migration – including overseas immigrants, RUK in-migrants and Scottish returnee emigrants – is associated with skilled, ambitious individuals who are more entrepreneurial than native Scots. Nevertheless, despite having higher growth expectations and export ambitions, immigrant-led ventures struggle in particular to turn their ambitious intentions into successful and established businesses. They experience erratic growth, low export activity and no performance advantage. Given the size of the prize on offer, supporting these entrepreneurs to overcome these barriers to growth should be a key priority for the Scottish Government, its enterprise agencies and local government. The impact of migrant entrepreneurs extends far beyond economics, however. By offering different products and services to consumers in Scotland, they act as a bridge between their home and host cultures. By enabling interactions between people from different cultures and different countries, they enhance integration efforts and cultural understanding and make Scotland a more attractive place to visit, start a business, study and work. This is true of the African couple running a care home, a Romanian food entrepreneur, an English-French duo running an award-winning hotel, a Chinese tech entrepreneur and many, many more

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor United Kingdom Monitoring Report 2020

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research consortium measured rates of entrepreneurship across multiple phases in 43 economies in 2020, making it the world's most authoritative comparative study of entrepreneurial activity in the general adult population. In the UK in 2020, 9,453 adults aged 18 to 80 participated in the GEM survey. This report mainly focuses on the working-age adults sub-sample (18 to 64 year olds), comprising 7,587 participants. This monitoring report for the UK compares GEM measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations in the UK, Germany and the United States. It also compares the results across the four home nations of the UK. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the obvious disruptive impact on the lives of all of us and the huge impact on the economy it was decided that the GEM UK survey, in line with all GEM Global participating countries, should be pushed back until Q4 of 2020 rather than June through August. The UK team felt that this was preferable to not undertaking the survey at all as the pandemic raised many important questions about the ability of entrepreneurs, and indeed the wider population, to navigate their way through the crisis as the economy was effectively closed down and household incomes were under great stress for the majority of the population. The results from the GEM UK Adult Population Survey (APS) and National Expert Survey (NES) for 2020 provide a unique opportunity to lift the lid on a range of issues which lie at the heart of the entrepreneurial process in the midst of the crisis. As it turned out Q4 in the UK witnessed another second and third waves of the COVID-19 virus which led to two further lockdowns. The specific COVID-19 questions in the surveys need to be understood against that context

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor : UK Report 2022/23

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research consortium measured rates of entrepreneurship across multiple phases in 49 economies in 2022, making it the world’s most authoritative comparative study of entrepreneurial activity in the general adult population. In the UK in 2022, 10,173 adults aged 18 to 80 participated in the GEM survey. This monitoring report for the UK compares GEM measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations in the UK, France, Germany and the United States. It also compares the results across the four home nations of the UK. The results from the GEM UK Adult Population Survey (APS) and National Expert Survey (NES) for 2022 provide a unique opportunity to lift the lid on a range of issues which lie at the heart of the entrepreneurial process in the midst of the crisis. Once again 2022 provided a volatile backdrop against which to undertake the GEM APS in the UK with geo-political events creating economic uncertainty manifested in a cost of living crisis, record high inflation and falling output in an already stagnating economy. This was made worse in Q3 by home-grown political turmoil throughout the summer months as the UK’s Prime Minister was forced to resign. The result was a collapse of business confidence in an already fragile economy trying to recover from the effects of the pandemic and the UK’s exit from the EU. A perfect storm indeed in which to undertake the GEM survey

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor : Scotland 2020 Report

Background •The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research consortium measured rates of entrepreneurship across multiple phases in 43 economies in 2020, making it the world's most authoritative comparative study of entrepreneurial activity in the general adult population. In the UK in 2020, 9,453 adults aged 18 to 80 participated in the GEM survey. This report mainly focuses on Scotland, comprising 2,019 participants, of which 1,648 are from the working age population (18-64 years). •This monitoring report details GEM measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations in Scotland and compares the results across the four home nations of the UK. We also explore regional differences within Scotland at the NUTS2 region level. •As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the obvious disruptive impact on the lives of all of us, including the huge impact on the economy, it was decided that the GEM UK survey, in line with all GEM Global participating countries, should be pushed back until Q4 of 2020 rather than June through August. The UK team felt that this was preferable to not undertaking the survey at all as the pandemic raised many important questions about the ability of entrepreneurs, and indeed the wider population, to navigate their way through the crisis as the economy was effectively closed down and household incomes were under great stress for the majority of the population. As it turned out Q4 2020 in the UK witnessed another second and third waves of the COVID-19 virus, which led to two further lockdowns. The specific COVID-19 findings need to be understood against that context. Entrepreneurial Activity •Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity or TEA (the sum of the nascent entrepreneurship rate and the new business owner-manager rate - without double counting) in Scotland in 2020 was 7.3%. •TEA rates in 2020 were not significantly different across the home nations: Scotland (7.3%), England (7.7%), Wales (6.5%), and Northern Ireland (5.4%). Changes in TEA rates from 2019 to 2020 in Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland were not statistically significant. However, the rate in England in 2020 (7.7%) was statistically significantly lower than the rate in 2019 (10.5%). •Employees can also be engaged in entrepreneurial activity on behalf of their employers; this is measured through the Entrepreneurial Employee Activity (EEA) Rate. In 2020, Scotland's rate was 3.7%, which is comparable with UK's rate of 3.2% (which was statistically significantly lower than 2019 rate (5.6%)). Considering both TEA and EEA together provides a more comprehensive picture of entrepreneurial activity in a nation. •TEA rate within Scotland is highest in the Highland and Islands region (8.7%), followed by South Western Scotland (7.4%), Eastern Scotland (6.9%) and North Eastern Scotland (6.5%). In North Eastern Scotland, there has been a significant decline in the TEA rate from 2019 (8.7%) to 2020 (6.5%), while the rest of Scotland held steady despite the pandemic. Demographics •In 2020, among the home nations, Scotland reports the highest difference in TEA rates by gender with males at 9.3% compared to a female TEA rate of 5.3% (a female to male ratio of 58%) •There is a significant difference between male and female on certain motives to start a business. For instance, on the motive "to build great wealth or a very high income", only 51% of females identified this as a motive compared to 62% of males. Similarly, there is a significant difference between male and female motives with regard "to earn a living because jobs are scarce" with 76.4% female highlighting this motive compared to 57.3% males. •Female entrepreneurial activity in the Highlands and Islands region appears to match, and ostensibly slightly outperform male TEA in the area, while there is gender disparity with higher male TEA in other regions of Scotland. •In Scotland, the TEA rate for the younger 18-24 age group is the highest (13%) within the UK home nations. •Following previous trends, the TEA rate of the white ethnic population in the Scotland in 2020 was lower than that of the non-white population, at 7.05% compared to 12.95% respectively. However, the TEA rate for the non-white ethnic group was lower than the rate in 2019 (16.8%), while it remained comparable for the white ethnic group. This suggests that amid the higher rates of entrepreneurial activity among ethnic minorities, there is greater precarity too. •In Scotland, contrary to the trend in the wider UK, both the most deprived quintile and the least deprived quintile reported similarly high TEA levels, of around 9%. The type of entrepreneurial activity engaged in, and its socioeconomic outcomes, has however not been established. Attitudes and Aspirations •In Scotland, as with the wider UK, just under half of the non-entrepreneurial population know an entrepreneur. Further, 76% indicate they have seen stories of successful entrepreneurs in the media, 80% feel successful entrepreneurs have a high status and respect in society, and about 72% believe that most people would consider starting a business a good career choice. Entrepreneurship is thus generally well regarded in Scotland. •The consideration of entrepreneurship as a good career choice appears to have increased in 2020 as compared to 2019, across Scotland and the UK amidst the pandemic. •Despite relatively higher regard for entrepreneurship in the North Eastern Scotland region, there appear to be a greater fear of failure among potential entrepreneurs. There are also gaps in confidence in own entrepreneurial skills in the area although this is an area of concern for Scotland as a whole relative to the wider UK. •Within Scotland, the perception of good start-up opportunities is seemingly lowest in the North Eastern Scotland region, a significant decline from 41% in 2019 to just under 24% in 2020. Highlands and Islands saw the biggest decline in the rates of perception of good start-up opportunities almost halving from around 50% of the adult non-entrepreneurial population to just over a quarter. In contrast, South Western Scotland did not see major changes in this regard between 2019 and 2020. •Perhaps reflecting aspects of extant policy priorities in Scotland, a slightly smaller proportion of early-stage entrepreneurs (12.6%) expect to create more than ten jobs with a growth in employment of more than 50% in the next five years. The UK average is 14.3%. In contrast, there is a greater share of established business-owners in Scotland with such growth expectations (almost 12%) compared to the UK average (around 9%) Impact of COVID-19 •Around 1 in 2 of those involved in TEA agree that there are new opportunities because of the pandemic (49.4%) in Scotland. This is lower than among established business owner-managers: only 1 in 3 would agree with this statement. •Around 2 in 3 (65.4%) of those engaged in start-up activity in Scotland indicate that the coronavirus pandemic has led to a delay in getting the business operational

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor : UK Report 2021/22

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) research consortium measured rates of entrepreneurship across multiple phases in 47 economies in 2021, making it the world’s most authoritative comparative study of entrepreneurial activity in the general adult population. In the UK in 2020, 10,044 adults aged 18 to 80 participated in the GEM survey. This monitoring report for the UK compares GEM measures of entrepreneurial attitudes, activity and aspirations in the UK, France, Germany and the United States. It also compares the results across the four home nations of the UK. The results from the GEM UK Adult Population Survey (APS) and National Expert Survey (NES) for 2021 provide a unique opportunity to lift the lid on a range of issues which lie at the heart of the entrepreneurial process in the midst of the crisis. As it turned out Q2 in the UK witnessed further spikes in the COVID-19 virus, but the UK removed all restrictions on 19th July 2021 in the middle of our fieldwork period. The specific COVID-19 questions in the surveys need to be understood against that context. Overall, there appears to be a positive perception that the pandemic has brought in new opportunities across all entrepreneurial activity stages, and positive trend in digital adoption by start-ups. Over 50% of early-stage entrepreneurs agreed that in response to the pandemic they either have adopted new technologies or enhanced plans to improve or invest in new digital technologies