5,316 research outputs found
Critical behavior in an evolutionary Ultimatum Game
Experimental studies have shown the ubiquity of altruistic behavior in human
societies. The social structure is a fundamental ingredient to understand the
degree of altruism displayed by the members of a society, in contrast to
individual-based features, like for example age or gender, which have been
shown not to be relevant to determine the level of altruistic behavior. We
explore an evolutionary model aiming to delve how altruistic behavior is
affected by social structure. We investigate the dynamics of interacting
individuals playing the Ultimatum Game with their neighbors given by a social
network of interaction. We show that a population self-organizes in a critical
state where the degree of altruism depends on the topology characterizing the
social structure. In general, individuals offering large shares but in turn
accepting large shares, are removed from the population. In heterogeneous
social networks, individuals offering intermediate shares are strongly selected
in contrast to random homogeneous networks where a broad range of offers, below
a critical one, is similarly present in the population.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Spatial patterns and scale freedom in a Prisoner's Dilemma cellular automata with Pavlovian strategies
A cellular automaton in which cells represent agents playing the Prisoner's
Dilemma (PD) game following the simple "win-stay, loose-shift" strategy is
studied. Individuals with binary behavior, such as they can either cooperate
(C) or defect (D), play repeatedly with their neighbors (Von Neumann's and
Moore's neighborhoods). Their utilities in each round of the game are given by
a rescaled payoff matrix described by a single parameter Tau, which measures
the ratio of 'temptation to defect' to 'reward for cooperation'. Depending on
the region of the parameter space Tau, the system self-organizes - after a
transient - into dynamical equilibrium states characterized by different
definite fractions of C agents (2 states for the Von Neumann neighborhood and 4
for Moore neighborhood). For some ranges of Tau the cluster size distributions,
the power spectrums P(f) and the perimeter-area curves follow power-law
scalings. Percolation below threshold is also found for D agent clusters. We
also analyze the asynchronous dynamics version of this model and compare
results.Comment: Accepted for publication in JSTA
Freezing and Slow Evolution in a Constrained Opinion Dynamics Model
We study opinion formation in a population that consists of leftists,
centrists, and rightist. In an interaction between neighboring agents, a
centrist and a leftist can become both centrists or leftists (and similarly for
a centrist and a rightist). In contrast, leftists and rightists do not affect
each other. The initial density of centrists rho_0 controls the evolution. With
probability rho_0 the system reaches a centrist consensus, while with
probability 1-rho_0 a frozen population of leftists and rightists results. In
one dimension, we determine this frozen state and the opinion dynamics by
mapping the system onto a spin-1 Ising model with zero-temperature Glauber
kinetics. In the frozen state, the length distribution of single-opinion
domains has an algebraic small-size tail x^{-2(1-psi)} and the average domain
size grows as L^{2*psi}, where L is the system length. The approach to this
frozen state is governed by a t^{-psi} long-time tail with psi-->2*rho_0/pi as
rho_0-->0.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, 2-column revtex4 format, for submission to J.
Phys. A. Revision contains lots of stylistic changes and 1 new result; the
main conclusions are the sam
Adaptation and enslavement in endosymbiont-host associations
The evolutionary persistence of symbiotic associations is a puzzle.
Adaptation should eliminate cooperative traits if it is possible to enjoy the
advantages of cooperation without reciprocating - a facet of cooperation known
in game theory as the Prisoner's Dilemma. Despite this barrier, symbioses are
widespread, and may have been necessary for the evolution of complex life. The
discovery of strategies such as tit-for-tat has been presented as a general
solution to the problem of cooperation. However, this only holds for
within-species cooperation, where a single strategy will come to dominate the
population. In a symbiotic association each species may have a different
strategy, and the theoretical analysis of the single species problem is no
guide to the outcome. We present basic analysis of two-species cooperation and
show that a species with a fast adaptation rate is enslaved by a slowly
evolving one. Paradoxically, the rapidly evolving species becomes highly
cooperative, whereas the slowly evolving one gives little in return. This helps
understand the occurrence of endosymbioses where the host benefits, but the
symbionts appear to gain little from the association.Comment: v2: Correction made to equations 5 & 6 v3: Revised version accepted
in Phys. Rev. E; New figure adde
Nonequilibrium phase transition in a model for social influence
We present extensive numerical simulations of the Axelrod's model for social
influence, aimed at understanding the formation of cultural domains. This is a
nonequilibrium model with short range interactions and a remarkably rich
dynamical behavior. We study the phase diagram of the model and uncover a
nonequilibrium phase transition separating an ordered (culturally polarized)
phase from a disordered (culturally fragmented) one. The nature of the phase
transition can be continuous or discontinuous depending on the model
parameters. At the transition, the size of cultural regions is power-law
distributed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Phase transitions in social sciences: two-populations mean field theory
A new mean field statistical mechanics model of two interacting groups of
spins is introduced and the phase transition studied in terms of their relative
size. A jump of the average magnetization is found for large values of the
mutual interaction when the relative percentage of the two populations crosses
a critical threshold. It is shown how the critical percentage depends on
internal interactions and on the initial magnetizations. The model is
interpreted as a prototype of resident-immigrant cultural interaction and
conclusions from the social sciences perspectives are drawn
Emergence of synchronization induced by the interplay between two prisoner's dilemma games with volunteering in small-world networks
We studied synchronization between prisoner's dilemma games with voluntary
participation in two Newman-Watts small-world networks. It was found that there
are three kinds of synchronization: partial phase synchronization, total phase
synchronization and complete synchronization, for varied coupling factors.
Besides, two games can reach complete synchronization for the large enough
coupling factor. We also discussed the effect of coupling factor on the
amplitude of oscillation of density.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Triggering necroptosis in cisplatin and IAP antagonist-resistant ovarian carcinoma.
Ovarian cancer patients are typically treated with carboplatin and paclitaxel, but suffer a high rate of relapse with recalcitrant disease. This challenge has fostered the development of novel approaches to treatment, including antagonists of the 'inhibitor of apoptosis proteins' (IAPs), also called SMAC mimetics, as apoptosis-inducing agents whose action is opposed by caspase inhibitors. Surprisingly, IAP antagonist plus caspase inhibitor (IZ) treatment selectively induced a tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα)-dependent death among several apoptosis-resistant cell lines and patient xenografts. The induction of necroptosis was common in ovarian cancer, with expression of catalytically active receptor-interacting protein kinase-3 (RIPK3) necessary for death, and in fact sufficient to compromise survival of RIPK3-negative, necroptosis-resistant ovarian cancer cells. The formation of a necrosome-like complex with a second critical effector, receptor-interacting serine-threonine kinase-1 (RIPK1), was observed. RIPK1, RIPK3 and TNFα were required for the induction of death, as agents that inhibit the function of any of these targets prevented cell death. Abundant RIPK3 transcript is common in serous ovarian cancers, suggesting that further evaluation and targeting of this RIPK3-dependent pathway may be of clinical benefit
Networking Effects on Cooperation in Evolutionary Snowdrift Game
The effects of networking on the extent of cooperation emerging in a
competitive setting are studied. The evolutionary snowdrift game, which
represents a realistic alternative to the well-known Prisoner's Dilemma, is
studied in the Watts-Strogatz network that spans the regular, small-world, and
random networks through random re-wiring. Over a wide range of payoffs, a
re-wired network is found to suppress cooperation when compared with a
well-mixed or fully connected system. Two extinction payoffs, that characterize
the emergence of a homogeneous steady state, are identified. It is found that,
unlike in the Prisoner's Dilemma, the standard deviation of the degree
distribution is the dominant network property that governs the extinction
payoffs.Comment: Changed conten
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