A phenology of fear: Investigating scale and seasonality in predator–prey games between wolves and white‐tailed deer
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New methods for integrating systems of stiff, nonlinear, first order, ordinary differential equations are developed by casting the differential equations into integral form. Nonlinear recursive relations are obtained that allow the solution to a system of equations at time t plus delta t to be obtained in terms of the solution at time t in explicit and implicit forms. Examples of accuracy obtained with the new technique are given by considering systems of nonlinear, first order equations which arise in the study of unified models of viscoplastic behaviors, the spread of the AIDS virus, and predator-prey populations. In general, the new implicit algorithm is unconditionally stable, and has a Jacobian of smaller dimension than that which is acquired by current implicit methods, such as the Euler backward difference algorithm; yet, it gives superior accuracy. The asymptotic explicit and implicit algorithms are suitable for solutions that are of the growing and decaying exponential kinds, respectively, whilst the implicit Euler-Maclaurin algorithm is superior when the solution oscillates, i.e., when there are regions in which both growing and decaying exponential solutions exist.
This paper explores a co-evolutionary approach applicable to difficult problems with limited failure/success performance feedback. Like familiar "predator-prey" frameworks this algorithm evolves two populations of individuals - the solutions (predators) and the problems (prey). The approach extends previous work by rewarding only the problems that match their difficulty to the level of solut,ion competence. In complex problem domains with limited feedback, this "tractability constraint" helps provide an adaptive fitness gradient that, effectively differentiates the candidate solutions. The algorithm generates selective pressure toward the evolution of increasingly competent solutions by rewarding solution generality and uniqueness and problem tractability and difficulty. Relative (inverse-fitness) and absolute (static objective function) approaches to evaluating problem difficulty are explored and discussed. On a simple control task, this co-evolutionary algorithm was found to have significant advantages over a genetic algorithm with either a static fitness function or a fitness function that changes on a hand-tuned schedule.
In an effort to give students a more visceral experience of science and instill a deeper working knowledge of concepts, activities that utilize hands-on, laboratory and simulated experiences are recommended because these activities have a greater impact on student learning, especially for Native American students. Because it is not usually feasible to take large and/or multiple classes of high school science students into the field to count numbers of organisms of a particular species, especially over a long period of time and covering a large area of an environment, the population simulation presented in this paper was created to aid students in understanding population dynamics by working with a simulated environment, which can be done in the classroom. Students create an environment and populate the environment with imaginary species. Then, using a sequence of "rules" that allow organisms to eat, reproduce, move and age, students see how the population of a species changes over time. In particular, students practice collecting data, summarizing information, plotting graphs, and interpreting graphs for such information as carrying capacity, predator prey relationships, and how specific species factors impact population and the environment. Students draw conclusions from their results and suggest further research, which may involve changes in simulation parameters, prediction of outcomes, and testing predictions. The population Simulation has demonstrated success in the above student activities using a "board game" version of the population simulation. A computer version of the population simulation needs more testing, but preliminary runs are promising. A second - and more complicated - computer simulation will simulate the same things and will add simulated population genetics.
Artificial Immune System is a rapidly growing field of information processing and computing based upon immune inspired paradigns of nonlinear dynamics. This paper introduces stochastic models which mimic the phenomenology of basic functions of immune systems such as self-nonself discrimination, self-repair, predator-prey pursuit, and reproduction.