We describe the development of a collection of survival strategies for populations of ant-like agents in a virtual world implemented in the XRaptor multi-agent simulation environment. The diierent strategies have been developed by diierent teams and competed with each other in a sequence of tournaments, thus providing not only a set of paradigms useful for survival under competition, but also a...

An agent-based model was developed to assess the use of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes (GMMs) as a control strategy for the Malaria epidemic. Mosquitoes responsible for the transmission of Malaria (vectors) have been modified genetically so that the probability of transmitting the parasite causing the disease when biting a human being is reduced with respect to wild type vectors. Our model rep...

Resurgence of public interest in the ethnomedical practices in both the developing and developed countries is increasing. As a result, the trade of herbal products in the national and international market is also growing. The rich biodiversity and associated knowledge system particularly in Asia are well known. Over 8,000 wild plant species with about 1,75,000 specific preparations are known to...

We summarize the main results from our SCUBA survey of Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at z ∼ 3. Analysis of our sample of LBGs reveals a mean flux of S850 =0.6±0.2mJy, while simple models of emission based on the UV properties predict a mean flux about twice as large. Known populations of LBGs are expected to contribute flux to the weak sub-mm source portion of the far-IR background, but are not l...

A b s t r a c t . BactoSim is an agent-based platform for simulating the conjugation in spatially structured bacterial populations, which are the conditions typically found on naturally occurring colonies such as biofilms or in agar-based laboratory cultures. The model provides a set of key indicators which can be visualized in real time as the simulation evolves and saved as for further analysis.

The evolution of altruism in humans is still an unresolved puzzle. Helping other individuals is often kinship-based or reciprocal. Several examples show, however, that altruism goes beyond kinship and reciprocity and people are willing to support unrelated others even when this is at a cost and they receive nothing in exchange. Here we examine the evolution of this "pure" altruism with a focus ...

Agent-based models have become popular as tools for epidemiological simulations due to their ability to model at the individual level. To produce results that can be readily applied to a given population, agent-based models need to be data rich and it can be difficult to obtain sources of data representing the population being modeled. There are, however, many sources of openly available data t...

This study examined the efficacy of a modified form of cognitive behavioural therapy, known as cognitive behavioural coaching, in reducing levels of perfectionism and self-handicapping in a non-clinical population. Twenty-eight Research Higher Degree students participated in an intensive workshop series held over six weeks. Perfectionism and self-handicapping were measured at the commencement a...

The growth of cities, climate change, biomes degradation, disease and social issues influence the views of life quality and health of populations. The characteristics of health and environment are usually measured with different and disconnected indicators. However, the importance of working with those two aspects in a joined way is every time larger. In this paper it is presented a fuzzy rule-...

Development issues in developing countries belong to complex situations where society and environment are intricate. However, such sites lack the necessary amount of reliable, checkable data and information, while these very constraining factors determine the populations' evolutions, such as villagers living in Sahelian environments. Beyond a game-theory model that leads to a premature selectio...