This paper employs Fisher’s model of adaptation to understand the expected fitness effect of fixing a mutation in a natural population. Fisher’s model in one dimension admits a closed form solution for this expected fitness effect. A combination of different parameters, including the distribution of mutation lengths, population sizes, and the initial state that the population is in, are examine...

This article argues that population policies need to be evaluated from macro and micro perspectives and to consider individual rights. Ecological arguments that are stringent conditions of liberal democracy are assessed against a moral standard. The moral standard is applied to a series of reasons for limiting procreative rights in the cause of sustainability. The focus is directly on legall...

Congestion externalities may result in non-optimal equilibria. For these to occur, it suffices that facilities differ in their fixed utilities or costs. As this paper shows, the only case in which equilibria are always socially optimal, regardless of the fixed components, in that in which the costs increase logarithmically with the size of the set of users. Therefore, achieving a socially optim...

Tags and other characteristic, externally perceptible features that are consistent among groups of animals or humans can be used by others to determine appropriate response strategies in societies. This usage of tags can be extended to artificial environments, where agents can significantly reduce cognitive effort spent on appropriate strategy choice and behavior selection by reusing strategies...

Many studies have looked at resilience during natural disasters and national emergencies in a number of countries but hardly any have concentrated on developing countries and the implications of these nations’ sub-standard healthcare infrastructure, culture practices and relaxed control systems. This paper examines resilience during Liberia’s recent EBOLA epidemic and identifies lessons to be l...