We cast some classes of fitness landscapes as problems in spectral analysis on various Cayley graphs. In particular, landscapes derived from RNA folding are realized on Hamming graphs and analyzed in terms of Walsh transforms; assignment problems are interpreted as functions on the symmetric...

We report numerical simulations on the number of local minima in the landscape of the Graph Bipartitioning Problem and provide an

Complex architectures grown by simple agents moving randomly on a 3D lattice and depositing bricks deterministically depending on local configurations of bricks are presented. Some of these architectures are strikingly similar to real wasp nest architectures. But most algorithms, in the space of...

This paper presents two Bayesian alternatives to the chi-squared test for determining whether a pair of categorical data sets were generated from the same underlying distribution. It then discusses such alternatives for the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, which is often used when the data sets consist...

Mutation is introduced into autocatalytic reaction networks. The differential equations obtained are neither of replicator type nor can they be transformed straightway into a linear equation. Examples of low dimensional dynamical systems---$n= 2, 3 $, and 4---are discussed and complete...

The mean number (N) of metastable states in higher order short-range spin glasses is estimated analytically using a variational method introduced by Tanaka and Edwards for very large coordination numbers. For lattices with small connectivities, numerical simulations do not show any significant...

A model in which heterogeneous agents form firms is described and empirically tested. Each agent has preferences for both income and leisure and provides a variable input ('effort') to production. There are increasing returns to cooperation, and agents self-organize into productive teams. Within...

Shapes of biological macromolecules---RNA, DNA, and proteins---can be represented by abstract algebraic structures provided as suitably coarse resolution is chosen. These abstract structures, for instance partially ordered sets and permutation groups, can be used for deriving new metric...

Artificial Life and the more general area of Complex Systems does not have a unified theoretical framework although most theoretical work in these areas is based on simulation. This primarily due to an insufficient representational power of the classical mathematical frameworks for the...

The fossil record of insects documents a high proportion of modern higher-level taxa (67% for families), although this capture rate drops off considerably for lower-level taxa. This record is Lagerstatten-driven, and is deployed by complementary, parallel body- and trace-fossil components that...