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“Situations where individuals have to contribute to joint efforts or share scarce resources are ubiquitous. Yet, without proper mechanisms to ensure cooperation, the evolutionary pressure to maximize individual success tends to create a tragedy of the commons (such as over-fishing or the destruction
of our Selleckchem MEK inhibitor environment). This contribution addresses a number of related puzzles of human behavior with an evolutionary game theoretical approach as it has been successfully used to explain the behavior of other biological species many times, from bacteria to vertebrates. Our agent-based model distinguishes individuals applying four different behavioral strategies: non-cooperative individuals (“”defectors”), cooperative individuals abstaining from punishment efforts (called “”cooperators” Proteasomal inhibitor or “”second-order
free-riders”), cooperators who punish noncooperative behavior (“”moralists”), and defectors, who punish other defectors despite being non-cooperative themselves (“”immoralists”). By considering spatial interactions with neighboring individuals, our model reveals several interesting effects: First, moralists can fully eliminate cooperators. This spreading of punishing behavior requires a segregation of behavioral strategies and solves the “”second-order free-rider problem”. Second, the system behavior changes its character significantly even after very long times (“”who laughs last laughs best effect”). Third, the presence of
a number of defectors can largely accelerate the victory of moralists over non-punishing cooperators. Fourth, in order to succeed, moralists may profit from immoralists in a way that appears like an “”unholy collaboration”. Our findings suggest that the consideration of punishment strategies allows one to understand the establishment and spreading of “”moral behavior” by means of game-theoretical concepts. This demonstrates that quantitative biological modeling approaches are powerful even in domains that have been addressed with non-mathematical Selleck LXH254 concepts so far. The complex dynamics of certain social behaviors become understandable as the result of an evolutionary competition between different behavioral strategies.”
“Low frequency discharge current oscillations in Hall accelerators are conventionally damped with external inductor-capacitor (LC) or resistor-inductor-capacitor (RLC) networks. The role of such network in the stabilization of the plasma discharge is investigated with a numerical model and the potential advantages of proportional-integral-derivative (PID) closed-loop control over RLC networks are subsequently assessed using either discharge voltage or magnetic field modulation.