Succession of hide–seek and pursuit–evasion at heterogeneous locations

Many interactions between searching agents and their elusive targets are composed of a succession of steps, whether in the context of immune systems, predation or counterterrorism. In the simplest case, a two-step process starts with a search-and-hide phase, also called a hide-and-seek phase, followed by a round of pursuit–escape. Our aim is to link these two processes, usually analysed separately and with different models, in a single game theory context. We define a matrix game in which a searcher looks at a fixed number of discrete locations only once each searching for a hider, which can escape with varying probabilities according to its location. The value of the game is the overall probability of capture after k looks. The optimal search and hide strategies are described. If a searcher looks only once into any of the locations, an optimal hider chooses it''s hiding place so as to make all locations equally attractive. This optimal strategy remains true as long as the number of looks is below an easily calculated threshold; however, above this threshold, the optimal position for the hider is where it has the highest probability of escaping once spotted.     

Collective foraging in heterogeneous landscapes

Animals foraging alone are hypothesized to optimize the encounter rates with resources through Lévy walks. However, the issue of how the interactions between multiple foragers influence their search efficiency is still not completely understood. To address this, we consider a model to study the optimal strategy for a group of foragers searching for targets distributed heterogeneously. In our model, foragers move on a square lattice containing immobile but regenerative targets. At any instant, a forager is able to detect only those targets that happen to be in the same site. However, we allow the foragers to have information about the state of other foragers. A forager who has not detected any target walks towards the nearest location, where another forager has detected a target, with a probability exp(−αd), where d is the distance between the foragers and α is a parameter characterizing the propensity of the foragers to aggregate. The model reveals that neither overcrowding (α → 0) nor independent searching (α → ∞) is beneficial for the foragers. For a patchy distribution of targets, the efficiency is maximum for intermediate values of α. In addition, in the limit α → 0, the length of the walks can become scale-free.     

Reorientation patterns in central-place foraging: internal clocks and klinokinesis

We study central-place foraging patterns of Aphaenogaster senilis ants at a population level by video framing individual ant trajectories in a circular arena with a nest connected to its centre. The ants naturally leave and enter the nest and forage generating non-trivial movement patterns around the nest. Our data analysis indicated that the trajectories observed can be classified into two strategies: the risk-averse strategy, which involves wandering around the nest without departing far from it and the risk-prone strategy, which involves long exploration paths with periodic returns to the central region, nearby the nest. We found that both risk-prone and risk-averse strategies exhibit qualitatively the same reorientation patterns, with the time between consecutive reorientations covering a wide range of scales, and fitting a stretched exponential function. Nevertheless, differences in the temporal scales and the time variability of such reorientation events differ, together with other aspects of motion, such as average speed and turns. Our results give experimental evidence that the internal mechanisms driving reorientations in ants tend to favour frequently long relocations, as theory predicts for efficient exploration in patchy landscapes, but ants engaged in central-place foraging can modulate such behaviour to control distances from the nest. Previous works on the species support the idea that risk-prone and risk-averse strategies may reflect actual differences between individuals age and experience; these factors (age and experience) should be then relevant in modulating the internal reorientation clocks. To support the validity of our findings, we develop a random-walk model combining stretched exponential reorientation clocks with klinokinesis that fits the time length and the travelled distance distributions of the observed trajectories.     

Multi objective load frequency control using hybrid bacterial foraging and particle swarm optimized PI controller

Excessive load demand with reliability in power availability, demands for interconnection of large number of generating units over existing tie lines. Due to sudden change in demand, the power transfer over existing tie lines working close to their thermal limits results in low frequency power oscillations. Thus, in modern power systems the study of mitigation of these frequency oscillations is more involved and formulates the area of Load Frequency Control (LFC). Many conventional and heuristic control techniques have been recently applied to address the issue of LFC. This paper investigates load frequency control of large interconnected power system consisting of conventional and renewable energy sources, using hybrid heuristic approach. The proposed strategy is shown to result in improved system damping resulting in faster mitigation of low frequency oscillations.     

基于正交试验的细菌觅食算法的全局最优化

细菌觅食算法在求解全局最优化问题时的性能大部分依赖于参数的设置,各参数的值不同,则细菌觅食算法的收敛速度和得到的最优解也不同。本文主要介绍了用正交试验的方法设置细菌觅食算法的参数来求解全局最优化的问题,通过正交试验方法来检测多组参数对细菌觅食算法效率的影响,用经典的测试函数数对这种组合方案进行检测对比,通过对实验结果数据分析可得出参数的最佳组合方案。最终实验结果表明用正交试验法设置的细菌觅食算法的参数组合方案可以提高算法的效率和收敛速度,使算法能够更快更好的得到测试函数的近似最优解。     

Improved Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm Based on Fuzzy Control Rule Base

Manual construction of a rule base for a fuzzy system is the hard and time-consuming task that requires expert knowledge. In this paper we proposed a method based on improved bacterial foraging optimization (IBFO), which simulates the foraging behavior of E.coli bacterium, to tune the Gaussian membership functions parameters of an improved Takagi-Sugeno-Kang fuzzy system (C-ITSKFS) rule base. To remove the defect of the low rate of convergence and prematurity, three modifications were produced to the standard bacterial foraging optimization (BFO). As for the low accuracy of finding out all optimal solutions with multi-method functions, the IBFO was performed. In order to demonstrate the performance of the proposed IBFO, multiple comparisons were made among the BFO, particle swarm optimization (PSO), and IBFO by MATLAB simulation. The simulation results show that the IBFO has a superior performance.     

Evolution of social learning when high expected payoffs are associated with high risk of failure

In an environment where the availability of resources sought by a forager varies greatly, individual foraging is likely to be associated with a high risk of failure. Foragers that learn where the best sources of food are located are likely to develop risk aversion, causing them to avoid the patches that are in fact the best; the result is sub-optimal behaviour. Yet, foragers living in a group may not only learn by themselves, but also by observing others. Using evolutionary agent-based computer simulations of a social foraging game, we show that in an environment where the most productive resources occur with the lowest probability, socially acquired information is strongly favoured over individual experience. While social learning is usually regarded as beneficial because it filters out maladaptive behaviours, the advantage of social learning in a risky environment stems from the fact that it allows risk aversion to be circumvented and the best food source to be revisited despite repeated failures. Our results demonstrate that the consequences of individual risk aversion may be better understood within a social context and suggest one possible explanation for the strong preference for social information over individual experience often observed in both humans and animals.     

A Novel Function of the Triterpene Squalene in a Tritrophic System

Changes in apple leaf chemistry after infestation by leafminers and their effect on both host location and host habitat location of the generalist parasitoid Pholetesor bicolor were investigated. Chemical analysis of leaf solvent extracts from healthy and leafminer-damaged leaves revealed that herbivory increased the amount of the triterpene squalene (C₃₀H₅₀), whereas quantities of all other identified compounds were similar in both plant treatments. To assess the response of parasitoids to host location cues, contact bioassays were conducted with naïve females. Results showed that parasitoids performed a characteristic ovipositional probing more often on the mine-damaged than on the healthy leaf. This behavior was triggered by a hexane extract of the mine-damaged leaf, but not by a healthy leaf extract. A synthetic mixture of the compounds identified in the extract triggered a similar response. A mixture devoid of squalene was not active, whereas squalene alone elicited the probing behavior. To assess the use of the identified compounds in habitat location, Y-tube olfactometer experiments were conducted with naïve and experienced females. Results showed that squalene is not involved in habitat location and has no priming effect on P. bicolor. While other triterpenes are known to mediate habitat location of parasitoids, this is the first report in which a plant triterpene is shown to mediate host location of a parasitoid. The biological and ecological functions of squalene on all three trophic levels are discussed.     

基于大数据分析的非线性网络流量组合预测模型

针对传统方法不能对网络流量变化特征进行准确描述,并且预测精度较低的问题,提出了基于大数据分析的非线性网络流量组合预测模型.通过对非线性网络流量数据进行有效分解,获得不同尺度的分量,利用混沌理论对多尺度分量进行相空间重构获得流量子序列.构建改进鸟群算法优化模型,并对重构后的网络流量子序列进行预测和组合,获得网络流量预测结果.结果表明,所提模型能够精确地描述网络流量的非线性、周期性以及长相关性等变化特征,具有较高的预测精度.     

Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) Use Chemical Cues to Select Ambush Sites

Chemicals left by organisms moving through the environment are used by other organisms to mediate interspecific interactions. Most studies of chemical eavesdropping focus on prey responding to chemical cues from predators, despite the fact that chemical cues are frequently used by predators as a source of information about prey. Crotalus horridus uses a foraging strategy that is widespread among sedentary predators: the snake chooses a site where it is likely to encounter prey and remains immobile for many hours. I investigated this ambush hunting behavior in captive-raised timber rattlesnakes and provide evidence that sit-and-wait predators may discriminate among prey chemical cues, even when they have no prior experience with the prey. Snakes explored chemical cues with chemosensory behaviors, and more frequently adopted a stereotyped ambush foraging posture toward chemical cues from prey sympatric with their population of origin than either allopatric prey or sympatric nonprey species that are eaten by other viperids. These results support the notion that intra- and interspecific variation in diet may be mediated proximally by innate recognition of cues from particular prey items. This system also describes a bioassay that may be used in the isolation and identification of prey-derived kairomones. Studies such as this can be used to determine more realistic parameters for models of predator-prey interaction and foraging behavior that involve secretive, less active predators.