Related papers: Explore or exploit? A generic model and an exactly…

We consider the problem of exploring an unknown tree with a team of $k$ initially colocated mobile agents. Each agent has limited energy and cannot, as a result, traverse more than $B$ edges. The goal is to maximize the number of nodes…

The paper studies a PDE model for the growth of a tree stem or a vine, having the form of a differential inclusion with state constraints. The equations describe the elongation due to cell growth, and the response to gravity and to external…

Many real-world optimisation problems involve dynamic and stochastic components. While problems with multiple interacting components are omnipresent in inherently dynamic domains like supply-chain optimisation and logistics, most research…

Dispersal is an important strategy that allows organisms to locate and exploit favorable habitats. The question arises: given competition in a spatially heterogeneous landscape, what is the optimal rate of dispersal? Continuous population…

A novel mathematical framework is proposed to describe the ecological and evolutionary consequences of consumer--resource interactions. Both the consumer and resource are assumed to consist of several (sub)species, which interact between…

We consider stochastic growth models for populations organized in colonies and subject to uniform catastrophes. To assess population viability, we analyze scenarios in which individuals adopt dispersion strategies after catastrophic events.…

Evolution Strategies are inspired in biology and part of a larger research field known as Evolutionary Algorithms. Those strategies perform a random search in the space of admissible functions, aiming to optimize some given objective…

Extreme economic outcomes are not shaped by tails alone. They are also shaped by unequal access to opportunities. This paper develops a theory of heterogeneous extremes by taking the distribution of opportunity access as the object of…

In this work the problem of optimal harvesting policy selection for natural resources management under model uncertainty is investigated. Under the framework of the neoclassical growth model dynamics, the associated optimal control problem…

Theory purports that animal foraging choices evolve to maximize returns, such as net energy intake. Empirical research in both human and nonhuman animals reveals that individuals often attend to the foraging choices of their competitors…

The question as to why most higher organisms reproduce sexually has remained open despite extensive research, and has been called "the queen of problems in evolutionary biology". Theories dating back to Weismann have suggested that the key…

The balance of exploration versus exploitation (EvE) is a key issue on evolutionary computation. In this paper we will investigate how an adaptive controller aimed to perform Operator Selection can be used to dynamically manage the EvE…

Modern data is messy and high-dimensional, and it is often not clear a priori what are the right questions to ask. Instead, the analyst typically needs to use the data to search for interesting analyses to perform and hypotheses to test.…

We study a mathematical model to describe the evolution of a city, which is determined by the interaction of two large populations of agents, workers and firms. The map of the city is described by a network with the edges representing at…

In this paper, we study the problem of finding the global minima of a given function. Specifically, we consider complicated functions with numerous local minima, as is often the case for real-world data mining losses. We do so by applying a…

An important factor in the practical implementation of optimization models is the acceptance by the intended users. This is influenced among other factors by the interpretability of the solution process. Decision rules that meet this…

A canonical foraging task is the patch-leaving problem, in which a forager must decide to leave a current resource in search for another. Theoretical work has derived optimal strategies for when to leave a patch, and experiments have tested…

Pathways that describe the optimal evolution of energy systems across multiple decades are important in energy system research and policy literature, with net-zero and similar climate policies being common drivers behind them. While there…

Operation management problems (such as Production Planning and Scheduling) are represented and formulated as optimization models. The resolution of such optimization models leads to solutions which have to be operated in an organization.…

The imbalance of exploration and exploitation has long been a significant challenge in reinforcement learning. In policy optimization, excessive reliance on exploration reduces learning efficiency, while over-dependence on exploitation…