Cooperative Dynamics Research Articles

Free-rider or contributor: A dilemma in spatial threshold public goods games

Late movers refer to individuals who adjust their strategies after observing the choices of others in a public goods game, can significantly impact the likelihood of public goods provision. This creates a social dilemma: late movers act as free-riders to rely on others to contribute, yet they also risk the public good not being provided if contributions fall short. To address this dilemma, we utilize a spatial threshold public goods game model to examine how the behaviors of late movers influence overall cooperative levels within a population. We propose a probabilistic rule for late movers that captures the dilemma between cooperating to enhance the collective good and free-riding to maximize individual benefits. Our findings indicate that strategic late movers can significantly enhance cooperation by adapting to local cooperation levels. However, an excessively high proportion of late movers may reduce the overall level of cooperation. Additionally, the formation of clusters by late movers results in higher cooperative levels compared to random distribution. Our study provides novel insights into the dynamics of cooperation within the framework of spatial threshold public goods games. By incorporating the role of late movers, we highlight how adaptive strategies can mitigate the free-rider problem and promote cooperative behaviors.

Development of coparenting during the transition to parenthood: Integrating parents' representations with observed interactions.

The transition to parenthood is a significant period of transformation and adjustment for all members of a new family, reshaping relational dynamics that often endure throughout the initial years of a child's life. This qualitative and longitudinal study aimed to explore coparenting representations held by both partners in a parental couple, along with observations of their family interactions, at three distinct points in time, with the aim to better understand the interaction between these representational and behavioral observations. In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 heterosexual, first-time parents in Santiago de Chile, during pregnancy and at two different times during the first year of their child's life. Family interactions were assessed using the Lausanne Trilogue Play task (LTP) on all occasions. Three main coparenting representation categories emerged: traditional, ambiguous, and co-responsible. On observation, approximately half of the couples showed cooperative coparenting interactions, while the other half had conflictual interactions. Couples generally followed stable trajectories over time. Cooperative couples demonstrated co-responsibility and open dialogue, while conflictual couples tended to follow traditional gender roles with tacit communication styles. This study highlights the importance of promoting co-responsibility and dialogue for fostering cooperative relational dynamics during the critical transition to parenthood.

Evolution of cooperation in a mixed cooperative–competitive structured population

Cooperation and competition are two pivotal topics in the literature on the evolutionary dynamics of individual behavior on social networks. This study provides a perspective of joint analysis of social dilemmas within groups and inter-group competition in a mixed cooperative–competitive structured population. Although specific mechanisms for interpreting the emergence and promotion of cooperation have been proposed, including reward, punishment, reputation, and environmental factors, little is known about how inter-group competition affects the cooperation level of groups, especially the intensity and structures of competitive games. Based on multi-games, a mixed cooperative–competitive game model is proposed that individuals within a group engage in a donation game and those from different groups participate in competitive games. The results of numerical simulations suggest that the reward of inter-group competition serves as an external incentive, fostering cooperation within groups. As the intensity of competitive games increases, cooperation within groups is prompted. Additionally, strategic inter-group connections based on degree heterogeneity significantly enhance within-group cooperation, particularly when hubs from one group engage in competitive games with marginal nodes from another group. This research contributes valuable insights into the dynamics of cooperation within groups considering the impact of inter-group competition on within-group cooperation.

Cooperation dynamics in multi-issue repeated social dilemma games with correlated strategy.

In the real world, individuals are often involved in collaboration on multiple issues, and these issues may interact with each other. Given the complexity of the interaction, we establish a multi-issue repeated game model, in which individuals participate in multiple social dilemma games simultaneously and repeatedly, and strategies in different issue games are correlated and reactive. We explore the cooperation dynamics of strategies in the population from a multiobjective perspective, in which an individual's preference for each issue is described by a weight vector, and heterogeneous preferences of individuals in the population are also considered. Through simulations on two-issue games, we find that compared to the uncorrelated case, the correlated strategy can significantly promote cooperation in both games regardless of which issue players prefer. Under the condition of homogeneous preference, an increase in the payoff weight of a given issue decreases the level of cooperation in that issue, and the optimal condition to sustain cooperation to the maximum extent is when the payoff weights of all issues are equal. Moreover, under the condition of heterogeneous preference, there exists an optimal proportion of players with different preferences under which the cooperation rate can reach its highest level in the population. This work highlights individual trade-offs on different issues when engaging in multiple games simultaneously and further enriches the research of evolutionary games from a multiobjective and correlated strategy perspective.

Evolutionary dynamics of cooperation coupled with ecological feedback compensation

A simple theoretical model (or a demonstrative example) was developed to illustrate how the evolution of cooperation can be affected by the density-dependent survival competition, in which we assume that the fertility of an individual depends only on the pairwise interaction between him and other individuals based on Prisoner’s Dilemma game, while its viability is only related to the density-dependent survival competitiveness. Our results show that not only cooperation could be evolutionarily stable if the advantage of cooperators in viability can compensate for the cost they pay for their fertility, but also the long-term stable coexistence of cooperation and defection is possible if none of cooperation and defection is evolutionarily stable. Moreover, for the stochastic evolutionary dynamics in a finite population, our analysis shows that the increase (or decrease) of the survival competitiveness of cooperators (or defectors) should be conductive to the evolutionary emergence of cooperation.

(Digital Presentation) Cooperative Quantum Dynamics of Excitons in Colloidal Quantum Dots for Novel Optoelectronic Applications

Colloidal semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are excellent materials for combining photonics and nanoscience. They have been extensively studied to understand the photophysics of quantum confined excitons and to develop efficient optoelectronic devices such as QD solar cells and light-emitting diodes. The photophysical processes of QD devices are governed by a large number of QDs constructing the devices. Therefore, cooperative quantum dynamics of QDs, i.e., synchronous responses of QD ensembles, have a great potential for boosting optoelectronic device performances.Before the use of cooperative quantum dynamics in QD devices, the understanding of quantum dynamics of excitons, i.e., coherent properties of multiexcitons, is required to draw out quantum cooperativity from QD ensembles. In order to elucidate coherent dynamics of multiexcitons during resonant laser-pulse excitation, we performed a quantum interference spectroscopy of QD responses. We found that multiexcitons generate the high-frequency coherent oscillations with integer multiples of the exciton resonance frequency, which is called harmonic quantum coherence, and that the coherent responses govern the microscopic processes in the resonant multiphoton absorption [1-3]. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the coherent responses were detectable as photocurrent signals in thin films of QD ensembles [4]. These developments build up an essential base of quantum cooperativities emerging in optoelectronics.Here, we report recent investigations of cooperative quantum dynamics in QDs. In optoelectronic devices, electronic couplings between QDs are expected to generate a new type of quantum cooperativities. To generate electronic coupling, we fabricated closely packed PbS QDs by using a ligand exchange method. We found that nonlinear photocurrent signals are strongly enhanced in the QD solids. The comparison analysis of different ligands clarified that the enhancement ratio increases monotonically with the decrease of the inter-QD distance [5]. This means that the signal enhancement originates from the electronic coupling and cooperative behavior of QDs. These findings show that the cooperative quantum dynamics provide a new route to advanced optoelectronic technology such as nonlinear amplifiers.Part of this work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI (JP19H05465, JP22H01990, and JP23K17877), JST PRESTO (JPMJPR23H3), and JST CREST (JPMJCR21B4).

It’s not EU, it’s we: ontological stress and French narration of the uprisings in Tunisia

ABSTRACT The ontological security dynamics of EU foreign policy cooperation and integration have been relatively under-researched. The EU’s efforts to seek ontological security – by consolidating myths, solidifying identifications, and positioning itself on the international crisis – have been discussed by Della Sala, Mitzen, Rumelili, and others, yet one question remains: can the EU provide ontological security? International crises can be an important entry point for studying the dynamics of ontological security within the EU. In this paper, I analyse how France and the European External Action Service (EEAS) narrated the 2011 uprisings in Tunisia. I argue that the EU acts as an ontological security provider in this case by providing a stable network of meaning, narrative, and social space. In the case of Tunisia, I argue that the revelation of the mismatch between its self-perception and perception of others led to significant ontological stress for France and that leaning on the EU provided a way out of this uncertainty. By leaning on the EUs narration of events, France could move past its own stress and still feel secure as part of the EU.

Cooperation dynamics of prisoner's dilemma games on an evolutionary weighted network with heterogeneous preferences.

Relationships between people in real life are dynamically changed with the interaction process, and due to the heterogeneous preferences, this change is different from person to person. Based on this observation, we propose a new spatial and weighted prisoner's dilemma game model with heterogeneous individuals. Two types of tags, namely, tag-F (concerned about social fairness) and tag-W (concerned about personal well-being), are introduced to describe individuals' different preferences. The link weights indicating the interaction strength between individuals are updated based on different rules that depend on their tags. Through simulations, we verify that a large link weight control factor and a high proportion of tag-F individuals favor the emergence and persistence of cooperation. In addition, an increase in the link weight sensitivity factor favors the evolution of cooperation when the link weight control factor is small. Moreover, while the level of cooperation increases with the proportion of tag-F type in the population, contrary to our intuition, when the population consists entirely of tag-F individuals, in some cases, cooperation cannot reach a higher level compared with the situation when they are mixed with tag-W type. However, at high dilemma intensities, cooperators emerge only when the entire population consists of tag-F type. These results may provide some new insights into the impact of the evolutionary weighted network with heterogeneous preferences on collective cooperative behavior.

Connecting and integrating cooperation within and between species.

There has long been a fundamental divide in the study of cooperation: researchers focus either on cooperation within species, including but not limited to sociality, or else on cooperation between species, commonly termed mutualism. Here, we explore the ecologically and evolutionarily significant ways in which within- and between-species cooperation interact. We highlight two primary cross-linkages. First, cooperation of one type can change the context in which cooperation of the other type functions, and thus potentially its outcome. We delineate three possibilities: (i) within-species cooperation modulates benefits for a heterospecific partner; (ii) between-species cooperation affects the dynamics of within-species cooperation; and (iii) both processes take place interactively. The second type of cross-linkage emerges when resources or services that cooperation makes available are obtainable either from members of the same species or from different species. This brings cooperation at the two levels into direct interaction, to some extent obscuring the distinction between them. We expand on these intersections between within- and between-species cooperation in a diversity of taxa and interaction types. These interactions have the potential to weave together social networks and trophic dynamics, contributing to the structure and functioning of ecological communities in ways that are just beginning to be explored. This article is part of the theme issue 'Connected interactions: enriching food web research by spatial and social interactions'.

Security Concerns of the Russian Federation and Türkiye's Position Within the Scope of Georgia Intervention to South Ossetia in 2008

This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the geopolitical landscape in the South Caucasus, focusing on Russia's strategic interests, NATO and EU expansion efforts, and Turkey's role as a regional actor. It begins by examining Russia's "Near Environment" doctrine, emphasizing Moscow's perceived security threats and its proactive measures to maintain influence in its immediate surroundings. The 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia serves as a focal point, illustrating the complex interplay of historical, ethnic, and political factors in the region. The article explores the origins of the Georgian-Ossetian crisis, the escalation into the "Five-Day War," and the subsequent recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia by Russia. It also examines Turkey's stance on the conflict, balancing support for Georgia's territorial integrity with economic and strategic interests in the region that advocates respect for Georgia's territorial integrity and sovereignty in the context of international law, but at the same time does not ignore its security concerns of Russia and aims to maintain a policy of balance in the Black Sea Basin and the Caucasus in the context of regional peacekeeping. Furthermore, the analysis highlights the international community's response to the conflict and its implications for regional stability. The conclusion underscores the significance of the South Caucasus in global geopolitics, particularly in shaping the balance of power in the Black Sea region. Overall, this article offers valuable insights into the complex dynamics of conflict and cooperation in a strategically vital area of Eurasia.

Influence of local defects in the generation of memory effect in Dy2Ti2O7 compound: Fe-doped study

The study of defect-induced effects in functional materials is high-priority research for the miniaturization of smart devices. To elucidate the influence of local defects stemming from intrinsic or extrinsic factors on the enigmatic behavior of cooperative spin dynamics, we investigated the Dy2-xFexTi2O7 compound within a narrow Fe substitution range (x = 0–0.15). Our experimental findings unequivocally demonstrate that the dynamic response of cooperative spins and the emergence of anomalous memory effect are intricately linked to local defects. Depending on the nature and dynamics of these defects, the dynamic response of cooperative spins undergoes alteration. Notably, observed anomalous effect becomes more pronounced in scenarios characterized by slower defect dynamics and when cooperative spins are further from equilibrium. The emergence and sensitivity of thermomagnetic hysteresis (memory effect) to cooperative spin dynamics and external stimuli underscore the richness of Dy2Ti2O7 as a material for captivating physics investigations.

Exploring cooperative hunting dynamics and PRCC analysis: insights from a spatio-temporal mathematical model

The proposed mathematical model explores the intricate dynamics of a predator-prey system involving prey infection and cooperative hunting of predators. The model incorporates habitat complexity, emphasizing its influence on ecological interactions. The well-posedness of the system has rigorously been examined in a temporal setting and also conducted stability analysis. The bifurcation analysis reveals the existence of several local bifurcations on the system, namely transcritical bifurcation, saddle-node bifurcation, and Hopf bifurcation. Furthermore, these investigations delineate the two-dimensional bifurcations including Bogdanov–Takens and cusp bifurcations for different parametric combinations. With suitable choices of parameter values, the proposed model exhibits diverse dynamic phenomena, including bistable and tri-stable behavior. Latin hypercube sampling is utilized to conduct uncertainty analysis on input parameters, aiming to observe their effects on population dynamics. Subsequently, Kendall’s tau and Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients are also computed to investigate the impact of these uncertainties on the population. In the later part, a spatio-temporal system is proposed with two-dimensional diffusion terms to obtain the conditions for Turing instability. Numerical simulations have been conducted to observe the emergence of spatial patterns and the impact of predator cooperation in these patterns. The study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of complex ecological systems, emphasizing the interplay of spatial and temporal factors in shaping population dynamics and predator-prey interactions.

Dynamic Cooperative Communications with Mutual Information Accumulation for Mobile Robots in Industrial Internet of Things.

Mobile robots play an important role in the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT); they need effective mutual communication between the cloud and themselves when they move in a factory. By using the sensor nodes existing in the IIoT environment as relays, mobile robots and the cloud can communicate through multiple hops. However, the mobility and delay sensitivity of mobile robots bring new challenges. In this paper, we propose a dynamic cooperative transmission algorithm with mutual information accumulation to cope with these two challenges. By using rateless coding, nodes can reduce the delay caused by retransmission under poor channel conditions. With the help of mutual information accumulation, nodes can accumulate information faster and reduce delay. We propose a two-step dynamic algorithm, which can obtain the current routing path with low time complexity. The simulation results show that our algorithm is better than the existing heuristic algorithm in terms of delay.

Edge-based strategies enhance cooperation in intertwined dynamics of cooperation and synchronization

In various ecosystems and human societies, living organisms and systems often exhibit cooperative and synchronous behaviors during survival. Recently, co-evolutionary models of cooperation and synchronization have shed light on the underlying mechanisms driving such behaviors, offering an intriguing avenue for studying these phenomena. However, current research predominantly focuses on a point-strategy decision mode, where each individual is limited to taking the same actions towards its neighbors. Such an assumption implies that an individual is unable to differentiate its neighbors and adjust its strategy accordingly, making it difficult to capture the complexity and diversity of interactive behaviors observed in reality. To this end, we introduce the interaction mode based on the edge-strategy and investigate how synchronization and cooperation co-evolve under interaction diversity. Specifically, we explore a scenario in which individuals can adopt different strategic decisions toward their neighbors based on their differences, thereby extending the traditional point strategy. Our research clarifies the positive role of interaction diversity in alleviating the evolutionary Kuramoto’s dilemma. Moreover, it provides new insights and ideas for comprehending the influence of edge-strategy on the co-evolution of cooperative and synchronous behaviors.

Two-stage strategy update rule based on learning cost in weak prisoner's dilemma.

When players are dissatisfied with their actual payoffs, they will change the actuality by learning strategy of neighbors. The more effort players put in, the more likely they are to succeed in learning. Inspired by this, this paper proposes a two-stage strategy update rule based on learning cost. The players first decide whether to learn strategy according to the updating willingness. If the players imitate the strategy of neighbors, they need to pay the learning cost. Results show that for the well-mixed population, if the updating willingness is homogeneous and remains unchanged, reducing the updating willingness or increasing the learning cost can extend the life cycle of cooperators. If the updating willingness is heterogeneous and dynamically adjusted based on the difference between the actual payoff and the expected payoff, increasing aspiration value and learning cost promotes cooperation. For the structured population, if the updating willingness is homogeneous and remains unchanged, the moderate learning cost is beneficial for cooperators to resist the temptation of defection, and reducing updating willingness makes the system maintain cooperation within a larger parameter range. If the updating willingness is heterogeneous and dynamically adjusted, the larger learning cost and the appropriate aspiration value promote cooperation. This study highlights the complex dynamics of cooperation in paid strategy learning, contributing to the theory of cooperation in the evolutionary game.

Characteristics of pain empathic networks in healthy and primary dysmenorrhea women: an fMRI study.

Pain empathy enables us to understand and share how others feel pain. Few studies have investigated pain empathy-related functional interactions at the whole-brain level across all networks. Additionally, women with primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) have abnormal pain empathy, and the association among the whole-brain functional network, pain, and pain empathy remain unclear. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and machine learning analysis, we identified the brain functional network connectivity (FNC)-based features that are associated with pain empathy in two studies. Specifically, Study 1 examined 41 healthy controls (HCs), while Study 2 investigated 45 women with PDM. Additionally, in Study 3, a classification analysis was performed to examine the differences in FNC between HCs and women with PDM. Pain empathy was evaluated using a visual stimuli experiment, and trait and state of menstrual pain were recorded. In Study 1, the results showed that pain empathy in HCs relied on dynamic interactions across whole-brain networks and was not concentrated in a single or two brain networks, suggesting the dynamic cooperation of networks for pain empathy in HCs. In Study 2, PDM exhibited a distinctive network for pain empathy. The features associated with pain empathy were concentrated in the sensorimotor network (SMN). In Study 3, the SMN-related dynamic FNC could accurately distinguish women with PDM from HCs and exhibited a significant association with trait menstrual pain. This study may deepen our understanding of the neural mechanisms underpinning pain empathy and suggest that menstrual pain may affect pain empathy through maladaptive dynamic interaction between brain networks.

Analyzing 1937 AD Diplomacy and Cultural Exchange through the Hispano-Arab-Islamic Mecca Pilgrimage

This research employs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to delve into the historical interactions between Spain and the Arab-Islamic world during Franco's regime, with a focus on the 1937 pilgrimage to Mecca. This initiative exemplifies the use of cultural and religious diplomacy to enhance bilateral relations, revealing efforts to portray Spain as respectful of Islamic practices. By examining unpublished documents, including Francisco Limiñana's detailed planning of the pilgrimage, the study highlights the complexity of colonial and post-colonial relationships, blending cooperation and power dynamics. The analysis underscores the intertwining of Spain's internal policies with its external posture, aiming to bolster national identity and Franco's legitimacy. The findings challenge oversimplified narratives, offering a nuanced view of Western-Arab-Islamic interactions, essential for understanding contemporary challenges and fostering intercultural dialogue. Significantly, Limiñana's role transitioned from organizing the pilgrimage to becoming Spain's first ambassador to Saudi Arabia in 1956, illustrating the evolution of Spanish-Arab relations.

The Purpose of Sister City Collaboration between Malang and Fuqing, China

This study aims to explore the motifs behind the collaboration between Malang and Fuqing, China. Through the MRQ approach, this research analyzes how the motif of education emerges as a response to Fuqing's best practices in effective educational management. Furthermore, the study also identifies agricultural motifs driven by the significant potential of Fuqing as a soybean producer, aligning with Malang's characteristics as a tempeh producer. The results of the study indicate that the collaboration between Malang and Fuqing is driven by the real needs and potentials in both cities. This study successfully addresses research question (MRQ) number 3 regarding intercity cooperation through the lens of collaboration motifs. The implications of this research have a significant impact on strengthening the understanding of the dynamics of intercity cooperation, as well as providing a broader perspective on the importance of cross-regional collaboration in advancing local development.

Managing coopetition dynamics: A longitudinal study of a multiparty alliance formation in a large utilities project

AbstractMultiparty alliances (MPAs) are increasingly used to deliver large utilities infrastructure projects on‐time, on‐budget, and to specified quality. In theory, MPAs should help buyers to coordinate suppliers, enable concurrent scheduling, and create process innovations. On the other hand, these governance structures are inherently less stable than dyadic relationships due to their additional complexity and greater opportunities for free riding. We conduct a multi‐source, longitudinal study, investigating how a buyer actively manages the dynamics between competition and cooperation during the formation of an MPA consisting of a lead organization and directional relationships between all partners. We contribute to MPA and coopetition literature by exploring cooperation and competition dynamics that are associated with the MPA structure that would largely be absent in dyads, and unpack the process by which a buyer orchestrates these dynamics by sequentially introducing new initiatives that seek to balance coopetition. MPAs have been recommended by governments and industry bodies as one solution for time and cost overruns in the utilities infrastructure sector, our study also provides guidance to buyers on the management of the alliance during the critical formation stage of the relationship lifecycle.

Incorporating reputation into reinforcement learning can promote cooperation on hypergraphs

Most previous studies that investigate the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation in the multi-agent social dilemma only consider the pairwise interactions. However, pairwise interactions alone cannot adequately characterize the higher-order interaction relationships that are commonly present in real-world social systems. In this study, we propose a spatial public goods game on uniform random hypergraphs with reputation mechanism and self-regarding Q-learning algorithm, where agents take an action based on the Q-value and update their reputation by the first-order evaluation norm. We define the reward as a function of the agent’s payoff and their reputation influenced by the social attention degree. Simulation results indicate that an increase in the social attention degree can effectively facilitate cooperation, as social reputation incentivizes agents to adopt cooperative actions to obtain optimal rewards. Additionally, we find that the discount factor and the learning rate both significantly impact the evolution of cooperation, with the influence of the learning rate on the evolution of cooperation being dependent on the discount factor. Finally, the robustness of this model is demonstrated based on the results of theoretical analysis.