Survival-of-the-fittest Research Articles

Evolutionary Computation-Based Techniques Over Multiple Data Sets: An Empirical Assessment

In the realm of software testing various organizations wish to predict the faults in their software systems prior to their deployment. This improves the delivered quality and also reduces the maintenance effort. A multitude of software metrics and statistical models have been developed to solve this problem and one such method is called defect prediction. Defect prediction is the process of identifying the defects in the software program prior to its deployment. In recent times, a class of learners called evolutionary computation (EC) techniques has emerged. These EC techniques apply the Darwinian principle of ‘survival of the fittest’. This study performs an empirical assessment of the performance of various EC techniques in the prediction of software defects over multiple data sets. An empirical assessment compares and assesses the performance capability of 16 EC techniques for evaluating the relationship between object-oriented metrics and defect prediction. The developed models are validated using 7 data sets obtained from open source software systems developed by the Software Foundation. On investigating their predictive capabilities and comparative performance, it was found that a majority of EC techniques proved to be highly effective. DTG (a hybridized algorithm) was observed to be the best performing technique. The work done in the current study shows that EC techniques are very effective and can be highly beneficial to testers in the realm of defect prediction in the future.

Key parameters decision for cloud computing: Insights from a multiple game model

SummaryIn service‐oriented cloud computing systems (CCSs), the aim of cloud service organizers (CSOs) is to achieve maximum profit by collecting metadata with low cost from big data reporters (BDRs) and to provide advanced services to customers at a high price. In these systems, BDRs receive payoffs by reporting metadata to CSOs and exchanging metadata with other BDRs, and customers expect to get high‐quality services at a low price. However, because the missing of a critical parameters decision model in such service‐oriented CCSs, it is difficult to measure key parameters in CCSs such as price and quality of services in the competitive market. In this paper, we propose a multiple game (MG) model to formulate the critical parameters decision process. In the MG model, there are multiple games: games among BDRs and games among CSOs under the rule of “survival of the fittest,” games between BDRs and CSOs under the rule of “the highest payoff first,” and games between customers and CSOs under the rule of “the lowest price and the highest quality of service (QoS) first.” With the proposed multiple game (MG) model, the optimal key parameters can be obtained and the Pareto‐optimal equilibrium point can be achieved. Extensive simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed MG model in dynamically deciding key parameters in CCSs.

From early career researcher to research leader: survival of the fittest?

ABSTRACTThe higher education sector is a dynamic environment where universities compete on a global basis for resources, students, and high-quality staff. The impending retirement of the baby boomer generation will create increased competition for research leaders. One way to address this is to develop research leaders from existing researchers. However, little is known about what it takes to transition from a leading researcher to a research leader, so there is much to be learned from the experiences of those who have successfully navigated those transitions. To explore the transition from early career researcher to leading researcher to research leader, we undertook a mixed methods study involving 30 senior research leaders and administrators from a range of organisations across Australia. In this paper, we describe how the career paths of these research leaders developed in a highly competitive research environment and discuss how universities can attract, retain, develop, and promote their researchers.

Fitness and strength in young adulthood and protection from future heart failure

We are in the midst of a heart failure (HF) pandemic with wide-ranging implications for aging populations, physicians, and healthcare delivery systems (1). The major epidemiologic determinants for HF have been traditionally viewed as hypertension, coronary artery disease, valvular disease, and more recently obesity, diabetes, and kidney disease (2,3). Among those with HF, approximately half have HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and the other half with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). In this issue of the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology , Lindgren and co-workers report on a ray of hope in HF epidemiology (4). They describe a protective relationship between cardiopulmonary fitness as well as muscle strength and the development of HF at a relatively young age in all categories in which it can be accounted for using automated sources of data. This report is a major advance in the cardiopulmonary fitness literature, which has had a global interest in “survival of the fittest” which was a way of explaining the relationship between fitness and mortality (5). In brief, cardiopulmonary fitness has been associated with reduced mortality not only because of improved risk factors, and modest reductions in atherosclerotic events such as myocardial infarction, but because it markedly improves the survival of potentially fatal events such as critical illness.

The Right “Fit”: Exploring Science Teacher Candidates’ Approaches to Natural Selection Within a Clinical Simulation

Teachers and students struggle with the complexities surrounding the evolution of species and the process of natural selection. This article examines how science teacher candidates (STCs) engage in a clinical simulation that foregrounds two common challenges associated with natural selection—students’ understanding of “survival of the fittest” and the variation of species over time. We outline the medical education pedagogy of clinical simulations and its recent diffusion to teacher education. Then, we outline the study that situates each STC in a one-to-one interaction with a standardized student who is struggling to accurately interpret natural selection concepts. In simulation with the standardized student, each STC is challenged to recognize content misconceptions and respond with appropriate instructional strategies and accurate explanations. Findings and implications center on the STCs’ instructional practices in the simulation and the use of clinical learning environments to foster science teacher learning.

Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit

We study the impact of the minimum wage on firm exit in the restaurant industry, exploiting recent changes in the minimum wage at the city level. We find that the impact of the minimum wage depends on whether a restaurant was already close to the margin of exit. Restaurants with lower ratings are closer to the margin of exit on average, and are disproportionately driven out of business by increases to the minimum wage. Our point estimates suggest that a one dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 10 percent increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating on Yelp), but has no discernible impact for a 5-star restaurant (on a 1 to 5 star scale). We expand the analysis to look at prices using data from delivery orders, and find that lower rated restaurants also increase prices in response to minimum wage increases. Our analysis also highlights how digital data can be used to shed new light on labor policy and the economy.

Evolving the keys to visual crowding.

Peripheral vision can be severely impaired by nearby clutter. Decades of research using sparse displays have established that this phenomenon, known as visual crowding, follows Bouma's rule: Interference occurs for target-distractor separations up to half the target's eccentricity. Although considered a fundamental constraint on human vision, it is unclear whether Bouma's rule holds in dense heterogeneous visual environments. Using a genetic algorithm we investigated crowding in densely cluttered displays. Participants were instructed to identify the orientation of a target line (6° eccentricity) among 284 distractor lines. Displays supporting highest accuracy were selected ("survival of the fittest") and combined to create new displays. Performance improved over generations, predominantly driven by the emergence of horizontal flankers within 1° of the near-vertical target, but with no evidence of interference beyond this radius. We conclude that Bouma's rule does not necessarily hold in densely cluttered displays. Instead, a nearest-neighbor segmentation rule provides a better account. (PsycINFO Database Record

Processes and Achievements of Malaysia's Economic Globalization

Integration of the national economy with global economy is the natural outcome and the end result of economic development processes in any nation. In the political economy of the world with unequal nations and imperfect competition the north-pushed capitalist globalization is a suspect of deception for developing countries. The capitalist globalization is a project of market dogmatism founded on the Darwinist social philosophy of ‘survival of the fittest’ – the law of Jangle. It is inherently a scheme of yielding disproportionately large benefits for the efficient industrialized nations. This paper analyses the structure and management of Malaysia’s economic globalization and studies its achievements from national and international contexts. It has used a variety of econometric and statistical tools such as the augmented Dickey-Fuller test, Log-linear Regressions, Chow breakpoint test, and CUSUM test. The results reveal that globalization has made significant achievements in terms of most of the national macroeconomic goals. However, in terms of the international political economy it has failed unexpectedly. Results of the income convergence analyses show that it has failed to reduce Malaysia’s income gaps with USA and Japan, its two major trading and investment partners. It contradicts the general findings of the income convergence studies that the lower income industrializing countries are catching up to the higher income industrialized countries and slowly narrowing the income gap between them. This result, therefore, tends to suggest that even a guided and regulated globalization, like that of Malaysia, will have the tendency to yield relatively more benefits to the developed industrialized economic partners and contributes to the widening of the income gaps between them. The paper concludes that because of the blind eye of globalization to the needs and aspirations of the developing economies, these countries must pursue globalization only, cautiously, rationally, selectively, and never wholeheartedly.

Chintrepreneurship – The China-way of Entrepreneurship Government Intervention, Seedling Approach – A Network-based Model of Entrepreneurship

The development of entrepreneurship in China is coined in this paper as the ‘Chintrepreneurship’, namely, theChina-way of entrepreneurship, which is defined synthetically as an integral result of ideological transformation,industrial institutionalization and privatization, and technological transition from imitation and innovation. From anevolutionary perspective, China-way of entrepreneurship is resulted from the three-staged economic reformation.From a dialectic perspective, government intervention is not only a driver but also an obstacle to the formation ofChina-way of entrepreneurship, which is outlined as a compounded effect of dual-track policy, financial policy, FDIpolicy, science, technology, and innovation policy, education and human capital policy. As an exploratory study andrelying on an in-depth and extensive literature review, on-site observations and thousands of interviews, this paperendeavors to establish a theoretical framework, to contour the taxonomy and the four constraints, and to distinguishthe formational mechanism of China-way of entrepreneurship from the previously defined ones. Theoretically, thispaper proposes a need for a paradigm shift from polarized (Washington Consensus) to de-polarized (BeijingConsensus), and argues that, the network-based framework (aka: the neo-classical economics) fits to rationalize thepeculiarity and mechanism of China-way of entrepreneurship, uniquely incubated from the politically autocratic,bureaucratic and cronyism oriented social and institutional systems. This paper concludes that entrepreneurship doesexist in China, and that, government intervention and seedling approach serve as strategic and exogenous forces,while imitation and low marginal price act as tactical and endogenous factors – together, they constitute thedevelopmental mechanism of CHINTREPRENEURSHIP, in parallel with economic transition, from traditionally theglobal production networks (GPNs) to presently the global production and trade networks (GPTNs), frommanufacturing-based to service and consumption oriented. From the perspective of Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’,criticism is definitely needed, in order to legitimize the theory of CHINTREPRENEURSHIP.

How far can the language ecology metaphor take us?: A Pacific perspective on language vitality (Response to Mufwene)

In this response to Mufwene’s (2017) target article we discuss the benefits and disadvantages of extending the ecology metaphor into studies of language vitality, focusing on contexts from the South Pacific. We show that an ecological perspective allows us to focus on the local and particular and can help us to avoid a simplistic reliance on broad phenomena such as ‘globalization’ to account for language endangerment and loss (LEL). However, we contend that this endeavor runs the risk of abstracting away from the human experience of LEL into a ‘survival of the fittest’ or ‘balance sheet’ approach. We conclude that, while it has benefits, the ecology metaphor does not ultimately offer a compelling basis for an overarching theory of language vitality.

Intrauterine fetal demise of one twin baby and survival of the fittest”

Intrauterine fetal demise of one twin baby and survival of the fittest”

1896: A Populist Insurgency in America’s First Gilded Age

1896: A Populist Insurgency in America’s First Gilded Age Katherine Unterman (bio) The last time I taught the class “America in the Gilded Age,” I read my students two quotes. One came from a newspaper editorial in the 1890s. The other came from Bernie Sanders in 2015. When guessing which was which, about half of the students got it wrong. The first quote read: “Ninety nine percent of the people of the United States feel that they have a standing grievance against the other one percent because of the excessive inequality in the distribution of wealth [. . .] As this inequality is continually growing greater [. . .] we are drifting toward a revolution.” While this statement could have come straight out of Sanders’ mouth, it is actually from 1891, in the midst of the period that historians call the Gilded Age. Some commentators have called the contemporary era a “Second Gilded Age” because of the similarly growing gap between the richest and the poorest members of society. The term “Gilded Age” comes from a book co-authored by Mark Twain, and the name says a lot about the 1880s and 1890s. It was not the golden age; it was the gilded age. Something that is gilded is gold on the surface, but worthless or rotten underneath. Likewise, the last two decades of the 19th century saw famous “captains of industry” like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie accumulating vast fortunes and living in opulent mansions. These were the country’s first billionaires; they were some of the richest men not just of their day, but in modern history. However, underneath the shiny surface, the workers in the steel mills and oil refineries were living in poverty. They resided in crowded tenements and worked long hours, in dangerous conditions, for low pay. The average income for 11 million of the nation’s 12 million families was $380 annually. In 1896, the country was in the third year of a major economic depression. Unemployment nationally was around 15%, even higher in major cities. Farmers were struggling just as much. Throughout the 1890s, they faced falling crop prices, exorbitant railroad rates, high interest on their debts, and costly charges to store their crops. Farmers were barely hanging on before the economic depression, and by 1896, many were on the brink of starvation. Thousands went bankrupt and had to auction off their farms to pay their debts. [End Page 26] Meanwhile, the government was staunchly opposed to the idea of doing anything to help the disadvantaged. President Grover Cleveland, upon vetoing a bill to provide aid to drought-stricken farmers in Texas, said, “I find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Constitution, and I do not believe that the power and the duty of the General Government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering.” Later he stated, more succinctly, that government functions “do not include the support of the people.” This was the era of Social Darwinism, and the economic counterpoint to “survival of the fittest” was “laissez faire.” In other words, leave capitalism unregulated and let the free market reign. Government action to help struggling workers and farmers was considered counterproductive and morally wrong. However, an insurgency was brewing from below. Calling themselves “Populists,” impoverished wheat farmers from the West and cotton farmers from the South banded together in their opposition to Wall Street and economic elites. The Populists had a novel demand: that when the people were suffering, the government should step in and help. “Man over money” was their refrain. In 1891, they formally organized a third party, the People’s Party. At the top of their program, called the Omaha Platform: abandoning the gold standard and adding silver as “legal tender.” At this point in time, all currency was redeemable in gold, so the amount of money in circulation was dependent upon the amount of gold in the treasury. By making bills also redeemable in silver (with 16 ounces of silver worth 1 ounce of gold), this would increase the money supply. Farmers wanted this because they believed that, with more money in circulation, they would earn more for their crops and would be able to...

Survival of the fittest: an evolutionary approach to an export-led model of growth

Developing countries often rely on the export-led model of growth. Exposure to (developed) foreign markets increases learning opportunities for firms, enhances their competences and capabilities, and facilitates potentially more innovation. The actual benefit differs among firms depending on internal firm characteristics (genetic material). Using survey data for Slovenia we show that export orientation, firms’ genetic material, competences and capabilities and innovation are related. The paper contributes to the literature in several ways, primarily by extending knowledge on innovation and corporate behaviour in an export-led developing country, using micro level data.

Recursive Evolution: A Tale of Natural ID

The proposed hypothesis for biological evolution considers modern evolution theories and established facts. It addresses some puzzling issues numerous researchers pointed out. New approach is based on the analogy between supercomputer and Biosphere. The Biosphere stores enormous amount of digital data and may act as an engine partially directing evolution changes. The main direction of the living world changes and speciation is not only the survival of the fittest but growing computing complexity of the living creatures in the course of evolution.

Bullying and Perceived School Climate: Victims’ and Bullies’ Perspective

IntroductionPeer bullying (PB) is a problem present in schools all around the world and met by students and teachers on daily basis. Research shows that PB has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of students (Chen, Liu, & Cheng, 2012; Pecjak, 2014), thus, researchers are trying to understand the nature of PB and minimize its negative impact on students through prevention and intervention.From the systemic theories' (e.g., Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory, 1979) point of view, has an important role in these aspirations, because policy and existing prevention and intervention programs regarding PB are derived from school (Sullivan, 2011), which could also be termed culture/climate. Therefore, one of the aims of our study was to determine which sociodemographic and climate factors predict the roles of chronic victims and bullies.School climate is a complex, multidimensional construct. It refers to the quality and character of social interactions at and is defined by the norms, values, rules, organizational structures and relationship patterns unique to each (Cohen, McCabe, Michelli, & Pickeral, 2009). Positive climate may be a protective factor for different risk behaviors, and for students' aggression towards their peers (Cook, Williams, Guerra, Kim, & Sadek, 2010; Hong & Espelage, 2012).The climate in PB refers to social interactions between students participating in PB - bullies, victims and non-involved students, and to interactions between teachers and these students. There are certain values and norms in the background of these social interactions, which are advocated by schools. There are also sets of rules regarding students' behavior towards peers, and teachers' responses to PB occurrence, which are stated (or not) by the school.School climate research includes students' perceptions of their peer's behavior towards them and their perceptions of how much teachers (and other staff) care about them and treat them fairly (Hoy, Smith, & Sweetland, 2002).The schools where PB is tolerated and ignored, where a clear set of rules of behavior is not in place and where the rules are not carried out, are dysfunctional schools (Sullivan, 2011). These schools are unsafe and the only rule is survival of the fittest. On the other side, there are safe schools (Sullivan, 2011) with the philosophy that is a safe place for students and teachers, where rules of mutual respect are enforced and fair play in mutual relations is present.Two elements have to be present for an optimal climate: structure and support (Gregory & Cornell, 2009). The authors consider schools with clear structure and support as schools with authoritative (school) discipline. The structure is the degree to which schools consistently and fairly enforce rules - also in cases of PB. Research shows that students' perceptions of rules as clear and fair are consistently linked to better behavior and to less victimization (Gottfredson, Gottfredson, Payne, & Gottfredson, 2005).A supportive climate includes teachers caring for students and supporting them. Two important elements of this climate are the teachers' positive expectations towards students and their feelings of responsibility for students and for what goes on in the (Austin & Duerr, 2005; Gregory & Cornell, 2009).Adolescents' perceptions of teachers as caring and supportive have been linked to higher academic adjustment (Gregory, Cornell, Fan, Sheras, Shih, & Huang, 2010) and social adjustment by PB - they were more likely to seek help (Wilson & Deane, 2001), less likely to experience re-victimization (Smith, Talamelli, & Cowie, 2004) and had higher commitment to (Hong & Espelage, 2012).Research ProblemThe aim of our study was to investigate individual elements of climate in PB (prevalence of teasing and bullying, aggressive attitudes, willingness to seek help, supportive climate and rules, commitment to school) from the perspective of different groups of bullies and victims. …

Beyond Einstein's visions

In what way are Einstein's visions, and the accompanying research results of recent decades, relevant for us today? In essence, they prove without doubt that this world is of an entirely different nature than has so far been thought. Until today, a materialistic-positivistic paradigm characterised by 'Chance and Necessity' has been, and to a large degree still is, prevalent in this world. That paradigm means: Man evolved purely by chance from out of nowhere, and only survived out of necessity - the law of survival of the fittest. In contrast to these views, research has proved what Einstein already foresaw, that 'everything is nothing', i.e. matter does not exist and everything there is, is mind or spirit. This, then, is the essence of our being, and Einstein has been proven correct. Research has further substantiated that time is an illusion and the basis of our reality is therefore timelessness. From these basic understandings, it follows that we are in every respect the creators of our own destiny and that in doing injustice to others, we harm only ourselves. All our foresight, and what we think and do in innovation, is therefore, in every respect and always, governed by this basic choice.

Study of Memetics in the Teaching of ESL Writing

Memetics is a new theory for interpreting cultural evolution. A meme is a unit of cultural transmission, like gene, is also subject to the selection “the survival of the fittest”, which is copied through the imitation among vectors, only the strong memes can be survived. This infectivity of memes provides a close connection between memes and the process of second language learner’s acquisition.

Survival of the Fittest: Explaining the Success of Ethnic Autonomy Arrangements

AbstractThe empirical evidence indicates that ethnic autonomy arrangements (EAAs) survive more often than not, but this mixed track record raises an important question. What accounts for the survival of some systems and not others? We theorize that that this differential survival rate is partly a function of variation in their internal structure. EAAs that are structured to create and best sustain an equilibrium in bargaining relations between center d periphery have the highest probability of survival. It follows logically that the more unbalanced the system in favor of either the center or periphery, the less likely to survive. We test the theory using logit analysis on an original data set drawn from the universe of post‐1945 EAAs. After controlling for level of democracy and wealth disparity, the key finding is that the internal structure of an EAA matters for its survival. One important implication of these findings is that, for any given level of democracy, ethnofederal systems can be systematically designed to maximize survival prospects

The False Materialism of America's Death Penalty

For most of America’s history, the death penalty has been rooted in a materialistic conception of the world — human beings are engaged in a physical survival of the fittest and must be restrained. This base worldview, however, has often conflicted with higher considerations, like justice and forgiveness. Though the country’s conservative and liberal factions debate the reason for felonious crime as well as the efficacy of the death penalty, the country thus far has come down in favor of capital punishment. Daoism suggests that America has adopted an erroneous conception of the world, and so the country has not only failed to understand the death penalty but also perpetuated the personal and societal conflict that leads to violent crime and the death penalty. Daoism further explains that for fundamental reasons this divide in America has occurred along racial lines. According to Daoism, society now needs to return to a harmonious balance between the implicit spiritual whole and the manifest individual parts, and in doing so the people will prosper naturally. Only in this way, Daoism counsels, can a society address the underlying causes of crime and end the death penalty for good.

Survival of the fittest?

Survival of the fittest?