Complex Autocatalysis in Simple Chemistries

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Virgo ◽  
Takashi Ikegami ◽  
Simon McGregor

Life on Earth must originally have arisen from abiotic chemistry. Since the details of this chemistry are unknown, we wish to understand, in general, which types of chemistry can lead to complex, lifelike behavior. Here we show that even very simple chemistries in the thermodynamically reversible regime can self-organize to form complex autocatalytic cycles, with the catalytic effects emerging from the network structure. We demonstrate this with a very simple but thermodynamically reasonable artificial chemistry model. By suppressing the direct reaction from reactants to products, we obtain the simplest kind of autocatalytic cycle, resulting in exponential growth. When these simple first-order cycles are prevented from forming, the system achieves superexponential growth through more complex, higher-order autocatalytic cycles. This leads to nonlinear phenomena such as oscillations and bistability, the latter of which is of particular interest regarding the origins of life.

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 292-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Nolte ◽  
Eyal Gal ◽  
Henry Markram ◽  
Michael W. Reimann

Synaptic connectivity between neocortical neurons is highly structured. The network structure of synaptic connectivity includes first-order properties that can be described by pairwise statistics, such as strengths of connections between different neuron types and distance-dependent connectivity, and higher order properties, such as an abundance of cliques of all-to-all connected neurons. The relative impact of first- and higher order structure on emergent cortical network activity is unknown. Here, we compare network structure and emergent activity in two neocortical microcircuit models with different synaptic connectivity. Both models have a similar first-order structure, but only one model includes higher order structure arising from morphological diversity within neuronal types. We find that such morphological diversity leads to more heterogeneous degree distributions, increases the number of cliques, and contributes to a small-world topology. The increase in higher order network structure is accompanied by more nuanced changes in neuronal firing patterns, such as an increased dependence of pairwise correlations on the positions of neurons in cliques. Our study shows that circuit models with very similar first-order structure of synaptic connectivity can have a drastically different higher order network structure, and suggests that the higher order structure imposed by morphological diversity within neuronal types has an impact on emergent cortical activity.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Nolte ◽  
Eyal Gal ◽  
Henry Markram ◽  
Michael W. Reimann

ABSTRACTSynaptic connectivity between neocortical neurons is highly structured. The network structure of synaptic connectivity includes first-order properties that can be described by pairwise statistics, such as strengths of connections between different neuron types and distance-dependent connectivity, and higher-order properties, such as an abundance of cliques of all-to-all connected neurons. The relative impact of first- and higher-order structure on emergent cortical network activity is unknown. Here, we compare network structure and emergent activity in two neocortical microcircuit models with different synaptic connectivity. Both models have a similar first-order structure, but only one model includes higher-order structure arising from morphological diversity within neuronal types. We find that such morphological diversity leads to more heterogeneous degree distributions, increases the number of cliques, and contributes to a small-world topology. The increase in higher-order network structure is accompanied by more nuanced changes in neuronal firing patterns, such as an increased dependence of pairwise correlations on the positions of neurons in cliques. Our study shows that circuit models with very similar first-order structure of synaptic connectivity can have a drastically different higher-order network structure, and suggests that the higher-order structure imposed by morphological diversity within neuronal types has an impact on emergent cortical activity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Povinelli ◽  
Gabrielle C. Glorioso ◽  
Shannon L. Kuznar ◽  
Mateja Pavlic

Abstract Hoerl and McCormack demonstrate that although animals possess a sophisticated temporal updating system, there is no evidence that they also possess a temporal reasoning system. This important case study is directly related to the broader claim that although animals are manifestly capable of first-order (perceptually-based) relational reasoning, they lack the capacity for higher-order, role-based relational reasoning. We argue this distinction applies to all domains of cognition.


Author(s):  
Julian M. Etzel ◽  
Gabriel Nagy

Abstract. In the current study, we examined the viability of a multidimensional conception of perceived person-environment (P-E) fit in higher education. We introduce an optimized 12-item measure that distinguishes between four content dimensions of perceived P-E fit: interest-contents (I-C) fit, needs-supplies (N-S) fit, demands-abilities (D-A) fit, and values-culture (V-C) fit. The central aim of our study was to examine whether the relationships between different P-E fit dimensions and educational outcomes can be accounted for by a higher-order factor that captures the shared features of the four fit dimensions. Relying on a large sample of university students in Germany, we found that students distinguish between the proposed fit dimensions. The respective first-order factors shared a substantial proportion of variance and conformed to a higher-order factor model. Using a newly developed factor extension procedure, we found that the relationships between the first-order factors and most outcomes were not fully accounted for by the higher-order factor. Rather, with the exception of V-C fit, all specific P-E fit factors that represent the first-order factors’ unique variance showed reliable and theoretically plausible relationships with different outcomes. These findings support the viability of a multidimensional conceptualization of P-E fit and the validity of our adapted instrument.


1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. M. Kulikov

Abstract This paper focuses on four tire computational models based on two-dimensional shear deformation theories, namely, the first-order Timoshenko-type theory, the higher-order Timoshenko-type theory, the first-order discrete-layer theory, and the higher-order discrete-layer theory. The joint influence of anisotropy, geometrical nonlinearity, and laminated material response on the tire stress-strain fields is examined. The comparative analysis of stresses and strains of the cord-rubber tire on the basis of these four shell computational models is given. Results show that neglecting the effect of anisotropy leads to an incorrect description of the stress-strain fields even in bias-ply tires.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Uzair Awan ◽  
Muhammad Zakria Javed ◽  
Michael Th. Rassias ◽  
Muhammad Aslam Noor ◽  
Khalida Inayat Noor

AbstractA new generalized integral identity involving first order differentiable functions is obtained. Using this identity as an auxiliary result, we then obtain some new refinements of Simpson type inequalities using a new class called as strongly (s, m)-convex functions of higher order of $$\sigma >0$$ σ > 0 . We also discuss some interesting applications of the obtained results in the theory of means. In last we present applications of the obtained results in obtaining Simpson-like quadrature formula.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (03) ◽  
pp. 1350095 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriel Baglietto ◽  
Ezequiel V. Albano ◽  
Julián Candia

In the Vicsek Model (VM), self-driven individuals try to adopt the direction of movement of their neighbors under the influence of noise, thus leading to a noise-driven order–disorder phase transition. By implementing the so-called Vectorial Noise (VN) variant of the VM (i.e. the VM-VN model), this phase transition has been shown to be discontinuous (first-order). In this paper, we perform an extensive complex network study of VM-VN flocks and show that their topology can be described as highly clustered, assortative, and nonhierarchical. We also study the behavior of the VM-VN model in the case of "frozen flocks" in which, after the flocks are formed using the full dynamics, particle displacements are suppressed (i.e. only rotations are allowed). Under this kind of restricted dynamics, we show that VM-VN flocks are unable to support the ordered phase. Therefore, we conclude that the particle displacements at every time-step in the VM-VN dynamics are a key element needed to sustain long-range ordering throughout.


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