This paper focuses on the phenomena of evolution whose appearance is notable because no explicit mutation, recombination or artificial selection operators are introduced. We call the system self-evolving because every variation is performed by the objects themselves in their machine form. Keywords: artificial chemistry, autocatalytic reaction system, molecular computing, prebiotic evolution, self-organization, self-programming 1

Abstract--- We study the ability to maintain information in a population of protocells that enclose sets of reacting polymers or metabolisms, under the influence of decay, i.e., spontaneous breakdown of large polymers. At a certain decay rate, it becomes impossible to maintain a significant concentration of large polymers, while it is still possible to maintain sets of smaller polymers that contain the same amount of information. We use a genetic algorithm to evolve reaction sets to generate specific polymer distributions under the influence of decay. In these evolved reaction sets, the beginnings of hypercycletype structures can be observed, which are believed to have been an important step toward the evolution of the first living cells. 1.

Strategic alliances form a vital part of today’s business environment. The sheer variety of collaborative forms is notable- which include R&D coalitions, marketing and distribution agreements, franchising, coproduction agreements, licensing, consortiums and joint ventures. Here we define a strategic alliance as a cooperative agreement between two or more autonomous firms pursuing common objectives or working towards solving common problems through a period of sustained interaction. A distinction is commonly made between ‘formal ’ and ‘informal ’ inter-firm alliances. Informal alliances involve voluntary contact and interaction while in formal alliances cooperation is governed by a contractual agreement. The advantage of formal alliances is the ability to put in place IPR clauses, confidentially agreements and other contractual measures designed to safeguard the firm against knowledge spill-over. However, these measures are costly to instigate and police. By contrast, a key attraction of informal relationships is their low co-ordination costs. Informal know-how trading is relatively simple, uncomplicated and more flexible, and has been observed in a number of industries. A number of factors affecting firms ’ decisions to cooperate or not cooperate within strategic alliances have been raised in the literature. In this paper we consider three factors in particular: the relative costs of

This paper explores the self-organising principles of horizontally-integrated innovation networks. It is shown that such networks can self-organising in environments where the co-ordination and production of new knowledge is itself a complex, dynamic and highly non-linear processes. The paper argues the development of a self-organisation perspective of innovation networks has two advantages. First, it provides a general framework of dynamic systems in which different strands of a highly fragmented literature can be drawn together. Second, formal self-organisation modelling techniques can provide interesting new insights into the micro-macro processes driving dynamic innovation systems.

Mutation model for nucleotide sequences based on crystal basis