Homework 8 (due Tuesday, November 26, at 11:59pm PST)

1. IPythonBlocks

See the IPythonBlocks introduction from earlier in the semester if you need a refresher for IPythonBlocks.

2. Tutorial videos

I’ve prepared several tutorial videos for this homework.

Working with the evolutionary model: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXKJQHaFWnU

Saving data to a file in Python: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irnj19jz8uI

Computing and plotting estimated 95% confidence intervals in Python: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4N5Uo3XOTNQ

3. Final project

Download the evolutionary digital modeling homework notebook. You will be using the model from this notebook for the final project.

For the first week of the final project, you will break into groups of up to 4 and decide as a group on an interesting (and feasible^) extension of the model. You may work alone on the final project, but I do not recommend it. Once you’ve decided on a group, assign a group representative. They will be the one to send in all homework submissions and reports for the group.

Possible project ideas:

  • food regrowth/decay
  • starvation
  • predation
  • topographical barriers
  • mating and recombination
  • direction competition
  • migration
  • explore a variety of world sizes, patch sizes, and patch numbers to investigate how evolution of ARS changes in response to these variables.
  • add a predator
  • add different types of food resources with different values
  • add poison food type that harms the forager

I expect your group to formulate a testable hypothesis, with alternative hypotheses, that the extension of this model will explore. You should also begin running the model in replicate and gathering data to explore your hypotheses. I do not expect you to have all of the data gathered by next Wednesday, but I do expect to see reasonable progress.

Deliverables for this week should include:

  • List of everyone in the group (including email addresses)
  • Brief explanation of the hypotheses your group is exploring and why
  • Code for the extended model
  • Any progress on data gathering/analysis so far

Turn in your progress report via the usual method (commit a notebook to Github + email me the nbviewer link). Be sure to include the data you used to generate any graphs.

Email the homework solutions to Randy Olson: olsonran AT msu DOT edu

^ Please contact me if you’re unsure about the extension you want to pursue.