In this review article, we explore several recent advances in the quantitative modeling of financial markets. We begin with the Efficient Markets Hypothesis and describe how this controversial idea has stimulated a number of new directions of research, some focusing on more elaborate...

Though most mutations are deleterious, an interplay between somatic mutation and selection within germinal centers (GC) results in rapid generation of high affinity memory B cells. How high affinity B cells with large numbers of mutations are generated and preserved, within GC containing at...

Morphospace studies are rich in pattern and process. Techniques for adequate description and mapping of morphologies have been increasingly refined and applied, the same being true of metrics for relevant parameters (like disparity). However, the testing of process hypotheses for specific...

We present a simple model of a vibrated box of sand, and discuss its dynamics in terms of two parameters reflecting static and dynamic disorder respectively. The fluidised, intermediate and frozen (`glassy') dynamical regimes are extensively probed by analysing the response of the packing...

We study topological defects in the triangular Ising antiferromagnet, a related model on the square lattice equivalent to the six-vertex ice model, and the three-state antiferromagnetic Potts model on the square lattice. We suggest that in each case, defects are attracted or repelled with a...

Many natural systems, as social insects, perform complex computations collectively. In these groups, large numbers of individuals communicate in a local way and send information to its nearest neighbors. Interestingly, a general observation of these societies reveals that the computational...

A model of biological morphogenesis is presented. The model is based in a gene-network cell description plus the interaction among cells. Here interactions between nearest cells are due to diffusion-like mechanisms and also to inductive, cell-to-cell interactions. The gene network properties are...

Evolving one-dimensional cellular automata (CAs) with genetic algorithms has provided insight into how improved performance on a task requiring global coordination emerges when only local interactions are possible. Two approaches that can affect the search efficiency of the genetic algorithm are...

We consider sets of rectangles and squares recognized by deterministic and non-deterministic two-dimensional finite-state automata. We show that NFAs are strictly more powerful than DFAs, even for pictures over a one-symbol alphabet. In the process, we show that the pitcure languages recognized...

In many applications it is necessary to use a simple and therefore highly misspecified econometric model as the basis for decision-making. We propose an approach to developing a possibly misspecified econometric model that will be used as the beliefs of an objective expected utility maximiser. A...