@conference {Gershenson2004c, title = {Introduction to Random {Boolean} Networks}, booktitle = {Workshop and Tutorial Proceedings, Ninth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems {(ALife} {IX)}}, year = {2004}, pages = {160{\textendash}173}, address = {Boston, MA}, abstract = {The goal of this tutorial is to promote interest in the study of random Boolean networks (RBNs). These can be very interesting models, since one does not have to assume any functionality or particular connectivity of the networks to study their generic properties. Like this, RBNs have been used for exploring the configurations where life could emerge. The fact that RBNs are a generalization of cellular automata makes their research a very important topic. The tutorial, intended for a broad audience, presents the state of the art in RBNs, spanning over several lines of research carried out by different groups. We focus on research done within artificial life, as we cannot exhaust the abundant research done over the decades related to RBNs.}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0408006}, author = {Carlos Gershenson}, editor = {M. Bedau and P. Husbands and T. Hutton and S. Kumar and H. Suzuki} } @conference {Gershenson2004b, title = {Updating Schemes in Random {Boolean} Networks: Do They Really Matter?}, booktitle = {Artificial Life {IX} Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on the Simulation and Synthesis of Living Systems}, year = {2004}, pages = {238{\textendash}243}, publisher = {MIT Press}, organization = {MIT Press}, abstract = {In this paper we try to end the debate concerning the suitability of different updating schemes in random Boolean networks (RBNs). We quantify for the first time loose attractors in asyncrhonous RBNs, which allows us to analyze the complexity reduction related to different updating schemes. We also report that all updating schemes yield very similar critical stability values, meaning that the "edge of chaos" does not depend much on the updating scheme. After discussion, we conclude that synchonous RBNs are justifiable theoretical models of biological networks.}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0402006}, author = {Carlos Gershenson}, editor = {J. Pollack and M. Bedau and P. Husbands and T. Ikegami and R. A. Watson} }