David P. Kraines
Associate Professor Emeritus of Mathematics

Dr. Kraines contributed to the theory of homology and cohomology operations, particularly to Massey products and loop operations. Among the applications of his work has been his construction of the counterexample to the transfer conjecture of Quillen. He has also studied the variational bicomplex of Vinogradov and introduced the cohomology of quantum electrodynamics. Dr. Kraines has applied game theoretical techniques to study the evolution of cooperation. With Dr. Vivian Kraines, he introduced a stochastic learning approach, dubbed the Pavlov strategy, for the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. They show that, in a noisy environment, agents using the Pavlov strategy may achieve a higher level of cooperation than those using Tit for Tat type strategies. Using computer simulations, dynamic systems and Markov chains, they extend their analysis to the evolution of the rate of learning in a society of Pavlov type agents. Recently, they have explored the natural selection of stochastic strategies in the simultaneous and the alternating Prisoner's Dilemma and identified several evolutionarily stable strategies.

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