Nature and Quantum-Inspired Procedures - A Short Literature Review.

Even before quantum computers were known to the public, quantum-inspired algorithms were already introduced and acquired a well-deserved reputation. Their strength lies on their ability to combine innovative characteristics and superior results. In the almost 20 years that the field has existed, a huge number of results have been obtained. This chapter is an attempt to give a succinct but comprehensive review of the current state of affairs in the field of quantum-inspired-based metaheuristics, particularly geared towards those that can be used in existing quantum computers.

Microbes and the Games They Play.

Game theory is a fundamental field with applications in numerous other areas, including biology. A relatively recent, but already boasting extensive and increasing influence and important results, branch of classical Game Theory is Evolutionary Game Theory. Evolutionary Game Theory focuses on populations and microorganisms, like bacteria, and studies their interactions when these are viewed as games. This work aims to be a comprehensive presentation of the games microbes, and specifically bacteria, play during their lifetime. It is hoped that this perspective can enhance one's understanding of the biology of the microcosm and open new avenues for relative research.

A Survey of Evolutionary Games in Biology.

The applications of game theory in biology are numerous and include the comparison and modeling situations between bacteria, viruses, etc. This work provides insights about the connection between biology and evolving populations with classical and quantum evolutionary game theory and explains the benefits of unconventional computing methods in the study of such phenomena. In particular, the introduction of automata brings new possibilities into the decision-making process.

A Brief Survey of the Prisoners' Dilemma Game and Its Potential Use in Biology.

Prisoners' Dilemma is a well-known game in game theory with many variations and applications in a number of fields. The addition of quantum strategies in this game opens up new possibilities and changes the equilibria of the game significantly.

QM Automata: A New Class of Restricted Quantum Membrane Automata.

The term "Unconventional Computing" describes the use of non-standard methods and models in computing. It is a recently established field, with many interesting and promising results. In this work we combine notions from quantum computing with aspects of membrane computing to define what we call QM automata. Specifically, we introduce a variant of quantum membrane automata that operate in accordance with the principles of quantum computing. We explore the functionality and capabilities of the QM automata through indicative examples. Finally we suggest future directions for research on QM automata.

A Quantum Inspired GVNS: Some Preliminary Results.

GVNS is a well known and widely used metaheuristic for solving efficiently many NP-Hard Combinatorial Optimization problems. In this paper, the qGVNS, which is a new quantum inspired variant of GVNS, is being introduced. This variant differs in terms of the perturbation phase because it achieves the shaking moves by adopting quantum computing principles. The functionality and efficiency of qGVNS have been tested using a comparative study (compared with the equivalent GVNS results) in selected TSPLib instances, both in first and best improvement.

Methods and Patterns for User-Friendly Quantum Programming.

The power and efficiency of particular quantum algorithms over classical ones has been proved. The rise of quantum computing and algorithms has highlighted the need for appropriate programming means and tools. Here, we present a brief overview of some techniques and a proposed methodology in writing quantum programs and designing languages. Our approach offers "user-friendly" features to ease the development of such programs. We also give indicative snippets in an untyped fragment of the Qumin language, describing well-known quantum algorithms.