Energy Function for a Model of Ant Colonies

A function is proposed to improve some aspects of a recent, neural network-type model of insect colonies. At the price of a slight modification of the evolution rule of the model, it endows the latter with an "energy function", as it decreases after each run of the associated dynamical algorithm, providing suitable minimality conditions to be satisfied by stable states of the system. It also allows determination of theoretical parameters from experimental data, thus making it possible to apply the model to specific colonies.