Boolean networks are one of the most studied discrete models in the context of the study of gene expression. In order to define the dynamics associated to a Boolean network, there are several update schemes that range from parallel or synchronous to asynchronous. However, studying each possible dynamics defined by different update schemes might not be efficient. In this context, considering some type of temporal delay in the dynamics of Boolean networks emerges as an alternative approach. In this paper, we focus in studying the effect of a particular type of delay called firing memory in the dynamics of Boolean networks. Particularly, we focus in symmetric (non-directed) conjunctive networks and we show that there exist examples that exhibit attractors of non-polynomial period. In addition, we study the prediction problem consisting in determinate if some vertex will eventually change its state, given an initial condition. We prove that this problem is PSPACE-complete.

A boolean network is a map F : {0, 1} n → {0, 1} n that defines a discrete dynamical system by the subsequent iterations of F . Nevertheless, it is thought that this definition is not always reliable in the context of applications, especially in biology. Concerning this issue, models based in the concept of adding asynchronicity to the dynamics were propose. Particularly, we are interested in a approach based in the concept of delay. We focus in a specific type of delay called firing memory and it effects in the dynamics of symmetric (non-directed) conjunctive networks. We find, in the caseis in which the implementation of the delay is not uniform, that all the complexity of the dynamics is somehow encapsulated in the component in which the delay has effect. Thus, we show, in the homogeneous case, that it is possible to exhibit attractors of non-polynomial period. In addition, we study the prediction problem consisting in, given an initial condition, determinate if a fixed coordinate will eventually change its state. We find again that in the non-homogeneous case all the complexity is determined by the component that is affected by the delay and we conclude in the homogeneous case that this problem is PSPACE-complete.

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In this paper we study the family of freezing cellular automata (FCA) in the context of asynchronous updating schemes. A cellular automaton is called freezing if there exists an order of its states, and the transitions are only allowed to go from a lower to a higher state. A cellular automaton is asynchronous if at each time-step only one cell is updated. Given configuration, we say that a cell is unstable if there exists a sequential updating scheme that changes its state. In this context, we define the problem AsyncUnstability, which consists in deciding if a cell is unstable or not. In general AsyncUnstability is in NP, and we study in which cases we can solve the problem by a more efficient algorithm.We begin showing that AsyncUnstability is in NL for any onedimensional FCA. Then we focus on the family of life-like freezing CA (LFCA), which is a family of two-dimensional two-state FCA that generalize the freezing version of the game of life, known as life without death. We study the complexity of AsyncUnstability for all LFCA in the triangular and square grids, showing that almost all of them can be solved in NC, except for one rule for which the problem is NP-Complete.