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A Simple Modularity Measure for Search Spaces based on Information Theory

A Simple Modularity Measure for Search Spaces based on Information Theory
A Simple Modularity Measure for Search Spaces based on Information Theory
Within the context of Artificial Life the question about the role of modularity has turned out to be crucial, especially with regard to the problem of evolvability. In order to be able to observe the development of modular structure, appropriate modularity measures are important. We introduce a continuous measure based on information theory which can characterize the coupling among subsystems in a search problem. In order to illustrate the concepts developed, they are applied to a very simple and intuitive set of combinatorial problems similar to scenarios used in the seminal work by Simon (1969). It is shown that this measure is closely related to the classification of search problems in terms of Separability, Non-Decomposability and Modular Interdependency as introduced in (Watson and Pollack, 2005).
Dauscher, Peter
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Polani, Daniel
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Watson, Richard A.
ce199dfc-d5d4-4edf-bd7b-f9e224c96c75
Rocha, M.
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Bedau, M.
275720e4-31df-456b-b0f2-91fe38a0ae6b
Floreano, D.
ca366aa6-bf5e-4447-8ed4-a5b75be09beb
Goldstone, R.
87d97ea4-19f0-482d-83cf-4e815e45f6e3
Vespignani, A.
538c7273-badc-4dd4-8b8f-d27c36ce035e
Yaeger, L.
f180c0f8-c6d6-403f-85a5-ca76d4d61a21
Dauscher, Peter
879179f4-b5a8-4541-979b-55d1170773d1
Polani, Daniel
1a724013-226e-49ac-8191-d8311b67ba92
Watson, Richard A.
ce199dfc-d5d4-4edf-bd7b-f9e224c96c75
Rocha, M.
0ca61814-9ce4-4e79-84bf-13af3bfb239b
Bedau, M.
275720e4-31df-456b-b0f2-91fe38a0ae6b
Floreano, D.
ca366aa6-bf5e-4447-8ed4-a5b75be09beb
Goldstone, R.
87d97ea4-19f0-482d-83cf-4e815e45f6e3
Vespignani, A.
538c7273-badc-4dd4-8b8f-d27c36ce035e
Yaeger, L.
f180c0f8-c6d6-403f-85a5-ca76d4d61a21

Dauscher, Peter, Polani, Daniel and Watson, Richard A. , Rocha, M., Bedau, M., Floreano, D., Goldstone, R., Vespignani, A. and Yaeger, L. (eds.) (2006) A Simple Modularity Measure for Search Spaces based on Information Theory. Proceedings of Artificial Life X (ALife X).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Within the context of Artificial Life the question about the role of modularity has turned out to be crucial, especially with regard to the problem of evolvability. In order to be able to observe the development of modular structure, appropriate modularity measures are important. We introduce a continuous measure based on information theory which can characterize the coupling among subsystems in a search problem. In order to illustrate the concepts developed, they are applied to a very simple and intuitive set of combinatorial problems similar to scenarios used in the seminal work by Simon (1969). It is shown that this measure is closely related to the classification of search problems in terms of Separability, Non-Decomposability and Modular Interdependency as introduced in (Watson and Pollack, 2005).

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Published date: 2006
Organisations: Agents, Interactions & Complexity

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 262015
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/262015
PURE UUID: 597c00d2-c2e6-469d-a197-b3b17780fbfd
ORCID for Richard A. Watson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2521-8255

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Feb 2006
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:21

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Contributors

Author: Peter Dauscher
Author: Daniel Polani
Author: Richard A. Watson ORCID iD
Editor: M. Rocha
Editor: M. Bedau
Editor: D. Floreano
Editor: R. Goldstone
Editor: A. Vespignani
Editor: L. Yaeger

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