Example Projects for Natural Computation and Self-Organization
A class project consists of a program (code and documentation) or a
written report. The topic should be selected in consultation with
the instructor and fall within the general themes of the class:
information processing and computation in natural systems. The project
will be presented orally at the end of the term. The project's written
report or its code and documentation are due at the last class.
A website on the project with the report or code
and documentation is acceptable (and even preferred).
Possible topics:
- Review current research on a complex system of your choice; such as,
- Chemical pattern formation
- Biological morphogenesis
- Bioinformatics
- Economics
- Simulation of a self-organizing system
- Traffic flow
- Statistical mechanical model: Ising, Potts,
Heisenberg, X-Y, and so on.
- Population dynamics
- Networks: Internet, WWW, social, power grid, gene expression, ...
- Effect of external noise on
- Chaotic behavior
- This or that kind of bifurcation
- Routes to chaos
- Estimate information quantities for complex system of your choice
- Probability densities:
- Time evolution of densities for 1D and 2D maps.
- Approximate invariant distributions.
- Transform-based analysis of chaos:
- Fourier analysis.
- Wavelet analysis.
- Survey structural complexity versus entropy for same
- Implement CA pattern analysis
- Analyze variant of 1D or 2D spin systems
- Relationship between energy and information
- Relationship between instrinsic computation and phase transitions
- Maxwell's demon: energy versus information
- Novel computation:
- Quantum
- DNA
- Analog/continuous
- Stochastic
- Evolutionary
- Neural
- Build an experimental chaotic or pattern-forming system:
- Electronic circuit
- Mechanical device
- Chemical oscillator
- Video feedback (see JPC articles)
- Chaotic encryption
- Statistical complexity of fractals
- Philosophical review of:
- Causality
- Teleology
- Randomness, including human perception of
- Coincidence (cf. Persi Diaconis papers)
- Prediction
- Cybernetics
- Software tool for estimation of information quantities
- Algorithms/code for causal state estimation
- ... your ideas here ...