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Simulated Bacterially-Inspired Problem Solving – The Behavioural Domain

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Abstract

Bacterial populations meet the challenges of dynamic spatially heterogeneous environments with fluctuating biotic and abiotic factors in a number of ways. The motivation for the work presented here has been to transfer ideas from bacterial adaptability and evolvability to computational problem solving. Following a brief comment on some examples of the ways bacteria solve problems, a bacterially-inspired computational architecture for simulating aspects of problem solving is described. We then examine three case studies. The first, a study of the mutational impact of a remediation to toxic (fitness-reducing) material, highlights how a sufficiently pre-engineered adaptive system can solve a difficult problem quite easily. The second study looks at why it is difficult to evolve complex problem solving behaviours and how artificial selection mechanisms coupled with pre-engineering the system can help. Specifically, this refers to quorum sensing and tactic behaviours. A further study looked at ways in which a quorum sensing analogue could help computational agents find multiple peaks in a landscape. The paper concludes with a discussion of an investigation of bacteria that had both quorum sensing and tactic capabilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    R. C. Paton & C. Vlachos

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    Q. H. Wu

  3. School of Biological Sciences, University of Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

    J. R. Saunders

Authors
  1. R. C. Paton
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  2. C. Vlachos
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  3. Q. H. Wu
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  4. J. R. Saunders
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Correspondence to J. R. Saunders.

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Paton, R.C., Vlachos, C., Wu, Q.H. et al. Simulated Bacterially-Inspired Problem Solving – The Behavioural Domain. Nat Comput 5, 43–65 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11047-005-5498-x

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