671 research outputs found
Massively parallel computing on an organic molecular layer
Current computers operate at enormous speeds of ~10^13 bits/s, but their
principle of sequential logic operation has remained unchanged since the 1950s.
Though our brain is much slower on a per-neuron base (~10^3 firings/s), it is
capable of remarkable decision-making based on the collective operations of
millions of neurons at a time in ever-evolving neural circuitry. Here we use
molecular switches to build an assembly where each molecule communicates-like
neurons-with many neighbors simultaneously. The assembly's ability to
reconfigure itself spontaneously for a new problem allows us to realize
conventional computing constructs like logic gates and Voronoi decompositions,
as well as to reproduce two natural phenomena: heat diffusion and the mutation
of normal cells to cancer cells. This is a shift from the current static
computing paradigm of serial bit-processing to a regime in which a large number
of bits are processed in parallel in dynamically changing hardware.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure
Neural nets on the MPP
The Massively Parallel Processor (MPP) is an ideal machine for computer experiments with simulated neural nets as well as more general cellular automata. Experiments using the MPP with a formal model neural network are described. The results on problem mapping and computational efficiency apply equally well to the neural nets of Hopfield, Hinton et al., and Geman and Geman
Vesicle computers: Approximating Voronoi diagram on Voronoi automata
Irregular arrangements of vesicles filled with excitable and precipitating
chemical systems are imitated by Voronoi automata --- finite-state machines
defined on a planar Voronoi diagram. Every Voronoi cell takes four states:
resting, excited, refractory and precipitate. A resting cell excites if it has
at least one excited neighbour; the cell precipitates if a ratio of excited
cells in its neighbourhood to its number of neighbours exceed certain
threshold. To approximate a Voronoi diagram on Voronoi automata we project a
planar set onto automaton lattice, thus cells corresponding to data-points are
excited. Excitation waves propagate across the Voronoi automaton, interact with
each other and form precipitate in result of the interaction. Configuration of
precipitate represents edges of approximated Voronoi diagram. We discover
relation between quality of Voronoi diagram approximation and precipitation
threshold, and demonstrate feasibility of our model in approximation Voronoi
diagram of arbitrary-shaped objects and a skeleton of a planar shape.Comment: Chaos, Solitons & Fractals (2011), in pres
Cellular automaton supercolliders
Gliders in one-dimensional cellular automata are compact groups of
non-quiescent and non-ether patterns (ether represents a periodic background)
translating along automaton lattice. They are cellular-automaton analogous of
localizations or quasi-local collective excitations travelling in a spatially
extended non-linear medium. They can be considered as binary strings or symbols
travelling along a one-dimensional ring, interacting with each other and
changing their states, or symbolic values, as a result of interactions. We
analyse what types of interaction occur between gliders travelling on a
cellular automaton `cyclotron' and build a catalog of the most common
reactions. We demonstrate that collisions between gliders emulate the basic
types of interaction that occur between localizations in non-linear media:
fusion, elastic collision, and soliton-like collision. Computational outcomes
of a swarm of gliders circling on a one-dimensional torus are analysed via
implementation of cyclic tag systems
Excitable Delaunay triangulations
In an excitable Delaunay triangulation every node takes three states
(resting, excited and refractory) and updates its state in discrete time
depending on a ratio of excited neighbours. All nodes update their states in
parallel. By varying excitability of nodes we produce a range of phenomena,
including reflection of excitation wave from edge of triangulation, backfire of
excitation, branching clusters of excitation and localized excitation domains.
Our findings contribute to studies of propagating perturbations and waves in
non-crystalline substrates
Towards heterotic computing with droplets in a fully automated droplet-maker platform
The control and prediction of complex chemical systems is a difficult problem due to the nature of the interactions, transformations and processes occurring. From self-assembly to catalysis and self-organization, complex chemical systems are often heterogeneous mixtures that at the most extreme exhibit system-level functions, such as those that could be observed in a living cell. In this paper, we outline an approach to understand and explore complex chemical systems using an automated droplet maker to control the composition, size and position of the droplets in a predefined chemical environment. By investigating the spatio-temporal dynamics of the droplets, the aim is to understand how to control system-level emergence of complex chemical behaviour and even view the system-level behaviour as a programmable entity capable of information processing. Herein, we explore how our automated droplet-maker platform could be viewed as a prototype chemical heterotic computer with some initial data and example problems that may be viewed as potential chemically embodied computations
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