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Item Details
Title:
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MODULARITY
UNDERSTANDING THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVOLUTION OF NATURAL COMPLEX SYSTEMS |
By: |
Werner Callebaut (Editor), Diego Rasskin-Gutman (Editor), Herbert A. Simon (Foreword) |
Format: |
Paperback |
List price:
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£50.00 |
We currently do not stock this item, please contact the publisher directly for
further information.
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ISBN 10: |
0262513269 |
ISBN 13: |
9780262513265 |
Publisher: |
MIT PRESS LTD |
Pub. date: |
1 September, 2009 |
Series: |
Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology |
Pages: |
472 |
Description: |
Experts from diverse fields, including artificial life, cognitive science, economics, developmental and evolutionary biology, and the arts, discuss modularity. |
Synopsis: |
Modularity -- the attempt to understand systems as integrations of partially independent and interacting units -- is today a dominant theme in the life sciences, cognitive science, and computer science. The concept goes back at least implicitly to the Scientific (or Copernican) Revolution, and can be found behind later theories of phrenology, physiology, and genetics; moreover, art, engineering, and mathematics rely on modular design principles. This collection broadens the scientific discussion of modularity by bringing together experts from a variety of disciplines, including artificial life, cognitive science, economics, evolutionary computation, developmental and evolutionary biology, linguistics, mathematics, morphology, paleontology, physics, theoretical chemistry, philosophy, and the arts.The contributors debate and compare the uses of modularity, discussing the different disciplinary contexts of "modular thinking" in general (including hierarchical organization, near-decomposability, quasi-independence, and recursion) or of more specialized concepts (including character complex, gene family, encapsulation, and mosaic evolution); what modules are, why and how they develop and evolve, and the implication for the research agenda in the disciplines involved; and how to bring about useful cross-disciplinary knowledge transfer on the topic. The book includes a foreword by the late Herbert A. Simon addressing the role of near-decomposability in understanding complex systems. |
Reader Age: |
From 18 years |
Illustrations: |
81 illus. |
Publication: |
US |
Imprint: |
MIT Press |
Returns: |
Returnable |
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Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr
A celebratory, inclusive and educational exploration of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr for both children that celebrate and children who want to understand and appreciate their peers who do.
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