Eur. Phys. J. B (2013) 86: 473
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2013-40672-3

Regular Article

The prescribed output pattern regulates the modular structure of flow networks^*

¹ School of Engineering and Science, Jacobs University Bremen, 28759 Bremen, Germany
² School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 871804, Tempe 85287-1804, Arizona, USA

^a e-mail: m.beber@jacobs-university.de

Received: 15 July 2013
Received in final form: 16 September 2013
Published online: 18 November 2013

Abstract

Modules are common functional and structural properties of many social, technical and biological networks. Especially for biological systems it is important to understand how modularity is related to function and how modularity evolves. It is known that time-varying or spatially organized goals can lead to modularity in a simulated evolution of signaling networks. Here, we study a minimal model of material flow in networks. We discuss the relation between the shared use of nodes, i.e., the cooperativity of modules, and the orthogonality of a prescribed output pattern. We study the persistence of cooperativity through an evolution of robustness against local damages. We expect the results to be valid for a large class of flow-based biological and technical networks.