Kin selection with twin genetic programming

In steady state Twin GP both children created by sub-tree crossover and point mutation are used. They are born together and die together. Evolution is little changed. Indeed fitness selection using the twin’s co-conceived doppelganger is possible

Biopsychosocial Assessment and Ergonomics Intervention for Sustainable Living: A Case Study on Flats

This study proposes an ergonomics-based approach for those who are living in small housings (known as flats) in Indonesia. With regard to human capability and limitation, this research shows how the basic needs of human beings are captured and analyzed, followed by proposed designs of facilities and standard living in small housings. Ninety samples were involved during the study through in- depth interview and face-to-face questionnaire. The results show that there were some proposed of modification of critical facilities (such as multifunction ironing work station, bed furniture, and clothesline) and validated through usability testing. Overall, it is hoped that the proposed designs will support biopsychosocial needs and sustainability

Twinning as an Evolved Age-Dependent Physiological Mechanism: Evidence from Large Brazilian Samples

Multiple pregnancies occur in humans and other primates, which indicate that the twinning propensity is phylogenetically old. Factors such as decreased sexual dimorphism and size, rich and diverse nutrition and paternal care are related to multiple pregnancies in other animals. In human populations, despite its costs, twinning has a genetic basis and in Europe, Africa, and America, it was found that it increases mothers’ fitness. Here, we explore the hypothesis that twinning represents an evolved physiological mechanism, particularly in mothers of higher age, as an ‘all-or-nothing’ last chance strategy for reproduction just before menopause. We present decade-long, large-scale population data about maternities from the city of São Paulo and the entire country of Brazil that indicate a considerable main effect of advanced age in promoting twinning, particularly dizygotic (DZ) twinning, but also monozygotic (MZ) twinning and higher order maternities. We also show that socioeconomic status is an important contextual factor increasing twinning. Besides the theoretical implications, these datasets establish a Brazilian countrywide twinning rate of 9.39‰ and highlight an increasing historical trend. This chapter promotes the importance of integrating proximate patterns from human and nonhuman animals and evolutionary factors in order to reach a comprehensive view about twinning

Early life origins of asthma : genetic and environmental factors in twin and kin

During the last decades there has been an upsurge of studies investigating how early life exposures may affect subsequent health outcomes in childhood. For instance, low birth weight and exposure to antibiotics during fetal or early life have been suggested to increase the risk of childhood asthma. Twin- and sibling comparisons can help to account for confounding factors shared within families and to shed light on potential causal pathways. Thus, in Study I, we aimed to investigate if low birth weight, as a proxy for fetal growth restriction in twins, was associated with the development of asthma in a cohort of 10 918 Swedish twins aged 9 or 12 years. We found a significant association which was thought to be explained by unique individual factors and not due to familial confounding or gestational age. It can be speculated that restricted fetal growth affects lung development in utero which influences the risk of developing asthma in childhood. In Study II, we aimed to further understand the adverse effects of restricted fetal growth, by specifically investigating its association with childhood lung function in a cohort of 576 twins aged 9-14 years at invitation to the study. We found a significant association between fetal growth restriction and reduced forced expiratory volume in the first second, which could be explained by unique factors of each twin. Similar effects were found in non-asthmatic individuals, whereas other factors may be of importance for the association between fetal growth and lung function in individuals with asthma. To be able to study asthma in register-based studies, a valid measure of the disease is needed. In Study III, medical records for roughly 1700 individuals, corresponding to prescription dates of asthma medications or to discharge dates accompanying asthma diagnoses and identified from population-based drug- and patient registers, were collected from health care units and evaluated against pre-defined criteria of asthma. We found a high positive predictive value for asthma medication as a proxy for asthma in older children and the majority of children with an asthma diagnosis in the patient register fulfilled pre-defined criteria of asthma. In Study IV, the previously suggested association between antibiotic exposure in fetal and early life and childhood asthma (based on the validated outcome measure from Study III) was investigated in a cohort of 493 785 children. We found an association between antibiotic exposure both in fetal and early life and asthma. Yet, sibling control analyses suggested that the associations were due to shared factors within families, and confounding by indication or reverse causation due to respiratory infections. In conclusion, shared genetic and environmental factors contributed to the association between antibiotics and asthma, but not between fetal growth and asthma and lung function, respectively. Genetically informed designs to control for familial confounding are useful tools to help provide a clearer understanding of the etiology of asthma. In addition, asthma identified from population-based registers can be used as a validated outcome measure and contribute towards future studies on asthma using register-based data

The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis Facilitates Evolutionary Models of Culture Change

The Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) is beginning to fulfill the whole promise of Darwinian insight through its extension of evolutionary understanding from the biological domain to include cultural information evolution. Several decades of important foundation-laying work took a social Darwinist approach and exhibited and ecologically-deterministic elements. This is not the case with more recent developments to the evolutionary study of culture, which emphasize non-Darwinian processes such as self-organization, potentiality, and epigenetic change.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables; in Cliodynamics: The Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 9(2), 84-10