69,549 research outputs found
Overcoming the Newtonian Paradigm: The Unfinished Project of Theoretical Biology from a Schellingian Perspective
Defending Robert Rosen’s claim that in every confrontation between physics and biology it is physics that
has always had to give ground, it is shown that many of the most important advances in mathematics
and physics over the last two centuries have followed from Schelling’s demand for a new physics that
could make the emergence of life intelligible. Consequently, while reductionism prevails in biology, many
biophysicists are resolutely anti-reductionist. This history is used to identify and defend a fragmented but
progressive tradition of anti-reductionist biomathematics. It is shown that the mathematicoephysico
echemical morphology research program, the biosemiotics movement, and the relational biology of
Rosen, although they have developed independently of each other, are built on and advance this antireductionist tradition of thought. It is suggested that understanding this history and its relationship to the broader history of post-Newtonian science could provide guidance for and justify both the integration of these strands and radically new work in post-reductionist biomathematics
"Going back to our roots": second generation biocomputing
Researchers in the field of biocomputing have, for many years, successfully
"harvested and exploited" the natural world for inspiration in developing
systems that are robust, adaptable and capable of generating novel and even
"creative" solutions to human-defined problems. However, in this position paper
we argue that the time has now come for a reassessment of how we exploit
biology to generate new computational systems. Previous solutions (the "first
generation" of biocomputing techniques), whilst reasonably effective, are crude
analogues of actual biological systems. We believe that a new, inherently
inter-disciplinary approach is needed for the development of the emerging
"second generation" of bio-inspired methods. This new modus operandi will
require much closer interaction between the engineering and life sciences
communities, as well as a bidirectional flow of concepts, applications and
expertise. We support our argument by examining, in this new light, three
existing areas of biocomputing (genetic programming, artificial immune systems
and evolvable hardware), as well as an emerging area (natural genetic
engineering) which may provide useful pointers as to the way forward.Comment: Submitted to the International Journal of Unconventional Computin
Ecosystem-Oriented Distributed Evolutionary Computing
We create a novel optimisation technique inspired by natural ecosystems,
where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of
genes which are distributed in a peer-to-peer network, operating continuously
in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on evolutionary
computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at finding
solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. We consider from the domain
of computer science distributed evolutionary computing, with the relevant
theory from the domain of theoretical biology, including the fields of
evolutionary and ecological theory, the topological structure of ecosystems,
and evolutionary processes within distributed environments. We then define
ecosystem- oriented distributed evolutionary computing, imbibed with the
properties of self-organisation, scalability and sustainability from natural
ecosystems, including a novel form of distributed evolu- tionary computing.
Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the apparent compromises resulting
from the hybrid model created, such as the network topology.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1112.0204, arXiv:0712.4159, arXiv:0712.4153, arXiv:0712.4102,
arXiv:0910.067
Sociological and Communication-Theoretical Perspectives on the Commercialization of the Sciences
Both self-organization and organization are important for the further
development of the sciences: the two dynamics condition and enable each other.
Commercial and public considerations can interact and "interpenetrate" in
historical organization; different codes of communication are then
"recombined." However, self-organization in the symbolically generalized codes
of communication can be expected to operate at the global level. The Triple
Helix model allows for both a neo-institutional appreciation in terms of
historical networks of university-industry-government relations and a
neo-evolutionary interpretation in terms of three functions: (i) novelty
production, (i) wealth generation, and (iii) political control. Using this
model, one can appreciate both subdynamics. The mutual information in three
dimensions enables us to measure the trade-off between organization and
self-organization as a possible synergy. The question of optimization between
commercial and public interests in the different sciences can thus be made
empirical.Comment: Science & Education (forthcoming
Digital Ecosystems: Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures
We view Digital Ecosystems to be the digital counterparts of biological
ecosystems. Here, we are concerned with the creation of these Digital
Ecosystems, exploiting the self-organising properties of biological ecosystems
to evolve high-level software applications. Therefore, we created the Digital
Ecosystem, a novel optimisation technique inspired by biological ecosystems,
where the optimisation works at two levels: a first optimisation, migration of
agents which are distributed in a decentralised peer-to-peer network, operating
continuously in time; this process feeds a second optimisation based on
evolutionary computing that operates locally on single peers and is aimed at
finding solutions to satisfy locally relevant constraints. The Digital
Ecosystem was then measured experimentally through simulations, with measures
originating from theoretical ecology, evaluating its likeness to biological
ecosystems. This included its responsiveness to requests for applications from
the user base, as a measure of the ecological succession (ecosystem maturity).
Overall, we have advanced the understanding of Digital Ecosystems, creating
Ecosystem-Oriented Architectures where the word ecosystem is more than just a
metaphor.Comment: 39 pages, 26 figures, journa
The Evolution Ontology
Existing ontologies model components of evolution, but none synthesize them or describe the framework of ideas used to conceptualize evolution. The Evolution Ontology (EO) aims to do just this. EO models processes (e.g. natural selection); contexts (e.g. habitats); the entities that undergo evolution; and the theories, methods, and disciplines of evolutionary science. Uses include data curation, data mining, and literature curation, EO’s developers working on the latter two for works of Darwin and the Biodiversity Heritage Library
Selective pressures on genomes in molecular evolution
We describe the evolution of macromolecules as an information transmission
process and apply tools from Shannon information theory to it. This allows us
to isolate three independent, competing selective pressures that we term
compression, transmission, and neutrality selection. The first two affect
genome length: the pressure to conserve resources by compressing the code, and
the pressure to acquire additional information that improves the channel,
increasing the rate of information transmission into each offspring. Noisy
transmission channels (replication with mutations) gives rise to a third
pressure that acts on the actual encoding of information; it maximizes the
fraction of mutations that are neutral with respect to the phenotype. This
neutrality selection has important implications for the evolution of
evolvability. We demonstrate each selective pressure in experiments with
digital organisms.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, to be published in J. theor. Biolog
Information and communication in a networked infosphere: a review of concepts and application in social branding
This paper aims at providing a contribution to the comprehensive review of the impact of information and communication, and their supporting technologies, in the current transformation of human life in the infosphere. The paper also offers an ex- ample of the power of new social approaches to the use of information and commu- nication technologies to foster new working models in organizations by presenting the main outcomes of a research project on social branding. A discussion about some trends of the future impact of new information and communication technologies in the infosphere is also included
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