Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics PDF Author: M. Lässig
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540431888
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
People have always asked what distinguishes the living from the inanimate world and what uni?es the two. The ?elds of biology and physics have a long history of exchange. Milestones at the molecular level were the discoveries of the structure ofDNA,RNA,andproteins. It is not by coincidence that this exchange has intensi?ed in recent years. Laboratory experiments reach down to the level of single molecules. Moreover, thereisnowavastamountofgenomicinformation,whichisstillgrowingex- nentially due to the various sequencing projects. Biologists increasingly feel the need for theoretical models to interpret these data in a quantitative way. At the sametime,theoreticalphysicshasmadesigni?cantprogressinareaslikelyto be relevant for the understanding of biological systems. Some important ex- plesarecooperativephenomena,statisticsfarfromthermodynamicequilibrium, systemswithquencheddisorder,andsoftmatter. Some forms of biological matter have indeed become established areas of - searchwithinphysics,suchasbiomembranes,heteropolymers,molecularmotors, microtubules,neuralsystemsetc.Thisvolumeisfocusedonadi?erentaspect of the living world that can be calledbiologicalinformation,itscoding,rep- duction,andevolution.Biologicalinformationistranslatedintostructuresand patternsoveranenormousrangeofscales,fromsinglebiomoleculestospecies networks coupled over entire continents. Thestatisticaltheory of biological information lives not only in three-dim- sional space. It involves various abstract spaces in which this information is encodedandevolves,suchasnucleotidesequences,genenetworks,ortopologies of the ‘tree of life’. The articles collected highlight a few directions of research that may become important parts of this emerging ?eld. The ?rst part of the book,MolecularInformationandEvolution,startswith twoarticlesonsequencesimilarityanalysis,acentralthemeinbioinformatics which has surprisingly deep connections to statistical physics. The genetic code, RNA,andproteinsarethreeexamplesoftheintricateinterplayofsequence, structure,andfunctioninevolution.

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics PDF Author: M. Lässig
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540431888
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Get Book Here

Book Description
People have always asked what distinguishes the living from the inanimate world and what uni?es the two. The ?elds of biology and physics have a long history of exchange. Milestones at the molecular level were the discoveries of the structure ofDNA,RNA,andproteins. It is not by coincidence that this exchange has intensi?ed in recent years. Laboratory experiments reach down to the level of single molecules. Moreover, thereisnowavastamountofgenomicinformation,whichisstillgrowingex- nentially due to the various sequencing projects. Biologists increasingly feel the need for theoretical models to interpret these data in a quantitative way. At the sametime,theoreticalphysicshasmadesigni?cantprogressinareaslikelyto be relevant for the understanding of biological systems. Some important ex- plesarecooperativephenomena,statisticsfarfromthermodynamicequilibrium, systemswithquencheddisorder,andsoftmatter. Some forms of biological matter have indeed become established areas of - searchwithinphysics,suchasbiomembranes,heteropolymers,molecularmotors, microtubules,neuralsystemsetc.Thisvolumeisfocusedonadi?erentaspect of the living world that can be calledbiologicalinformation,itscoding,rep- duction,andevolution.Biologicalinformationistranslatedintostructuresand patternsoveranenormousrangeofscales,fromsinglebiomoleculestospecies networks coupled over entire continents. Thestatisticaltheory of biological information lives not only in three-dim- sional space. It involves various abstract spaces in which this information is encodedandevolves,suchasnucleotidesequences,genenetworks,ortopologies of the ‘tree of life’. The articles collected highlight a few directions of research that may become important parts of this emerging ?eld. The ?rst part of the book,MolecularInformationandEvolution,startswith twoarticlesonsequencesimilarityanalysis,acentralthemeinbioinformatics which has surprisingly deep connections to statistical physics. The genetic code, RNA,andproteinsarethreeexamplesoftheintricateinterplayofsequence, structure,andfunctioninevolution.

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics PDF Author: M. Lässig
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540456929
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This set of lecture notes gives a first coherent account of a novel aspect of the living world that can be called biological information. The book presents both a pedagogical and state-of-the art roadmap of this rapidly evolving area and covers the whole field, from information which is encoded in the molecular genetic code to the description of large-scale evolution of complex species networks. The book will prove useful for all those who work at the interface of biology, physics and information science.

Foundations of Complex-system Theories

Foundations of Complex-system Theories PDF Author: Sunny Y. Auyang
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521778268
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
Analyzes approaches to the study of complexity in the physical, biological, and social sciences.

A Concise Introduction to the Statistical Physics of Complex Systems

A Concise Introduction to the Statistical Physics of Complex Systems PDF Author: Eric Bertin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642239234
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 85

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Book Description
This concise primer (based on lectures given at summer schools on complex systems and on a masters degree course in complex systems modeling) will provide graduate students and newcomers to the field with the basic knowledge of the concepts and methods of statistical physics and its potential for application to interdisciplinary topics. Indeed, in recent years, statistical physics has begun to attract the interest of a broad community of researchers in the field of complex system sciences, ranging from biology to the social sciences, economics and computer science. More generally, a growing number of graduate students and researchers feel the need to learn some basic concepts and questions originating in other disciplines without necessarily having to master all of the corresponding technicalities and jargon. Generally speaking, the goals of statistical physics may be summarized as follows: on the one hand to study systems composed of a large number of interacting ‘entities’, and on the other to predict the macroscopic (or collective) behavior of the system considered from the microscopic laws ruling the dynamics of the individual ‘entities’. These two goals are, to some extent, also shared by what is nowadays called ‘complex systems science’ and for these reasons, systems studied in the framework of statistical physics may be considered as among the simplest examples of complex systems—allowing in addition a rather well developed mathematical treatment.

Evolution and Structure of the Internet

Evolution and Structure of the Internet PDF Author: Romualdo Pastor-Satorras
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521826985
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
"This book describes the application of statistical physics and complex systems theory to the study of the evolution and structure of the Internet." "The presentation focuses on statistical regularities observed in the large-scale structure of the network, the so-called "global Internet" as well as on the importance of dynamics in the formulation of adequate models. Using this approach it is possible to provide a unified picture of results obtained on the Internet in the context of different scientific communities. This makes use of methods and concepts that have proven to be extremely useful in the analysis of more classical statistical physics systems, such as percolation theory, mean-field methods, and cellular automata simulations." "This book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in statistical physics, computer science, and mathematics studying the structure and evolution of the internet."--BOOK JACKET.

The Logic of Chance

The Logic of Chance PDF Author: Eugene V. Koonin
Publisher: FT Press
ISBN: 013262317X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
The Logic of Chance offers a reappraisal and a new synthesis of theories, concepts, and hypotheses on the key aspects of the evolution of life on earth in light of comparative genomics and systems biology. The author presents many specific examples from systems and comparative genomic analysis to begin to build a new, much more detailed, complex, and realistic picture of evolution. The book examines a broad range of topics in evolutionary biology including the inadequacy of natural selection and adaptation as the only or even the main mode of evolution; the key role of horizontal gene transfer in evolution and the consequent overhaul of the Tree of Life concept; the central, underappreciated evolutionary importance of viruses; the origin of eukaryotes as a result of endosymbiosis; the concomitant origin of cells and viruses on the primordial earth; universal dependences between genomic and molecular-phenomic variables; and the evolving landscape of constraints that shape the evolution of genomes and molecular phenomes. "Koonin's account of viral and pre-eukaryotic evolution is undoubtedly up-to-date. His "mega views" of evolution (given what was said above) and his cosmological musings, on the other hand, are interesting reading." Summing Up: Recommended Reprinted with permission from CHOICE, copyright by the American Library Association.

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics

Biological Evolution and Statistical Physics PDF Author: M. Lässig
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783540431886
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
This set of lecture notes gives a first coherent account of a novel aspect of the living world that can be called biological information. The book presents both a pedagogical and state-of-the art roadmap of this rapidly evolving area and covers the whole field, from information which is encoded in the molecular genetic code to the description of large-scale evolution of complex species networks. The book will prove useful for all those who work at the interface of biology, physics and information science.

Evolution of Networks

Evolution of Networks PDF Author: S. N. Dorogovtsev
Publisher:
ISBN: 0199686718
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
We live in a world of networks, where everything is amazingly close to everything else. The notion of 'network' turns out to be central to our times: the Internet and WWW are changing our lives; our physical existence is based on various biological networks; we are involved in all-enveloping networks of economic and social relations. Only in the 1990s did physicists begin to explore real networks, both natural and artificial, as evolving systems with intriguingly complex and effective architectures. Progress has been so immediate and astounding that we actually face a new science based on a new set of concepts, and, one may even say, on a new philosophy: the natural philosophy of a small world. Old ideas from mathematics, statistical physics, biology, computer science, and so on take on quite new forms in applications to real evolving networks. - What is common to all networks? - What are the general principles of the organization and evolution of networks? - How do the laws of nature work in communication, biological, and social networks? - What are networks? This book, written by physicists, answers these questions and presents a general insight into the world of networks.

Information Theory And Evolution (Third Edition)

Information Theory And Evolution (Third Edition) PDF Author: John Scales Avery
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811250383
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
This highly interdisciplinary book discusses the phenomenon of life, including its origin and evolution, against the background of thermodynamics, statistical mechanics, and information theory. Among the central themes is the seeming contradiction between the second law of thermodynamics and the high degree of order and complexity produced by living systems. As the author shows, this paradox has its resolution in the information content of the Gibbs free energy that enters the biosphere from outside sources. Another focus of the book is the role of information in human cultural evolution, which is also discussed with the origin of human linguistic abilities. One of the final chapters addresses the merging of information technology and biotechnology into a new discipline — bioinformation technology.This third edition has been updated to reflect the latest scientific and technological advances. Professor Avery makes use of the perspectives of famous scholars such as Professor Noam Chomsky and Nobel Laureates John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edward Moser to cast light on the evolution of human languages. The mechanism of cell differentiation, and the rapid acceleration of information technology in the 21st century are also discussed.With various research disciplines becoming increasingly interrelated today, Information Theory and Evolution provides nuance to the conversation between bioinformatics, information technology, and pertinent social-political issues. This book is a welcome voice in working on the future challenges that humanity will face as a result of scientific and technological progress.

Evolution, Money, War, and Computers

Evolution, Money, War, and Computers PDF Author: Paulo Murilo C. de Oliveira
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3322910091
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 156

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Book Description
This book for physicists, biologists, computer scientists, economists or social scientists shows in selected examples how computer simulation methods which are typical to statistical physics have been applied in other areas outside of physics. Our main part deals with the biology of ageing, while other examples are the functioning of the immune system, the structure of DNA, the fluctuations on the stock market, theories for sociology and for World War II. Are leaky water faucets similar to our heartbeats? Throughout the book we emphasize microscopic models dealing with the action of individuals, whether they are cells of the immune system or traders speculating on the currency market. Complete computer programs are given and explained for biological ageing. The references try to introduce the expert from the covered other fields to the relevant physics literature; and they also show the physicists the way into the biological literature on ageing.