Information and Living Systems PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download Information and Living Systems PDF full book. Access full book title Information and Living Systems by George Terzis. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: George Terzis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262201747
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 459
Get Book Here
Book Description
The informational nature of biological organization, at levels from the genetic and epigenetic to the cognitive and linguistic. Information shapes biological organization in fundamental ways and at every organizational level. Because organisms use information--including DNA codes, gene expression, and chemical signaling--to construct, maintain, repair, and replicate themselves, it would seem only natural to use information-related ideas in our attempts to understand the general nature of living systems, the causality by which they operate, the difference between living and inanimate matter, and the emergence, in some biological species, of cognition, emotion, and language. And yet philosophers and scientists have been slow to do so. This volume fills that gap. Information and Living Systems offers a collection of original chapters in which scientists and philosophers discuss the informational nature of biological organization at levels ranging from the genetic to the cognitive and linguistic. The chapters examine not only familiar information-related ideas intrinsic to the biological sciences but also broader information-theoretic perspectives used to interpret their significance. The contributors represent a range of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, cognitive science, information theory, philosophy, psychology, and systems theory, thus demonstrating the deeply interdisciplinary nature of the volume's bioinformational theme.
Author: George Terzis
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262201747
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 459
Get Book Here
Book Description
The informational nature of biological organization, at levels from the genetic and epigenetic to the cognitive and linguistic. Information shapes biological organization in fundamental ways and at every organizational level. Because organisms use information--including DNA codes, gene expression, and chemical signaling--to construct, maintain, repair, and replicate themselves, it would seem only natural to use information-related ideas in our attempts to understand the general nature of living systems, the causality by which they operate, the difference between living and inanimate matter, and the emergence, in some biological species, of cognition, emotion, and language. And yet philosophers and scientists have been slow to do so. This volume fills that gap. Information and Living Systems offers a collection of original chapters in which scientists and philosophers discuss the informational nature of biological organization at levels ranging from the genetic to the cognitive and linguistic. The chapters examine not only familiar information-related ideas intrinsic to the biological sciences but also broader information-theoretic perspectives used to interpret their significance. The contributors represent a range of disciplines, including anthropology, biology, chemistry, cognitive science, information theory, philosophy, psychology, and systems theory, thus demonstrating the deeply interdisciplinary nature of the volume's bioinformational theme.
Author: Vladimir B Bajic
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 1783260270
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 799
Get Book Here
Book Description
Information processing and information flow occur in the course of an organism's development and throughout its lifespan. Organisms do not exist in isolation, but interact with each other constantly within a complex ecosystem. The relationships between organisms, such as those between prey or predator, host and parasite, and between mating partners, are complex and multidimensional. In all cases, there is constant communication and information flow at many levels.This book focuses on information processing by life forms and the use of information technology in understanding them. Readers are first given a comprehensive overview of biocomputing before navigating the complex terrain of natural processing of biological information using physiological and analogous computing models. The remainder of the book deals with “artificial” processing of biological information as a human endeavor in order to derive new knowledge and gain insight into life forms and their functioning. Specific innovative applications and tools for biological discovery are provided as the link and complement to biocomputing.Since “artificial” processing of biological information is complementary to natural processing, a better understanding of the former helps us improve the latter. Consequently, readers are exposed to both domains and, when dealing with biological problems of their interest, will be better equipped to grasp relevant ideas.
Author: James G. Miller
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biology
Languages : en
Pages : 120
Get Book Here
Book Description
Author: Samuli Niiranen
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642196217
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 234
Get Book Here
Book Description
Living beings require constant information processing for survival. In cells, information is being processed and propagated at various levels, from the gene regulatory network to chemical pathways, to the interaction with the environment. How this is achieved and how information is coded is still poorly understood. For example, what a cell interprets as information in the temporal level of an mRNA and what is interpreted as noise remains an open question. Recently, information theoretical methods and other tools, developed in the context of engineering and natural sciences, have been applied to study diverse biological processes. This book covers the latest findings on how information is processed in various biological processes, ranging from information processing and propagation in gene regulatory networks to information processing in natural language. An overview is presented of the state-of-the-art in information processing in biological systems and the opinion of current leaders in this research field on future research directions.
Author: Fabrizio Cleri
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319306472
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 635
Get Book Here
Book Description
In this book, physics in its many aspects (thermodynamics, mechanics, electricity, fluid dynamics) is the guiding light on a fascinating journey through biological systems, providing ideas, examples and stimulating reflections for undergraduate physics, chemistry and life-science students, as well as for anyone interested in the frontiers between physics and biology. Rather than introducing a lot of new information, it encourages young students to use their recently acquired knowledge to start seeing the physics behind the biology. As an undergraduate textbook in introductory biophysics, it includes the necessary background and tools, including exercises and appendices, to form a progressive course. In this case, the chapters can be used in the order proposed, possibly split between two semesters. The book is also an absorbing read for researchers in the life sciences who wish to refresh or go deeper into the physics concepts gleaned in their early years of scientific training. Less physics-oriented readers might want to skip the first chapter, as well as all the "gray boxes" containing the more formal developments, and create their own á-la-carte menu of chapters.
Author: Lila L. Gatlin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780231036344
Category : Information theory in biology
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Get Book Here
Book Description
The author applies the universal precepts of information theory to the communication system of DNA.
Author: C. H. Waddington
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351297147
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 334
Get Book Here
Book Description
Biological Processes in Living Systems is the fourth and final volume of the Toward a Theoretical Biology series. It contains essays that deal in detail with particular biological processes: morphogenesis of pattern, the development of neuronal networks, evolutionary processes, and others. The main thrust of this volume brings relevance to the general underlying nature of living systems. Faced with trying to understand how the complexity of molecular microstates leads to the relative simplicity of phenome structures, Waddington-on behalf of his colleagues-stresses on the structure of language as a paradigm for a theory of general biology. This is language in an imperative mood: a set of symbols, organized by some form of generative grammar, making possible the conveyance of commands for action to produce effects on the surroundings of the emitting and the receiving entities. "Biology," he writes, "is concerned with algorithm and program." Among the contributions in this volume are: "The Riemann-Hugoniot Catastrophe and van der Waals Equation," David H. Fowler; "Differential Equations for the Heartbeat and Nerve Impulse," E. Christopher Zeeman; "Structuralism and Biology," Rene Thom; "The Concept of Positional Information and Pattern Formation," Lewis Wolpert; "Pattern Formation in Fibroblast Cultures," Tom Elsdale; "Form and Information," C. H. Waddington; "Organizational Principles for Theoretical Neurophysiology," Michael A. Arbib; "Stochastic Models of Neuroelectric Activity," Jack D. Cowan. Biological Processes in Living Systems is a pioneering volume by recognized leaders in an ever-growing field.
Author: Philip Nelson
Publisher: Macmillan Higher Education
ISBN: 1319036902
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 365
Get Book Here
Book Description
Written for intermediate-level undergraduates pursuing any science or engineering major, Physical Models of Living Systems helps students develop many of the competencies that form the basis of the new MCAT2015. The only prerequisite is first-year physics. With the more advanced "Track-2" sections at the end of each chapter, the book can be used in graduate-level courses as well.
Author: Richard L. Summers
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN: 1527557898
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 505
Get Book Here
Book Description
The central question in the biological sciences for the past 100 years has concerned an understanding of how living systems differ from other general physical phenomena and what makes these systems unique. With new developments in the fields of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, systems theory, chaos, and information theory over the past few decades, there has been growing interest in finally answering the question first posed by Erwin Schrödinger in the 1940s concerning the true scientific nature of living systems. Similarly, there is also increasing interest within the biologic community for a more holistic and non-reductionist methodology. The approach followed in this book builds on a foundation of information theory and semiotics while integrating basic thermodynamic considerations and systems theory to form a singular unifying concept that is proposed to be the essential process of living systems. However, the premise presented is much more than simply the exposition of a new hypothesis. This book describes the logical progression of thought incorporating a diverse array of established scientific ideas that were used in the conceptualization of a dynamic mathematical framework that can be employed as a novel analytic means for the study of living systems and their fundamental processes.
Author: David D. Rutstein
Publisher: MIT Press (MA)
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 344
Get Book Here
Book Description
This book outlines for the first time a sound plan for interrelating the physical and engineering sciences and mathematics with biology and medicine. The walls of narrowing specialization that have kept these disciplines apart are broken down. The proposed program points up the need for an administrative structure to aid the flow of concepts, ideas, knowledge, and technology among those concerned, both within and without the university. The kinds of experts needed to bridge the existing gap between the two groups of disciplines are defined. Educational programs are outlined for full-time specialists, research participants, and practitioners in both engineering and medicine. A careful description is given of the stepwise process, including interaction with industry to apply development in the engineering sense to biology and medicine. A detailed example of the application of systems analysis and operations research to the development of a specific medical care program is also included. This book is a distillate of the general principles learned during the exploration of a joint program between Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which was summarized by the authors in a Report to the National Academy of Engineering. The authors recognize the impossibility of providing on their own the authoritative grasp necessary to provide specific recommendations for the future in the many field comprised by engineering and living systems. Cooperation was obtained of outstanding experts on the two faculties, who prepared sixteen task group reports under the following headings: artificial internal organs; bioengineering curricula; biological control systems; continuing education; diagnostic instrumentation; diagnostic processes; image processing and visualization techniques; medical care microsystems; neurophysiology; organ and cell culture and storage; physiological monitoring; physiological systems analysis; regionalization of health services (macrosystems); sensory aids; skeletal prostheses; and subcellular engineering. The task group reports, included in this book, provide the documentation for the general conclusions of the authors. This book supplements existing medical programs with a new research approach to increase fundamental knowledge, and points the way to better medical care through more efficient application of engineering, technology, and systems development.
