Theoretical Biology and Complexity

Theoretical Biology and Complexity PDF Author: Robert J. Rosen
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 1483272346
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Theoretical Biology and Complexity: Three Essays on the Natural Philosophy of Complex Systems is made up of three short essays—each separately conceived and written, each with distinct thrusts and emphases, but nevertheless closely related in substance and spirit. All three spring from a common concern: to grasp and comprehend the material basis of living systems. The first essay is about the interaction between particles and the consequent observable manifestations. It casts the analysis of the measurement process into an elegant dualism relating modes of description, and explores the consequences of this dualism for what may be called classical physics. The second essay explores the deeper consequences of representing the properties of natural systems through states built up out of observable quantities, and the dynamics that such systems impose on each other through interactions. The final essay argues that traditional modes of system representation, involving fixed sets of states together with imposed dynamical laws, strictly pertains only to an extremely limited class of systems (called simple systems or mechanisms). Systems not in this class are called "complex, and these can only be in some sense approximated, locally and temporally, by simple ones. Such a radical alteration of viewpoint leads to a large number of concrete, practical consequences, some of which are described in the essay.

Theoretical Biology and Complexity

Theoretical Biology and Complexity PDF Author: Robert J. Rosen
Publisher: Academic Press
ISBN: 1483272346
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 223

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Book Description
Theoretical Biology and Complexity: Three Essays on the Natural Philosophy of Complex Systems is made up of three short essays—each separately conceived and written, each with distinct thrusts and emphases, but nevertheless closely related in substance and spirit. All three spring from a common concern: to grasp and comprehend the material basis of living systems. The first essay is about the interaction between particles and the consequent observable manifestations. It casts the analysis of the measurement process into an elegant dualism relating modes of description, and explores the consequences of this dualism for what may be called classical physics. The second essay explores the deeper consequences of representing the properties of natural systems through states built up out of observable quantities, and the dynamics that such systems impose on each other through interactions. The final essay argues that traditional modes of system representation, involving fixed sets of states together with imposed dynamical laws, strictly pertains only to an extremely limited class of systems (called simple systems or mechanisms). Systems not in this class are called "complex, and these can only be in some sense approximated, locally and temporally, by simple ones. Such a radical alteration of viewpoint leads to a large number of concrete, practical consequences, some of which are described in the essay.

The Art of Theoretical Biology

The Art of Theoretical Biology PDF Author: Franziska Matthäus
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030334716
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
This beautifully crafted book collects images, which were created during the process of research in all fields of theoretical biology. Data analysis, numerical treatment of a model, or simulation results yield stunning images, which represent pieces of art just by themselves. The approach of the book is to present for each piece of visualization a lucid synopsis of the scientific background as well as an outline of the artistic vision.

Signs Of Life

Signs Of Life PDF Author: Ricard Sole
Publisher: Basic Books
ISBN: 9780465019281
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
Signs of Life applies the mathematics of order and disorder, of entropy, chance, and randomness, of chaos and nonlinear dynamics to the various mysteries of the living world at all levels. This book is an entirely new approach to understanding living systems and will help set the agenda for biology in the coming century.

Using Mathematics to Understand Biological Complexity

Using Mathematics to Understand Biological Complexity PDF Author: Rebecca Segal
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030571297
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
This volume tackles a variety of biological and medical questions using mathematical models to understand complex system dynamics. Working in collaborative teams of six, each with a senior research mentor, researchers developed new mathematical models to address questions in a range of application areas. Topics include retinal degeneration, biopolymer dynamics, the topological structure of DNA, ensemble analysis, multidrug-resistant organisms, tumor growth modeling, and geospatial modeling of malaria. The work is the result of newly formed collaborative groups begun during the Collaborative Workshop for Women in Mathematical Biology hosted by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics at UCLA in June 2019. Previous workshops in this series have occurred at IMA, NIMBioS, and MBI.

Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism

Biological Complexity and Integrative Pluralism PDF Author: Sandra D. Mitchell
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521520799
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
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Biological Complexity and the Dynamics of Life Processes

Biological Complexity and the Dynamics of Life Processes PDF Author: J. Ricard
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080860958
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
The aim of this book is to show how supramolecular complexity of cell organization can dramatically alter the functions of individual macromolecules within a cell. The emergence of new functions which appear as a consequence of supramolecular complexity, is explained in terms of physical chemistry. The book is interdisciplinary, at the border between cell biochemistry, physics and physical chemistry. This interdisciplinarity does not result in the use of physical techniques but from the use of physical concepts to study biological problems. In the domain of complexity studies, most works are purely theoretical or based on computer simulation. The present book is partly theoretical, partly experimental and theory is always based on experimental results. Moreover, the book encompasses in a unified manner the dynamic aspects of many different biological fields ranging from dynamics to pattern emergence in a young embryo. The volume puts emphasis on dynamic physical studies of biological events. It also develops, in a unified perspective, this new interdisciplinary approach of various important problems of cell biology and chemistry, ranging from enzyme dynamics to pattern formation during embryo development, thus paving the way to what may become a central issue of future biology.

Complexity in Chemistry, Biology, and Ecology

Complexity in Chemistry, Biology, and Ecology PDF Author: Danail D. Bonchev
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 038725871X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
The book offers new concepts and ideas that broaden reader’s perception of modern science. Internationally established experts present the inspiring new science of complexity, which discovers new general laws covering wide range of science areas. The book offers a broader view on complexity based on the expertise of the related areas of chemistry, biochemistry, biology, ecology, and physics. Contains methodologies for assessing the complexity of systems that can be directly applied to proteomics and genomics, and network analysis in biology, medicine, and ecology.

Life: An Introduction to Complex Systems Biology

Life: An Introduction to Complex Systems Biology PDF Author: Kunihiko Kaneko
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3540326677
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 377

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Book Description
This book examines life not from the reductionist point of view, but rather asks the questions: what are the universal properties of living systems, and how can one construct from there a phenomenological theory of life that leads naturally to complex processes such as reproductive cellular systems, evolution and differentiation? The presentation is relatively non-technical to appeal to a broad spectrum of students and researchers.

Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature

Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature PDF Author: Peter Godfrey-Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521646246
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
This book explains the relationship between intelligence and environmental complexity, and in so doing links philosophy of mind to more general issues about the relations between organisms and environments, and to the general pattern of 'externalist' explanations. The author provides a biological approach to the investigation of mind and cognition in nature. In particular he explores the idea that the function of cognition is to enable agents to deal with environmental complexity. The history of the idea in the work of Dewey and Spencer is considered, as is the impact of recent evolutionary theory on our understanding of the place of mind in nature.

The Life Organic

The Life Organic PDF Author: Erik Peterson
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
ISBN: 082298198X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
As scientists debated the nature of life in the nineteenth century, two theories predominated: vitalism, which suggested that living things contained a "vital spark," and mechanism, the idea that animals and humans differed from nonliving things only in their degree of complexity. Erik Peterson tells the forgotten story of the pursuit of a Third Way in biology, known by many names, including "the organic philosophy," which gave rise to C. H. Waddington's work in the subfield of epigenetics: an alternative to standard genetics and evolutionary biology that captured the attention of notable scientists from Francis Crick to Stephen Jay Gould. The Life Organic chronicles the influential biologists, mathematicians, philosophers, and biochemists from both sides of the Atlantic who formed Joseph Needham's Theoretical Biology Club, defined and refined Third-Way thinking through the 1930s, and laid the groundwork for some of the most cutting-edge achievements in biology today. By tracing the persistence of organicism into the twenty-first century, this book also raises significant questions about how we should model the development of the discipline of biology going forward.