Design in Nature

Design in Nature PDF Author: Adrian Bejan
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307744345
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.

To Govern Evolution

To Govern Evolution PDF Author: Walt Anderson
Publisher: Boston : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
ISBN:
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 408

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Book Description


Design in Nature

Design in Nature PDF Author: Adrian Bejan
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307744345
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

Get Book Here

Book Description
In this groundbreaking book, Adrian Bejan takes the recurring patterns in nature—trees, tributaries, air passages, neural networks, and lightning bolts—and reveals how a single principle of physics, the constructal law, accounts for the evolution of these and many other designs in our world. Everything—from biological life to inanimate systems—generates shape and structure and evolves in a sequence of ever-improving designs in order to facilitate flow. River basins, cardiovascular systems, and bolts of lightning are very efficient flow systems to move a current—of water, blood, or electricity. Likewise, the more complex architecture of animals evolve to cover greater distance per unit of useful energy, or increase their flow across the land. Such designs also appear in human organizations, like the hierarchical “flowcharts” or reporting structures in corporations and political bodies. All are governed by the same principle, known as the constructal law, and configure and reconfigure themselves over time to flow more efficiently. Written in an easy style that achieves clarity without sacrificing complexity, Design in Nature is a paradigm-shifting book that will fundamentally transform our understanding of the world around us.

The Evolution of Government

The Evolution of Government PDF Author: Larry Gillespie
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781422240182
Category : Comparative government
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
How did large, complex states develop from small clans and nomadic tribes? How have rulers throughout history justified their right to govern? What ideas and events shaped the development of modern forms of government? The Evolution of Government answers these and other important questions, providing an overview of the many different types of governments that human societies have created, as well as advantages and disadvantages to each of these political systems. Each title in this series includes color photos throughout, and back matter including: an index and further reading lists for books and internet resources. Key Icons appear throughout the books in this series in an effort to encourage library readers to build knowledge, gain awareness, explore possibilities and expand their viewpoints through our content rich non-fiction books. Key Icons in this series are as follows: Words to Understand are shown at the front of each chapter with definitions. These words are set in boldfaced type in that chapter, so that readers are able to reference back to the definitions--building their vocabulary and enhancing their reading comprehension. Sidebars are highlighted graphics with content rich material within that allows readers to build knowledge and broaden their perspectives by weaving together additional information to provide realistic and holistic perspectives. Educational Videos are offered in chapters through the use of a QR code, that, when scanned, takes the student to an online video showing a moment in sports' history, a speech, or an instructional video. This gives the readers additional content to supplement the text. Text-Dependent Questions are placed at the end of each chapter. They challenge the reader's comprehension of the chapter they have just read, while sending the reader back to the text for more careful attention to the evidence presented there. Research Projects are provided at the end of each chapter as well and provide readers with suggestions for projects that encourage deeper research and analysis. And a Series Glossary of Key Terms is included in the back matter containing terminology used throughout the series. Words found here broaden the reader's knowledge and understanding of terms used in this field.

Governing the Commons

Governing the Commons PDF Author: Elinor Ostrom
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107569788
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Tackles one of the most enduring and contentious issues of positive political economy: common pool resource management.

Milestones in the Evolution of Government

Milestones in the Evolution of Government PDF Author: Leeanne Gelletly
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781510539532
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description
Civilization has seen the rise and fall of hundreds of thousands of governments. Democratization has come in distinct waves, with long periods of stagnation or even reverse democratization separating them. Learn more in Milestones in the Evolution of Government, a title in the Major Forms of World Government series.

The Rule Of Three And The Evolution Of Governance

The Rule Of Three And The Evolution Of Governance PDF Author: Charles Lee
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9811228280
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 380

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Book Description
The changing relationship between East and West, principally between China and America, has brought the whole matter of achieving peaceful and harmonious relations between nations to the fore — particularly with regard to China's recent ascendancy in world affairs. Competition among nations with different forms of governance raises important questions such as: What forms of governance work best to enable people to have harmonious and peaceful life together — both within and amongst nations? What principles can we discover in human history that might point us toward some answers to this fundamental governance question? What might the answers from the past suggest about the future? Where might the future lead?To find answers to these questions, we set out upon a discovery adventure, going back some 30,000 years in time — to trace the evolutionary progress in human governance from the hunter-gatherer period until today. We also adopted a framework provided by Dr Stephen Pinker's landmark study of the nature of violence over time entitled The Better Angels of Our Nature to provide context and contrast to our own discoveries.We discovered several basic principles: First, the forms of human governance made an evolutionary progress over the past 30,000 years. Second, the most basic driver for this progress was and still is technological change, which forces complementary changes in governance — or seals institutional failure. Third, we discovered that just three basic factors determined whether a particular form of governance succeeded in flourishing as a tribe, nation, empire or nation-state. Those fundamental factors are: boundaries, founding mythology, and the Rule of Three.Indeed, our most fundamental finding has been the Rule of Three itself: the principle that says that dyads have inherently unstable natures, whereas triads — like three-legged stools — possess inherent stability. Throughout time, the most successful human arrangements have been those with intricate hierarchies of governance that have the Rule of Three deeply woven into each level.As for the future, we claim that the best international structure would take the symbolic form of an archipelago of nations interconnected with a system of bridges — where each bridge consists of an intercourse route between two nations, and the nature of the intercourse is largely trade in goods and services followed by cultural exchanges of ideas. A Basic Principle: It is far easier to build bridges between nations than to rebuild nations in some other nation's image. Bad actors amongst nations may then get dealt with as villagers used to deal with nasty neighbors — through shunning and shaming, where shunning means the ceasing of trade intercourse.

Sequence — Evolution — Function

Sequence — Evolution — Function PDF Author: Eugene V. Koonin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1475737831
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
Sequence - Evolution - Function is an introduction to the computational approaches that play a critical role in the emerging new branch of biology known as functional genomics. The book provides the reader with an understanding of the principles and approaches of functional genomics and of the potential and limitations of computational and experimental approaches to genome analysis. Sequence - Evolution - Function should help bridge the "digital divide" between biologists and computer scientists, allowing biologists to better grasp the peculiarities of the emerging field of Genome Biology and to learn how to benefit from the enormous amount of sequence data available in the public databases. The book is non-technical with respect to the computer methods for genome analysis and discusses these methods from the user's viewpoint, without addressing mathematical and algorithmic details. Prior practical familiarity with the basic methods for sequence analysis is a major advantage, but a reader without such experience will be able to use the book as an introduction to these methods. This book is perfect for introductory level courses in computational methods for comparative and functional genomics.

In the Light of Evolution

In the Light of Evolution PDF Author: National Academy of Sciences
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The Arthur M. Sackler Colloquia of the National Academy of Sciences address scientific topics of broad and current interest, cutting across the boundaries of traditional disciplines. Each year, four or five such colloquia are scheduled, typically two days in length and international in scope. Colloquia are organized by a member of the Academy, often with the assistance of an organizing committee, and feature presentations by leading scientists in the field and discussions with a hundred or more researchers with an interest in the topic. Colloquia presentations are recorded and posted on the National Academy of Sciences Sackler colloquia website and published on CD-ROM. These Colloquia are made possible by a generous gift from Mrs. Jill Sackler, in memory of her husband, Arthur M. Sackler.

Stephen Jay Gould and the Politics of Evolution

Stephen Jay Gould and the Politics of Evolution PDF Author: David F. Prindle
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1615923527
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 249

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Book Description


Evolution

Evolution PDF Author: Michael Ruse
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674031753
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1020

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Book Description
Spanning evolutionary science from its inception to its latest findings, from discoveries and data to philosophy and history, this book is the most complete, authoritative, and inviting one-volume introduction to evolutionary biology available. Clear, informative, and comprehensive in scope, Evolution opens with a series of major essays dealing with the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology, with major empirical and theoretical questions in the science, from speciation to adaptation, from paleontology to evolutionary development (evo devo), and concluding with essays on the social and political significance of evolutionary biology today. A second encyclopedic section travels the spectrum of topics in evolution with concise, informative, and accessible entries on individuals from Aristotle and Linneaus to Louis Leakey and Jean Lamarck; from T. H. Huxley and E. O. Wilson to Joseph Felsenstein and Motoo Kimura; and on subjects from altruism and amphibians to evolutionary psychology and Piltdown Man to the Scopes trial and social Darwinism. Readers will find the latest word on the history and philosophy of evolution, the nuances of the science itself, and the intricate interplay among evolutionary study, religion, philosophy, and society. Appearing at the beginning of the Darwin Year of 2009—the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species—this volume is a fitting tribute to the science Darwin set in motion.