What is Life? On Earth and Beyond

Three elements mainly wind, water and sun seemed to determine in ancient ages the basic phenomena of life on Earth. Architectural history documented the importance of sun influence on urban and building construction already in layouts of Mesopotamian and Greek houses. Not only sun radiation but especially daylight played a significant role in the creation of indoor environment. Later, in the 20th century, a search of interaction between human life in buildings and natural conditions were studied considering wellbeing and energy conscious design recently using computer tools in complex research and more detail interdisciplinary solutions. At the same time the restricted daytime availability of natural light was supplemented by more efficient and continually cheaper artificial lighting of interiors. There are two main approaches to standardize the design and evaluation of indoor visual environment. The first is based on the determination of the minimum requirements respecting human health and visibility needs in all activities while the second emphasizes the behaviour and comfort of occupants in buildings considering yeararound natural changes of physical quantities like light, temperature, noise and energy consumption. The new current standardization basis for daylight evaluation and window design criteria stimulate the study of methodology principles that historically were based on the overcast type of sky luminance pattern avoiding yearly availability of sky illuminance levels. New trends to base the daylight standardization on yearly or longterm availability of daylight are using the averages or median sky illuminance levels to characterise local climatological conditions. This paper offers the review and discussion about the principles of the natural light standardization with a short introduction to the history and current state, with a trial to focus on the possible development of lighting engineering and its standards in future.

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Making the Différance: Between Derrida and Stiegler

Derrida Today ◽

10.3366/drt.2020.0216 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 1-16

Author(s):

Francesco Vitale

Keyword(s):

Natural Condition ◽

Ecological Crisis ◽

Human Being ◽

Effective Response ◽

Life On Earth

This paper intends to verify the extent and effectiveness of the transforming appropriation of the Derridean concept of ‘differance’ by Stiegler with respect to the problems that, according to Stiegler, make this creative critical operation necessary; in particular with respect to the most recent question concerning the possibility of thinking about and putting into practice a ‘neganthropological différance’ capable of facing the ecological crisis that today seems to threaten the very existence of life on earth. The paper goes back to Technics and Time 1. to analyze the distinction between ‘vital difference’ and ‘noetic difference’ that constitutes the condition of possibility of the ‘neganthropological différance.’ In this perspective, the distinction proposed by Stiegler seems to re-propose the hierarchically oriented oppositional structure that characterizes metaphysical thought and in particular the opposition between man and animal, attributing to the human being the ability to free himself from the constraints of his biological-natural condition. Finally, the paper attempts to account for the repercussions of this approach on the very possibility of an effective response to the ecological crisis, concluding with a provocation regarding the role that theory can and must play with regard to such an urgent and far-reaching problem.

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Text Prophetism

European Journal of Language and Literature ◽

10.26417/ejls.v7i1.p40-44 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 40

Author(s):

Elvira Lumi ◽

Lediona Lumi

Keyword(s):

Key Words ◽

Literary Texts ◽

Modern World ◽

Greek Mythology ◽

Divine Inspiration ◽

Religious Doctrine ◽

The World ◽

Poetic Text ◽

Poetic Diction ◽

Life On Earth

"Utterance universalism" as a phrase is unclear, but it is enough to include the term "prophetism". As a metaphysical concept, it refers to a text written with inspiration which confirms visions of a "divine inspiration", "poetic" - "legal", that contains trace, revelation or interpretation of the origin of the creation of the world and life on earth but it warns and prospects their future in the form of a projection, literary paradigm, religious doctrine and law. Prophetic texts reformulate "toll-telling" with messages, ideas, which put forth (lat. "Utters Forth" gr. "Forthteller") hidden facts from fiction and imagination. Prometheus, gr. Prometheus (/ prəmiθprə-mee-mo means "forethought") is a Titan in Greek mythology, best known as the deity in Greek mythology who was the creator of humanity and charity of its largest, who stole fire from the mount Olympus and gave it to the mankind. Prophetic texts derive from a range of artifacts and prophetic elements, as the creative magic or the miracle of literary texts, symbolism, musicality, rhythm, images, poetic rhetoric, valence of meaning of the text, code of poetic diction that refers to either a singer in a trance or a person inspired in delirium, who believes he is sent by his God with a message to tell about events and figures that have existed, or the imaginary ancient and modern world. Text Prophetism is a combination of artifacts and platonic idealism. Key words: text Prophetism, holy text, poetic text, law text, vision, image, figure

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Systematic approaches in water management: Aquatic outlook and decision support systems combining monitoring, research, policy analysis and information technology

Water Science & Technology ◽

10.2166/wst.1996.0291 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 34 (12) ◽

pp. 9-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

J. de Jong ◽

J. T. van Buuren ◽

J. P. A. Luiten

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Policy Analysis ◽

Research Policy ◽

Human Life ◽

Management Policy ◽

Ecological Aspects ◽

Management Plans ◽

Water Management Plans ◽

Life On Earth

Sustained developments is the target of almost every modern water management policy. Sustainability is focused on human life and on the ecological quality of our environment. Both aspects are essential for life on earth. Within a river catchment area this means that well balanced relations have to be laid between human activities and ecological aspects in the involved areas. Policy analysis is especially looking for the most efficient way to analyse and to overcome bottlenecks. In The Netherlands project “The Aquatic Outlook” all these elements are worked out in a nationwide scale, providing the scientific base and policy analysis from which future water management plans can be derived.

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Conclusion

10.1093/oso/9780190661649.003.0007 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Erin Lambert

Keyword(s):

Dutch Reformed ◽

Christian Life ◽

The Reformation ◽

History Of ◽

Life On Earth

This conclusion offers a brief commentary on the implications of song, resurrection, and belief for the broader history of the Reformation. It relates the various uses of song by Lutherans (hymn pamphlets), Anabaptists (martyr songs), Dutch Reformed exiles (psalms), and Catholics (motets) to these confessions’ ideas of belief as it concerned resurrection and their understandings of how belief was bound up with the Christian life on earth. In place of a story of the transformation of one conception of Christianity to many different conceptions, this book as a whole suggests that the Reformation might be reconceived as a much more elemental debate about the role that belief was to play in a Christian life.

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‘Whole Organism’, Systems Biology, and Top-Down Criteria for Evaluating Scenarios for the Origin of Life

Life ◽

10.3390/life11070690 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (7) ◽

pp. 690

Author(s):

Clifford F. Brunk ◽

Charles R. Marshall

Keyword(s):

Origin Of Life ◽

Top Down ◽

Chemical Systems ◽

Biochemical Pathways ◽

The Origin Of Life ◽

Energy And Material Flows ◽

Complex Scenario ◽

Life On Earth ◽

Physical Laws ◽

Equilibrium Chemical

While most advances in the study of the origin of life on Earth (OoLoE) are piecemeal, tested against the laws of chemistry and physics, ultimately the goal is to develop an overall scenario for life’s origin(s). However, the dimensionality of non-equilibrium chemical systems, from the range of possible boundary conditions and chemical interactions, renders the application of chemical and physical laws difficult. Here we outline a set of simple criteria for evaluating OoLoE scenarios. These include the need for containment, steady energy and material flows, and structured spatial heterogeneity from the outset. The Principle of Continuity, the fact that all life today was derived from first life, suggests favoring scenarios with fewer non-analog (not seen in life today) to analog (seen in life today) transitions in the inferred first biochemical pathways. Top-down data also indicate that a complex metabolism predated ribozymes and enzymes, and that full cellular autonomy and motility occurred post-LUCA. Using these criteria, we find the alkaline hydrothermal vent microchamber complex scenario with a late evolving exploitation of the natural occurring pH (or Na+ gradient) by ATP synthase the most compelling. However, there are as yet so many unknowns, we also advocate for the continued development of as many plausible scenarios as possible.

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Soil Mycobiome Is Shaped by Vegetation and Microhabitats: A Regional-Scale Study in Southeastern Brazil

Journal of Fungi ◽

10.3390/jof7080587 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 7 (8) ◽

pp. 587

Author(s):

Danielle Hamae Yamauchi ◽

Hans Garcia Garces ◽

Marcus de Melo Teixeira ◽

Gabriel Fellipe Barros Rodrigues ◽

Leila Sabrina Ullmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Fungal Community ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Regional Scale ◽

Southeastern Brazil ◽

Transitional Region ◽

Illumina Platform ◽

Ecological Processes ◽

Life On Earth

Soil is the principal habitat and reservoir of fungi that act on ecological processes vital for life on Earth. Understanding soil fungal community structures and the patterns of species distribution is crucial, considering climatic change and the increasing anthropic impacts affecting nature. We evaluated the soil fungal diversity in southeastern Brazil, in a transitional region that harbors patches of distinct biomes and ecoregions. The samples originated from eight habitats, namely: semi-deciduous forest, Brazilian savanna, pasture, coffee and sugarcane plantation, abandoned buildings, owls’ and armadillos’ burrows. Forty-four soil samples collected in two periods were evaluated by metagenomic approaches, focusing on the high-throughput DNA sequencing of the ITS2 rDNA region in the Illumina platform. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was used for vegetation cover analysis. NDVI values showed a linear relationship with both diversity and richness, reinforcing the importance of a healthy vegetation for the establishment of a diverse and complex fungal community. The owls’ burrows presented a peculiar fungal composition, including high rates of Onygenales, commonly associated with keratinous animal wastes, and Trichosporonales, a group of basidiomycetous yeasts. Levels of organic matter and copper influenced all guild communities analyzed, supporting them as important drivers in shaping the fungal communities’ structures.

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The Impact of Spaceflight and Microgravity on the Human Islet-1+ Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell Transcriptome

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms22073577 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 22 (7) ◽

pp. 3577

Author(s):

Victor Camberos ◽

Jonathan Baio ◽

Ana Mandujano ◽

Aida F. Martinez ◽

Leonard Bailey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Early Stage ◽

Space Station ◽

Cardiovascular Development ◽

Support Cell ◽

Cell Transcriptome ◽

Islet 1 ◽

Life On Earth ◽

The Impact ◽

And Oxidative Stress ◽

Insight Into

Understanding the transcriptomic impact of microgravity and the spaceflight environment is relevant for future missions in space and microgravity-based applications designed to benefit life on Earth. Here, we investigated the transcriptome of adult and neonatal cardiovascular progenitors following culture aboard the International Space Station for 30 days and compared it to the transcriptome of clonally identical cells cultured on Earth. Cardiovascular progenitors acquire a gene expression profile representative of an early-stage, dedifferentiated, stem-like state, regardless of age. Signaling pathways that support cell proliferation and survival were induced by spaceflight along with transcripts related to cell cycle re-entry, cardiovascular development, and oxidative stress. These findings contribute new insight into the multifaceted influence of reduced gravitational environments.

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