scholarly journals Evolutionary processes in nature, technology and society –a few common trends

2018 ◽  
Vol 44 ◽  
pp. 00063
Author(s):  
Yekaterina Myasnikova ◽  
Aleksandr Spirov
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Crossing Over ◽  
Evolutionary Search ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Evolutionary Selection ◽  
Evolution Of Technology ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Intelligent Methods

The diversity of branches of knowledge, within which evolutionary approaches are applied to significantly different objects and processes, includes those branches which are especially interesting due to the implementation of the Darwin’s concepts of variation, heredity and selection. This is what is interpreted by some authors as universal selectionism. In this case, objects of evolution may be represented as sequences of symbols, code lines or graphs. This is a method to record heredity of an individual. The recording format allows for mutation (substitution, addition or deletion of certain elements of an individual) and crossing-over during production of offspring from a pair of parent individuals. The approach also allows for a quantitative assessment of the “value” of an individual for evolutionary selection. Such evolution includes, first of all, evolutionary computation, computer-aided modelling of evolution, directed evolution of biomolecules, biological evolution, evolution of technology etc. If we consider the above mentioned examples successively, from computer-based examples to humanitarian one, we can observe definite trends. Firstly, we can see a trend of using “languages” of higher levels to implement an evolutionary problem. Secondly, we can observe a trend of forming “building blocks” in heredity structures as well as a crossing-over mechanism which retains the said blocks. Thirdly, “variation” of an individual is carried out by increasingly high-intelligent methods. Studying of main trends and mutually enriching interchange of experience between such different branches of knowledge may enable to make more reasonable and exact predictions of the results of evolutionary processes and to achieve higher effectiveness of evolutionary search in application areas.

Combinatorics of Genotype-Phenotype Maps: An RNA Case Study

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian M. Reidys
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Genetic Drift ◽  
Optimization Problem ◽  
Neutral Theory ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Neutral Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Search ◽  
Random Drift ◽  
Molecular Change ◽  
Biological Phenomena

The fundamental mechanisms of biological evolution have fascinated generations of researchers and remain popular to this day. The formulation of such a theory goes back to Darwin (1859), who in the The Origin of Species presented two fundamental principles: genetic variability caused by mutation, and natural selection. The first principle leads to diversity and the second one to the concept of survival of the fittest, where fitness is an inherited characteristic property of an individual and can basically be identified with its reproduction rate. Wright [530, 531] first recognized the importance of genetic drift in evolution in improving the evolutionary search capacity of the whole population. He viewed genetic drift merely as a process that could improve evolutionary search. About a decade later, Kimura proposed [317] that the majority of changes that are observed in evolution at the molecular level are the results of random drift of genotypes. The neutral theory of Kimura does not deny that selection plays a role, but claims that no appreciable fraction of observable molecular change can be caused by selective forces: mutations are either a disadvantage or, at best, neutral in present day organisms. Only negative selection plays a major role in the neutral evolution, in that deleterious mutants die out due to their lower fitness. Over the last few decades, there has been a shift of emphasis in the study of evolution. Instead of focusing on the differences in the selective value of mutants and on population genetics, interest has moved to evolution through natural selection as an abstract optimization problem. Given the tremendous opportunities that computer science and the physical sciences now have for contributing to the study of biological phenomena, it is fitting to study the evolutionary optimization problem in the present volume. In this chapter, we adopt the following framework: assuming that selection acts exclusively upon isolated phenotypes, we introduce the following compositum of mappings . . . Genotypes→ Phenotypes →Fitness . . . . We will refer to the first map as to the genotype-phenotype map and call the preimage of a given phenotype its neutral network. Clearly, the main ingredients here are the phenotypes and genotypes and their respective organization. In the following we will study various combinatorial properties of phenotypes and genotypes for RNA folding maps.

Technology-Related Privacy Concerns

2009 ◽  
pp. 208-220
Author(s):  
Cliona McParland ◽  
Regina Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Work Environment ◽  
Privacy Concerns ◽  
Current State ◽  
Computer Mediated ◽  
Evolution Of Technology ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Significant Deficit ◽  
Privacy Legislation ◽  
Impact Of Technology ◽  
The Impact

While Internet-based technologies have the potential to empower users immensely, individuals are becoming increasingly aware of the ways in which those technologies can be employed to monitor their computer-based interactions. In the past, much attention has focused on the impact of technology-related privacy concerns from a transactional perspective. However, privacy concerns regarding communication monitoring are now emerging as a significant issue with the potential to negatively impact both productivity and morale within the computer-mediated work environment. This chapter outlines the evolution of technology-related privacy concerns. The lack of definitional consensus and the resulting conceptual and operational confusion that surrounds the privacy construct is described. Furthermore, the significant deficit of rigorous academic studies on this topic is highlighted. The current state of privacy legislation in Europe is addressed and some of the key challenges that face researchers who may wish to conduct research on this phenomenon are outlined.

Computer-Based Quantitative Assessment of Skull Morphology for Craniosynostosis

2013 ◽  
pp. 98-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos S. Mendoza ◽  
Nabile Safdar ◽  
Emmarie Myers ◽  
Tanakorn Kittisarapong ◽  
Gary F. Rogers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Skull Morphology ◽  
Computer Based

Promoting Modularity in Evolutionary Design

2001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hod Lipson ◽  
Jordan B. Pollack ◽  
Nam P. Suh
Keyword(s):  
Design Problem ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Machine Design ◽  
Evolutionary Design ◽  
Automate Machine ◽  
Design Systems ◽  
Definition Of

Abstract Evolutionary design systems apply principles inspired from biological evolution to automate machine design. These systems have been shown to generate simple designs for simple tasks — but their practical ability to scale up to higher complexities remains questioned. One of the keys to accomplishing higher-level evolutionary design is the ability of the process to identify and reuse knowledge discovered at lower levels, thus scaling its search capacity. One way to capture this knowledge is in the form of reusable building blocks — modules. In this paper we define modularity and discuss several approaches to promoting modularity in evolutionary design systems. In particular, we propose a new mechanism that can enhance modularization. This mechanism is based on the observation that designs that exhibit modularity have higher adaptability and consequently have better survival rates under changing requirements. Contrary to other techniques, this is a weak (indirect) formulation that docs not require representation of partial solutions or definition of a genotype from which a design is developed. We demonstrate this principle on an abstract general design problem on which modularity can be statistically quantified.

scholarly journals The Less Expensive Choice: Bacterial Strategies to Achieve Successful and Sustainable Reciprocal Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrica Pessione
Keyword(s):  
Building Blocks ◽  
Environmental Crisis ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
Evolutionary Selection ◽  
Reciprocal Interactions ◽  
Winning Strategies ◽  
Polluted Sites ◽  
Bacterial Biodiversity ◽  
Scarcity Of Resources

Bacteria, the first organisms that appeared on Earth, continue to play a central role in ensuring life on the planet, both as biogeochemical agents and as higher organisms’ symbionts. In the last decades, they have been employed both as bioremediation agents for cleaning polluted sites and as bioconversion effectors for obtaining a variety of products from wastes (including eco-friendly plastics and green energies). However, some recent reports suggest that bacterial biodiversity can be negatively affected by the present environmental crisis (global warming, soil desertification, and ocean acidification). This review analyzes the behaviors positively selected by evolution that render bacteria good models of sustainable practices (urgent in these times of climate change and scarcity of resources). Actually, bacteria display a tendency to optimize rather than maximize, to economize energy and building blocks (by using the same molecule for performing multiple functions), and to recycle and share metabolites, and these are winning strategies when dealing with sustainability. Furthermore, their ability to establish successful reciprocal relationships by means of anticipation, collective actions, and cooperation can also constitute an example highlighting how evolutionary selection favors behaviors that can be strategic to contain the present environmental crisis.

scholarly journals The Informational Substrate of Chemical Evolution: Implications for Abiogenesis

Life ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 66 ◽  
Author(s):  
de la Escosura
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Metabolic Networks ◽  
Self Regulation ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Supramolecular Organization ◽  
Process Information ◽  
Chemical Systems ◽  
Molecular Building Blocks ◽  
Biological Organisms

A key aspect of biological evolution is the capacity of living systems to process information, coded in deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and used to direct how the cell works. The overall picture that emerges today from fields such as developmental, synthetic, and systems biology indicates that information processing in cells occurs through a hierarchy of genes regulating the activity of other genes through complex metabolic networks. There is an implicit semiotic character in this way of dealing with information, based on functional molecules that act as signs to achieve self-regulation of the whole network. In contrast to cells, chemical systems are not thought of being able to process information, yet they must have preceded biological organisms, and evolved into them. Hence, there must have been prebiotic molecular assemblies that could somehow process information, in order to regulate their own constituent reactions and supramolecular organization processes. The purpose of this essay is then to reflect about the distinctive features of information in living and non-living matter, and on how the capacity of biological organisms for information processing was possibly rooted in a particular type of chemical systems (here referred to as autonomous chemical systems), which could self-sustain and reproduce through organizational closure of their molecular building blocks.

scholarly journals Quantitative assessment of mucosal architecture using computer-based analysis of confocal laser endomicroscopy in inflammatory bowel diseases

2019 ◽  
Vol 89 (3) ◽  
pp. 626-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucille Quénéhervé ◽  
Grégoire David ◽  
Arnaud Bourreille ◽  
Jean Benoît Hardouin ◽  
Gabriel Rahmi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases ◽  
Quantitative Assessment ◽  
Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy ◽  
Confocal Laser ◽  
Bowel Diseases ◽  
Computer Based ◽  
Inflammatory Bowel
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