scholarly journals From Neurons to Brain: Adaptive Self-Wiring of Neurons

1998 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 67-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronen Segev ◽  
Eshel Ben-Jacob
Keyword(s):  
Growth Cones ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Excitable Media ◽  
Chemical Signaling ◽  
Glia Cells ◽  
Navigation Strategy ◽  
Chemical Waves ◽  
Embryonic Morphogenesis ◽  
And Control

During embryonic morphogenesis, a collection of individual neurons turns into a functioning network with unique capabilities. Only recently has this most staggering example of emergent process in the natural world, began to be studied. Here we propose a navigational strategy for neurites growth cones, based on sophisticated chemical signaling. We further propose that the embryonic environment (the neurons and the glia cells) acts as an excitable media in which concentric and spherical chemical waves are formed. Together with the navigation strategy, the chemical waves provide a mechanism for communication, regulation, and control required for the adaptive self-wiring of neurons.

scholarly journals Discovering the two faces of religious charismatic action – traditional and modern: a model

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-304
Author(s):  
Jane Williams-Hogan
Keyword(s):  
Structural Characteristics ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Natural World ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
New Religions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Gift ◽  
Rational Calculation ◽  
Traditional Societies ◽  
And Control

In this paper, the author examines the issue of charisma and prophecy in secularized societies. In traditional society the charismatic personality or the prophet brought a universalizing and rationalizing message which simultaneously expanded and penetrated the sphere of external order in the world, giving people the ability to manipulate and control the natural world. The disenchanted world is the end product of this process, when no more mysterious forces come into play, and when one can in principle master all things through rational calculation. The gift of rationality almost randomly bestowed in the ancient world becomes, for Weber, the rightful inheritance of the modern individual. Clarity brought by charisma in a dark and foreboding world loses its brilliance and its ability to beckon when the world is filled with light. In investigating charisma in only traditional societies, Weber saw charisma as one dimensional, solely as the force of rationality. So envisioned, charisma dissipates in the very act of realizing itself through the transformation of the world. Given Weber's analysis, therefore, one would not expect to find genuinely new religions emerging within our transformed and rational modern society. In the examination of the founding something that is best identified by the sociological term charisma, though obviously in modern guise, is clearly evident. This points to the possibility that charisma is not static but has the dynamic capacity to be responsive to the structural characteristics of the society in which it operates.

scholarly journals Reactive/Non-cooperative individuals advance Population's Synchronization: Modeling of Dictyostelium discoideum Concerted Signaling during Aggregation Phase

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Eidi ◽  
Najme Khorasani ◽  
Mehdi Sadeghi
Keyword(s):  
Life Form ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Spatiotemporal Patterns ◽  
Chemical Signaling ◽  
Relative Population ◽  
Social Amoeba ◽  
The Social ◽  
Chemical Waves ◽  
The Waves

Orchestrated chemical signaling of single cells sounds to be a linchpin of emerging organization and multicellular life form. The social amoeba Dictiostelium discoiudium is a well-studied model organism to explore overall pictures of grouped behavior in developmental biology. The chemical waves secreted by aggregating Dictiostelium is a superb example of pattern formation. The waves are either circular or spiral in shape, according to the incremental population density of a self-aggregating community of individuals. Here, we revisit the spatiotemporal patterns that appear in an excitable medium due to synchronization of randomly firing individuals, but with a more parsimonies attitude. According to our model, a fraction of these individuals is refusal to amplify external stimulants. Our simulations indicate that the cells enhance the system's asymmetry and as a result, nucleate early sustainable spiral territory zones, provided that their relative population does not exceed a tolerable threshold.

The Cradle of Exotica

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-25
Author(s):  
Karen Polinger Foster
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The Third ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Commercial Enterprise ◽  
Key Aspects ◽  
And Control ◽  
Clay Tablet

This chapter discusses the role of exotica in the Mesopotamian mind. By 1875, The Epic of Gilgamesh had begun to emerge from the thousands of clay tablet fragments freshly unearthed in the remains of the great royal library of Assurbanipal at Nineveh. Gilgamesh’s drive to possess the exotic is rooted in long-standing Mesopotamian tradition. From the third millennium on, when he supposedly reigned, scholar-scribes organized and classified nearly all aspects of the natural world. Thematic lists of flora and fauna, heavenly bodies, precious and semiprecious materials, and topographical features provided the educated elite with a means of conceptualizing patterns and interrelationships. For Gilgamesh, as for many Mesopotamian rulers, the acquisition and display of exotica were key aspects of kingship. Once secured within the walled, urban cores of Mesopotamian cultural identity, exotica offered tangible signs of wide-ranging military might, commercial enterprise, and political status and control.

The Conquest of Nature

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Clarke
Keyword(s):  
Natural World ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Specific Language ◽  
Metaphorical Language ◽  
Natural Beauty ◽  
And Control

This chapter examines in detail the metaphorical language of desire, control, war and conquest which characterizes Herodotus’ account of Persian interaction with the natural world. After considering the appeal of beautiful lands more generally, it focuses on the particular and excessive desire for natural beauty which is most strongly manifested by Persian kings and their advisers. It argues that Herodotus associates a specific language of rage, passionate desire, punishment, enslavement, and control with the Persians in relation to their imperial bids, which marks them out as distinct from other characters. The argument is strengthened by Herodotus’ application of the metaphor of the alliance of the natural world with some of the victims of Persian imperialism. The idea that ‘the divine’ responds to the narrative through natural phenomena is also explored.

scholarly journals The Intertwined Relationship between Power and Patriarchy: Examples from Resource Extractive Industries

Societies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadine Naguib Suliman
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Extractive Industries ◽  
Wealth Accumulation ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
The Social ◽  
And Gender ◽  
And Control ◽  
Queer Ecology

This study examines the relationships between extractive industries, power and patriarchy, raising attention to the negative social and environmental impacts these relationships have had on communities globally. Wealth accumulation, gender and environment inequality have occurred for decades or more as a result of patriarchal structures, controlled by the few in power. The multiple indirect ways these concepts have evolved to function in modern day societies further complicates attempts to resolve them and transform the social and natural world towards a more sustainable model. Partly relying on queer ecology, this paper opens space for uncovering some hidden mechanisms of asserting power and patriarchal methods of domination in resource-extractive industries and impacted populations. I hypothesize that patriarchy and gender inequality have a substantial impact on power relations and control of resources, in particular within the energy industry. Based on examples from the literature used to illustrate these processes, patriarchy-imposed gender relations are embedded in communities with large resource extraction industries and have a substantial impact on power relations, especially relative to wealth accumulation. The paper ends with a call for researchers to consider these issues more deeply and conceptually in the development of case studies and empirical analysis.

scholarly journals Multi-tissue patterning drives anterior morphogenesis of the C. elegans embryo

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Grimbert ◽  
Karina Mastronardi ◽  
Ryan Christensen ◽  
Christopher Law ◽  
David Fay ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Epidermal Cells ◽  
Model Organisms ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Lumen Formation ◽  
C Elegans ◽  
The Future ◽  
Embryonic Morphogenesis ◽  
And Control ◽  
Different Tissues

AbstractComplex structures derived from multiple tissue types are challenging to study in vivo, and our knowledge of how cells from different tissues are coordinated is limited. Model organisms have proven invaluable for improving our understanding of how chemical and mechanical cues between cells from two different tissues can govern specific morphogenetic events. Here we used Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system to show how cells from three different tissues are coordinated to give rise to the anterior lumen. This poorly understood process has remained a black box for embryonic morphogenesis. Using various microscopy and software approaches, we describe the movements and patterns of epidermal cells, neuroblasts and pharyngeal cells that contribute to lumen formation. The anterior-most pharyngeal cells (arcade cells) may provide the first marker for the location of the future lumen and facilitate the patterning of the surrounding neuroblasts. These neuroblast patterns control the rate of migration of the anterior epidermal cells, whereas the epidermal cells ultimately reinforce and control the position of the future lumen, as they must join with the pharyngeal cells for their epithelialization. Our studies are the first to characterize anterior morphogenesis in C. elegans in detail and should lay the framework for identifying how these different patterns are controlled at the molecular level.

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