Form, Function, Agency: Sources of Natural Purpose in Animal Evolution

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart A. Newman
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Life Forms ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Animal Evolution ◽  
Gene Variation ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
History Of ◽  
Muscle Nerve ◽  
And Function

The origination and evolution of multicellular form and function is generally thought to be based on gene-based variation, with natural selection changing the populational composition in the respective variants over time. The criterion for evolutionary success is differential fitness, the relative capacity to leave progeny in the next generation. Theoretical considerations show that this model implies that phenotypic evolution will generally be gradual, based on variations of small effect. But the fossil record of early phylogenesis, notably for the metazoans, or animals, does not support the gradualist scenario. Moreover, discordances of phenotype and genotype in extant species, along with the existence of a pan-metazoan developmental genetic toolkit, does not support the gene-variation-based evolutionary mechanism, at least at the level of phyla. Most importantly, all life-forms, including the cells that constitute animal embryos, exhibit agency, and associations of cells (even constructed ones with no history of natural selection) exhibit novel kinds of agency. This strongly suggests that new multicellular forms can invent new ways of life (e.g., ecological niches) and can persist without supplanting their populational cohorts. This chapter describes how anatomical (e.g., segments, appendages) and functional (e.g., muscle, nerve) phenotypes can emerge without cycles of gradual selection from inherent properties of metazoan cells and their aggregates. While such phenotypic “add-ons” could provide enablements for exploration of new niches, it is implausible that they arose as adaptations to external challenges. Reproductive fitness, which is essential for understanding biogeography and ecology, is unlikely to have played a role in phylum-level evolution.

"Itzt kommen die Soldaten"

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Venzl
Keyword(s):  
Literary History ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Military History ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Social Structural ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Military ◽  
First Time

In the 18th century, as many as 300 German-language plays were produced with the military and its contact and friction with civil society serving as focus of the dramatic events. The immense public interest these plays attracted feeds not least on the fundamental social structural change that was brought about by the establishment of standing armies. In his historico-cultural literary study, Tilman Venzl shows how these military dramas literarily depict complex social processes and discuss the new problems in an affirmative or critical manner. For the first time, the findings of the New Military History are comprehensively included in the literary history of the 18th century. Thus, the example of selected military dramas – including Lessing's Minna von Barnhelm and Lenz's Die Soldaten – reveals the entire range of variety characterizing the history of both form and function of the subject.

Descriptive Biostatistics and Epidemiology for Craniofacial Surgeons: The What, Who, When, Where, How, and Why in Data Description, Analysis, Presentation, and Interpretation

FACE ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 273250162110529
Author(s):  
Jack C. Yu ◽  
Dhairya Shukla ◽  
Atbin Doroodchi ◽  
Ramtin Doroodchi ◽  
Hesamoldin Khodadadi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Incomplete Data ◽  
Radical Mastectomy ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Mathematical Methods ◽  
Level Of Evidence ◽  
Data Description ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Vaccine Trials ◽  
History Of ◽  
And Function

Physicians often make diagnosis and treatment decisions based on incomplete data. That is why we practice medicine. We use accumulated knowledge and prior experience, individual and collective, to restore form and function of our patients to return them to normalcy with continued, durable homeostasis. However, due to the complex nature, our diagnosis may be wrong and our treatments ineffective or even harmful. The history of medicine and surgery is replete with such examples from snake oil and bloodletting to Halstedian radical mastectomy. Without knowing the governing dynamics, the cause-effect relationship is often obscure. Prospective, blinded, placebo-controlled trials provide the highest level of evidence, like the COVID vaccine trials, to determine if a treatment works. However, trials cannot explain in detail how and why a treatment works, or why it does not. Variabilities and uncertainty abound and require the correct mathematical methods to tease out the signal from the noise, causality from association. Collectively, statistics is the science of uncertainty and the extraction of reliable, useful information from raw data. The objectives of this review are to provide craniofacial surgeons with a primer in descriptive statistics: how to design investigations, collect, prepare, present, and interpret clinical data. Since large datasets at regional and national depositories represent powerful and valuable resources, and that their proper use requires a working knowledge in epidemiology, we included sections on incidence, prevalence, sensitivity, and specificity regarding diagnosis, treatments, and testing.

scholarly journals Virtual paleontology: computer-aided analysis of fossil form and function

2014 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-635 ◽  
Author(s):  
Imran A. Rahman ◽  
Selena Y. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Fossil Plants ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
History Of ◽  
Micro Tomography ◽  
And Function

‘Virtual paleontology’ entails the use of computational methods to assist in the three-dimensional (3-D) visualization and analysis of fossils, and has emerged as a powerful approach for research on the history of life. Three-dimensional imaging techniques allow poorly understood or previously unknown anatomies of fossil plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates, as well as microfossils and trace fossils, to be described in much greater detail than formerly possible, and are applicable to a wide range of preservation types and specimen sizes (Table 1). These methods include non-destructive high-resolution scanning technologies such as conventional X-ray micro-tomography and synchrotron-based X-ray tomography. In addition, form and function can be rigorously investigated through quantitative analysis of computer models, for example finite-element analysis.

scholarly journals Evolution of transcriptional enhancers and animal diversity

2013 ◽  
Vol 368 (1632) ◽  
pp. 20130017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo Rubinstein ◽  
Flávio S. J. de Souza
Keyword(s):  
De Novo ◽  
Theme Issue ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Animal Evolution ◽  
Protein Coding ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Transcriptional Enhancers ◽  
Animal Diversity ◽  
Dna Elements ◽  
And Function

Deciphering the genetic bases that drive animal diversity is one of the major challenges of modern biology. Although four decades ago it was proposed that animal evolution was mainly driven by changes in cis -regulatory DNA elements controlling gene expression rather than in protein-coding sequences, only now are powerful bioinformatics and experimental approaches available to accelerate studies into how the evolution of transcriptional enhancers contributes to novel forms and functions. In the introduction to this Theme Issue, we start by defining the general properties of transcriptional enhancers, such as modularity and the coexistence of tight sequence conservation with transcription factor-binding site shuffling as different mechanisms that maintain the enhancer grammar over evolutionary time. We discuss past and current methods used to identify cell-type-specific enhancers and provide examples of how enhancers originate de novo , change and are lost in particular lineages. We then focus in the central part of this Theme Issue on analysing examples of how the molecular evolution of enhancers may change form and function. Throughout this introduction, we present the main findings of the articles, reviews and perspectives contributed to this Theme Issue that together illustrate some of the great advances and current frontiers in the field.

scholarly journals THE ROAD AS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT OF THE CONTENT OF THE SHOW GARDEN

space&FORM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2020 (46) ◽  
pp. 133-146
Author(s):  
Izabela Myszka ◽  
◽  
Katarzyna Augustyniak ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Essential Element ◽  
Entire Space ◽  
Research Results ◽  
The Road ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Decisive Influence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
And Function ◽  
Road System

In this article, we focus on the subject of the show garden and place for path in the garden, in particular its forms and functions in space and meaning. The form and function of path was examined on the basis of selected, representative examples of historical gardens and contemporary show gardens of the festival in Chaumont-sur-Loire. The results showed that a path is the leading element of every garden, and its form has a decisive influence on the composition of the entire space and allows you to note content. Based on the research results, road system diagrams in historical gardens were developed and model concepts for show gardens inspired by the history of gardens were developed. The currently very touching topic of Quarantine has become the leitmotif of the garden content.

scholarly journals A Historical Review of Enzymatic Debridement: Revisited

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett David W
Keyword(s):  
Wound Care ◽  
Historical Review ◽  
The Body ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Bacterial Collagenase ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biochemical Research ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Function ◽  
Enzymatic Debridement

The following is an update to a book entitled, “A Historical Review of Enzymatic Debridement: Revisited”, which I wrote in 2003. Since its publication, while the relevant clinical evidence has remained consistent, the amount of biochemical research and knowledge gained has been impressive. In the first chapter a sampling of the typical topical enzymatic debriding agents that have been used in wound care are reviewed and interestingly enough only one remains on the market. The FDA has removed all others from the marketplace and an explanation is provided in chapter one along with descriptions of the use and mode of action (MoA) of these agents. Chapter two is a review of the many different types of collagen found in the body, including their structure, form, and function as so much additional insight into this molecule has been gained since 2003. In chapter three we see an account depicting the many advances in understanding matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) reviewed in detail. Form, function, tissue orientation and preferred substrates are addressed. Finally, in chapter four we see the history of the MoA of MMPs as compared to bacterial collagenase starting in the early ‘80s to the time of this current publication. In addition we see the level of complexity of bacterial collagenases compared to MMPs, helping us to better understand why bacterial collagenase is much more efficient at removing necrotic tissue from wounds than are our own (endogenous) MMPs. I hope the reader finds this review useful from an academic standpoint, but more importantly from a clinical framework helping to understand the role of these types of therapies in wound care.

New Partnerships at MIT

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-167
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Moebus
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Massachusetts Institute ◽  
Massachusetts Institute Of Technology ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
History Of ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
And Function

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a long history of innovation in its relationships with industry. The form and function of its Industrial Liaison Program were reported in an earlier issue of Industry and Higher Education. This article explores why companies build relationships with universities, and how they value these programmes and activities. The author also describes two important programmes underway at MIT to craft new partnerships with US industry.

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