scholarly journals Statistical Physics of Evolving Systems

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 1590
Author(s):  
Arto Annila
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Biological Process ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Power Laws ◽  
Deterministic Process ◽  
Final Cause ◽  
Evolving Systems ◽  
Cumulative Curves

Evolution is customarily perceived as a biological process. However, when formulated in terms of physics, evolution is understood to entail everything. Based on the axiom of everything comprising quanta of actions (e.g., quanta of light), statistical physics describes any system evolving toward thermodynamic balance with its surroundings systems. Fluxes of quanta naturally select those processes leveling out differences in energy as soon as possible. This least-time maxim results in ubiquitous patterns (i.e., power laws, approximating sigmoidal cumulative curves of skewed distributions, oscillations, and even the regularity of chaos). While the equation of evolution can be written exactly, it cannot be solved exactly. Variables are inseparable since motions consume driving forces that affect motions (and so on). Thus, evolution is inherently a non-deterministic process. Yet, the future is not all arbitrary but teleological, the final cause being the least-time free energy consumption itself. Eventually, trajectories are computable when the system has evolved into a state of balance where free energy is used up altogether.

scholarly journals A Decomposition Analysis of the Korean Manufacturing Sector: Monetary vs. Physical Outputs

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 6192
Author(s):  
Junghwan Lee ◽  
Jinsoo Kim
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Primary Energy ◽  
Intensity Effect ◽  
Activity Effect ◽  
Index Decomposition ◽  
Output Indicator

This study analyzes the changes in energy consumption of the Korean manufacturing sector using the index decomposition analysis (IDA) method. To capture the production effect based on actual physical activities, we applied the activity revaluation (AR) approach in the analysis. We also developed energy consumption data in terms of primary energy supply to consider conversion loss in the energy sector to avoid any distortions in the intensity effect. The analysis covers every manufacturing subsector in Korea over the period between 2006 and 2018. Combining two distinctive approaches from the previous literature, the AR approach and primary energy-based analysis gives us helpful findings for a climate policy. First, the overall activity effect estimated from the physical output indicator is lower than that from the monetary output indicator. The monetary indicator shows that the share of energy-intensive industries decreases, whereas the physical indicator shows the opposite. Second, in terms of energy efficiency, the intensity effect is estimated as an increasing factor of energy use, whereas inversed results are shown when we use the monetary indicator. Lastly, unlike the previous studies, the AR approach results indicate that Korean manufacturing sectors have been shifting toward an energy-intensive, so it is hard to anticipate positive intensity effects, which means decreasing energy consumption factor, for a while. These results support why analyzing the driving forces of energy consumption through the AR approach and primary energy base is highly recommended.

scholarly journals Beyond switches: Rotaxane- and catenane-based synthetic molecular motors

2008 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Euan R. Kay ◽  
David A. Leigh
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Motors ◽  
Physical Science ◽  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Biological Process ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
Molecular Machines ◽  
Interlocked Molecules ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
New Generation ◽  
First Time

Nature uses molecular motors and machines in virtually every significant biological process, but learning how to design and assemble simpler artificial structures that function through controlled molecular-level motion is a major challenge for contemporary physical science. The established engineering principles of the macroscopic world can offer little more than inspiration to the molecular engineer who creates devices for an environment where everything is constantly moving and being buffeted by other atoms and molecules. Rather, experimental designs for working molecular machines must follow principles derived from chemical kinetics, thermodynamics, and nonequilibrium statistical physics. The remarkable characteristics of interlocked molecules make them particularly useful for investigating the control of motion at the molecular level. Yet, the vast majority of synthetic molecular machines studied to date are simple two-state switches. Here we outline recent developments from our laboratory that demonstrate more complex molecular machine functions. This new generation of synthetic molecular machines can move continuously and progressively away from equilibrium, and they may be considered true prototypical molecular motors. The examples discussed exemplify two, fundamentally different, "Brownian ratchet" mechanisms previously developed in theoretical statistical physics and realized experimentally in molecular-level devices for the first time in these systems.

scholarly journals On the beneficent thickness of water

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 20190061 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Branscomb ◽  
M. J. Russell
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Energy Conversion ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Chemical Reactions ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Anomalous Behaviour ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
Far From Equilibrium

In the 1930s, Lars Onsager published his famous ‘reciprocal relations’ describing free energy conversion processes. Importantly, these relations were derived on the assumption that the fluxes of the processes involved in the conversion were proportional to the forces (free energy gradients) driving them. For chemical reactions, however, this condition holds only for systems operating close to equilibrium—indeed very close; nominally requiring driving forces to be smaller than k B T . Fairly soon thereafter, however, it was quite inexplicably observed that in at least some biological conversions both the reciprocal relations and linear flux–force dependency appeared to be obeyed no matter how far from equilibrium the system was being driven. No successful explanation of how this ‘paradoxical’ behaviour could occur has emerged and it has remained a mystery. We here argue, however, that this anomalous behaviour is simply a gift of water, of its viscosity in particular; a gift, moreover, without which life almost certainly could not have emerged. And a gift whose appreciation we primarily owe to recent work by Prof. R. Dean Astumian who, as providence has kindly seen to it, was led to the relevant insights by the later work of Onsager himself.

The Change of Energy Consumption in China and its Driving Forces

2014 ◽  
Vol 700 ◽  
pp. 739-742
Author(s):  
Yi Cao ◽  
Shui Jun Peng ◽  
Wen Cheng Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Final Demand ◽  
Embodied Energy ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Structural Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Structural Decomposition ◽  
Key Driver

This paper estimates the changes of industrial embodied energy consumption in China between 1997 and 2007, and applies a structural decomposition analysis (SDA), based on non-competitive (import) input-output tables, to analyze the sources of change of China’s energy consumption from 1997 to 2007. Results show that China’s energy consumption increased sharply, especially after the accession to WTO. The SDA results indicate that the improvement of energy efficiency during 1997-2007 significantly reduced energy consumption in China while the growth of final demand was the key driver of China’s energy consumption. In addition, distribution of final demand with the declining share of consumption and the increasing share of export push energy consumption upward.

scholarly journals ECONOMIC EFFICIENCY, ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT / EKONOMINIS EFEKTYVUMAS, ENERGIJOS VARTOJIMAS IR SUBALANSUOTA PLĖTRA

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 353-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Štefan Bojnec ◽  
Drago Papler
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Saving ◽  
Economic Efficiency ◽  
Energy Intensity ◽  
Driving Forces ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Sustainable Economic Development ◽  
Technological Intensity

This paper analyzes structural indicators of economic efficiency and energy intensity consumption as determinants of sustainable economic development for the selected 33 European countries. The correlation, regression and multivariate factor analyses are applied to test the associations between the selected structural variables of energy intensity consumption, economic efficiency, and the main driving forces behind these developments. Economic efficiency is positively associated with expenditures on research and development (R&D) and a greater technological intensity of exports, while at the same time the economic efficiency of R&D expenditures and technological intensity of exports reduce the energy intensity consumption of the economy. The results suggest that management strategies and policies directed towards R&D expenditures, human capital investments, and technologically intensive export oriented products are improving economic efficiency performance and contributing to energy saving sustainable economic development. The technological intensity of products reduces energy consumption, which is related to restructuring of energy intensive industries into more advanced and energy saving ones with higher value added per unit of product, but with lower energy consumption per unit of product. Santrauka Autoriai analizuoja struktūrinius ekonominio efektyvumo ir energijos vartojimo intensyvumo, kaip vienų iš pagrindinių subalansuotos plėtros kintamųjų, rodiklius. Tirti buvo pasirinktos 33 Europos valstybės. Autoriai, siekdami pagrįsti iškeltus teiginius, naudojo koreliacinę, regresinę analizę bei daugiakriterinius metodus galimoms ekonominio efektyvumo bei energijos vartojimo laipsnio (ir kitų, ne mažiau svarbių elementų) variacijoms nustatyti. Ekonominis efektyvumas labai dažnai asocijuojasi su tyrimais ir plėtra (R&D), eksportuojamomis aukštosiomis technologijomis. Remdamiesi atliktų tyrimų rezultatais autoriai siūlo nukreipti tiek politinius sprendimus, tiek valdymo strategijas į tyrimų ir plėtros (R&D) veiklas, investicijas į žmogiškuosius išteklius, technologinius sprendimus, nes visa tai galima susieti su subalansuotos plėtros koncepcija.

scholarly journals Artificial Swarm Intelligence and Cooperative Robotic Systems

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iaroslav Omelianenko
Keyword(s):  
Free Energy ◽  
Evolutionary Algorithms ◽  
Swarm Intelligence ◽  
Intelligent Agents ◽  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Modular System ◽  
Energy Principle ◽  
Free Energy Principle ◽  
Robotic Swarm

In this paper, we look at how Artificial Swarm Intelligence can evolve using evolutionary algorithms that try to minimize the sensory surprise of the system. We will show how to apply the free-energy principle, borrowed from statistical physics, to quantitatively describe the optimization method (sensory surprise minimization), which can be used to support lifelong learning. We provide our ideas about how to combine this optimization method with evolutionary algorithms in order to boost the development of specialized Artificial Neural Networks, which define the proprioceptive configuration of particular robotic units that are part of a swarm. We consider how optimization of the free-energy can promote the homeostasis of the swarm system, i.e. ensures that the system remains within its sensory boundaries throughout its active lifetime. We will show how complex distributed cognitive systems can be build in the form of hierarchical modular system, which consists of specialized micro-intelligent agents connected through information channels. We will also consider the co-evolution of various robotic swarm units, which can result in development of proprioception and a comprehensive awareness of the properties of the environment. And finally, we will give a brief outline of how this system can be implemented in practice and of our progress in this area.

scholarly journals The recombinase protein is a torque sensitive molecular switch

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott X. Atwell ◽  
Aurélie Dupont ◽  
Daniel Migliozzi ◽  
Jean-Louis Viovy ◽  
Giovanni Cappello
Keyword(s):  
Homologous Recombination ◽  
Statistical Physics ◽  
Biological Process ◽  
Magnetic Tweezers ◽  
Genetic Mutations ◽  
Homologous Sequence ◽  
Dna Fragment ◽  
Two State Model ◽  
Dna Complex ◽  
Damaged Dna

AbstractHow a nano-searcher finds its nano-target is a general problem in non-equilibrium statistical physics. It becomes vital when the searcher is a damaged DNA fragment trying to find its counterpart on the intact homologous chromosome. If the two copies are paired, that intact homologous sequence serves as a template to reconstitute the damaged DNA sequence, enabling the cell to survive without genetic mutations. To succeed, the search must stop only when the perfect homology is found. The biological process that ensures such a genomic integrity is called Homologous Recombination and is promoted by the Recombinase proteins. In this article, we use torque-sensitive magnetic tweezers to measure the free-energy landscape of the human Recombinase hRad51 protein assembled a DNA fragment. Based on our measurements we model the hRad51/DNA complex as an out-of-equilibrium two-state system and provide a thermodynamical description of Homologous Recombination. With this dynamical two-state model, we suggest a mechanism by which the recombinase proteins discriminate between homologous and a nonhomologous sequences.

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