scholarly journals Beyond crystals: the dialectic of materials and information

2012 ◽  
Vol 370 (1969) ◽  
pp. 2807-2822 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julyan H. E. Cartwright ◽  
Alan L. Mackay
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Materials Science ◽  
Energy Landscape ◽  
Living System ◽  
Complex Structures ◽  
Structure Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Metastable Structures ◽  
Complex Topology ◽  
And Function

We argue for a convergence of crystallography, materials science and biology, that will come about through asking materials questions about biology and biological questions about materials, illuminated by considerations of information. The complex structures now being studied in biology and produced in nanotechnology have outstripped the framework of classical crystallography, and a variety of organizing concepts are now taking shape into a more modern and dynamic science of structure, form and function. Absolute stability and equilibrium are replaced by metastable structures existing in a flux of energy-carrying information and moving within an energy landscape of complex topology. Structures give place to processes and processes to systems. The fundamental level is that of atoms. As smaller and smaller groups of atoms are used for their physical properties, quantum effects become important; already we see quantum computation taking shape. Concepts move towards those in life with the emergence of specifically informational structures. We now see the possibility of the artificial construction of a synthetic living system, different from biological life, but having many or all of the same properties. Interactions are essentially nonlinear and collective. Structures begin to have an evolutionary history with episodes of symbiosis. Underlying all the structures are constraints of time and space. Through hierarchization, a more general principle than the periodicity of crystals, structures may be found within structures on different scales. We must integrate unifying concepts from dynamical systems and information theory to form a coherent language and science of shape and structure beyond crystals. To this end, we discuss the idea of categorizing structures based on information according to the algorithmic complexity of their assembly.

The Organisational Evolution of Contemporary International Schools

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-124
Author(s):  
Denry Machin
Keyword(s):  
International Schools ◽  
Institutional Entrepreneurship ◽  
Structure Form ◽  
Organisational Form ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Iron Cage ◽  
Shape Structure ◽  
Normative Practices ◽  
And Function ◽  
International Status

Whereas growth in international school numbers is widely reported, less attention has been given to how these schools have developed as organisations. Drawing on organisational life-cycle models (Greiner, 1972) and the work of DiMaggio and Powell (1983), this paper addresses that gap. As international schools grow individually, and as the field expands collectively, processes of institutionalism are affecting the legitimacy of claims to ‘international’ status and, this paper argues, are also normalising organisational shape, structure, form and function. Schools (and their leaders) face isomorphic pressures to mimic each other, are being coerced into similar form and are adopting field-wide normative practices. The paper concludes, however, by showing that culturalist perspectives and institutional entrepreneurship offer an alternative. Reproduction of organisational form may to some extent be inevitable, but that reproduction is moderated by diversity and can be manipulated and resisted by school leaders strong enough to escape the iron cage.

On Growth, Form, and Function—A Fantasia on the Design of a Mammal

1973 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. S. Iberall
Keyword(s):  
Growth Form ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Living System ◽  
Self Organization ◽  
Entire Class ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Physical Essence ◽  
Design Characteristics ◽  
And Function ◽  
Biological Organisms

The development of a system’s biology, as a common construct for both physiologist and engineer, requires both a theory of structures (form) and a theory of dynamics (function). A dynamic organizing principle—“homeokinesis”—for the living system was proposed earlier. Based on thermodynamic reasoning, homeokinesis attempts to capture the physical essence of homeostasis. Now, a primitive foundation is proposed from which a large family of design characteristics might emerge, by self-organization, in complex biological organisms. This foundation is directed at the emergence of major form parameters of the entire class of mammalia, from 3 gm adult shrews to 100,000 kg whales.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Clasen
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Defense Mechanisms ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Sociocultural Context ◽  
Critical Approach ◽  
Human Central Nervous System ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain

Horror entertainment is paradoxically popular. It is one of the most consistently popular genres across media, yet it is designed to make audiences feel bad. An evolutionary perspective, one that builds on recent developments in cognitive and evolutionary psychology, can help explain the genre’s popularity as well as its form and function. This chapter argues that horror fiction is crucially dependent on evolved properties of the human central nervous system and that a nuanced and scientifically valid understanding of horror requires that we take human evolutionary history seriously. Horror targets ancient defense mechanisms in the brain. At the same time, horror changes in response to sociocultural context. Hence, the chapter argues for a biocultural critical approach to horror, one that is sensitive to cultural context as well as evolved psychological underpinnings. The chapter explains the rationale of the book and outlines its structure.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic and physiological signals in metazoan fossil biomolecules

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (28) ◽  
pp. eaba6883 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasmina Wiemann ◽  
Jason M. Crawford ◽  
Derek E. G. Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Information ◽  
Deep Time ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
In Situ Raman ◽  
History Of ◽  
Higher Rank ◽  
And Function ◽  
Molecular Signals

Proteins, lipids, and sugars establish animal form and function. However, the preservation of biological signals in fossil organic matter is poorly understood. Here, we used high-resolution in situ Raman microspectroscopy to analyze the molecular compositions of 113 Phanerozoic metazoan fossils and sediments. Proteins, lipids, and sugars converge in composition during fossilization through lipoxidation and glycoxidation to form endogenous N-, O-, and S-heterocyclic polymers. Nonetheless, multivariate spectral analysis reveals molecular heterogeneities: The relative abundance of glycoxidation and lipoxidation products distinguishes different tissue types. Preserved chelating ligands are diagnostic of different modes of biomineralization. Amino acid–specific fossilization products retain phylogenetic information and capture higher-rank metazoan relationships. Molecular signals survive in deep time and provide a powerful tool for reconstructing the evolutionary history of animals.

scholarly journals The evolutionary biomechanics of locomotor function in giant land animals

2021 ◽  
Vol 224 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Hutchinson
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Neuromuscular Control ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Current Theory ◽  
Locomotor Function ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Maximal Speed ◽  
And Function ◽  
Giant Size ◽  
Land Vertebrates

ABSTRACT Giant land vertebrates have evolved more than 30 times, notably in dinosaurs and mammals. The evolutionary and biomechanical perspectives considered here unify data from extant and extinct species, assessing current theory regarding how the locomotor biomechanics of giants has evolved. In terrestrial tetrapods, isometric and allometric scaling patterns of bones are evident throughout evolutionary history, reflecting general trends and lineage-specific divergences as animals evolve giant size. Added to data on the scaling of other supportive tissues and neuromuscular control, these patterns illuminate how lineages of giant tetrapods each evolved into robust forms adapted to the constraints of gigantism, but with some morphological variation. Insights from scaling of the leverage of limbs and trends in maximal speed reinforce the idea that, beyond 100–300 kg of body mass, tetrapods reduce their locomotor abilities, and eventually may lose entire behaviours such as galloping or even running. Compared with prehistory, extant megafaunas are depauperate in diversity and morphological disparity; therefore, turning to the fossil record can tell us more about the evolutionary biomechanics of giant tetrapods. Interspecific variation and uncertainty about unknown aspects of form and function in living and extinct taxa still render it impossible to use first principles of theoretical biomechanics to tightly bound the limits of gigantism. Yet sauropod dinosaurs demonstrate that >50 tonne masses repeatedly evolved, with body plans quite different from those of mammalian giants. Considering the largest bipedal dinosaurs, and the disparity in locomotor function of modern megafauna, this shows that even in terrestrial giants there is flexibility allowing divergent locomotor specialisations.

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