...Systems Research and Behavioral Science Syst. Res. 15, 365–372 (1998) & Research Paper Evolution and Thermodynamics: The New Paradigm{ Jeffrey S. Wicken* Department of Biochemistry, Penn State University, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA This paper introduces the new evolutionary paradigm born of the synthesis of Darwinism and thermodynamics. It also introduces this volume, whose theme is the integration of life and social process with physical law. The sense of this expansion is as follows: Darwinism has come under intense scrutiny in recent years, from several fields. These range from statistical mechanics to developmental biology. In this paper, I will discuss the direction the revision of the Darwinian program is taking through thermodynamics, which is the science of irreversible process and self-organization. My objective is to show the coherence of life with the rest of nature. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Keywords evolution; emergence; thermodynamics INTRODUCTION Evolutionary theory is presently undergoing the kind of massive conceptual restructuring that marked the two great scientific revolutions of our century: relativity and quantum mechanics. Like those two revolutions, the one occurring in evolutionary theory has tremendous practical and epistemological implications for understanding, and dealing with, nature. Much is dissonant in the Darwinian world. The ecological relationality of life had, from the time of Aristotle, suggested a functional order of nature...
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...Beren Robinson Field Study Paper Ryan Miller BIO/315 Michelle Gray 1/30/13 Beren Robinson Field Study Paper In the field study of Beren Robinson there where many important aspects of the tests performed, including how species adapt and morph during certain environmental situations. One of the main aspects was taking the species out of its natural habitat to see how they perform under specific environmental changes. In this particular study these included location change, water depth and also food type. The study also showed relation to ecology and evolution because the relationship between the species and the environment was tested to discover possible evolution along with the two being heritable. As far as evolution it displayed original characteristics along with evolved ones of the similar species once switched into a different setting. Some of the original observations found by researchers included samples from the open-water habitat differed morphologically from those species sampled from the shallower near shore waters. The question of study would have been does the constraints of the different environments pose threat or is responsible to the evolution of the species. While “Robinson hypothesized that these individuals represented distinct phenotypes that are products of natural selection promoting divergence within the population” (Robinson, 2000). The variables in this study where the three spine stickleback species from...
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...Introduction Humans share a mutual ancestors with other organisms. This mutual ancestor that humans share with other organisms including rice that lived about 1.6 billion years ago. Chimpanzees and bonobos are our closet living relative. Researchers were able to come to this conclusion by comparing the genomes of chimpanzees and bonobos to the genome of humans. In this paper I will discuss why all organisms are related to each other, including humans. I will do this by using natural selection as a mechanism for evolution. Natural selection as a mechanism for evolution explains how organisms have changed over time to adapt to their environment. I will also provide the percent of relatedness in terms of nucleotide sequence. I will also discuss the Human genome project and its importance. The benefits of the human genome project extend far beyond determining who our closest ancestor is and how closely humans are related to mice and other organisms. In this paper I will also look at the technology that has been developed to enhance the findings the Human Genome Project. Humans Are Related To Other Organisms Humans share about 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acids) is the molecule that makes up an organism’s genome. DNA is located in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells and is found in the nucleoid of prokaryotic cells. DNA consist of genes which are instructions to make molecules called proteins. DNA’s serves a significant purpose...
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...Astronomy Research and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life The objective of this paper is to discuss life here on Earth and the possibilities of extraterrestrial life in one’s solar system. The team will describe the properties of life on Earth and explain the theories for the genesis of life, including the theory of natural selection. Members will provide a brief description of the evolution of life and include a geological timescale that describes specific eras throughout the previous three billion plus years. The team will assess the possibilities of extraterrestrial life, and results will be presented. Describe the properties of life on Earth Properties of life on Earth are what define the word life. The properties of life consist of cells and reproduction, responses to the environment, growth and development, and evolution. Every living thing is collected through cells which make tissues and organs that make a living organism. All living organisms can produce such as humans, animals, bacteria, and plants called asexual reproduction. The responses of the living in the environment are through any changes occurring in “light, sound, heat, and chemical contact” through “eyes, ears, and taste buds” (Cliff’s notes, 2011, para. 3). Behavior is one way that all living organisms changes through the environment such as the food chain for one’s survival. Growth and development of an organism takes in all substantial amount of information through energy of building...
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...2328 alextevi@yahoo.com Olutayo Otubanjo, PhD Senior Lecturer (Marketing) Lagos Business School Pan-African University Km 22 Lekki Epe Expressway Ajah, Lagos, Nigeria. 00234 808 608 6816 totubanjo@lbs.edu.ng Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2197664 Abstract Purpose: This paper seeks to create an epistemologically grounded understanding of the causes and process of corporate rebranding via the lens of the theory of evolution by natural selection. Approach: A review of the factors that trigger corporate rebranding, as reported in academic literature, is made. Following the review, a case is made for the absence of an epistemologically grounded understanding of why firms rebrand. Consequently, the theory of evolution by natural selection is brought forward as a platform for the development of a new model that explicates the causes and process of corporate rebranding. Findings: A new model anchored on the theory of evolution by natural selection, and a new definition of corporate rebranding is advanced. Essentially, the model offers epistemologically grounded reasons for ascendancy of corporate rebranding in the environment. Limitations: This is a conceptual paper – meaning that the model suggested in this study is yet to be subjected to a serious empirical exercise Originality: The review of literature indicates the absence of an epistemologically grounded understanding of the causes and process of corporate rebranding in the business environment. The pursuit...
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...evolution. It is very important to compare the individual lifestyles, contributions, and beliefs of Darwin and Wallace in order to develop a clear and comprehensive understanding of their concepts of natural selection in evolution. According to Janet Browne (2010) in her biography of Darwin, she describes the similarities in the life experiences of Darwin and Wallace that led them to independently arrive at the theory of natural selection. Both Wallace and Darwin were inspired by the readings such as Charles Lyell and Thomas Malthus. Browne notes that, “Even so, the parallels between Darwin’s and Wallace’s ideas are no less remarkable for their cultural symmetry. Their similarities are further demonstrated by them sharing similar geographical exploration and travel experiences and their mutual appreciations of their marvels of nature and overwhelming desire to comprehend them…” (Browne 2010: 357). The two theorists examined the concepts of natural selection independently until its publication. By the 1958, Darwin had already developed his idea on natural selection but had not published it as he was still collecting more evidence. After his previous research had been destroyed in his journey back to England from Brazilian Amazon, Wallace resumed his research on natural selection while at Archipelago which was marked by his famous “letter to Darwin” that contained an essay discussing a theory very similar to Darwin’s. The situation was very challenging as these two theorists had...
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...resumes get stored. The HR manager needs the best among the stored documented resumes. The outcome of this research is a proposed architecture for classification,retreivel of the best selected resumes for the HR based on the ideas and principles of artificial immune system. Based on the research an attempt is made to automate the HR resume selection process by building an automated resume recommender system using the concepts of information extraction and artificial immune system. Keywords: Artificial immune system, information extraction, classification. 1. INTRODUCTION In today’s e-world, many of the applications are automated to ease the task carried out with accuracy. Many organizations across the globe are flooded with hundreds of resumes every month. The task of the HR manager is to create a job based on some criteria and filter out the best suitable resumes among the repository. Since the HR are having rich text of huge data, a computational tool shall help to ease down the task for them. This paper describes the initial stage in developing an automated resume filtering system by not altering the information in the document repositry.Though the job is full of challenges and needs other areas in depth knowledge. The proposed model is based on the ideas inspired by artificial immune system. [2] This has some analogies to the human immune system. This paper begins with a...
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...is used by scientists to describe the variety of processes used in making duplicates of biological materials. This paper will discuss the embryonic cells and pronucleus taking into accounts their application to human cloning. Caenorhadditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster will also be discussed together with application of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Embryonic stem cell has been applied in human cloning through human cloning for biomedical research whereby cloned cells are produced and used in individual patients suffering from diseases like Parkinson’s disease and type 1 diabetes (Fairbanks, 2004). This discovery has been used to develop embryos thus making important steps for medicine. Cloned embryos have been used widely as sources of stem cells, which have been developed to make new heart muscles, bone, brain tissues and other type of cells in the body. The stem cells have provided a breakthrough in medicine by creating new tissues that might be able to heal the damage caused by heart attack or repair severed spinal cord (Fairbanks, 2004). There are trials of utilizing stem cells from donated embryos to try and restore people’s eye sights. The donated cells are cloned to match the patient so that they would not be rejected by the body. With this kind of research various ethical and moral considerations have emerged, one of them being that this research involves deliberate production, use and destruction of cloned human embryo that could be used in attempts to produce...
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...|[pic] |Course Syllabus | | |College of Natural Sciences | | |SCI/230 Version 7 | | |Introduction to Life Science | Copyright © 2012, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course applies a broad, conceptual understanding of biology. Students are introduced to scientific ideologies and concepts that not only shape our biological world, but also shape us as humans. Students examine the scientific method, evolution and biodiversity, the biology of cells, energy systems, the dynamics of inheritance, and the effect humans have on the environment. The text emphasizes methods and the theoretical foundations of ideas, while minimizing isolated facts. It stresses the integration of ideas, making connections that form our understanding of the living world. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: • University policies:...
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...the two streams of thought continues to this day. While creationists believe in a god who is the absolute creator of heaven and earth less than 10,000 years ago, evolutionists believe that the universe began billions of years ago with life started as just a single cell bacteria evolving slowly into everything we see today. “What’s the difference between creationism and evolution?” Charles Darwin’s work on evolution is the most recognized throughout history and the evidence that he discovered supporting evolution changed how many people viewed the history of our universe. His main research project was on a process called natural selection, the idea that survival of the fittest has been a main determinant is shaping how the earth and all living things appear today. Charles Darwin discuses this idea of Natural Selection in his essay “Natural Selection”, detailing evidence supporting his theory. This paper will discuss Darwin’s essay but will also go into further detail of his discoveries, other evolutionary milestones and finally comparing and contrasting the evolutionary argument to the creationism point of view. The idea of evolution first came about in the 1600’s when European naturalists started to question the current theories about how our universe was created. In 1666 the first evidence of evolution was discovered when a couple of fishermen caught a shark. On inspection they noticed that the shark’s teeth resembled “tongue stones”, thought to be triangular shaped rocks but...
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...| Syllabus College of Natural Science BIO/100 Version 2 Introduction to Life Science with Lab | Copyright © 2009, 2007 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved. Course Description This course applies a broad, conceptual understanding of biology. Students are introduced to scientific ideologies and concepts that not only shape the biological world, but also shape humans. Students examine the scientific method, evolution and biodiversity, the biology of cells, physiology, the dynamics of inheritance, and the effect humans have on the environment. The text emphasizes methods and the theoretical foundations of ideas, while minimizing isolated facts. It stresses the integration of ideas, making connections that form an understanding of the living world. The weekly online labs add a practical component to the class. The labs build upon the concepts in the text and offer a chance to interact with the material and further their understanding. Policies Faculty and students/learners will be held responsible for understanding and adhering to all policies contained within the following two documents: University policies: You must be logged into the student website to view this document. Instructor policies: This document is posted in the Course Materials forum. University policies are subject to change. Be sure to read the policies at the beginning of each class. Policies may be slightly different depending on the modality in which you attend class. If you have...
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...Origins of Psychology and Research Methods Worksheet PSY/103 Introduction to Psychology July 6, 2010 Origins of Psychology and Research Methods Worksheet Part One: Origins of Psychology: This paper describes the seven major perspectives in modern psychology that are, psychoanalytic, behaviorist, humanist, cognitive, neuroscientific/biopsychological, evolutionary, and sociocultural. Psychoanalytic: Is the study done by Sigmund Freud of the unconscious mind. He believes that people’s behavior is directly from childhood and stems from personal relationships. It was develop to find different ways to explain human behavior and to offer treatment to people with mental illness. Behaviorist: Is the study of behavior and how it is affected by one’s environment in which they grew up around. Job Watson did not believe in psychoanalysis, he thought that the surroundings had the most profound influence on one’s behavior. Job’s method of study was to observe them to see how behaviors are learned and reinforced. Humanist: Is a voluntary behavior that was influenced by Carl Rogers that emphasizes people to be motivated into thinking of their own fulfillment. This perspective was invented in the early 1950’s. Cognitive: Is the focus of how an individual thinks and remember, and how well one can process information. Jean Piaget founded cognitive psychology in 1960 and is used frequently in today’s society...
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...The peppered moth simulation gave me a better understanding of natural selection and how it causes populations to change and evolve. The method used to conduct this experiment was to use two different sheets of white and pink paper, small white and pink dots, and place the different colored dots on different colored paper, and pick the dots up with forceps in under eight seconds. The method also consisted of collecting data and graphing it. This method had high validity because it was accurate and can be validated with events that happen in real life. The events that the simulation accurately represents are the events of Manchester, England. It represents how earlier on in time, moths were light colored because the trunks of the trees in the...
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...Are Modern Humans Still Evolving?In the year eighteen fifty-nine, Charles Darwin published a book which he called “The Origin of Species”. In this book Darwin theorized that populations evolve over the years through a process called natural selection. Darwin realized that in a population, more individuals were born than could possibly survive, he also recognized that the individuals that survived and reproduced were the ones with some sort of competitive advantage over rival animals, therefore they were more likely to pass their useful traits down to their offspring (Darwin, 1859). As this process of natural selection occurred for millions of years, these desirable traits that were once only prevalent in a few individual animals became common traits for entire species (Winston, 2009). There are countless amounts of evidence that suggest that humans owe their existence to evolution, however, many people are skeptical as to whether or not it is still occurring, and whether or not it is happening in the same way. Some scientists hold that the human race has reached “its biological pinnacle and is no longer capable of changing” (McKie, 2005, ¶1). Alternatively, some experts believe that humans are evolving faster than ever (Sample, 2007), and others believe it is still happening, just on different terms. There has not been any deciding evidence as to whether or not humans are still evolving, however, saying it isn’t happening is a very difficult position to defend. Gene mutations...
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...Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England and died at the Down House in Kent on April 19, 1882. He was born to Robert and Susannah Darwin. Robert was a successful physician whose father, Erasmus Darwin, had also been a physician but had made his name as a poet of the natural world. Susannah Wedgwood came from a family of potters; her father, Josiah Wedgwood, had made a small fortune making high-quality pottery. Both sides of Darwin's family were liberal in their politics and indifferent in their religion. Darwin spent his childhood playing at The Mount, the Darwin home and estate in Shrewsbury. He was schooled at home by his sister Caroline until he was eight years old and Susannah died. He then spent a year at a day school and transferred to a boarding school, the Shrewsbury School, only a mile away from The Mount. There he studied, getting acceptable but unremarkable grades, until age sixteen, when his father sent him to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. Darwin focused on collecting, hunting, and naturalizing instead of medicine. It was there that he first learned to study and collect beetles. The marine biologist Robert Grant took him under his wing. After two years, it was obvious that Darwin would not become a doctor, so with the help of his father Darwin transferred to the University of Cambridge to study for the clergy of the Anglican Church. There he became friends with the older botanist John Henslow. Soon after graduating...
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