Download or read book Functions selection and mechanisms written by Philippe Huneman and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-02-20 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume handles in various perspectives the concept of function and the nature of functional explanations, topics much discussed since two major and conflicting accounts have been raised by Larry Wright and Robert Cummins’ papers in the 1970s. Here, both Wright’s ‘etiological theory of functions’ and Cummins’ ‘systemic’ conception of functions are refined and elaborated in the light of current scientific practice, with papers showing how the ‘etiological’ theory faces several objections and may in reply be revisited, while its counterpart became ever more sophisticated, as researchers discovered fresh applications for it. Relying on a firm knowledge of the original positions and debates, this volume presents cutting-edge research evincing the complexities that today pertain in function theory in various sciences. Alongside original papers from authors central to the controversy, work by emerging researchers taking novel perspectives will add to the potential avenues to be followed in the future. Not only does the book adopt no a priori assumptions about the scope of functional explanations, it also incorporates material from several very different scientific domains, e.g. neurosciences, ecology, or technology. In general, functions are implemented in mechanisms; and functional explanations in biology have often an essential relation with natural selection. These two basic claims set the stage for this book’s coverage of investigations concerning both ‘functional’ explanations, and the ‘metaphysics’ of functions. It casts new light on these claims, by testing them through their confrontation with scientific developments in biology, psychology, and recent developments concerning the metaphysics of realization. Rather than debating a single theory of functions, this book presents the richness of philosophical issues raised by functional discourse throughout the various sciences.
Download or read book What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter written by Justin Garson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-10 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This accessible book presents a new theory of biological functions and connects it to contemporary problems in philosophy and science.
Download or read book Selection written by Graham Bell and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book adopts a direct experimental approach to evolutionary questions, drawing predominantly from research on microbial systems. The focus is on processes and mechanisms, and incorporates insights from recent advances in whole-genome sequencing, bioinformatics, environmental genomics and developmental genetics.
Download or read book The Evolution of Cooperation written by Robert Axelrod and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2009-04-29 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A famed political scientist's classic argument for a more cooperative world We assume that, in a world ruled by natural selection, selfishness pays. So why cooperate? In The Evolution of Cooperation, political scientist Robert Axelrod seeks to answer this question. In 1980, he organized the famed Computer Prisoners Dilemma Tournament, which sought to find the optimal strategy for survival in a particular game. Over and over, the simplest strategy, a cooperative program called Tit for Tat, shut out the competition. In other words, cooperation, not unfettered competition, turns out to be our best chance for survival. A vital book for leaders and decision makers, The Evolution of Cooperation reveals how cooperative principles help us think better about everything from military strategy, to political elections, to family dynamics.
Download or read book In Search of the Causes of Evolution written by Peter R. Grant and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2010-11-21 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Evolutionary biology has witnessed breathtaking advances in recent years. Some of its most exciting insights have come from the crossover of disciplines as varied as paleontology, molecular biology, ecology, and genetics. This book brings together many of today's pioneers in evolutionary biology to describe the latest advances and explain why a cross-disciplinary and integrated approach to research questions is so essential. Contributors discuss the origins of biological diversity, mechanisms of evolutionary change at the molecular and developmental levels, morphology and behavior, and the ecology of adaptive radiations and speciation. They highlight the mutual dependence of organisms and their environments, and reveal the different strategies today's researchers are using in the field and laboratory to explore this interdependence. Peter and Rosemary Grant--renowned for their influential work on Darwin's finches in the Galápagos--provide concise introductions to each section and identify the key questions future research needs to address. In addition to the editors, the contributors are Myra Awodey, Christopher N. Balakrishnan, Rowan D. H. Barrett, May R. Berenbaum, Paul M. Brakefield, Philip J. Currie, Scott V. Edwards, Douglas J. Emlen, Joshua B. Gross, Hopi E. Hoekstra, Richard Hudson, David Jablonski, David T. Johnston, Mathieu Joron, David Kingsley, Andrew H. Knoll, Mimi A. R. Koehl, June Y. Lee, Jonathan B. Losos, Isabel Santos Magalhaes, Albert B. Phillimore, Trevor Price, Dolph Schluter, Ole Seehausen, Clifford J. Tabin, John N. Thompson, and David B. Wake.
Download or read book Signaling Mechanisms Regulating T Cell Diversity and Function written by Jonathan Soboloff and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2017-03-27 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: T cells play a vital role mediating adaptive immunity, a specific acquired resistance to an infectious agent produced by the introduction of an antigen. There are a variety of T cell types with different functions. They are called T cells, because they are derived from the thymus gland. This volume discusses how T cells are regulated through the operation of signaling mechanisms. Topics covered include positive and negative selection, early events in T cell receptor engagement, and various T cell subsets.
Download or read book Status and Function of Languages and Language Varieties written by Ulrich Ammon and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Behavioural Mechanisms of Food Selection written by Roger N. Hughes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 887 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Behavioural Mechanisms of Food Selection examines animals belonging to diverse trophic groups, from carnivores, herbivores, micro-algal grazers, to filter-feeders and detritus-feeders. In the past Optimal Foraging Theory has been applied to all these groups, but in different ways and in disci plines that rarely overlap. Here concepts and developments hitherto scattered in the literature are drawn together. This uniquely broad synthesis captures the state of the art in the study of diet selection and prescribes new objectives in theoretical development and research.
Download or read book Information Incentives and Economic Mechanisms written by Theodore Groves and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Printbegrænsninger: Der kan printes 10 sider ad gangen og max. 40 sider pr. session
Download or read book Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office written by United States. Patent Office and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Critical Overview of Biological Functions written by Justin Garson and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-03-30 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a critical survey of and guidebook to the literature on biological functions. It ties in with current debates and developments, and at the same time, it looks back on the state of discourse in naturalized teleology prior to the 1970s. It also presents three significant new proposals. First, it describes the generalized selected effects theory, which is one version of the selected effects theory, maintaining that the function of a trait consists in the activity that led to its differential persistence or reproduction in a population, and not merely its differential reproduction. Secondly, it advances “within-discipline pluralism” (as opposed to between-discipline pluralism) a new form of function pluralism, which emphasizes the coexistence of function concepts within diverse biological sub-disciplines. Lastly, it provides a critical assessment of recent alternatives to the selected effects theory of function, namely, the weak etiological theory and the systems-theoretic theory. The book argues that, to the extent that functions purport to offer causal explanations for the existence of a trait, there are no viable alternatives to the selected effects view. The debate about biological functions is still as relevant and important to biology and philosophy as it ever was. Recent controversies surrounding the ENCODE Project Consortium in genetics, the nature of psychiatric classification, and the value of ecological restoration, all point to the continuing relevance to biology of philosophical discussion about the nature of functions. In philosophy, ongoing debates about the nature of biological information, intentionality, health and disease, mechanism, and even biological trait classification, are closely related to debates about biological functions.
Download or read book Sexual selection in mice MHC genes chemosensory mechanisms and evolutionary functions written by Dustin J. Penn and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Understanding Economic Change written by Ulrich Witt and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-29 with total page 445 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the economy has always been changing, ever more innovations now seem to accelerate the transformation process. Are there any laws governing the incessant global change? Does it accord with our intentions and desires and make us happier? Do our institutions and our democracies cope with the challenges? How does economic theory explain what is going on? In this volume, experts in the field discuss the advances that evolutionary economics has made in exploring questions like these. The broad range of topics include a review of the development of the field: its conceptual and methodological characteristics are outlined; problems posed by macroeconomic evolution and the institutional challenges are highlighted; and, last but not least, the implications of the evolution of the economy for wellbeing and sustainability are addressed. Taken together, the contributions demonstrate the potential of an evolutionary paradigm for making sense of economic change and for assessing its consequences.
Download or read book Applications of Evolutionary Computing written by Anna I. Esparcia-Alcázar and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation, EvoApplications 2013, held in Vienna, Austria, in April 2013, colocated with the Evo* 2013 events EuroGP, EvoCOP, EvoBIO, and EvoMUSART. The 65 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 119 submissions. EvoApplications 2013 consisted of the following 12 tracks: EvoCOMNET (nature-inspired techniques for telecommunication networks and other parallel and distributed systems), EvoCOMPLEX (evolutionary algorithms and complex systems), EvoENERGY (evolutionary computation in energy applications), EvoFIN (evolutionary and natural computation in finance and economics), EvoGAMES (bio-inspired algorithms in games), EvoIASP (evolutionary computation in image analysis, signal processing, and pattern recognition), EvoINDUSTRY (nature-inspired techniques in industrial settings), EvoNUM (bio-inspired algorithms for continuous parameter optimization), EvoPAR (parallel implementation of evolutionary algorithms), EvoRISK (computational intelligence for risk management, security and defence applications), EvoROBOT (evolutionary computation in robotics), and EvoSTOC (evolutionary algorithms in stochastic and dynamic environments).
Download or read book Ebook Vertebrates Comparative Anatomy Function Evolution written by Kenneth Kardong and published by McGraw Hill. This book was released on 2014-10-16 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This one-semester text is designed for an upper-level majors course. Vertebrates features a unique emphasis on function and evolution of vertebrates, complete anatomical detail, and excellent pedagogy. Vertebrate groups are organized phylogenetically, and their systems discussed within such a context. Morphology is foremost, but the author has developed and integrated an understanding of function and evolution into the discussion of anatomy of the various systems.
Download or read book Program Guide Selection and Application of Knee Mechanisms written by United States. Veterans Administration. Department of Medicine and Surgery and published by . This book was released on 1980 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Basal Ganglia Circuits written by Jose L. Lanciego and published by Frontiers E-books. This book was released on with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current basal ganglia model has been introduced 25 years ago and has settled the basis for most of our current understanding of Parkinson's disease. Despite the tremendous success of the model, a number of experimental evidences have been made available over the past 25 years and the "classical" basal ganglia model is somewhat obsolete. I believe that it would be possible to recruit a number of international leading experts that have generated new data on basal ganglia circuits and therefore a Research Topic of this kind would lead to the introduction of a fully updated basal ganglia model, incorporating all the new basal ganglia circuits that have been characterized over the past 25 years.
