------------------

CALL FOR PAPERS


EvoNUM2008

First European Workshop on Bio-inspired Algorithms for Continuous
Parameter Optimisation

incorporated in Evo* 2008

Napoli, Italy, 26-28 March 2008


__Introduction__

"The main application areas of EC techniques [in industry] are
multi-objective optimization, classification, data mining and
numerical optimization". [1]

Many engineering problems of both theoretical and practical interest
involve choosing the best configuration of a set of parameters to
achieve a specified objective. Numerical optimisation refers to the
case when these parameters take continuous real values, as opposed to
combinatorial optimisation, which deals with discrete values. Examples
include designing production processes for maximum efficiency, optimal
parameter adjustment for controllers and many others. EvoNUM focuses
on such problems.

We seek high quality papers involving the application of bio-inspired
algorithms (genetic algorithms, genetic programming, evolution
strategies, differential evolution, particle swarm optimization,
evolutionary programming, simulated annealing... and their hybrids) to
continuous optimisation problems in engineering. We also welcome
cross-fertilisation between Nature-inspired algorithms and more
classical numerical optimisation algorithms.

EvoNUM deals with engineering applications where continuous parameters
or functions have to be optimised, in fields such as control,
chemistry, agriculture, electricity, building and construction,
energy, aerospace engineering, design optimisation...

__Topics of Interest__

EvoNUM aims to cover areas that include but are not limited to:

-     Local learning of parameters
-     Mechanisms to incorporate constraints
-     Theoretical developments
-     Performance measures and performance analysis
-     Benchmark problems [2]


The workshop will be part of Evo* 2008, a joint event which will
incorporate EuroGP 2008, the 11th European Conference on Genetic
Programming, EvoCOP 2008, the 8th European Conference on Evolutionary
Computation in Combinatorial Optimisation, EvoBIO 2008, the 6th
Conference on Evolutionary Bioinformatics, and EvoWorkshops 2008, a
set of ten thematic workshops on the theory and applications of
Evolutionary Computation.


__EvoNUM chairs__

    Anna I Esparcia-Alcázar, Instituto Tecnológico de Informática, Spain
    Anikó Ekárt, Aston University, United Kingdom

__EvoNUM Programme Committee__

    Eva Alfaro, Instituto Tecnologico de Informatica, Spain,
    Anne Auger, INRIA, France
    Wolfgang Banzhaf, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
    Hans-Georg Beyer, FH Vorarlberg, Austria
    Xavier Blasco, Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain
    Ying-ping Chen, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan
    Carlos Cotta, Universidad de Málaga, Spain,
    Kalyanmoy Deb, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland
    Marc Ebner, Universität Würzburg, Germany
    Francisco Fernández, Universidad de Extremadura, Spain
    Nikolaus Hansen, INRIA, France
    W.B. Langdon, University of Essex, UK
    JJ Merelo, Universidad de Granada, Spain
    Boris Naujoks, University of Dortmund, Germany
    Gabriela Ochoa, University of Nottingham, UK
    Una-May O'Reilly, MIT, USA
    Mike Preuss, University of Dortmund, Germany
    Günter Rudolph, University of Dortmund, Germany
    Marc Schoenauer, INRIA, France
    P. N. Suganthan, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
    Ke Tang, University of Science and Technology of China, China
    Darrell Whitley, Colorado State University, USA


__Submission details and additional information__


Submit your manuscript, at most 10 A4 pages long, in Springer LNCS
format (instructions are downloadable from:

http://www.springeronline.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,11855,5-164-2-72376-0,00.html)
using the online submission service no later than 1 November 2007.

The papers will be peer reviewed  by at least two members of the
program committee. Authors will be notified via email  on the results
of the review by 15 December 2007.

The authors of accepted papers may have to improve their paper on the
basis of the reviewers' comments and will be asked to send a camera
ready version of their manuscripts, including all source files (text
and images), by 8 January 2008. All accepted papers will appear in the
workshop proceedings, published in the Springer LNCS series, which
will be available at the workshop.

The authors of papers that receive the best reviews will be nominated
for the 'Best paper Award'.


__Important Dates__

Submission deadline: 1 November 2007
Notification of acceptance: 15 December 2007 Camera ready papers due:
8 January 2008
Workshop: 26-28 March 2008



__Web Addresses__

Conference web page

http://www.evostar.org

Workshop web page

http://evostar.iti.upv.es/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=51&Itemid\
=55



-------------------


[1] GS Hornby & T Yu, "EC Practitioners: Results of the First Survey",
SIGEVOlution, Newsletter of the ACM Special Interest Group on Genetic
and Evolutionary Computation, Vol. 2(1), Spring 2007 www.sigevolution.org

[2] Authors are also invited to submit their best algorithms to
http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/research/projects/ecb/

CALL FOR PAPERS
EvoTHEORY 2008

First European Workshop on Theoretical Aspects of Artificial Evolution

26-28 March, 2008, Naples, Italy

http://www.evostar.org/

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
INTRODUCTION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is a central goal of theoretical investigations of evolutionary
algorithms to assist practitioners with the tasks of selecting and
designing good strategy variants and operators. Due to the rapid
pace at which new strategy variants and operators are being
proposed, theoretical foundations of evolutionary algorithms still
lag behind practice. However, theoretical studies have gained much
momentum over the last few years and have made numerous valuable
contributions to the field of evolutionary computation.

The aim of this workshop is to find common ground among the
multitude of theoretical approaches and identify open questions
central to the field as a whole.

The workshop will be held from 26-28 March, 2008 in Naples,
Italy, as part of the EvoStar event.

Accepted papers will be presented orally at the workshop and
included in the EvoWorkshops proceedings, published by Springer
Verlag in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science series.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TOPICS OF INTEREST
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The theory of evolutionary algorithms today consists of a wide
range of different approaches. Run-time analysis, schema theory,
analysis of the dynamics of artificial evolution, and systematic
empirical analysis all consider different aspects of bio-inspired
algorithms behaviour.
Moreover, they employ different methods and tools for attaining
their goals, such as Markov chains, randomized algorithms,
infinite population models, or ideas based on statistical
mechanics or population dynamics. All aspects of analysis are of
interest, including but not limited to: population dynamics,
run-time analysis, fitness landscapes and problem difficulty,
genetic operator design, genetic repair principles, self-adaptive
parameters, multi-objective problems.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND SUBMISSION DETAILS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submit your manuscript, at most 10 A4 pages long, in Springer
LNCS format (instructions downloadable from
http://www.springeronline.com/sgw/cda/frontpage/0,11855,5-164-2-72376
-0,00.html)
no later than November 1, 2007.

The papers will be peer reviewed by at least three members of
the program committee. Authors will be notified via email on the
results of the review by December 15, 2007.

The authors of accepted papers will have to improve their paper
on the basis of the reviewers' comments and will be asked to
send a camera ready version of their manuscripts, along with
text sources and pictures, by January 8, 2008. The accepted
papers will appear in the workshop proceedings, published in
Springer LNCS Series, which will be available at the workshop.

Further information, including the Online Submission Details,
can be found in
http://www.evostar.org

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPORTANT DATES
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Submission:         1 November 2007
Notification:       15 December 2007
Camera ready:       8 January 2008
Workshop:           26-28 March 2008

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
WORKSHOP CHAIRS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mario Giacobini
Department of Animal Production Epidemiology and Ecology
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine
and Computational Biology Unit
Molecular Biotechnology Center
University of Torino, Italy

Jonathan Rowe
School of Computer Science
University of Birmingham
Birmingham, UK

(Apologies for multiple posting)


**************** CALL FOR PAPERS ****************

EvoPhD 2008

Third European Graduate Student Workshop on
Evolutionary Computation

Naples, Italy, 26-28 March 2008


This is the third European workshop on evolutionary
computation that focuses on work of PhD students.
Its main aim is to give students feedback on the
current state of their thesis. This workshop provides
a chance to students to present their work to a friendly
audience of other students as well as experts in the
field. It also provides students with contacts and
professional networking opportunities, which helps
them to integrate into the community.

For you as a student, the aim of a submission is to
get feedback on the current state of your thesis.
Submissions will be evaluated by members of a
high-quality committee that consists of long running
members of the community with the goal to provide
in-depth feedback. You are required to submit a paper
that summarizes the research performed and planned as
part of your dissertation.

The number of participants is limited. Accepted papers
will not be published in a proceedings, but will be
disseminated among the participants of the event.

The workshop is part of Evo*2008, which combined form
Europe's premier co-located events in the field of
evolutionary computing. The next event takes place in
Naples, Italy. Featuring the latest in theoretical
and applied research, the topics include recent genetic
programming challenges, evolutionary and other meta-heuristic
approaches for combinatorial optimization, evolutionary
algorithms in the biosciences, in music and art domains, in
image analysis and signal processing systems, in hardware
optimisation and as applied to a range of industrial and
financial optimisation problems.

Web address: http://www.evostar.org

Topics include, but are not limited to,

* Any topic that fits in the scope of the conferences and
   workshops
* Bio-inspired computing, such as evolutionary computing,
   ant colony optimization, swarm intelligence, and neural
   networks
* Local optimisation methods (tabu search, simulated annealing)
* All flavours of evolutionary computation (genetic programming,
evolution strategies, genetic algorithms, memetic algorithms, etc.)
* Combinatorial optimisation with bio-inspired computing
* Application of evolutionary computation to real-life problems
* Hybrid architectures that include bio-inspired components
* Theory on a relevant area of bio-inspired computing
Submission Information

The deadline for submission is 22 December 2007.
Authors will be notified of acceptance on 1 February 2008.
Camera-ready version of accepted paper due on 29 February 2008.
The page limit is 12 A4 pages in Springer LCNS format.

Submissions should be e-mailed in PDF or gzipped postscript to
evophd (at) vanhemert.co.uk

* Please read the formatting and content guidelines on the web page. *


Organising Committee

Program Chairs

     Jano van Hemert
     jano (at) vanhemert.co.uk
     University of Edinburgh, UK

     Mario Giacobini
     mario.giacobini (at) unito.it
     University of Torino, Italy

     Cecilia Di Chio
     cdichi (at) essex.ac.uk
     University of Essex, UK


Local Chair

     Ivanoe De Falco
     ivanoe.defalco (at) na.icar.cnr.it
     ICAR-CNR, Italy


Publicity Chair

     Anna Esparcia
     aesparcia (at) iti.upv.es
     Instituto Tecnologico de Informatica, Valencia, Spain

[Apologies for multiple postings]

-----------------------------------------------------------
                     CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT

                          Evo* 2008
                       26-28 March 2008
		        Napoli, Italy
                       www.evostar.org
-----------------------------------------------------------


Evo* - The main European events on Evolutionary Computation

Evo* joins the Europe's premier co-located events in the field of
evolutionary computing, namely the EuroGP, EvoCOP and EvoBIO
conferences and workshops collectively entitled EvoWorkshops. The
2008 event will take place in Naples/Napoli, Italy. Featuring the
latest in theoretical and applied research, the topics will include
recent genetic programming challenges, evolutionary and other meta-
heuristic approaches for combinatorial optimisation, evolutionary
algorithms in the biosciences, in music and art domains, in image
analysis and signal processing systems, in hardware optimisation and
as applied to a range of industrial and financial optimisation
problems.


EuroGP 2008
     Eleventh European Conference on Genetic Programming

EvoCOP 2008
     Eighth European Conference on Evolutionary Computation
     in Combinatorial Optimisation

EvoBIO 2008
     Sixth European Conference on Evolutionary Computation,
     Machine Learning and Data Mining in Bioinformatics

EvoWorkshops 2008
     European Workshops on the Theory and Applications of
     Evolutionary Computation

	 EvoCOMNET
	 Fifth European Workshop on the Application of Nature-
	 inspired Techniques to Telecommunication Networks and
	 other Connected Systems

	 EvoFIN
	 Second European Workshop on Evolutionary Computation
	 in Finance and Economics

	 EvoHOT
	 Fourth European Workshop on Bio-Inspired Heuristics
	 for Design Automation

	 EvoIASP
	 Tenth Workshop on Evolutionary Computation in Image
	 Analysis and Signal Processing

	 EvoMUSART
	 Sixth European Workshop on Evolutionary and
	 Biologically Inspired Music, Sound, Art and Design

	 EvoNUM
	 First European Workshop on Bio-inspired algorithms
	 for continuous parameter optimisation

	 EvoPhD
	 Third European Graduate Student Workshop on
	 Evolutionary Computation

	 EvoSTOC
	 Fifth European Workshop on Evolutionary Algorithms in
	 Stochastic and Dynamic Environments

	 EvoTHEORY -
	 First European Workshop on Theoretical Aspects in
	 Artificial Evolution

	 EvoTransLog
	 Second European Workshop on Evolutionary Computation
	 in Transportation and Logistics


Proceedings will be published as part of Springer's Lecture Notes in
Computer Science series.

Important dates

     * Submission deadline: 1 November 2007
     * Events: 26-28 March 2008

Information on specific events will be publicised shortly.

Evo* website: www.evostar.org

Evo* poster
	 You can download the Evo* poster advertisement in PDF format
from http://cas.iti.upv.es/evostar2008/evostar2008poster.pdf



Local Organising Committee
   Ivanoe De Falco, ICAR-CNR, Italy
   Antonio Della Cioppa, University of Salerno, Italy
   Ernesto Tarantino, ICAR-CNR, Italy
   Giuseppe Trautteur, University of Naples Federico II, Italy

Evo* Coordinator and Administrative Contact
   Jennifer Willies, School of Computing, Napier University, Scotland,
UK

Publicity Chair
   Anna Esparcia, Instituto Tecnologico de Informatica,  Spain

Evolution Research Blog:
http://evomech.blogspot.com/

Support Research:
http://evomech3.blogspot.com/2006/07/supportsponsor-evolution-research.html

this is my hypothesis on the mecanism of evolution.i will be glad to recieve fed back on my hypothesis.

                                        thanking you

                                                                

 

                                                                               kutumbarao.n.h.v

---

Find out what India is talking about on - Yahoo! Answers India
Send FREE SMS to your friend's mobile from Yahoo! Messenger Version 8. Get it NOW

-- 

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the evomech
group.

   File        : /Theory_on_Evolutionary_Mechanism[1].doc
   Uploaded by : jorolat <jorolat@...>
   Description : Theory on Evolutionary Mechanism by kutumbarao.n.h.v

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech/files/Theory_on_Evolutionary_Mechanism%5B1\
%5D.doc

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/groups/files

Regards,

jorolat <jorolat@...>

New research has provided evidence for 'environmental inheritance', a radical theory of transgenerational genetic adaptation proposed by Professor Marcus Pembrey of the Institute of Child Health, UCL in the mid 1990's

The latest evidence challenges accepted thinking on genetic inheritance, suggesting that historic events can contribute to some common modern illnesses.

The research, published by the Children of the 90s study based at the University of Bristol in collaboration with Umea University, Sweden, could have far-reaching implications for our understanding of modern health epidemics - such as obesity or cardiovascular disease.

Conventionally scientists believe that how we develop as adults depends on two factors - the genes (DNA) we inherit from our parents, and the environmental influences, such as diet, lifestyle, exposure to pollution from conception onwards.

Professor Marcus Pembrey, who is also head of Genetics at Children of the 90s, says that over the long term, the process of Darwinian evolution by random errors in DNA followed by natural selection ensures that the human race adapts to changes in our environment. But it takes very many generations.

Now there is evidence for another mechanism which no-one had considered... some of the father's own experiences in his childhood are captured in some way by his sperm, so affecting the genes that he bequeaths to his descendants.

Link for the above:

http://www.alspac.bristol.ac.uk/press/env_inheritance.shtml 

Also see:

'Cardiovascular and diabetes mortality determined by nutrition' at:

http://evomech.blogspot.com/2006/07/cardiovascular-and-diabetes-mortality.html 

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Adaptive Mutations to the Baldwin Effect:
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/index.html

Evolution Research Blog:
http://evomech.blogspot.com/

technorati tags: research, theory, adaptation, marcus+pembrey, obesity, cardiovascular, disease, genes, dna, parents, diet, lifestyle, pollution, genetics, darwinian, evolution, natural+selection, environment, mechanism, sperm

UF scientists discover evolutionary origin of fins, limbs

Gainesville, Florida: - Performance on the dance floor may notalways show it, but people are rarely born with two left feet. We havegenes that instruct our arms and legs to grow in the right places andpoint in the right directions. They also provide for the spaces betweenour fingers and toes and every other formative detail of our limbs.

Evolutionarilyspeaking, the genetic instructions used to construct and position ourlimbs were being perfected more than half a billion years ago infishes, not along the sides of the body where the fins that precededhuman arms and legs sprouted, but at the midline that runs along thebackbone and belly.

This midline - think of the dorsal, tail andanal fins of a fish - is where the genetic template to produce finsoriginated, about 100 million years before paired fins evolved andabout 200 million years before paired fins evolved into limbs,according to University of Florida genetics researchers. The findings,published online today in the journal Nature, also provide insight intothe evolutionary history of genes involved in human birth defects.[evolution, origin]

[The Nature paper is currently available here but the link won't work for long because it's an advance publication - email if you have any problems.]

technorati tags: florida, genes, limbs, fishes, fins, body, midline, template, nature, evolution, history, origin

John Latter / Jorolat

-- 

Evolution Research Blog:
http://evomech.blogspot.com/

Support Research:
http://evomech3.blogspot.com/2006/07/supportsponsor-evolution-research.html

technorati tags: internal, evolutionary, mechanism, metaphysics, dna, improbable, instinct, consciousness

I have searched the internet, talkorigins, Baldwinian explanations,
and the post archive here and been unable to find a good explanation
of how instincts (not reflexes) originate.

My dad is reading the book "Improbable" by Adam Fawer, and apparently
it makes a case for a "shared consciousness" to explain instincts that
are not coded for in DNA. I have tried to explain the Baldwinian
effect to him but I cannot explain how exactly the DNA itself passes
instincts.

According to the book, Biologists have been unable to explain how
babies  have the instinct (or skills) to walk, without ever seeing
walking in action.

I plan on reading "Improbable" to find out exactly what it says, but
can anyone explain how instincts are formed?

And can anyone explain why the concept of "shared consciousness" is
used in this regard? I havn't read the book yet, but apparently the
point is that some things that don't pass by DNA are instead contained
in everyone, in some meta-physical sense. I don't buy it, but maybe
someone with more education in meta-physics can explain it better.

Heylighen F. (1989): "Self-Organization, Emergence and the Architecture of Complexity", in:
Proceedings of the 1st European Conference on System Science, (AFCET, Paris), p. 23-32.

Abstract:

It is argued that the problems of emergence and the architecture of complexity can be solved by analysing the self-organizing evolution of complex systems. A generalized, distributed variation selection model is proposed, in which internal and external aspects of selection and variation are contrasted. "Relational closure" is introduced as an internal selection criterion. A possible application of the theory in the form of a pattern directed computer system for supporting complex problem-solving is sketched.

Full text at:

http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/Papers/SelfArchCom.pdf

John Latter

technorati tags: self-organization, complexity, evolution

-- 

technorati tags: internal+factors, natural+selection, random+mutations, grasse, johnson, berkeley, dna, dobzhansky, evolution

Dear All,

I have never seen this book, by Phillip E. Johnson, but I have to say
that, at a cursory reading, it seems rather good.

Perhaps we could have an update on the author. Who is he? What is the
backgound of the e-book?

Sincerely

John Hewitt

Genetics, Vol. 163, 1483-1496, April 2003, Copyright 2003
Regulating General Mutation Rates: Examination of the Hypermutable State Model for Cairnsian Adaptive Mutation
John R. Rotha, Eric Kofoid, Frederick P. Roth, Otto G. Bergc, Jon Segera, and Dan I. Andersson

Abstract:

In the lac adaptive mutation system of Cairns, selected mutant colonies but not unselected mutant types appear to arise from a nongrowing population of Escherichia coli. The general mutagenesis suffered by the selected mutants has been interpreted as support for the idea that E. coli possesses an evolved (and therefore beneficial) mechanism that increases the mutation rate in response to stress (the hypermutable state model, HSM). This mechanism is proposed to allow faster genetic adaptation to stressful conditions and to explain why mutations appear directed to useful sites. Analysis of the HSM reveals that it requires implausibly intense mutagenesis (105 times the unselected rate) and even then cannot account for the behavior of the Cairns system. The assumptions of the HSM predict that selected revertants will carry an average of eight deleterious null mutations and thus seem unlikely to be successful in long-term evolution. The experimentally observed 35-fold increase in the level of general mutagenesis cannot account for even one Lac+ revertant from a mutagenized subpopulation of 105 cells (the number proposed to enter the hypermutable state). We conclude that temporary general mutagenesis during stress is unlikely to provide a long-term selective advantage in this or any similar genetic system.

Full text at:

http://www.genetics.org/cgi/content/full/163/4/1483

John Latter

technorati tags: adaptive, cairns, mechanism, e.coli

-- 

 LIBRARY OF THE FUTURE (R) Series Third Edition  Ver. 4.3
Darwin on Trial                         Johnson, Phillip E     
----------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                      1991                                  
                                DARWIN ON TRIAL                             
                                                                            
                             by Phillip E. Johnson                          
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                                                                            
                     (C) Copyright 1991, Phillip E. Johnson                 
                 Used with permission of Phillip E. Johnson and             
                         Regnery Gateway Publishing Co.                     
                                                                            
 Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1993 World Library, Inc.        
                                                                            
CONTENTS                                                                    
                               CONTENTS                                     
-                                                                            
           Chapter One:     The Legal Setting                               
           Chapter Two:     Natural Selection                               
                              As a Tautology                                
                              As a Scientific Hypothesis                    
                              As a Deductive Argument                       
                              As a Philosophical Necessity                  
           Chapter Three:   Mutations Great and Small                       
           Chapter Four:    The Fossil Problem                              
           Chapter Five:    The Fact of Evolution                           
           Chapter Six:     The Vertebrate Sequence                         
                              Fish to Amphibians                            
                              Amphibians to Reptiles                        
                              Reptiles to Mammals                           
                              Reptile to Bird                               
                              From Apes to Humans                           
           Chapter Seven:   The Molecular Evidence                          
           Chapter Eight:   Prebiological Evolution                         
           Chapter Nine:    The Rules of Science                            
           Chapter Ten:     Darwinist Religion                              
           Chapter Eleven:  Darwinist Education                             
           Chapter Twelve:  Science and Pseudoscience                       
                            Research Notes          

Full text at:

http://www.geocities.com/kubyimm2/darwin-on-trial-phillip-johnson.txt

John Latter

-- 

technorati tags: research, evolution, reptiles, amphibians, mammals, apes, science, johnson

-- 

technorati tags: intelligent+design, evolution, berkeley, study

American Zoologist: Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 552 - 563.
Function and the Evolution of Phenotypic Stability: Connecting Pattern to Process
Kurt Schwenk and Gunter P. Wagner

Abstract:

Phenotypes manifest a balance between the inherited tendency to remain the same (phenotypic stability) and the tendency to change in response to current environmental conditions (adaptation). This paper explores the role of functional integration and functional trade-offs in generating phenotypic stability by limiting the responses of individual characters to environmental selection. Evolutionarily stable configurations (ESCs) are systems of functionally interacting characters within which characters are 'judged' by their contribution to system-level functionality. This 'internal' component of selection differs from traditional 'external' selection in that it travels with the organism wherever it goes and is maintained across a wide range of environments. External selection, in contrast, is by definition environment-dependent. The temporal and geographic constancy of internal selection therefore acts to maintain phenotypic stability even as environments change. Functional trade-offs occur when one character participates in more than one function, but can only be optimized for one. Participation of certain ('keystone') characters in a trade-off potentially causes stabilization of an entire system owing to a cascade of functional dependencies on that character. Phylogenetic character analysis is an essential part of elucidating these processes, but patterns cannot be used as prima facie evidence of particular processes.

Full text at: http://icb.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/41/3/552

John Latter

-- 

technorati tags: environmental, systems, adaptation, selection, patterns, phenotypes

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 981:61-81 (2002)
2002 New York Academy of Sciences
From Epigenesis to Epigenetics
The Case of C. H. Waddington
Linda Van Speybroeck

Abstract:

One continuous thread in this volume is the name of Conrad H. Waddington (1905-1975), the developmental biologist known as the inventor of the term epigenetics. After some biographical notes on his life, this article explores the meaning of the Waddingtonian equation and the context wherein it was developed. This equation holds that epigenesis + genetics = epigenetics, and refers in retrospect to the debate on epigenesis versus preformationism in neoclassical embryology. Whereas Waddington actualized this debate by linking epigenesis to developmental biology and preformation to genetics, thereby stressing the importance of genetic action in causal embryology, today's epigenetics more and more offers the possibility to enfeeble biological thinking in terms of genes only, as it expands the gene-centric view in biology by introducing a flexible and pragmatically oriented hierarchy of crucial genomic contexts that go beyond the organism.

Full text at:

http://www.uv.mx/evargas/CienciaSagrada/TextosFundamentales/Speybroeck.pdf

John Latter

technorati tags: waddington, epigenetics, epigenesis, genetics, enbryology, biology

avast! Antivirus: Inbound message clean.

Virus Database (VPS): 0611-0, 14/03/2006
Tested on: 14/03/2006 20:07:15
avast! - copyright (c) 2000-2004 ALWIL Software.

"The Return of Hopeful Monsters" Natural History magazine 86 (June 1976): 24, 30.

Big Brother, the tyrant of George Orwell's 1984, directed his daily Two Minutes Hate against Emmanuel Goldstein, enemy of the people. When I studied evolutionary biology in graduate school during the mid-1960s, official rebuke and derision focused upon Richard Goldschmidt, a famous geneticist who, we were told, had gone astray. Although 1984 creeps up on us, I trust that the world will not be in Big Brother's grip by then. I do, however, predict that during this decade Goldschmidt will be largely vindicated in the world of evolutionary biology.

Goldschmidt, a Jewish refugee from Hitler's decimation of German science, spent the remainder of his career at Berkeley, where he died in 1958. His views on evolution ran afoul of the great neo-Darwinian synthesis forged during the 1930s and 1940s and continuing today as a reigning, if insecure, orthodoxy. Contemporary neo-Darwinism is often called the "synthetic theory of evolution" because it united the theories of population genetics with the classical observations of morphology, systematics, embryology, biogeography, and paleontology.

The core of this synthetic theory restates the two most characteristic assertions of Darwin himself: first, that evolution is a two-stage process (random variation as raw material, natural selection as a directing force); secondly, that evolutionary change is generally slow, steady, gradual, and continuous.

Full text at:

http://www.evolutionary.tripod.com/gould_nh_86_22-30.html

John Latter

-- 

technorati tags: gould, natural+selection, george+orwell, 1984, biology, berkeley, evolution

American Zoologist, 1998, by Holland, Peter W H

Synopsis

Several phases of animal evolution have undergone radical change in developmental mechanisms. I refer to these as major transitions in animal evolution. The six most important transitions in the lineage leading to humans are proposed to be: the origin of multicellularity, the origin of two-germ layers and radial symmetry, the origin of three-germ layers and bilateral symmetry, dorsoventral axis inversion, the origin of vertebrates, the origin of gnathostomes. Here I discuss the genetic changes that may have underlain these transitions. The last two transitions were accompanied by, and possibly facilitated by, large increases in gene number. This probably occurred by tetraploidy, with some of the duplicate genes being subsequently lost. The origin of three germ-layers, bilateral symmetry and a through gut also probably involved gene duplication; in this case, duplication of an ancestral ProtoHox gene cluster to yield two paralogous homeobox gene clusters, Hox and ParaHox, with roles in patterning different germ layers along the anteroposterior body axis. This event may provide a partial genetic explanation for the Cambrian explosion.

Full text at:

http://www.looksmartscience.com/p/articles/mi_qa3746/is_199812/ai_n8819584

John Latter

Evolution: Research Blog | Website | Forum | Webring

technorati tags: cambrian, explosion, evolution, vertebrates, gene

Pigliucci, M. (2004) Natural selection and its limits: Where ecology meets evolution. In: Casagrandi, R. & Melià, P. (Eds.) Ecologia. Atti del XIII Congresso Nazionale della Società Italiana di Ecologia (Como, 8-10 settembre 2003). Aracne, Roma, p. 29-34.

Abstract:

Natural selection [Darwin 1859] is perhaps the most important component of evolutionary theory, since it is the only known process that can bring about the adaptation of living organisms to their environments [Gould 2002]. And yet, its study is conceptually and methodologically complex, and much attention needs to be paid to a variety of phenomena that can limit the efficacy of selection [Antonovics 1976; Pigliucci and Kaplan 2000]. In this essay, I will use examples of recent work carried out in my laboratory to illustrate basic research on natural selection as conducted using a variety of approaches, including field work, laboratory experiments, and molecular genetics. I also discuss the application of this array of tools to questions pertinent to conservation biology, and in particular to the all-important problem of what makes invasive species so good at creating the sort of  problems they are infamous for [Lee 2002].

Full text at:

http://www.xiiicongresso.societaitalianaecologia.org/articles/Pigliucci.pdf

John Latter

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technorati tags: natural+selection, ecology, evolution, darwin, gould, research, genetics

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technorati tags: natural+selection, dna, human, chimpanzee, evolution, nature, genes, rna

[Lachmann & Sella, SFI Working Paper]

Abstract:

Differentiation of multicellular organisms is controlled by epigenetic markers transmitted through cell division. Many of the systems that encode these markers exist also in unicellulars, but in unicellulars these systems do not control differentiation. Thus during the evolution of multicellularity, epigenetic inheritance systems were exapted for their current use in differentiation. During this transition there must have been stages at which epigenetic information passed between generations to an even larger extent than it does now. We show that this can lead to the evolution of cells that do not contribute to the progeny of the organism, and thus to a germline-soma distinction. This hints that an intrinsic instability during a transition from unicellulars to multicellulars may be the reason wide spread of the evolution of germ line.

Full text at:

http://www.santafe.edu/sfi/publications/Working-Papers/03-02-012.pdf

John Latter

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technorati tags: epigenetic, germ, line, inheritance, evolution

technorati tags: complex, behavior, complexity

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technorati tags: dna, inheritance, features, theory, phenotypes

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technorati tags: research, embryo, genes, mechanism

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technorati tags: evolution, natural+selection, biology, physics, culture