The central concern of this paper is to re-evaluate Rosen's replicating (M,R)-systems, presented in his book 'Life Itself ', where M and R signify metabolism and repair, respectively. We look anew at Rosen's model of an organism in the light of extensive research into natural hierarchical systems, and the paper presents conclusions drawn from a comparison between Rosen's relational model and that of a birational complementary natural hierarchy. We accept that Rosen's relational model provides a useful stepping stone to understanding the nature of life, but also suggest that it induces potentially digressive conclusions. We conclude that a binary segregation of relational assemblies into mechanisms and organisms is insufficient, and indicate how a threefold segregation throws new light on Rosen's model. An organism is not 'the complement of a mechanism': the complement of a mechanism is its ecosystem. An organism is the 'complex interface' between mechanism and ecosystem.
Abstract-Terahertz dielectric spectroscopy permits the study of biomolecular interactions. However, water induces high attenuation of electromagnetic waves in the THz frequency range, obscuring the response of biomolecules. The developed sensor overcomes this problem by concentrating the THz wave propagating in an integrated waveguide on a small liquid volume contained within a capillary tube. Detailed electromagnetic modeling shows effective interaction between the THz waves and liquids. Transmission measurement results for capillary tubes filled with water and methanol mixtures demonstrate a substantial increase in sensitivity to changes of liquid permittivity. The current integrated sensor facilitates THz spectroscopy of biological liquids: a case study on buffered human serum albumin solution demonstrates a great potential to complement biochemical analytical tools.
Natural systems are characterized more by the way they change than by their appearance at any one moment in time. There is, however, no self-consistent theory capable of ascribing the development of living hierarchical organisms to conventional scientific rationality. We have derived a generic model for the dynamics and evolution of natural hierarchical systems. This paper presents the resultant birational dynamics which may be attributed to a real hierarchy. We describe the nature of self-organization and of emergence in hierarchies, and the rationality which may be employed to move between scalar levels. We propose the use of diffusely-rational recursive Dempster-Shafer-probability to model inter-hierarchical-level complex regions, and consider its implications. The evolution of living from non-living systems is attributed to a change in the style of emergence which characterizes the appearance of new scalar levels.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.