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Mark Leiren-Young: Orca policies and the Canadian election
by Mark Leiren-Young on October 11th, 2019 at 8:12 PM
In case the southern resident orcas aren't following the Canadian election, we decided to check all the party platforms to see where they stand on B.C.'s iconic endangered whales. The answer—they don't. No party platform mentions the southern residents.
The People's Party of Canada doesn't have a stance on whales, but considering their positions on environmental issues it's possible their leader, Maxime Bernier, would be game to literally stand on an orca and ride her into Marineland.
The Bloc Québécois is fine with orcas as long as they stay out of Quebec. If they'd like to immigrate to La Belle Province they can't show their dorsal fins or saddle-patches in public.
The ReformaTories offer a "real plan to protect our environment" based on "green tech, not taxes" and other fun, meaningless slogans that alliterate. They do mention whales—although from a southern resident perspective their focus is on the wrong whales, a.k.a. the Right Whales.
The Conservatives are proposing better tech to monitor shipping lanes—although that tech isn't about avoiding whales, but protecting endangered delivery times. "Real-time data could make sure that ships avoid interactions with whales and marine animals and ensures marine traffic is only re-routed when there are real threats posed to marine life."
I'm assuming by "real threats" they're referring to Andrew Scheer's alleged climate policies.
The NDP's "New Deal for People" doesn't mention whales at all and likely won't until the southern residents unionize or Right Whales are renamed Left Whales. They do, however, mention salmon. Once. Possibly because they're pink? The Jagmeet juggernaut proposes implementing the 2018 Cohen commission report to protect wild salmon—so the orcas should find that promise tasty.
The Liberals wish our friends at the Canadian Orca Rescue Society would stop carrying their adorable orca balloons at every West Coast protest and reminding voters about pipelines and bitumen. Justin Trudeau supporters also claim the prime minister was fond of dressing up as a Blackfish. Oops… that's not in the official platform.
Officially… Team Trudeau boldly declares #whalelivesmatter.
"From coast to coast to coast, the health of Canada's oceans matters—to the people whose livelihoods depend on them and to the marine species, including whales and commercial fishing stocks, that cannot exist without them."
Someone in the PMO also finally read the Cohen report—or listened to the unsinkable Alexandra Morton—and are looking to "transition from open net pen salmon farming in coastal waters to closed containment systems by 2025".
The Green Party platform makes no mention of the plight of the southern residents, but does feature two lovely pictures of orcas—including one that looks like it may be the photo from the cover of my book—so bonus points for that.
Their only official whale policy is about ghost gear and nasty nets. "Trawling gear has destroyed fish habitat, and trap and long lines create extreme entanglement hazards for whales, sea turtles, seabirds and other species."
They also think there's something fishy about open pen fish farms and are on-board with Team Cohen/Morton.
All parties have policies that would have an impact on orcas—ranging from hastening the Apocalypse to replacing the Queen with Greta Thunberg.
So do your homework, quiz your candidates and, before you mark your X for orcas, remember Stephen Harper's bold policy on science: "Fire all the scientists."
Mark Leiren-Young is a long-time contributor to the Georgia Straight, the author of The Killer Whale Who Changed the World, and host of the Skaana podcast, covering issues relating to orcas, oceans, and the environment. His new documentary, The Hundred-Year-Old Whale, is available on Vimeo.
Mark Leiren-Young: Trudeau promises to save orcas—and his pipeline—with smoke and mirrors
Mark Leiren-Young: Grieving with the orcas
Mark Leiren-Young: Memories of the Topanga Cafe
Mark Leiren-Young: Kinder Morgan's pipeline project is safe? Show me the science
The book that changed your life: Mark Leiren-Young


Radiant (8-to-5 morning line) and Follow The Kitten (9-to-5) are expected to vie for favoritism. Both horses have obvious credentials and are dropping from the Maiden Special Weight level, where they have burnt a lot of money (no wins in five tries as the favorite between them, and neither has been worse than 5-to-1 in any of their combined 10 starts).
Artie Schiller never finished first or second in his three dirt tries. His offspring also generally prefer turf and synthetic surfaces to dirt. In fact, his offspring My Conquestadory and We Miss Artie swept the two Grade 1 stakes for two-year-olds at Keeneland on Polytrack last fall.
This is relevant to Artful Lady's chances, because she might have developed significantly from age three to age four, only to have that physical improvement concealed because she's been competing exclusively on dirt in her only two starts this year.
The first time Artful Lady ever competed on a dirt surface, she finished fourth beaten 20 lengths in a 25k maiden claiming race at Indiana Downs. Her BRIS Speed Rating was just a 53—a huge regression from her surrounding speed figures. There was no layoff line following that dirt stinker, and Artful Lady came right back in less than a month to run a career best speed figure in her next start.
It's natural for horses to improve from age three to age four. Artful Lady's only two starts at age four have come on dirt, and she's performed alarmingly better on dirt than she did in her only try as a three-year-old. Now, she returns to a surface where she ran her career best speed figure as a 3-year-old, despite suffering through a tough trip. In her race here last fall, Artful Lady was bumped at the start, steadied after that, and was forced to attempt to rally wide, into a slow pace going six furlongs. All indications point to Artful Lady running a new career top performance and that should make her very competitive in this spot.
The other interesting challenger in this race is first-time-starter Share The Sugar (8-to-1) for trainer Ken McPeek. This daughter of Heatseeker attracts the services of Julien Leparoux.
In 2013, Ken McPeek did wizardly work with his first-time-starters debuting in route races at Keeneland. Of the six McPeek first-timers who debuted on the Keeneland Poly, three of them won and another finished second. The winners were Beverage Queen ($108.60), Rankhasprivileges ($33.60), and Frazier's Pegasus ($14.20)—all fat prices!
McPeek also debuted two horses going long on the Keeneland Turf in 2013, one of them, Allegheney Angel, finished second beaten just a nose at 13-to-1 odds with Leparoux up. All in all, McPeek was 8-3-2-0 (38% wins) with debuters in route races at Keeneland last year.
If this has you excited to bet Share The Sugar, I have some bad news. Since 2010, Kenny McPeek has trained just one winner from 43 starters when debuting in a sprint at Keeneland. Those stats go against the natural inclination of bettors, but McPeek's training focus is much more geared on developing stamina than speed. Another negative factor is Share The Sugar's sire, as Heatseeker's progeny win at first asking just 5% of the time. The bottom line is that while Share The Sugar has an interesting look to her, I'm only interested when McPeek debuts around two turns.
Betting strategy: Bet Artful Lady to win and box her with Radiant and Follow The Kitten in the exotics.
Unfortunately, I don't see any attractive betting strategy for this race. However, I will still profile the three first-time starters.
#1 Coastal Moon (8-to-1): This debuter goes from the rail for trainer Mark Casse, and attracts the services of Leparoux. Interestingly, his March 25 workout at Keeneland caught the eye of the clocker, who notes, "Nice gate effort, held a slight edge on Moon Traveler." It's never a bad sign when an unraced three-year-old gets the better of a stakes-placed older male, as Moon Traveler is.
Coastal Moon is sired by above average debut sire Malibu Moon. His dam Coastal Wave won her career debut. There are certainly a lot of encouraging signs. However, Casse has been much better with second time starters than debuters over this track. His debuters at Keeneland have compiled a record of 11-1-2-0 (9% wins) while his second-time starters at Keeneland have compiled a record of 17-5-4-2 (29% wins).
#4 King of Bay (10-to-1): Mike Trombetta sends out this debuter that has landed the services of Joel Rosario. This gelding has had one sibling to race, a half-brother by Giant's Causeway, who showed nothing in his debut at five furlongs, but stretched out to win a maiden race on the turf at Gulfstream, paying $41 in career start number two. The second dam of King of Bay is 1998 Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Escena. King of Bay's dam Queenofalldiamonds sold for $2.7-million as a yearling and competed for Bobby Frankel. This gelding is certainly well bred, but he has more of a route-oriented pedigree than a debut sprint type one. Because he's so well bred, it's also a little bit discouraging that he was gelded before his debut.
#6 Watery Moon (8-to-1): Graham Motion and Alan Garcia teamed up to go 4-for-9 at last fall's Keeneland meet, and each of those wins came over the Polytrack.
Like Coastal Moon, this is also a son of Malibu Moon. Watery Moon's dam is the very talented sprinter Sweet Nanette, who won each of her first four races so impressively, that she was bet to 7-to-2 closing odds against champion and Racing Hall of Fame nominee Xtra Heat in her fifth career start.
In 2013, Motion-trained horses compiled a record of 37-for-123 (30% wins) on synthetic tracks in North America. Not to mention, he also trained Animal Kingdom to a big win in the $10-million Dubai World Cup over the Tapeta. There's certainly quite a bit to like for this debuter, and it will be interesting to see if he gets bet down from his 8/1 morning line price.


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LSBU wins S-Lab Award
London South Bank University's (LSBU) Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings recently won the best Laboratory Based Teaching and Learning Award at the S-Lab's 'Effective Laboratory: Safe, Successful and Sustainable' award ceremony, held at the University of Liverpool.
S-Lab is an international initiative to create better linkages between - and highlight best practice amongst - all the key players involved in university laboratory design, operation and management.
"We are extremely pleased at our winning against tough competition. This award is an excellent recognition of our commitment to educating our students by combining the learning of theories and principles with hands-on practice through simulated or real-life based work environment", said Dr David Tann, Head of the Department of Urban Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment at LSBU.
The Faculty delivers design principles with practice to all undergraduate engineering students through a common module, 'Design and Practice', for all first year engineering students including building services, civil, chemical, electrical, mechanical and petroleum engineering students.
Find out more about the Centre for Efficient and Renewable Energy in Buildings.
Course finder: for Faculty of Engineering, Science and the Built Environment courses.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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layout: docs.hbs
title: Community Plugins
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# Community plugins

Here you may see list of plugins developed independently by Akka.NET community developers. Some of them have their own discussion threads and chat rooms, when you can get help if necessary. We encourage you to help us improve this page by editing it with new discovered extensions and also updates related to the ones already listed in here.

##### [Akka.Monitoring](https://github.com/Aaronontheweb/akka-monitoring)

Monitoring system instrumentation for Akka.NET actors. It exposes pluggable layer for reporting performance metrics. At the moment it can be integrated with external monitoring systems like:

- [StatsD](https://github.com/etsy/statsd)
- [Microsoft AppInsights](https://www.visualstudio.com/features/application-insights-vs)
- [Windows Performance Counters](https://msdn.microsoft.com/pl-pl/library/windows/desktop/aa373083%28v=vs.85%29.aspx)

##### [Even](https://github.com/evendotnet/Even)

Alternative approach to Akka.NET actor eventsourcing with support to any SQL database backend.

##### [Akka.Interfaced](https://github.com/SaladbowlCreative/Akka.Interfaced)

Extension providing interfaced way for actor messaging.

##### [Akkling](https://github.com/Horusiath/Akkling)

Alternative Akka.NET F# API, with support to statically typed message passing and actor definitions.

##### [Akka.Persistence.Azure](https://github.com/4deeptech/Akka.Persistence.Azure)

Azure Table and Blob Storage backend for Akka.NET persistent actors.

##### [Akka.Persistence.OracleManaged](https://github.com/DamianReeves/Akka.Persistence.OracleManaged)

Oracle database backend for Akka.NET persistent actors.

##### [Akka.Persistence.RavenDB](https://github.com/raskolnikoov/Akka.Persistence.RavenDB)

Akka Persistence journal and snapshot store backed by RavenDB database.

##### [Akka.Persistence.Marten](https://github.com/raskolnikoov/Akka.Persistence.Marten)

Akka Persistence journal and snapshot store runned by Marten and stored in a Postgresql 9.5+ database.

##### [Wire](https://github.com/akkadotnet/Wire)

A high performance polymorphic serializer for the .NET framework.

##### [Akka.Cluster.Monitor](https://github.com/cgstevens/Akka.Cluster.Monitor)

Example Windows Form and Website that displays the current and unreachable members as well as who the member is seenby within an Akka Cluster. Also demonstrates how the following frameworks give you a real-time monitoring application; Akka .Net, TopShelf, MVC, WebApi, SignalR and AngularJS.

##### [Akka.Cluster.Utility](https://github.com/SaladLab/Akka.Cluster.Utility)

This library provides small utilities that might be useful to write a program with Akka.Cluster.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


While apps and games were already available on the Gear VR through the Oculus Store, the new Oculus Concepts section will be geared towards developers being able to post early versions of their apps and games that are still a work in progress so to speak, giving Gear VR owners a chance to test out the content before it reaches completion. it works for both developers and viewers, as developers can obtain feedback on early access software, and viewers are able to experience the latest of VR experiences before they hit the primetime. This isn't too unlike Steam's Early Access content which allows PC gamers the chance to purchase (or download free) and play content that is still in development. In a way, it can allow the user to help shape the direction of the content.
The great thing about Concepts for those who are opting to pick up the Rift is that Oculus also has plans to introduce it to the consumer Rift models when they eventually hit store shelves, it is however gettings its debut on Gear VR as this particular platform is already available, which makes for a perfect place to test the waters and see what needs to be fine tuned or changed if anything. If you're a VR enthusiast and are looking to grab a Gear VR for yourself, Oculus Concepts is available as of now on the Gear VR.


If you have been hurt on the job, you are likely entitled to benefits under California's workers' compensation program. There are many forms of benefits available under the program and each is calculated separately depending on the extent of your injury, your average weekly wages, and more.
The workers' compensation program offers payment to reimburse you for medical treatment you receive. The amount of this payment must be enough to cover all medical treatments to relieve or cure the effects of the injury with no out-of-pocket costs to you. Until the insurance company denies or accepts your workers' compensation claim, it must pay up to $10,000 of your medical expenses, even if your claim is eventually rejected.
You may also be entitled to payment to cover temporary disability that prevents you from working. This type of benefit is designed to replace some of the wages you lose when you cannot work while disabled as your employer cannot make you take sick or vacation leave instead of collecting temporary disability benefits. To be eligible for this benefit, you must miss at least 3 days of work.
Under California law, you can be reimbursed for 2/3 of your average weekly wages during the time you were temporarily disabled. This figure considers your average weekly wage plus overtime and any income you receive from another job. There is a cap of $1,128.43 per week for this type of benefit.
Another type of benefit is for injured workers who suffer a permanent disability that prevents them from returning to their job. This benefit is much lower than the temporary disability benefit with a maximum amount that depends on the percentage of permanent disability rating your doctor has given you. The maximum permanent disability benefit is currently $290 per week, which may be received for 3 to 99 weeks.
If your employer cannot offer modified job duties to accommodate your disability and you do not return to work for the same employer within 60 days of ending temporary disability, you are eligible for a job displacement benefit for vocational training. This $6,000 benefit is a voucher for educational training that may be used for tuition and other school costs.
Surviving dependents of someone who was killed as the result of a work-related injury are eligible for a death benefit, which is paid as a lump sum of $250,000 to $320,000. Spouses, parents, and minor children may be eligible for this benefit. In the case of minor children, a weekly death benefit is provided until the minor(s) turns 18. This weekly benefit is the same as the temporary disability payment with a cap of $1,128.43.
Many legitimate workers' compensation claims are denied every year. One of the most common reasons for a rejection is the claim was not filed on time. Unfortunately, employers and insurance companies often look for any reason to deny a claim to decrease costs. If you have been injured on the job, an attorney can help you file your claim for benefits or appeal your claim if you have already been denied. Do not give up your right to benefits just because you have been denied.
Contact Rawa Law Group today to schedule a free consultation with an experienced workers' compensation attorney in California to protect your rights and seek the benefits you deserve while you recover.


Refer official Money For Your Phone Website to view full Terms & Conditions.
Phones have become one of the important gadgets of our day-to-day life. With changing technology, new phones are introduced in the market. So a number of used mobiles & accessories are sold out every day. Money For Your Phone works for the last 5 years to collect such phones and help in the recycle process. They have been selling these phones to countries from Europe to Asia.
Apart from trading mobile phones, they are also involved in many other businesses related to the phones. You will find here services like virtual retailing, testing, repairing, reporting, grading, etc. So, if you have a bulk amount of phones to sell, then Money For Your Phone can be your best option. The company has a large client base, as they have been able to provide timely services with quality products.
Money For Your Phone is in the business of buying and selling mobile phones in bulk. In order to ease the whole trading process, Dealslands comes in with discount vouchers, which you can use anytime to redeem discounts. Here you can select the voucher that you want and then get its code. This code can then be used at checkout to get the discount.
All the voucher codes come with an issue of the limited validity period. So it is recommended to use them as soon as possible to avoid inactivation. In case, your codes become inactive, then don't worry, as all the inactive codes are replaced with active ones from time to time. These voucher codes come with some terms and conditions, so it is suggested to go through them first before using the codes.
Now it is possible to sell and buy used mobile phones with Money For Your Phone. They buy and sell mobile phones in bulk and for the same reason, are now involved in business with B2B clients and wholesale traders. Now, it is possible to get them at the best deal using the discount vouchers of Dealslands. Dealslands is a place, where you will find a number of discount code & voucher code, which you can use any time to avail of discount. With Dealslands, you can be sure that you will spend less with every purchase. So don't waste your time and get the best deal for yourself.


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Raila Rejects IEBC Results Declaring William Ruto as Winner
Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Alliance presidential flag bearer Raila Odinga PHOTO/COURTESY
Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga will challenged Deputy President William Ruto's victory in the just concluded elections.
Speaking to the press from Azimio Media Center at the KICC, the former Prime Minister dismissed IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati's announcement as null and void.
Raila accused Chebukati of trying to overturn the will of the people, adding that he will be moving to court by on seek annulment of Ruto's won.
"Our view in Azimio is clear, the figures by Wafula Chebukati are null and void and must be quashed by a court of law. In our view, there is neither a legally and validly declared winner nor a president-elect," Raila said.
The Azimio flag bearer also urged his supporters to keep calm as their legal team handle the matter.
"I want to commend our supporters for keeping calm and keeping peace and urge them to continue doing so. Let no one take the law into their own hands. Justice will prevail," Raila added.
Raila Odinga: I want to commend our supporters for keeping calm and keeping peace and urge them to continue doing so. Let no one take the law into their own hands… justice will prevail. #KenyaElections2022 #Decision2022 pic.twitter.com/kSRU5VLhLN
— NTV Kenya (@ntvkenya) August 16, 2022
At the same time, Ruto ruled out the possibility of working with his arch rival, former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Ruto noted that he never subscribed to the so-called handshake, adding that the government works well with a strong opposition.
"I never believed in the handshake stories, I made my position clear because I believe in democracy, I believe in a government that has checks and balances
"When you have a government without doesn't have the opposition, you run the very high risk of having a government that is not accountable precisely what we had seen over the last four years," he said.
Ruto made it clear that he would only engage Raila as the opposition leader.
"My competitors have a role to play. I will work with my competitors in the role that the Constitution assigns the people in the opposition
"They will provide oversight over my government and I intend to work with them in that capacity," said Ruto.
Ruto was declared president after garnering 7,176,141 votes; 50.49 per cent of the total votes cast.
READ ALSO: Miguna Miguna to Fly Back after Ruto's Swearing In
Raila was seconded with 6,942,930 which is 48.88 per cent of the total votes cast.
Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga PHOTO/COURTESY
FAKE NEWS: Ngugi Wa Thiong'o is Not Dead
Juliana Cherera: Netizens Laugh at IEBC Commissioner's Poor Mathematics


Our CPD is RIBA approved and aims to guide the Specifier through the key elements of specifying washrooms including toilet cubicles, lockers and vanity units.
The CPD core curriculum information: Designing and building it: design, construction, technology and engineering.
Call a member of our friendly team on +44 (0)1491 638 606 or email info@kemmlituk.com to book your CPD.


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A Game of Signs: Ned Stark
Game of Signs: An Astrological Look at Game of Thrones
I'm a big fan of George R.R. Martin's fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and I've looked forward to the third season of the television adaptation of those novels, Game of Thrones. I thought it might be fun to match some of the characters from this series with astrological signs. If you are not familiar with the books or the television series then proving my matches right or wrong might be an excellent reason to start watching and/or reading.
We'll start with the character's whose shocking death at the end of the first season set the tone for the entire series, Eddard "Ned" Stark.
To my mind, Ned Stark is the consummate Taurus. He's a strong man whose loyalty to his family and friends is unbreakable. It was in defense of his friends that he went to war but he claimed no prize from the battle. He let his buddy Robert have take the throne while he returned to the frost-bitten land that he ruled by birthright. Stark is serious about his duties to his people and to his ancestors and when he is ordered to move south to become the Kings "Hand" (chief minister) he balks.
Taurus people are loyal to those they love and and will "go to war" for them if necessary. They don't usually covet titles or power. Instead, they prefer the familiarity of home. Most of all, Taurus people don't like change.
Ned Stark is a man of principle and it with those principles firmly in place that he attempts to do his duties and the Hand of the King. He objects to the lavish spending and massive debt that others on the King's council find unremarkable. He has no patience of with the frivolity and display of court life. Most of all Ned objects to the lifestyle and methods of his old friend, King Robert, who has become a bitter alcoholic. At one point his objections have the King calling for his head.
Taurus people live by their principles. They are practical, down to earth people and their principles usually reflect these values.The problems Taurus folks encounter in life often come out of their inability to adapt their principles to different circumstances. Ned Stark sees no reason why the hard and fast divide between right and wrong that served him back home in Winterfell shouldn't also be applied to the King Robert and the conniving conspirators who surround him. That inflexibility eventually leads his downfall.
That's my take on Ned Stark. What sign you think best sums up this character? Your comments are always welcome.


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AT BLR Construction we built our reputation on custom home construction that are customized to your lifestyle.
We will work with you to design a creative home using exceptional craftsmanship with excellent customer service. You can reach Bruce directly at (541) 423-5532.
Our house contractor services provide a home building experience that put you at ease the first meeting through until setting foot into your new custom home.
Every construction project is unique and important and we give that project all the attention and workmanship required. Bruce is committed to a partnership with you that will build your dream home from the ground up - a place you and your family can call home for decades to come.
BLR Construction built my home and the entire process was seamless. We are very satisfied with the results!
BLR Construction is a full-service, family-owned and operated custom homebuilder, serving the Rogue Valley area.
Bruce has one goal with each client: to make the process of building a new home, or remodeling an existing one, as easy and enjoyable as possible.
For years Bruce has been building in Southern Oregon. His company has grown, as has our clientele, but his dedication to customer satisfaction remains unwavering. When BLR Construction builds a home, it's built for life.
The formula to construction success in home building is all about working together, with the client, to build something special.
General contractor in Medford, Oregon with over 30 years of experience in residential construction and remodeling services.
Bruce has built lasting relationships based on service, value, and accountability. BLR Construction builds its business on referrals from existing clients, a testimony to our quality business practices and superior work ethics.


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British man arrested over father's death in Spanish holiday resort
Sarah KerrSaturday 31 Aug 2013 12:49 pm
A British man has been arrested in Spain over his father's death (Picture: Castell Montgri)
A British man has been arrested on suspicion of killing his father in a Spanish holiday campsite, in what police are calling an act of 'domestic violence'.
The 45-year-old was arrested in L'Estartit, a coastal town in Costa Brava, after reportedly attacking his father in the early hours of this morning.
A security guard at the Castell Montgri campsite alerted the emergency services, who arrived to find the man's father unconscious on the ground next to a pool of blood.
Local media has said the 69-year-old victim was taken to Josep Trueta hospital in Girona with severe head wounds, but doctors were unable to save him and he later died.
The man has been held on suspicion of murder (Picture: Castell Montgri)
A murder investigation has been launched by Catalan police.
A police spokesman said: 'The incident took place this morning at around 1.45 in a camping site in L'Estartit when the arrested man is believed to have attacked his father.
'The victim was taken by emergency services to hospital to be attended for the wounds he suffered, while local police in Torroella de Montgri arrested the alleged perpetrator for domestic violence.'
It is thought no weapons were used in the attack. Police have yet to name the deceased or his son.
The picturesque fishing village of L'Estartit is a popular holiday resort with many hotels, apartment blocks and campsites.
Castell Montgri's website says the camp, which is at the entrance to the village, offers a 'beautiful natural setting' and 'stunning sandy beaches'.
Motorbike assassins kill ex-footballer and Oscar Pistorious rival Marc Batchelor
Teenager charged with murder after fatal stabbing in south-east London


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About Afzal
Young Leadership Programme
Local Councillors
Keir Starmer MP
It is now a month since our catastrophic defeat in the general election. Last week, we began to see the true reality of a Johnson majority government as all opposition amendments to the EU Withdrawal Bill fell. Devastatingly, the amendment proposed by my colleague Thangam Debbonaire and sponsored by myself and others to restore the rights of unaccompanied child refugees was rejected by the Government and Conservative MPs.
As I said in December in an email to members of my constituency party, I am proud to have stood on our transformational policy programmes in 2017 and 2019. Taken individually, our plans for this country were popular. But at this election too many people, including those who had supported the Labour Party all their lives, felt we could not be trusted to deliver them. We presented them with a shopping list, not a vision for Government. They saw us focusing on our own factional in-fighting, rather than on the country. They delivered us a message through the ballot box, which should not and cannot be ignored.
We have now lost four consecutive general elections. Let's be clear: you cannot change the world from opposition. The challenge for those candidates who put themselves forward to positions of leadership in the Labour Party is to unite our factions and build an electoral coalition that secures a majority for a truly transformative Labour government.
Over the last few weeks, I've listened carefully to those seeking support in this election. I've watched their videos, read their articles, heard them speak at the PLP hustings, and spoken to several of them one-to-one. I am overwhelmed by the breadth of talent we have to choose from. I am impressed by Rebecca's steadfast commitment to the Green Industrial Revolution, by Lisa's astute analysis of our electoral collapse in towns across the country and by Emily's tenacious Commons performances against Johnson as Foreign Secretary.
To truly reflect, members must be able to have the widest possible debate about the future of our party. That's why today I have decided to nominate Emily Thornberry to make sure she is on the ballot paper. I've no qualms in doing so: if elected, I've no doubt that Emily would make excellent leader, as would the other candidates in this contest.
Despite this, for me, one candidate stands out. I believe Keir Starmer is the best candidate to lead the Labour Party. I have been impressed by his record on the Frontbench, from his insightful and detail driven opposition to the Government's endless Brexit legislation and his tireless scrutiny of a string of Brexit Secretaries at the despatch box. In his life before Parliament, Keir's record defending trades unionists and activists like the Wapping strikers and the McLibel defendants shows his commitment to progressive causes over thirty years. I was particularly moved to hear from Doreen Lawrence about Keir's support of the Lawrence family following the racist murder of her son Stephen.
As a party, our political and media operation must be improved. Keir has been a strong media performer, expertly navigating frankly ludicrous press questions. He has already begun to assemble an impressive campaign team – including Jeremy's former Chief of Staff Simon Fletcher. These are the seeds of a Leader's office that can take the fight to the Tories.
Having spoken to fellow parliamentarians, members and voters, I can already begin to see him forming a broad coalition across the party in a way we haven't seen in recent years. He is the candidate who can end the factional nonsense we have been forced to endure since 2015.
Taken together, Keir is the best placed candidate to lead us towards a Labour government in 2024. I am pleased to give him my support and my vote.
Deputy Leadership
The role of Deputy Leader is a strange one. They must simultaneously be the right hand of the Leader but in private an honest critic, deriving their own mandate directly from members. They must be our Campaigner-in-Chief, passionately taking the fight to the Tories in the media and on the doorstep. They must be a shop steward, representing half a million members, hundreds of party staff and two hundred Parliamentarians in the Shadow Cabinet and at NEC.
Several talented colleagues have thrown their hat in the ring for this contest. As with the candidates for leader, I have listened to all of them, and spoken to the candidates one-to-one. After some reflection, I have decided to support my friend and Greater Manchester colleague Angela Rayner.
Angela is a great example of how trades unions can bring working class activists into the House of Commons. I first met Angela when she was a Unison rep. Back then, she was known across the North West as a vigorous and passionate defender of the rights of her thousands of members at Stockport council, just as she became the champion of her constituents in Ashton as Member of Parliament and for our nation's children as Shadow Secretary of State for Education. Her passion and humour, her political judgement, and her commitment to taking our Party into Government is unrivalled. I am proud to support her.
The leadership contest now moves to the next stage. Unions, affiliates and constituency parties will have the opportunity to make nominations. You will no doubt hear more about this process in the coming weeks from the constituency officers.
Whoever is chosen to lead our Party, please be assured they will have my full support.
Constituency: BMHC, College Road, Manchester, M16 8BP
Parliament: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
Email: afzal.khan.mp@parliament.uk
Promoted by Tom Williams on behalf of Afzal Khan, both of Unit 1, Wesley Centre, Royce Road, Manchester M15 5BP.


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Philosophy of Biology > Philosophy of Biology, Miscellaneous > Complexity in Biology
Complexity in Biology
Artificial Life (250)
Biological Information (232)
Biological Modeling (415)
Biomedical Information (37 | 6)
Causation in Biology (263)
Biology and Society (166)
Explanation in Biology (570)
History of Biology (6,799)
Philosophy of Biology, General Works (808)
Philosophy of Biology, Misc (488)
Philosophy of Food and Drink (368 | 4)
Vitalism (245)
Assistant/Associate/Full Professor of Ethics and Health
Associate Professor/Professor
Assistant Professor of Philosophy
A framework for philosophical biology.Sepehr Ehsani - manuscriptdetails
Advances in biology, at least over the past two centuries, have mostly relied on theories that were subsequently revised, expanded or eventually refuted using experimental and other means. The field of theoretical biology used to primarily provide a basis, similar to theoretical physics in the physical sciences, to rationally examine the frameworks within which biological experiments were carried out and to shed light on overlooked gaps in understanding. Today, however, theoretical biology has generally become synonymous with computational and mathematical biology. (...) This could in part be explained by a relatively recent tendency in which a "data first", rather than a "theory first", approach is preferred. Moreover, generating hypotheses has at times become procedural rather than theoretical, therefore perhaps inadvertently leading some hypotheses to become perfunctory in nature. This situation leaves our understanding enmeshed in data, which should be disentangled from much noise. Given the many unresolved questions in biology and medicine, big and small, ranging from the problem of protein folding to unifying causative frameworks of complex non-Mendelian human diseases, it seems apt to revive the role of pure theory in the biological sciences. This paper, using the current biomedical literature and historical precedents, makes the case for a "philosophical biology" (philbiology), distinct from but quite complementary to philosophy of biology (philobiology), which would entail biological investigation through philosophical approaches. Philbiology would thus be a reincarnation of theoretical biology, adopting the true sense of the word "theory" and making use of a rich tradition of serious philosophical approaches in the natural sciences. A philbiological investigation, after clearly defining a given biological problem, would aim to propose a set of empirical questions, along with a class of possible solutions, about that problem. Importantly, whether or not the questions can be tested using current experimental paradigms would be secondary to whether the questions are inherently empirical or not. These issues will be illustrated using a range of specific examples. The final goal of a philbiological investigation would be to develop a theoretical framework that can lead observational and/or interventional experimental studies of the defined problem, a framework that is structured, generative and expandable, and, crucially, one that simplifies some aspect(s) of the said problem. (shrink)
Biological Modeling in Philosophy of Biology
Causation in Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Complexity in Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Explanation in Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Molecular Genetics in Philosophy of Biology
Máquinas y superorganismos.Enrique Morata - manuscriptdetails
Critical Review:"Origins of Genome Complexity"(Lynch and Conery, 2003).Edward Gilding - forthcoming - Critical Review: A Journal of Politics and Society.details
Evolution and complexity.Thomas S. Ray - forthcoming - Complexity.details
Life Processes as Proto-Narratives: Integrating Theoretical Biology and Biosemiotics through Biohermeneutics.Arran Gare - 2022 - Cosmos and History : The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy 18 (1):210-251.details
The theoretical biology movement originating in Britain in the early 1930's and the biosemiotics movement which took off in Europe in the 1980's have much in common. They are both committed to replacing the neo-Darwinian synthesis, and they have both invoked theories of signs to this end. Yet, while there has been some mutual appreciation and influence, particularly in the cases of Howard Pattee, René Thom, Kalevi Kull, Anton Markoš and Stuart Kauffman, for the most part, these movements have developed (...) independently of each other. Focussing on morphogenesis understood as vegetative semiosis, in this paper I will argue that the ideas of these movements are commensurate. Furthermore, synthesising them would enable us to see life processes as proto-narratives. Doing so will involve synthesising biohermeneutics, Peircian biosemiotics with Waddington's theoretical biology and Piagetian genetic structuralism, and this, I claim, would strengthen the challenge of these traditions to mainstream biology. At the same time, this should contribute to overcoming the opposition between the sciences and the humanities, developing a broader tradition of Schellingian thought which involves developing the humanities and then demanding of the physical and biological sciences that they are consistent with and can make intelligible the emergence of humans as conceived by the humanities. (shrink)
Functional Explanation in General Philosophy of Science
Functions in Philosophy of Biology
Life in Philosophy of Biology
Semiotics in Social Sciences
Teleology and Function, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Cancer Virus Hunters: A History of Tumor Virology.Gregory J. Morgan - 2022 - Baltimore, MD, USA: Jhu Press.details
"The author tells a history of the study of cancer-causing viruses from the early twentieth century to the development of an HPV vaccine for cervical cancer in 2006. He profiles the "cancer virus hunters" who made breakthroughs in tumor virology"--.
Cancer in Philosophy of Science, Misc
Health Sciences in Professional Areas
Medicine in Professional Areas
$40.40 new $71.25 used View on Amazon.com
Coherent Causal Control: A New Distinction within Causation.Marcel Weber - 2022 - European Journal for Philosophy of Science 12 (4):69.details
The recent literature on causality has seen the introduction of several distinctions within causality, which are thought to be important for understanding the widespread scientific practice of focusing causal explanations on a subset of the factors that are causally relevant for a phenomenon. Concepts used to draw such distinctions include, among others, stability, specificity, proportionality, or actual-difference making. In this contribution, I propose a new distinction that picks out an explanatorily salient class of causes in biological systems. Some select causes (...) in complex biological systems, I argue, have the property of enabling coherent causal control of these systems. Examples of such control variables include hormones and other signaling molecules, e.g., TOR (target of rapamycin), morphogens or the products of homeotic selector genes in embryonic pattern formation. I propose an analysis of this notion based on concepts borrowed from causal graph theory. (shrink)
Developmental Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Explanatory Value in General Philosophy of Science
The Key to Complexity.Ilexa Yardley - 2021 - Https://Medium.Com/the-Circular-Theory/.details
Complexity is dependent on the circular-linear relationship between an individual and a group, meaning we cannot use 'observation' to tell us what we need to know (to explain complexity).
Complexity in Philosophy of Physical Science
Computational Complexity in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Evolution of Complexity in Philosophy of Biology
Indeterminacy in Mathematics in Philosophy of Mathematics
Numbers in Philosophy of Mathematics
Philosophy of Information in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Strengthening Weak Emergence.Nora Berenstain - 2020 - Erkenntnis 87 (5):2457-2474.details
Bedau's influential (1997) account analyzes weak emergence in terms of the non-derivability of a system's macrostates from its microstates except by simulation. I offer an improved version of Bedau's account of weak emergence in light of insights from information theory. Non-derivability alone does not guarantee that a system's macrostates are weakly emergent. Rather, it is non-derivability plus the algorithmic compressibility of the system's macrostates that makes them weakly emergent. I argue that the resulting information-theoretic picture provides a metaphysical account of (...) weak emergence rather than a merely epistemic one. (shrink)
Algorithmic Complexity in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Computability in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Computation and Physical Systems in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Concepts of Emergence in Metaphysics
Emergence in Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Information Theory in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Metaphysical Realism in Metaphysics
A Contingency Interpretation of Information Theory as a Bridge between God's Immanence and Transcendence.Philippe Gagnon - 2020 - In Michael Fuller, Dirk Evers, Anne L. C. Runehov, Knut-Willy Sæther & Bernard Michollet (eds.), Issues in Science and Theology: Nature – and Beyond. Cham: Springer Nature. pp. 169-185.details
This paper investigates the degree to which information theory, and the derived uses that make it work as a metaphor of our age, can be helpful in thinking about God's immanence and transcendance. We ask when it is possible to say that a consciousness has to be behind the information we encounter. If God is to be thought about as a communicator of information, we need to ask whether a communication system has to pre-exist to the divine and impose itself (...) to God. If we want God to be Creator, and not someone who would work like a human being, 'creating' will mean sustaining in being as much the channel, the material system, as the message. Is information control? It seems that God's actions are not going to be informational control of everything. To clarify the issue, we attempt to distinguish two kinds of 'genialities' in nature, as a way to evaluate the likelihood of God from nature. We investigate concepts and images of God, in terms of the history of ideas but also in terms of philosophical theology, metaphysics, and religious ontology. (shrink)
Philosophy of Information, Misc in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Essay in Formal Biology.Nikolay Milkov - 2020 - In Newton da Costa & Shyam Wuppuluri (eds.), Wittgensteinian (adj.): Looking at the World from the Viewpoint of Wittgenstein's Philosophy. Berlin: Springer. pp. 473-86.details
The task of this essay is to put biological individuals in formal terms. This approach is not directly interested in matters of time (for example, in evolution), but rather in the formal shape of biological objects. So it is different from, but not opposed to, natural science. In his later years, Wittgenstein made similar investigations in psychology and mathematics. Unfortunately, he found no time to make extensive remarks on philosophy of biology. This is what we are going to advance here.
On Being the Right Size, Revisited: The Problem with Engineering Metaphors in Molecular Biology.Daniel J. Nicholson - 2020 - In Sune Holm & Maria Serban (eds.), Philosophical Perspectives on the Engineering Approach in Biology: Living Machines? London, UK: Routledge. pp. 40-68.details
In 1926, Haldane published an essay titled 'On Being the Right Size' in which he argued that the structure, function, and behavior of an organism are strongly conditioned by the physical forces that exert the greatest impact at the scale at which it exists. This chapter puts Haldane's insight to work in the context of contemporary cell and molecular biology. Owing to their minuscule size, cells and molecules are subject to very different forces than macroscopic organisms. In a sense, macroscopic (...) and microscopic entities inhabit different "worlds": the former is ruled by gravity and inertia, whereas the latter is governed by Brownian motion. One implication is that we should be extremely skeptical of models and analogies that seek to explain properties of microscopic entities by appealing to properties of macroscopic ones. Unfortunately, this is precisely what the appeal to engineering metaphors in molecular biology attempts to do. Molecular biologists routinely resort to such metaphors because they are familiar and intuitively intelligible. But if our machines were the size of molecules it would be impossible for them to function the way they do. It follows that we should avoid distorting biological reality by construing it in engineering terms. In this chapter I examine four key metaphors in molecular biology – "genetic program," "cellular circuitry," "molecular machine," and "molecular motor" – and I argue that their deficiencies derive from their neglect of scale. I also try to explain why many biologists today appear to have forgotten the importance of scale that Haldane drew attention to in his essay. I suggest that the reason has to do with the influence of Schrödinger's argument in 'What is Life?' regarding the stability of the gene. (shrink)
Genetics and Molecular Biology in Philosophy of Biology
The Unfolding of a New Vision of Life, Cosmos and Evolution.Agustin Ostachuk - 2020 - Ludus Vitalis 28 (53):81-83.details
Has science already answered the fundamental questions about the concepts of Life, Cosmos and Evolution? Has science not relegated these fundamental questions by following up on more immediate, "useful" and practical endeavors that ultimately ensure that the wheel of capitalism keeps spinning in its frantic search for material and economic progress? There is something terribly wrong with the current theory of evolution, understood as the Darwinian theory with its successive versions and extensions. The concept of natural selection, the cornerstone of (...) Darwinism, is logically inconsistent. This has been demonstrated in some of my latest academic publications. The entire conceptual framework of Darwinism is inadequate. Organisms do not compete with each other for the survival of the fittest. The fundamental relationship in Nature is not competition or confrontation, but interconnectivity, complementarity, and relational meaningfulness. A new theory of evolution is necessary to explain how it is possible that organisms as simple as bacteria, protozoa and diatoms could have generated organisms as complex as primates, and among them, the human being, a being capable of feeling and thinking, of suffering and enjoying, a being capable of having ideals and purposes. A theory that explains how it is possible that this being so complex, rich, and to some extent still unknown, has emerged from a single cell, an egg-cell, lacking all the capacities, riches and depths of human existence. Such a theory already exists. (shrink)
Adaptationism in Philosophy of Biology
Artificial Life in Philosophy of Biology
Complex Systems, Misc in Philosophy of Physical Science
Darwinism in Philosophy of Biology
Deep Ecology in Philosophy of Biology
Ecological Developmental Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Ecosystems in Philosophy of Biology
Environmental Philosophy, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Epistemology of Evolution in Philosophy of Biology
Evolutionary Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Evolutionary Developmental Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Genetic Program in Philosophy of Biology
Interlevel Relations in Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Natural Selection in Philosophy of Biology
Nature and Nurture in Philosophy of Biology
Organisms in Philosophy of Biology
Origin of the Universe in Philosophy of Physical Science
Process Structuralism in Philosophy of Biology
Reduction in Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Systems Theory in Philosophy of Physical Science
Teleology in Philosophy of Biology
Vitalism in Philosophy of Biology
Beyond quantitative and qualitative traits: three telling cases in the life sciences.Davide Serpico - 2020 - Biology and Philosophy 35 (3):1-26.details
This paper challenges the common assumption that some phenotypic traits are quantitative while others are qualitative. The distinction between these two kinds of traits is widely influential in biological and biomedical research as well as in scientific education and communication. This is probably due to both historical and epistemological reasons. However, the quantitative/qualitative distinction involves a variety of simplifications on the genetic causes of phenotypic variability and on the development of complex traits. Here, I examine three cases from the life (...) sciences that show inconsistencies in the distinction: Mendelian traits, Mendelian diseases, and polygenic mental disorders. I show that these traits can be framed both quantitatively and qualitatively depending, for instance, on the methods through which they are investigated and on specific epistemic purposes. This suggests that the received view of quantitative and qualitative traits has a limited heuristic power—limited to some local contexts or to the specific methodologies adopted. Throughout the paper, I provide directions for framing phenotypes beyond the quantitative/qualitative distinction. I conclude by pointing at the necessity of developing a principled characterisation of what phenotypic traits, in general, are. (shrink)
Classical and Molecular Genetics in Philosophy of Biology
Developmental Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Genotypes and Phenotypes in Philosophy of Biology
Schizophrenia in Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Experiences in the Biocontinuum: A New Foundation for Living Systems.Richard L. Summers - 2020 - Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.details
The central question in the biological sciences for the past 100 years has concerned an understanding of how living systems differ from other general physical phenomena and what makes these systems unique. With new developments in the fields of nonequilibrium thermodynamics, systems theory, chaos, and information theory over the past few decades, there has been growing interest in finally answering the question first posed by Erwin Schrödinger in the 1940s concerning the true scientific nature of living systems. Similarly, there is (...) also increasing interest within the biologic community for a more holistic and non-reductionist methodology. The approach followed in this book builds on a foundation of information theory and semiotics while integrating basic thermodynamic considerations and systems theory to form a singular unifying concept that is proposed to be the essential process of living systems. However, the premise presented is much more than simply the exposition of a new hypothesis. This book describes the logical progression of thought incorporating a diverse array of established scientific ideas that were used in the conceptualization of a dynamic mathematical framework that can be employed as a novel analytic means for the study of living systems and their fundamental processes. (shrink)
Conceptions of Information in Philosophy of Computing and Information
Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics in Philosophy of Physical Science
philosophy of immunology.Bartlomiej Swiatczak & Alfred I. Tauber - 2020 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy 2020.details
Philosophy of immunology is a subfield of philosophy of biology dealing with ontological and epistemological issues related to the studies of the immune system. While speculative investigations and abstract analyses have always been part of immune theorizing, until recently philosophers have largely ignored immunology. Yet the implications for understanding the philosophical basis of organismal functions framed by immunity offer new perspectives on fundamental questions of biology and medicine. Developed in the context of history of medicine, theoretical biology, and medical anthropology, (...) philosophy of immunology differs from these related branches of study in its focus on traditional philosophical questions concerning identity, individuality, ecology, cognition, scientific methodology and theory construction. This broad agenda derives from immunology's multifaceted research program that has developed from its initial clinical challenges of host defense, transplantation, autoimmunity, tumor immunology, and allergy. In addition to these well-established research areas, immunity is now understood to play a central role in other physiological functions, development, ecology, and evolutionary mechanics. Holding together these diverse domains of inquiry lie philosophical commitments oriented by organismal identity. In this regard, pertinent issues are raised concerning cognition (organization of immune perception and information processing), the character of individuality (framed by the ecological context of immune-mediated assimilation and rejection), and the dynamics of complex systems (understood as holistic systems biology). Indeed, immunology, in the context of cognitive science, evolutionary biology, environmental sciences, and development provides multi-focal perspectives for philosophy of science. (shrink)
Disease, Misc in Philosophy of Science, Misc
Health in Philosophy of Science, Misc
Molecular Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Why biologists should read Aristotle (or why philosophy matters for the life sciences and why the life sciences matter for philosophy).Armando Aranda-Anzaldo - 2019 - Ludus Vitalis 26 (50):163-167.details
This note discusses the importance of Natural History (biology) in the development of Aristotle philosophy and scientific outlook, and so the importance of considering Aristotle's philosophy as a necessary and useful background for contemporary biology.
Life/Force: Novelty and New Materialism in Jane Bennett's Vibrant Matter.Jonathan Basile - 2019 - Substance 48 (2):3-22.details
Among those speaking in the name of materialism, whether speculative, dialectical, or "new," it is commonplace to dismiss with a single gesture a vast field of theoretical and philosophical endeavor, indicated as the last 50 or 250 years of theory and philosophy. Self-styled "speculative" writers who would surpass all philosophy since Kant, and various New Materialists who sequester decades of thought under the heading of "constructivism," manufacture the avant-garde status of their own work by claiming to delineate a simple break (...) with the past. We would be at a loss, and perhaps at risk of missing the point, if we sought to uncover the common essence underlying this "new" work, either by looking for an agreement... (shrink)
General Philosophy of Science, Misc in General Philosophy of Science
Speculative Materialism in Continental Philosophy
Mapping the continuum of research strategies.Matthew Baxendale - 2019 - Synthese 196 (11):4711-4733.details
Contemporary philosophy of science has seen a growing trend towards a focus on scientific practice over the epistemic outputs that such practices produce. This practice-oriented approach has yielded a clearer understanding of how reductive research strategies play a central role in contemporary scientific inquiry. In parallel, a growing body of work has sought to explore the role of non-reductive, or systems-level, research strategies. As a result, the relationship between reductive and non-reductive scientific practices is becoming of increased importance. In this (...) paper, I provide a framework within which research strategies can be compared. I argue that no strategy is reductive or non-reductive simpliciter, rather strategies are more, or are less, reductive than one another according to a frame of reference. That frame of reference is provided by a continuum of possible ways in which the target system might be conceptualised. I illustrate the utility of the framework by deploying it to analyse a recent debate in cancer research. When set within the framework, a prominent reductive strategy—the somatic mutation theory—and a prominent non-reductive strategy—the tissue organisational field theory—do not stand opposed to one another. Rather, they serve as boundary markers to chart the territory of approaches to carcinogenesis within which most strategies in the field fall. (shrink)
Reduction in Genetics in Philosophy of Biology
Understanding Multicellularity: The Functional Organization of the Intercellular Space.Leonardo Bich, Thomas Pradeu & Jean-Francois Moreau - 2019 - Frontiers in Physiology 10.details
The aim of this paper is to provide a theoretical framework to understand how multicellular systems realize functionally integrated physiological entities by organizing their intercellular space. From a perspective centered on physiology and integration, biological systems are often characterized as organized in such a way that they realize metabolic self-production and self-maintenance. The existence and activity of their components rely on the network they realize and on the continuous management of the exchange of matter and energy with their environment. One (...) of the virtues of the organismic approach focused on organization is that it can provide an understanding of how biological systems are functionally integrated into coherent wholes. Organismic frameworks have been primarily developed by focusing on unicellular life. Multicellularity, however, presents additional challenges to our understanding of biological systems, related to how cells are capable to live together in higher-order entities, in such a way that some of their features and behaviors are constrained and controlled by the system they realize. Whereas most accounts of multicellularity focus on cell differentiation and increase in size as the main elements to understand biological systems at this level of organization, we argue that these factors are insufficient to provide an understanding of how cells are physically and functionally integrated in a coherent system. In this paper, we provide a new theoretical framework to understand multicellularity, capable to overcome these issues. Our thesis is that one of the fundamental theoretical principles to understand multicellularity, which is missing or underdeveloped in current accounts, is the functional organization of the intercellular space. In our view, the capability to be organized in space plays a central role in this context, as it enables (and allows to exploit all the implications of) cell differentiation and increase in size, and even specialized functions such as immunity. We argue that the extracellular matrix plays a crucial active role in this respect, as an evolutionary ancient and specific (non-cellular) control subsystem that contributes as a key actor to the functional specification of the multicellular space and to modulate cell fate and behavior. We also analyze how multicellular systems exert control upon internal movement and communication. Finally, we show how the organization of space is involved in some of the failures of multicellular organization, such as aging and cancer. (shrink)
Philosophy of Biology, General Works in Philosophy of Biology
The problem of mooted models for analyses of microbiome causality.Justin Donhauser, Sara Worley, Michael Bradie & Juan L. Bouzat - 2019 - Biology and Philosophy 34 (6):1-6.details
Lynch, Parke, and O'Malley highlight the need for better evaluative criteria for causal explanations in microbiome research. They propose new interventionist criteria, show that paradigmatic examples of microbiome explanations are flawed using those criteria, and suggest numerous ways microbiome explanations can be improved. While we endorse their primary criticisms and suggestions for improvements in microbiome research, we make several observations regarding the use of mooted causal models in microbiome research that have significant implications for their overall argument. In sum, we (...) contend that their critique is too modest and that even flawed causal inferences like those they criticize can be valuable for generating better causal models and evaluating explanatory outcomes in individual cases. (shrink)
Systematic Biology, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Biosemiosis and Causation: Defending Biosemiotics Through Rosen's Theoretical Biology, or, Integrating Biosemiotics and Anticipatory Systems Theory.Arran Gare - 2019 - Cosmos and History 19 (1):31-90.details
The fracture in the emerging discipline of biosemiotics when the code biologist Marcello Barbieri claimed that Peircian biosemiotics is not genuine science raises anew the question: What is science? When it comes to radically new approaches in science, there is no simple answer to this question, because if successful, these new approaches change what is understood to be science. This is what Galileo, Darwin and Einstein did to science, and with quantum theory, opposing interpretations are not merely about what theory (...) is right, but what is real science. Peirce's work, as he acknowledged, is really a continuation of efforts of Schelling to challenge the heritage of Newtonian science for the very good reason that the deep assumptions of Newtonian science had made sentient life, human consciousness and free will unintelligible, the condition for there being science. Pointing out the need for such a revolution in science has not succeeded as a defence of Peircian biosemiotics, however. In this paper, I will defend the scientific credentials of Peircian biosemiotics by relating it to the theoretical biology of the bio-mathematician, Robert Rosen. Rosen's relational biology, focusing on anticipatory systems and giving a place to final causes, should also be seen as a rigorous development of the Schellingian project to conceive nature in such a way that the emergence of sentient life, mind and science are intelligible. Rosen has made a very strong case for the characterization of his ideas as a real advance not only in science, but in how science should be understood, and I will argue that it is possible to provide a strong defence of Peircian biosemiotics as science through Rosen's defence of relational biology. In the process, I will show how biosemiotics can and should become a crucial component of anticipatory systems theory. (shrink)
The Organism and its Umwelt: a Counterpoint between the Theories of Uexküll, Goldstein and Canguilhem.Agustin Ostachuk - 2019 - In Jakob von Uexküll and Philosophy: Life, Environments, Anthropology. Londres, Reino Unido: pp. 158-171.details
The topic of the relationship between the organism and its environment runs through the theories of Uexküll, Goldstein and Canguilhem with equal importance. In this work a counterpoint will be established between their theories, in the attempt to assess at which points the melodies are concordant and at which points they are discordant. As fundamental basis to his theory, Uexküll relies on the concept of conformity to a plan, which allows him to account for the congruity and perfect adjustment between (...) organisms and their Umwelten. For Goldstein and Canguilhem, the relationship between an organism and its environment resembles instead a debate or coming to terms, in which the organism, as to ensure the continuity of the state of health, must constantly create norms to maintain a productive relationship with its environment. The pinpointing of these conceptual frameworks allows to lay emphasis on that each theory relies on specific assumptions regarding teleology and sense in organisms, as well as on specific definitions of the concept of life in general. Ultimately, the view that organisms and their environments have an original and common source, a principle, or plan, which must possess all the creative characteristics of life, will be seen as prevailing. (shrink)
Biodiversity in Philosophy of Biology
Fitness in Philosophy of Biology
Meaning in Philosophy of Language
Normativity, Misc in Value Theory, Miscellaneous
The Quest for a Holistic and Historical-Developmental Theory of the Organism.Agustin Ostachuk - 2019 - Ludus Vitalis 27 (51):23-42.details
In this work the doctrine of organicism will be addressed, as explained and seen mainly by Bertalanffy. We will study how this doctrine represents and embodies the ambiguity of Kantian teleology as a regulative principle, and how this same problem leads to consider a real problem as a knowledge problem. It will be concluded that organicism, conceived in this way, does not represent a true holism, but what we will call a syn-holism, a synthesis or assembly, and that to obtain (...) a true holism we must resort to the concept of true form. Finally, it will be established that since the fundamental characteristic of an organism is its development, a historical theory of the organism is required for which the concept of field can be useful and necessary. (shrink)
Biological Sciences in Natural Sciences
Continental Philosophy of Science in Continental Philosophy
Continental Structuralism in Continental Philosophy
Cybernetics in Philosophy of Cognitive Science
Phenomenology in Continental Philosophy
Delegated Causality of Complex Systems.Raimundas Vidunas - 2019 - Axiomathes 29 (1):81-97.details
A notion of delegated causality is introduced here. This subtle kind of causality is dual to interventional causality. Delegated causality elucidates the causal role of dynamical systems at the "edge of chaos", explicates evident cases of downward causation, and relates emergent phenomena to Gödel's incompleteness theorem. Apparently rich implications are noticed in biology and Chinese philosophy. The perspective of delegated causality supports cognitive interpretations of self-organization and evolution.
Emergence in Physical Science in Philosophy of Physical Science
The Direction of Causation in Metaphysics
Yin Yang Confucianism in Asian Philosophy
Conceptual Challenges in the Theoretical Foundations of Systems Biology.Marta Bertolaso & Emanuele Ratti - 2018 - In Mariano Bizzarri (ed.), Systems Biology. New York: Springer, Humana Press. pp. 1-13.details
In the last decade, Systems Biology has emerged as a conceptual and explanatory alternative to reductionist-based approaches in molecular biology. However, the foundations of this new discipline need to be fleshed out more carefully. In this paper, we claim that a relational ontology is a necessary tool to ground both the conceptual and explanatory aspects of Systems Biology. A relational ontology holds that relations are prior—both conceptually and explanatory—to entities, and that in the biological realm entities are defined primarily by (...) the context they are embedded within—and hence by the web of relations they are part of. (shrink)
Interlevel Metaphysics, Misc in Metaphysics
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The significance of levels of organization for scientific research: A heuristic approach.Daniel S. Brooks & Markus I. Eronen - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 68:34-41.details
The concept of 'levels of organization' has come under fire recently as being useless for scientific and philosophical purposes. In this paper, we show that 'levels' is actually a remarkably resilient and constructive conceptual tool that can be, and in fact is, used for a variety of purposes. To this effect, we articulate an account of the importance of the levels concept seen in light of its status as a major organizing concept of biology. We argue that the usefulness of (...) 'levels' is best seen in the heuristic contributions the concept makes to treating and structuring scientific problems. We illustrate this with two examples from biological research. (shrink)
Interlevel Relations in Biology in Philosophy of Biology
Natural selection, plasticity, and the rationale for largest-scale trends.Hugh Desmond - 2018 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences 68:25-33.details
Many have argued that there is no reason why natural selection should cause directional increases in measures such as body size or complexity across evolutionary history as a whole. In this paper I argue that this conclusion does not hold for selection for adaptations to environmental variability, and that, given the inevitability of environmental variability, trends in adaptations to variability are an expected feature of evolution by natural selection. As a concrete instance of this causal structure, I outline how this (...) may be applied to a trend in phenotypic plasticity. (shrink)
The Origins of Life: The Managed-Metabolism Hypothesis.John E. Stewart - 2018 - Foundations of Science:1-25.details
The 'managed-metabolism' hypothesis suggests that a 'cooperation barrier' must be overcome if self-producing chemical organizations are to undergo the transition from non-life to life. This dynamical barrier prevents un-managed autocatalytic networks of molecular species from individuating into complex, cooperative organizations. The barrier arises because molecular species that could otherwise make significant cooperative contributions to the success of an organization will often not be supported within the organization, and because side reactions and other 'free-riding' processes will undermine cooperation. As a result, (...) the barrier seriously impedes the emergence of individuality, complex functionality and the transition to life. This barrier is analogous to the cooperation barrier that also impedes the emergence of complex cooperation at all levels of living organization. As has been shown at other levels of organization, the barrier can be overcome comprehensively by appropriate 'management'. Management implements a system of evolvable constraints that can overcome the cooperation barrier by ensuring that beneficial co-operators are supported within the organization and by suppressing free-riders. In this way, management can control and manipulate the chemical processes of a collectively autocatalytic organization, producing novel processes that serve the interests of the organization as a whole and that could not arise and persist in an un-managed chemical organization. Management self-organizes because it is able to capture some of the benefits that are produced when its interventions promote cooperation, thereby enhancing productivity. Selection will therefore favour the emergence of managers that take over and manage chemical organizations so as to overcome the cooperation barrier. The managed-metabolism hypothesis demonstrates that if management is to overcome the cooperation barrier comprehensively, its interventions must be digitally coded. In this way, the hypothesis accounts for the two-tiered structure of all living cells in which a digitally-coded genetic apparatus manages an analogically-informed metabolism.GraphicalOpen image in new window. (shrink)
Evolutionary Game Theory in Philosophy of Action
Gene Selection in Philosophy of Biology
Group Selection in Philosophy of Biology
Replications Everywhere.Stephan Güttinger - 2018 - Bioessays 40 (7):1800055.details
Why the replication crisis might be less severe than it seems at first.
Design Under Randomness: How Variation Affects the Engineering of Biological Systems.Tero Ijäs - 2018 - Biological Theory 13 (3):153-163.details
Synthetic biology offers a powerful method to design and construct biological devices for human purposes. Two prominent design methodologies are currently used. Rational design adapts the design methodology of traditional engineering sciences, such as mechanical engineering. Directed evolution, in contrast, models its design principles after natural evolution, as it attempts to design and improve systems by guiding them to evolve in a certain direction. Previous work has argued that the primary difference between these two is the way they treat variation: (...) rational design attempts to suppress it, whilst direct evolution utilizes variation. I argue that this contrast is too simplistic, as it fails to distinguish different types of variation and different phases of design in synthetic biology. I outline three types of variation and show how they influence the construction of synthetic biological systems during the design process. Viewing the two design approaches with these more fine-grained distinctions provides a better understanding of the methodological differences and respective benefits of rational design and directed evolution, and clarifies the constraints and choices that the different design approaches must deal with. (shrink)
Genetic Engineering in Applied Ethics
Optimality in Philosophy of Biology
The Evolution Concept: The Concept Evolution.Agustin Ostachuk - 2018 - Cosmos and History: The Journal of Natural and Social Philosophy 14 (3):354-378.details
This is an epistemologically-driven history of the concept of evolution. Starting from its inception, this work will follow the development of this pregnant concept. However, in contradistinction to previous attempts, the objective will not be the identification of the different meanings it adopted through history, but conversely, it will let the concept to be unfolded, to be explicated and to express its own inner potentialities. The underlying thesis of the present work is, therefore, that the path that leads to the (...) development of the concept of evolution is the path that studies the possibilities of the evolution of concepts, and that the historical reconstruction of its conceptual trajectory will shed light into potential and unexploited possibilities. This methodology will provide useful tools and resources for future developments of the concept. For example, it will define the concept of transmutation as a different conceptual trajectory deviating from the one corresponding to evolution, at the onset of the 19th century. Moreover, epigenesis will not be the opposing concept to evolution, but only to simultaneous and instantaneous generation. It will demonstrate that every important system of epigenesis drew upon some kind of formative power to explain development. More importantly, it will show that the problem of preformation cannot be overlooked, and that some kind of virtual preformation must be considered in order to address the problems of generation and development. (shrink)
Aristotle: Biology in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
Aristotle: Development in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
Aristotle: Generation of Animals in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
Aristotle: Natural Science, Misc in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
Aristotle: Soul in Ancient Greek and Roman Philosophy
Immanuel Kant in 17th/18th Century Philosophy
Medical Epistemology in Philosophy of Science, Misc
Philosophy of Medicine, Miscellaneous in Philosophy of Science, Misc
The Complexity-based Explanatory Strategy, Biological Levels, and the Origin of Life.Slobodan Perović - 2018 - Rivista di Estetica 69:54-67.details
A long-standing debate on the causality of levels in biological explanations has divided philosophers into two camps. The reductionist camp insists on the causal primacy of lower, molecular levels, while the critics point out the inescapable shifting, reciprocity, and circularity of levels across biological explanations. We argue, however, that many explanations in biology do not exclusively draw their explanatory power from detailed insights into inter-level interactions; they predominantly require identifying the adequate levels of biological complexity to be explained. Moreover, the (...) main explanatory strategies grounding both theoretical and experimental approaches to one of the central debates in contemporary biology, i.e., on the origin of life, are primarily and sometimes exclusively driven by issues concerning the levels of biochemical complexity, and these only subsequently frame more substantial and detailed accounts of inter-level biochemical interactions. (shrink)
The immunological self.Zdenka Brzović - 2017 - In Boran Berčić (ed.), Perspectives on the Self. Rijeka: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. pp. 81-95.details
The problem of defining the self has traditionally been conceived as a task for philosophers. However, the development of immunology in the second part of the 20th century has led many scientists to conclude that immunology is the science of the self. This led to two different approaches to biological individuality: physiological individuation that is mostly concerned with organisms seen as strongly cohesive and unified metabolic entities, and evolutionary individuation where evolution by natural selection is seen as the best framework (...) for individuating biological entities. I discuss physiological approaches to biological individuation with a special focus on the immunological theories of the self. I argue that the immunological theories can only function as vague metaphors that do not provide a valid criterion for individuating organisms in biology. (shrink)
Physical and Animalist Theories Of Personal Identity in Metaphysics
The Self, Misc in Metaphysics
The diversity of experimental organisms in biomedical research may be influenced by biomedical funding.B. R. Erick Peirson, Heather Kropp, Julia Damerow & Manfred D. Laubichler - 2017 - Bioessays 39 (5):1600258.details
Contrary to concerns of some critics, we present evidence that biomedical research is not dominated by a small handful of model organisms. An exhaustive analysis of research literature suggests that the diversity of experimental organisms in biomedical research has increased substantially since 1975. There has been a longstanding worry that organism‐centric funding policies can lead to biases in experimental organism choice, and thus negatively impact the direction of research and the interpretation of results. Critics have argued that a focus on (...) model organisms has unduly constrained the diversity of experimental organisms. The availability of large electronic databases of scientific literature, combined with interest in quantitative methods among philosophers of science, presents new opportunities for data‐driven investigations into organism choice in biomedical research. The diversity of organisms used in NIH‐funded research may be considerably lower than in the broader biomedical sciences, and may be subject to greater constraints on organism choice. (shrink)
Landscapes of Collectivity in the Life Sciences.Snait Gissis, Ehud Lamm & Ayelet Shavit (eds.) - 2017 - Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.details
The aim of the book is to explore common concerns regarding methodological individualism in different fields of the life sciences broadly construed. It will address conceptual problems regarding individuals and their relation and dependence on the collectivities they are part of and consider innovative new viewpoints, grounded in specific scientific projects that question the present descriptions and understanding and raise challenges. A wide variety of recent, influential contributions in the life sciences utilize notions of collectivity, sociality, rich interactions and emergent (...) phenomena, as essential explanatory tools to handle numerous persistent scientific questions in the life sciences. -/- Examples range from gene expression and regulation, the dynamics of bacterial populations, the ecological developmental biology of symbiosis, levels of selection, to communication, motion and patterns of behavior in diverse life forms, the role of social institutions and cultural dynamics in human evolution, and the psychological basis for social norms. The book is being structured so that fruitful and rewarding disciplinary interactions take place among researchers and scholars who have been concerned with overcoming methodological individualism. -/- The books includes a section of four papers on holobionts and the hologenome theory and a special memorial article on the work of the late Prof. Eshel Ben-Jacob authored by Herbert Levine. (shrink)
Levels and Units of Selection, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Complexity revisited.Peter Godfrey-Smith - 2017 - Biology and Philosophy 32 (3):467-479.details
I look back at my 1996 book Complexity and the Function of Mind in Nature, responding to papers by Pamela Lyon, Fred Keijzer and Argyris Arnellos, and Matt Grove.
Phototoxicity in live fluorescence microscopy, and how to avoid it.Jaroslav Icha, Michael Weber, Jennifer C. Waters & Caren Norden - 2017 - Bioessays 39 (8):1700003.details
Phototoxicity frequently occurs during live fluorescence microscopy, and its consequences are often underestimated. Damage to cellular macromolecules upon excitation light illumination can impair sample physiology, and even lead to sample death. In this review, we explain how phototoxicity influences live samples, and we highlight that, besides the obvious effects of phototoxicity, there are often subtler consequences of illumination that are imperceptible when only the morphology of samples is examined. Such less apparent manifestations of phototoxicity are equally problematic, and can change (...) the conclusions drawn from an experiment. Thus, limiting phototoxicity is a prerequisite for obtaining reproducible quantitative data on biological processes. We present strategies to reduce phototoxicity, e.g. limiting the illumination to the focal plane and suggest controls for phototoxicity effects. Overall, we argue that phototoxicity needs increased attention from researchers when designing experiments, and when evaluating research findings. (shrink)
Building integrated explanatory models of complex biological phenomena: From Mill's methods to a causal mosaic.Alan Love - 2017 - In M. Massimi & Jan-Willem Romeijn (eds.), EPSA15 Selected Papers: The 5th conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association in Düsseldorf. Dordrecht: Springer. pp. 221-232.details
This edited collection showcases some of the best recent research in the philosophy of science. It comprises of thematically arranged papers presented at the 5th conference of the European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA15), covering a broad variety of topics within general philosophy of science, and philosophical issues pertaining to specific sciences. The collection will appeal to researchers with an interest in the philosophical underpinnings of their own discipline, and to philosophers who wish to study the latest work on the (...) themes discussed. (shrink)
Causal Concepts Guiding Model Specification in Systems Biology.Dana Matthiessen - 2017 - Disputatio 9 (47):499-527.details
In this paper I analyze the process by which modelers in systems biology arrive at an adequate representation of the biological structures thought to underlie data gathered from high-throughput experiments. Contrary to views that causal claims and explanations are rare in systems biology, I argue that in many studies of gene regulatory networks modelers aim at a representation of causal structure. In addressing modeling challenges, they draw on assumptions informed by theory and pragmatic considerations in a manner that is guided (...) by an interventionist conception of causal structure. While doubts have been raised about the applicability of this notion of causality to complex biological systems, it is here seen to be an adequate guide to inquiry. (shrink)
Application of the Eco-field and General Theory of Resources to Bark Beetles: Beyond the Niche Construction Theory.F. J. Sánchez-García, V. Machado, J. Galián & D. Gallego - 2017 - Biosemiotics 10 (1):57-73.details
A new approach to landscape ecology involves the application of the eco-field hypothesis and the General Theory of Resources. In this study, we describe the putative eco-field of bark beetles as a spatial configuration with a specific meaning-carrier for every organism-resource interaction. Bark beetles are insects with key roles in matter and energy cycles in coniferous forests, which cause significant changes to forestry landscapes when outbreaks occur. Bark beetles are guided towards host trees by the recognition of semiotic signals using (...) a specific eco-field. These signals mainly comprise a group of scents, which are called the odourtope. Their interactions with other organisms occur by sharing relevant information from the eco-field networks in the forest ecosystem. The eco-field networks modulate the expansion of the realized semiotic niche of the bark beetle towards the potential semiotic niche. Moreover, the niche construction process can be initiated by interchanging signals among species living in the same place, where these signals allow the exploitation of the required resources. If different organisms are interdependent on signals in eco-field networks, then this process may result in the establishment of mutualistic relationships. This is an example of how evolutionary processes are initiated by the recognition of signals in a network of eco-fields. (shrink)
Autonomy and Agency in Philosophy of Action
Biological Information in Philosophy of Biology
Mechanisms of Evolution, Misc in Philosophy of Biology
Niche Construction in Philosophy of Biology
Constructive Aspects of Biosemiotics.Tommi Vehkavaara & Alexei Sharov - 2017 - Biosemiotics 10 (2):145-156.details
We argue that constructive approaches in epistemology and systems science, which are focused on normativity, knowledge, and communication of organisms and emphasize the primacy of activity, self-construction, and niche-construction in the cognitive agents, fit naturally to the both methodology and theory of biosemiotics. In particular, constructive view was already present in the works of the major precursors of biosemiotics: von Uexküll and Bateson, and to some extent Peirce. Biosemiotics has a chance to function as a mediating field in the theoretical (...) integration of semiotics with its construction-related sister disciplines (e.g., second order cybernetics, autopoiesis, constructivism, enactivism, and interactivism) because of its explicit assumption of the semiotic nature of life and agency and its objectified "first person" view to biosemiotic agents, the view that nevertheless avoids the agnostic attitude towards reality. (shrink)
Dissolving the star-tree paradox.Bengt Autzen - 2016 - Biology and Philosophy 31 (3):409-419.details
While Bayesian methods have become very popular in phylogenetic systematics, the foundations of this approach remain controversial. The star-tree paradox in Bayesian phylogenetics refers to the phenomenon that a particular binary phylogenetic tree sometimes has a very high posterior probability even though a star tree generates the data. I argue that this phenomenon reveals an unattractive feature of the Bayesian approach to scientific inference and discuss two proposals for how to address the star-tree paradox. In particular, I defend the polytomy (...) prior as a solution of the paradox and argue that it is preferable to a data-size dependent branch lengths prior from a methodological perspective. However, while this reply dissolves the star-tree paradox, the general challenge to Bayesian confirmation theory remains unmet. (shrink)
Phylogenetic Inference in Philosophy of Biology
The Map and the Territory: Complexity in Biology.Fabio Burigana & Daniele Pellicano - 2016 - World Futures 72 (3-4):154-162.details
In business administration or in economics it is absolutely relevant not to consider indexes like profit growth rate or gross domestic product as exhaustive indexes for economic wealth. Likewise, in biology it is important not to confuse the representation of life with life itself. The most important concepts in biology are information, memory, structure, plasticity, and robustness. Information is the difference that makes the difference. Memories are information registered in an organism. Plasticity is the capacity of a living organism to (...) change its own structure/sets of behaviors for having a competitive advantage. Robustness is the ability of a living organism to resist environmental changes without changing its own structure/sets of behavior, and fragility is when a living organism undergoes changes in its own structure without being able to resist non-adaptive changes. (shrink)
Complexity at large: News items.Carlos Gershenson - 2016 - Complexity 21 (1):1-5.details
Complexity at Large-21.2.Carlos Gershenson - 2016 - Complexity 21 (2):1-8.details
Complexity at large.Carlos Gershenson - 2016 - Complexity 21 (3):3-8.details
Complexity at large-21.5.Carlos Gershenson - 2016 - Complexity 21 (5):5-10.details
Symbiosis, History of.Nathalie Gontier - 2016 - In R. KLiman (ed.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Biology. pp. 272-281.details
Biology and Society in Philosophy of Biology


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Amon Amarth: Fate of Norns
The Nordic Vikings, Amon Amarth, return with the pounding yet slightly more accessible Fate of Norns, a heavy yet more streamlined release for this veteran band. With glorious lyrics dealing with, you guessed it, Vikings, Amon Amarth conjure enough images of fantasy to please the Lord of the Rings crowd, and the music is brutal enough for the death & black metal legions. Songs like the epic "An Ancient Sign Of Coming Storm" contains plenty of furious guitar riffs and manic rhythms, while the vocals of Johan Hegg crash through the parting seas with a deafening gutteral roar. You can just picture him with a microphone in one hand, a sword in the other (or leg of mutton, depending on the time of day). Some of the tunes have an early 80's thrash/speed metal feel, like the rampaging title track, or the Motorhead groove of "The Pursuit of Vikings", while the behemoth drum sounds of "Valkyries Ride" place the song squarely in modern extreme metal.
One thing I find with the music of Amon Amarth is that it is fairly one dimensional. Even though the guitar work on Fate of Norns is well played and melodic (especially the wonderful harmony work on "Arson") , each song tends to follow similar patterns, and Hegg's vocals could use a little more variety. Still, if you like that full-speed ahead brutality that is Viking Metal, Amon Amarth is one of the better bands currently entertaining the masses. Those new to the band might be best served checking out their slightly more ambitious earlier material and work their way forward. This though is still a solid release from the Norseman-all hail!
1. An Ancient Sign Of Coming Storm
2. Where Death Seems To Dwell
3. The Fate Of Norns
4. The Pursuit Of Vikings
5. Valkyries Ride
6. The Beheading Of A King
7. Arson
8. Once Sealed In Blood
Added: November 16th 2005
Related Link: Amon Amarth Website