Measuring Evolution

Measuring Evolution

Author: David Loye

Publisher: David Loye

Published: 2006-12

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 0978982711

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Second in a series of six new books for a Darwin Anniversary Book Cycle, Measuring Evolution: A User's Guide to the Health and Wealth of Nations tells the inspiring story of the development, and provides a guide to the use, of the Global Sounding. This is a new instrument for measuring our local, national, and planetary health and well-being on 15 basic indicators of evolution. Of widespread prospective interest is the fact that, for the first time, this new measure bridges what both progressive scientists and progressive religious leaders increasingly view as a socially, economically, politically, and morally disastrous gap between science and spirituality. With hundreds of studies of evolution by natural, social and systems scientists behind it, the Global Sounding has been designed to provide a relatively simple new way of measuring the impact of our human actions, or inactions, on the range from cosmic, chemical, and biological evolution, through the evolution of the brain, into the spread of cultural evolution through personal, social, economic, political, educational, and technological into moral and spiritual evolution, capped by the evolution of consciousness and personal and social action to change our world for the better. The name for the new measure comes from Darwin's famous voyage of the Beagle-the ship originally commissioned to circle the world to obtain soundings indicating peaceful harbors and safe channels for navigation. The book is animated by colorful, engaging, and often humorous stories to illustrate how the new measure can be put to use by progressives during the customary behind-scenes battles with advocates for the status quo or regressives in key decision-making situations that determine whether we move ahead, are checked in place, or shoved backward in evolution. Along with illustrative test matrixes for each of the following situations, the Global Sounding has been designed to advance the successful advocation of and motivation for globally-responsible programs, practices, and policies by decision-makers in business, government, politics, science, education, foundations, religions, and the media. The author, David Loye, is an internationally known evolutionary systems scientist and author of the award-winning The Healing of a Nation. Titles for further books in the new series are Darwin's Lost Theory, Darwin on Love, The Derailing of Evolution, and Telling the New Story, first for a series of books by leading world educators on how to globally shift from the old to the new Darwinian model in schools and the media. In addition to more information on the Darwin Anniversary Book Cycle, the website for the publisher, www.benjaminfranklinpress.com, provides a marketing analysis of prospective appeal to readers in editions for other languages in Europe, Asia, and South as well as North America. The publisher has also launched an online Darwin Anniversary Report (www.darwinanniversary.com) to provide a central news source for scores of events now underway around the world during the current global buildup for the 200th Anniversary of Darwin's birth.


Measuring Biological Diversity

Measuring Biological Diversity

Author: Anne E. Magurran

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-04-18

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 1118687922

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This accessible and timely book provides a comprehensive overview of how to measure biodiversity. The book highlights new developments, including innovative approaches to measuring taxonomic distinctness and estimating species richness, and evaluates these alongside traditional methods such as species abundance distributions, and diversity and evenness statistics. Helps the reader quantify and interpret patterns of ecological diversity, focusing on the measurement and estimation of species richness and abundance. Explores the concept of ecological diversity, bringing new perspectives to a field beset by contradictory views and advice. Discussion spans issues such as the meaning of community in the context of ecological diversity, scales of diversity and distribution of diversity among taxa Highlights advances in measurement paying particular attention to new techniques such as species richness estimation, application of measures of diversity to conservation and environmental management and addressing sampling issues Includes worked examples of key methods in helping people to understand the techniques and use available computer packages more effectively


Measuring the Evolution Controversy

Measuring the Evolution Controversy

Author: Avelina Espinosa

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2016-05-11

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 144389401X

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The reality of evolution is indisputable and, based on current scientific evidence, all people in the world should accept it as fact. Yet, only 41% of adults worldwide embrace evolution, and they do it under the premise that a deity created humans. One in every three people is a strict creationist who believes in religious scriptures concerning the origin of our universe and of humans, and explicitly rejects that Homo sapiens is an ape when, in fact, science informs us that humans’ closest relatives are chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutans. Indeed, we are all apes. Why do people not accept evolution? In Measuring the Evolution Controversy, Guillermo Paz-y-Miño-C and Avelina Espinosa postulate that the debate over evolution-and-science versus creationism is inherent in the incompatibility between scientific rationalism/empiricism and the belief in supernatural causation (religion and faith). Belief disrupts, distorts, delays or stops the comprehension and acceptance of scientific evidence. The authors refer to this proposal as the incompatibility hypothesis (IH), the conceptual foundation of this book. Paz-y-Miño-C and Espinosa explain that the evolution controversy is not only measurable descriptively, but also testable as in an ordinary field of science. To accomplish this, they examine three predictions of IH. First, chronological-conflict-and-accommodation (i.e. the historical re-emergence of antagonism between evolution and religion when advances in science continue to threaten the belief in supernatural causation; in such situations, creationists’ rejection of and subsequent partial acceptance of the new scientific discoveries are expected). Second, change in evolution’s acceptance as function of educational attainment (i.e. the positive association between acceptance of evolution and level of education). Third, change in evolution’s acceptance as function of religiosity (i.e. the negative association between acceptance of evolution and level of religious beliefs). By relying on an ample assessment of the attitudes towards evolution by highly educated audiences (i.e. research faculty, educators of prospective teachers, and college students in the United States) the authors characterise their understanding of science and evolution, personal religious convictions, and political ideology. The authors make recommendations for improving science and evolution literacy, as well as evolution’s acceptance, and conclude by forecasting a probable global socio-cultural landscape in which acceptance of science and evolution will take place.


Measuring empowerment across the value chain: The evolution of the project-level Women’s Empowerment Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI)

Measuring empowerment across the value chain: The evolution of the project-level Women’s Empowerment Index for Market Inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI)

Author: Malapit, Hazel J.

Publisher: Intl Food Policy Res Inst

Published: 2023-03-09

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13:

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Many development agencies design and implement interventions that aim to reach, benefit, and empower rural women across the value chain in activities ranging from production, to processing, to marketing. Determining whether and how such interventions empower women, as well as the constraints faced by different value chain actors, requires quantitative and qualitative tools. We describe how we adapted the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agricultural Index (pro-WEAI), a mixed-methods tool for studying empowerment in development projects, to include aspects of agency relevant for multiple types of value chain actors. The resulting pro-WEAI for market inclusion (pro-WEAI+MI) includes quantitative and qualitative instruments developed over the course of four studies. Studies in the Philippines (2017), Bangladesh (2017), and Malawi (2019) were intended to diagnose areas of disempowerment to inform programming, whereas the Benin (2019) study was an impact assessment of an agricultural training program. The pro-WEAI+MI includes all indicators included in pro-WEAI, plus a dashboard of complementary indicators and recommended qualitative instruments. These tools investigate the empowerment of women in different value chains and nodes and identify barriers to market access and inclusion that may restrict empowerment for different value chain actors. Our findings highlight three lessons. First, the sampling strategy needs to be designed to capture the key actors in a value chain. Second, the market inclusion indicators cannot stand alone; they must be interpreted alongside the core pro-WEAI indicators. Third, not all market inclusion indicators will be relevant for all value chains and contexts. Users should research the experiences of women and men in the target value chains in the context of the programto select priority market inclusion indicators.


Evolutionary Genetics

Evolutionary Genetics

Author: R. S. Singh

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2000-03-28

Total Pages: 738

ISBN-13: 9780521571234

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This book brings out the central role of evolutionary genetics in all aspects of its connection to evolutionary biology.


Evolution of Translational Omics

Evolution of Translational Omics

Author: Institute of Medicine

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2012-09-13

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 0309224187

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Technologies collectively called omics enable simultaneous measurement of an enormous number of biomolecules; for example, genomics investigates thousands of DNA sequences, and proteomics examines large numbers of proteins. Scientists are using these technologies to develop innovative tests to detect disease and to predict a patient's likelihood of responding to specific drugs. Following a recent case involving premature use of omics-based tests in cancer clinical trials at Duke University, the NCI requested that the IOM establish a committee to recommend ways to strengthen omics-based test development and evaluation. This report identifies best practices to enhance development, evaluation, and translation of omics-based tests while simultaneously reinforcing steps to ensure that these tests are appropriately assessed for scientific validity before they are used to guide patient treatment in clinical trials.


Microbial Cell Factories Engineering for Production of Biomolecules

Microbial Cell Factories Engineering for Production of Biomolecules

Author: Vijai Singh

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2021-02-13

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 0128214783

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Microbial Cell Factories Engineering for Production of Biomolecules presents a compilation of chapters written by eminent scientists worldwide. Sections cover major tools and technologies for DNA synthesis, design of biosynthetic pathways, synthetic biology tools, biosensors, cell-free systems, computer-aided design, OMICS tools, CRISPR/Cas systems, and many more. Although it is not easy to find relevant information collated in a single volume, the book covers the production of a wide range of biomolecules from several MCFs, including Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas putida, Streptomyces, Corynebacterium, Cyanobacteria, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Pichia pastoris and Yarrowia lipolytica, and algae, among many others. This will be an excellent platform from which scientific knowledge can grow and widen in MCF engineering research for the production of biomolecules. Needless to say, the book is a valuable source of information not only for researchers designing cell factories, but also for students, metabolic engineers, synthetic biologists, genome engineers, industrialists, stakeholders and policymakers interested in harnessing the potential of MCFs in several fields. - Offers basic understanding and a clear picture of various MCFs - Explains several tools and technologies, including DNA synthesis, synthetic biology tools, genome editing, biosensors, computer-aided design, and OMICS tools, among others - Harnesses the potential of engineered MCFs to produce a wide range of biomolecules for industrial, therapeutic, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and biotechnological applications - Highlights the advances, challenges, and future opportunities in designing MCFs


Evolution Education Re-considered

Evolution Education Re-considered

Author: Ute Harms

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-07-16

Total Pages: 349

ISBN-13: 3030146987

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This collection presents research-based interventions using existing knowledge to produce new pedagogies to teach evolution to learners more successfully, whether in schools or elsewhere. ‘Success’ here is measured as cognitive gains, as acceptance of evolution or an increased desire to continue to learn about it. Aside from introductory and concluding chapters by the editors, each chapter consists of a research-based intervention intended to enable evolution to be taught successfully; all these interventions have been researched and evaluated by the chapters’ authors and the findings are presented along with discussions of the implications. The result is an important compendium of studies from around the word conducted both inside and outside of school. The volume is unique and provides an essential reference point and platform for future work for the foreseeable future.


Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology

Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology

Author: Laurence Mueller

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2019-11-19

Total Pages: 206

ISBN-13: 0128160144

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Although biologists recognize evolutionary ecology by name, many only have a limited understanding of its conceptual roots and historical development. Conceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Ecology fills that knowledge gap in a thought-provoking and readable format. Written by a world-renowned evolutionary ecologist, this book embodies a unique blend of expertise in combining theory and experiment, population genetics and ecology. Following an easily-accessible structure, this book encapsulates and chronologizes the history behind evolutionary ecology. It also focuses on the integration of age-structure and density-dependent selection into an understanding of life-history evolution. - Covers over 60 seminal breakthroughs and paradigm shifts in the field of evolutionary biology and ecology - Modular format permits ready access to each described subject - Historical overview of a field whose concepts are central to all of biology and relevant to a broad audience of biologists, science historians, and philosophers of science


Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology

Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology

Author: Eric J. Sargis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2008-05-21

Total Pages: 453

ISBN-13: 1402069979

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This book celebrates the contributions of Dr. Frederick S. Szalay to the field of Mammalian Evolutionary Morphology. Professor Szalay is a strong advocate for biologically and evolutionarily meaningful character analysis. He has published about 200 articles, six monographs, and six books on this subject. This book features subjects such as the evolution and adaptation of mammals and provides up-to-date articles on the evolutionary morphology of a wide range of mammalian groups.