Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Evolution of developmental systems'
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Maitland, Kathleen M. "Information systems evolution." Thesis, Open University, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.289003.
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Ryan, Patricia A. "A general model for structural processing in cultural and developmental systems." Virtual Press, 1998. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/1115764.
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Anthropology, and other disciplines have searched for isomorphic principles and rules operating in information systems. This thesis locates and describes this deep structure applicable to all information systems. It presents a model for information flow as a set of ordering principles revealing universal patterns inherent in nature, a set of transformation rules functioning to increase organization and complexity, and a structure for this activity. The model is isomorphic: it demonstrates similar operational behavior in different systems. Major features of the model include polarity, emergent or transformational phenomena, self-organization, and a trajectory traveling through a hierarchical structure representing the flow of information. Polar opposition is the primary functional mechanism, and has two critical roles. It initiates and maintains the trajectory through time and stabilizes the system by representing existence in time. The author applies the model to consciousness, neurogenesis, ontogeny, social behavior, mythology, rites of passage, and other systems.Department of Anthropology
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Nnatuanya, Ifechukwu. "Evolution of living information systems development." Thesis, Brunel University, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.412796.
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Maad, Johanne. "Selection and Floral Evolution in Platanthera bifolia and P. chlorantha (Orchidaceae)." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis : Univ.-bibl. [distributör], 2002. http://publications.uu.se/theses/91-554-5226-4/.
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Marques, Pita Manuel Arturo. "Aitana : a developmental cognitive artifact to explore the evolution of conceptual representations of cellular automata-based complex systems." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/24904.
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This thesis explores cognitive mechanisms that process models of complex systems – represented in their implicit form – in order to produce explicit redescriptions, which reveal knowledge about these models that is not accessible on the implicit level. The aim of this exploration is to support new ways of conceptualising the phenomenon of emergence, the main characterising feature of complex systems in general. The main problem tackled in this thesis concerns the development of representations that support new forms of model conceptualisation. Specifically, the thesis focuses on producing primordial explicit representations (where primordial means that they are not the composition of lower level explicit forms) directly from the implicit levels of knowledge, with the latter being represented in terms of Cellular Automata (CA) rules. Three hypotheses concerning the capabilities of CA redescription mechanisms are tested. The hypotheses state that such mechanisms are able (1) to capture the whole (or most significant) extent of the input implicit representation, (2) to produce redescriptions that are more compact (in terms of dimensionality) than the input representation and (3) to allow (or to provide substrate to allow) the derivation of “knowledge” about what has been learnt – the knowledge that is implicit in the low level representational forms acquired through learning. The hypotheses are tested by means of Aitana – a prototype developed specifically for this purpose. This developmental cognitive artifact is capable of learning implicit models of Cellular Automata that achieve certain pre-specified emergent behaviours, using Genetic Algorithms as its learning mechanism. Once acquired, implicit representations are processed, in order to produce explicit representations. The mechanisms for redescribing CA rules are based on the study of their endogenous spatial properties. In particular, two redescription transducers or modules are implemented in Aitana and explored through a set of case-studies. Aitana’s artificial cognitive development confirms the three hypotheses of this thesis.
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Hudson, Corey M. "Informatic approaches to evolutionary systems biology." Thesis, University of Missouri - Columbia, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3577951.
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The sheer complexity of evolutionary systems biology requires us to develop more sophisticated tools for analysis, as well as more probing and biologically relevant representations of the data. My research has focused on three aspects of evolutionary systems biology. I ask whether a gene’s position in the human metabolic network affects the degree to which natural selection prunes variation in that gene. Using a novel orthology inference tool that uses both sequence similarity and gene synteny, I inferred orthologous groups of genes for the full genomes of 8 mammals. With these orthologs, I estimated the selective constraint (the ratio of non-synonymous to synonymous nucleotide substitutions) on 1190 (or 80.2%) of the genes in the metabolic network using a maximum likelihood model of codon evolution and compared this value to the betweenness centrality of each enzyme (a measure of that enzyme’s relative global position in the network). Second, I have focused on the evolution of metabolic systems in the presence of gene and genome duplication. I show that increases in a particular gene’s copy number are correlated with limiting metabolic flux in the reaction associated with that gene. Finally, I have investigated the proliferative cell programs present in 6 different cancers (breast, colorectal, gastrointestinal, lung, oral squamous and prostate cancers). I found an overabundance of genes that share expression between cancer and embryonic tissue and that these genes form modular units within regulatory, proteininteraction, and metabolic networks. This despite the fact that these genes, as well as the proteins they encode and reactions they catalyze show little overlap among cancers, suggesting parallel independent reversion to an embryonic pattern of gene expression.
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Alhaj, Hussen Kutaiba. "Developmental architecture of human lymphopoiesis." Thesis, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016USPCC308.
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Selon le modèle standard de l'hématopoïèse, la différenciation des cellules souches hématopoïétiques est un processus graduel de type arborescent. La première séparation a lieu au niveau de cellules multipotentes qui se scindent en progéniteurs lymphoïdes et myéloïdes communs. Bien que l'architecture de l'hématopoïèse humaine reste encore mal connue, de nombreux travaux suggèrent qu'elle ne suit pas le modèle standard. À ce jour encore, la question de l'existence d'un équivalent humain du CLP murin, n'a pas été tranchée. L'étude de l'hématopoïèse humaine soulève des problèmes méthodologiques. Ceci est lié au difficile accès au; prélèvements de moelle primaire et les études sur le sang placentaire ne reflètent pas complétement le développement médullaire. Dans ce travail, nous avons utilisé un modèle in vivo d'hématopoïèse foetale humaine chez la souris NSG par xénogreffe de progéniteurs du sang placentaire. La caractérisation faite sur les populations générées dans la moelle osseuse de souris a révélé que ce modèle reproduit l'hématopoïèse foetale humaine. Nous montrons que la lymphopoïèse foetale humaine présente une organisation originale caractérisée par une duplication des axes développementaux. Nos travaux mettent en évidence l'émergence indépendante de deux type de progéniteurs lymphoïdes à partir d'un intermédiaire multipotent: une population ancestrale CD127+générant principalement des lymphocytes B folliculaires, ainsi que des cellules ILC3 ; une population CD127- générant des lymphocytes T, des lymphocytes B de la zone marginale, et des cellules NK/ILC1. Ces résultats montrent que l'hématopoïèse humaine ne suit pas le modèle standard établi chez la sourisThe standard model of hematopoiesis proposes that hematopoietic differentiation is a stepwise bifurcation process. The first separation downstream of hematopoietic stem cells will segregate mutipotent progenitors into common lymphoid and myeloid progenitors. In human many evidences support the idea that human hematopoietic organization doesn't follow the classical model, but the question was not concluded and need for further investigation. Due to limited access to primary bone marrow samples and lack of appropriate in vivo model human studies face many difficulties. In this work, we used a xenogeneic model of human fetal hematopoiesis in immune-deficient mice to dissect the early stages of lymphoid development. This model relies on the injection of UCB CD34+ cells into NSG mice. Flow cytometry analysis and gene expression profiling of humanized mice BM populations revealed that this model faithfully reproduces human fetal hematopoiesis. Combining in vitro differentiation assays to molecular studies and genetic approaches, we show that fetal human lymphopoiesis displays a dual organization, split into an ancestral CD127+ CLP-like population devoid o myeloid potential that differentiate preferentially into follicular B cells and ILC3s, and into a previously undescribed CD127- population mainly dedicated to the generation of T, marginal zone B, NK, and ILC1s We also provide evidence that Early Lymphoid Progenitors emerge independently from multipotent developmental intermediates referred to as lympho-mono'dendritic progenitors. These results confirm that human hematopoiesis doesn't follow the standard model of hematopoietic differentiation established in the mouse
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Monzón, Sandoval Jimena. "Networks and the evolution of complex phenotypes in mammalian systems." Thesis, University of Bath, 2016. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.683544.
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During early development of the nervous system, gene expression patterns are known to vary widely depending on the specific developmental trajectories of different structures. Observable changes in gene expression profiles throughout development are determined by an underlying network of precise regulatory interactions between individual genes. Elucidating the organizing principles that shape this gene regulatory network is one of the central goals of developmental biology. Whether the developmental programme is the result of a dynamic driven by a fixed architecture of regulatory interactions, or alternatively, the result of waves of regulatory reorganization is not known. Here we contrast these two alternative models by examining existing expression data derived from the developing human brain in prenatal and postnatal stages. We reveal a sharp change in gene expression profiles at birth across brain areas. This sharp division between foetal and postnatal profiles is not the result of sudden changes in level of expression of existing gene networks. Instead we demonstrate that the perinatal transition is marked by the widespread regulatory rearrangement within and across existing gene clusters, leading to the emergence of new functional groups. This rearrangement is itself organized into discrete blocks of genes, each associated with a particular set of biological functions. Our results provide evidence of an acute modular reorganization of the regulatory architecture of the brain transcriptome occurring at birth, reflecting the reassembly of new functional associations required for the normal transition from prenatal to postnatal brain development.
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Anderson, Ingrid Anna. "The role of developmental constraint in mating-system evolution in Leavenworthia a quantitative genetic analysis /." [Bloomington, Ind.] : Indiana University, 2005. http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/fullcit/3204293.
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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Biology, 2005.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-01, Section: B, page: 0033. Adviser: Lynda F. Delph. "Title from dissertation home page (viewed Feb. 9, 2007)."
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Mainville, Sebastien. "The International System and Its Environment: Modern Evolutionary, Physiological and Developmental Perspectives on Change in World Politics." The Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1468866930.
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Olson, Jeffrey L. "The Evolution of Urban-Rural Space." The Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1376926850.
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Kushnir, Alexandra Roma Larisa. "Permeability development and evolution in volcanic systems : insights from nature and laboratory experiments." Thesis, Orléans, 2016. http://www.theses.fr/2016ORLE2006/document.
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La transition entre le comportement effusif et explosif des volcans de magma riche en silice est en partie contrôlée par la capacité des surpressions gazeuses à se dissiper hors du magma. La libération efficace des gaz est associée aux éruptions effusives tandis que la rétention de ces gaz contribue aux processus explosifs. L’une des approches pour évaluer la facilité d’échappement des gaz est de considérer l’évolution et le développement de la perméabilité dans la colonne magmatique et dans l'édifice. J'évalue dans ce travail de thèse le rôle des changements post-mise en place sur la microstructure dans des andésites basaltiques du Merapi (Indonésie). La perméabilité de ces roches est principalement contrôlée par des fissures liées à leur mise en place. Malgré l’influence importante de ces fissures post-mise en place pour dégazer à travers l'édifice, elles ne contribuent pas au dégazage intrinsique du magma en cours d’ascension. Pour s’affranchir de l'influence des microstructures post-mise en place du magma, j'étudie le développement et l'évolution in situ des réseaux perméables en déformant des magmas à deux phases (bulles de gaz et liquide silicaté) en cisaillement simple dans une presse Paterson selon des viscosités et des vitesses de déformation réalistes pour la partie haute des conduits des strato-volcans. Le développement de la perméabilité est confirmé in situ et se développe à des vitesses de déformation supérieures à 4,5 x 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹. À des vitesses de déformation élevées (> 5 x 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹) le magma est fragile et l’échappement du gaz est lente, facilitée par l'interconnexion de courtes fractures de Mode I. À des vitesses de déformation < 5 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹, le magma se comporte à la fois de manière fragile et visqueuse et la perméabilité se développe lorsque la déformation est importante; le gaz s’échappe rapidement par de longues fractures de Mode I bien développées. Les fractures de Mode I sont idéalement orientées pour le dégazage du conduit central et sont, surtout, soumises à peu de déformation jusqu'à ce qu'elles soient réorientées dans la direction de cisaillement. Ces caractéristiques de dégazage peuvent, à long terme, favoriser un dynamisme éruptif effussifThe transition from effusive to explosive behaviour at silicic volcanoes is, in part, governed by how efficiently gas overpressures are dissipated from the volcanic plumbing. Efficient gas release is associated with effusive eruptions while inadequate outgassing contributes to explosive processes. One approach to assessing the facility of gas escape is by considering how permeability develops and evolves in the magma column and surrounding edifice. Here, I appraise the role of post-emplacement changes to microstructure in edifice-forming basaltic andesites from Merapi (Indonesia). The permeability of these rocks is dominantly crack-controlled and while these features exert important controls on gas escape through the edifice, they do not represent the escape pathways available to gas within ascending magma. To avoid the influence of postemplacement microstructure, I investigate the development and evolution of permeable networks in magmas by deforming initially impermeable two-phase magmas in simple shear. This is done in a Paterson apparatus at viscosities and shear strain rates appropriate to upper conduits in stratovolcanoes. Permeability development is confirmed in situ and develops at moderate to high shear strain rates (> 4.5 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹). At very high strain rates (> 5 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹) the magma behaves in a brittle manner and gas egress is slow, facilitated by the interconnection of short, Mode I fractures. At moderate shear strain rates (< 5 × 10⁻⁴ s⁻¹), the magma displays both brittle and viscous behaviour and permeability develops at high strain; gas escape is rapid owing to long, well-developed, sample-length Mode I fractures. Mode I fractures are ideally oriented for outgassing of the central conduit and, critically, accommodate little deformation until they are rotated into the direction of shear, making them long-lived outgassing features that may favour volcanic effusion
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Phaneuf, Patrick. "ALE Analytics| A Software Pipeline and Web Platform for the Analysis of Microbial Genomic Data from Adaptive Laboratory Evolution Experiments." Thesis, University of California, San Diego, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10242571.
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Adaptive Laboratory Evolution (ALE) methodologies are used for studying microbial adaptive mutations that optimize host metabolism. The Systems Biology Research Group (SBRG) at the University of California, San Diego, has implemented high-throughput ALE experiment automation that enables the group to expand their experimental evolutions to scales previously infeasible with manual workflows. The data generated by the high-throughput automation now requires a post-processing, content management and analysis framework that can operate on the same scale. We developed a software system which solves the SBRG's specific ALE big data to knowledge challenges. The software system is comprised of a post-processing protocol for quality control, a software framework and database for data consolidation and a web platform named ALE Analytics for report generation and automated key mutation analysis. The automated key mutation analysis is evaluated against published ALE experiment key mutation results from the SBRG and maintains an average recall of 89.6% and an average precision of 71.2%. The consolidation of all ALE experiments into a unified resource has enabled the development of web applications that compare key mutations across multiple experiments. These features find the genomic regions rph, hns/tdk, rpoB, rpoC and pykF mutated in more than one ALE experiment published by the SBRG. We reason that leveraging this software system relieves the bottleneck in ALE experiment analysis and generates new data mining opportunities for research in understanding system-level mechanisms that govern adaptive evolution.
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Lieberman, Tami Danielle. "Genomic insights into bacterial adaptation during infection." Thesis, Harvard University, 2014. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11312.
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Bacteria evolve during the colonization of human hosts, yet little is known about the selective pressures and evolutionary forces that shape this evolution. Illumination of these processes may inspire new therapeutic directions for combating bacterial infections and promoting healthy bacteria-host interactions. The advent of high-throughput sequencing has enabled the identification of mutations that occur within the human host, and various tools from computational and evolutionary biology can aid in creating biological understanding from these mutations. Chapter 1 describes recent progress in understanding within-patient bacterial adaption, focusing on insights made from genomic studies.
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Coles, Timothy Edward. "The evolution of urban retail systems in Germany, 1848 to 1914 : an historical-geographical perspective." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.307313.
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Porter, William Ruger. "Physiological Implications of Dinosaur Cephalic Vascular Systems." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1426861885.
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Dunningham, Jonathan P. "Long-term evolution of normal fault systems : controls on the development and evolution of extensional structures in the neotectonic Kenyan Rift, East Africa." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/13744.
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Differential GPS, which can provide a positional accuracy of ±4cm in terms of latitude and longitude and ±8cm in terms of fault elevation, was used to survey the dimensions of normal fault blocks in the field. In general, positional data were collected every metre along the crest and base of each fault scarp and, where possible, along lava flow contacts. Such data, when combined with 40Ar/39Ar ages determined form the syn-tectonic lava flows, were used to build up a detailed, quantitative, growth-history of faulting in four field localities; two at the centre and two at the eastern margin of the Kenya Rift. Extensional faulting in the South Kenya Rift appears to have been a very episodic process, expressed as: i) an early phase of rapid vertical fault displacement (up to ~6mmyr-1) that resulted in the formation of a train of discrete, ‘bell-shaped’, fault blocks with relatively large fault displacement/length (d/L) ratios (~0.05-0.07), prior to, ii) fault growth at much lower displacement rates (0.3-0.7mmyr-1), characterised by linkage of the pre-existing fault train to form a single fault with a lowered d/L value (~0.01). The observed reduction in fault displacement rates and d/L value may result from down-dip fault interaction with vertical strength contrasts in the volcanic lava pile or, on a more fundamental scale, the base of the effective elastic thickness (Te). Fault development is also likely to be influenced by the effects of magmatism, since periods of increased fault activity often occur subsequent to renewed phases of rift volcanism and possible dyke emplacement. Episodic fault-growth could therefore be explained by tectono-magmatic cycling within the South Kenya Rift. On a large scale, there is evidence for a progressive migration of strain towards the centre of the rift over the past 2Myr.
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Sakamoto, Akiko. "Employment, skills and tripartite relations : the evolution of skill development systems in Japan and Singapore." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2006. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10019277/.
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The study addresses the historical processes by which interactions between the state, business and labour influence the evolution of skill development systems. Such systems consists not only of education and training providers, but also of employment practices, the wage structure and the articulation of qualifications in the labour market, which form the broad incentive mechanism for individuals and firms to train. Individuals and firms responding to formal, and informal, rules and incentives create a generalised pattern of training behaviour, which provides the distinctive character of each skills system. The study argues that relations and interactions between the state, business and labour have a major influence on shaping the rules and incentives, which are referred to here as institutions. The study demonstrates that a skills development system is an historical product, reflecting the evolution of power relations, contested interests and economic and social changes. While the system is often influenced by changing skill demands stemming from economic, political and technological challenges, it is also shaped by how the stakeholders respond to these challenges by creating or changing the institutions that make up the system. An analysis of the evolution of the skill development systems in Japan and Singapore demonstrates the influence of these types of historical processes. While the dominant theoretical perspective used in analysing skill systems in East Asia emphasises the instrumental role of the state, the analysis of Japan and Singapore highlighted considerable differences in the state's role. The study acknowledges the usefulness of the developmental state perspective, but finds that viewing the skills system through the lens of tripartite interactions revealed the influence played by nonstate forces -in particular in the case of Japan but to some extent also in Singaporewhich have not been sufficiently accounted for previously. The skill development system in each country reflects unique accumulation of historical conflicts, compromises and agreements between the stakeholders. Therefore, this explains the different systems in Japan and Singapore.
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Somavarapu, Sashi K. (Sashi Kanth). "System dynamics approach to understand the role of information technology in the evolution of next generation integrated product development systems." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33419.
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Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, System Design and Management Program, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-97).
For the automotive industry, to be competitive in the market place has to devise many strategies. Some of the prominent strategies include and are not limited to, reduction of development costs by moving in-house work to its suppliers, reduction of PD cycle time by mimicking some of the industry's successful PD processes. Some companies are also devising some complex strategies like Zero-Prototype development using computer aided prototyping and testing, currently prevalent in the aerospace and naval industries, and more recently making a move into the Lean PD systems and processes to avoid waste and increase efficiency. However, to introduce such lean PD systems, with reduced PD cycle time, into a complex organization with many internally developed IT systems, processes and tools is a huge challenge. The organization needs to adapt to these lean environments not just structurally but also culturally. To design a lean PD organization (system) the decision makers have to foresee and understand how the system of systems may react to the change before they are implemented and/or executed. In the past couple of decades IT systems have been a primary enabler for PD work flow processes.
(cont.) However, IT systems are so engraved in some PD organizations that they have turned into an engineering process mechanism. Also, some of the IT systems have served more than their life expectancy and in some cases cannot be decommissioned because these systems are so tightly coupled with the business processes. An understanding of the internal system dynamics of these deeply engraved IT systems in the PD life cycle will help the automotive industry executives (decision makers) and IT systems architects to make the right decision when designing and deploying the new PD systems or processes. This study provides an overview of how IT tools have evolved in the automotive industry. Extensive research was conducted to understand the different system dynamics tools used in industry - specifically in automotive product development and the software development areas. The study concludes with an explanation of how system dynamics tools can be used as a program planning and management tool.
by Sashi K. Somavarapu.
S.M.
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Jabangwe, Ronald. "Software Quality Evaluation for Evolving Systems in Distributed Development Environments." Doctoral thesis, Blekinge Tekniska Högskola, Institutionen för programvaruteknik, 2015. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:bth-00613.
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Context: There is an overwhelming prevalence of companies developing software in global software development (GSD) contexts. The existing body of knowledge, however, falls short of providing comprehensive empirical evidence on the implication of GSD contexts on software quality for evolving software systems. Therefore there is limited evidence to support practitioners that need to make informed decisions about ongoing or future GSD projects. Objective: This thesis work seeks to explore changes in quality, as well as to gather confounding factors that influence quality, for software systems that evolve in GSD contexts. Method: The research work in this thesis includes empirical work that was performed through exploratory case studies. This involved analysis of quantitative data consisting of defects as an indicator for quality, and measures that capture software evolution, and qualitative data from company documentations, interviews, focus group meetings, and questionnaires. An extensive literature review was also performed to gather information that was used to support the empirical investigations. Results: Offshoring software development work, to a location that has employees with limited or no prior experience with the software product, as observed in software transfers, can have a negative impact on quality. Engaging in long periods of distributed development with an offshore site and eventually handing over all responsibilities to the offshore site can be an alternative to software transfers. This approach can alleviate a negative effect on quality. Finally, the studies highlight the importance of taking into account the GSD context when investigating quality for software that is developed in globally distributed environments. This helps with making valid inferences about the development settings in GSD projects in relation to quality. Conclusion: The empirical work presented in this thesis can be useful input for practitioners that are planning to develop software in globally distributed environments. For example, the insights on confounding factors or mitigation practices that are linked to quality in the empirical studies can be used as input to support decision-making processes when planning similar GSD projects. Consequently, lessons learned from the empirical investigations were used to formulate a method, GSD-QuID, for investigating quality using defects for evolving systems. The method is expected to help researchers avoid making incorrect inferences about the implications of GSD contexts on quality for evolving software systems, when using defects as a quality indicator. This in turn will benefit practitioners that need the information to make informed decisions for software that is developed in similar circumstances.
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Astrop, Timothy I. Mr. "The Evolutionary Dynamics of Sexual Systems in Deep Time: An Integrated Biological and Paleontological Approach." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1404706993.
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Aram, Michael, and Gustaf Neumann. "Multilayered analysis of co-development of business information systems." Springer London, 2015. http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13174-015-0030-8.
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Business information systems (BIS) comprise technological (e.g. programs), informational (e.g. content) and social artifacts (e.g. collaboration structures). Typically, such systems are constantly and collectively developed (co-developed) further by a variety of individuals within the organization. By recognizing these varying types of actors (concerning their goals, technical expertise and language means) and their predominantly developed artifact type, one can distinguish two types of subsystems: technical subsystems wherein the development of the system behavior is conducted by software developers; and business subsystems dominated by end-users developing informational artifacts. So far, co-development structures within and between these subsystems are not well understood, especially the aspect that - potentially driven by appropriate measures such as the provision of domain-specific languages - co-development might shift between these subsystems.
This paper presents an approach for characterizing the co-development of real-world BIS with respect to direct participation from different kinds of contributors. This multilayered approach allows us to analyze the co-development with programming languages, domain-specific languages and end-user tools. The approach is suited to assess the direct participation of individuals from different subsystems in the development of evolving BIS. We focus on the intersection of these subsystems, present appropriate metrics and a multilayered analysis scheme. Contributions to artifacts are analyzed using social network analysis to detect structural properties of continuous co-development.
The application to Learn@WU, a real-world BIS, demonstrates how end-user enabling technologies have shifted the co-development effort of the system from a small group of developers to a several orders of magnitude larger group of contributors. We observed an increase of direct participation over time on both informational and executable artifacts, while the number of technical experts was more or less constant.
Our approach may act as a trigger for the application and further development of rigorous instruments for assessing co-development of BIS. (authors' abstract)
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John, Meenu Mary. "Design Methods and Processes for ML/DL models." Licentiate thesis, Malmö universitet, Institutionen för datavetenskap och medieteknik (DVMT), 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-45026.
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Context: With the advent of Machine Learning (ML) and especially Deep Learning (DL) technology, companies are increasingly using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in systems, along with electronics and software. Nevertheless, the end-to-end process of developing, deploying and evolving ML and DL models in companies brings some challenges related to the design and scaling of these models. For example, access to and availability of data is often challenging, and activities such as collecting, cleaning, preprocessing, and storing data, as well as training, deploying and monitoring the model(s) are complex. Regardless of the level of expertise and/or access to data scientists, companies in all embedded systems domain struggle to build high-performing models due to a lack of established and systematic design methods and processes. Objective: The overall objective is to establish systematic and structured design methods and processes for the end-to-end process of developing, deploying and successfully evolving ML/DL models. Method: To achieve the objective, we conducted our research in close collaboration with companies in the embedded systems domain using different empirical research methods such as case study, action research and literature review. Results and Conclusions: This research provides six main results: First, it identifies the activities that companies undertake in parallel to develop, deploy and evolve ML/DL models, and the challenges associated with them. Second, it presents a conceptual framework for the continuous delivery of ML/DL models to accelerate AI-driven business in companies. Third, it presents a framework based on current literature to accelerate the end-to-end deployment process and advance knowledge on how to integrate, deploy and operationalize ML/DL models. Fourth, it develops a generic framework with five architectural alternatives for deploying ML/DL models at the edge. These architectural alternatives range from a centralized architecture that prioritizes (re)training in the cloud to a decentralized architecture that prioritizes (re)training at the edge. Fifth, it identifies key factors to help companies decide which architecture to choose for deploying ML/DL models. Finally, it explores how MLOps, as a practice that brings together data scientist teams and operations, ensures the continuous delivery and evolution of models.
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Stückemann, Thomas. "Technikentwicklung als reflexiver Modernisierungsprozeß." Doctoral thesis, Saechsische Landesbibliothek- Staats- und Universitaetsbibliothek Dresden, 2000. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:swb:14-995268987156-46791.
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Der Zusammenhang von technischer Entwicklung und gesellschaftlicher Modernisierung wird mit Mitteln der systemtheoretischen Soziologie untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck werden die Konzepte "Technik" und "soziale Evolution" reformuliert. "Technik" ist ein spezieller Typ der Grenzbildung von Systemen, die Ereignisse ihrer Umwelt als kausal verknüpft beobachten; Technik wird demnach definiert als fixierte Erwartung, die sich auf kausal verknüpfte Umweltereignisse bezieht. "Soziale Evolution" ist der Typ des Strukturwandels von sozialen Systemen, der sich aus der Selektion und Restabilisierung von Strukturvariationen ergibt. Aus soziologischer Sicht ist jede technische Entwicklung als ein spezifischer Aspekt der sozialen Evolution zu verstehen. Dies wird mit der Konfrontation des Begriff des "Fortschritts" mit dem der "Modernisierung" gezeigt. Eine Gesellschaft versucht durch das Verwenden und das Beschränken von Technik über ihre eigene Evolution zu verfügen. Es erweist sich, daß diese Versuche zwar komplexer, aber nicht unbedingt erfolgreicher werden. Die einer jeden Evolution eigene Entwicklungsoffenheit kann nicht außer Kraft gesetzt werden, auch dann nicht, wenn eine Gesellschaft Evolutionstheorien entwickelt und reflexiv auf sich selbst anwendet. Anders als vormoderne Gesellschaften zeichnet sich die moderne Gesellschaft durch ihre hochgradig frei kontextualisierbare und damit riskante Technik aus. Kontextualisierungen und Entscheidungsnotwendigkeiten im Umgang mit moderner Technik bedingen Reflexivität. Technische Entwicklungen lassen Determinationen und Optionen in gleichem Maße wachsen. Komplex ist die soziale Seite von Technik, nicht die Kompliziertheit ihrer technischen Komponenten. Reflexive Technologiepolitik und Technikfolgenabschätzung sind gezwungen, die soziale Dynamik technischer Entwicklungen zu berücksichtigenThere are several means to analyse the intrinsic connection of technological development and social evolution in sociology today. The thesis examines technology and its development as part of social evolution from a system-theoretical point of view. Using this approach, terms like "technology" and "social evolution" are reformulated. "Technology" is a particular type of border of social systems, using the mode of causality in observing its environment; thus Technology is defined as the fixation of causal expectations. "Social evolution" is a social systems' structural change by the selection and reinforcement of variations, creating a singular history. In terms of sociology, any technological development is part of a wider developing social context. This is visualized by confronting the terms "progress" and "modernization"; both being concepts of sociology as well as of debates on technology and social development. By using technology, by giving way to innovation, and by limiting the use of technology, a given society tries to monitor and influence its own evolution. The thesis shows that these attempts become more complex, but not necessarily more effective. The fundamental properties of any evolution cannot be annulated --- the social evolution always remains unpredictable, even when evolutionary theories allow reflexive observations. In contrast to its predecessors the modern society constitutes a type of technology which is highly independent of any given social context. But this freedom is risky. Contextualizations and decision-makings imply a higher degree of reflexivity. In the case of technological development, both determinations and options increase at the same time. What is complex in technological development is its social, not its mere technical side. Any reflexive debate on technology has to reflect technology as a social issue
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Bauner, David. "Towards a sustainable automotive industry : experiences from the development of emission control systems." Doctoral thesis, KTH, Industriell dynamik, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-4630.
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From the mid-1970s and on, the contribution to air pollution of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides from gasoline passenger cars in the developed world has been reduced through co-evolution of regulation and commercial introduction of catalytic emission control technology, now part of hundreds of millions of cars, trucks and buses worldwide. This dissertation is a disaggregated study of the global introduction of catalytic emission control technology as a measure to reduce local air pollution. The introduction of the “three-way” catalyst for gasoline passenger cars is studied for four countries. Present innovation in diesel engine emission control is studied. Technological change is analyzed regarding the process of innovation, the innovation system and its stakeholders. Results are evaluated for implications for innovation and regulatory policy for coming environmental challenges. Automotive catalysis is an example of environmentally motivated innovation, including problem definition, public regulation, corporate market and non-market strategies, invention, variety, selection, technology transfer, mass diffusion and the ongoing coevolution of emission-abating policies and technical development. Common denominators for successful technological or market innovations is a participatory dialogue around structured and tiered regulatory roadmaps, international competition, support by international networks and conducive local public opinion. The near-global introduction of the three-way catalyst was complex and highly dependent on local context and conditions, suggesting that any general “global” innovation and regulation strategy to address present and future local or global problems must be reviewed with an understanding of local barriers and drivers for environmentally motivated innovation. Given the stakeholders and technical challenges of different technological regimes to mitigate climate change, it is concluded that increased fuel efficiency and the introduction of plug-in hybrids are possible trajectories for sustainable mobility.Sedan mitten av 1970-talet har utsläppen av kolmonoxid, kolväten och kväveoxider från bensindrivna personbilar reducerats genom samordnad utveckling av lagstiftning och kommersiell introduktion av katalytisk avgasrening, som nu är en del av hundratals miljoner bilar, lastbilar och bussar över hela jorden. Denna avhandling är en disaggregerad studie av den i det närmaste globala introduktionen av katalytisk avgasrening för fordon, som åtgärd för att minska lokala luftföroreningar. Introduktionen av ”trevägskatalysatorn” för bensinbilar studeras i fyra länder. Pågående innovation för dieselavgasrening studeras. Teknisk förändring analyseras med avseende på innovationsprocessen, innovationssystemet och dess respektive intressenter. Resultaten används för att analysera konsekvenser för styrmedel för att åtgärda miljöproblem i vardande. Fordonskatalys är ett exempel på en miljömotiverad innovation, inklusive problemdefinition, lagkrav, företagens marknadsstrategier och marknadspåverkan, innovation, utbud och urval, tekniköverföring, storskalig spridning samt den fortlöpande ömsesidiga utvecklingen av teknik och policy för att reducera emissioner. Gemensamma nämnare för exempel på lyckosamma introduktionsprocesser är en inkluderande dialog kring etappvisa lagkrav, internationell konkurrens, stöd och samarbete i internationella nätverk samt en tydlig opinion för förändring. Introduktionen av trevägskatalysatorn var och är komplex och beroende av lokal kontext och regionala villkor. Kommande ”globala” teknikförändringar måste utvecklas med en förståelse för varje enskild nation eller marknad och dess specifika barriärer och drivkrafter för miljömotiverad innovation. Givet intressenter och tekniska utmaningar i olika teknologiska regimer med potential att reducera klimatförändringar är ökad bränsleeffektivisering och introduktion av s.k. plug-in-hybrider möjliga utvecklingsvägar för hållbar mobilitet.
Desde los años 70 y adelante, la contribución a la polución atmosférica de emisiones de monóxido de carbono, hidrocarburos y óxidos de nitrógeno proveniente de la combustión de los autos a gasolina, ha sido mitigado, por co-evolución entre regulación e introducción comercial de sistemas catalíticos de control de emisiones. Esos sistemas ahora forman parte de cientos de millones de autos, camiones y buses en todo el mundo. La presente tesis es un estudio desagregado de la introducción cerca de global de sistemas de control de emisiones catalíticos, como medida para reducir la contaminación atmosférica local. Se examina el proceso de introducción del convertidor catalítico “de tres vías” para autos a gasolina en cuatro países. Se estudia la innovación presente en el área de sistemas de control de emisiones de motores diesel. El cambio tecnológico es analizado viendo el proceso y el sistema de innovación y los distintos grupos de interés. Los resultados se usan para analizar las implicaciones en cuanto a innovación y política de regulación para enfrentar los desafíos medioambientales actuales. Catálisis automotriz es un ejemplo de innovación motivado ambientalmente, incluyendo definición del problema, regulación pública, estratégicas corporativas dentro y fuera de mercado, variedad, selección, transferencia de tecnología, difusión masiva y la coevolución continuo entre política de reducción de emisiones y desarrollo tecnológico. Denominaciones comunes para innovaciones exitosas, tecnológicas o de mercado, son un diálogo dinámico sobre planes de regulación estructurados en etapas, competición internacional, apoyo y coordinación de redes internacionales, y opinión local beneficiario. La introducción global del catalizador de tres vías fue compleja y altamente relacionada con el contexto local y condiciones locales, sugiriendo que estrategias “globales” de innovación y regulación para tratar los desafíos de hoy y mañana deben ser diseñados con entendimiento de factores locales a favor y en contra para innovación ambientalmente motivado. Dado los grupos de interés, los desafíos tecnológicos y las trayectorias presentes en el área de mitigación del cambio climático, se concluye que el aumento de uso eficiente de combustible y la introducción de vehículos híbridos enchufables (plug- in) son alternativas viables para el transporte sustentable.
(japanese) 1970年代の中頃から今日に至るまで，先進国においては，自動車触媒技術の導入と規制との相互作用によって、ガソリン乗用車から排出される一酸化炭素CO，炭化水素HC，窒素酸化物NOxによる大気汚染への寄与率は減少している。現在では、この自動車触媒はディーゼル乗用車、トラックやバスなどを含めて何億台もの自動車で使われている。 この論文は，各地域での大気汚染を解決する手段としての触媒の地球規模での導入に関する調査研究である。ガソリン乗用車への三元触媒導入の過程を４か国比較で行うと共に，現在取り組まれているディーゼル機関の排出ガス制御についても研究した。これらの例の技術革新について、その内容を、技術革新に係る利害関係者（ステークスホルダー）の観点から技術の変革について分析した。これらの結果から，将来の環境問題に対応するためのイノベーションと規制に関する政策への示唆を行なった。 自動車用触媒は，問題定義，規制，市場原理に基づくないしは市場原理に基づかない戦略，開発，多様性，選択，技術移転，技術普及，そして今もなお進化する排出ガス削減に関する規制（政策）と技術開発との相乗効果，等々を含んだ「環境保護に起因する技術革新」の良い例である。 技術革新、および普及の成功例に共通していることは， 1. 構造的かつ段階的な「目標へのロードマップ」を巡る相方向の会話， 2. 国際競争力， 3. 国際的ネットワークによるサポート， 4. 地域社会に支持された意見, 等が挙げられる。 三元触媒の導入はほぼ全世界に及ぶが，その過程は複雑で、地域（国）の事情に強く依存する。つまり、現在または未来の、各国（地域的）または地球規模の問題に焦点を当てた「世界的」技術革新や規制戦略は、地域よって異なる障害の存在や、環境保護の視点に立った技術革新を推進する潜在力への理解なしには成り立たないことを意味するのである。 気候変動を緩和するための様々な技術体系からの技術的挑戦および関係者（ステークスホルダー）の意見を考慮すると，燃費向上とプラグイン・ハイブリッドの導入が，交通部門における持続可能な発展への道のりであると言える。
QC 20100517
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Hensley, Barry J. "Development of a software evolution process for military systems composed of integrated commercial off the shelf (COTS) components." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2000. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA377711.
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Thesis (M.S. in Software Engineering) Naval Postgraduate School, March 2000.Thesis advisor(s): Osmundson, John. "March 2000." Includes bibliographical references (p. 153-155). Also available online.
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Stückemann, Thomas. "Technikentwicklung als reflexiver Modernisierungsprozeß." Doctoral thesis, Technische Universität Dresden, 1999. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A24770.
Full textAbstract:
Der Zusammenhang von technischer Entwicklung und gesellschaftlicher Modernisierung wird mit Mitteln der systemtheoretischen Soziologie untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck werden die Konzepte "Technik" und "soziale Evolution" reformuliert. "Technik" ist ein spezieller Typ der Grenzbildung von Systemen, die Ereignisse ihrer Umwelt als kausal verknüpft beobachten; Technik wird demnach definiert als fixierte Erwartung, die sich auf kausal verknüpfte Umweltereignisse bezieht. "Soziale Evolution" ist der Typ des Strukturwandels von sozialen Systemen, der sich aus der Selektion und Restabilisierung von Strukturvariationen ergibt. Aus soziologischer Sicht ist jede technische Entwicklung als ein spezifischer Aspekt der sozialen Evolution zu verstehen. Dies wird mit der Konfrontation des Begriff des "Fortschritts" mit dem der "Modernisierung" gezeigt. Eine Gesellschaft versucht durch das Verwenden und das Beschränken von Technik über ihre eigene Evolution zu verfügen. Es erweist sich, daß diese Versuche zwar komplexer, aber nicht unbedingt erfolgreicher werden. Die einer jeden Evolution eigene Entwicklungsoffenheit kann nicht außer Kraft gesetzt werden, auch dann nicht, wenn eine Gesellschaft Evolutionstheorien entwickelt und reflexiv auf sich selbst anwendet. Anders als vormoderne Gesellschaften zeichnet sich die moderne Gesellschaft durch ihre hochgradig frei kontextualisierbare und damit riskante Technik aus. Kontextualisierungen und Entscheidungsnotwendigkeiten im Umgang mit moderner Technik bedingen Reflexivität. Technische Entwicklungen lassen Determinationen und Optionen in gleichem Maße wachsen. Komplex ist die soziale Seite von Technik, nicht die Kompliziertheit ihrer technischen Komponenten. Reflexive Technologiepolitik und Technikfolgenabschätzung sind gezwungen, die soziale Dynamik technischer Entwicklungen zu berücksichtigen.There are several means to analyse the intrinsic connection of technological development and social evolution in sociology today. The thesis examines technology and its development as part of social evolution from a system-theoretical point of view. Using this approach, terms like "technology" and "social evolution" are reformulated. "Technology" is a particular type of border of social systems, using the mode of causality in observing its environment; thus Technology is defined as the fixation of causal expectations. "Social evolution" is a social systems' structural change by the selection and reinforcement of variations, creating a singular history. In terms of sociology, any technological development is part of a wider developing social context. This is visualized by confronting the terms "progress" and "modernization"; both being concepts of sociology as well as of debates on technology and social development. By using technology, by giving way to innovation, and by limiting the use of technology, a given society tries to monitor and influence its own evolution. The thesis shows that these attempts become more complex, but not necessarily more effective. The fundamental properties of any evolution cannot be annulated --- the social evolution always remains unpredictable, even when evolutionary theories allow reflexive observations. In contrast to its predecessors the modern society constitutes a type of technology which is highly independent of any given social context. But this freedom is risky. Contextualizations and decision-makings imply a higher degree of reflexivity. In the case of technological development, both determinations and options increase at the same time. What is complex in technological development is its social, not its mere technical side. Any reflexive debate on technology has to reflect technology as a social issue.
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Sones, Ronald T. "Development of a Theoretical Model Based Upon Factors Influencing a Firm's Suitability for Organizational Evolution." Also available to VCU users online at:, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10156/1397.
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Ruiz, Carmona Luz Marcela. "TraceME: Traceability-based Method for Conceptual Model Evolution." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Politècnica de València, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/64553.
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[EN] Renewing software systems is one of the most cost-effective ways to protect software investment, which saves time, money and ensures uninterrupted access to technical support and product upgrades. There are several motivations to promote investment and scientific effort for specifying systems by means of conceptual models and supporting its evolution. In order to contribute to the requirements engineering field with automated software production methods, we design TraceME to cover the spectrum of activities from requirements to code focusing on organisational evolution. In this sense, the spectrum of activities involves various information system perspectives of analysis that need to be integrated. In this complex setting, traceability and conceptual models are key concepts. Mechanisms to trace software specifications from requirements to code are important to justify evolution processes; versions of information systems should be traced in order to get the connection between old and new specifications. Moreover, it is necessary to find mechanisms to facilitate change specifications, measurement, and interpretation.
To design this thesis we follow Design Science by Roel Wieringa. Design Science gives us the hints on how to conduct the research, be rigorous, and put in practice scientific rules. Besides Design Science has been a key factor for structuring our research, we acknowledge the application of this framework since it has helps us to report clearly our findings.
We build TraceME by making a method engineering effort, which shapes its fragmented nature in chunks. The architecture of TraceME opens a wide window of opportunities for its application in real world situations. To facilitate industrial adoption, we develop open source tools to support the implementation of the TraceME chunks. For example, one case study and one action-research protocols have been executed in two different organisations in Spain.
The validation of TraceME has taken place in laboratory demonstrations, controlled experiments, action research and case study experiences in industry. Thanks to the validations various lessons learnt have been gathered and greatly influenced the maturity of the method. For example: the importance to consider end-users' perceptions for discovering needs to mitigate, and the significance to get knowledge from the application of TraceME in different contexts. The evidences from the validations demonstrate that TraceME is feasible to be applied to support evolution projects. In addition, future research is needed for promoting the implementation of TraceME. We envision short term and future-term work that motivate us to tackle the challenge to support evolution projects.[ES] La evolución de sistemas software es una de las actividades mas importantes que permiten minimizar el tiempo de puesta en producción de actualizaciones y nuevos desarrollos, reducir los costos que implica desarrollar una aplicación desde cero, y además asegura el acceso ininterrumpido de servicios. Existen variadas motivaciones para promover la investigación y desarrollo de soluciones para especificar y evolucionar sistemas de información mediante modelos conceptuales. Para contribuir al campo de la ingeniería de requisitos con métodos automáticos de producción de software, hemos diseñado el método TraceME para cubrir el espectro de actividades desde requisitos a código con un enfoque de evolución organizacional. De este modo, el espectro de actividades involucra diferentes perspectivas de análisis de sistemas de información que necesitan ser integradas. En este escenario tan complejo, la trazabilidad y los modelos conceptuales son conceptos clave. Es necesario disponer de mecanismos para trazar especificaciones de software desde requisitos a código con el fin de justificar procesos de evolución. Las versiones de los sistemas de información deben ser trazables con el fin de establecer la conexión entre especificaciones obsoletas y actuales. Adicionalmente, es necesario encontrar mecanismos para facilitar la especificación del cambio, su medición e interpretación. Para diseñar esta tesis hemos seguido el marco de Design Science de Roel Wieringa. Design Science nos ha proporcionado las claves para conducir esta investigación, ser rigurosos y poner en práctica reglas científicas. Además de que Design Science ha sido un factor clave para estructurar nuestra investigación, reconocemos que la aplicación de este marco nos ha ayudado a reportar claramente nuestros hallazgos. Hemos aplicado ingeniería de métodos para diseñar y construir TraceME. Gracias a esto, la naturaleza de TraceME es conformada mediante fragmentos de método. La arquitectura de TraceME abre una amplia ventana de oportunidades para su aplicación en situaciones de la vida real. Para facilitar la adopción industrial de TraceME, hemos desarrollado herramientas de software libre para dar soporte a los fragmentos de TraceME. Por ejemplo, un caso de estudio y una experiencia de action research han sido ejecutadas en dos organizaciones en España. La validación de TraceME ha sido llevada a cabo mediante demostraciones de laboratorio, experimentos controlados, un caso de estudio y una experiencia de action research en industria. Como resultado, TraceME ha sido mejorado considerablemente; además hemos descubierto investigaciones a realizar a corto, mediano y largo plazo con el fin de implementar TraceME en la industria. Las evidencias obtenidas como resultado de las validaciones demuestra la factibilidad de TraceME para ser aplicado en proyectos de evolución organizacional. El trabajo futuro nos motiva a afrontar los retos que conlleva el soporte de proyectos de evolución de sistemas de información.
[CAT] L'evolució dels sistemes programari és una de les activitats més importants que permeten minimitzar el temps de posada en producció d'actualitzacions i nous desenvolupaments, reduir els costos que involucra desenvolupar una aplicació des de cero, a més d' assegurar l'accés ininterromput de serveis. Existixen diverses motivacions per promoure la investigació i desenvolupament de solucions per a especificar i evolucionar sistemes de informació mitjançant models conceptuals. Per tal de contribuir al camp de l'enginyeria de requisits amb mètodes automàtics de producció de programari, hem dissenyat el mètode TraceME per cobrir l'espectre d'activitats des de requisits a codi en un enfocament d'evolució organitzacional. Així, l'espectre d'activitats involucra diferents perspectives d'anàlisi de sistemes d'informació que necessiten ser integrades. En aquest escenari tan complex, la traçabilitat i els models conceptuals són conceptes clau. És necessari disposar de mecanismes per traçar especificacions de programari des de requisits a codi amb la fi de justificar processos d'evolució. Les versions dels sistemes d'informació deuen ser traçables amb la fi d'establir la connexió entre especificacions obsoletes i actuals. Addicionalment, és necessari trobar mecanismes per facilitar l'especificació del canvi, la seua mesura i interpretació. Per tal de dissenyar aquesta tesi, hem seguit el marc de Design Science de Roel Wieringa. Design Science ens ha proporcionat les claus per conduir aquesta investigació, ser rigorosos i posar en pràctica regles científiques. A més a més, Design Science ha sigut un factor clau per estructurar la nostra investigació, reconeixem que l'aplicació de aquest marc ens a ajudat a reportar clarament els nostres resultats. Hem aplicat enginyeria de mètodes per dissenyar i construir TraceME. Gràcies a açò, la natura de TraceME es conforma mitjançant fragments de mètodes. L'arquitectura de TraceME obri una ampla finestra d'oportunitats per a la seua aplicació en situacions de la vida real. Per facilitar l'adopció industrial de TraceME, hem desenvolupat ferramentes de programari lliure per tal de donar suport als fragments de TraceME. Per exemple, un cas d'estudi i una experiència de action research han sigut executades en dos organitzacions a Espanya. La validació de TraceME ha sigut portada a cap mitjançant demostracions de laboratori, experiments controlats , un cas d'estudi i una experiència de action research en l'industria. Com a resultat, TraceME ha sigut millorada considerablement; a més a més, hem descobert investigacions a realitzar a curt, mig i llarg termini amb la fi d'implementar TraceME a l'industria. Les evidències obtingudes com a resultat de les validacions, demostren la factibilitat de TraceME per ser aplicat en projectes d'evolució organitzacional. El treball futur presenta nous reptes que ens motiven a afrontar el suport de projectes d'evolució de sistemes d'informació.
Ruiz Carmona, LM. (2016). TraceME: Traceability-based Method for Conceptual Model Evolution [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/64553
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Gaskin, James E. "Evolution and Variation of Digitally-enabled Design Routines: An extended event-sequencing approach." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2012. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1332172409.
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Lindberg, Aron. "The Origin, Evolution, and Variation of Routine Structures in Open Source Software Development: Three Mixed Computational-Qualitative Studies." Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1436527665.
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Pérez-Posada, Alberto 1993. "Development of model systems to reconstruct the unicellular prehistory of animals : an emphasis on the cell cycle." Doctoral thesis, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/668275.
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El origen de la multicelularidad animal tiene sus raíces en el proceso de división celular. Conocer las bases moleculares del control de la divisón celular en animales y en sus parientes unicelulares tiene el potencial de permitirnos comprender qué cambios ocurrieron para permitir el origen de la multicelularidad. Sin embargo, nuestra capacidad experimental en los parientes unicelulares de los animales está bastante limitada. En esta tesis se ha contribuido al desarrollo de la especie Capsaspora owczarzaki como un organismo modelo, al desarrollar herramientas genéticas de transfección y herramientas de sincronización de ciclo celular. La caracterización del ciclo celular de Capsaspora ha permitido saber que muchos genes importantes en el ciclo celular de animales también poseen actividad transcripcional en Capsaspora, incluyendo los ortólogos principales de las ciclinas y CDKs de animales. Asimismo, el desarrollo de herramientas de transfección abre la puerta a nuevos estudios funcionales a nivel molecular en esta especie, lo cual podrá permitir conocer las funciones de muchos genes relacionados con la multicelularidad animal en el contexto de una especie unicelular.The origin of animal multicellularity has its roots in the process of cell division. Understanding the molecular basis of cell division in animals and their unicellular relatives has the potential to elucidate what changes in the control of cell division played a role, if any, in the transition to multicellularity. However, the experimental amenability of the closest relatives of animals is yet very limited. This thesis contributes to the development of Capsaspora owczarzaki, a close unicellular relative of animals, as a model organism, by developing genetic tools for DNA transfection and culture synchronization tools to study the cell cycle. Our characterization of the Capsaspora cell cycle revealed that many genes important in the cell cycle of animal cells are also transcriptionally regulated in Capsaspora, including the main orthologs of animal cyclins and CDKs present in Capsaspora. Likewise, the development of genetic tools opens the door to new functional studies in this species, which will allow to understand the role of many genes related to multicellularity under the context of a unicellular species.
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Schramm, Lisa [Verfasser], Jürgen [Akademischer Betreuer] Adamy, and Bernhard [Akademischer Betreuer] Sendhoff. "Evolution of Cellular Systems - Optimization of Gene Regulatory Networks for the Development of Morphology and Control / Lisa Schramm. Betreuer: Jürgen Adamy ; Bernhard Sendhoff." Darmstadt : Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek Darmstadt, 2012. http://d-nb.info/1106114868/34.
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Fageehi, Yahya. "SIMULATION-BASED OPTIMIZATION FOR COMPLEX SYSTEMS WITH SUPPLY AND DEMAND UNCERTAINTY." University of Akron / OhioLINK, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1531147903589262.
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Cornudella, Gaya Miquel. "Autotelic Principle : the role of intrinsic motivation in the emergence and development of artificial language." Thesis, Paris Sciences et Lettres (ComUE), 2017. http://www.theses.fr/2017PSLEE082/document.
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Dans cette thèse nous étudions le rôle de la motivation intrinsèque dans l’émergence et le développement des systèmes communicationnels. Notre objectif est d’explorer comment des populations d’agents artificiels peuvent utiliser un système de motivation computationnel particulier, appelé l’autotelic principle, pour réguler leur développement linguistique et les dynamiques qui en résultent au niveau de la population.Nous proposons d’abord une mise en œuvre concrète de l’autotelic principle. Le noyau de ce système repose sur l’équilibre des défis, des tâches à accomplir afin d’atteindre un objectif, et des compétences, les capacités que le système peut utiliser pour accomplir les différentes tâches. La relation entre les deux éléments n’est pas stable mais se déstabilise régulièrement lorsque de nouvelles compétences sont acquises, ce qui permet au système de tenter des défis de plus grande complexité. Ensuite, nous testons l’utilité de ce système de motivation dans une série d’expériences sur l’évolution du langage. Dans le premier ensemble d’expériences, une population d’agents artificiels doit développer une langue pour se référer à des objets ayant des caractéristiques discrètes. Ces expériences se concentrent sur la façon dont les systèmes communicatifs non ambigus peuvent émerger lorsque l’autotelic principle est utilisé pour réguler le développement du langage en étapes de difficulté croissante. Dans le deuxième ensemble d’expériences, les agents doivent créer un langage artificiel pour communiquer sur des couleurs. Dans cette partie, on explore comment le système de motivation peut contrôler la complexité linguistique des interactions pour un domaine continu et on examine aussi la validité de l’autotelic principle en tant que mécanisme permettant de réguler simultanément plusieurs stratégies linguistiques de difficulté similaire. En résumé, nous avons démontré à travers de notre travail que l’autotelic principle peut être utilisé comme un mécanisme général pour réguler la complexité du langage développé de manière autonome en domaines discrets et continusThis thesis studies the role of intrinsic motivation in the emergence and development of communicative systems in populations of artificial agents. To be more specific, our goal is to explore how populations of agents can use a particular motivation system called autotelic principle to regulate their language development and the resulting dynamics at the population level.To achieve this, we first propose a concrete implementation of the autotelic principle. The core of this system is based on the balance between challenges, tasks to be done to achieve a goal, and skills, the abilities the system can employ to accomplish the different tasks. The relation between the two elements is not steady but regularly becomes destabilised when new skills are learned, which allows the system to attempt challenges of increasing complexity. Then, we test the usefulness of the autotelic principle in a series of language evolution experiments. In the first set of experiments, a population of artificial agents should develop a language to refer to objects with discrete values. These experiments focus on how unambiguous communicative systems can emerge when the autotelic principle is employed to scaffold language development into stages of increasing difficulty. In the second set of experiments, agents should agree on a language to communicate with about colour samples. In this part, we explore how the motivation system can regulate the linguistic complexity of interactions for a continuous domain and examine the value of the autotelic principle as a mechanism to control several language strategies simultaneously. To summarise, we have shown through our work that the autotelic principle can be used as a general mechanism to regulate complexity in language emergence in an autonomous way for discrete and continuous domains
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Whitehead, Joanne. "Genomic Imprinting in Development and Evolution." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala universitet, Zoologisk utvecklingsbiologi, 2004. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-4491.
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Genetic information is encoded by the linear sequence of the DNA double helix, while epigenetic information is overlayed as the packaging of DNA and associated proteins into the chromatin structure. Variations in chromatin structure play a vital role in establishing and maintaining patterns of gene expression during differentiation and development of higher eukaryotes, and disruption of this epigenetic gene regulation can lead to cancer. Mammals display an epigenetic phenomenon known as genomic imprinting, which provides an ideal model system for the study of epigenetics. Genes subject to genomic imprinting are differentially expressed within a single cell depending on the parental origin of the chromosome. Imprinting of the maternally expressed H19 gene and the adjacent paternally expressed Igf2 gene is regulated by the chromatin insulator protein CTCF. The studies presented in this thesis aim to investigate the functional mechanisms of CTCF-dependent gene regulation at the H19/Igf2 locus and at numerous other target sites throughout the genome. We have investigated the role of CTCF and a related protein BORIS in establishing the maternal to paternal imprint transition in chromatin structure at the H19/Igf2 locus in the male germline. We have developed novel microarray based methods to identify and characterize numerous new CTCF target sites throughout the mouse genome. We have shown that CTCF acts as part of the RNA polymerase II complex. We have identified the post-translational modification by addition of ADP-ribose polymers to CTCF, and demonstrated that this modification regulates its insulating ability. The results of these studies of CTCF-dependent epigenetic gene regulation are discussed in light of the evolution of genomic imprinting and chromatin insulators, and a novel role for poly ADP-ribosylation of CTCF in the progression of cancer is proposed.
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Petropoulos, Ioannis. "Development of an antenna system for a relay-based wireless network : simulation and measurement of antenna systems for relay-based wireless network, covering the backhaul and access links and applying beam forming technology." Thesis, University of Bradford, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5770.
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The proliferation of modern wireless networks increases demand for high capacity and throughput in order to provide faster, more robust, efficient and broadband services to end users. Mobile WiMAX and LTE are examples of such networks in which for some cases they have exposed limited connectivity due to harsh environment. Relay stations are preferred to overcome problems of weak or no access for such network devices, that are placed in specific positions to maintain high quality of data transfer at low cost and provide the required connectivity anywhere anytime. These stations should be equipped with an antenna system capable of establishing communication between base station (backhaul link) and end users (access link). This thesis focuses on the design and development of a new antenna system that is suitable for a relay-based wireless network. Planar geometries of microstrip patch antennas are utilized. The antenna system comprises two antenna modules: a new design of a single antenna for access link and a new design of an antenna array for backhaul link realization. Both antenna specifications are compatible with the IEEE802.16j protocol standard. Hence, relay station should be capable of pointing its radiation pattern to the base station antenna, thus to achieve the desired radiation pattern of the relay station, a new beam-forming module is proposed, designed and developed to generate the proper radiation pattern. The beam-forming module incorporating digital phase shifters and attenuator chips is fabricated and tested. The optimization process using the Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm is considered in this study to assign the proper phase and amplitude that is necessary to each radiation element excitation current, to produce the desired steered radiation pattern. A comprehensive study on the coupling effects for several relative positions between two new backhaul and access link antenna elements is performed. Two new antenna configurations for coupling reduction are tested and the simulated and measured results in terms of antenna radiation performances were compared and commented.
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Amiri, Haleh. "Patterns and Processes of Molecular Evolution in Rickettsia." Doctoral thesis, Uppsala : Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis : Univ.-bibl. [distributör], 2002. http://publications.uu.se/theses/91-554-5248-5/.
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Rajakumar, Rajendhran. "The developmental basis of caste evolution in ants." Thesis, McGill University, 2014. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=121172.
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Phenotypic plasticity is the ability for a single genotype to give rise to alternative adaptive phenotypes in response to environmental conditions facilitating their survival. In some cases, environmental conditions can influence the course of development of an organism, leading to the induction of novel phenotypic variation, the raw materials for selection in evolution. Although this fact has the potential to unify the disparate fields of ecology, development and evolution, we have only begun to investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms that translate the environment into phenotypic diversity. Ants are highly plastic; during development a single genotype can give rise to an array of alternative phenotypes related to dramatic differences in morphology, longevity, reproduction and behavior. This environmental sensitivity is the basis for the diversity of complex ant caste systems. Here, I used ant development of the hyperdiverse genera Pheidole and Camponotus as models to investigate my major goal, which is to understand how ecology (environment) acts on development, generating morphological variation, which can then lead to morphological diversification and evolution. The first specific goal (Chapter 2) of my thesis is to investigate the hormonal and developmental genetic basis underlying the evolution of novel worker ant subcastes. Specifically, the genus Pheidole is composed of over 1000 species, all of which comprise a complex worker caste system of minor workers and soldiers. In a hand full of these species, there exists an additional novel worker subcaste, the supersoldier. Through phylogenetic and developmental genetic analysis, I determined that this subcaste has evolved in parallel in different species. I then discovered through field observations and hormonal manipulations that there exists an ancestral developmental potential in this group: all Pheidole species have the hidden capacity to produce supersoldiers through environmental induction, the recurrence of which can lead to their evolution. The second specific goal of my thesis (Chapter 4) is to investigate the epigenetic mechanisms that translate environmental conditions into morphological variation within castes. Specifically, I investigated the involvement of DNA methylation in generating continuous sizing in the worker caste of the genus Camponotus. I discovered that DNA methylation is responsible for generating a continuous distribution of worker size and that one of its primary targets is the gene Egfr. Furthermore, the methylation level of Egfr is associated with quantitative variation in worker size and pharmacological inhibition of EGFR signaling demonstrated that this pathway is capable of generating the continuous distribution of size found within this caste. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that is known to cause transgenerational inheritance and therefore it can facilitate the evolution of environmentally generated quantitative variation. Collectively, the results of my thesis show how the environment acts on development through the integration of hormones, genes and epigenetic mechanisms to generate phenotypic variation for selection to act on. Perhaps we are coming closer to a point in time in evolutionary theory when we can say that the environment is as important in generating phenotypic variation as it is in the process of selection.La plasticité phénotypique est l'habileté d'un génotype unique de produire des phénotypes adaptatifs alternes en réponse à des conditions environnementales facilitant leur survie. Dans certains cas, les conditions environnementales peuvent influencer le cours du développement d'un organisme, menant à l'induction d'une variation phénotypique nouvelle, qui est la matière brute pour la sélection en évolution. Bien que ce fait ait le potentiel d'unifier les champs distincts de l'écologie, du développement et de l'évolution, on commence seulement à étudier les mécanismes moléculaires fondamentaux qui traduisent l'environnement en diversité phénotypique. Les fourmis démontrent une grande plasticité phénotypique; durant le développement, un génotype unique peut produire une diversité de phénotypes adaptatifs qui démontrent des différences dramatiques de morphologie, de longévité, de reproduction et de comportement. Cette sensibilité environnementale est à la base de la diversité des systèmes complexes de castes chez les fourmis. Ici, j'ai utilisé le développement des genres hyperdiversifiés Pheidole et Camponotus comme modèles pour investiguer mon but principal, qui est de comprendre comment l'écologie (l'environnement) agit sur le développement, en générant de la variation morphologique qui peut par la suite mener à une évolution morphologique. Le premier objectif spécifique de ma thèse (Chapitre 2) est d'investiguer les bases hormonales et du développement des nouvelles sous-castes ouvrières chez les fourmis. Plus spécifiquement, le genre Pheidole est composé de plus de 1000 espèces, toutes démontrant un système de castes ouvrières complexe comprenant des ouvrières mineurs et des soldates. Chez un petit groupe de ces espèces, il existe une caste ouvrière additionnelle, la supersoldate. En utilisant des analyses phylogénétiques et de génétique du développement, j'ai déterminé que cette sous-caste a évolué en parallèle chez les différentes espèces. J'ai par la suite découvert, par des observations sur le terrain et des manipulations hormonales, qu'il existe un potentiel ancestral de développement dans ce groupe: toutes les espèces de Pheidole ont une capacité cachée de produire des supersoldates par induction environnementale, cette récurrence pouvant mener à leur évolution. Le second objectif spécifique de ma thèse (Chapitre 4) est d'investiguer les mécanismes épigénétiques qui traduisent les conditions environnementales en variation morphologique entre les castes. Plus spécifiquement, j'ai investigué le rôle de la méthylation de l'ADN dans l'élaboration d'une distribution de taille continue chez la caste ouvrière de Camponotus. J'ai découvert que la méthylation de l'ADN génère une distribution continue de taille chez la caste ouvrière et que l'une de ses cibles principales est le gène Egfr. D'ailleurs, le niveau de méthylation de Egfr est associé à une variation quantitative de la taille des ouvrières et une inhibition pharmacologique de la signalisation EGFR a démontré que cette voie de signalisation est capable de générer la distribution continue des tailles dans cette caste. La méthylation de l'ADN est un mécanisme épigénétique qui est connu pour causer une héritabilité transgénérationelle et donc, elle peut faciliter l'évolution d'une variation quantitative générée par l'environnement. Collectivement, les résultats de ma thèse montrent comment l'environnement agit sur le développement par l'intégration des hormones, des gènes et des mécanismes épigénétiques pour générer de la variation phénotypique sur laquelle la sélection naturelle peut agir par la suite. Peut-être que nous nous rapprochons d'un moment où la théorie de l'évolution peut proposer que l'environnement soit également important pour générer de la variation phénotypique qu'il peut l'être au cours du processus de sélection.
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To, Cheryl. "Developmental changes in British children's reasoning about evolution." Thesis, University of Surrey, 2015. http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/808456/.
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This thesis proposes to make a significant contribution to the conceptual change literature. I investigate, from a developmental perspective, the manner in which students’ knowledge about evolution is constructed. Research in theories of conceptual change has taken two general directions: the coherent theory view (e.g., framework theory) or the fragmented knowledge view (e.g., “knowledge in pieces”). Much research on how people construct knowledge about evolution has taken a coherent theory perspective (Evans, 2000, 2001, 2008, et al., 2010; 2013; Gelman & Legare, 2011; Shtulman & Calabi, 2013). More recently however, Nehm and colleagues have argued that the nature of people’s emerging understanding about evolution is more fragmented than research has first suggested (Nehm & Ha, 2011; Ha & Nehm, 2014). Over a series of four studies, evidence suggests that people’s emerging understanding about evolution is developmentally staggered and that knowledge exists as fragmented knowledge rather than as coherent theories. The first study examined parent-child conversations from 52 families (with children aged 2- to 12-years) in a natural history museum. This study found that family museum visitors do not spontaneously discuss evolutionary concepts while visiting the natural history museum. For this reason, evolutionary exhibits that primarily use static displays need to make the topic of evolution much more apparent for parents and children to learn the intended contents. They would also benefit by including suggestions of wh- questions that parents could use to direct children’s attention to salient aspects of the museum displays. In the second study, I have adapted an existing coding scheme such that it would be more suitable to be used with novice learners, i.e., secondary school students (ages 12, 14 and 16, N = 106) when coding for their understanding about evolution. This study found that learning about evolution is context dependent where students are more likely to apply their knowledge about evolution to microevolutionary events than macroevolutionary events. These findings suggest that in teaching evolution, teachers and educators need to make the meanings of evolutionary terms (e.g., evolve, adapt, fittest) more explicit and use more different examples to support students in learning about evolution. In the third study, I report the findings of a teaching intervention that was aimed at helping students improve their understanding of evolutionary processes. One-hundred-fifty-nine students (ages 16 to 19) participated in this study. Comparing peer and individual learning strategies, this study found that peer learning was superior to individual leaning, but only when low level cognitive processes were involved. For cognitively more complex tasks, all students would benefit from receiving timely feedback from teachers or a more knowledgeable peer. Finally, the fourth study investigated whether or not understanding evolution was related to other aspects of everyday life (e.g., pro-environmental worldviews, affect about nature). There were a total of 148 adults who were included in this study. A positive relationship was found between people’s understandings about evolution and pro-ecological attitudes. This finding has potential implications on teaching for science literacy. Understanding how evolution works may be a gateway to people endorsing more environmentally friendly attitudes and behaviours. Evidence from the four studies suggests that there is a clear developmental trend throughout early childhood and mid- to late-adolescence in the way people reason about evolution. Whereas some concepts such as variation and selection are understood first, other concepts such as selection and time are less well understood. This is true even for young people 16 years and older. Potential implications on pedagogy are discussed.
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Ruiz, Cody A. "Y-Chromosome Introgression: An Analysis of Spermatogenesis Genes Between Macaca mulatta and Macaca fascicularis." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1501168493482051.
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Khan, Gul Muhammad. "Evolution of neuro-inspired Developmental Programs Capable of Learning." Thesis, University of York, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.490693.
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ABSTRACT. In this work, a type of developmental brain-inspired computational network is presented and evaluated. It is based on the idea of evolving programs that build a computational neural structure. This thesis describes an artificial model of the brain based on evolutionary computation and neurodevelopmental techniques. This model is more biologically plausible than earlier techniques and demonstrates that adding more biological plausibility can enhance the computational power of the neural systems. The thesis demonstrates the capabilities of this brain inspired system on two different learning problems.
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Hoang, Tuan-Hoa Information Technology & Electrical Engineering Australian Defence Force Academy UNSW. "Evolutionary Developmental Evaluation : the Interplay between Evolution and Development." Awarded by:University of New South Wales - Australian Defence Force Academy. Information Technology & Electrical Engineering, 2009. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/44870.
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This thesis was inspired by the difficulties of artificial evolutionary systems in finding elegant and well structured, regular solutions. That is that the solutions found are usually highly disorganized, poorly structured and exhibit limited re-use, resulting in bloat and other problems. This is also true of previous developmental evolutionary systems, where structural regularity emerges only by chance. We hypothesise that these problems might be ameliorated by incorporating repeated evaluations on increasingly difficult problems in the course of a developmental process. This thesis introduces a new technique for learning complex problems from a family of structured increasingly difficult problems, Evolutionary Developmental Evaluation (EDE). This approach appears to give more structured, scalable and regular solutions to such families of problems than previous methods. In addition, the thesis proposes some bio-inspired components that are required by developmental evolutionary systems to take full advantage of this approach. The key part of this is the developmental process, in combination with a varying fitness function evaluated at multiple stages of development, generates selective pressure toward generalisation. This also means that parsimony in structure is selected for without any direct parsimony pressure. As a result, the system encourages the emergence of modularity and structural regularity in solutions. In this thesis, a new genetic developmental system called Developmental Tree Adjoining Grammar Guided Genetic Programming (DTAG3P), is implemented, embodying the requirements above. It is tested on a range of benchmark problems. The results indicate that the method generates more regularly-structured solutions than the competing methods. As a result, the system is able to scale, at least on the problem classes tested, to very complex instances the system encourages the emergence of modularity and structural regularity in solutions. In this thesis, a new genetic developmental system called Developmental Tree Adjoining Grammar Guided Genetic Programming (DTAG3P), is implemented, embodying the requirements above. It is tested on a range of benchmark problems. The results indicate that the method generates more regularly-structured solutions than competing methods. As a result, the system is able to scale, at least on the problem classes tested, to very complex problem instances.
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Sanders, Heather Louise. "Developmental Changes in the Evolution of Fundamental Plant Organography." Ohio : Ohio University, 2007. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?ohiou1188579264.
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Ioannidis, Stavros. "Developmental explanations of evolution : a challenge to neo-Darwinism?" Thesis, University of Bristol, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.601006.
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This study in philosophy of biology examines the conflict between the research program of evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-devo) and the traditional view of evolution, the Modem Synthesis. In the core of this conflict lies the role of development in evolutionary explanation: whereas Evo-devo uses developmental facts to explain evolutionary outcomes, according to the received view of evolution this is to misunderstand evolutionary theory. The aim of the thesis is a philosophical analysis of Evo-devo explanations and their consequences for our understanding of evolution. A number of philosophers and biologists have argued in favour of the compatibility between Evo-devo and traditional evolutionary explanations. So, it has been argued that: Evo-devo explanations aren't really explanations at all, only descriptions; they are about a different level of the evolutionary process (variation); they are explanations of macro- as opposed to microevolution; they are explanations of form rather than function; and lastly, they are individual-level rather than population-level explanations. Not all of the above distinctions point towards a peaceful co-existence of the two kinds of explanations. In order to have a more clear idea of the differences between the two, I discuss the above distinctions in light of some recent examples of Evo-devo explanations. I give an account of how we should understand the general nature of such explanations, and the difficulties in synthesizing them in a common evolutionary theory. Throughout the thesis I will discuss various important concepts and kinds of explanations used in Evo-devo: central among them are Evo-devo explanations of macroevolution, the concept of the Bauplan and similar notions like the vertebrate limb, and the notion of constraints in evolution. The central claim of the thesis is that Evo-devo shows that development can be causally relevant to evolutionary change.
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Harrison, Cecily Jill. "Developmental genetics and evolution of plant form in Streptocarpus." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/14005.
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The mechanisms by which genetic mutation translates to morphological variation between species are poorly understood, but there is increasing support for the involvement of homeobox genes in generating morphological novelty. Homologues of a knotted-like homeobox gene, that is involved in determining meristem identity in model plants, were isolated from different species of Streptocarpus which show marked morphological variation, and these were named Sknox1 genes. Crosses were made between two species with different form, which suggested that their differences were determined by two loci, consistent with previous reports. To test whether Sknox1 was involved in generating morphological differences between species of Streptocarpus, its expression was analysed in three species with different growth form. This showed conventional expression in a species with caulescent form, but novel patterns of expression in that in species with one-leafed or rosette-like form. Differences in expression of Sknox1 therefore correlate with interspecific differences in form. Genetic analysis demonstrated that Sknox1 did not directly cause morphological differences between species. Sknox1 introns showed substantial variation between species. Intron sequences showed evidence of concerned evolution and sometimes contained a repetitive element that may have arisen by gene conversion.
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Coulcher, J. F. "Evolution of the arthropod mandible : a molecular developmental perspective." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1335716/.
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The mandible is thought to have evolved once in the ancestor to the mandibulate arthropods; the insects, crustaceans and myriapods. If the mandible is a homologous structure, it suggests that there will be shared developmental genes required to pattern the mandible in different species. As a representative of mandibulate arthropods, the red flour beetle Tribolium castanem was chosen to study genes required to pattern the mandible. This study show that the Tribolium orthologue of cap’n’collar (Tc cnc) patterns the mandible of Tribolium. Loss of Tc cnc function by RNA interference (RNAi) results in a transformation of the mandible to maxillary identity and deletion of the labrum. Analysis of gene expression by in situ hybridisation shows that Tc cnc represses the Tribolium orthologues of the Hox genes proboscipedia (pb) and Deformed (Dfd), which pattern the maxillary appendage. Similar expression patterns of cnc, Dfd and pb homologues in mandibulate arthropods suggests that the functions of these genes are conserved. As the mandible has evolved from a maxilla-like precursor in the ancestor to all mandibulate arthropods, the manner in which Tc cnc differentiates the mandible from a maxilla in Tribolium recapitulates the evolution of the mandible from a maxilla-like precursor. An orthologue of cnc was cloned from the spider Achaearanaea tepidariorum, chosen as an outgroup to the mandibulate arthropods, but no evidence of a developmental role was discovered. Study of the expression of genetic markers for appendage segments shows that the biting edge of the mandible is derived from one endite, and the mandible is divided into a subcoxa and coxa which are also present in the maxillary, labial and leg appendages. There are significant similarities in the expression of genetic markers that presumably indicate serial homology of the subcoxa and coxa of the mandible to the subcoxa and coxa of other appendages.
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Ninova, Maria. "Developmental constraints on microRNA evolution and expression in insects." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2015. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/developmental-constraints-on-microrna-evolution-and-expression-in-insects(e6ad4075-c67f-4429-ab96-c12a2ed23d76).html.
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MicroRNAs are short non-protein coding RNAs which negatively regulate gene expression by guiding the RNA-induced silencing complex to complementary target mRNAs. MicroRNA regulation is implicated in essentially all biological processes, and microRNAs have a prominent role in animal development. Several microRNA families are conserved between deuterostomes and protostomes, however the majority of microRNAs in animal species are a result of continuous de novo gene birth processes throughout natural history. The acquisition of novel microRNAs, and changes in existing microRNAs, has been suggested to play a role in animal evolution. However, the constraints on microRNA emergence, evolution and expression are not well understood. We have studied the interplay of microRNA developmental expression and evolutionary dynamics in model insects displaying different modes of embryogenesis. We first determined the evolutionary origins and rates of change of microRNAs in Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila virilis, and analysed their temporal expression profiles throughout development by deep sequencing. We found a good correlation between microRNA conservation and abundance at most stages except for the early embryo, where fast-evolving microRNAs are highly expressed. We further showed that the temporal expression of orthologous microRNAs is highly similar between species, and the global microRNA profiles across development display an hourglass-like conservation pattern, previously observed for protein-coding genes. We next extended our analyses to the red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum, which develops via the short germband mode of embryogenesis. This developmental mode is ancestral and widespread in arthropods, yet the microRNA complement of a representative species has not been previously characterized. We find a number of conserved features between Drosophila and Tribolium, including microRNA maternal loading and modifications, and microRNA-mediated targeting of maternally deposited transcripts. We also describe an abundant pool of maternally loaded and zygotically expressed piRNAs, which appear to be turned on in response to active transposons. In contrast to the previously observed piRNA profile in flies, beetle piRNAs are abundant throughout the entire embryogenesis. A majority of the newly identified microRNAs in the flour beetle are expressed during a discrete period in the early blastoderm, and also target maternally provided transcripts. The observation that the early embryos of both Drosophila and Tribolium are uniquely characterized with high levels of novel and dynamically evolving microRNAs suggests a conserved phenomenon where the blastoderm stage is a highly permissive environment for microRNA innovations.
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Nemeth, Daniel C. "Evolution of the Coeloconic Sensilla in the Peripheral Olfactory System of Drosophila Mojavensis." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1504798790782263.
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Parmentier, Dominique. "Developmental flexibility and evolution of the worker caste in termites." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/210790.
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