Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
f
Much is known about the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology underlying the
effects of pain and pleasure on human body motions.
g
Metabolic pathways encoded in a cellular genome are akin to the keys on a
piano keyboard (
equilibrons
) and metabolic activities observed in living cells are
comparable to the melodies (
dissipatons
) that a pianist produces by striking a select
set of keys obeying the instructions given in a sheet music.
h
The DNA microarray technology allows us to measure (hear) the dynamic
changes (audio music) in RNA levels (or waves) occurring within a living cell in
response to environmental perturbations. Microarrays make it possible to visualize
the coordinated interactions among select RNA molecules in a living cell under a
i
Visual evidence for the concept of conformons (see Sect.
8.3
).
j
Dynamic evidence for the concept of conformons (see Sect.
11.4.1
).
k
For example, the continuous monitoring of the thumb movement in both hands
(Kelso 1984).
l
According to Kelso and Engstrøm (2006, pp. 90-91),
Coordination dynamics, the science of coordination, is a set of context-dependent laws or
rules that describe, explain, and predict how patterns of coordination form, adapt, persist,
and change in natural systems
. Coordination dynamics aims to characterize the nature
of the functional coupling in all of the following: (1) within a part of a system, as in the firing
of cells in the heart or neurons in a part of the brain; (2) between different parts of the same
system, such as between different organs of the body like the kidney and the liver, or
between different parts of the same organ, like between the cortex and the cerebellum in
the brain, or between audience members clapping at a performance; and (3) between
different kinds of things, as in organism ~ environment, predator ~ prey, perception ~
action, etc
...
...
.
(15.24)
Coordination dynamics at the macroscopic level can be studied using the
powerful tools and concepts provided by the mathematics of
nonlinear dynamics
(van Gelder and Port 1995, Scott 2005). A
coordination law
that has been found
useful in analyzing real-life biological systems can be expressed as in Eq. (15.25)
(Kelso and EngstrØm 2006, pp. 156-157):
dcv
ð =
dt
¼
fcv
ð
;
cp
;
fl
Þ
(15.25)
where d(cv)/dt is the rate of change of the
coordination variable
cv whose numeri-
cal value changes with the state of the system under investigation, cp is one or more
coordination parameters
that can affect the state of the system but are not affected
by it, and fl is the noisy or thermal fluctuations experienced by the system.
It should be pointed out that a given mathematical idea or principle such
as Eq. (15.25) can be represented in many equivalent ways. Some examples are
shown below:
dx
=
dt
¼
f(x
;
P
;
fl)
(15.26)
