Life-like Features Research Articles

Research on the Sustainable Evolution Mechanism of Dual-Dimensional Convergence Innovation in Digital Products

The complex characteristics of cross-disciplinarity, dynamic expansion, ambiguity, diversity, and the rapid changes in demand significantly amplify the uncertainties in digital product innovation. The existing innovation theories, such as “stage-gate”, open innovation, agile development, and data-driven decision making, are insufficient for fully and effectively addressing these uncertainties. Based on a case study of a fintech app, we reveal that digital product innovation is similar to biological evolution, exhibiting dual life-like features of “inheritance” and “mutation” within “dual-dimensional convergence”. However, unlike natural evolution, the evolutionary process of digital product innovation can augment its use of the digital ecosystem and capabilities, establish a data-driven rapid proactive selection mechanism for the main three stages, and quickly enhance product competitiveness. The complexity of knowledge in the innovation process can be partially solved through the use of a micro-knowledge integration learning mechanism formed by the interactions of social and cognitive translation. This study also discovers that market competition and policy regulation are two unique innovation-driven characteristics in digital product innovation. This mechanism can achieve the earlier clarification of product evolution’s direction, reduce the three major uncertainties of innovation, and improve efficiency in the utilization of innovation resources to achieve sustainable development.

Decorated Vesicles as Prebiont Systems (a Hypothesis).

Decorated vesicles in deep, seafloor basalts form abiotically, but show at least four life-analogous features, which makes them a candidate for origin of life research. These features are a physical enclosure, carbon-assimilatory catalysts, semi-permeable boundaries, and a source of usable energy. The nanometer-to-micron-sized spherules on the inner walls of decorated vesicles are proposed to function as mineral proto-enzymes. Chemically, these structures resemble synthetic FeS clusters shown to convert CO2, CO and H2 into methane, formate, and acetate. Secondary phyllosilicate minerals line the vesicles' inner walls and can span openings in the vesicles and thus can act as molecular sieves between the vesicles' interior and the surrounding aquifer. Lastly, basalt glass in the vesicle walls takes up protons, which replace cations in the silicate framework. This results in an inward proton flux, reciprocal outward flux of metal cations, more alkaline pH inside the vesicle than outside, and production of more phyllosilicates. Such life-like features could have been exploited to move decorated vesicles toward protolife systems. Decorated vesicles are proposed as study models of prebiotic systems that are expected to have existed on the early Earth and Earth-like exoplanets. Their analysis can lead to better understanding of changes in planetary geocycles during the origin of life.

Does the Field of Nature-Inspired Computing Contribute to Achieving Lifelike Features?

The main idea behind artificial intelligence was simple: what if we study living systems to develop new, practical computing systems that possess "lifelike" properties? And that's exactly how evolutionary computing emerged. Researchers came up with ideas inspired by the principles of evolution to develop intelligent methods to tackle hard problems. The efficacy of these methods made researchers seek inspiration in living organisms and systems and extend the evolutionary concept to other nature-inspired ideas. In recent years, nature-inspired computing has exhibited an exponential increase in the number of algorithms that are presented each year. Authors claim that they are inspired by a behavior found in nature to come up with a lifelike algorithm. However, the mathematical background does not match the behavior in the majority of these cases. Thus the question is, do all nature-inspired algorithms remain lifelike? Also, are there any ideas included that contribute to computing? This study aims to (a) present some nature-inspired methods that contribute to achieving lifelike features of computing systems and (b) discuss if there is any need for new lifelike features.

Zwitterionic Dendrimersomes: A Closer Xenobiotic Mimic of Cell Membranes.

Building functional mimics of cell membranes is an important task toward the development of synthetic cells. So far, lipid and amphiphilic block copolymers are the most widely used amphiphiles with the bilayers by the former lacking stability while membranes by the latter are typically characterized by very slow dynamics. Herein, a new type of Janus dendrimer containing a zwitterionic phosphocholine hydrophilic headgroup (JDPC ) and a 3,5-substituted dihydrobenzoate-based hydrophobic dendron is introduced. JDPC self-assembles in water into zwitterionic dendrimersomes (z-DSs) that faithfully recapitulate the cell membrane in thickness, flexibility, and fluidity, while being resilient to harsh conditions and displaying faster pore closing dynamics in the event of membrane rupture. This enables the fabrication of hybrid DSs with components of natural membranes, including pore-forming peptides, structure-directing lipids, and glycans to create raft-like domains or onion vesicles. Moreover, z-DSs can be used to create active synthetic cells with life-like features that mimic vesicle fusion and motility as well as environmental sensing. Despite their fully synthetic nature, z-DSs are minimal cell mimics that can integrate and interact with living matter with the programmability to imitate life-like features and beyond.

A Self-Operating Time Crystal Model of the Human Brain: Can We Replace Entire Brain Hardware with a 3D Fractal Architecture of Clocks Alone?

Time crystal was conceived in the 1970s as an autonomous engine made of only clocks to explain the life-like features of a virus. Later, time crystal was extended to living cells like neurons. The brain controls most biological clocks that regenerate the living cells continuously. Most cognitive tasks and learning in the brain run by periodic clock-like oscillations. Can we integrate all cognitive tasks in terms of running clocks of the hardware? Since the existing concept of time crystal has only one clock with a singularity point, we generalize the basic idea of time crystal so that we could bond many clocks in a 3D architecture. Harvesting inside phase singularity is the key. Since clocks reset continuously in the brain–body system, during reset, other clocks take over. So, we insert clock architecture inside singularity resembling brain components bottom-up and top-down. Instead of one clock, the time crystal turns to a composite, so it is poly-time crystal. We used century-old research on brain rhythms to compile the first hardware-free pure clock reconstruction of the human brain. Similar to the global effort on connectome, a spatial reconstruction of the brain, we advocate a global effort for more intricate mapping of all brain clocks, to fill missing links with respect to the brain’s temporal map. Once made, reverse engineering the brain would remain a mere engineering challenge.

Supercharged Proteins and Polypeptides.

Electrostatic interactions play a vital role in nature. Biomacromolecules such as proteins are orchestrated by electrostatics, among other intermolecular forces, to assemble and organize biochemistry. Natural proteins with a high net charge exist in a folded state or are unstructured and can be an inspiration for scientists to artificially supercharge other protein entities. Recent findings show that supercharging proteins allows for control of their properties such as temperature resistance and catalytic activity. One elegant method to transfer the favorable properties of supercharged proteins to other proteins is the fabrication of fusions. Genetically engineered, supercharged unstructured polypeptides (SUPs) are just one promising fusion tool. SUPs can also be complexed with artificial entities to yield thermotropic and lyotropic liquid crystals and liquids. These architectures represent novel bulk materials that are sensitive to external stimuli. Interestingly, SUPs undergo fluid-fluid phase separation to form coacervates. These coacervates can even be directly generated in living cells or can be combined with dissipative fiber assemblies that induce life-like features. Supercharged proteins and SUPs are developed into exciting classes of materials. Their synthesis, structures, and properties are summarized. Moreover, potential applications are highlighted and challenges are discussed.

Earth's earliest and deepest purported fossils may be iron-mineralized chemical gardens.

Recognizing fossil microorganisms is essential to the study of life's origin and evolution and to the ongoing search for life on Mars. Purported fossil microbes in ancient rocks include common assemblages of iron-mineral filaments and tubes. Recently, such assemblages have been interpreted to represent Earth's oldest body fossils, Earth's oldest fossil fungi, and Earth's best analogues for fossils that might form in the basaltic Martian subsurface. Many of these putative fossils exhibit hollow circular cross-sections, lifelike (non-crystallographic, constant-thickness, and bifurcate) branching, anastomosis, nestedness within ‘sheaths’, and other features interpreted as strong evidence for a biological origin, since no abiotic process consistent with the composition of the filaments has been shown to produce these specific lifelike features either in nature or in the laboratory. Here, I show experimentally that abiotic chemical gardening can mimic such purported fossils in both morphology and composition. In particular, chemical gardens meet morphological criteria previously proposed to establish biogenicity, while also producing the precursors to the iron minerals most commonly constitutive of filaments in the rock record. Chemical gardening is likely to occur in nature. Such microstructures should therefore not be assumed to represent fossil microbes without independent corroborating evidence.

Переживание времени в спорте (психолого-педагогический аспект)

We consider some aspects of time experience in sports activity. The relevance of this study is determined by the increase in the level of time experience among the entire population, which together with the time experiences that occurs in sports, is a problem for the athletes preparation from a psychological and pedagogical point of view. The data described in the work are obtained as a result of analysis and generalization of special literature, pedagogical observation of athletes, analysis of TV broadcasts of competitions in different sports. The study was conducted in 2017–2018 on the basis of the Belgorod National Research University, Armavir State Pedagogical University. We established that the problem of time experiencing in sports is actually still little studied and mainly concerns the issues of psychological athletes’ preparation for responsible sports competitions. The study reveal the types of sports time experience depending on the focus on the object and the causes of the experience, the levels of tension of time experience in sports activities, as well as some factors that determine the characteristics of the experience of time by athletes in training and during sports competitions. When considering these issues, it was taken into account that the time experience has life-like features that can become the background for specific experiences of time arising in the training and competitive activities of athletes. These studies develop ideas about the time experience in sports, which has both theoretical and practical application. Prospects of research in this direction are extensive, they may overlap with the problems of sociology, pedagogy, psychology, philosophy of sports and some other areas of knowledge. In particular, a certain interest is, for example, the study of gender features of the time experience in sports, changes in the age dynamics of the time experience by athletes, typological characteristics of the time experience in sports.

Colloidal systems chemistry. Replication, reproduction and selection at nanoscale

Development of synthetic systems carrying life-like features is a long-standing challenge in chemistry and material science. Poor understanding of mechanisms ruling the emergence of life-like features in an inanimate matter makes the challenge even more exciting. The growing field of systems chemistry takes the lead in defining life-like dynamic signatures in minimalistic (macro)molecular systems through the development of multicomponent synthetic models using tools from organic and supramolecular chemistry. Recent progress in nanoscience makes available a range of novel materials that can undoubtedly enrich systems chemistry. Therefore, with the aim of placing nano- and colloidal science within the context of systems chemistry, the recent experimental and theoretical developments dealing with the use of nanoparticles and their assemblies in the realisation of the concepts such as replication, reproduction and selection are discussed.

Simple Techniques for Three-Dimensional Photography of the Nose in Nasal Deformity

Aim: To investigate the use of anaglyphs and stereograms for three-dimensional imaging of the external nose. Method: Red-cyan anaglyphs and colour stereograms created from stereo photographs of patients with nasal deformity were compared to standard photographs. Assessors rated images on ‘life-likeness’ of imaging, contour definition and utility for surgical planning. Results: 9 patients were recruited. Stereograms provided significantly improved life-like features and definition of nasal structure, with some benefit for pre-operative planning. Less benefit was found for anaglyph images. Oblique views proved most effective. Conclusions: Stereograms provide simple, inexpensive three-dimensional images of the nose, with potential uses in operative analysis, medicolegal documentation, teaching and research.

A New Model for Investigating the Evolution of Transcription Control Networks

Biological systems show unbounded capacity for complex behaviors and responses to their environments. This principally arises from their genetic networks. The processes governing transcription, translation, and gene regulation are well understood, as are the mechanisms of network evolution, such as gene duplication and horizontal gene transfer. However, the evolved networks arising from these simple processes are much more difficult to understand, and it is difficult to perform experiments on the evolution of these networks in living organisms because of the timescales involved. We propose a new framework for modeling and investigating the evolution of transcription networks in realistic, varied environments. The model we introduce contains novel, important, and lifelike features that allow the evolution of arbitrarily complex transcription networks. Molecular interactions are not specified; instead they are determined dynamically based on shape, allowing protein function to freely evolve. Transcriptional logic provides a flexible mechanism for defining genetic regulatory activity. Simulations demonstrate a realistic life cycle as an emergent property, and that even in simple environments lifelike and complex regulation mechanisms are evolved, including stable proteins, unstable mRNA, and repressor activity. This study also highlights the importance of using in silico genetics techniques to investigate evolved model robustness.

Mechatronics and smart structures: emerging engineering disciplines for the third millennium

This paper tackles the impact that Mechatronics and Smart Structures disciplines have on the engineering education in the new millennium. Mechatronics is an emerging engineering area that will likely alter the fundamental nature of engineering education in the disciplines of electrical and mechanical engineering. It can provide an academic model for developing multi-disciplinary programs within the engineering college departmental structure that is historically based on the traditional engineering disciplines. Mechatronics integrates the classical fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer engineering, and information technology to establish basic principles for a contemporary engineering design methodology. A mechatronics concentration area in the engineering curriculum would support the synergistic integration of precision mechanical engineering, electronics control, and systems thinking into the design of intelligent products and processes. Smart Structures, a. k. a. Adaptive Structures, a. k. a. Adaptronics, is an emerging engineering field with multiple defining paradigms. One definition is based upon a technology paradigm: “the integration of actuators, sensors, and controls with a material or structural component”. Multi-functional elements form a complete regulator circuit resulting in a novel structure displaying reduced complexity, low weight, high functional density, as well as economic efficiency. Another definition is based upon a science paradigm in an attempt to capture the essence of biologically inspired materials by addressing the goal as creating material systems with intelligence and life-like features integrated in the microstructure of the material system to reduce mass and energy and produce adaptive functionality. Their basic characteristics of efficiency, functionality, precision, self-repair, and durability continue to fascinate designers of engineering structures today.

Eco-grammar systems: a grammatical framework for studying lifelike interactions.

A formal framework for studying systems made up of a community of agents and their environment is proposed. The suggested model, technically based on the theory of formal grammars and called an eco-grammar system, captures some common features of ecological, economic, social, and collective robotic systems. The article contains an informal presentation as well as the formal definition of the model, presents some properties of variants of eco-grammar systems, and discusses the emergence of important lifelike features such as birth and death. Emphasis is put on results with relevance for artificial life. Some recent developments are also briefly reported.

Eco-Grammar Systems: A Grammatical Framework for Studying Lifelike Interactions

A formal framework for studying systems made up of a community of agents and their environment is proposed. The suggested model, technically based on the theory of formal grammars and called an eco-grammar system, captures some common features of ecological, economic, social, and collective robotic systems. The article contains an informal presentation as well as the formal definition of the model, presents some properties of variants of eco-grammar systems, and discusses the emergence of important lifelike features such as birth and death. Emphasis is put on results with relevance for artificial life. Some recent developments are also briefly reported.