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Wallace And Incipient Structures: A World Of "More Recondite" Influences, Charles H. Smith Nov 2013

Wallace And Incipient Structures: A World Of "More Recondite" Influences, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

Alfred Russel Wallace is well-known for his co-discovery of the principle of natural selection. Natural selection is usually considered a process, but it is not clear that Wallace regarded it in exactly these terms. In fact he more likely thought of the relationships involved as representing what we would now term a “state space,” a negative feedback loop wherein populations are maintained at healthy levels through elimination of the unfit. Both before and after the advent of natural selection Wallace clung to the idea that “more recondite forces” were shaping the nature and direction of evolution; this is especially evident …


Wallace: The Review, And Wallace: The Preview, Charles H. Smith Jan 2013

Wallace: The Review, And Wallace: The Preview, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

In this essay commemorating the one hundred year anniversary of his death, Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) is remembered for his main contributions to biogeography, and pointed to as a possible source of inspiration for future work in that field. As one of the science’s “fathers,” Wallace established both methods for study and a long-lived geographical systemization of animal distribution patterns. His efforts, moreover, may yet have the potential to inspire further new studies in the subject.


"In Space" Or "As Space"?: A New Model, Charles H. Smith, Megan Derr Aug 2012

"In Space" Or "As Space"?: A New Model, Charles H. Smith, Megan Derr

DLPS Faculty Publications

In this analysis natural systems are posed to subsystemize in a manner facilitating both structured information/energy sharing and an entropy maximization process projecting a three-dimensional, spatial, outcome. Numerical simulations were first carried out to determine whether n × n input-output matrices could, once entropymaximized, project a three-dimensional Euclidean metric. Only 4 × 4 matrices could; a small proportion passed the test. Larger proportions passed when grouped random patterns on and within two- and three-dimensional forms were tested. Topographical patterns within 31 stream basin systems in the state of Kentucky, USA, were then similarly investigated, anticipating that the spatial configuration of …


Biodiversity: The World Of Life, Charles H. Smith May 2001

Biodiversity: The World Of Life, Charles H. Smith

DLPS Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.