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The updated indices of constructal related works in qualified peer-review publications. The chart shows the number of citations per year. 1,479 publications in Web of Science ® Clarivate Analytics h-index: Citations: Scopus: 1,369 publications h-index: 79 Citations: 36404 (excerpt from Clarivate Analytics web of science and Scopus with "constructal" as topic) (Updated March 29, 2023) 
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Michael L. Wong , et al. PNAS 120 (43) e2310223120 The universe is replete with complex evolving systems, but the existing macroscopic physical laws do not seem to adequately describe these systems. Recognizing that the identification of conceptual equivalencies among disparate phenomena were foundational to developing previous laws of nature, we approach a potential “missing law” by looking for equivalencies among evolving systems. We suggest that all evolving systems—including but not limited to life—are composed of diverse components that can combine into configurational states that are then selected for or against based on function. We then identify the fundamental sources of selection—static persistence, dynamic persistence, and novelty generation—and propose a time-asymmetric law that states that the functional information of a system will increase over time when subjected to selection for function(s). Read the full article at: www.pnas.org Via Complexity Digest
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Another very interesting take on how configurations evolve. It seems a wide consensus that It lacks a fundamental principle. Perhaps such a principle is the Constructal Law. One inevitably asks why it was not even addressed in this work.
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Hummingbirds are flapping winged creatures with unique flight mechanisms. Their flight pattern is more similar to insects than other birds. Because their flight pattern provides a large lift force at a very small scale, hummingbirds can remain hovering while flapping.
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Biomimetics is a fast track to drawing insights from natural designs that have been under "scrutiny" (evolution). It, however, does not offer understanding. This paper offers explanations that would allow extending the acquired knowledge in relatively different settings.
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An invited presentation at the Conclave on "Complexity in Physical Interacting Systems, Computation and Thermodynamics", July 10-13, 2023, Santa Fe, NM, USA: https://sites.google.com/view/comconc.... Watch at: www.youtube.com Via Complexity Digest
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This article addresses two questions, why certain animals (frogs, breaststroke swimmers, hovering fliers, jellyfish) push rapidly against the surrounding fluid and then reach forward slowly, and whether this rhythm of propulsion is a manifestation of the universal phenomenon of design evolution in nature. Emphasis is on the distribution of time periods of locomotion in which, during the driving phase of cyclic movement (the motive stroke, phases 1 and 2, in alternating sequence with the dissipative stroke, phase 3), the work is generated (phase 1) and dissipated (phase 2). The relative lengths of the characteristic times t1 and t2 of the phases 1 and 2, are predicted. The relative duration of the proposed three phases of a cycle is the ‘rhythm’. The analysis is based on a model of how the effective cross-sections of the stroking body parts impact the surrounding medium, water, or air, and the total power required to account for the kinetic energy losses during phases 2 and 3, which are due to drag forces posed by the surrounding medium. The body configuration (limbs' cross-sections) determines the limbs' velocities that maximize mean power, and the times t1 and t2 within the motive stroke. Emphasis is placed on the freedom to change the evolving design. Freedom is represented in two ways: the number of degrees of freedom in changing the dimensions of the model and its deformation in time, and the effect that evolutionary changes have on the access that the body has to its available space. Freedom to change the locomotion design leads to greater power and speed.
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Those that fly and persist in time as such evolved to scaling laws that some may take for granted. The variability along those scales and the outliers are inherent to the diverse and complex process of design evolution.
The breaststroke performed by humans, which was now explained, is one example of an alternative route of evolution. Humans are ground movers but learned empirically how to morph into a swimming style that minimizes imperfections in a way that they fit in the scaling laws derived from the constructal law. Fantastic!
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Possessing only essential genes, a minimal cell can reveal mechanisms and processes that are critical for the persistence and stability of life1,2. Here we report on how an engineered minimal cell3,4 contends with the forces of evolution compared with the Mycoplasma mycoides non-minimal cell from which it was synthetically derived. Mutation rates were the highest among all reported bacteria, but were not affected by genome minimization. Genome streamlining was costly, leading to a decrease in fitness of greater than 50%, but this deficit was regained during 2,000 generations of evolution. Despite selection acting on distinct genetic targets, increases in the maximum growth rate of the synthetic cells were comparable. Moreover, when performance was assessed by relative fitness, the minimal cell evolved 39% faster than the non-minimal cell. The only apparent constraint involved the evolution of cell size. The size of the non-minimal cell increased by 80%, whereas the minimal cell remained the same. This pattern reflected epistatic effects of mutations in ftsZ, which encodes a tubulin-homologue protein that regulates cell division and morphology5,6. Our findings demonstrate that natural selection can rapidly increase the fitness of one of the simplest autonomously growing organisms. Understanding how species with small genomes overcome evolutionary challenges provides critical insights into the persistence of host-associated endosymbionts, the stability of streamlined chassis for biotechnology and the targeted refinement of synthetically engineered cells2,7–9. An engineered minimal cell evolves to escape the negative consequences of genome streamlining.
Marcelo Errera's insight:
This one addresses another essential issue of our existence: the evolution of minimum viable live specimens.
To be alive under the #Constructal Law is to be able to morph, to evolve, while it sustains the essential flows (interaction with the surroundings). If the specimen had flows through it (streams), but not freedom to morph, it would die away, as an individual, and as a design. If it had the freedom to morph, but with no flow interaction with the surrounding, it would die away too. Both must be present to meet the criteria of being alive under the Constructal Law. Once alive, inevitably it would evolve. Dr. Veera was insightful citing this passage: “Listen, if there’s one thing the history of evolution has taught us is that life will not be contained. Life breaks free. It expands to new territories, and it crashes through barriers painfully, maybe even dangerously, but . . . life finds a way" https://twitter.com/doctorveera
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How fractals extend beyond a mathematical phenomenon and were existent in the architecture, art, and culture of Indigenous African Societies...
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Very interesting in two ways: (1) one more evidence of the emergence of design in nature (humans, as part of nature); and (2) that may resemble fractals, but it is not, it is a constructal design. And the reasons have been argued in many instances. Bejan, A. (1996), Street network theory of organization in nature. J. Adv. Transp., 30: 85-107. https://doi.org/10.1002/atr.5670300207 https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-34009-4 https://fee.org/articles/freedom-is-good-for-design-an-interview-with-adrian-bejan/ "Constructal Theory of Distribution of City Sizes" In: “Advanced Engineering Thermodynamics” by A. Bejan (3rd edition) Wiley, New York, section 13.4 of chapter 13, 774-780
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A heat exchanger header for receiving a first fluid includes a tubular primary fluid channel oriented along a first axis and having a first cross-sectional area. A first branched region adjacent to the primary fluid channel fluidly connects to a plurality of tubular secondary fluid channels, each...
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Very interesting, but it's a constructal geometry, if I may, or "fractal-like" at best. It is finite-sized, while fractals are infinite series
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Klaus Jaffe Classical thermodynamics focused on reversible processes in closed systems. Most processes however are irreversible, in both closed and open systems. A non classical thermodynamics is being developed to tackle complex open systems suffering irreversible processes. That is the case for Synergy that emerges from synchronized reciprocal positive feedback loops between a network of diverse actors. For this process to proceed, compatible information from different sources synchronically coordinates the actions of the actors resulting in a nonlinear increase in the useful work or potential energy the system can manage. In contrast noise is produced when incompatible information is mixed. This synergy produced from the coordination of different agents achieves non-linear gains in free energy and in information (negentropy). Free energy can be estimated by proxies such as individual autonomy of an organism, emancipation from the environment, productivity, efficiency, capacity for flexibility, self-regulation, and self-control of behavior; whereas entropy, or the lack of it, is revealed by the degree of synchronized division of ever more specialized labor, structural complexity, information, and dissipation of energy. Empirical examples that provide quantitative data for these phenomena are presented. Results show that increases in free energy density are concomitant with decreases in entropy density. This may be a rule for synergistic processes in non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which is consilient with the first and second laws of classical thermodynamics. Under this light, biological evolution is the task of self reproducing irreversible synergistic systems to discover empirically (through natural, inclusive, and sexual selection) types of order that increase their free energy. Read the full article at: www.qeios.com Via Complexity Digest
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Interesting arguments
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The 12th Constructal Law Conference “Freedom, Design and Evolution” will be held in Torino, Italy, on 21-22 September 2023. “Freedom. Design and Evolution" are the key words of the 12th Constructal Law Conference scheduled in Torino, Italy, on 21-22 September 2023. The Constructal Law governs all phenomena of design evolution in Nature, bio and non-bio, human made and not human made. The conference explores diverse areas: Physics of life; Design in nature; Evolutionary design with freedom; Evolution: geophysical, biological, social, technological, communications, science, literature, city, government, climate; Thermodynamics, Energy, power, and economy; Thermoeconomics, Bioeconomy and circular economy; Information, Complexity, Change, Time arrow Human beings as part of nature; Hierarchy, Power laws, Inequality, Innovation; Living and non-living from the same point of view; Natural and social sciences together; Art and science together; Predicting evolution, Sustainability Via NigelReading|ASYNSIS
Marcelo Errera's curator insight,
February 8, 1:16 PM
Great opportunity to get to know the new advancements in Constructal Theory and meet the community
NigelReading|ASYNSIS's curator insight,
February 8, 10:05 PM
A marvelous opportunity for the Constructal science community to commune after the depredations of the pandemic and to confer on the latest developments in the field, of which uniquely, the Asynsis Principle is a geometric, professional architectural design practice & #DesignToE theory analogue, as shared on TED conferences.
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Researchers find that cataracts and turbulence that seem to slow water’s flow actually facilitate it. One from CalTech investigated a phenomenon that Bejan witnessed himself on a regular basis just outside of his driveway. When water runs down an inclined surface that can be eroded away, it doesn’t form a single, uniform channel; it creates a series of cascading pools that seem to hinder its flow rather than help it. “These papers exploring phenomena that I see at home on a regular basis made me question the theory,” said Bejan, the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke. “But when I sat down and ran through the equations, I realized these effects are their own animal.” Solving the apparent contradiction in all three systems essentially comes down to a single fact; water travels with more momentum in a turbulent freefall than it does flowing smoothly over a surface. “The best physics can be proven with simple physics,” Bejan said. “At first glance, these systems would seem to be impeding the system’s flow. But it’s not speed that’s important, it’s momentum transfer. These examples go to show how important it is for researchers to question observations and consensus.” CITATION: “Theory of Flow Access with Apparent Obstacles: Cascades, Jumps, Roll Waves, and Turbulence,” Adrian Bejan. AOJE, 2022. DOI: 10.1115/1.4054473
Marcelo Errera's insight:
ephemeral structures that emerges following the same natural law as larger and long-standing structures like river basins
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The Physics of Freedom COMMENTARY By J. Peder ZaneJuly 11, 2022 The Physics of Freedom Freedom is our Founding Fathers’ greatest gift. Since 1776, that single word has been the compass and measure of the human experiment the world calls America. Whatever disparate, sometimes far-flung ideologies they may embrace, all who celebrate or bemoan our past, present, and future ground their claims and critiques in that single word. At heart, we are ever asking: How free are we? When you imagine all the other ideas those men in powdered wigs might have made our identity and obsession, freedom – which feels so hopeful, open-ended, and optimistic – seems the most salubrious of choices. And yet, perhaps because the concept is so fundamental and familiar, we rarely ask a central question: What is freedom? We assume we truly know its meaning. But do we? Freedom has become like the operating systems that power our computers and the world – something the vast majority of us rely on, take for granted, without really understanding what it is and how it works. I believe that some, but not all, of our divisions are rooted in the lack of clear understanding of this guiding ideal.
Marcelo Errera's insight:
#constructal
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Adrian Bejan, the J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Duke University, has published a new book titled "Time and Beauty: Why Time Flies and Beauty Never Dies." This is Bejan's fourth book written for a general audience that uses his concept of constructal law—the tendency of all systems to evolve towards easier access to flow—to explain everyday phenomena that aren't traditionally tied to physics. The book was published in early February 2022 by World Scientific.
Marcelo Errera's insight:
After all, is beauty in the eyes of the beholder? How free is one to determine what is beautiful? One more time, Prof. Bejan has provided us with a novel perspective on issues that we may take for granted or settled and even think they are out of the realm of Physics. He presents possible predictions, not just descriptions, of some universal aspects of beauty and its relation to us, to the surroundings, to nature. The book sheds light on the "je ne sais quoi " of beauty and, surprisingly, he proposes that beauty is related to time, another thing we intuitively think we know what it is. I am looking forward to receiving the hardcopy edition.
NigelReading|ASYNSIS's curator insight,
February 24, 2022 4:02 AM
#Asynsis design thinking mentor and patron Adrian Bejan publishes his new book with perfect timing, beautifully aligning with the #FormFollowsFlow #SynPlexity-curating #AsynsisPrinciple, the geometric foil to the first-principles physics of the #ConstructalLaw. #DesignThinking #Sustainability |
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Rainer Feistel Entropy 2023, 25(12), 1596 Living organisms are active open systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium. The ability to behave actively corresponds to dynamical metastability: minor but supercritical internal or external effects may trigger major substantial actions such as gross mechanical motion, dissipating internally accumulated energy reserves. Gaining a selective advantage from the beneficial use of activity requires a consistent combination of sensual perception, memorised experience, statistical or causal prediction models, and the resulting favourable decisions on actions. This information processing chain originated from mere physical interaction processes prior to life, here denoted as structural information exchange. From there, the self-organised transition to symbolic information processing marks the beginning of life, evolving through the novel purposivity of trial-and-error feedback and the accumulation of symbolic information. The emergence of symbols and prediction models can be described as a ritualisation transition, a symmetry-breaking kinetic phase transition of the second kind previously known from behavioural biology. The related new symmetry is the neutrally stable arbitrariness, conventionality, or code invariance of symbols with respect to their meaning. The meaning of such symbols is given by the structural effect they ultimately unleash, directly or indirectly, by deciding on which actions to take. The early genetic code represents the first symbols. The genetically inherited symbolic information is the first prediction model for activities sufficient for survival under the condition of environmental continuity, sometimes understood as the “final causality” property of the model. Read the full article at: www.mdpi.com Via Complexity Digest
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Great paper. Our understanding of things by way of the scientific method also evolves. "Science" was deemed a flow system by Bejan and Lorente.
Alessandro Cerboni's curator insight,
November 29, 2:15 PM
Gli organismi viventi sono sistemi aperti attivi lontani dall’equilibrio termodinamico. La capacità di comportarsi attivamente corrisponde alla metastabilità dinamica: effetti interni o esterni minori ma supercritici possono innescare azioni sostanziali importanti come il movimento meccanico grossolano, dissipando le riserve di energia accumulate internamente. Ottenere un vantaggio selettivo dall’uso benefico dell’attività richiede una combinazione coerente di percezione sensuale, esperienza memorizzata, modelli di previsione statistica o causale e le conseguenti decisioni favorevoli sulle azioni. Questa catena di elaborazione delle informazioni ha avuto origine da semplici processi di interazione fisica precedenti alla vita, qui indicati come scambio di informazioni strutturali. Da lì, la transizione auto-organizzata verso l’elaborazione simbolica delle informazioni segna l’inizio della vita, evolvendosi attraverso la nuova finalità del feedback per tentativi ed errori e l’accumulo di informazioni simboliche. L'emergere di simboli e modelli di previsione può essere descritto come una transizione di ritualizzazione, una transizione di fase cinetica che rompe la simmetria del secondo tipo precedentemente noto dalla biologia comportamentale. La nuova simmetria correlata è l’arbitrarietà, la convenzionalità o l’invarianza del codice neutralmente stabile dei simboli rispetto al loro significato. Il significato di tali simboli è dato dall’effetto strutturale che alla fine scatenano, direttamente o indirettamente, decidendo quali azioni intraprendere. Il primo codice genetico rappresenta i primi simboli. L’informazione simbolica ereditata geneticamente è il primo modello di previsione per attività sufficienti per la sopravvivenza in condizioni di continuità ambientale, talvolta intesa come proprietà di “causalità finale” del modello.
tx7th88v4j@privaterelay.appleid.com's curator insight,
December 8, 8:52 AM
Great paper. Our understanding of things by way of the scientific method also evolves. "Science" was deemed a flow system by Bejan and Lorente.
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In many modern engineering fields, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been adopted as a methodology to solve complex problems. CFD is becoming a key component in developing updated designs and optimization through computational simulations, resulting in lower operating costs and enhanced...
Marcelo Errera's insight:
Biomimetics is a fast track to drawing insights from natural designs that have been under "scrutiny" (evolution). It, however, does not offer understanding. This paper offers explanations that would allow extending the acquired knowledge in relatively different settings.
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Vijay Balasubramanian University of Pennsylvania, SFI The human brain consists of a 100 billion neurons connected by a 100 trillion synapses. In its computational function, each neuron is a simple electrical device. In this sense it is no different, in its conceptual essence, from a transistor or a diode in a silicon microchip, converting input signals into ephemeral voltage pulses that transmit to other neurons. And yet, the collective effect of these tiny electrical flutterings creates the intelligent mind, with its astonishing capacity for perception and action, memory and imagination, affection and indifference. In the words of Ramon y Cajal (1854-1932), a founding figure of neuroscience, neurons are "the mysterious butterflies of the soul, whose beating of wings may one day reveal to us the secrets of the mind." In this talk, Vijay Balasubramanian will explore current ideas about how this transmutation occurs.
Watch at: www.youtube.com
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The paper features a computational fluid dynamics study of a flapping NACA0015 hydrofoil moving with a combination of sinusoidal heaving and pitching. Several kinematic configurations are explored, varying sequentially pitch and heave amplitude, Strouhal number and phase angle, in an attempt to determine the influence of each parameter on the propulsive performance. To optimize efficiency the angle of attack should assume the highest value that also avoids the arise of the leading edge vortex generated in the dynamic stall state. At low Strouhal number optimum is reached at high heave amplitudes, which correspond to the configurations minimizing the hysteresis in the (Cy,Cx) plane. The same outcome in terms of hysteresis minimization has been verified to occur when optimal phase shift was considered. Differently, when the Strouhal number and the angle of attack become higher, to exploit efficiently the lift increment owed to dynamic stall it emerged the necessity of adopting low heave amplitude to improve separation resistance, avoiding the occurrence of deep stall.
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Every year, flocks of tiny white birds embark on an arduous, zigzagging journey from Greenland to Antarctica and then back again, flying more than 44,000 miles. In its lifetime, each of these arctic terns covers a distance equivalent to three or four round trips to the moon. Meanwhile, the dusky grouse, which lives at the edges of forests in mountainous regions of North America, travels but a fraction of a mile between its breeding grounds and its regular habitat. The great majority of bird species don’t migrate at all.New modeling studies suggest that birds migrate to strike a favorable balance between their input and output of energy.
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1981 Steve Jobs with the best analogy I’ve heard to understand what AI might do to humans: pic.twitter.com/nFJ2rN5qwf
— Billy Oppenheimer (@bpoppenheimer) February 8, 2023
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The 12th Constructal Law Conference “Freedom, Design and Evolution” will be held in Torino, Italy, on 21-22 September 2023.
“Freedom. Design and Evolution" are the key words of the 12th Constructal Law Conference scheduled in Torino, Italy, on 21-22 September 2023. The Constructal Law governs all phenomena of design evolution in Nature, bio and non-bio, human made and not human made. The conference explores diverse areas: Physics of life; Design in nature; Evolutionary design with freedom; Evolution: geophysical, biological, social, technological, communications, science, literature, city, government, climate; Thermodynamics, Energy, power, and economy; Thermoeconomics, Bioeconomy and circular economy; Information, Complexity, Change, Time arrow Human beings as part of nature; Hierarchy, Power laws, Inequality, Innovation; Living and non-living from the same point of view; Natural and social sciences together; Art and science together; Predicting evolution, Sustainability
A marvelous opportunity for the Constructal science community to commune after the depredations of the pandemic and to confer on the latest developments in the field, of which uniquely, the Asynsis Principle is a geometric, professional architectural design practice & #DesignToE theory analogue, as shared on TED conferences.
https://asynsis.medium.com/asynsis-a-new-design-toe-cb9a1d236175
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Arquitetura enquanto sistema evolutivo: Uma discussão sobre a lei constructal e a relação com a produção arquitetônica — Alexandre Bessa Martins Alves, Aloísio Leoni Schmid and Marcelo Risso Errera
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Lecturer 2023:
Professor Adrian Bejan J.A. Jones Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering Duke University, NC, USA
His lecture, entitled: Vascular materials: Predicting Design Evolution, will focus on one of his major contributions: evolutionary design illustrated in the case of multiscale vasculature, a methodology that can be used generally to predict the evolution toward flow access, miniaturization, high density of heat transfer, and the scaling up (or down) of an existing design. Abstract Porous materials are usually thought of as amorphous mixtures of two or more things, solids, fluids, and voids. The research field started that way, and so did my own activity in it. Along the way, I was drawn to the part of nature (the physics) that was missing from the amorphous view: the structure, flow, configuration, drawing (design), purpose, and evolution. The lecture is pictorial. It begins with defining the terms, because words have meaning: vascular, design, evolution, and prediction (theory). Next, the lecture shows that vascular (tree shaped) architectures flow more easily than parallel channels with only one length scale (the wall to wall spacing). Transport across channels is facilitated when the spacing is such that the channel flow length matches the entrance (developing) length of the flow. The tendency to evolve with freedom toward flow configurations that provide greater access is universal in nature, bio, and non-bio. This tendency is the Constructal Law, which empowers us to predict the evolution toward flow access, miniaturization, high density of heat transfer, and the scaling up (or down) of an existing design. Multiscale vasculatures occur naturally because they flow more easily than their counterparts with a few length scales. The future of evolutionary design everywhere points toward vascular, hierarchical flow architectures that will continue to morph with freedom and directionality.
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To take these high-resolution images of individual snowflakes, Nathan Myhrvold and his collaborators built a special camera. Their apparatus keeps the snowflake
The accumulated qualified citations since 1996 surpassed the 36,000 barrier.