Growth and Development

1. Introduction.- 1.1 The Enigma.- 1.2 The Imprecise Universe.- 1.3 The Dilemma of Modern Biology.- 1.4 Phenomenological Redress.- 1.5 Origins of the Principle.- 2. The Perspective.- 2.1 Thermodynamics: The Phenomenological Science.- 2.2 The First Law and the Nature of Work.- 2.3 The Second Law.- 2.4 Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics and Proto-Communities.- 2.5 Summary.- 3. The Object.- 3.1 The Ubiquity of Flows.- 3.2 Describing Flow Networks.- 3.3 Analyzing Flow Networks.- 3.4 Standing Stocks and Fluxes.- 3.5 Summary.- 4. An Agent.- 4.1 Cycles and Autonomous Behavior.- 4.2 Autonomous Behavior and Holistic Description.- 4.3 The Amount of Cycling in Flow Networks.- 4.4 The Structure of Network Cycles.- 4.5 Summary.- 5. The Calculus.- 5.1 Information Theory and Ecology.- 5.2 The Uncertainty of an Outcome.- 5.3 Information.- 5.4 Summary.- 6 The Description.- 6.1 The Network Perspective.- 6.2 Growth.- 6.3 Development.- 6.4 Simultaneous Growth and Development.- 6.5 Ascendency Arising froma Dynamic Tension.- 6.6 Generic Limits to Growth and Development.- 6.7 Autonomous Growth and Development Ill.- 6.8 The Limits to Autonomous Growth and Development.- 6.9 Phenomenological Basis for Optimal Ascendency.- 6.10 The Principle of Maximal Work.- 6.11 Relationship to Other Variational Principles.- 6.12 Summary.- 7 Extensions.- 7.1 The Incomplete Picture.- 7.2 Spatial Heterogeneity.- 7.3 Temporal Dynamics.- 7.4 Multiple Media.- 7.5 Overall Heterogeneity.- 7.6 Aggregation.- 7.7 Ascertaining Configurations of Optimal Ascendency.- 7.8 Other Applications-Economics and Ontogeny.- 7.9 Summary.- 7.10 Epilogue.- Appendix A: Review of Matrix and Vector Operations.- Appendix B: A Program to Calculate Information Indices.- References.- Author Index.