35,545 research outputs found
Stalinist geneticis: The constitutional rhetoric of T. D. Lysenko
No full textThis study focuses on the constitutional rhetoric of T. D. Lysenko, the founder of an agrobiological doctrine (Lysenkoism) in the Stalinist Soviet Union. As the result of using not only scientific, but also political and ideological arguments, the Lysenkoists achieved an official ban on Mendelian genetics in the Soviet Union. Though the ban was brief and Lysenkoism as a leading biological doctrine was eventually deposed in favor of Mendelianism, today Lysenkoism remains a paradigmatic example of the pernicious political interference in science.
My critical orientation in reading Lysenko's two major speeches is constitutional rhetoric. It combines Kenneth Burke's dialectic of constitutions, on the one hand, and rhetoric of the subject, on the other. My analysis shows that (1) Lysenko had to constitute his science against an enemy (Mendelism); (2) the Lysenkoist constitution depended on its context, but also on the arbitrary wishes of Lysenko and his followers; and (3) this constitution rhetorically invented its audience and got the people it addressed to identify with this invention. I also show that Lysenko's constitutional rhetoric created a space where scientific terms transformed into political and ideological ones, and vice versa. Contrary to Lysenko's intentions, his language also gave his opponents, Soviet Mendelians, grounds on which to defend their science and criticize Lysenkoism.
This study of Lysenko's constitutional rhetoric contributes to a better understanding of modern science. I argue for a blurriness of the boundaries between what is scientific and political in the discourse of contemporary scientific controversies. I also argue that scientific language reveals more plasticity and capability to adapt to the political situation than has hitherto been assumed
Heredity and Its Variability
No full textLysenko, T. Heredity and its variability, 1945
The classic of Stalinist aberrant genetic theory, horticulturist Lysenko rejected orthodox genetics in favor of the theories of those of the Russian horticulturist I. V. Michurin. Among his theories were that wheat raised under certain conditions produce seeds of rye and that theoretical biology must be fused with Soviet agricultural practice. He was the total autocrat of Soviet biology from 1948 through 1953, and believed that through inherited characteristics Stalinism would create a \u27new man\u27. Lysenko held that heredity can be changed by husbandry, a theory that had disastrous impact on Soviet agriculture. He was dismissed from his post as director of the Soviet Institute of Genetics.
See also Lysenkoism Against Genetics: The Meeting of the Lenin All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences of August 1948, Its Background, Causes, and Aftermath
Translated from the Russian by Theodosius Dobzhanskyhttps://digitalcommons.rockefeller.edu/pamphlets-offprints-and-reprints/1114/thumbnail.jp
La polémica en la biología del siglo xx N. I. Vavílov y T. D. Lysenko
No full textA brief history and interpretation of one of the most important polemics in the XX Century Biology is presented: the Vavílov-Lysenko Controversy, in the then (1935-48) Soviet Union, and it is reflected how Lysenko was imposing his points of view, despite not having scientific support. The development of the discussions on Genetics in the USSR between 1936 and 1939 is described and the philosophical conceptions of both characters are analyzed and how this finally led to the infamous VASKHNIL Session of 1948. The consequences of this session on the Biology of the USSR are described. The aim of the work is to provide researchers with a tool to know and analyze interesting, sometimes dramatic, stages of the History of Science, in whose mirror they may be reflected.Se presenta una breve historia e interpretación de una de las polémicas más importantes en la biología del siglo xx: la polémica Vavílov-Lysenko, en la entonces (1935-1948) Unión Soviética, y se refleja cómo Lysenko fue imponiendo sus puntos de vista, pese a no contar con soporte científico. Se describe el desarrollo de las discusiones sobre genética en la URSS entre los años 1936 y 1939 y se analizan las concepciones filosóficas de ambos personajes y cómo esto, finalmente, condujo a la tristemente célebre sesión de VASKHNIL (siglas de la Academia de Ciencias Agrícolas), de 1948. Se describe las consecuencias de esta sesión para la biología de la URSS. El trabajo tiene por objetivo poner a disposición de los investigadores una herramienta para conocer y analizar etapas interesantes, a veces dramáticas, de la historia de la ciencia, en cuyo espejo es posible que se encuentren reflejados
Unipotent automorphic sheaf for G₂, Franel numbers, and Thom-Boardman stratification
No full textDans cette thèse, d’une part, nous généralisons au cas équivariant un résultat de J. Denef et F. Loeser sur les sommes trigonométriques sur un tore ; d’autre part, nous étudions la stratification de Thom-Boardman associée à la multiplication des sections globales des fibrés en droites sur une courbe. Nous montrons une inégalité subtile sur les dimensions de ces strates. Notre motivation vient du programme de Langlands géométrique. En s’appuyant sur les travaux de W. T. Gan, N. Gurevich, D. Jiang et de S. Lysenko, nous proposons, pour le groupe réductif G de type G2, une construction conjecturale du faisceau automorphe dont le paramètre d’Arthur est unipotent et sous-régulier. En utilisant nos deux résultats ci-dessus, nous déterminons les rangs génériques de toutes les composantes isotypiques d’un faisceau S₃-équivariant qui apparaît dans notre conjecture, ce S₃ étant le centralisateur du SL2 sous-régulier dans le groupe dual de Langlands de G.In this thesis, on the one hand, we generalise to the equivariant case a result of J. Denef and F. Loeser about trigonometric sums on tori ; on the other hand, we study the Thom-Boardman stratification associated to the multiplication of global sections of line bundles on a curve. We prove a subtle inequaliity about the dimensions of these strata. Our motivation comes from the geometric Langlands program. Based on works of W. T. Gan, N. Gurevich, D. Jiang and S. Lysenko, we propose, for the reductive group G of type G2, a conjectural construction of the automorphic sheaf whose Arthur parameter is unipotent and sub-regular. Using our two results above, we determine the generic ranks of all isotypic components of an S3-equivaraint sheaf which appears in our conjecture, this S3 being the centraliser of the sub-regular SL2 inside the Langlands dual group of G
D. T. Max, 36th Annual ODU Literary Festival
No full textD. T. Max is a graduate of Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker. His new book, Every Love Story Is A Ghost Story: A Life of David Foster Wallace, was released in August 2012 and was a New York Times best-seller. He is also the author of The Family That Couldn\u27t Sleep: A Medical Mystery
MeSH term explosion and author rank improve expert recommendations
No full textInformation overload is an often-cited phenomenon that reduces the productivity, efficiency and efficacy of scientists. One challenge for scientists is to find appropriate collaborators in their research. The literature describes various solutions to the problem of expertise location, but most current approaches do not appear to be very suitable for expert recommendations in biomedical research. In this study, we present the development and initial evaluation of a vector space model-based algorithm to calculate researcher similarity using four inputs: 1) MeSH terms of publications; 2) MeSH terms and author rank; 3) exploded MeSH terms; and 4) exploded MeSH terms and author rank. We developed and evaluated the algorithm using a data set of 17,525 authors and their 22,542 papers. On average, our algorithms correctly predicted 2.5 of the top 5/10 coauthors of individual scientists. Exploded MeSH and author rank outperformed all other algorithms in accuracy, followed closely by MeSH and author rank. Our results show that the accuracy of MeSH term-based matching can be enhanced with other metadata such as author rank
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
DNA fusion gene vaccination mobilizes effective anti-leukemic cytotoxic T lymphocytes from a tolerized repertoire
No full textThe majority of known human tumor-associated antigens derive from non-mutated self proteins. T cell tolerance, essential to prevent autoimmunity, must therefore be cautiously circumvented to generate cytotoxic T cell responses against these targets. Our strategy uses DNA fusion vaccines to activate high levels of peptide-specific CTL. Key foreign sequences from tetanus toxin activate tolerance-breaking CD4+ T cell help. Candidate MHC class Ibinding tumor peptide sequences are fused to the C terminus for optimal processing and presentation. To model performance against a leukemia-associated antigen in a tolerized setting, we constructed a fusion vaccine encoding an immunodominant CTL epitopederived from Friend murine leukemia virus gag protein (FMuLVgag) and vaccinated tolerant FMuLVgag-transgenic (gag-Tg) mice. Vaccination with the construct induced epitopespecificIFN-c-producing CD8+ T cells in normal and gag-Tg mice. The frequency and avidity of activated cells were reduced in gag-Tg mice, and no autoimmune injury resulted. However, these CD8+ T cells did exhibit gag-specific cytotoxicity in vitro and in vivo. Also, epitope-specific CTL killed FBL-3 leukemia cells expressing endogenous FMuLVgag antigen and protected against leukemia challenge in vivo. These results demonstrate a simple strategy to engage anti-microbial T cell help to activate epitope-specific polyclonal CD8+ T cell responses from a residual tolerized repertoire
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