Definitions,measurements, and classifications of stimuli,situations, and environments

A review is presented of issues relevant to the definition, measurement, and classification of stimuli, situations, and environments. Problems such as the lack of adequate definitions of concepts, error and bias in measurement procedures, confusion between measurement of a concept and measurement of its behavioral effects, and the lack of agreement among alternative measures are emphasized. It is suggested that concepts be defined in terms of objective characteristics while allowing for the study of the transactional relationship between organism and environment. The work of the ethologists in defining stimuli while studying their relationship to different organismic states and situational contexts is emphasized in this regard. Following Brunswik, it is also suggested that wherever possible there be a representative sampling of variables in natural settings. Note from the editors: From time to time, Human Ecology will publish a review article. Our first in this series is a review by a psychologist of basic definitional and conceptual problems in environmental studies.This paper was prepared while the author was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Educational Testing Service. The support of ETS and my colleagues in the Division of Psychological Studies is gratefully acknowledged. The review was also supported in part by a grant from the Rutgers University Research Council.     

Cadmium transport, resistance, and toxicity in bacteria, algae, and fungi

Cadmium is an important environmental pollutant and a potent toxicant to bacteria, algae, and fungi. Mechanisms of Cd toxicity and resistance are variable, depending on the organism. It is very clear that the form of the metal and the environment it is studied in, play an important role in how Cd exerts its effect and how the organism(s) responds. A wide range of Cd concentrations have been used to designate resistance in organisms. To date, no concentration has been specified that is applicable to all species studied under standardized conditions. Cadmium exerts its toxic effect(s) over a wide range of concentrations. In most cases, algae and cyanobacteria are the most sensitive organisms, whereas bacteria and fungi appear to be more resistant. In some bacteria, plasmid-encoded resistance can lead to reduced Cd2+ uptake. However, some Gram-negative bacteria without plasmids are just as resistant to Cd as are bacteria containing plasmids encoding for Cd resistance. According to Silver and Misra (1984), there is no evidence for enzymatic or chemical transformations associated with Cd resistance. Insufficient information is available on the genetics of Cd uptake and resistance in cyanobacteria and algae. Mechanisms remain largely unknown at this point in time. Cadmium is toxic to these organisms, causing severe inhibition of such physiological processes as growth, photosynthesis, and nitrogen fixation at concentrations less than 2 ppm, and often in the ppb range (Tables 2 and 3). Cadmium also causes pronounced morphological aberrations in these organisms, which are probably related to deleterious effects on cell division. This may be direct or indirect, as a result of Cd effects on protein synthesis and cellular organelles such as mitochondria and chloroplasts. Cadmium is accumulated internally in algae (Table 4) as a result of a two-phase uptake process. The first phase involves a rapid physicochemical adsorption of Cd onto cell wall binding sites, which are probably proteins and (or) polysaccharides. This is followed by a lag period and then a slow, steady intracellular uptake. This latter phase is energy dependent and may involve transport systems used to accumulate other divalent cations, such as Mn2+ and Ca2+. Some data indicate that Cd resistance, and possibly uptake, in algae and cyanobacteria is controlled by a plasmid-encoded gene(s). Although considerable information is available on Cd toxicity to, and uptake in fungi, further work is clearly needed in several areas. There is little information about Cd uptake by filamentous fungi, and even in yeasts, information on the specificity, kinetics, and mechanisms of Cd uptake is limited.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Incorporating Science,Technology, Fairness,and Accountability in Environmental,Health, and Safety Decisions

The Precautionary Principle is in sharp political focus today because (1) the nature of scientific uncertainty is changing and (2) there is increasing pressure to base governmental action on more “rational” schemes, such as cost-benefit analysis and quantitative risk assessment, the former being an embodiment of ‘rational choice theory’ promoted by the Chicago school of law and economics. The Precautionary Principle has been criticized as being both too vague and too arbitrary to form a basis for rational decision making. The assumption underlying this criticism is that any scheme not based on cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment is both irrational and without secure foundation in either science or economics. This paper contests that view and makes explicit the rational tenets of the Precautionary Principle within an analytical framework as rigorous as uncertainties permit, and one that mirrors democratic values embodied in regulatory, compensatory, and common law. Unlike other formulations that reject risk assessment, this paper argues that risk assessment can be used within the formalism of tradeoff analysis—a more appropriate alternative to traditional cost-benefit analysis and one that satisfies the need for well-grounded public policy decision making. This paper will argue that the precautionary approach is the most appropriate basis for policy, even when large uncertainties do not exist, especially where the fairness of the distributions of costs and benefits of hazardous activities and products are a concern. Furthermore, it will offer an approach to making decisions within an analytic framework, based on equity and justice, to replace the economic paradigm of utilitarian cost-benefit analysis.     

Oxidative stress, antioxidant defenses, and damage removal, repair, and replacement systems

Oxidative stress is an unavoidable consequence of life in an oxygen-rich atmosphere. Oxygen radicals and other activated oxygen species are generated as by-products of aerobic metabolism and exposure to various natural and synthetic toxicants. The "Oxygen Paradox" is that oxygen is dangerous to the very life-forms for which it has become an essential component of energy production. The first defense against oxygen toxicity is the sharp gradient of oxygen tension, seen in all mammals, from the environmental level of 20% to a tissue concentration of only 3-4% oxygen. These relatively low tissue levels of oxygen prevent most oxidative damage from ever occurring. Cells, tissues, organs, and organisms utilize multiple layers of antioxidant defenses and damage removal, and replacement or repair systems in order to cope with the remaining stress and damage that oxygen engenders. The enzymes comprising many of these protective systems are inducible under conditions of oxidative stress adaptation, in which the expression of over 40 mammalian genes is upregulated. Mitotic cells have the additional defensive ability of entering a transient growth-arrested state (in the first stages of adaptation) in which DNA is protected by histone proteins, energy is conserved by diminished expression of nonessential genes, and the expression of shock and stress proteins is greatly increased. Failure to fully cope with an oxidative stress can switch mitotic cells into a permanent growth-arrested, senescence-like state in which they may survive for long periods. Faced with even more severe oxidative stress, or the declining protective enzymes and adaptive capacity associated with aging, cells may "sacrifice themselves" by apoptosis, which protects surrounding healthy tissue from further damage. Only under the most severe oxidative stress conditions will cells undergo a necrotic death, which exposes surrounding tissues to the further vicissitudes of an inflammatory immune response. This remarkable array of systems for defense; damage removal, replacement, and repair; adaptation; growth modulation; and apoptosis make it possible for us to enjoy life in an oxygen-rich environment.     

Biofuels, facts, fantasy, and feasibility

It is frequently claimed that green algae are intrinsically more productive, often by orders of magnitude, than higher plants commonly grown as crops for food. There is no firm evidence for this belief. On the contrary, there is much experience which shows that algae are not more but less productive. Under optimal conditions, all green organisms photosynthesize at the same rate in low light and, whilst commonly cultivated ‘sun’ species show some differences in rate in full light, these do not translate into widely different rates of accumulation of biomass. Accordingly, irrespective of crop, one acre of land, pond or bioreactor, can annually yield about enough biomass to fuel one motor vehicle or meet the calorific requirement of several people. This amount of biomass is not sufficient to make other than a very small contribution to our present road transport requirements and yet contributes significantly to global food shortages and rising prices. Reliable evidence also suggests that, if all of the inputs are taken into account, the net energy gain of liquid biofuels, derived either from algae or terrestrial crops, is either very modest or non-existent and will therefore bring about little or no sparing of carbon dioxide emissions.     

Count data, detection probabilities, and the demography, dynamics, distribution, and decline of amphibians

The evidence for amphibian population declines is based on count data that were not adjusted for detection probabilities. Such data are not reliable even when collected using standard methods. The formula C = Np (where C is a count, N the true parameter value, and p is a detection probability) relates count data to demography, population size, or distributions. With unadjusted count data, one assumes a linear relationship between C and N and that p is constant. These assumptions are unlikely to be met in studies of amphibian populations. Amphibian population data should be based on methods that account for detection probabilities.     

Earth, sky, wind, and weather

This paper seeks to understand what it means to live 'in the open'. It begins with an account of experiments that test whether children have acquired a scientifically correct understanding of the shape of the earth, according to which people live all around on the outside of a solid sphere. This understanding cannot accommodate the phenomenon of the sky, in relation to which the earth can appear only as the ground of human habitation. James Gibson's ecological approach to perception offers a possible alternative, depicting earth and sky as complementary hemispheres. Yet for Gibson, this earth-sky can be inhabited only insofar as it is furnished with objects. To that extent, it ceases to be open. Drawing on elements of Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology, it is argued that in the open world persons and things relate not as closed forms but by virtue of their common immersion in the generative fluxes of the medium – in wind and weather. Fundamental to life is the process of respiration, by which organisms continually disrupt any boundary between earth and sky, binding substance and medium together in forging their own growth and movement. Thus to inhabit the open is not to be stranded on the outer surface of the earth but to be caught up in the transformations of the weather-world.     

Subjects and Objects: Metaphysics, Biology, Consciousness, and Cognition

Over the past half-century, the Freeman laboratory has accumulated a large volume of data and a correspondingly extensive interpretive framework centered around an alternative perspective on brain function, that of dynamical systems. The purpose of this paper is first briefly to summarise this work, and bring it into dialogue with other perspectives. The contents of consciousness are seen as an inevitably sparse sample of events in the perception–action cycle. The paper proceeds to an attempt to elucidate the contents of this sparse sample. A critical concept is that of selfhood, and how it presents itself phenomenologically. It is argued that our experience of selfhood is an artifact of the necessity of preservation of subject/object relations. As this part of metaphysics has been badly misunderstood, we scrutinise it at some length in quantum mechanics, biology, and cognition. It is argued that Pattee's approach, while valuable, tends to premature closure on these issues. The paper then proceeds to outline a view on how selfhood is best considered wrt the immune response. This is interrelated with phenomenology, and some data are adduced to support this central hypothesis. Finally, consequences for the social sciences in general are hinted at.     

Bioethics, vulnerability, and protection

What makes individuals, groups, or even entire countries vulnerable? And why is vulnerability a concern in bioethics? A simple answer to both questions is that vulnerable individuals and groups are subject to exploitation, and exploitation is morally wrong. This analysis is limited to two areas. First is the context of multinational research, in which vulnerable people can be exploited even if they are not harmed, and harmed even if they are not exploited. The type of multinational research likely to raise the most ethical concerns is that in which the investigators or sponsors are from a powerful industrialised country or a giant pharmaceutical company and the research is conducted in a developing country. Second is the situation of women, who are made vulnerable in cultural settings or in entire countries in which they are oppressed and powerless. In the face of cultural values and practices, or governmental policies, these women suffer serious consequences for their health and even lives. Examples are provided, and it is suggested that in some cases vulnerable individuals can be harmed but not exploited. On the positive side, recent developments reveal a new awareness of exploitation and efforts to enhance the ability of developing countries to protect themselves and their citizens from exploitation at the hands of powerful sponsors of research. In addition, human rights principles are increasingly being used to monitor the actions (or inaction) of governments regarding women's reproductive rights and vulnerability with respect to HIV/AIDS, and to take remedial actions.     

Substance,rights, value,and abortion

Most serious contemporary opposition to abortion is grounded on the belief that human fetuses are members of the same moral category as beings like us, and that the loss of any such life is one of the worst possible losses. Substance view theorists oppose abortion for this reason: in their view beings like us are essentially rational substances with inherent moral worth, and those who perform induced abortion fail to recognize this moral worth. In a recent series of articles, Rob Lovering presents reductio‐style arguments against the substance view, in part arguing that it is inconsistent with our intuitions in rescue and spontaneous abortion cases. In a recent reply, Henrik Friberg‐Fernros argues that the substance view can evade these problematic implications because of a distinction between killing and letting die. According to this argument, the fetus’s right to life is a negative right not to be killed, not a positive right to be rescued, thus the anti‐abortion theorist who lets fetuses die acts acceptably. I argue this stance fails to recognize the inherent moral worth that the substance view contends fetuses possess. One who refrains from saving a person, or doesn’t care how many people she saves, cannot reasonably claim to value life. Furthermore, this stance is at odds with most contemporary anti‐abortion views that oppose induced abortions of both the killing and letting die variety.     

Heterochromatin,colchicine, and karyotype

Summary Species of Chilocorus differ in chromosome number owing to centric fusion of metacentric chromosomes. The concomitant loss of arms is tolerated because in all unfused chromosomes one arm is completely heterochromatic, the other euchromatic. Under the influence of colchicine, the arms of unfused and fused chromosomes contract differentially. Unless the distribution of heterochromatin is known, karyotype analysis is destined to failure.Contribution No. 1138, Forest Entomology and Pathology Branch, Department of Forestry, Ottawa, Canada.Dedicated to Professor H. Bauer on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.     

Autotropism, automorphogenesis, and gravity

Segments of organs that have undergone gravitropic curvature later straighten during the course of gravitropism or after the g ‐vector becomes randomized on a clinostat. Little is known about the mechanisms underlying these and perhaps related phenomena which have been described with various overlapping terms such as autotropism, autotropic straightening, automorphosis, automorphogenesis, automorphic curvature, and gravitropic straightening. The types of phenomena that historically have been named by the above terms are reviewed critically with respect to an interaction with gravitropism. We suggest that the term "autotropism" should not be applied to the phenomenon of organ straightening that occurs during the course of gravitropism, since this straightening is part of a complex series of local growth adjustments overall through time, and since this phenomenon is not itself a tropistic response to a directional exogenous stimulus. It is suggested that the term autotropism should be used only for the phenomenon of organ straightening that occurs after the g ‐vector is randomized on a clinostat or withdrawn in the microgravity conditions of spaceflight. Usage of the term automorphogenesis is most appropriate for describing curvatures or orientations that result from morphological relationships such as in nastic curvatures.     

Attention, communication, and schizophrenia

The paper starts by drawing the historical lines for and giving an account of the main methods and results from an empirical investigation of cognitive disorders in schizophrenics and communication deviances in their parents. The focus of the report is on the significant correlations that were found between some aspects of parents' style of communication and offsprings' cognitive functioning. On the basis of the empirical study, the relationship between attention and communication is discussed, and the issue of whether attentional processes "change identity" by being embedded in a social context is considered. Furthermore, the influence of deviant communication in parents on attentional processes in offspring is discussed in relation to a main postulate in Vygotsky's theory; namely, that higher mental functions are internalized social relations.     

Omissions, Causation, and Responsibility

In this paper I discuss a recent exchange of articles between Hugh McLachlan and John Coggon on the relationship between omissions, causation, and moral responsibility. My aim is to contribute to their debate by isolating a presupposition I believe they both share and by questioning that presupposition. The presupposition is that, at any given moment, there are countless things that I am omitting to do. This leads both McLachlan and Coggon to give a distorted account of the relationship between causation and moral or (as the case may be) legal responsibility and, in the case of Coggon, to claim that the law??s conception of causation is a fiction based on policy. Once it is seen that this presupposition is faulty, we can attain a more accurate view of the logical relationship between causation and moral responsibility in the case of omissions. This is important because it will enable us, in turn, to understand why the law continues to regard omissions as different, both logically and morally, from acts, and why the law seeks to track that logical and moral difference in the legal distinction it draws between withholding life-sustaining measures and euthanasia.     

Obesity, metabolism, and hypertension

The relationship between obesity and hypertension is complex and poorly understood. A developing body of information suggests that metabolic factors related to the obese state are importantly involved. The pertinent observations include: (1) Diet influences sympathetic nervous system activity. Fasting suppresses, while carbohydrate and fat feeding stimulate, sympathetic activity. (2) Dietary-induced changes in sympathetic activity contribute to the changes in metabolic rate that accompany changes in dietary intake. (3) Insulin-mediated glucose metabolism in the hypothalamus provides a link between dietary intake and sympathetic nervous system activity. And (4) hyperinsulinemia, a consequence of insulin resistance in the obese, is associated with hypertension. These observations have suggested the following hypothesis. Hyperinsulinemia results in sympathetic stimulation which drives thermogenic mechanisms, thereby increasing metabolic rate. The net result is a restoration of energy balance at the expense of hyperinsulinemia and increased sympathetic activity. Hypertension is thus the unfortunate consequence of hyperinsulinemia, which increases renal sodium reabsorption, and sympathetic stimulation of the heart, kidney, and vasculature. The data on which this hypothesis is constructed are reviewed and the implications discussed.     

The reproduction and development of sharks,skates, rays and ratfishes: introduction,history, overview,and future prospects

References This volume had its origin in aSymposium on the Reproduction and Development of Cartilaginous Fishes that was held at the annual meetings of the American Elasmobranch Society and the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in Charleston, South Carolina in June 1990. The aim of this symposium was to bring together many of those scientists interested in chondrichthyan reproduction and development in order to assess the current state of knowledge in these fields.The chondrichthyan fishes occupy a pivotal position in comparative and evolutionary studies of vertebrate reproduction and development. They are the oldest surviving group of jawed vertebrates and they possess both the adult vertebrate Bauplan and the vertebrate program of embryonic development. The major features of the female reproductive system, including its embryonic origin, structure, physiological function, and biochemistry, apparently were established early in vertebrate evolution and are fully developed in chondrichthyan fishes. These features of the female reproductive system have been retained during the evolution of the other classes of vertebrates. Much the same can be said for the male reproductive system. Moreover, viviparity, placental nourishment of developing embryos, and the hormonal regulation of these events made an initial appearance in this group.The twenty-two articles contained in this volume bring together a wide variety of complementary research by investigators from seven countries. It is hoped that presentation of this disparate body of research and thought in one place will provide perspective on current research activity, call attention to those areas in which the research endeavour is deficient, and identify opportunities for future study. The appearance at this time of a volume on the reproduction and development of cartilaginous fishes is quite opportune. The continued existence of these fishes, which survived the great extinction events of Earth"s history, is now threatened by over-exploitation unless immediate steps for their conservation are undertaken. Knowledge of their reproduction and development not only is an end in itself, but is of critical importance in devising successful conservation and resource management strategies.     

Life,information theory,probability, and physics

A purely information-theoretical approach to the problem of self-replication of elementary living units implies that pure chance is the determining factor in the formation of the first living unit. The probability of such a spontaneous formation can be calculated from the minimum amount of information which an organism must possess in order to replicate itself. An estimation of this amount of information is made here by two different methods. First by a “paper and pencil experiment” which indicates the minimum amount of information needed on a printed page in order that with given tools the page could be reproduced. Second—by an analytical consideration of some hypothetical molecular mechanisms. A general method for handling such problems is suggested. On the basis of estimated information contents it is shown that under most favorable conditions the probability of a spontaneous generation by pure chance during the lifetime of the earth is vanishingly small. It is concluded that dynamic factors, which may reduce tremendously the information content, must play a role in the genesis of life on earth.     

HIFs,angiogenesis, and cancer

Tumor hypoxia was first described in the 1950s by radiation oncologists as a frequent cause of failure to radiotherapy in solid tumors. Today, it is evident that tumor hypoxia is a common feature of many cancers and the master regulator of hypoxia, hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1 (HIF‐1), regulates multiple aspects of tumorigenesis, including angiogenesis, proliferation, metabolism, metastasis, differentiation, and response to radiation therapy. Although the tumor hypoxia response mechanism leads to a multitude of downstream effects, it is angiogenesis that is most crucial and also most susceptible to molecular manipulation. The delineation of molecular mechanisms of angiogenesis has revealed a critical role for HIF‐1 in the regulation of angiogenic growth factors. In this article, we review what has been described about HIF‐1: its structure, its regulation, and its implication for cancer therapy and we focus on its role in angiogenesis and cancer. J. Cell. Biochem. 114: 967–974, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Baboons, chimpanzees, and tools

Wild chimpanzees make and use tools with far greater frequency and variety than wild baboons. Sampling differences; differences in the sensory, motor, or cognitive capacities for skilled tool use; or environmental differences are not responsible. Fortuitous discovery of novel forms of tool behavior probably occurs as rarely among chimpanzees as among baboons. However, research on wild and captive chimpanzees reveals that the discovery is transmitted quickly among chimpanzee groups by observation learning, and thus becomes well-established in the group's behavioral repertoire. In contrast, study of captive baboons reveals that they acquire little information about tool behavior by observation. With little observation learning the behavior is not likely to be acquired by other group members since repeated independent discovery is improbable. Thus chimpanzees' more proficient tool behavior is due mainly to their greater capacity for observation learning. This suggests that the advent of hominid tool traditions was accompanied by a capacity for facile observation learning and thus, perhaps, by language ability.     

Bystanders,risks, and consent

This paper considers the moral status of bystanders affected by medical research trials. Recent proposals advocate a very low threshold of permissible risk imposition upon bystanders that is insensitive to the prospective benefits of the trial, in part because we typically lack bystanders' consent. I argue that the correct threshold of permissible risk will be sensitive to the prospective gains of the trial. I further argue that one does not always need a person's consent to expose her to significant risks of even serious harm for the sake of others. That we typically need the consent of participants is explained by the fact that trials risk harmfully using participants, which is very hard to justify without consent. Bystanders, in contrast, are harmed as a side-effect, which is easier to justify. I then consider whether the degree of risk that a trial may impose on a bystander is sensitive to whether she is a prospective beneficiary of that trial.