Yoga and fetishism: reflections on Marxist social theory

Classical social theory – including Marxist social theory – is based on a critique of the relationship between religion and society. The philosophical underpinning of this is the question of consciousness and the projection of consciousness onto things. Drawing on contemporary anthropological and philosophical theories of fetishism, this article engages with Marx's critique of religion and the recovery of social value by way of an analysis of yoga. Two interrelated claims are made. First, yoga represents a paradigm shift in the historical development of religious consciousness. A critical analysis of this development extends the fetishization of social relations in things to the level of self-consciousness in the body. Second, a critique of yoga's fetishization of the body and consciousness extends and expands Marx's critique of obscured social value and enables a more holistic ecological politics concerning the value of life.     

Resolution of evolutionary conflict: a general theory and its applications

While many cases in which conflict over the evolution of social behavior exists even between closely related individuals (e.g., parent-offspring conflict) have been pointed out, little attention has been paid on the problem of where such conflict should lead. A general theory of conflict resolution, however, has recently been developed. The key idea of the theory is the incorporation of conflict costs in the inclusive fitness evaluation. The theory shows that if both sides engaged in the conflict can potentially control the other at a cost, the coevolutionary game of escalating the fight with increased conflict costs always leads either side to give in to the other, resolving the conflict. Here we examine the logical basis of the theory in terms of a simplest example, donor-recipient conflict over the evolution of altruism, and to show its different types of application we review two more specific examples: reproductive-worker conflict over true (sterile) worker evolution in termites and insider-outsider conflict over group size determination. The latter exemplifies the resolution of conflict over the value of a variable (group size in this case) rather than a behavior, suggesting extended applicability of the basic theory.     

Motion sickness: a synthesis and evaluation of the sensory conflict theory

"Motion sickness" is the general term describing a group of common nausea syndromes originally attributed to motion-induced cerebral ischemia, stimulation of abdominal organ afferents, or overstimulation of the vestibular organs of the inner ear. Seasickness, car sickness, and airsickness are commonly experienced examples. However, the identification of other variants such as spectacle sickness and flight simulator sickness in which the physical motion of the head and body is normal or even absent has led to a succession of "sensory conflict" theories that offer a more comprehensive etiologic perspective. Implicit in the conflict theory is the hypothesis that neural and (or) humoral signals originate in regions of the brain subserving spatial orientation, and that these signals somehow traverse to other centers mediating sickness symptoms. Unfortunately, our present understanding of the neurophysiological basis of motion sickness is incomplete. No sensory conflict neuron or process has yet been physiologically identified. This paper reviews the types of stimuli that cause sickness and synthesizes a mathematical statement of the sensory conflict hypothesis based on observer theory from control engineering. A revised mathematical model is presented that describes the dynamic coupling between the putative conflict signals and nausea magnitude estimates. Based on the model, what properties would a conflict neuron be expected to have?     

The theory and practice of constructing calibration curves in biodozimetry

The methodical peculiarities of experimental construction of regression "dose-effect" relationships used for the dose reconstruction are discussed. The method of computer simulations is applied to study the efficiency of different statistical procedures for plotting regression curves as well as the dependence of errors in dose prediction on the volume of examined material and on the choice of doses for a calibration curve. The causes of essential variability of calibrations obtained by different teams of researchers are discussed. A number of methodical recommendations is given for statistical processing of cytogenetic data. The procedure of constructing calibration dose dependence of the frequency of dicentrics on the basis experiments with in vitro gamma-irradiation of lymphocytes from blood samples of 5 donors is considered in detail. The expressions for statistical errors occurring in the dose reconstruction made on the base of the frequency of aberrations were derived and checked by the computer experiment.     

Notes on anthropometric technique: anthropometric measurements--right and left sides

In order to discover whether statistically significant differences exist between measurements taken on the right and left sides of the body, 21 such anthropometric dimensions were compared. In eight cases significant differences were found. Six of these dealt with the forelimb, in which the dimension measured on the right side was greater. Since data on handedness is lacking, we do not know whether this is related to the handedness of the subjects.     

Activation-induced deaminase: light and dark sides

Activation-induced deaminase (AID) is required for class switch recombination (CSR) and somatic hypermutation (SHM), which are responsible for secondary diversification of antibodies in germinal centers. AID initiates these processes by deamination of cytosines on the immunoglobulin (Ig) locus, a potentially mutagenic activity. AID expression is restricted to germinal-center B cells, but the mechanisms that regulate its target specificity are not completely understood. Here, we review the most recent findings on the regulation of AID targeting and discuss how AID activity on non-Ig genes is relevant to the generation of chromosome translocations and to lymphomagenesis.     

The usefulness of destructive host feeding parasitoids in classical biological control: theory and observation conflict

Abstract.

• 1 We examine the conventional wisdom among biological control practitioners that destructive host feeding is a desirable attribute in parasitoids employed for classical biological control, using both the predictions of population dynamics theory and historical data on biological control introductions of Hymenoptera against Homoptera.
• 2 Population dynamics theory predicts that destructive host feeders, compared with other parasitoids, are (a) either just as likely or more likely to become established, and (b) unable to depress host equilibria as strongly.
• 3 Analyses of the B IOC AT database suggest that among parasitoids of Homoptera destructive host feeders are superior to other parasitoids with respect to both establishment rate and success rate.
• 4 We present likely explanations for the disparity between the predictions of population dynamics theory and the results of database analysis. A partial explanation for the mismatch between theory and observation with respect to the degree of pest suppression may be that females of destructive host feeding parasitoids rely less upon hosts as a food source when alternative foods such as honeydew and nectar are plentiful.
• 5 We conclude that, despite the predictions of population dynamics theory, destructive host feeders are probably better biological control agents than other parasitoids, and certainly no worse, but that it would imprudent to use destructive host feeding as the sole, or even primary, selection criterion when seeking agents for classical biological control.

     

Detecting the molecular signature of social conflict: theory and a test with bacterial quorum sensing genes

Extending social evolution theory to the molecular level opens the door to an unparalleled abundance of data and statistical tools for testing alternative hypotheses about the long-term evolutionary dynamics of cooperation and conflict. To this end, we take a collection of known sociality genes (bacterial quorum sensing [QS] genes), model their evolution in terms of patterns that are detectable using gene sequence data, and then test model predictions using available genetic data sets. Specifically, we test two alternative hypotheses of social conflict: (1) the "adaptive" hypothesis that cheaters are maintained in natural populations by frequency-dependent balancing selection as an evolutionarily stable strategy and (2) the "evolutionary null" hypothesis that cheaters are opposed by purifying kin selection yet exist transiently because of their recurrent introduction into populations by mutation (i.e., kin selection-mutation balance). We find that QS genes have elevated within- and among-species sequence variation, nonsignificant signatures of natural selection, and putatively small effect sizes of mutant alleles, all patterns predicted by our evolutionary null model but not by the stable cheater hypothesis. These empirical findings support our theoretical prediction that QS genes experience relaxed selection due to nonclonality of social groups, conditional expression, and the individual-level advantage enjoyed by cheaters. Furthermore, cheaters are evolutionarily transient, persisting in populations because of their recurrent introduction by mutation and not because they enjoy a frequency-dependent fitness advantage.     

Networked trafficking: reflections on technology and the anti-trafficking movement

In this essay, we offer field notes from our ongoing ethnographic research on sex trafficking in the United States. Recent efforts to regulate websites such as Craigslist and Backpage have illuminated activist concerns regarding the role of networked technologies in the trafficking of persons and images for the purposes of sexual exploitation. We frame our understanding of trafficking and technology through a network studies approach, by describing anti-trafficking as a counter-network to the sex trafficking it seeks to address. Drawing from the work of Annelise Riles and other scholars of feminist science and technology studies, we read the anti-trafficking network through the production of expert knowledge and the crafting of anti-trafficking techniques. By exploring anti-trafficking activists’ understandings of technology, we situate the activities of anti-trafficking experts and law enforcement as efforts toward network stabilization.     

A social science view on the FRAME symposium: identities and networks

This paper, written by two social scientists, presents a social science perspective on the issues raised at the FRAME symposium on Human Alternatives to Animal Studies. Drawing upon the authors' experience of conducting research with stem cell scientists, issues around access to human tissue for in vitro uses are considered. The paper concludes by raising questions pertinent to both interested social scientists and the Three Rs agenda.