Don C. Ohadike: The Man, his Intellectual Legacy and African Historiography

It is difficult to completely understand the life history of an intellectual excluding an understanding of his family upbringing and formative years. Family upbringing and childhood environment, often the less known part of a life history, play crucial roles in shaping the ideas and values individuals espouse in their adult life. Notwithstanding, this paper is not concerned with Don C. Ohadike’s childhood. It rather focuses on the professional career of our able historian – that is the part of his life as revealed by his most outstanding published writings. Ohadike’s published works contain a wellspring of idioms that tell much about his values, quality of mind, and his mission as an African historian. Ohadike was a humanist, an African patriot, and a nationalist crusader. His entire philosophy centered on safeguarding his African identity in an emergent world of cultural imperialism. The funds for this research were provided by a NEH-funded fellowship at the Schomburg Center, New York in the Spring of 2007. I owe a lot of gratitude to Professor John McLeod and Dean Blaine Hudson for granting me the extra incentives to pursue my research in New York. While all errors and misinterpretations are mine, I wish to thank the editors and anonymous reviewers for Journal of Dialectical Anthropology for their perspective comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper.     

Definition of the real domain of the history of sciences and exploring the relationship with the philosophy of science

The specific field of the history of science is the study and explanation of the origin and transformation of the structures of scientific knowledge. The historian of science should render understandable the reality of scientific research. The relationships between the history of science and the philosophy of science are examined stating that (1) the philosophical theories on the development of science have a scientific content only as much as they may be compared with the results of the history of science, and (2) the philosophy of science does not refer to an immediate historical reality but to an intellectual reconstruction of the past.     

Precautionary risk assessment of Bt maize: what uncertainties?

GM crops have become a test case for the conflicting slogans of 'the precautionary principle' versus 'sound science.' The issues can be illustrated by developments in regulatory science for Bt maize in the European Union. As this case study suggests, risk assessment is always framed by some account of the relevant uncertainties. These in turn depend upon how the environment is valued and how scientific questions are posed about cause-effect pathways of potential harm. The slogan of 'sound science' hides such judgements, by representing ignorance or value-judgements as 'science.' By contrast, precaution can challenge such judgements, identify new unknowns, generate different criteria for evidence, open up new scientific questions, and make these judgements more transparent. It is doubtful whether these complexities have been fully acknowledged by specialists, and thus whether the continued risk debate is due solely to a public misunderstanding of science.     

Cognitive processes and information seeking concerning an environmental health threat

Interviews with 577 college students in New Jersey, a state with a high reported rate of cancer, were conducted to assess the ways in which they conceptualize this issue and to determine how they would react when offered an opportunity to obtain factual information about the cancer threat. Those who appeared to be most in need of information were found to be the least likely to seek it. Of students who were undecided whether or not living in the state would increase their chance of getting cancer, only 25.7 percent requested the information, compared to 49.1 percent of students who acknowledged the increased risk and 43.9 percent of those who denied the risk. Individuals who had not known previously about the high cancer rates were less likely to request information (37.9 percent) than those who had known (47.9 percent), and they used different arguments to justify their denial of risk. The specific arguments used by students to explain why they denied that there was a threat or why they planned to stay in the state in spite of the risk were generally unrelated to information seeking.     

Okasha’s evolution and the levels of selection: toward a broader conception of theoretical biology

The debate about the levels of selection has been one of the most controversial both in evolutionary biology and in philosophy of science. Okasha’s book makes the sort of contribution that simply will not be able to be ignored by anyone interested in this field for many years to come. However, my interest here is in highlighting some examples of how Okasha goes about discussing his material to suggest that his book is part of an increasingly interesting trend that sees scientists and philosophers coming together to build a broadened concept of “theory” through a combination of standard mathematical treatments and conceptual analyses. Given the often contentious history of the relationship between philosophy and science, such trend cannot but be welcome.     

Samir Okasha: Evolution and the levels of selection

The debate about the levels of selection has been one of the most controversial both in evolutionary biology and in philosophy of science. Okasha’s book makes the sort of contribution that simply will not be able to be ignored by anyone interested in this field for many years to come. However, my interest here is in highlighting some examples of how Okasha goes about discussing his material to suggest that his book is part of an increasingly interesting trend that sees scientists and philosophers coming together to build a broadened concept of “theory” through a combination of standard mathematical treatments and conceptual analyses. Given the often contentious history of the relationship between philosophy and science, such trend cannot but be welcome.     

Towards a population genetics of microorganisms: The clonal theory of parasitic protozoa

Over the past 15 years, molecular investigations, including the study of isozymes and DNA markers, have provided much information on the genetic variation, population structure, breeding system and other population characteristics of parasitic protozoa. For some parasitic protozoa, but not for others, the evidence indicates that their reproduction is prevailingly clonal. In this article, Michel Tibayrenc and Francisco Ayala propose that the issue of whether the predominant mode of reproduction of a given micro-organism is clonal or sexual can only be settled by population genetics information, and they summarize evidence favoring a clonal population structure for a number of parasitic protozoa.     

Implications of life history uncertainty when evaluating status in the Northwest Atlantic population of white shark (Carcharodon carcharias)

To effectively protect at‐risk sharks, resource managers and conservation practitioners must have a good understanding of how fisheries removals contribute to changes in abundance and how regulatory restrictions may impact a population trajectory. This means they need to know the number of animals being removed from a population and whether a given number of removals will lead to population increases or declines. For white shark (Carcharodon carcharias), theoretical quantities like the intrinsic rate of population increase or rebound potential (ability to increase in size following decline) are difficult to conceptualize in terms of real‐world abundance changes, which limits our ability to answer practical management questions. To address this shortfall, we designed a simulation model to evaluate how our understanding of longevity and life history variability of white shark affects our understanding of population trends in the Northwest Atlantic. Then, we quantified the magnitude of removals that could have caused historical population declines, compared these to biologically based reference points, and explored the removal scenarios which would result in population increase. Our results suggest that removals on the order of 100s of juveniles per year could have resulted in population‐level declines in excess of 60% during the 1970s and 1980s. Conservation actions implemented since the 1990s would have needed to be nearly 100% effective at preventing fishing mortality in order for the population to double in abundance over the last 30 years. Total removals from all fleets needed to be exceptionally small to keep them below biological reference points for white shark in the Northwest Atlantic. The population's inherent vulnerability to fishing pressure reaffirms the need for restrictive national and international conservation measures, even under a situation of abundance increase.     

Bacterial endotoxin testing: a report on the methods, background, data, and regulatory history of extraction recovery efficiency

Since the mid-1970s the Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) assay has been used to test medical devices for bacterial endotoxins. The Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) recently published a standard designated ANSI/AAMI ST 72: 2002, Bacterial Endotoxins--Test methodologies, routine monitoring, and alternatives to batch testing, which addresses LAL testing and associated issues. In order to perform the bacterial endotoxins test (BET), the test article must be extracted in an aqueous medium, with the extract being used as the test solution. In the early years of testing, and periodically throughout LAL test history, questions have arisen about validation of the extraction efficiency of endotoxins from medical devices. The AAMI Microbiological Methods Committee appointed a Task Group to thoroughly research the issue of extraction efficiency and to recommend whether validation of extraction efficiency is necessary for LAL testing of medical devices.     

The visual system as a constraint on the survival and success of specific artworks

Why should vision science turn its gaze towards artworks? One possibility is that understanding visual processing might yield some fundamental insight into the nature of art. However, there are many examples of phenomena that can be seen - such as automobiles, clouds or leaves - but which are not explained in any deep sense by the properties of human visual perception. We examine one art historical question that might benefit from knowledge about the visual system: why do some artworks 'survive' historically while others fade into the dustbin of time? One possible reason, suggested by studies of rapid visual categorization, is that some objects are recognized more quickly and easily than others and thus are less culturally specific in terms of pictorial representation. A second, related, explanation is that many artistic techniques use the eyes as a channel to evoke other senses, cognition, emotions and the motor system. 'Art' is a social and historical construct - after all, the concept of 'fine art' was invented in the 18th century - and thus many aspects of artistic appreciation are specific to particular cultural and historical contexts. Some great works, however, may be adopted by successive generations because of an ability to appeal to a shared perceptual system.     

Vygotsky's Crisis: Argument, context, relevance

Vygotsky’s The Historical Significance of the Crisis in Psychology (1926–1927) is an important text in the history and philosophy of psychology that has only become available to scholars in 1982 in Russian, and in 1997 in English. The goal of this paper is to introduce Vygotsky’s conception of psychology to a wider audience.I argue that Vygotsky’s argument about the “crisis” in psychology and its resolution can be fully understood only in the context of his social and political thinking. Vygotsky shared the enthusiasm, widespread among Russian leftist intelligentsia in the 1920s, that Soviet society had launched an unprecedented social experiment: The socialist revolution opened the way for establishing social conditions that would let the individual flourish. For Vygotsky, this meant that “a new man” of the future would become “the first and only species in biology that would create itself.” He envisioned psychology as a science that would serve this humanist teleology.I propose that The Crisis is relevant today insofar as it helps us define a fundamental problem: How can we systematically account for the development of knowledge in psychology? I evaluate how Vygotsky addresses this problem as a historian of the crisis.     

Ernst Mayr: Biologist-historian

Ernst Mayr's historical writings began in 1935 with his essay Bernard Altum and the territory theory and have continued up through his monumentalGrowth of Biological Thought (1982) and hisOne Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought (1991). Sweeping in their scope, forceful in their interpretation, enlisted on behalf of the clarification of modern concepts and of a broad view of biology, these writings provide both insights and challenges for the historian of biology. Mayr's general intellectual formation was guided by the GermanBildung ideal, with its emphasis on synthetic and comprehensive knowledge. His understanding of how to write history was inspired further by the example of the historian of ideas Arthur Lovejoy. Some strengths and limitations of this approach are explored here through attention to Mayr's treatment of the French biologist J.-B. Lamarck. It is contended that Mayr's contributions to the history of biology are not restricted to his own very substantial historical writings but also include his encouragement of other scholars, his development of an invaluable archive of scientific correspondence, and his insistence that historians who write about evolution and related subjects acquire an adequate understanding of the principles of Darwinian biology.This paper was originally delivered at the biennial meeting of the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology, held in Brandeis in July 1993, in the special session organized by John Greene on Ernst Mayr's contributions to systematics, evolutionary theory, and the history and philosophy of biology. The paper is presented here with only slight modifications of the original, oral presentation. As indicated in the text, a full assessment of Mayr's historical work, including situating that work in the context of Mayr's other work and contemporary developments in the history of science, would require a much more extensive study than I have been able to undertake here.     

Effects of alternative styles of risk information on EMF risk perception

Risk scenarios characterized by exposures to new technologies with unknown health effects, together with limited appreciation of benefits pose a challenge to risk communication. The present report illustrates this situation through a study of the perceived risk from mobile phones and mobile masts in residential areas. Good information should objectively convey the current state of knowledge. The research question is then how to inform lay people so that they trust and understand the information. We used an Internet‐based survey with 1687 Danish participants randomized to three types of information about radiation from mobile phones and masts. The objective was to study whether different types of information were rated as equally useful, informative, comprehensible, and trustworthy. Moreover, an important issue was whether information would influence risk perception and intended behavior. The conclusion is that lay people rate information about risks associated with a new and largely unknown technology more useful and trustworthy when provided with brief statements about how to handle the risk, rather than more lengthy technical information about why the technology may or may not entail health hazards. Further, the results demonstrate that information may increase concern among a large proportion of the population, and that discrepancies exist between expressed concern and intended behavior. Bioelectromagnetics 31:504–512, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Brainstem structures responsible for paradoxical sleep onset and maintenance

This paper is dedicated to our mentor, Michel Jouvet who inspired our career and transmitted to us his passion for the study of the mechanisms responsible for paradoxical sleep genesis and also that of its still mysterious functions. We expose in the following the progresses in the knowledge in this field brought during 40 years by Michel Jouvet and his team and more recently by the members of a new CNRS laboratory in which we aim to pursue in the path opened by Michel Jouvet.     

Media and breastfeeding: Friend or foe?

This short essay examines infant formula marketing and information sources for their representation of "choice" in the infant feeding context, and finds that while providing information about breast and bottle feeding, infant formula manufacturers focus on mothers' feelings and intuition rather than knowledge in making decisions. In addition, the essay considers how "choice" operates in the history of reproductive rights, shifting the discourse from a rights-based set of arguments to one based on a consumerist mentality. Utilizing the work of historian Rickie Solinger and a 2007 paper for the National Bureau of Labor Statistics, I argue that the structure of market work, and not abstract maternal decision making, determine mothers' choices and practices concerning infant feeding. For true freedoms for mothers to be achieved, freedoms that would include greater social provisions for mothers, our culture will have to confront how structural constraints make breastfeeding difficult, as well as how the concept of choice divides mothers into those who make good choices and those who do not.     

A bias-ed assessment of the use of SNPs in human complex traits

Although many biotechnological advancements have been made in the past decade, there has been very limited success in unraveling the genetic component of complex traits. Heavily invested research has been initiated based on etiological models of unrealistic simplicity and conducted under poor experimental designs, on data sets of insufficient size, leading to an overestimation of the effect sizes of genetic variants and the quantity and quality of linkage disequilibrium (LD). Arguments about whether families or unrelated individuals provide more power for gene mapping have been erroneously debated as issues of whether linkage or LD are more detectable sorts of correlation. Although the latter issue may be subject to debate, there is no doubt that family-based analysis is more powerful for detecting linkage and/or LD. If the recent advances in biotechnology are to be exploited effectively, vastly improved study designs will be imperative, as the reasons for the lack of success to date have much more to do with biology than technology, an issue that has become increasingly clear with the findings of the past years.     

Are there adequate data to assess how well theories of rarity apply to marine invertebrates?

Understanding the biology of rare species is a very important part of conservation biology. Most of our current understanding of rarity has, however, come from studies of terrestrial plants, birds, mammals and some insects. Freshwater and marine habitats are underrepresented in published studies of rare species or conservation biology. We therefore have little knowledge about how well our understanding of what makes particular species rare and how rare species persist applies to marine invertebrates which form a major component of coastal biodiversity. In this review, I examine some theories about rarity with respect to intertidal and shallow subtidal invertebrates to identify whether there are adequate data to apply these theories to marine invertebrates and how well such theories apply. The general conclusions are that the lack of quantitative data on abundances, ranges, habitat-requirements, dispersal and connectedness among populations for marine invertebrates means that their status as rare species cannot really be assessed appropriately. It is also unlikely that, without extensive sampling programmes and considerable expense, adequate data could be obtained for these small, cryptic animals, which typically have very patchy, variable and unpredictable patterns of distribution and abundance. Intertidal and subtidal assemblages are diverse, including species with many different life-histories from many phyla, occupying the same suite of habitats. It is therefore suggested that future research on rare organisms in marine habitats should build upon the long and successful history of experimental marine studies to test specific hypotheses about processes influencing rarity in the field. Such studies would not only add a new dimension to our current understanding of rarity, but would also provide badly-needed data on the status of rare marine invertebrates. abundances, invertebrates, marine, range, rarity     

Neurotransmitter release at central synapses

Our understanding of synaptic transmission has grown dramatically during the 15 years since the first issue of Neuron was published, a growth rate expected from the rapid progress in modern biology. As in all of biology, new techniques have led to major advances in the cell and molecular biology of synapses, and the subject has evolved in ways (like the production of genetically engineered mice) that could not even be imagined 15 years ago. My plan for this review is to summarize what we knew about neurotransmitter release when Neuron first appeared and what we recognized we did not know, and then to describe how our views have changed in the intervening decade and a half. Some things we knew about synapses--"knew" in the sense that the field had reached a consensus--are no longer accepted, but for the most part, impressive advances have led to a new consensus on many issues. What I find fascinating is that in certain ways nothing has changed--many of the old arguments persist or recur in a different guise--but in other ways the field would be unrecognizable to a neurobiologist time-transported from 1988 to 2003.