scholarly journals Broadening the problem agenda of biological individuality: individual differences, uniqueness and temporality

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie I. Kaiser ◽  
Rose Trappes
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Biological Individuality ◽  
Problem Agenda

AbstractBiological individuality is a notoriously thorny topic for biologists and philosophers of biology. In this paper we argue that biological individuality presents multiple, interconnected questions for biologists and philosophers that together form a problem agenda. Using a case study of an interdisciplinary research group in ecology, behavioral and evolutionary biology, we claim that a debate on biological individuality that seeks to account for diverse practices in the biological sciences should be broadened to include and give prominence to questions about uniqueness and temporality. We show that broadening the problem agenda of biological individuality draws attention to underrecognized philosophical issues and discussions and thereby organizes and enriches the existing debate.

Social Design for Services Framework

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie SARANTOU ◽  
Satu MIETTINEN
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Social Design ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

This paper addresses the fields of social and service design in development contexts, practice-based and constructive design research. A framework for social design for services will be explored through the survey of existing literature, specifically by drawing on eight doctoral theses that were produced by the World Design research group. The work of World Design researcher-designers was guided by a strong ethos of social and service design for development in marginalised communities. The paper also draws on a case study in Namibia and South Africa titled ‘My Dream World’. This case study presents a good example of how the social design for services framework functions in practice during experimentation and research in the field. The social design for services framework transfers the World Design group’s research results into practical action, providing a tool for the facilitation of design and research processes for sustainable development in marginal contexts.

scholarly journals Para além da Educação a Distância: Práticas Formativas e Relacionais em um Curso de Ciências Biológicas

EAD em FOCO ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Germana Costa Paixão ◽  
Ana Ciléia Pinto Teixeira Henriques ◽  
Francisco Fábio Castelo Branco ◽  
Eloisa Maia Vidal
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Higher Education ◽  
Distance Education ◽  
Distance Learning ◽  
Education Technology ◽  
State University ◽  
Relational Practice ◽  
Short Time ◽  
Affective Skills

As práticas de formação que incentivam o desenvolvimento das habilidades afetivas em estudantes têm sido avaliadas no contexto de ensino a distância no Brasil. O estudo tem como objetivo apresentar práticas formativas e relacionais desenvolvidas no curso de Ciências Biológicas na modalidade a distância de uma universidade estadual no Ceará. É um estudo descritivo-reflexivo em forma de estudo de caso que discute experiências em andamento, sendo estas: Monitoria Acadêmica; Vida em Foco; Ciência na Escola e Musicalizando a Biologia. As atividades têm procurado desenvolver nos alunos o espírito de colaboração e da experiência de realidade em que, em um curto espaço de tempo, estarão inseridos. Acredita-se que, dessa forma, se permite um ensino mais crítico e reflexivo, no qual novas ferramentas são oportunizadas e que podem romper a hierarquia ainda persistente entre professores e alunos. Palavras-chave: Ensino; Atitude; Educação a distância; Educação superior; Tecnologia da educação.Beyond the Distance Education: Formation and Relational Practice in a Biological Sciences CourseAbstract Training practices that encourage the development of affective skills in students have been valued in the context of distance learning (DL) in Brazil. The study aims to provide formative and relational practices developed in the course of Biological Sciences in the distance mode of a state university in Ceara. It is descriptive-reflective research in the form of case study that discusses the following ongoing experiments: Academic Monitoring; Life in Focus; Science in School and Musicalizing Biology. The activities have sought to develop in students the spirit of collaboration and the experience of reality in which they, in a short time, will be placed. It is believed that  this way allows more critical and reflective teaching, in which new tools become available for DL that will break the persistent hierarchy between teachers and students.Keywords: Teaching; Attitude; Distance education; Higher education; Education technology.

scholarly journals PENERAPAN DIR FLOORTIME PADA ANAK DENGAN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN SOSIAL

Psibernetika ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elita Kirana ◽  
Ediasri T Atmodiwirjo ◽  
Debora Basaria
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Social Skills ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Middle Childhood ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Post Test ◽  
Patterns Of Behavior

<p><strong><em>ABSTRACT</em></strong><strong><em>: </em></strong><em>Children with autism have deficit characteristics in social communication and social interaction, as well as restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior, and limited interests or activities. As children grow and engage in a wider environment, this is become a problem because of the lack of social skills on children with autism. The purpose of this research is to improve the social skills of children with autism. There are several methods that can be applied to children with autism to improve their social skills. One of them is the DIR </em>(<em>Developmental, Individual Differences, &amp; Relationship Based</em>) <em>Floortime method. DIR Floortime aims to help children reach the stage of their emotional development through play activities. This type of research is a clinical case study, involving two middle childhood boys that are diagnosed with a mild level of autism. The instruments used in this study are Autism Social Skills Profile and Functional Emotional Assessment Scale. This research involves 20 sessions, conducted in May until June 2018, consisting of 10 sensory sessions and 10  symbolic sessions for each subject. The results of this research show an improvement in social skills in both participants, marked by an increase in the post test scores, but not significantly. Qualitatively, both subject demonstrates an improvement on social skills in their daily behavior after they had participated in the intervention.</em><strong><em></em></strong></p><p><strong><em>Keywords</em></strong><strong>: </strong><em>autism spectrum disorder, middle childhood, </em>DIR <em>Floortime,social skills</em></p><p><strong> </strong></p><p><strong>ABSTRAK</strong><strong>: </strong>Anak autistik memiliki karakteristik kesulitan dalam komunikasi dan interaksi sosial serta adanya yang minat terbatas, perilaku berulang, atau keterikatan dalam minat dan aktivitas. Hal ini menjadi masalah saat anak tumbuh seiring usia dan terlibat dalam lingkungan yang lebih luas karena kurangnya kemampuan sosial pada anak autistik. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan kemampuan sosial anak autistik. Ada beberapa metode yang dapat diterapkan pada anak autistik untuk meningkatkan kemampuan sosial. Salah satunya adalah metode DIR (<em>Developmental, Individual Differences, &amp; Relationship Based</em>) <em>Floortime</em>. DIR<em> Floortime</em>  bertujuan membantu anak mencapai tahap perkembangan emosionalnya melalui kegiatan bermain. Jenis penelitian ini adalah case study yang melibatkan dua orang partisipan, yaitu anak laki-laki berusia <em>middle childhood</em> dengan autisme <em>level Mild</em>. Instrumen dalam penelitian ini adalah <em>Autism Social Skills Profile dan Functional Emotional Assesment Scale</em>. Penelitian ini berlangsung selama 20 sesi intervensi yang dilaksanakan pada bulan Mei hingga Juni 2018. Sesi intervensi terdiri dari 10 sesi sensori auditori dan 10 sesi simbolik bagi masing-masing subjek. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan adanya peningkatan yang signifikan pada kapasitas emosi, tetapi kemampuan sosial kedua partisipan tidak meningkat secara signifikan. Secara kualitatif, kedua subjek menunjukkan kemampuan sosial yang lebih baik setelah mengikuti sesi intervensi, hal ini tampak dalam perilaku sehari-hari.<strong></strong></p><p><strong>Kata kunci</strong>: autisme<em>, middle childhood, </em>DIR <em>Floortime,</em> kemampuan sosial</p>

On the construction of the concept ‘language’: Entrenched Conceptual Integration Networks Encountered in Evolutionary Biology and Studies of Language Evolution

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roslyn M Frank
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Language Change ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Feedback Mechanism ◽  
Integration Theory ◽  
Conceptual Integration ◽  
Emergent Structure ◽  
Conceptual Integration Theory

<p>In recent years the relationship between language change and biological evolution has captured the attention of investigators operating in different disciplines, particularly evolutionary biology, AI and A-Life (Zeimke 2001, Hull 2001), as well as linguistics (Croft 2000; Sinha 1999), with each group often bringing radically different conceptualizations of the object under study, namely, “language” itself, to the debate.&nbsp;Over the centuries, meanings associated with the expression “language” have been influenced by mappings of conceptual frames and inputs from the biological sciences onto the entity referred to as “language”. At the same time the prestige of the “science of linguistics” created a feedback mechanism by which the referentiality of “language”, at each stage, was mapped back into the field of evolutionary biology along with the emergent structure(s) of the resulting “blend”. While significant energy has been spent on identifying ways in which biological evolution has been linked to concepts of language evolution (Dörries 2002), little attention has been directed to the nature of the conceptual integration networks that have been produced in the process. This paper examines the way conceptual integration theory can be brought to bear on the “blends” that have been created, focusing primarily on examples drawn from 19th century debates concerning the “language-species-organism analogy” in the emerging field of comparative-historical philology.</p><p>In recent years the relationship between language change and biological evolution has captured the attention of investigators operating in different disciplines, particularly evolutionary biology, AI and A-Life (Zeimke 2001, Hull 2001), as well as linguistics (Croft 2000; Sinha 1999), with each group often bringing radically different conceptualizations of the object under study, namely, “language” itself, to the debate. Over the centuries, meanings associated with the expression “language” have been influenced by mappings of conceptual frames and inputs from the biological sciences onto the entity referred to as “language”. At the same time the prestige of the “science of linguistics” created a feedback mechanism by which the referentiality of “language”, at each stage, was mapped back into the field of evolutionary biology along with the emergent structure(s) of the resulting “blend”. While significant energy has been spent on identifying ways in which biological evolution has been linked to concepts of language evolution (Dörries 2002), little attention has been directed to the nature of the conceptual integration networks that have been produced in the process. This paper examines the way conceptual integration theory can be brought to bear on the “blends” that have been created, focusing primarily on examples drawn from 19th century debates concerning the “language-species-organism analogy” in the emerging field of comparative-historical philology. The document includes Supplemental Materials: Resource Guide and Commentaries.</p>

Cutthroat Trout: Evolutionary Biology and Taxonomy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph P. Brunelli
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Paternal Inheritance ◽  
Westslope Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Chromosome Marker ◽  
Mitochondrial Markers ◽  
Coastal Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Lahontan Cutthroat Trout ◽  
Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

<em>Abstract</em>.—A Y chromosome marker shared with Rainbow Trout <em>Oncorhynchus mykiss </em>has been sequenced in many Cutthroat Trout <em>O. clarkii </em>subspecies. The marker is found in and inherited through males. It evolves more slowly than the maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA. The marker delineates the four major groups of Cutthroat Trout: the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. henshawi </em>subspecies complex, the Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. bouvieri</em> subspecies complex, Westslope Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. lewisi</em>, and Coastal Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. clarkii</em>. The paternal inheritance pattern of the Y marker makes it useful for dissecting the origins of fish with mixed ancestries. We describe a case study using both Y and mitochondrial markers in Lahontan Cutthroat Trout subspecies complex trout populations. Our results confirmed Lahontan Cutthroat Trout affinities for the Paiute Cutthroat Trout <em>O. c. seleniris</em> and Willow–Whitehorse Creek Cutthroat Trout. However, we found evidence of a complex ancestry for Guano Creek, Oregon trout, a group that has been proposed by some to be related to the Alvord Cutthroat Trout, a subspecies thought to be extinct.

scholarly journals Example of Adverse Outcome Pathway Concept Enabling Genome-to-Phenome Discovery in Toxicology

2020 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt A Gust ◽  
Qing Ji ◽  
Xiao Luo
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Weight Loss ◽  
Body Weight ◽  
Amino Acid ◽  
Adverse Outcome ◽  
Body Weight Loss ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Adverse Outcome Pathway ◽  
Biological Organization

Synopsis The following article represents a mini-review of an intensive 10-year progression of genome-to-phenome (G2P) discovery guided by the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) concept. This example is presented as a means to stimulate crossover of this toxicological concept to enhance G2P discovery within the broader biological sciences community. The case study demonstrates the benefits of the AOP approach for establishing causal linkages across multiple levels of biological organization ultimately linking molecular initiation (often at the genomic scale) to organism-level phenotypes of interest. The case study summarizes a US military effort to identify the mechanism(s) underlying toxicological phenotypes of lethargy and weight loss in response to nitroaromatic munitions exposures, such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. Initial key discoveries are described including the toxicogenomic results that nitrotoluene exposures inhibited expression within the peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α (PPARα) pathway. We channeled the AOP concept to test the hypothesis that inhibition of PPARα signaling in nitrotoluene exposures impacted lipid metabolic processes, thus affecting systemic energy budgets, ultimately resulting in body weight loss. Results from a series of transcriptomic, proteomic, lipidomic, in vitro PPARα nuclear signaling, and PPARα knock-out investigations ultimately supported various facets of this hypothesis. Given these results, we next proceeded to develop a formalized AOP description of PPARα antagonism leading to body weight loss. This AOP was refined through intensive literature review and polished through multiple rounds of peer-review leading to final international acceptance as an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development-approved AOP. Briefly, that AOP identifies PPARα antagonist binding as the molecular initiating event (MIE) leading to a series of key events including inhibition of nuclear transactivation for genes controlling lipid metabolism and ketogenesis, inhibition of fatty acid beta-oxidation and ketogenesis dynamics, negative energy budget, and ultimately the adverse outcome (AO) of body-weight loss. Given that the PPARα antagonism MIE represented a reliable indicator of AO progression within the pathway, a phylogenetic analysis was conducted which indicated that PPARα amino acid relatedness generally tracked species relatedness. Additionally, PPARα amino acid relatedness analysis using the Sequence Alignment to Predict Across Species Susceptibility predicted susceptibility to the MIE across vertebrates providing context for AOP extrapolation across species. Overall, we hope this illustrative example of how the AOP concept has benefited toxicology sows a seed within the broader biological sciences community to repurpose the concept to facilitate enhanced G2P discovery in biology.

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