scholarly journals EDITORIAL : How embarrassing can it get? Or: Taxonomy undermined

2012 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Sven O. Kullander
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Ernst Mayr ◽  
Scientific Enterprise ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Classical Text ◽  
Higher Taxa ◽  
Biological Systematics ◽  
Over 40 Years

Whereas biological systematics and taxonomy are probably about the same kind of scientific enterprise, they were separated by Ernst Mayr in his classical text book, and taxonomy became cemented as a subset of systematics. A little over 40 years have passed since these definitions were expressed, and the work in which they appeared has become obsolete with the appearance of new technology and new philosophy about what are the fundamental aspects of species and higher taxa, especially with the development of phylogenetic systematics and facility of studying factors of inheritance at molecular level. Nevertheless, biological systematics remains the fundamental powerful scientific domain for understanding and expressing biological diversity, and keeps its definitions.

Unfinished Synthesis

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niles Eldredge
Keyword(s):  
Modern Synthesis ◽  
Ernst Mayr ◽  
Conventional Theory ◽  
Higher Taxa ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Theodosius Dobzhansky ◽  
George Gaylord Simpson

This study provides a stimulating critique of contemporary evolutionary thought, analyzing the Modern Synthesis first developed by Theodosius Dobzhansky, Ernst Mayr, and George Gaylord Simpson. The author argues that although only genes and organisms are taken as historic "individuals" in conventional theory, species, higher taxa, and ecological entities such as populations and communities should also be construed as individuals--an approach that yields the ecological and genealogical hierarchies that interact to produce evolution. This clearly stated, controversial work will provoke much debate among evolutionary biologists, systematists, paleontologists, and ecologists, as well as a wide range of educated lay readers.

Analytical evaluation of Mrityunjaya Rasa

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (06) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhishek Abhishek ◽  
Ashok Kumar BN ◽  
Sujatha K. ◽  
Sunil Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Analysis ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
Water Soluble ◽  
Analytical Evaluation ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Classical Text ◽  
Physico Chemical

Introduction: Mrityunjaya Rasa is a herbo–mineral formulation mentioned under Jwara Chikitsa in Rasendra Sara Sangraha along with different Anupanas. It is having ingredients like Shudha Hingula, Shudha Gandhaka, Shudha Vatsanabha, Shudha Tankana, Pippali and Maricha which show significant result on various types of fever. Aim: To prepare Mrityunjaya Rasa as per guidelines given in classical text book Rasendra Sara Sangraha and to validate physico-chemical analysis of the sample. Methods: The preparation of Mrityunjaya Rasa was carried out at practical hall, Department of Rasashastra and Bhaishajya Kalpana, Shri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Ayurveda, Kuthpady, Udupi, Karnataka. It was subjected to analysis on parameters like organoleptic characters, loss on drying, total ash, acid insoluble ash, water soluble ash, pH, alcohol soluble extractive value, and water soluble extractive value. Results: The results of Analytical study showed specific characteristics which are in accordance with the properties of Mrityunjaya Rasa. Conclusion: The study showed significant results, which proves quality of the drugs and efficacy.

Strategies for Teaching Information Systems

1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 216-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodger Jamieson
Keyword(s):  
Information Systems ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Book Publishing ◽  
Project Work ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Information Systems Management ◽  
Self Monitoring ◽  
Tutoring Systems ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Teaching Information

This paper aims to provide insights into strategies for teaching information systems. Key strategies discussed include the development and use of computer case studies, interviewing corporate information systems management, use of appropriate guest lecturers, project work within organizations, and research into current technology issues. These strategies arc illustrated with reference to the teaching of two postgraduate subjects. New technology may be appropriated to the teaching of information systems namely the use of Self-Monitoring And Reactive Tutoring Systems (SMARTS). These systems will include elements of intelligent tutoring systems, artificial intelligence, hypermedia, information tracing and students’ thought processes. A framework outlining the objects or elements of a SMART and their relationships is presented as an initial guide to researchers interested in further development of these technologies. Mention is also made of an experiment underway in the USA on customized text book publishing which provides tailored resource material chosen by the lecturer for a particular subject which is then published as the customized text for that subject.

The Rôle of Auto-intoxication or Auto-infection in Mental Disorders

1923 ◽  
Vol 69 (284) ◽  
pp. 52-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chalmers Watson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disorders ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Modern Medicine ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Body ◽  
Physical Disorder ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Classical Text ◽  
Mental Symptoms ◽  
The Relationship

I greatly appreciate the honour which the Society has done me in asking me to read a paper by way of introducing a general discussion on the treatment of mental disorders. My remarks will deal with the relationship of physical disorder to mental symptoms. The main point to which I will more particularly draw your attention is to the need for a closer study of the extent to which mental symptoms are the result of some auto-intoxication or infection from one or other of the free mucous surfaces of the body, the gastro-intestinal tract being, in virtue of its size and function, the most important channel. If the relationship is a close one our outlook on mental disorders necessitates greater attention being directed to the investigation and treatment of our patients with the aid of modern methods, than has hitherto been done. The literature of the subject contains many references of a general kind to what is called the toxic factor in the ætiology of insanity, but the systematic investigation of mental disorders from this point of view has not yet been carried out with the reasonable degree of completeness which modern medicine demands. In this connection it is right to refer to the valuable and suggestive work carried out by Lewis Bruce many years ago, the probable significance and value of which has, I think, been largely lost sight of. There is little new in the conception of the aetiology and treatment of mental disorders, which I am going to present for your consideration. It is, however, largely new in the sense that it has not yet been adequately tested. Prof. Robertson has lately drawn my attention to the interesting fact that the leading alienists in France more than 100 years ago entertained the view that the primary cause of mental disorders was to be found in visceral changes. Pinal in his classical text-book on mental disorders in 1809 wrote as follows:“It seems that the primitive seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines, and it is from that centre that the disorder of intelligence propagates itself as by a species of irradiation.”

The economic value of plant systematics in Canadian agriculture

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (12) ◽  
pp. 1537-1551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernest Small
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Germ Plasm ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Plant Systematics ◽  
Financial Benefits ◽  
Biological Systematics ◽  
Economic Necessity ◽  
Do So

Agriculture is like a house, resting on a foundation of biological systematics. That foundation is seriously deteriorating, in part because of lack of appreciation of its vital roles and economic relevance. Support for biological sciences is concentrating in seemingly lucrative disciplines, without much realization that the financial benefits often can not be realized without the materials and information provided by systematics. A variety of considerations supports the economic wisdom of investing in systematics research in Canada, most particularly on behalf of the agricultural sector, and suggest that failure to do so could lead to serious, even catastrophic, consequences. In particular, the present scarcity of expertise for identification of vanishing invaluable wild crop germ plasm may permanently penalize both agriculture and society. While it is essential that systematists retain their fundamental orientation to the clarification and cataloging of biological diversity, emphasis on the useful roles played and products produced is both an economic necessity and a social responsibility. Key words: plant, systematics, taxonomy, agriculture, economic.

Dynamic Movement of Sub-Epiblastic ECM During Primitive Streak Formation

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evan A. Zamir ◽  
Brenda J. Rongish ◽  
Charles D. Little
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Extracellular Matrix ◽  
Primitive Streak ◽  
Ventral Surface ◽  
Text Book ◽  
Classical Text ◽  
Relative Paucity ◽  
Dynamic Movement ◽  
Immunofluorescence Studies ◽  
Organizing Center

A well known “Polonaise” pattern of epiblast cell movements accompanies formation of the amniote primitive streak (PS), which is the organizing center for gastrulation. Although the movements observed in classical (text book) and modern studies appear similar, the biophysical mechanisms driving these movements are unknown. In comparison to studies of dynamic cellular movements during PS formation, and more generally, gastrulation, there is a relative paucity of data regarding movement of the extracellular matrix (ECM) lying adjacent to the ventral surface of the epiblast. Electron microscopy and immunofluorescence studies demonstrated decades ago the presence of a nascent basement membrane-like structure, which we refer to as the sub-epiblastic ECM (SE ECM), containing, at least, fibronectin [1] and collagen [1]. Using ultrastructural markers, Sanders [2] found that the SE ECM is transported medially to the PS with the epiblast cells. Almost two decades later, Bortier et al. [3] grafted radiolabeled quail cells into the epiblasts of chicken blastoderms, and concluded that whole groups of epiblast cells slide across (move relative to) the SE ECM — thus, contradicting Sanders’ earlier findings.

The Modern Synthesis

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Evolutionary Genetics ◽  
Modern Synthesis ◽  
Evolutionary Synthesis ◽  
General Nature ◽  
Historical Event ◽  
Ernst Mayr ◽  
Synthetic View

The “modern synthesis” generally refers to the early to mid-century formulation of evolutionary theory that reconciled classical Darwinian selection theory with a newer population-oriented view of Mendelian genetics that attempted to explain the origin of biological diversity. It draws on the title of zoologist Julian S. Huxley’s book of 1943 titled Evolution: The Modern Synthesis, a semi-popular account of evolution that ushered in this “modern” synthetic view of evolution. Covering an interval of time approximately between 1920–1950, it also refers to developments in understanding evolution that drew on a range of disciplines that were synthesized or brought to consensus that generally include systematics, paleontology, and botany with a populational view of evolutionary genetics. Whether or not it served to unify the study of evolution, or to unify the disparate biological sciences—and whether or not it led to the emergence of a science of evolutionary biology, as some of its proponents have claimed—remains a topic for discussion. Though they do not refer to precisely the same things or share identical meanings, the phrase “modern synthesis” has overlapped with terms such as the “evolutionary synthesis,” coined and used especially by Ernst Mayr and William B. Provine, to refer to the historical event, as well as terms such as Neo-Darwinian theory or Neo-Darwinism (though criticism has been made regarding the latter term’s applicability to the mid-century developments in evolutionary theory). As Ernst Mayr noted, the term “Neo-Darwinism” was first coined and used by George John Romanes in 1895 to refer to a revision of Charles Darwin’s theory first formulated in 1859, which included Lamarckian inheritance. The extent to which the modern synthesis, and the evolutionary synthesis map with what is also called the synthetic theory, is open for discussion as is specific understanding of the term. For the most part, there is little in the way of consensus or agreement by scientists, philosophers, and historians as to what “the synthesis” (the abbreviated reference) precisely means, and what (if anything) specifically occurred of a general nature in studies of evolution, broadly construed, in the interval of time between 1920–1950.

scholarly journals Moving from Empirical to Rational Vaccine Design in the ‘Omics’ Era

Vaccines ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mansi Sharma ◽  
Florian Krammer ◽  
Adolfo García-Sastre ◽  
Shashank Tripathi
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Immunity ◽  
Molecular Level ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Innate And Adaptive Immunity ◽  
Rational Development ◽  
Technology Platforms ◽  
Rational Vaccine Design ◽  
And Function ◽  
Ideal Vaccine

An ideal vaccine provides long lasting protection against a pathogen by eliciting a well-rounded immune response which engages both innate and adaptive immunity. However, we have a limited understanding of how components of innate immunity, antibody and cell-mediated adaptive immunity interact and function together at a systems level. With advances in high-throughput ‘Omics’ methodologies it has become possible to capture global changes in the host, at a cellular and molecular level, that are induced by vaccination and infection. Analysis of these datasets has shown the promise of discovering mechanisms behind vaccine mediated protection, immunological memory, adverse effects as well as development of more efficient antigens and adjuvants. In this review, we will discuss how systems vaccinology takes advantage of new technology platforms and big data analysis, to enable the rational development of better vaccines.

scholarly journals Multiplicity of Research Programs in the Biological Systematics: A Case for Scientific Pluralism

Philosophies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Igor Y. Pavlinov
Keyword(s):  
Biological Diversity ◽  
Natural Phenomenon ◽  
Causal Factors ◽  
Specific Combination ◽  
Research Programs ◽  
Scientific Pluralism ◽  
Scientific Significance ◽  
Biological Systematics ◽  
Faceted Classification ◽  
Evo Devo

Biological diversity (BD) explored by biological systematics is a complex yet organized natural phenomenon and can be partitioned into several aspects, defined naturally with reference to various causal factors structuring biota. These BD aspects are studied by particular research programs based on specific taxonomic theories (TTs). They provide, in total, a framework for comprehending the structure of biological systematics and its multi-aspect relations to other fields of biology. General principles of individualizing BD aspects and construing TTs as quasi-axiomatics are briefly considered. It is stressed that each TT is characterized by a specific combination of interrelated ontological and epistemological premises most adequate to the BD aspect a TT deals with. The following contemporary research programs in systematics are recognized and characterized in brief: phenetic, rational (with several subprograms), numerical, typological (with several subprograms), biosystematic, biomorphic, phylogenetic (with several subprograms), and evo-devo. From a scientific pluralism perspective, all of these research programs, if related to naturally defined particular BD aspects, are of the same biological and scientific significance. They elaborate “locally” natural classifications that can be united by a generalized faceted classification.

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