Showing papers on "Ingenuity published in 1993"

Strategies to protect crop plants against viruses: pathogen-derived resistance blossoms.

Abstract: Since 1986, the ability to confer resistance against an otherwise devastating virus by introducing a single pathogen-derived or virus-targeted sequence into the DNA of a potential host plant has had a marked influence on much of the research effort, focus, and short-term objectives of plant virologists throughout the world. The vast literature on coat protein-mediated protection, for example, attests to our fascination for unraveling fundamental molecular mechanism(s), our (vain) search for a unifying hypothesis, our pragmatic interest in commercially exploitable opportunities for crop protection, and our ingenuity in manipulating transgene constructions to broaden their utility and reduce real or perceived environmental risk issues. Other single dominant, pathogen-derived plant resistance genes have recently been discovered from a wide variety of viruses and are operative in an ever-increasing range of plant species. Additional candidates seem limited only by the effort invested in experimentation and by our ingenuity and imagination. This review attempts to consider, in a critical way, the current state of the art, some exceptions, and some proposed rules. The final impression, from all the case evidence considered, is that normal virus replication requires a subtle blend of host- and virus-coded proteins, present in critical relative concentrations and at specific times and places. Any unregulated superimposition of interfering protein or nucleic acid species can, therefore, result in an apparently virus-resistant plant phenotype.

The Wistar Rat as a right choice: establishing mammalian standards and the ideal of a standardized mammal.

Abstract: In summary, the creation and maintenance of the Wistar Rats as standardized animals can be attributed to the breeding work of Helen Dean King, coupled with the management and husbandry methods of Milton Greenman and Louise Duhring, and with supporting documentation provided by Henry Donaldson. The widespread use of the Wistar Rats, however, is a function of the ingenuity of Milton Greenman who saw in them a way for a small institution to provide service to science. Greenman's rhetoric, as captured in his Director's Reports, prepared annually from 1905 until his death in 1937, shows that he was unusually sensitive to his times and to the economics of science and of society. In the era when biology was being defined, he recognized in the rat the potential to be a living analog to the pure chemicals that legitimated experimental science. From management literature he extracted the ideals of uniformity of product, standards of quality, and efficiency of production, applying them to scientific practice to generate an animal model that thrives as standard equipment in laboratories throughout the world today. I will close with a quote from Frederick W. Taylor that is a cogent statement of the contribution to science and scientific progress made by standardized tools and their creators. Equating the surgeon and the workman, Taylor wrote: [He is given] the finest implements, each one of which has been the subject of special study and development ... [and] the very best knowledge of his predecessors; and, provided with standard implements and methods which represent the best knowledge of the world up to date, he is able to use his own originality and ingenuity to make real additions to the world's knowledge, instead of reinventing things which are old. Standardized tools, whether surgeons' implements or laboratory-bred rats, are one of the vehicles for carrying scientific knowledge forward from generation to generation. In this sense, Greenman's Wistar Rats have done their job, in his words, of “providing service to science.”

Population, resources, and environment: Implications of human behavioral ecology for conservation

Abstract: Current attempts to solve the multitude of environmental problems have had only minimal effects clearly indicating that a new paradigm is needed. 2 human behaviorists from the University of Michigan propose a behavioral ecological approach which asserts the humans have evolved to obtain resources to survive and reproduce (i.e. short-term goals) an that the individual and family welfare and not the welfare of the group have always been important. Human like other living organisms while competing with each other have evolved to use resources effectively but our ingenuity allowed us to develop a new evolutionary circumstances-- technology. The combination of evolved behaviors and this new state may destroy us. Over the last 20 years the most successful conservation efforts have been those that incorporate an individual cost-benefit leverage while the least successful efforts have been those based just on information. Reciprocity is a powerful force that should be considered when encouraging extension of the meaning of family or shared interest in real ways to benefit conservation programs. A key strategy to solving conservation problems is defining manageable portions of the problems resulting in a series of small successes creation of a sense of control reduction in frustration and anxiety and promotion of continued enthusiasm. Raising children in a conservation ethic may make it easier for them as adults to do slightly costly behaviors which will benefit the group in the long term. We could also promote conservation ethics as a social norm. Information reciprocal interactions and promotion of social norms may be more successful when translated into local scenarios with immediate payoffs. In conclusion think globally act locally.

“toiling ingenuity”: food regulation in Britain and Nigeria

Abstract: The article addresses the history of British and Nigerian food regulation as an example of the logic of regulatory processes in the modern history of metropolitan, colonial, and postcolonial countries. I argue that three relatively internally coherent models of regulation have been developed in Britain and that a fourth is under current construction. These models have replaced one another, but incompletely, in the metropolitan repertoire. The previous models remain available, and groups within the metropolis advocate their mobilization with respect to other populations. In the struggle over implementation, the models are replicated only partially, resulting in apparently anomalous dynamics. Nigeria is used as an example. The article advocates the anthropological study of formal sector regulation as one of the most important political processes in the current world. [state regulation, food systems, colonialism, global processes, Nigeria]

An investigation into the state-of-the-practice of CASE tool integration

Abstract: In the second half of 1992 a team of the SEI CASE Environments project conducted a study into the state-of-the-practice with respect to the operational use of integrated computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools. After many false starts, we interviewed a number of examples of large organizations with integrated CASE tools in operational use on software development projects. Compared to the state-of-the-art described in much of the literature, what was found might be considered modest. Compared to industry norms, it was quite impressive, representing significant commitment, ingenuity, and significant attention to end user needs. This report details our observations, and analyzes the current state-of-the-practice of CASE tool integration as revealed by our study. It also speculates on reasons for the modest state-of-the-practice. >

The moral responsibility of the artist

Abstract: The deteriorating condition of our planet has reached a point which is undeniably critical. If we are to survive as a species and maintain a decent quality of life, long‐term goals and an active program of achieving them are certainly indicated. The creation of a society in a steady state of economic and ecological equilibrium is the only way to proceed. Not only would such a pursuit require determination, but it would be a challenge to our ingenuity and creativity. The transition from a growth‐ and consumer‐oriented society to a society geared toward equilibrium entails necessary changes in our values. The artist could and should assume a leading role in bringing about this change.

A Scientific Basis for Computational Science

Abstract: Computational science is a productive intellectual activity. It produces highly useful computer programs that require much creativity and ingenuity to develop. Moreover, computation is a powerful theoretical tool for natural scientists. However, can computational science have a scientific foundation, quite apart from its roles as a juxtaposition of disciplines and as another theoretical tool for scientists? That is, can computational science develop concepts that enable a broad systematic understanding of inference and discovery in science? This paper makes a case for an affirmative answer that relies on the concept of "generic scientific task." We will argue that theoretical understanding is to be attained by identifying and automating such tasks. To develop the idea, we configure samples of previous work in computational science (broadly construed), lay a road map to guide further research, and suggest experimental tools to generate research problems and to re-deploy proven techniques.

A World Without Women: The Christian Clerical Culture of Western Science; Feminist Confronts Technology; Inventing Women: Science, Technology, and Gender; Feminine Ingenuity: Women and Invention in America - A Review Essay

Abstract: The recent publication of several books dealing with the gendered nature of technology, amid a recent flurry of media reports on issues concerning women and technology, makes for very timely reading. The opening of aToronto clinic which would perform sex preselection for $500, reports on methods for killing unwanted girls in India, a uwo professor's brain-size study which determined that men have \"significantly bigger\" brains than women, reports on continued gender bias in engineering, the rising incidence of lung cancer in women due to smoking, the controversy over silicone breast implants, and the sensationalistic reporting on virtual reality \"sex\" are only several among many controversies which effect women in the technological landand mind-scape. The number of edited collections dealing with issues relevant to gender and technology has been small. These include Jan Zimmerman's The Technological Woman (1983), Joan Rothschild's Machina ExDea (1983), Wendy Faulkner and Eric Amold's Smothered by Znvention (1985) and Cheris Kramarae's Technology and Women's Voices (1988). Notable theorists include Sandra Harding, Evelyn Fox Keller, Carolyn Merchant, Cynthia Cockburn, Londa Schiebinger, and Donna Haraway. It is heartening, then, to welcome several new additions to the spectrum of the gendered nature of science and technology. As promised in his last published book, Forces ofProduction:A SocialHistory of ZndustrialAutomation, DavidNoble, now at York University, has produced the first of a two-volume series on gender influences in technological development. By tracing the gendered boundaries of scientific culture from its advent in early monasticism to its 19th-century modem origins,A World Without Women explores how the world of science has perpetrated a marginal and discriminatory environment for women. His quest begins at the dawn of the Christian era, when androgynous ideals of Christian piety were heralded for both men and women. The Christian intelligensia of the age accepted women as both disciples and patronesses, and double monasteries and didaskaleions (coed study circles), were common. However, women's entry into the cultural mainstream was shortlived. By the 2nd century, clerical asceticism within the church, along with its concomitant acceptance of sexual renunciation and the ideology of virginity, was revived. Heresy was equated to the proximity of women. The culture of science was essentially a religious calling and a medium of Christian devotion. It was entered in the medieval university, a bachelor's sanctuary adhering to celibate ideals. Noble points out that it wasn't until 1882, 800 years after the birth of Abelard (the father of the University of Paris and lover of Heloise), that the Fellows of Oxford and Cambridge were even allowed to marry. During the Scientific Revolution, women could be educated at home by their fathers or by male tutors, but marriage and study were mutually exclusive. Although noblewomen hosted scientific salons and entered the mainstream of Western thought in arts and craft circles (medical cookery and midwifery), the scientific priesthood, while expropriating their knowledge, still defined science and discouraged and disqualified women as knowledge-seekers. Educational reforms for women in the 19th century resulted in the establishment of many new universities, with scientific pursuits both a religious and capitalist aspiration. The burgeoning professionalization of science in the mid20th century, and the resultant revival of an ascetic ideal, Noble feels, once again relegated women to the fringes.

The Patient Who Cured His Therapist: And Other Stories of Unconventional Therapy

Abstract: In this entertaining, surprising, and thought-provoking book, family therapist Stanley Siegel challenges conventional therapeutic thinking with an unusual approach: instead of trying to "fix" clients, he encourages them to appreciate their own adaptive ingenuity. In the process, something remarkable almost always happens -- as in the case of the couple who solved their conflict only after literally building a wall within their home. These dozen stories demonstrate Siegel's convictions that the therapist has as much to learn as the patient, and that real healing is possible only when the healer truly respects his or her patients.