The reality of construction

Stemming from a reflexion on the distrust or denigration of images that characterizes many philosophical or religious doctrines, from Moses' and Plato's condemnations, to empirist doctrines (Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Hume), this paper proposes a general theoretical argument about the nature of communication and discourse about it. The argument is motivated by some issues in media studies, but is not limited to them. In fact, we suggest that the media, rather than ruining communication (via the manipulation of images), reveal something profound about communication that was easier to leave implicit in earlier times. Thus they reactivate some of the fears that were present in various iconodastic traditions. What is being revealed is closely related to the well-known thesis of the social construction of reality. Our argument, here, is that this constructed character does not entail any need for generalized scepticism, and does not call for a hermeneutics of suspicion intent on unmasking manipulation or artifice. In fact, the social constructedness of social phenomena is in no way antithetic to their reality. If one recognizes that there is a "construction of reality", one can recognize as well that there is a reality to the construction, and finally admit with Lewis Mumford that... "all that can be called 'real' is the outcome of a multitude of sustained transactions and interrelations between the human organism and the environment".A partir d'une réflexion sur la méfiance ou la réprobation à l'égard des images que manifestent plusieurs traditions philosophiques ou religieuse, notamment la Loi mosaïque, la théorie platonicienne, et la tradition des empiristes anglais Bacon, Locke, Hobbes, Hume, cet article propose une analyse plus générale de la nature de la communication et des discours qui s'y rapportent. Cette analyse s'appuie sur quelques exemples empruntés au domaine des médias, mais elle ne porte pas exclusivement sur ce domaine. Elle vise à démontrer que la production d'images à laquelle se livrent les médias, loin d'éliminer la possibilité d'une communication véritable, révèle en fait certaines des caractéristiques propres à toute communication. Ces caractéristiques étaient longtemps restées implicites. Avec l'événement des médias, elles émergent au grand jour, réactivant les craintes qui sous-tendent les grandes traditions iconoclastes. Ces caractéristiques renvoient à la thèse bien connue d'une construction sociale de la réalité. La position défendue ici est que, loin de devoir mener à un scepticisme généralisé, ou à une herméneutique du soupçon avant tout soucieuse de démasquer l'artifice ou la manipulation, le caractère construit des phénomènes sociaux ne s'oppose en rien à leur réalité. On peut alors parler non seulement d'une « construction de la réalité » mais aussi d'une « réalité des constructions », et soutenir avec Lewis Mumford, que ce qu'on baptise le « réel », n'est rien d'autre que le « résultat d'une multitude de transactions et d'échanges continus entre l'organisme humain et son environnement »

Detection of diploid males in a natural colony of the cleptobiotic bee Lestrimelitta sp (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

When working at quantifying the genome size of stingless bees, it was observed that males of Lestrimelitta sp possessed the same amount of nuclear DNA as the females. Thus, we used flow cytometry (FCM) and cytogenetic analysis to confirm the ploidy of these individuals. The males analyzed proved to be diploid, since, through cytometric analysis, it was demonstrated that the mean genome size of both males and females was the same (C = 0.463 pg), and, furthermore, cytogenetic analysis demonstrated that both had 2n = 28 chromosomes

Mixing of Honeybees with Different Genotypes Affects Individual Worker Behavior and Transcription of Genes in the Neuronal Substrate

Division of labor in social insects has made the evolution of collective traits possible that cannot be achieved by individuals alone. Differences in behavioral responses produce variation in engagement in behavioral tasks, which as a consequence, generates a division of labor. We still have little understanding of the genetic components influencing these behaviors, although several candidate genomic regions and genes influencing individual behavior have been identified. Here, we report that mixing of worker honeybees with different genotypes influences the expression of individual worker behaviors and the transcription of genes in the neuronal substrate. These indirect genetic effects arise in a colony because numerous interactions between workers produce interacting phenotypes and genotypes across organisms. We studied hygienic behavior of honeybee workers, which involves the cleaning of diseased brood cells in the colony. We mixed ∼500 newly emerged honeybee workers with genotypes of preferred Low (L) and High (H) hygienic behaviors. The L/H genotypic mixing affected the behavioral engagement of L worker bees in a hygienic task, the cooperation among workers in uncapping single brood cells, and switching between hygienic tasks. We found no evidence that recruiting and task-related stimuli are the primary source of the indirect genetic effects on behavior. We suggested that behavioral responsiveness of L bees was affected by genotypic mixing and found evidence for changes in the brain in terms of 943 differently expressed genes. The functional categories of cell adhesion, cellular component organization, anatomical structure development, protein localization, developmental growth and cell morphogenesis were overrepresented in this set of 943 genes, suggesting that indirect genetic effects can play a role in modulating and modifying the neuronal substrate. Our results suggest that genotypes of social partners affect the behavioral responsiveness and the neuronal substrate of individual workers, indicating a complex genetic architecture underlying the expression of behavior

Different standards: engineers’ expectations and listener adoption of digital and FM radio broadcasting

As digital radio broadcasting enters its third decade of operation, few would argue that it has met all expectations expressed at the time of its launch in the mid-1990s. Observers are now more circumspect, with views divided on the pace of transition to an all-digital future. In exploring this mismatch between expectation and actuality, this article considers the introduction of FM radio from the 1950s. It too was expected to replace its forebear (AM) but, like digital radio, its adoption by listeners was slower than anticipated. An examination of published literature, in particular engineering and technical documents, reveals a number of similarities in the development of digital radio and FM. Assumptions about listeners’ needs and preferences appear to have been based on little actual audience research and, with continual reference in the literature to the supposed deficiencies of the predecessor technology, suggest an emphasis in decision making on the technical qualities of radio broadcasting over an appreciation of actual audience preferences

Autoantibodies against type I IFNs in patients with life-threatening COVID-19

Interindividual clinical variability in the course of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection is vast. We report that at least 101 of 987 patients with life-threatening coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia had neutralizing immunoglobulin G (IgG) autoantibodies (auto-Abs) against interferon-w (IFN-w) (13 patients), against the 13 types of IFN-a (36), or against both (52) at the onset of critical disease; a few also had auto-Abs against the other three type I IFNs. The auto-Abs neutralize the ability of the corresponding type I IFNs to block SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro. These auto-Abs were not found in 663 individuals with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection and were present in only 4 of 1227 healthy individuals. Patients with auto-Abs were aged 25 to 87 years and 95 of the 101 were men. A B cell autoimmune phenocopy of inborn errors of type I IFN immunity accounts for life-threatening COVID-19 pneumonia in at least 2.6% of women and 12.5% of men

Communication and Community

Contents: Preface. Part I: Introduction. D. Depew, J.D. Peters, Community and Communication: The Conceptual Background. Part II: Interpersonal Relations, Organizations, and Community. G.J. Shepherd, Community as the Interpersonal Accomplishment of Communication. C.H. Adams, Prosocial Bias in Theories of Interpersonal Communication Competence: Must Good Communication Be Nice? S. Shuler, Talking Community at 911: The Centrality of Communication in Coping With Emotional Labor. K.L. Ashcraft, Feminist Organizing and the Construction of "Alternative" Community. L.M. Gossett, P.K. Tompkins, Community as a Means of Organizational Control. G. Cheney, Forms of Connection and "Severance" in and Around the Mondragon Worker-Cooperative Complex. Part III: Media, the Public, and Community. E.W. Rothenbuhler, Revising Communication Research for Working on Community. B. Zelizer, Collective Memory as "Time Out": Repairing the Time-Community Link. H.E. Sypher, B. Collins, Virtual-Online Communities: How Might New Technologies Be Related to Community? T.M. Harrison, J.P. Zappen, T. Stephen, P. Garfield, C. Prell, Building an Electronic Community: A Town-Gown Collaboration. K.R. Stamm, Of What Use Is Civic Journalism: Do Newspapers Really Make a Difference in Community Participation? C.R. Martin, The Limits of Community in Public Journalism. A. Calabrese, Why Localism? Communication Technology and the Shifting Scale of Political Community