Deadly Discourse: Negotiating Bureaucratic Consensus for the Final Solution through Organizational and Technical Communication

The Final Solution was largely accomplished in eleven months; its executors, the Nazi SS, faced the constant problem that as killing and plunder escalated so did internal competition and corruption; and the SS deliberately cultivated an intensely competitive and polycratic organizational culture that fit the Nazi worldview of life-as-struggle. By tying these three observations together—that the Final Solution was punctuated, entropic, and polycratic—the problem arises: How did SS organizational communications manage, just barely long enough, to create a temporary social reality that regulated the internal contradictions of its genocidal project and fragmented bureaucracy? This study contends that through its organizational and technical communication—the outwardly normal and communally validated regime of formatted documents, official stationery, preprinted forms, filing codes, organizational nomenclature, and bureaucratic catchphrases—competing SS personnel found a common frame of reference to socially construct rules for temporary cooperation. Thus, their documents became boundary objects (Star & Griesemer, 1989; Wilson & Herndl, 2007) which bridged competing organizational interests within the rhetorical community (Miller, 1994) of desk-murderers. To explore this thesis an evidentiary sample of surviving documents is selected from a single but representative SS bureau, the Security Police (Sipo) Technical Matters Group that administered the mobile gas van program. The documents are analyzed according to Longo\u27s (1998) cultural research methodology for technical writing in which texts are examined in their historical and cultural contexts and then analyzed as discourse, followed by an interrogation of how the texts have been ordered by their analysts for purposes of study and the analysts\u27 relationships to the text. The organization of this project follows this methodology as Chapter 1 introduces the problem; Chapter 2 provides an historical narrative of the gas van program and its antecedents; Chapter 3 reviews the integrative aspects of the Group members\u27 national and institutional cultures, and the differentiating aspects of their organizational culture and its various subcultures; Chapter 4 describes the biographies and postwar testimonies of the Group\u27s principal actors; Chapter 5 introduces and describes the documents themselves; Chapter 6 offers an analysis, grounded in Miller\u27s (1994) concept of the rhetorical community, of the documents\u27 textual and visual rhetorics; Chapter 7 provides a discourse analysis of Group members\u27 use of linguistic resources; Chapter 8 explores various postwar orderings of the lengthiest and most notorious of the gas van texts, prior to and including Katz\u27s (1992a) introduction of the document into the technical communication literature; Chapter 9 interrogates how subsequent analysts within the discipline have ordered the text and what this may reveal about their relationships to it; and Chapter 10 elaborates possible implications for communication ethics. The research problem is answered with the claim that, rather than understanding the Final Solution only as the operation in extremis of Weberian bureaucratic rationality, the desk-murderers may be viewed as a rhetorical community that held chaos at bay through boundary objects—their documents—that deployed metaphors, narratives, and genres onto which competing interests could project their own interpretations while constructing temporary spaces of cooperation

“Knowledge Puffs Up”: The Evangelical Culture of Anti—Intellectualism as a Local Strategy

The anti-intellectual strain of American evangelicalism, rooted in the populist Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th centuries, has prompted much commentary from the 20th century to the present. Analysis of this anti-intellectualism has gained new currency today as evangelicals, who comprise 1 in 4 Americans, reject theories of evolution and manmade climate change. Scholarship on the subject has focused on the discourses of evangelical leaders at the national level. The present study, based on three years of fieldwork at an evangelical church, finds that an animus against intellectual elites is a potent local strategy for constructing a satisfying evangelical identity within the organizational culture of a local congregation. Using a constant-comparative method, observations of more than fifty Sunday sermons, preached on the Gospel of Mark over 14 months, identified five binary themes. By spurning intellectualism, evangelicals can seek truth and avoid distraction, and be compassionate versus impersonal, inclusive versus pedantic, actors versus talkers, and God-seekers versus self-seekers. The five themes are then analyzed in terms of constructing an organizational identification in which casting intellectual elites as others is incorporated into church members\u27 personal and social identities. The study contributes to discussions of faith-based anti-intellectualism by demonstrating that macro-level discourses not only shape but also reflect micro-level practices

Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead.

Lifestyle factors are responsible for a considerable portion of cancer incidence worldwide, but credible estimates from the World Health Organization and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) suggest that the fraction of cancers attributable to toxic environmental exposures is between 7% and 19%. To explore the hypothesis that low-dose exposures to mixtures of chemicals in the environment may be combining to contribute to environmental carcinogenesis, we reviewed 11 hallmark phenotypes of cancer, multiple priority target sites for disruption in each area and prototypical chemical disruptors for all targets, this included dose-response characterizations, evidence of low-dose effects and cross-hallmark effects for all targets and chemicals. In total, 85 examples of chemicals were reviewed for actions on key pathways/mechanisms related to carcinogenesis. Only 15% (13/85) were found to have evidence of a dose-response threshold, whereas 59% (50/85) exerted low-dose effects. No dose-response information was found for the remaining 26% (22/85). Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (non-carcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies. Additional basic research on carcinogenesis and research focused on low-dose effects of chemical mixtures needs to be rigorously pursued before the merits of this hypothesis can be further advanced. However, the structure of the World Health Organization International Programme on Chemical Safety 'Mode of Action' framework should be revisited as it has inherent weaknesses that are not fully aligned with our current understanding of cancer biology

Barriers to effective diabetes management – a survey of people with severe mental illness

Background: People with severe mental illnesses (SMI) such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes and have poorer health outcomes than those with diabetes alone. To maintain good diabetes control, people with diabetes are advised to engage in several self-management behaviours. The aim of this study was to identify barriers or enablers of diabetes self-management experienced by people with SMI. Methods: Adults with type 2 diabetes and SMI were recruited through UK National Health Service organisations and mental health and diabetes charities. Participants completed an anonymous survey consisting of: Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities (SDSCA); CORE-10 measure of psychological distress; a measure of barriers and enablers of diabetes self-management based on the Theoretical Domains Framework; Diabetes UK care survey on receipt of 14 essential aspects of diabetes healthcare. To identify the strongest explanatory variables of SDSCA outcomes, significant variables (p < .05) identified from univariate analyses were entered into multiple regressions. Results: Most of the seventy-seven participants had bipolar disorder (42%) or schizophrenia (36%). They received a mean of 7.6 (SD 3.0) diabetes healthcare essentials. Only 28.6% had developed a diabetes care plan with their health professional and only 40% reported receiving specialist psychological support. Engagement in self-management activities was variable. Participants reported taking medication on 6.1 (SD 2.0) days in the previous week but other behaviours were less frequent: general diet 4.1 (2.3) days; specific diet 3.6 (1.8) days, taking exercise 2.4 (2.1) days and checking feet on 1.7 (1.8) days. Smoking prevalence was 44%. Participants reported finding regular exercise and following a healthy diet particularly difficult. Factors associated with diabetes self22 management included: the level of diabetes healthcare and support received; emotional wellbeing; priority given to diabetes; perceived ability to manage diabetes or establish a routine to do so; and perceived consequences of diabetes self-management. Conclusions: Several aspects of diabetes healthcare and self-management are suboptimal in people with SMI. There is a need to improve diabetes self-management support for this population by integrating diabetes action plans into care planning and providing adequate psychological support to help people with SMI manage their diabetes

Reconfigurable self-assembly through chiral control of interfacial tension

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature 481 (2012): 348–351, doi:10.1038/nature10769.From determining optical properties of simple molecular crystals to establishing preferred handedness in highly complex vertebrates, molecular chirality profoundly influences the structural, mechanical, and optical properties of both synthetic and biological matter at macroscopic lengthscales1,2. In soft materials such as amphiphilic lipids and liquid crystals, the competition between local chiral interactions and global constraints imposed by the geometry of the self-assembled structures leads to frustration and the assembly of unique materials3-6. An example of particular interest is smectic liquid crystals, where the 2D layered geometry cannot support twist, expelling chirality to the edges in a manner analogous to the expulsion of a magnetic field from superconductors7-10. Here, we demonstrate a previously unexplored consequence of this geometric frustration which leads to a new design principle for the assembly of chiral molecules. Using a model system of colloidal membranes11, we show that molecular chirality can control the interfacial tension, an important property of multi-component mixtures. This finding suggests an analogy between chiral twist which is expelled to the edge of 2D membranes, and amphiphilic surfactants which are expelled to oil-water interfaces12. Similar to surfactants, chiral control of interfacial tension drives the assembly of myriad polymorphic assemblages such as twisted ribbons with linear and circular topologies, starfish membranes, and double and triple helices. Tuning molecular chirality in situ enables dynamical control of line tension that powers polymorphic transitions between various chiral structures. These findings outline a general strategy for the assembly of reconfigurable chiral materials which can easily be moved, stretched, attached to one another, and transformed between multiple conformational states, thus enabling precise assembly and nano-sculpting of highly dynamical and designable materials with complex topologies.This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF-MRSEC-0820492, NSF-DMR-0955776, NSF-MRI 0923057) and Petroleum Research Fund (ACS-PRF 50558-DNI7).2012-07-0

Plastid phylogenomics resolves ambiguous relationships within the orchid family and provides a solid timeframe for biogeography and macroevolution

Recent phylogenomic analyses based on the maternally inherited plastid organelle have enlightened evolutionary relationships between the subfamilies of Orchidaceae and most of the tribes. However, uncertainty remains within several subtribes and genera for which phylogenetic relationships have not ever been tested in a phylogenomic context. To address these knowledge-gaps, we here provide the most extensively sampled analysis of the orchid family to date, based on 78 plastid coding genes representing 264 species, 117 genera, 18 tribes and 28 subtribes. Divergence times are also provided as inferred from strict and relaxed molecular clocks and birth–death tree models. Our taxon sampling includes 51 newly sequenced plastid genomes produced by a genome skimming approach. We focus our sampling efforts on previously unplaced clades within tribes Cymbidieae and Epidendreae. Our results confirmed phylogenetic relationships in Orchidaceae as recovered in previous studies, most of which were recovered with maximum support (209 of the 262 tree branches). We provide for the first time a clear phylogenetic placement for Codonorchideae within subfamily Orchidoideae, and Podochilieae and Collabieae within subfamily Epidendroideae. We also identify relationships that have been persistently problematic across multiple studies, regardless of the different details of sampling and genomic datasets used for phylogenetic reconstructions. Our study provides an expanded, robust temporal phylogenomic framework of the Orchidaceae that paves the way for biogeographical and macroevolutionary studies.Universidad de Costa Rica/[814-B8-257]/UCR/Costa RicaUniversidad de Costa Rica/[814-B6-140]/UCR/Costa RicaIDEA WILD/[]//Estados UnidosSociedad Colombiana de Orquideología/[]/SCO/ColombiaFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/[11/08308-9]/FAPESP/BrasilFundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo/[13/19124-1]/FAPESP/BrasilSwiss Orchid Foundation/[]//SuizaRoyal Botanic Gardens, Kew/[]//InglaterraSwedish Research Council/[2019-05191]//SueciaSwedish Foundation for Strategic Research/[FFL15-0196]/SSF/SueciaUCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias Agroalimentarias::Jardín Botánico Lankester (JBL

Comparative phylogeography of reef fishes from the Gulf of Aden to the Arabian Sea reveals two cryptic lineages

Arabian Sea is a heterogeneous region with high coral cover and warm stable conditions at the western end (Djibouti), in contrast to sparse coral cover, cooler temperatures, and upwelling at the eastern end (southern Oman). We tested for barriers to dispersal across this region (including the Gulf of Aden and Gulf of Oman), using mitochondrial DNA surveys of 11 reef fishes. Study species included seven taxa from six families with broad distributions across the Indo-Pacific and four species restricted to the Arabian Sea (and adjacent areas). Nine species showed no significant genetic partitions, indicating connectivity among contrasting environments spread across 2000 km. One butterflyfish (Chaetodon melannotus) and a snapper (Lutjanus kasmira) showed phylogenetic divergences of d = 0.008 and 0.048, respectively, possibly indicating cryptic species within these broadly distributed taxa. These genetic partitions at the western periphery of the Indo-Pacific reflect similar partitions recently discovered at the eastern periphery of the Indo-Pacific (the Hawaiian and the Marquesan Archipelagos), indicating that these disjunctive habitats at the ends of the range may serve as evolutionary incubators for coral reef organisms. © 2017 Springer-Verlag Berlin HeidelbergTh

A Comparative Structural Bioinformatics Analysis of the Insulin Receptor Family Ectodomain Based on Phylogenetic Information

The insulin receptor (IR), the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1R) and the insulin receptor-related receptor (IRR) are covalently-linked homodimers made up of several structural domains. The molecular mechanism of ligand binding to the ectodomain of these receptors and the resulting activation of their tyrosine kinase domain is still not well understood. We have carried out an amino acid residue conservation analysis in order to reconstruct the phylogeny of the IR Family. We have confirmed the location of ligand binding site 1 of the IGF1R and IR. Importantly, we have also predicted the likely location of the insulin binding site 2 on the surface of the fibronectin type III domains of the IR. An evolutionary conserved surface on the second leucine-rich domain that may interact with the ligand could not be detected. We suggest a possible mechanical trigger of the activation of the IR that involves a slight ‘twist’ rotation of the last two fibronectin type III domains in order to face the likely location of insulin. Finally, a strong selective pressure was found amongst the IRR orthologous sequences, suggesting that this orphan receptor has a yet unknown physiological role which may be conserved from amphibians to mammals

Pathogenesis of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis in girls - a double neuro-osseous theory involving disharmony between two nervous systems, somatic and autonomic expressed in the spine and trunk: possible dependency on sympathetic nervous system and hormones with implications for medical therapy

Anthropometric data from three groups of adolescent girls - preoperative adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), screened for scoliosis and normals were analysed by comparing skeletal data between higher and lower body mass index subsets. Unexpected findings for each of skeletal maturation, asymmetries and overgrowth are not explained by prevailing theories of AIS pathogenesis. A speculative pathogenetic theory for girls is formulated after surveying evidence including: (1) the thoracospinal concept for right thoracic AIS in girls; (2) the new neuroskeletal biology relating the sympathetic nervous system to bone formation/resorption and bone growth; (3) white adipose tissue storing triglycerides and the adiposity hormone leptin which functions as satiety hormone and sentinel of energy balance to the hypothalamus for long-term adiposity; and (4) central leptin resistance in obesity and possibly in healthy females. The new theory states that AIS in girls results from developmental disharmony expressed in spine and trunk between autonomic and somatic nervous systems. The autonomic component of this double neuro-osseous theory for AIS pathogenesis in girls involves selectively increased sensitivity of the hypothalamus to circulating leptin (genetically-determined up-regulation possibly involving inhibitory or sensitizing intracellular molecules, such as SOC3, PTP-1B and SH2B1 respectively), with asymmetry as an adverse response (hormesis); this asymmetry is routed bilaterally via the sympathetic nervous system to the growing axial skeleton where it may initiate the scoliosis deformity (leptin-hypothalamic-sympathetic nervous system concept = LHS concept). In some younger preoperative AIS girls, the hypothalamic up-regulation to circulating leptin also involves the somatotropic (growth hormone/IGF) axis which exaggerates the sympathetically-induced asymmetric skeletal effects and contributes to curve progression, a concept with therapeutic implications. In the somatic nervous system, dysfunction of a postural mechanism involving the CNS body schema fails to control, or may induce, the spinal deformity of AIS in girls (escalator concept). Biomechanical factors affecting ribs and/or vertebrae and spinal cord during growth may localize AIS to the thoracic spine and contribute to sagittal spinal shape alterations. The developmental disharmony in spine and trunk is compounded by any osteopenia, biomechanical spinal growth modulation, disc degeneration and platelet calmodulin dysfunction. Methods for testing the theory are outlined. Implications are discussed for neuroendocrine dysfunctions, osteopontin, sympathoactivation, medical therapy, Rett and Prader-Willi syndromes, infantile idiopathic scoliosis, and human evolution. AIS pathogenesis in girls is predicated on two putative normal mechanisms involved in trunk growth, each acquired in evolution and unique to humans