Techno-Racism: Heidegger\u27s Philosophy of Technology and Critical Philosophies of Race

Racism continues to be a pressing problem in Western Society. In some ways it even makes a great deal of sense to think about racism as a tool of political power. My dissertation explores the way in which racism is informed by the underlying social structure of whiteness, and the way that modern technology is informed by the underlying structure of the enframing. I draw on the works of George Yancy, and Cornel West to demonstrate that the everyday problems we face in racism are informed and guided by the systemic problem of whiteness. I then use the work of Martin Heidegger to demonstrate that the everyday problems that exist in modern technology are informed and guided by the systemic problem of enframing. By further demonstrating that the language of sin, as it is used in the works of Augustine, can be applied to both whiteness and enframing I show that these systems are manifestations of an underlying cultural attitude, technoracism. The original work in my dissertation involves defining the concept of cultural attitude and demonstrating that cultural attitudes present a dominating force in how western society has thought, lived, and worked throughout history. I then argue that our current attitude is that of technoracism, and I locate technoracism at the advent of historical modernity. Technoracism can be understood as a vice that is instantiated in the historical moments of Christian Supremacy, the drive for precise scientific categories, and the emphasis on individualism. These moments arise out of the pre-rational characteristics of violent exclusivity, precise particularity, and absolute subjectivism. I ultimately conclude that an ethical resolution to technoracism is necessary. To that end I work out a virtue ethics based on the ideal of humanity as multiplicitous and lay out the virtues of religious diversity, aesthetic mystery, and community to counter the vices of technoracism. Finally, I end my dissertation by explaining how these virtues can be brought about through the practices of detachment, tarrying, vigilance, and dialogue

Ubiquitin Signaling in Regulation of the Start of the Cell Cycle

The small protein ubiquitin plays a vital role in virtually all aspects of cellular life. Among the diverse signaling outcomes associated with ubiquitination, the most well-established is the targeted degradation of substrates via the proteasome. During cell growth and proliferation, ubiquitin plays an outsized role in promoting progression through the cell cycle. In particular, ubiquitin-mediated degradation is critically important at transition points where it provides directionality and irreversibility to the cell cycle, which is essential for maintaining genome integrity. Specifically, the boundary between G1 and S-phase is tightly regulated by the ubiquitin proteasome system. Notably, the G1/S boundary represents a major barrier to cell proliferation and is universally dysfunctional in cancer cells, allowing for the unbridled proliferation observed in malignancy. Numerous E3 ubiquitin ligases, which facilitate the ubiquitination of specific substrates, have been shown to control G1/S. In this chapter, we will discuss components in the ubiquitin proteasome system that are implicated in G1/S control, how these enzymes are interconnected, gaps in our current knowledge, and the potential role of these pathways in the cancer cycle and disease proliferation

The question concerning Heidegger: technology and being, a deeper understanding

The primary goal of this thesis is to show that Martin Heidegger's philosophy of technology stems directly from his ontology. Specifically that his notion of technology, as the enframing destining spirit of this age, is a revelation of being itself as technology in this age. The thesis begins with an introduction that sets up the major points and briefly summarizes each of the chapters. Chapter I primarily deals with the question of what motivates Heidegger to reflect philosophically on technology. This idea is also broadened to include the basic experiences and concepts that might cause anyone to reflect on technology. The historical, scientific, metaphysical, practical, personal, and spiritual are the motivational forces that drive someone to philosophize about technology. This is shown through an analysis of selected works from Iain Thomson, Don Ihde, W.P.S. Dias, and Hubert Dreyfus. The chapter ends with a return to the notion of being. Chapter II mainly deals with a textual analysis of the introduction to Being and Time, and The Question Concerning Technology. The idea of being is examined in detail, and a workable notion of being is extracted from the text. Then Heidegger's philosophy of technology is explained using the QCT. These ideas are put together and it is shown that technology is being as the destining of this present age. Yet technology poses a danger to being, and indeed to humanity. The third chapter examines the alternatives to this danger in the form of Heidegger's saving power, as discussed in his essay The Turning. The lesser dangers of technology are also reconsidered, as the truth of Heidegger's answer comes to light. The truth of the saving power is that releasement towards a new destining will surmount the danger of technology. Yet this reveals that being takes a care for humanity, and this opens up the path for the unconcealing of God's active power in the world of technology. Ultimately, only God can save humanity from the danger of technology, but He will only be revealed through the new destining revealing of being

Directional Preference in Drosophila melanogaster

Diverse organisms have been shown to use the Earth’s magnetic field for orientation and navigation, but the mechanisms underlying magnetoreception are still poorly understood. Recent research on magnetoreception has focused on the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster primarily because of its role as a model organism for understanding the genetic mechanisms underlying behavioral traits. While current research suggests that Drosophila might be able to detect and orient to magnetic fields, different studies offer contradictory results. In this study, we used a Y-maze and selective breeding to attempt to create a population of fruit flies that display a robust magnetic orientation behavior. We used a Y-maze where each fly made 10 choices of whether to go north or south. Of flies that exited the maze, we selected the top 20% of flies from each run to produce the next generation. This protocol was repeated for 12 generations. Our data shows that wild-type Drosophila have no innate north or south preference, nor an innate east or west preference. Additionally, after 12 generations of selection, we have so far been unable to create populations of fruit flies with a magnetic orientation behavior. Further research includes continued selection on our current populations of flies as well as experimental design modifications that could possibly detect a more subtle magnetic orientation behavior

Confirming the identity of the Hypogeococcus species (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) associated with Harrisia martinii (Labour.) Britton (Cactaceae) in Australia: implications for biological control

Determining the identity of potential control agents is critical to successful biological control and can contribute to our understanding of the failures of previous introductions, especially in cases where host-associated cryptic species may be present. In 1975, a mealybug was introduced into Australia from Argentina for the classical biological control of the invasive cactus Harrisia martinii (Cactaceae). This cactus also originates from Argentina and is an environmental and agricultural weed in parts of Australia. Since its release, the imported mealybug species has been incorrectly referred to as Hypogeococcus festerianus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) in the applied literature, and its performance as a biological control agent has been considered poor in some locations. In this study, the identities of mealybug specimens collected from 10 locations in Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, were assessed. The genetic, morphological and reproductive characteristics of these specimens were compared with those of two congeneric mealybug species, Hypogeococcus pungens sensu stricto (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) and Hypogeococcus festerianus. Specimens from the different Australian localities examined were all very similar to each other morphologically and genetically, based on comparisons of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequence data. The morphological features of all the specimens were typical of Hypogeococcus pungens sensu stricto. H. pungens is now considered to constitute a species complex, and the specimens from Australia are genetically similar to the Cactaceae clade of this species complex from Argentina. In common with H. pungens s. s., the insects collected in Australia can also reproduce parthenogenetically. These findings help confirm that all populations of the mealybug in Australia are not H. festerianus, but part of the H. pungens cryptic species complex. There is no mismatch between this agent and the host plant in Australia, as H. martinii is one of the host plants of the most closely related cryptic species of H. pungens in the native range in Argentina. Thus, despite the original confusion around its identity, the variable performance of the introduced mealybug as a biological control agent of H. martini in Australia is likely due to other factors, and these require further investigation

Causes of prehospital misinterpretations of ST elevation myocardial infarction

Objectives: To determine the causes of software misinterpretation of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) compared to clinically identified STEMI to identify opportunities to improve prehospital STEMI identification. Methods: We compared ECGs acquired from July 2011 through June 2012 using the LIFEPAK 15 on adult patients transported by the Los Angeles Fire Department. Cases included patients ≥18 years who received a prehospital ECG. Software interpretation of the ECG (STEMI or not) was compared with data in the regional EMS registry to classify the interpretation as true positive (TP), true negative (TN), false positive (FP), or false negative (FN). For cases where classification was not possible using registry data, 3 blinded cardiologists interpreted the ECG. Each discordance was subsequently reviewed to determine the likely cause of misclassification. The cardiologists independently reviewed a sample of these discordant ECGs and the causes of misclassification were updated in an iterative fashion. Results: Of 44,611 cases, 50% were male (median age 65; inter-quartile range 52–80). Cases were classified as 482 (1.1%) TP, 711 (1.6%) FP, 43371 (97.2%) TN, and 47 (0.11%) FN. Of the 711 classified as FP, 126 (18%) were considered appropriate for, though did not undergo, emergent coronary angiography, because the ECG showed definite (52 cases) or borderline (65 cases) ischemic ST elevation, a STEMI equivalent (5 cases) or ST-elevation due to vasospasm (4 cases). The sensitivity was 92.8% [95% CI 90.6, 94.7%] and the specificity 98.7% [95% CI 98.6, 98.8%]. The leading causes of FP were ECG artifact (20%), early repolarization (16%), probable pericarditis/myocarditis (13%), indeterminate (12%), left ventricular hypertrophy (8%), and right bundle branch block (5%). There were 18 additional reasons for FP interpretation (<4% each). The leading causes of FN were borderline ST-segment elevations less than the algorithm threshold (40%) and tall T waves reducing the ST/T ratio below threshold (15%). There were 11 additional reasons for FN interpretation occurring ≤3 times each. Conclusion: The leading causes of FP automated interpretation of STEMI were ECG artifact and non-ischemic causes of ST-segment elevation. FN were rare and were related to ST-segment elevation or ST/T ratio that did not meet the software algorithm threshold

Large-scale Timber Shear Wall Experimentation in an Undergraduate Design Course

Despite the widespread use of light-frame timber construction in residential building, wood design courses are typically offered to graduate students and focus on member-level calculations for gravity and lateral systems per the National Design Specification (NDS) for Wood Construction. In years prior, the 10-week advanced undergraduate class described in this paper exposed students through a system-level perspective through a group design project of a multistory, mixed-use wood building located in a seismic region. A significant course modification in Fall 2020 involved the two class sections constructing and testing large-scale wood shear walls representing a one-story segment of a wall present in their multi-story building project: (i) segmented and (ii) force transfer around openings (FTAO) shear walls. The stages of each shear wall experiment included: design calculations and drawings, fabrication of wall specimens, experimental test set-up, conduct of test, and analysis of data. This new activity exposed students to additional technical concerns related to constructability and seismic performance of shear walls. Also, it promoted development of skills in project management and teamwork. Feedback collected via surveys of the students indicated that the addition of the timber shear wall experiment allowed students to physically comprehend how these structural components are assembled and behave under loading

Effects of Open Marsh Water Management on Numbers of Larval Salt Marsh Mosquitoes

Open marsh water management (OMWM) is a commonly used approach to manage salt marsh mosquitoes than can obviate the need for pesticide application and at the same time, partially restore natural functions of grid-ditched marshes. OMWM includes a variety of hydrologic manipulations, often tailored to the specific conditions on individual marshes, so the overall effectiveness of this approach is difficult to assess. Here, we report the results of controlled field trials to assess the effects of two approaches to OMWM on larval mosquito production at National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). A traditional OMWM approach, using pond construction and radial ditches was used at Edwin B. Forsythe NWR in New Jersey, and a ditch-plugging approach was used at Parker River NWR in Massachusetts. Mosquito larvae were sampled from randomly placed stations on paired treatment and control marshes at each refuge. The proportion of sampling stations that were wet declined after OMWM at the Forsythe site, but not at the Parker River site. The proportion of samples with larvae present and mean larval densities, declined significantly at the treatment sites on both refuges relative to the control marshes. Percentage of control for the 2 yr posttreatment, compared with the 2 yr pretreatment, was \u3e90% at both treatment sites

Human monoclonal antibodies against NS1 protein protect against lethal West Nile virus infection

Envelope protein-targeted vaccines for flaviviruses are limited by concerns of antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) of infections. Nonstructural protein 1 (NS1) provides an alternative vaccine target that avoids this risk since this protein is absent from the virion. Beyond its intracellular role in virus replication, extracellular forms of NS1 function in immune modulation and are recognized by host-derived antibodies. The rational design of NS1-based vaccines requires an extensive understanding of the antigenic sites on NS1, especially those targeted by protective antibodies. Here, we isolated human monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) from individuals previously naturally infected with WNV, mapped their epitopes using structure-guided mutagenesis, and evaluated their efficac