Reproduction Schemes Research Articles

Reviewing Marx’s schemes of reproduction by the System of National Accounts

Reviewing Marx’s schemes of reproduction by the System of National Accounts

Comparison of asymptotic population growth rates with heterogeneous variances

AbstractThis report explores how the heterogeneity of variances affects randomization tests used to evaluate differences in the asymptotic population growth rate, λ. The probability of Type I error was calculated in four scenarios for populations with identical λ but different variance of λ: (1) Populations have different projection matrices: the same λ may be obtained from different sets of vital rates, which gives room for different variances of λ. (2) Populations have identical projection matrices but reproductive schemes differ and fecundity in one of the populations has a larger associated variance. The two other scenarios evaluate a sampling artifact as responsible for heterogeneity of variances. The same population is sampled twice, (3) with the same sampling design, or (4) with different sampling effort for different stages. Randomization tests were done with increasing differences in sample size between the two populations. This implies additional differences in the variance of λ. The probability of Type I error keeps at the nominal significance level (α = .05) in Scenario 3 and with identical sample sizes in the others. Tests were too liberal, or conservative, under a combination of variance heterogeneity and different sample sizes. Increased differences in sample size exacerbated the difference between observed Type I error and the nominal significance level. Type I error increases or decreases depending on which population has a larger sample size, the population with the smallest or the largest variance. However, by their own, sample size is not responsible for changes in Type I errors.

Marx and the “Minsky moment” liquidity crises and reproduction crises in Das Kapital

This paper reconsiders the interaction between monetary and financial factors, on the one hand, and real factors, on the other, in Marx’s theory of crises. We propose a reconstruction of the financial instability theory contained in Book III of Capital presenting striking similarities with Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis. Regarding the link between monetary and real dimensions of crises we draw from Hilferding’s Finance Capital to link the reproduction schemes from Book II with financial instability from Book III. The natural elasticity of bank credit and financial markets exuberance ensure the emergence and enlargement of sectoral disproportions till the unavoidable crisis.

Color reproduction of reflective display based on conjugated electrochromic polymer

Abstract Conjugated electrochromic polymer has promising potentials for many applications, such as smart window, auto sunroof, and displays. Though the reflective display based on conjugated electrochromic polymer has some distinct advantages, such as full color, low power consumption, and easy process, the additive color reproduction scheme adopted in current display technology is not compatible with the intrinsically “color subtractive” electrochromic polymers. Moreover, since the color of the electrochromic polymer depends on the oxidation level, it's difficult to realize gray levels while keeping the color intact. In the work, multi-color electrochromic (EC) devices have been fabricated with our proprietary conjugated polymers combined with solid state electrolyte and metal oxide charge storage material. Based on the optical performance of the EC devices, we simulate the reflective display's performance. Under 3000 lux outdoor ambient light condition, the theoretical contrast ratio reaches 10:1, and the color gamut is about 10.5%. To address the problem of color shift at different gray levels, we propose to use color maps to match any color in the chromaticity diagram. The work provides a preliminary solution to reproduce color on a reflective display based on conjugated electrochromic polymer.

Current situation of initial female fertility evaluation in assisted reproductive institutions in China in 2019

The evaluation of female fertility at first diagnosis is an important premise and basis for determining the treatment scheme of assisted reproduction. In this study, a survey was conducted among 13 assisted reproductive institutions in China to understand the evaluation indicators and detection methods of female fertility at first diagnosis in various institutions, and provide a basis for reasonable selection of indicators. The survey showed that the indicators of female fertility evaluation at first diagnosis among assisted reproductive institutions included general health indicators, ovarian reserve indicators, and uterine conditions, etc. The selection of indicators was considerably consistent, but the detection methods were quite different. Therefore, it is necessary to choose the detection method with better validity and less harm.

High numbers of unrelated reproductives in the Australian ‘higher’ termite Nasutitermes exitiosus (Blattodea: Termitidae)

Social insect colonies are among the most complex social organisations in nature, with reproductive and non-reproductive individuals co-ordinating to maintain the survival of the colony. Multiple reproductive schemes occur in social insects, from simple schemes with one founding reproductive pair, to more complex ones involving within-colony inbreeding and more than two unrelated reproductives. Colony breeding schemes and genetic structure remain understudied in termites, compared to the Hymenoptera. In this study, we performed the first genetic characterisation of the colony breeding structure of Nasutitermes exitiosus (Blattodea: Termitidae), an endemic Australian termite with a broad distribution across southern mainland Australia. We analysed the genetic structure of 60 N. exitiosus colonies from the Eastern part of its distribution, using microsatellites and mitochondrial sequence data. We found that most colonies were headed by one founding pair of reproductives, although some colonies exhibited a more complex breeding structure, including within-colony inbreeding and the presence of multiple unrelated reproductives. We found evidence for the presence of seven unrelated queens in one colony, to our knowledge, the highest number of unrelated queens yet found in a termite from the family Termitidae. We found some evidence for genetic isolation by distance, indicating that the species is a relatively poor disperser over long ranges.

Optimal Weight of Commercial Sector and Reproduction Scheme

Optimal Weight of Commercial Sector and Reproduction Scheme

Precision Betacarotene Supplementation Enhanced Ovarian Function and the LH Release Pattern in Yearling Crossbred Anestrous Goats.

Simple SummaryThe potential out-of-season supplementation effect of beta-carotene (BETA) upon both ovarian function and the luteinizing hormone LH release pattern in anestrous yearling goats was evaluated. Oral BETA-supply to goats with an enlarged gene-pool of dairy goat breeds, influenced in a positive fashion, the out-of-season ovarian outcomes escorted by changes in the release pattern of LH regarding the Control group. Results denote a likely role of BETA not only as modulator ovarian function measured as ovulation rate and antral follicular number but also involved as modifier of the LH-release pattern. The obtained outcomes would be central in the proposal of out-of-season reproductive schemes to enhance the ovarian outcomes in crossbred dairy goats.The possible out-of-season effect of beta-carotene supplementation on ovulation rate (OR), antral follicles (AFN), and total ovarian activity (TOA = OR + AFN) as related to the LH release pattern in yearling anestrous goats was evaluated. In late April, Alpine-Saanen-Nubian x Criollo goats (n = 22, 26 N) were randomly allotted to: (1) Beta-carotene (BETA; n = 10, orally supplemented with 50 mg/goat/d; 36.4 ± 1.07 kg live weight (LW), 3.5 ± 0.20 units, body condition score (BCS) or (2) Non-supplemented (CONT; n = 12, 35.2 ± 1.07 kg LW, 3.4 ± 0.2 units BCS). Upon estrus synchronization, an intensive blood sampling (6 h × 15 min) was accomplished in May for LH quantifications; response variables included (pulsatility-PULSE, time to first pulse-TTFP, amplitude-AMPL, nadir-NAD and area under the curve-AUC). Thereafter, an ultrasonography scanning was completed to assess OR and AFN. The Munro algorithm was used to quantify LH pulsatility; if significant effects of time, treatment or interaction were identified, data were compared across time. Neither LW nor BCS (p > 0.05) or even the LH (p > 0.05); PULSE (4.1 ± 0.9 pulses/6 h), NAD (0.47 ± 0.13 ng) and AUC (51.7 ± 18.6 units) differed between treatments. Nonetheless, OR (1.57 vs. 0.87 ± 0.18 units) and TOA (3.44 vs. 1.87 ± 0.45 units) escorted by a reduced TTFP (33 vs. 126 ± 31.9 min) and an increased AMPL (0.55 vs. 0.24 ± 0.9 ng), favored to the BETA supplemented group (p < 0.05), possibly through a GnRH-LH enhanced pathway and(or) a direct effect at ovarian level. Results are relevant to speed-up the out-of-season reproductive outcomes in goats while may embrace translational applications.

Ecologic-histophysiological overview of the involvement of the hypothalamo-hypophysial neurosecretory system in fish reproduction

The participation of the hypothalamo-hypophysial neurosecretory system (HHNS) in fish reproduction was shown by histomorphological and electronic microscopical studies with the use of quantitative morphometry. The activation of HHNS at the beginning of spawning and the following decrease of its functional activity was revealed in all studied one-time spawning fish species independently of the spawning season (based on spring-, autumn- and winter-spawning genera: Acipenser, Oncorhynchus, and Lota respectively). The diphasic reaction of HHNS corresponding to stages of “an alarm and resistance to stress”, is considered to be the reflection of its participation in protective-adaptive reactions of an organism to a physiological stress. In monocyclic species, right after spawning, there becomes the blockade of neurohormone releasing function from neurohypophysis corresponding to supernatural inhibition of system at disstress. At the beginning of spawning nonapeptide neurohormones (NpNh) of HHNS initiate spawning behavior and the appearance of “mating attire” by exposure to the central nervous system, pituitary gland and complex visceral organs. Then they promote ovulation and spermiation by stimulating the contraction of the smooth muscles of gonad. By the end of reproduction, they participate in the implementation of the body’s adaptations, aimed at overcoming physiological stress-spawning. Maintaining the body’s metabolic equilibrium is ensured by the pronounced anti-gonadotropic NpNh effect by inhibiting the gonadoliberin secretion and stimulating at the same time its antagonist – adrenocorticotropin secretion, as well as their direct effect on endocrine and generative gonad’s functions. This effect is crucial for the normalization of the physiological body state after spawning, as it allows to radically affect the nature of metabolic processes, by “switching” them from generative to plastic metabolism. A constructive working scheme of neuroendocrine regulation fish reproduction – its initiation (stimulating neurohormonal effect) and completion (inhibitory effect) by the self-regulation principle is presented. The important HHNS functional role in the integration of fish reproduction and the intended mechanisms for its participation in spawning migrations are discussed.

Wireless Transceiver Aided Run-Time Secret Key Extraction for IoT Device Security

This article provides a secret key extraction aided by wireless transceiver for Internet of Things (IoT) based consumer electronic (CE) devices, which can be a promising alternative to the conventional secret storage with non-volatile memory. Exploiting the wireless transceiver as a source of secret key generation, we propose a new type of static random access memory (SRAM) physically unclonable function (PUF), especially focusing on run-time extraction from most connected CE devices without additional hardware. The response of the proposed PUF is further processed by a fuzzy extractor to reproduce the secure key, where we suggest to use low-complexity convolutional code combined with interleaver for error correction. In addition, run-time multiple readout capability of our wireless transceiver aided PUF enables to provide a helper data-less key reproduction scheme to reduce leaked information and implementation complexity. Experimental results on two platforms equipped with the IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi and IEEE 802.15.4g Smart Utility Network (SUN) based wireless transceivers confirm that the proposed PUF and key reproduction schemes successfully generate the secret key at any time, which makes our approach easily applicable to various IoT based CE devices with security requirements.

On understanding economic reality at the beginning of the twenty-first century: an essay in remembrance of Professor Laski

Economic objects are objects which are produced by employing inputs and valued by applying a valuation procedure. In a market economy the valuation is performed by the price mechanism. Ideally market prices reflect the scarcity values corresponding to individual preferences. This article argues that new technologies and business models call the separation of production and valuation into question and thereby challenge the theoretical foundation of the market economy. In particular the finance and data industry turns beliefs and preferences from exogenous individual characteristics into produced objects. As a result, at the beginning of the twenty-first century economic activity shifts from the production of objects to the production of values and prices. The paper adopts a classical perspective and uses the production and reproduction scheme to outline a model of the smart economy. A smart economy is an Internet-based economy which employs (artificially intelligent) robots to produce sensor-enabled objects via which the behavior of consumers can be tracked and directed. The robots are owned by capital-owners who employ agents for developing the robots, designing data-based devices and business models, managing them, and financing them. The owners and their agents employ workers to complement robots and to provide personal services. The paper proposes investing more into the production and reproduction of consumer sovereignty, active citizenship, and the res publica, in order to avoid a dystopic brave new world. The author sketches an agenda for the maintenance and renewal of the institutions of a free and democratic society by confronting the smart economy with core concepts of European enlightenment: secularization, constitution and rule of law, separation of powers, nation state, education, and market order.

On understanding economic reality at the beginning of the twenty-first century: an essay in remembrance of Professor Laski

Economic objects are objects which are produced by employing inputs and valued by applying a valuation procedure. In a market economy the valuation is performed by the price mechanism. Ideally market prices reflect the scarcity values corresponding to individual preferences. This article argues that new technologies and business models call the separation of production and valuation into question and thereby challenge the theoretical foundation of the market economy. In particular the finance and data industry turns beliefs and preferences from exogenous individual characteristics into produced objects. As a result, at the beginning of the twenty-first century economic activity shifts from the production of objects to the production of values and prices. The paper adopts a classical perspective and uses the production and reproduction scheme to outline a model of the smart economy. A smart economy is an Internet-based economy which employs (artificially intelligent) robots to produce sensor-enabled objects via which the behavior of consumers can be tracked and directed. The robots are owned by capital-owners who employ agents for developing the robots, designing data-based devices and business models, managing them, and financing them. The owners and their agents employ workers to complement robots and to provide personal services. The paper proposes investing more into the production and reproduction of consumer sovereignty, active citizenship, and the res publica, in order to avoid a dystopic brave new world. The author sketches an agenda for the maintenance and renewal of the institutions of a free and democratic society by confronting the smart economy with core concepts of European enlightenment: secularization, constitution and rule of law, separation of powers, nation state, education, and market order.

Características andrológicas e seminais de cães da raça Pastor Belga Malinois

A realização do exame andrológico em cães, prévio à sua seleção e/ou utilização em um esquema de reprodução natural ou artificial é de grande importância, e é composto pela anamnese, exame clínico geral, exame do sistema reprodutivo, exame da libido, exame do sêmen e exames complementares, se necessário. No presente estudo, foram avaliados 11 cães adultos da raça Pastor Belga Malinois, com a finalidade de padronizar as características seminais e andrológicas da raça em questão, já que há grande variação das características entre as múltiplas raças de cães de diferentes portes, e escassa literatura sobre raças específicas. Como resultado, a avaliação dos testículos revelou o tamanho médio do testículo direito de 2,7±0,44cm de largura, 2,73±0,40cm de espessura e 4,44±0,44cm de comprimento, e do esquerdo de 2,60±0,26cm de largura, 2,84±0,34cm de espessura e 4,48±0,51cm de comprimento. Os animais apresentaram uma média de 88% de movimento retilíneo e progressivo, 4,6 de vigor e 9,55% de espermatozoides anormais. Todavia, em relação ao volume do ejaculado e à concentração espermática houve uma grande variação entre os animais, 5 cães apresentaram valores de concentração abaixo de 100x106 sptz/ml, enquanto os demais se situaram acima deste valor. Conclui-se que a concentração espermática e o volume total do sêmen apresentaram variação, devido à variação do volume da secreção prostática, que foi maior principalmente em animais com mais de 5 anos com Hiperplasia Prostática Benigna, os demais parâmetros espermáticos estão de acordo com os padrões da espécie canina.

When size matters - coordination of growth and cell cycle in bacteria.

Bacterial cells often inhabit environments where conditions can change rapidly. Therefore, a lot of bacterial species developed control strategies allowing them to grow and divide very fast during feast and slow down both parameters during famine. Under rich nutritional conditions, fast-growing bacteria can divide with time interval equal to half of the period required to synthesize their chromosomes. This is possible due to multifork replication which allows ancestor cells to start copying genetic material for their descendants. This reproduction scheme was most likely selected for, since it enables maximization of growth rate and hence - effective competition for resources, while ensuring that DNA replication will not become limiting for cell division. Even with this complexity of cell cycle, isogenic bacterial cells grown under defined conditions display remarkably narrow distribution of sizes. This may suggest that mechanisms exists to control cell size at division step. Alternative view, with great support in experimental data is that the only step coordinated with cell growth is the initiation of DNA replication. Despite decades of research we are still not sure what the driving forces in bacterial cell cycle are. In this work we review recent advances in understanding coordination of growth with DNA replication coming from single cell studies and systems biology approaches.

Marx and Sraffa: A Comment on Gehrke and Kurz

ABSTRACTThis comment focuses on the assertion by Gehrke and Kurz (2018) that the origin of the equations which formed the backbone of Sraffa’s Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities is not related in any way to Marx, and particularly Marx’s reproduction schemes, as argued by the late Giorgio Gilibert and myself. This comment argues that the 2018 article by Gehrke and Kurz makes significant—but unacknowledged—retreats from positions previously presented by the authors, and that the relevance of Marx and his reproduction schemes for the origin of Sraffa’s (1960) work for Production of Commodities is beyond reasonable doubt.

Perspective Technologies of Isolated Tissue Culture in the Sugar Beet Breeding Process

The methods of isolated tissue cultures allowing production and rapid propagation of the sugar beet plant material with improved or new traits are described in the presented study. It was shown that the proposed original scheme of mass reproduction and in vitro deposition of elite plants—components of highly productive hybrids—can be used for the production of seeds with improved quality. The technology of in vitro selective selections carried out under abiotic stress conditions allows for the production of sugar beet isogenic lines with high resistance to external environment abiotic factors (salinization, drought, soil acidity). The effect of certain factors of in vitro culture on haploid cells of sugar beet ovules allowed production of doubled haploid lines (DH) with high homozygosity level and qualitative seeds of highly productive hybrid components. The developed technologies based on biotechnological methods are a preferred and innovative direction of research in modern science, since the introduction of these developments in the breeding process will contribute to the production of competitive hybrids with a set of desired economic traits.

Queer As Subalterns

Queer As Subalterns Yün Peng (bio) QUEER MARXISM IN TWO CHINAS BY PETRUS LIU Duke University Press, 2015 In Queer Marxism in Two Chinas Petrus Liu makes three related claims. First, Chinese queer Marxism is a critique of and an alternative to the "familiar intellectual paradigm" of queer theory in the United States (7). In particular, a queer Marxist critique of the latter's tendency toward neoliberal pluralism and "dematerializing" subjectivism promises to restore to queerness its radical potential (10). Second, queer Marxism presents a new definition of queerness that is both theoretically significant and practically consequential. Rather than a preexisting identity category, queerness is redefined through Marx's labor theory of value as a product of the distribution of social resources, as social norm is understood in terms of the capitalist social reproduction. Third, if bringing Marxism to bear on queerness offers a needed way out of the neoliberal impasse, this is conceivable only if we confront the Cold War thinking that automatically attributes queer rights to the liberal state as both originating in the West and developmentally more advanced. The book's theoretical framework is laid out in the first two of the five chapters. Chapter 1 serves as an introduction and a map. The queer Marxist analysis is further developed in chapter 2, where it is fleshed out through two examples: the PRC filmmaker Cui Zi'en's queer cinema practice and the theory and practice of Taiwan's antistatist feminist and queer movements. Chapter 3 reads Chen Ruoxi's 1986 novel Paper Marriage as "an exemplary work of queer Marxism in the two Chinas" and makes a counterargument against the Foucauldian [End Page 201] histories of sexuality that attribute Chinese queer identity to the influence of "translations of Western knowledge" (88, 86–87). Chapter 4 takes on "the liberal myth of the self-fashioned bourgeoisie" and argues, through the example of Song of Dreams, a novel by the popular Taiwanese writer Xiao Sa, that "queer culture is not a product of liberal-ism's promotion of human diversity; rather, it comes into being as a social critique of the liberal fable of self-invention" (115). Chapter 5 engages the human rights discourse and proposes a queer Marxist recuperation of the human as "neither the agent of social transformation nor the subject of universal rights" but rather "ek-stasis" and grounded in Marx's understanding of the "constitutive sociality of the self" and "the moral equality of human time" in his labor theory of value (142–43, 165, 150–51). The heart of the book's argument is an analysis of queerness through Marx's labor theory of value. The first key point in this connection is that value is determined by "abstract labor, the aggregate production of commodities in society as a whole"—in other words, by the reproduction of society as a whole, which includes both economic and noneconomic factors (80). The second, related point is that capitalist reproduction necessarily depends on the reproduction of "the moral and intellectual conditions" that lie "outside the capitalist reproduction scheme" narrowly defined (81). This is the Althusserian formula that "the reproduction of capital is both the reproduction of the material forces and the reproduction of 'the social conditions of production' that include … what he calls the ideological state apparatuses" (81; original emphasis). Within this framework, queerness is understood in terms of capitalist reproduction of society "along asymmetrical lines" (82). Drawing on Marx, Liu argues that abstract labor, which reproduces society, "at once homogenizes individuals and places them into discrete identity groups and ineluctable classes" (80). Such structurally determined asymmetry explains why pluralism doesn't work: the production of a universal equivalent of value simultaneously creates distinctions and assigns stigmas. One way to look at it is that queerness is a matter of the social production of value, an instance of what Gayatri Spivak describes as the "irreducibly complicitous" relationship between "the Value-form in the general sense and in the narrow" or, in other words, between "cultural" and economic forms of value (Spivak 82; original emphasis).1 [End Page 202] Value, then, serves as a sort of index pointing to the social totality. While liberal pluralism "has...

Gloeobacter violaceus: primitive reproductive scheme and its significance

Gloeobacter violaceus is a simple unicellular cyanobacterium believed to be basal to all cyanobacteria. It is unique among the cyanobacteria in various features, but most significantly in the absence of thylakoids and a circadian clock. We found additional features which support the basal status of the clade of G. violaceus in samples from a wet wall in a waterfall cave in central Mexico. We encountered a high morphological and morphometric variability in the populations studied. In trying to explain the reasons for this, we discovered that it can be attributed basically to two phenomena: a lack of synchronicity, circadian or other, in the cell cycles of the organisms; and the presence of a scheme with three simultaneous reproductive options. These two characteristics interfere with the development of a life cycle comparable to that found in other organisms. We coined the term “reproductive routes” for the alternative to a life cycle and discuss the consequences of having several routes instead of a cycle. Our results open avenues for studies to understand how the rest of the cyanobacteria acquired circadian clocks, organized life cycles and evolved complex regulating mechanisms.

Use values and exchange values in Marx’s extended reproduction schemes

Marx-Engels’ numerical illustrations of the extended reproduction suggest that a two-sector economy reaches a balanced growth path, from the second period onwards. We explain this surprising result and show that for technical reasons, disproportions between sectors can prevent the system from reproducing itself. But, in Marx’s reproduction schemes, such a crisis is not only due to purely technical factors and one must wonder what role is played by the relative price in the reproduction of the system. The answer is given by comparing two models having a similar structure but quite different rules for the determination of the relative price. In Marx’s model, the price is given by the labour values and thus, it is exogenously fixed. We contrast Marx’s analysis with an endogenous price model in which the price depends on the conditions of the accumulation of capital. The Appendices point out the complete accordance of Engels’ corrections with Marx’s model and Marx’s unfruitful quest for a balanced growth path as a tool for the analysis of crises.

Marx’s reproduction schemes and multi-sector growth models

This paper provides a critical discussion of Marx’s analysis of simple reproduction, of reproduction on an extended scale, and of the transition from simple to extended reproduction. It challenges various interpretations of Marx’s analysis based on steady-state growth models. By referring to Marx’s original manuscripts on the reproduction schemes, the paper shows that Marx, due to erroneous calculations, never arrived at schemes of reproduction on an extended scale that exhibit steady-state growth. Moreover, it is suggested that Marx identified reproduction on an extended scale with an expansion path of undisturbed capital accumulation, irrespective of whether the latter proceeds in a steady or non-steady manner.