Theory Of Heredity Research Articles

A dark coevolution: racial discourses and transnationalism in interwar Czechoslovakia

ABSTRACT This paper explores the links among internationalism, nationalism and racial discourses in post-Habsburg Central Europe. Focusing on Czech advocates of racial anthropology and eugenics, the paper documents that scientists embracing racial discourses did not evade scientific internationalism, either as an ideology or as a practice. Instead, in attempting to renew and expand their networks after the collapse of the empire, they were among its pioneers in interwar Czechoslovakia. This keen yet ambiguous embrace of internationalism that linked them to their counterparts in the Allied powers in the 1920s was reconfigured in the following decade. The 1930s were characterized by a search for alternative transnational models driven by political and epistemic challenges associated with the process of state-building and changing theories of heredity. This search resulted in interactions involving even Europe’s colonies and dictatorships and became a significant, though not the only, factor contributing to the radicalization of these scientific communities. Analysing these exchanges as a manifestation of the ‘dark side of transnationalism’, the paper argues for the utility of this concept for the history of post-Habsburg Central Europe.

Bubbling beyond the barrier: exosomal RNA as a vehicle for soma-germline communication.

'Weismann's barrier' has restricted theories of heredity to the transmission of genomic variation for the better part of a century. However, the discovery and elucidation of epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation such as DNA methylation and histone modifications has renewed interest in studies on the inheritance of acquired traits and given them mechanistic plausibility. Although it is now clear that these mechanisms allow many environmentally acquired traits to be transmitted to the offspring, how phenotypic information is communicated from the body to its gametes has remained a mystery. Here, we discuss recent evidence that such communication is mediated by somatic RNAs that travel inside extracellular vesicles to the gametes where they reprogram the offspring epigenome and phenotype. How gametes learn about bodily changes has implications not only for the clinic, but also for evolutionary theory by bringing together intra- and intergenerational mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity and adaptation.

THE APPLICATION OF DISCRETE HIDDEN MARKOV MODEL ON CROSSES OF DIPLOID PLANT

The hidden Markov model consists of a pair of an unobserved Markov chain {Xk} and an observation process {Yk}. In this research, the crosses of diploid plant apply the model. The Markov chain {Xk} represents genetic structure, which is genotype of the kth generation of an organism. The observation process represents the appearance or the observed trait, which is the phenotype of the generation of an organism. Since it is unlikely to observe the genetic structure directly, the Hidden Markov model can be used to model pairs of events and unobservable their causes. Forming the model requires the use of the theory of heredity from Mendel. This model can be used to explain the characteristic of true breeding on crosses of diploid plants. The more traits crossed, the smaller probability of plants having a dominant phenotype in that period. Monohybrid, dihybrid, and trihybrid crosses have a dominant phenotype probability of 99% in the seventh, eighth, and ninth generations, with the condition of previous generations having a dominant phenotype. But in seventh generation, monohybrid crosses only have the probability of an optimal genotype of 50%, dihybrid crosses have a probability of an optimal genotype of 25% in the eighth generation, and trihybrid crosses have a probability of an optimal genotype of 12.5% in the ninth generation

Amir Teicher. Social Mendelism: Genetics and the Politics of Race in Germany, 1900–1948.

In Social Mendelism: Genetics and the Politics of Race in Germany, 1900-1948, Amir Teicher explores how Gregor Mendel influenced the rise of eugenic thought in Germany in the first half of the twentieth century. Teicher makes the case that Mendel’s theory of heredity had an extensive impact on how Germans—especially in the fields of anthropology, psychiatry, and genealogy—and how Nazis “thought about society, purity, national renewal, and medical dangers” (5). The application of Mendel’s theory to the human domain (what Teicher terms Social Mendelism) deserves to be taken more seriously in the formation and radicalization of eugenic thoughts in Germany—something for which Social Darwinism is often given sole credit. Teicher’s extensive use of school notebooks and exams, letters, scientific publications, governmental correspondence, films and plays, and court records compellingly demonstrate how Mendelian thinking was central to individuals—namely, scientists and bureaucrats—as well as institutions like schools and heredity health courts in the Nazi era.

Cambridge geneticists and the chromosome theory of inheritance: William Bateson, Leonard Doncaster and Reginald Punnett 1879–1940

ABSTRACT Early in the 20th century Bateson, Doncaster and Punnett formed a cooperative collective to share research findings on the chromosome theory of heredity (CTH). They cross-bred plants and animals to correlate behaviour of chromosomes and heredity of individual traits. Doncaster was the most enthusiastic proponent of the new theory and worked for years to convince Bateson and Punnett on its relevance to their own research. The two younger biologists collaborated with Bateson, the preeminent geneticist in England. As their own reputations developed, their research findings allied with the consensus on the importance of the CTH by the broader scientific community. After Doncaster’s tragic death in 1920, major objections to the theory had been resolved; Bateson and Punnett then utilized the CTH to construct chromosome maps detailing locations of specific genes on particular chromosomes in several different species. The marriage of heredity and cytology enhanced confidence that the theory was an accurate mechanism to explain inheritance in both plants and animals.

Two Approaches to the Study of Temperature Effect on the Dissipative Properties of Materials

In order to study the effect of temperature changes on the dissipative properties of materials, two approaches are used. The first approach implies introducing some temperature function under the sign of the integral in the heredity theory equation and simultaneously taking into account the dependence of the elastic modulus on temperature. As a result, based on experimental data on the thermal creep of soils, the expression for determining the hysteresis energy losses under the periodic voltage changes was obtained depending on temperature changes.According to the second approach, the expression for determining the hysteresis energy losses under isothermal conditions at different temperatures was obtained by introducing into the heredity theory equation an approximation of the experimental dependences of instantaneous deformation and temperature creep parameters for steel Kh18 N10T.

Prosper Lucas (1808–1885), l’aliéniste inspirateur de Charles Darwin

Prosper Lucas (1808–1885) was an alienist who in 1847 proposed an in-depth theory of heredity. This theory became, for more than half a century, the reference used by physicians and biologists in their work and research, but also by writers in their novels. Following a brief account of Lucas's life, this article will not only explore the ideas he developed on heredity but also the content of his interesting thesis on the imitation of behavior and the role of imitation in the origin of mental pathologies.

STRESS STATE OF COMPRESSED REINFORCED CONCRETE ELEMENTS CONSIDERING CREEP AND INFLUENCE OF AN AGGRESSIVE ENVIRONMENT

Problems associated with the joint long-term action of load and aggressive environment, both in limiting and over-limiting states, are studied bad. Such a combination leads to degradation of materials and changes in the stress-strain state of reinforced concrete structures over time. In case of joint action, they can have mutually increasing damaging effect. Among the many environmental influences encountered, the most aggressive in relation to concrete on cement binder is the impact of sulfates, and in relation to steel reinforcement – the impact of chlorides. It is shown that the stress-strain state of reinforced concrete compressed elements with regard to creep and influence of aggressive environment is formed in time. The deformation in concrete and reinforced concrete compressed elements depends on the stress level. If the stresses are less than the long-term strength, the deformations in time are attenuated, when the stresses in concrete are greater than the long-term strength, the deformations increase. Reinforcement restrains deformations in concrete, while corrosive medium increases creep deformations. When solving these problems we encounter internally statically indeterminate systems. The degree of static indeterminacy is greater than in the case of calculation of reinforced concrete structures without taking into account the influence of the external environment. When the process of soaking is considered, it is possible to consider the influence of the external environment as not aggressive. A solution to the problem using the theory of elastic heredity has been obtained, but it can be shown that a solution using other theories - the theory of aging or the hereditary theory of aging - is also possible. The above solution is true for reinforced concrete elements exposed to external influences at a sufficiently mature age, which can be considered one year or more from the date of manufacture of the structure.

Voltaire quadratic stochastic operators of a bisexual population

This article discusses the Voltaire quadratic stochastic operators of the bisexual population and proves it with examples. The concept of a quadratic stochastic operator was first given in the work of S.N. Bernstein [1], devoted to the solution of a mathematical problem related to the theory of heredity. Quadratic operators as an object of research appeared at the turn of the thirties in the works of Ulam [2], where the task was to study the behavior of the trajectories of quadratic operators. The impossibility of creating sufficiently developed analytical methods due to complex and inconvenient iterations in the study of trajectories, and the need for a large number of calculations in the study of exact quadratic operators, did not arouse interest in this problem. The creation of a computer in the forties revived interest in the problem of studying the behavior of the trajectories of quadratic operators. Ulam and his collaborators performed computer calculations for a sufficiently large number of quadratic operators.

Calculation of eccentrically compressed reinforced concrete columns under various creep laws

The article proposes resolving equations for eccentrically compressed reinforced concrete short columns obtained on the viscoelastic model basis. Comparison of the results obtained according to the theory of heredity, theory of hardening, aging, flow, kinetic theory, as well as the nonlinear theory of concrete creep by Yu.A. Gurieva is presented.

Environmentally Induced Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance and the Weismann Barrier: The Dawn of Neo-Lamarckian Theory.

For the past 120 years, the Weismann barrier and associated germ plasm theory of heredity have been a doctrine that has impacted evolutionary biology and our concepts of inheritance through the germline. Although August Weismann in his 1872 book was correct that the sperm and egg were the only cells to transmit molecular information to the subsequent generation, the concept that somatic cells do not impact the germline (i.e., the Weismann barrier) is incorrect. However, the doctrine or dogma of the Weismann barrier still influences many scientific fields and topics. The discovery of epigenetics, and more recently environmentally induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of phenotypic variation and pathology, have had significant impacts on evolution theory and medicine today. Environmental epigenetics and the concept of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance refute aspects of the Weismann barrier and require a re-evaluation of both inheritance theory and evolution theory.

Dependencies of nonlinear hereditary creep theory for concrete and creep type equations of hardening under plane stress

Concrete creep is of great practical importance and is taken into account in calculation and design of structures. The article discusses various options for describing the theory of creep of concrete, which are divided into three main groups: the theory of an elastic-creeping body (hereditary theory of aging), the theory of elastic heredity (the theory of an visco-elastic body), and the theory of aging. The main advantages and disadvantages of their use are demonstrated depending on various conditions and processes. Collisions in the study of concrete creep are clearly visible when considering expressions for the creep measure, as well as creep and relaxation nuclei. Different scientists propose their own modification of expressions that reflect various features of the material, and which are often very different from each other. The authors of the article obtained the full creep equations of structural materials.

The concepts of heredity and degeneration in the work of Jean-Martin Charcot

ABSTRACT Transcripts of the Tuesday Lessons at La Salpêtrière Hospital show that Jean-Martin Charcot often asked his patients about their family history. The information gathered on patients’ heredity played also a significant role in the diagnostic reasoning he instructed his students in. Again and again, he included in his teachings the concept of degeneration to suggest an etiology for observed pathologies. This article analyzes the origin of Charcot’s knowledge, imparted in the Tuesday Lessons, by examining the theories of heredity and degeneration successively developed by Prosper Lucas (1808–1885) in 1847, Bénédict-Auguste Morel (1809–1873) in 1857, and Jacques-Joseph Moreau de Tours (1804–1884) in 1859. I will review examples taken from the Tuesday Lessons to illustrate how Charcot assimilated the ideas of these alienists. Two of his students, Charles Féré (1852–1907) and Georges Gilles de la Tourette (1857–1904), known for championing their master’s work, went on to publish their own books that developed theories of heredity and degeneration. I will conclude my review, which aims to examine a little known facet of Charcot’s work, with a few examples from these authors’ writings.

History of development of the biological microworld

The history of modern biology may be considered to begin with the penetration of scientists to biological mini-world, formed by microorganisms, cells and sub-cellular entities. The main problem to be solved was the nature of biological (genetic) heredity. In the middle of the 19th century a conception was put forward about presence in living organisms of hereditary factors, later referred as genes, whose nature for a long period remained unknown. A significant progress was achieved with elaboration of the chromosomal theory of heredity based on the presence in cell nuclei of sub-cellular structures – chromosomes. In further search of hereditary agents the plausible candidate seemed to be a polymer chemically identified as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). But no fantasy was enough to establish any connection of DNA with phenotypical features of living organisms. In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick in the process of construction of space model of DNA molecule succeeded to reveal a mechanism of copying non-regular sequences of four heterocyclic bases present as one per monomer in DNA. It was suggested that these sequences might be recognized as a hereditary information. But the real essence of heredity happens to be found not so in copying as in coding. This revolutionary idea was soon (in 1954) put forward by a physicist George Gamow who suggested that a sequence of bases in DNA is a genetic text and that living cells possess a genetic code which in fact is a mechanism of transformation of sequences of triplets of DNA monomers (the “letters” of genetic text) to amino acid sequences of a multitude of various proteins which are the main functional molecules of the living nature. Now a plenty of genetic texts were elucidated which made it possible for researchers to achieve a new level of knowledge about living nature.

Creating Character: Theories of Nature and Nurture in Victorian Sensation Fiction by Helena Ifill

Reviewed by: Creating Character: Theories of Nature and Nurture in Victorian Sensation Fiction by Helena Ifill Ashton Foley-Schramm (bio) Helena Ifill, Creating Character: Theories of Nature and Nurture in Victorian Sensation Fiction (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018), pp. viii + 229, £75/ $110 hardcover. Helena Ifill's Creating Character: Theories of Nature and Nurture in Victorian Sensation Fiction analyzes the works of popular sensation authors Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon in relation to contemporaneous ideals of identity formation. Focusing on texts from the 1860s and 1870s, Ifill demonstrates how these authors employed an evolving understanding of determinism to highlight the complexity of character formation in sensation fiction, a previously underappreciated aspect of these novels. Unlike realist fiction, or "novels of character," sensation novels were often viewed as "novels of circumstance" (6). Such texts seemingly value plot above providing characters with "psychologically nuanced personalities embedded in detailed social networks" (6). However, Ifill argues that Collins and Braddon carefully crafted their characters by employing determinism, or the belief that personality and character are formed (to varying extents) through forces outside the individual. Furthermore, this deterministic approach to character overlaps with ideas about religion, morality, free will, self-control, criminality, education, insanity, and heredity in the works Ifill analyzes. Creating Character is organized thematically, and part one (comprising the first two chapters) grapples with issues of self-control, will-power, and monomania. Ifill draws on medical discourse about monomania and moral insanity, including sources from several periodicals, to analyze Basil's (1852) titular character and Robert Mannion. Although the novel never directly classifies Basil or Mannion in these terms, Ifill argues that Collins's readers would recognize delusional symptoms as clear markers of these diseases. This chapter questions the extent to which Mannion is responsible for his actions because his type of mental deterioration was generally understood as manifesting in individuals with a hereditary "constitutional predisposition" to insanity (41). Similarly, in No Name (1862), Magdalen Vanstone suffers from monomania. However, Collins depicts her inner moral struggle through her outward actions, showing how Magdalen works to overpower her drive for revenge through will-power and self-control. Ifill draws on Sally Shuttleworth's observation that many women in sensation fiction "suffer from insurmountable hereditary insanity" to highlight the uniqueness of Magdalen's situation (59). She suffers from a "'masculine' form of insanity" and is able to "regain the ranks of respectability" by overcoming it (59–60). Both Basil and No Name, Ifill argues, show Collins raising "the same ethical and social dilemmas concerning personal responsibility and the assignment of blame as those debated in [End Page 207] medical and popular works on the subject" while depicting characters that demonstrate an individual need for self-control and will-power (63). John Marchmont's Legacy (1863), rather than focusing on an inciting incident that causes monomania, explores how daily external factors test a person's internal character. In this novel, Braddon also engages directly with ideals of womanhood and femininity, showing the consequences for an individual woman who does not fit these aspirations. Ifill reads Olivia Marchmont as a character stuck between contradictions. Despite these complications, Ifill agrees with other scholars who argue that Braddon ultimately upholds patriarchal ideals because depicting Olivia as insane minimizes her threat to the patriarchy. As Ifill points out, Olivia's repression of her natural instincts leads to her mental breakdown. Mary Marchmont and Belinda Lawford, identified as the two heroines of the novel, offer alternative models of ideal women. Both Mary and Belinda use their womanliness and femininity to serve those around them. By interpreting the three women through the lens of Herbert Spencer's social Darwinism, Ifill shows how their characterization is influenced by theories of heredity and how upbringing and daily life influence procreation. Part two focuses on heredity and degeneration as seen in Braddon's The Lady Lisle (1862) and Collins's Armadale (1866). Braddon and Collins both examine education and upbringing as ways of developing or negating inherited traits. Ifill points out that Braddon's careful selection of ideas in The Lady Lisle leads to "a class-inflected engagement with several issues that relate to character formation, including the perceived degeneration of the upper and...

Degeneration, Protestantism, and Social Democracy: The Case of Alcoholism and “Illiberal” Policies and Practices in Denmark 1900–43

Through a case study of the emergence of rights-infringing “illiberal” policies and practices in the field of Danish alcohol treatment from 1900 to 1943, this article shows how new scientific ideas on “degeneration” as the cause of alcoholism and the use of force in treatment were adapted and promoted by Protestant revivalist groups and Social Democrats alike. The article analyzes how new scientific ideas resonated with the cultural ideals of Danish Social Democracy and the evangelical temperance organization the Blue Cross. The article challenges the established view in the literature that eugenic and similar illiberal practices were the result of a “high modernist” state ethos and “communitarian-organic” thinking on the left. Building on secondary literature and archival sources, it is shown that illiberal policies and practices as well as theories of heredity in the case of Danish alcohol treatment were adopted as the result of common liberal-conservative ideals regarding the value of family shared by Social Democrats and Protestant activists across the civil society and state spheres.

Constructed Gender but Unconstructed Sex? Historical Roots of Sociological Practice

In sociology, in the natural sciences, and in mainstream American society, there is general agreement that “sex” is biological. For sociologists, biological sex remains separate and distinct from gender, gender identity, or sexuality, and we use genetic sex (XX and XY chromosomes) as a foil for arguments that gender is different – historically, culturally, and socially constructed. I re-examine the professional discourse surrounding the foundational 1905 “sex chromosome” discoveries to reveal that (1) the empirical basis for the chromosomal determination of sex depended on specific concepts of sex, and was far from conclusive, that (2) the powerful validity of the chromosomal theory of heredity left the causality of chromosome/sex relationship unexamined, and that (2) the “sex” that early genetics researchers correlated with the X/Y chromosome combinations was heavily inflected by contemporary gender norms. I argue that sociologists must reconsider their use of the “settled fact” that the X and Y chromosomes determine sex, particularly when using sex as a contrasting concept to gender, and that the history of the chromosome discoveries implies the need to re-set for the boundaries between sociological and biological explanations.

Human progress by human effort: neo-Darwinism, social heredity, and the professionalization of the American social sciences, 1889-1925.

Prior to August Weismann's 1889 germ-plasm theory, social reformers believed that humans could inherit the effects of a salubrious environment and, by passing environmentally-induced modifications to their offspring, achieve continuous progress. Weismann's theory disrupted this logic and caused many to fear that they had little control over human development. As numerous historians have observed, this contributed to the birth of the eugenics movement. However, through an examination of the work of social scientists Lester Frank Ward, Richard T. Ely, Amos Griswold Warner, James Mark Baldwin, Simon Nelson Patten, Alfred Kroeber, Walter Robinson Smith, and Luther Lee Bernard, I demonstrate that Weismann's ideas also prompted scholars to create of theories of human progress in which the social environment had a central role and biological heredity had a diminished one. Furthermore, in creating a new theory of social progress based on a concept called "social heredity," the thinkers surveyed in this article separated biological and social thought and asserted the independence of the American social sciences. I argue that this represents an important moment in the maturation of the humansciences, andIsuggest that the germ-plasm theory of heredity deserves a larger place in histories of the development of the American social scientific disciplines.

Feeding Desire: Generative Environments, Meat Markets, and the Management of Sheep Intercourse in Great Britain, 1700–1750

As a system of profit based on reproduction, growth, and eating, animal husbandry offers an ideal place to examine how capitalism shapes knowledge of bodies. Recent work on the history of breeding demonstrates this, showing how new markets in “blood” helped define new theories of heredity and race. This essay expands on this literature by examining eighteenth-century British efforts to control a different aspect of animal reproduction: desire. Spurred by changing meat markets in out-of-season lamb and expanding property structures that created sex-segregated herds, shepherds, farmers, and agricultural writers worked to provoke the seasonally dependent desires of ewes by feeding them aphrodisiac foods, changing the ways that sex was staged, and creating landscapes of “artificial” grass timed to help ewes escape the constraints of the seasons. Their efforts draw our attention to a broader range of bodily experts, from physicians, to professional feeders, to Linnaean botanists, who were interested in the ways that landscapes could be made to shape bodies. The essay suggests that these forms of environmental control, which still undergird capitalist farming, have left significant modern traces on both knowledge and landscapes and offer a rich and relatively untapped source of bodily knowledge.

Evolution of Darwinism. The classical stage: 1859 — 1926 years

The development of the theory of Darwin from 1859 to 1926 is considered. The «cohesive ephemeral» theory of heredity, dominant at this stage, was destroying the nucleus of the Darwinian concept — the notion of natural selection as the leading factor in evolution. The results of studies of geneticists of the first decades of the 20th century also pointed to the futility of the theory of natural selection as a factor directing the process of biological evolution. Keywords: «Origin of Species»; «indefinite» hereditary variability; «certain» hereditary variability; natural selection; «conjointly ephemeral» theory of heredity; «constant-corpuscular» theory of heredity.