Life Sciences Commons^™

A Rapid Technique For Identification Of Taenioid Cestodes Using Unstained Scolices, Kenneth L. Tiekotter

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

A rapid technique for identification of three taenioids from bobcats, based on hook morphology, using a simple system of microprojection and unstained scolices is described. Three species of Taenia from bobcats of Nebraska were collected. The rostella were removed; placed between two microscope slides; flooded with fixative, 70% ethanol, or tapwater; and pressed by means of two clamps to spread the hooks. The wet mount was then placed on the stage of a simple micro projector equipped with a calibrated ocular micrometer. The hooks were drawn and measured simultaneously

Discovering History Of Psychology, Mark E. Ware

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Research projects, reading sources, and a lecture format were used in a course on history and systems of psychology to determine their effectiveness as learning instruments. Twenty-two students enrolled in the fall and spring semesters of the course took part in the evaluation. Students selected from among several types of research projects. One secondary and two primary reading sources were used. The instructor's lectures included material from both within and out· side the texts. The results of a course evaluation indicated that students reacted favorably to research projects as a means for acquiring or modifying skills, information, and attitudes. Satisfaction …

Attitudes Of Dental Administrators Toward Faculty Unionization, Devereaux S. Peterson

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Unionization has become an increasingly significant force among professional groups. This study was conducted to determine the attitudes of dental school administrators regarding faculty unionization and their perceptions concerning dental faculties' attitudes toward it. The data reported concern information about the administrators and demographic information concerning their institutions along with attitudinal information regarding faculty unionization. The attitudinal data reported concerned the administrators' opinions regarding: (1) expectancies for future unionization, (2) faculty strikes, (3) unionization's effect on governance, (4) perceptions of the type of faculty expected to favor unionization, (5) perceptions of the factors influencing faculty to prefer unionization, and (6) …

Problems For The Covering-Law Model Of Explanation, Eric Russert Kraemer

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

The standard covering-law model of explanation sets forth a formal, deductive account of explanation. The account faces two kinds of formal objections. The fist is the problem of explanatory relevance. This concerns the specification of formal conditions for relevant logical derivations. The second difficulty is the problem of "self"-explanation. This involves specifications which govern the role that a given statement is allowed to play in an explanatory deduction of itself. A revision of the standard covering-law model provides a natural way to avoid both of these problems. And, it also has the virtue of not being an ad hoc solution.

Preliminary Report On The 1979 Excavations At The Clary Ranch Site, Thomas P. Myers, Richard G. Corner, Lloyd G. Tanner

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

During the summer of 1979 excavations at the Clary Ranch Site (Ash Hollow, Garden County, Nebraska) demonstrated the presence of a Late Paleoindian bison-butchering site. Bison tooth-eruption patterns indicate that the kill took place in late spring to early summer. Turtle and canid bones were also recovered. The presence of Frederick and Meserve points suggests an antiquity of more than 8,500 yr for the site.

A Water Quality Survey Of The Big Blue River, Nebraska, Terry R. Maret, Curtis C. Christiansen

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Physiochemical and bacteriological conditions along with the macroinvertebrate community structure were studied to evaluate water quality of the Big Blue River, in southeastern Nebraska. Samples were taken between November 7, 1978, and December 19, 1979, at six stations from the headwaters to lower reaches of the river. Some sample sites were below specific municipal and industrial effluents to evaluate better their impact on water quality. Parameters measured included pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, suspended solids, conductivity, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrate, ammonia, and fecal coliforms. Dissolved oxygen and nitrate were significantly different (p<0.05) between stations, with the headwaters station exhibiting the greatest difference in water quality. Fecal coliforms were substantially higher at stations below Crete. The macroinvertebrate fauna comprised 42 and 66 taxa collected with Ekman grabs and multiplate artificial substrates, respectively. Average diversity values, using the Shannon-Weaver index, indicated all stations would be categorized as moderately polluted. Taxa collected at the stations showed a great deal of homogeneity. An exception was the headwaters site where pollution-associated taxa were found in abundance. Seasonal changes were an apparent factor affecting diversity of the macro invertebrates. The results collected provide useful baseline information for future evaluation of water quality trends of the Big Blue River.

Provincial Land Mammal Ages Correlated With Valley-Fill Sequences In The Great Plains Of North America, C. Bertrand Schultz

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

The Quaternary Provincial Land Mammal Ages (Blancan, Irvingtonian, Rancholabrean, and Recent) are here correlated with the fossliferous valley-fill sequences in the Great Plains of North America, based on faunal, stratigraphic, and geomorphologic evidence.

The fossil mammals from the valley-fills (Broadwater) of the highest terrace (Terrace-5, T-5) are of Blancan age, long known to be equivalent to the Villafranchian of Europe and Asia. The earliest Blancan faunas, chiefly from the middle part of the Broadwater, are equal to the Late Rexroadian of Kansas, whereas the later ones, from the upper or Red Cloud portion of the Broadwater, equate with the Senecan …

Whitehead And Hume On Induction, Marvin E. Kanne

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

While modem science has made important contributions to the advance of learning, Hume has pointed out that a crucial element of its methodology is seriously flawed. His analysis concluded that there is no rational justification for inductive reasoning. Viewed from another perspective, the point of Hume's criticism would seem to be that the scientist's faith in the order of nature is without any ground in nature.

Whitehead found Hume's analysis to be profoundly unsettling because it leads to such utter skepticism. Whitehead believed the key to induction is to be found in the right understanding of the immediate occasion of …

Transactions Of The Nebraska Academy Of Sciences And Affiliated Societies Volume Ix (1981): Table Of Contents

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Nebraska Academy of Sciences, Officers, Policy Committee .......... ii

Editorial Board, Instructions to Contributors .......... v

Membership Objectives and Friends of the Academy .......... vi

Anthropology

Preliminary report on the 1979 excavations at the Clary Ranch Site (Myers, Corner, and Tanner) .......... 1

Biological and Medical Sciences

Sister chromatid exchanges in a male with a Y /Y translocation (M. G. Butler) .......... 9

Further observations on polymegaly in species of the Drosophila affinis subgroup (Ho-Chi Chang and D. D. Miller) .......... 13

Pruduction rates of aquatic insects in a turbid reservoir (J. C. Lund and E. J. Peters) .......... 23 …

Sister Chromatid Exchanges In A Male With A Y/Y Translocation, Merlin G. Butler

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Sister chromatid exhanges (SCE) are considered indicators of genetic damage and early chromosome changes. The SCE frequency from an infertile 27-year-old, white male with tall stature and a non-dicentric Y/Y translocation consisting of one short arm and two long arms of the Y chromosome was determined. The SCE frequency was 7.9 ± SD 1.4 while to SCE frequency from ten control subjects was 8.4 ± SD 0.51. A two-tailed t-test was applied to the SCE data and no significant difference was found between the individual with the Y/Y translocation and control subjects. Apparently, this altered chromosomes does not interfere …

Production Rates Of Aquatic Insects In A Turbid Reservoir, John C. Lund, Edward J. Peters

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Buckley Creek 3F is a turbid 13 ha reservoir in southeastern Nebraska. The quality of the environment was assessed in 1977 with an annual production estimate of the benthic insects.

Monthly bottom samples were taken using a 15 cm (6 in.) Ekman dredge. To observe any correlation between production and other factors, chemical and physical parameters consisting of total alkalinity, hardness, pH, conductivity, salinity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and suspended solids were monitored.

Total benthis production was 0.156 g/m²/yr (dry weight). Individual genera produced between 0.001 (Chaoborus sp.) and 0.057 g/m²/yr (Hexagenia sp.). Published studies …

Influence Of Windbreak-Shelter On Light Interception, Stomatal Conductance, And Co2-Exchange Rate Of Soybeans, Glycine Max (Linnaeus) Merrill, S. N. Ogbuehi, J. R. Brandle

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Interception of photosynthetically active radiation, CO₂-exchange rate, stomatal conductance, and leaf water potential of windbreak-sheltered and exposed soybeans were studied in the field. Within-canopy profiles of photosynthetically active radiation measured after canopy closure indicated deeper light penetration into the canopy of sheltered soybeans. Consequently, plants in shelter had higher CO_2-exchange rates and greater stomatal conductance at equivalent relative canopy heights in comparison with unsheltered plants. Since no vertical gradient of leaf water potential was observed in the canopy in either treatment, gradients of CO₂-exchange rate and stomatal conductance were solely responses to light. Mean …

Sedimentology Of Norden Bridge And Egelhoff Fossil Quarries (Miocene) Of North-Central Nebraska, Carl F. Wellstead

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Measured sections demonstrate the positions of the Norden Bridge an, Egelhoff fossil quarries in the local stratigraphy and show Egelhoff Quarry to be topographically higher. The sections do not resolve the relative stratigraphic positions of the quarries. Descriptions of sediments at the two quarries demonstrate that coarser sediments exist at Norden Bridge Quarry. However, these coarse sediments, as well as the fossil remains of large vertebrates, are limited to two particular beds at Norden Bridge Quarry, while three other beds comprise sediments either finer or statistically indistinguishable from those at Egelhoff Quarry. The association of large clasts and large bones …

Further Observations On Polymegaly In Species Of The Drosophila Affinis Subgroup, Ho-Chi Chang, Dwight D. Miller

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Polymegaly, or the production of two or more size class of sperms by the same male, has been known in Drosophila for more than a decade. More recently polymegaly (dimegaly, or two size classes) was found in the Drosophila affinis subgroup. Additional observations on polymegaly in six D. affinis subgroup species: D. affinis, D. algonquin, D. athabasca, D. azteca, D. narragansett, and D. tolteca are reported here. The two kinds of sperms differ strikingly in the nature of the head, which is elongate (threadlike) in "long" sperms, short and dense in "short" sperms. Ultraviolet fluorescence following treatment with 4', 6-diamidino-2-phenylindole …