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Ists, November 2011, Iowa Academy Of Science

ISTS Newsletter

In this issue:

--Notes and News

--Thoughts

--Opportunities

Drakes, Seadevils, And Similarity Fetishism, P.D. Magnus

Philosophy Faculty Scholarship

Homeostatic property clusters (HPCs) are offered as a way of understanding natural kinds, especially biological species. I review the HPC approach and then discuss an objection by Ereshefsky and Matthen, to the effect that an HPC qua cluster seems ill-fitted as a description of a polymorphic species. The standard response by champions of the HPC approach is to say that all members of a polymorphic species have things in common, namely dispositions or conditional properties. I argue that this response fails. Instances of an HPC kind need not all be similar in their exhibited properties. Instead, HPCs should instead be …

Cultural Traditions And The Treatment Of Freeriders, Christina Pomianek Ph.D., Craig T. Palmer Ph.D., Reed L. Wadley Ph.D., Katherine Coe Ph.D.

Journal of International and Global Studies

Evolutionary approaches to the explanation of human behavior are often employed in hypotheses about the toleration and punishment of freeriders. Despite the explanatory potential of evolutionary perspectives, many such perspectives ignore the unique human factor that has influenced the economic, social, and political contexts within which, up until very recently in human existence, reactions to freeriding always occurred. This human factor is the role of cultural traditions (i.e., behaviors passed down from ancestors to descendants). Cultural traditions necessarily play an important role in identifying, defining, preventing, and determining the treatment of freeriders because many traditional moral codes apply specifically to …

Characterization Of Putative Iron Responsive Genes As Species-Specific Indicators Of Iron Stress In Thalassiosiroid Diatoms, Bethany D. Jenkins, Leann P. Whitney, Jeremy J. Lins, Margaret P. Hughes, Mark L. Wells, P. Dreux Chappell

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Iron (Fe) availability restricts diatom growth and primary production in large areas of the oceans. It is a challenge to assess the bulk Fe nutritional health of natural diatom populations, since species can differ in their physiological and molecular responses to Fe limitation. We assayed expression of selected genes in diatoms from the Thalassiosira genus to assess their potential utility as species-specific molecular markers to indicate Fe status in natural diatom assemblages. In this study, we compared the expression of the photosynthetic genes encoding ferredoxin (a Fe-requiring protein) and flavodoxin (a Fe-free protein) in culture experiments with Fe replete and …

Mitochondrial Dna Analysis By Denaturing High-Performance Liquid Chromatography For The Characterization And Separation Of Mixtures In Forensic Samples, Richard Kristinsson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A mixture of different mtDNA molecules in a single sample is a significant obstacle to the successful use of standard methods of mtDNA analysis (i.e., dideoxy dye-terminator sequencing). Forensic analysts often encounter either naturally occurring mixtures (e.g., heteroplasmy) or situational mixtures typically arising from a combination of body fluids from separate individuals. The ability to accurately resolve and interpret these types of samples in a timely and cost efficient manner would substantially increase the power of mtDNA analysis and potentially provide valuable investigative information by allowing its use in cases where the current approach is limited or fails. Therefore, this …

The Good 5 Cent Cigar (11/1/2011), University Of Rhode Island

The Good 5 Cent Cigar (Student Newspaper Archives)

This is a digitized, downloadable version of the University of Rhode Island school newspaper.

How Women Got Their Curves And Other Just-So Stories: Evolutionary Enigmas David P. Barash And Judith Eve Lipton, Columbia University Press, 2009, Michael Zimmerman

LAS Faculty Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Fabrication And Performance Of A Microfluidic Traveling-Wave Electrophoresis System, K. D. Jo, J. E. Schiffbauer, Boyd F. Edwards, R. L. Carroll, A. T. Timperman

All Physics Faculty Publications

A microfluidic traveling-wave electrophoresis (TWE) system is reported that uses a locally defined traveling electric field wave within a microfluidic channel to achieve band transport and separation. Low voltages, over a range of −0.5 to +0.5 V, are used to avoid electrolysis and other detrimental redox reactions while the short distance between electrodes, 25 μm, provides high electric fields of 200 V cm⁻¹. It is expected that the low voltage requirements will simplify the future development of smaller portable devices. The TWE device uses four interdigitated electrode arrays: one interdigitated electrode array pair is on the top of …

Organizational Apologies: Bp As A Case Study, Erin O'Hara O'Connor

Scholarly Publications

On April 20, 2010, the Macondo oil well ruptured during the final phases of exploratory drilling. Methane gas and other substances spewed from the well onto the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform causing an explosion and fire that killed eleven crewmen and ultimately sank the platform. Over the next three months, the well, located approximately 250 miles southeast of Houston, Texas, spilled as much as 184 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. In the aftermath, the U.S. government banned deepwater drilling for several months while applicable regulations were toughened.

The well’s majority owner was BP PLC, formerly known …

Performance Of Coiled Tube Ultraviolet Reactors To Inactivate Escherichia Coli W1485 And Bacillus Cereus Endospores In Raw Cow Milk And Commercially Processed Skimmed Cow Milk, Ruplal Choudhary, Srinivasaro Bandla, Dennis G. Watson, John Haddock, Amer Abughazaleh, Bhaskar Battacharya

Articles

Two coiled tube reactors were designed to investigate the influence of Reynolds number (Re) and diameter of fluid carrying tube on UV-C inactivation of Escherichia coli W1485 and Bacillus cereus endospores in raw cow milk (RCM) and skimmed cow milk (SCM) at room temperature. UV reactors were constructed using perfluoroalkoxy (PFA) tubing having internal diameters of 1.6 and 3.2 mm and each had a residence time of 11.3 s. Four levels of Re were tested for each milk type, each tube size and each bacteria type. Inactivation efficiency increased as the Re increased in both the reactors for both types …

Investigating Combinatorial Approaches In Virtual Screening On Human Inducible 6-Phosphofructo-2-Kinase/Fructose-2,6-Bisphosphatase (Pfkfb3): A Case Study For Small Molecule Kinases, Robert B. Crochet, Michael C. Cavalier, Minsuh Seo, Jeong Do Kim, Young Sun Yim, Seung Jong Park, Yong Hwan Lee

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Efforts toward improving the predictiveness in tier-based approaches to virtual screening (VS) have mainly focused on protein kinases. Despite their significance as drug targets, small molecule kinases have been rarely tested with these approaches. In this paper, we investigate the efficacy of a pharmacophore screening-combined structure-based docking approach on the human inducible 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase, an emerging target for cancer chemotherapy. Six out of a total 1364 compounds from NCI's Diversity Set II were selected as true actives via throughput screening. Using a database constructed from these compounds, five programs were tested for structure-based docking (SBD) performance, the MOE of which showed …

Kentucky Warbler (Vol. 87, No. 4), Kentucky Library Research Collections

The Kentucky Warbler

No abstract provided.

Prism #58, November 2011, Office Of The Provost

Prism: Western Michigan University's Newsletter for Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Blackworld, V. 31, I. 02, Stony Brook University

Blackworld

v. : ill. ; 38-43 cm (original analog pub.),Black world, v.31;n.2

A Test Method For Optimal Micro-Screen Drum Filter Selection, Eoin Dolan, Ronan Oliver, Niall Murphy, Michael O'Hehir

Other resources

In order to meet increasing demand for seafood worldwide Recirculation Aquaculture Systems (RAS) are frequently used. These systems are susceptible to contamination by waste matter including faecal material in the water. It is imperative that this material is removed from the system. The maintenance of good water quality is a pre-requisite to the success of the operation. Negligence in this area will adversely affect animal growth rates and also the economic performance of the system.

Micro-screen drum filters are a popular solution for the removal of this material (Cripps, Simon J. and Bergheim, Asbjørn., 2000). These screens are nominally rated …

Harnessing Opportunities In Non-Animal Asthma Research For A 21st-Century Science, Gemma L. Buckland

Experimentation Collection

The incidence of asthma is on the increase and calls for research are growing, yet asthma is a disease that scientists are still trying to come to grips with. Asthma research has relied heavily on animal use; however, in light of increasingly robust in vitro and computational models and the need to more fully incorporate the ‘Three Rs’ principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement, is it time to reassess the asthma research paradigm? Progress in non-animal research techniques is reaching a level where commitment and integration are necessary. Many scientists believe that progress in this field rests on linking disciplines …

The Evolution Of Lateralized Foot Use In Parrots: A Phylogenetic Approach, Culum Brown, Maria Magat

Sentience Collection

Cerebral lateralization refers to the division of cognitive function in either brain hemisphere and may be overtly expressed as behavioral asymmetries, such as handedness. The evolutionary history of laterality is of considerable interest due to its close link with the development of human language. Although considerable research effort has aimed at the proximate explanations of cerebral lateralization, considerably less attention has been paid to ultimate explanations. The extent to which laterality is constrained by phylogeny or shaped by ecological forces through natural selection has received little attention. Here, the foot preference of 23 species of Australian parrots was examined to …

Four Types Of Activities That Affect Animals: Implications For Animal Welfare Science And Animal Ethics Philosophy, D. Fraser, A. M. Macrae

Ethnozoology and Animal Welfare Collection

People affect animals through four broad types of activity: (1) people keep companion, farm, laboratory and captive wild animals, often while using them for some purpose; (2) people cause deliberate harm to animals through activities such as slaughter, pest control, hunting, and toxicology testing; (3) people cause direct but unintended harm to animals through crop production, transportation, night-time lighting, and many other human activities; and (4) people harm animals indirectly by disturbing ecological systems and the processes of nature, for example by destroying habitat, introducing foreign species, and causing pollution and climate change. Each type of activity affects vast numbers …

Scoop

Animal Sheltering 2010-12

• Rescued from a hoarding case, these dogs are now thriving
• An abandoned cat in Oregon goes from a locked storage unit to a loving home
• An animal welfare advocate from Brazil learns the ropes at the ASPCA
• Vermont humane investigator branches out into innovative wildlife control business
• Nonprofit battles pet overpopulation in rural Eastern Pennsylvania
• Court decision emphasizes right of animal welfare volunteers, especially fosterers, to deduct expenses
• Trends in animal welfare salaries

Food For Thought

Animal Sheltering 2010-12

Modifying food guarding behavior in the shelter environment

Learn By Doing In Her Dna, Teresa Mariani Hendrix

Cal Poly Magazine

No abstract provided.

Around Campus - Images From Cal Poly From Fall Quarter 2011

Cal Poly Magazine

Photos by Aaron Lambert

Parasite Infection And Sand Coarseness Increase Sand Crab (Emerita Analoga) Burrowing Time, Gita R. Kolluru, Zachary S. Green, Larisa K. Vredevoe, Matthew R. Kuzma, Sera N. Ramadan, Marc R. Zosky

Biological Sciences

Parasites with indirect life cycles require trophic transmission from intermediate hosts to definitive (vertebrate) hosts. Transmission may be facilitated if parasite infection alters the behavior of intermediate hosts such that they are more vulnerable to predation. Vulnerability to predation may also be influenced by abiotic factors; however, rarely are the effects of parasites and abiotic factors examined simultaneously. The swash zone of sandy beaches is a particularly harsh environment. Sand crabs (Emerita analoga) burrow rapidly in the swash zone to avoid predators and dislodgment. We examined prevalence and abundance of the acanthocephalan parasite Profilicollis altmani in sand crabs, …

Where Were The Northern Elephant Seals? Holocene Archaeology And Biogeography Of Mirounga Angustirostris, Torben C. Rick, Robert L. Delong, Jon M. Erlandson, Todd J. Braje, Terry L. Jones, Jeanne E. Arnold, Matthew R. Des Lauriers, William R. Hildebrandt, Douglas J. Kennett, Rene L. Vellanoweth, Thomas A. Wake

Social Sciences

Driven to the brink of extinction during the nineteenth century commercial fur and oil trade, northern elephant seal (NES, Mirounga angustirostris) populations now exceed 100 000 animals in the northeast Pacific from Alaska to Baja California. Because little is known about the biogeography and ecology of NES prior to the mid-nineteenth century, we synthesize and analyze the occurrence of NES remains in North American archaeological sites. Comparing these archaeological data with modern biogeographical, genetic, and behavioral data, we provide a trans-Holocene perspective on NES distribution and abundance. Compared with other pinnipeds, NES bones are relatively rare throughout the Holocene, even …

Velocity Contour Weighting Method. I: Algorithm Development And Laboratory Testing, Daniel J. Howes, Brett F. Sanders

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

An algorithm is developed for real-time estimation of the cross-sectional average velocity of a channel flow by using an upward-looking pulsed wave acoustic Doppler velocity meters (ADVM). The Velocity Contour Weighting Method (VCWM) is applicable to gradually varied flows in prismatic channels and requires little to no calibration. VCWM estimates the average velocity as a weighted average of ADVM bin velocities. Weights are based on the velocity distribution sampled by the ADVM. Collectively, the VCWM is able to adapt to a wide range of channel geometry and roughness features. Expressions for the velocity weights are developed by first applying a …

The Roles Of Fgf And Wnt Signaling During Maxillary Barbel Regeneration In The Zebrafish (Danio Rerio)., Robert J. Duszynski

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The zebrafish (Danio rerio) maxillary barbel is an integumentary sense organ that contains skin, glands, pigment cells, taste buds, nerve fibers, blood vessels and a putative lymphatic. Like other zebrafish organs, the maxillary barbel can regenerate most of its tissues after amputation. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms that control this regeneration. Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and wingless (Wnt) signaling are required for the control of zebrafish caudal fin regeneration; due to the similarities between the fin and the maxillary barbel, these regulatory networks may play a role in barbel regeneration as well. In this study, …

Climate Change, Body Size, And Phenotype Dependent Dispersal, Shannon J. Mccauley, Karen E. Mabry

Biological Sciences

No abstract provided.

Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Implementing Wastewater Treatment Facilities In Beer Breweries, Jaffer (Jeff) Shah-Ganai

Agribusiness

The purpose of this study was to both see the effects of wastewater on profitability as well as determine an efficient way of dealing with that wastewater. In addition to finding the most efficient way of treating wastewater, the cost of implementing such a technology was also discussed. Two technologies were specifically talked about and those were an anaerobic digester and a two stage anaerobic digester. Between the three breweries that were discussed, two of them use one of those pieces of equipment; Sierra Nevada has an anaerobic digester and Red Hook has a two stage anaerobic digester.

To analyze …

Understanding The Molecular Information Contained In Principal Component Analysis Of Vibrational Spectra Of Biological Systems, Franck Bonnier, Hugh Byrne

Articles

K-means clustering followed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is employed to analyse Raman spectroscopic maps of single biological cells. K-means clustering successfully identifies regions of cellular cytoplasm, nucleus and nucleoli, but the mean spectra do not differentiate their biochemical composition. The loadings of the principal components identified by PCA shed further light on the spectral basis for differentiation but they are complex and, as the number of spectra per cluster is imbalanced, particularly in the case of the nucleoli, the loadings under-represent the basis for differentiation of some cellular regions. Analysis of pure bio-molecules, both structurally and spectrally distinct, in …

Organizational Apologies: Bp As A Case Study, Erin O'Hara O'Connor

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article examines the conduct of BP executives in the weeks following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill to illuminate the use of apology by organizations. After briefly describing the value of apology and its nuances from an evolutionary perspective, the Article describes how apology and other responsibility-accepting behaviors can be mobilized by organizations to avoid the costs of its apparently careless conduct. In particular, organizations can designate particular agents as spokespersons who possess the ability to portray a sense of sincerity and regret. Moreover, reconciliation by ingroup members appears to be more common than is reconciliation by outgroup members, likely …