Digital Commons Network^™

Towards Symmetry-Based Explanation Of (Approximate) Shapes Of Alpha-Helices And Beta-Sheets (And Beta-Barrels) In Protein Structure, Jaime Nava, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

Protein structure is invariably connected to protein function. There are two important secondary structure elements: alpha helices and beta-sheets (which sometimes come in a shape of beta-barrels). The actual shapes of these structures can be complicated, but in the first approximation, they are usually approximated by, correspondingly, cylindrical spirals and planes (and cylinders, for beta-barrels). In this paper, following the ideas pioneered by a renowned mathematician M. Gromov, we use natural symmetries to show that, under reasonable assumptions, these geometric shapes are indeed the best approximating families for secondary structures.

Wineskin, Spring 2012-2013, Various

The Wineskin

Welcome to the Wine Skin! This publication is a complication of photographs, poems, short stories, artwork, and designs from the George Fox University 2012-13 student body. As you explore, recognize the God-given talent expressed through each work. Reflect on what the Holy Spirit may be revealing to you through a fellow Christian creator.

The Wine Skin would not have been possible without the support of ASC, the Crescent Staff, and of course, the creators themselves!

Enjoy and God Bless!

Research Report 2012, College Of Arts And Sciences

Physics Research Reports

• Cover Designs
• Introduction
• Astronomy
• Atomic and Molecular Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Physics Education
• Research and Public Lectures at WMU
• Personnel January 1- December 31, 2012

Gene-Associated Markers Provide Tools For Tackling Illegal Fishing And False Eco-Certification, Einar E. Nielsen, Alessia Cariani, Eoin Mac Aoidh, Gregory E. Maes, Ilaria Milano, Rob Ogden, Martin Taylor, Jakob Hemmer-Hansen, Massimiliano Babbucci, Luca Bargelloni, Dorte Bekkevold, Eveline Diopere, Leonie Grenfell, Sarah Helyar, Morten T. Limborg, Jann T. Martinsohn, Ross Mcewing, Frank Panitz, Tomaso Patarnello, Fausto Tinti, Jeroen K.J. Van Houdt, Filip A.M. Volckaert, Robin Waples, Fishpoptrace Consortium, Gary R. Carvalho

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing has had a major role in the overexploitation of global fish populations. In response, international regulations have been imposed and many fisheries have been ‘eco-certified’ by consumer organizations, but methods for independent control of catch certificates and eco-labels are urgently needed. Here we show that, by using gene-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms, individual marine fish can be assigned back to population of origin with unprecedented high levels of precision. By applying high differentiation single nucleotide polymorphism assays, in four commercial marine fish, on a pan-European scale, we find 93–100% of individuals could be correctly assigned to …

Fact Book 2012-13, John Carroll University

Fact Book

2012-13 Fact Book.

Crohn’S Disease: A Brief And Elementary Overview, Dayne Sullivan

The Corinthian

Crohn’s disease (CD) is defined by chronic inflammation of an isolated portion of the gastrointestinal track. Frequently, the site of inflammation is the proximal portion of the colon, or less commonly, the terminal ileum. Other names for the disease frequently reported in medical literature and research include regional enteritis and granulomatous colitis. The specific etiology of CD is idiopathic but there are several widely accepted theories.

An Hsi Report: Industrial Farm Animal Production And Livestock Associated Mrsa (Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus), Humane Society International

HSI REPORTS

Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of bacterial infection and is increasingly found to be resistant to antibiotic therapy. A newly described type of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus carried by farm animals, Livestock Associated MRSA (LA-MRSA), is now causing infections in humans with and without direct livestock contact. A reduction in the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics in feed would likely reduce the capacity of industrial animal agriculture to continue to create, disseminate, and perpetuate a large reservoir of LA-MRSA on a global scale, but more fundamental changes in the way animals are raised for food may be necessary forestall a …

Humane Literacy And Formal Educators, Stephanie Itle-Clark

Education Collection

Formal educators (those with formal education degrees versus informal educators who may work in shelters or nature centers) in the K-12 system are tasked with facilitating academic, character, and social and emotional learning in the classroom. As part of this learning, the teaching of critical thinking revolving around and reinforcement of “kindness . . . care and compassion towards” people, animals, and the environment and the interconnection among the three can work to prevent needless suffering and create community building attitudes (Selby, 1995, p. 7). Based upon knowledge of state mandates involving humane education, the Humane Literacy Coalition (HLC) was …

The Fine-Scale Habitat Use Of Risso’S Dolphins Off Bardsey Island, Cardigan Bay (Uk), Marijke N. De Boer, Sonja Eisfeld, Mark P. Simmonds

Ecology Collection

The main objectives of this study were (1) to estimate the population size of Risso’s dolphins off Bardsey Island using mark-recapture techniques (De Boer et al., 2013); and (2) to study habitat-use in relation to fine-scale oceanographic features. This work provides preliminary information on the habitat-use of Risso’s dolphins and will benefit future studies, along with the development of effective conservation measures for this species throughout the region.

Cetaceans And Marine Debris: The Great Unknown, Mark Peter Simmonds

Ecology Collection

Plastics and other marine debris have been found in the gastrointestinal tracts of cetaceans, including instances where large quantities of material have been found that are likely to cause impairment to digestive processes and other examples, where other morbidity and even death have resulted. In some instances, debris may have been ingested as a result of the stranding process and, in others, it may have been ingested when feeding. Those species that are suction or “ram” feeders may be most at risk. There is also evidence of entanglement of cetaceans in marine debris. However, it is usually difficult to distinguish …

Taking The “Pest” Out Of Pest Control: Humaneness And Wildlife Damage Management, John Hadidian

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

Humans have been in the pest control business for a long time. At least 3 major foci of pest control activity currently can be found in governmental and private sectors, with private services focused on both traditional commensal rodent work as well as the more recent control of “nuisance” wildlife in cities and towns. Beyond the traditional approaches and techniques historically employed, animal damage managers are increasingly faced with the challenge of addressing the social context within which their work occurs. An ever-increasing variety of stakeholders have brought new concerns, new thinking, and new approaches to the table in a …

Rational Engagement, Emotional Response, And The Prospects For Moral Progress In Animal Use “Debates”, Nathan Nobis

Animal Welfare Collection

This chapter is designed to help people rationally engage moral issues regarding the treatment of animals, specifically in experimentation, research, product testing, and education. Little “new” philosophy is offered here, strictly speaking. New arguments are unnecessary to help make progress in how people think about these issues. What is needed are improved abilities to engage the arguments already on the table, for example, stronger skills at identifying and evaluating the existing reasons given for and against conclusions on the morality of various uses of animals. To help improve these abilities, this chapter sets forth a set of basic but powerful …

Confronting Language, Representation, And Belief: A Limited Defense Of Mental Continuity, Kristin Andrews, Ljiljana Radenovic

Sentience Collection

According to the mental continuity claim (MCC), human mental faculties are physical and beneficial to human survival, so they must have evolved gradually from ancestral forms and we should expect to see their precursors across species. Materialism of mind coupled with Darwin’s evolutionary theory leads directly to such claims and even today arguments for animal mental properties are often presented with the MCC as a premise. However, the MCC has been often challenged among contemporary scholars. It is usually argued that only humans use language and that language as such has no precursors in the animal kingdom. Moreover, language is …

Sociology And Anthrozoology: Symbolic Interactionist Contributions, Leslie Irvine

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

This essay examines the sociological contributions to anthrozoology, focusing on research from the United States that employs a symbolic interactionist perspective. In particular, the work of Arluke and Sanders highlights the importance of understanding the meanings that animals hold for people. Using a selective review of their research, this essay outlines how a focus on understanding meaning can inform anthrozoological research. Arluke’s research on animal abuse reveals how harm must be defined in context. Sanders’s research on canine–human relationships documents how people come to understand companion dogs as persons. Both bodies of work rely on careful observation and listening to …

Construct Validity Of Animal-Assisted Therapy And Activities: How Important Is The Animal In Aat?, Lori Marino

Animal-Assisted Therapy Collection

Animal-assisted therapy and animal-assisted activities involve a nonhuman animal as a key therapeutic agent in some kind of intervention that may range from highly specified, as in AAT, to more casual, as in AAA. In this review I address the question: How important is the animal in animal therapy? In other words, does the recent literature strongly support the notion that a live animal, as opposed to another novel stimulating component, is specifically necessary for therapeutic success. Two meta-analyses and 28 single empirical studies were reviewed in order to address this issue. I conclude that the effects of AAT and …

A Queer Vegan Manifesto, Rasmus R. Simonsen

Human Health Collection

What does it mean for a person to declare her or his veganism to the world? How does the transition from one diet to another impact one’s sense of self? Veganism challenges the foundational character of how we “act out” our selves—not least of all in the context of sexuality and gender. In my paper, I am thus interested in the potential of veganism to disrupt the “natural” bond between gender formations and the consumption of animal products, as this relates to social and cultural genealogies. Consequently, I will explore a queer form of veganism that affirms the radical impact …

Clinical Anesthesia And Analgesia In Fish, Lynne U. Sneddon

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Fish have become a popular experimental model and companion animal, and are also farmed and caught for food. Thus, surgical and invasive procedures in this animal group are common, and this review will focus on the anesthesia and analgesia of fish. A variety of anesthetic agents are commonly applied to fish via immersion. Correct dosing can result in effective anesthesia for acute procedures as well as loss of consciousness for surgical interventions. Dose and anesthetic agent vary between species of fish and are further confounded by a variety of physiological parameters (e.g., body weight, physiological stress) as well as environmental …

Characterisation Of Chemosensory Trigeminal Receptors In The Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus Mykiss: Responses To Chemical Irritants And Carbon Dioxide, Jessica J. Mettam, Catherine R. Mccrohan, Lynne U. Sneddon

Veterinary Science and Medicine Collection

Trigeminally innervated, mechanically sensitive chemoreceptors (M) were previously identified in rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, but it is not known whether these receptors are responsive only to noxious, chemical irritants or have a general chemosensory function. This study aimed to characterise the stimulus–response properties of these receptors in comparison with polymodal nociceptors (P). Both P and M gave similar response profiles to acetic acid concentrations. The electrophysiological properties were similar between the two different afferent types. To determine whether the receptors have a nociceptive function, a range of chemical stimulants was applied to these receptors, including non-noxious stimuli such as ammonium …

Animal Research In Medical Sciences: Seeking A Convergence Of Science, Medicine, And Animal Law, John J. Pippin

Laws and Legislation Collection

As the intersection of animal law and animal research becomes congested, it is appropriate to establish the scientific context in which laws regarding the use and care of research animals will operate. There are at least three components of this context that set the terms of the debate: ethics, science, and the legal status of animals. The following discussion will not address ethics; not because it isn’t important, but because it exists along a spectrum of objective and subjective positions that are often unassailable by argument and data. I can assure you as a former animal researcher that even in …

Pursuing Medawar’S Challenge For Full Replacement, Martin Stephens

Experimentation Collection

In 1969, Nobel Prize-winning scientist Peter Medawar predicted that scientific innovation would someday fully replace the use of animals in biomedical research. Medawar correctly forecast the leveling off and subsequent decline in animal use in the last quarter of the 20th century – a period of remarkable innovation in the life sciences. A 2007 report by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century, proposed a strategy that is likely to replace all routine animal use in toxicology with innovative methods within one to two decades. Replacing animal use throughout biomedical research is more challenging given …

Q&A

Serial - All Animals 2009-15

The quest for the spay/neuter Holy Grail

Q&A

Serial - All Animals 2009-15

On the Right Track

Race car drivers Leilani Münter and Cory Joyce are merging animal advocacy with life in the fast lane.

The Long Road To Freedom, Karen E. Lange

Serial - All Animals 2009-15

Nicaragua is a small country with a rich diversity of wild animals, many of them under threat from habitat loss and illegal trade. Humane Society International is supporting the country’s only officially sanctioned rescue center as it rehabilitates trade victims and releases them back into the wild.

Million-Dollar Ideas

Animal Sheltering 2010-12

Michelson Prize and Grants program spurs research into nonsurgical spay/neuter

Prevalence Of Antibodies To Canine Parvovirus And Distemper Virus In Wolves In The Canadian Rocky Mountains, Brynn Nelson, Mark Hebblewhite, Vanessa Ezenwa, Todd Shury, Evelyn H. Merrill, Paul C. Paquet, Fiona Schmiegelow, Dale Selp, Geoff Skinner, Nathan Webb

Epidemiology Collection

Wild carnivores are often exposed to diseases via contact with peridomestic host species that travel through the wildland-urban interfaces. To determine the antibody prevalences and relationships to human activity for two common canid pathogens, we sampled 99 wolves (Canis lupus) from 2000 to 2008 for antibodies to canine parvovirus (CPV) and canine distemper virus (CDV) in Banff and Jasper National Parks and surrounding areas of the Canadian Rockies. This population was the source for wolves reintroduced into the Northern Rockies of the US. Of 99 wolves sampled, 94 had detectable antibody to CPV (95%), 24 were antibody-positive for CDV (24%), …

A Roadmap For The Development Of Alternative (Non-Animal) Methods For Systemic Toxicity Testing, David Basketter, Harvey Clewell, Ian Kimber, Annamaria Rossi, Bas Blaauboer, Robert Burrier, Mardas Daneshian, Chantra Eskes, Alan Goldberg, Nina Hasiwa, Sebastian Hoffmann, Joanna Jaworska, Thomas B. Knudsen, Robert Landsiedel, Marcel Leist, Paul Locke, Gavin Maxwell, James Mckim, Emily Mcvey, Gladys Ouédraogo, Grace Patlewicz, Olavi Pelkonen, Erwin Roggen, Costanza Rovida, Irmela Ruhdel, Michael Schwarz, Andreas Schepky, Greet Schoeters, Nigel Skinner, Kerstin Trentz, Marian Turner, Philippe Vanparys, James Yager, Joanne Zurlo, Thomas Hartung

Biomedical Research and Alternative Methods Collection

Systemic toxicity testing forms the cornerstone for the safety evaluation of substances. Pressures to move from traditional animal models to novel technologies arise from various concerns, including: the need to evaluate large numbers of previously untested chemicals and new products (such as nanoparticles or cell therapies), the limited predictivity of traditional tests for human health effects, duration and costs of current approaches, and animal welfare considerations. The latter holds especially true in the context of the scheduled 2013 marketing ban on cosmetic ingredients tested for systemic toxicity. Based on a major analysis of the status of alternative methods (Adler et …

Extended Grazing: A Detailed Analysis Of Irish Dairy Farms, D. Läpple, T. Hennessy, M. O'Donovan

Farm Animal Husbandry Collection

Profitability and factors affecting grazing season length were econometrically analyzed using a representative sample of Irish dairy farms. The objective of this study was to explore what potential exists on Irish dairy farms to extend the grazing season and to quantify the possible economic benefits that result from lengthening the grazing season. Regression results indicate that location factors affect the length of the grazing season, but even when physical factors are controlled, farmer characteristics, such as education, also affect the grazing season length. The results of a panel data analysis show that significant cost reductions can be achieved by extending …

Mammary Cell Activity And Turnover In Dairy Cows Treated With The Prolactin-Release Inhibitor Quinagolide And Milked Once Daily, M. Boutinaud, V. Lollivier, L. Finot, R. M. Bruckmaier, P. Lacasse

Physiology Collection

To assess the regulation of mammary cell activity, survival, and proliferation by prolactin (PRL), 5 Holstein cows in early lactation received daily i.m. injections of 1 mg of quinagolide, a suppressor of PRL release, for 9 wk, whereas 4 control cows received the vehicle (water) only. During the last week of treatment, one udder half was milked once a day (1×) and the other twice a day (2×). Mammary biopsies were harvested 1 wk before and 4 and 8 wk after the start of quinagolide treatment. The quinagolide injections reduced milk yield and resulted in lower levels of κ-casein and …

The Welfare Of Calves In The Beef Industry

Agribusiness Reports

Calves raised for beef often begin life unconfined, on rangeland where they are free to express their natural behavior. However, the welfare of calves can be compromised by certain specific management practices, typical on many ranching operations. These include castration of male calves, dehorning, and branding, all of which are usually performed without anesthesia or analgesia, pain relief of any kind. Welfare is also a concern during weaning, handling, auction, and transport, common stressful events that occur before calves are moved to feedlots. Techniques to minimize pain and distress should be used or further developed in order to address the …

Outdoor Cats: An Animal Welfare And Protection Perspective, John Hadidian, Inga Gibson, Susan Hagood, Nancy Peterson, Bernard Unti, Betsy Mcfarland, Katie Lisnik, Heather Bialy, Inga Fricke, Kathleen Schatzmann, Jennifer Fearing, Pam Runquist, Andrew N. Rowan (Ed.)

Stray and Feral Animal Populations Collection

First raised as a serious conservation issue more than 100 years ago, the impact of free-roaming cats on wildlife has been a subject of debate, controversy, and conflict since then. Cats have been tied directly to the extinction of sensitive species in island environments and implicated as major threats to certain wildlife populations elsewhere. Yet the study of free-roaming cats and the problems attributed to them lags behind the standards of research typical with more traditional vertebrate “pest” species. Alternative management approaches, ranging from traditional practices such as removal and depopulation to emerging concepts such as Trap- Neuter-Return (TNR), have …