Relationship Among Genetic And Physiological Biomarkers, And Horse Characteristics,
2016
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Relationship Among Genetic And Physiological Biomarkers, And Horse Characteristics, Casey Orr
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The objective of this study was to evaluate relationships among genetic and physiological biomarkers and phenotypic characteristics in horses. Three breeds (Quarter Horse, Thoroughbreds, Miniatures), and five genes of interest (leptin, ghrelin, cytochrome P450, glucocorticoid receptor, and lactate dehydrogenase) were the basis of the investigation. Genomic DNA was extracted from buffy coat samples of Quarter Horses (n = 21), Thoroughbreds (n = 26), and Miniatures (n = 34). Data were analyzed using MIXED MODEL procedures of SAS, with the main effects of breed and SNP genotype. Horse was the experimental unit, and dependent variables were classified as physical, cell differentials, …
Using Storytelling To Raise Interest In Vultures,
2016
Miami University - Oxford
Using Storytelling To Raise Interest In Vultures, Elise C. Osenga
The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal
The tradition of oral storytelling is an art that stretches back to humankind's earliest cultures. While storytelling is often considered as a form of entertainment, it has also long been used as a teaching tool as well-- a way of engaging listeners to come to new understanding of their world through subtle means. It is my belief that stories, particularly stories with a clear tie to students' sense of place, can be more widely applied to effectively generate interest in specific scientific topics and help students to form emotional connections with the topics under discussion. The following personal narrative describes …
Two New Species Of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 From Southern Turkey (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae),
2016
Società Romana di Scienze Naturali
Two New Species Of Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 From Southern Turkey (Scorpiones: Euscorpiidae), Gioele Tropea, Ersen Aydın Yağmur
Euscorpius
Two new species of scorpion of the genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 are described from southern Turkey based on morphological ratio and trichobothrial data. E. hakani sp. n. from Mt. Eşeler, in Denizli Province in southwestern Turkey and E. aladaglarensis sp. n. from the Aladağlar Mts., in Niğde, Kayseri, and Adana Provinces. With the description of two new taxa, 17 species of Euscorpius are currently recognized in Turkey.
Insect Consciousness: Commitments, Conflicts And Consequences,
2016
Macquarie University, Australia
Insect Consciousness: Commitments, Conflicts And Consequences, Colin Klein, Andrew B. Barron
Animal Sentience
Our target article, “Insects have the capacity for subjective experience,” has provoked a diverse range of commentaries. In this response we have collated what we see as the major themes of the discussion. It is clear that we differ from some commentators in our commitments to what subjective experience is and what the midbrain is capable of. Here we clarify where we stand on those points and how our view differs from some other influential perspectives. The commentaries have highlighted the most lively areas of disagreement. We revisit here the debates surrounding whether the cortex is essential for any form …
Consciousness And Evolutionary Biology,
2016
Nanyang Technological University
Consciousness And Evolutionary Biology, Yew-Kwang Ng
Animal Sentience
Reber’s axiom: “Any organism with flexible cell walls, a sensitivity to its surrounds and the capacity for locomotion will possess the biological foundations of mind and consciousness” does not seem to be supported by things we know and the logic of evolutionary biology. The latter leads to the conclusion that conscious species are flexible in their behavior (rather than in their cell walls), as argued in Ng (1995, 2016). Locomotion may be completely hard-wired and need not involve consciousness. It is hard enough to explain how consciousness could emerge in a sophisticated brain: Isn’t it a harder problem to show …
Body Mass Estimates From Bone And Tooth Measurements In White-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus Virginianus,
2016
Georgia College and State University
Body Mass Estimates From Bone And Tooth Measurements In White-Tailed Deer, Odocoileus Virginianus, Brandi Morris, Alfred J. Mead
Georgia Journal of Science
The distal forelimbs and mandibles of 110 female and 240 male white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) from the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, Georgia, were used to examine the relationship between metacarpal dimensions, first lower molar occlusal surface area, and mandibular width versus body mass. The strongest correlation was found between female metacarpal proximal area vs. body mass (R2 = 0.74). The combined-sexes metacarpal proximal area vs. body mass displayed a lower correlation (R2 = 0.54). The female first lower molar surface area vs. body mass produced the highest dental correlation (R2 = 0.56). The study suggests that body mass estimates using …
The Difference Between Conscious And Unconscious Brain Circuits,
2016
San Francisco State University
The Difference Between Conscious And Unconscious Brain Circuits, Ezequiel Morsella, Zaviera Reyes
Animal Sentience
Theoretical frameworks in which consciousness is an inherent property of the neuron must account for the contrast between conscious and unconscious processes in the brain and address how neural events can ever be unconscious if consciousness is a property of all neurons. Other approaches have sought answers regarding consciousness by contrasting conscious and unconscious processes and through investigating the complex interactions between the two kinds of processes, as occurs most notably in human voluntary action. In voluntary action, consciousness is associated most, not with motor control or low-level perceptual processing, but with the stage of processing known as action selection.
Resolving The Hard Problem And Calling For A Small Miracle,
2016
University of British Columbia
Resolving The Hard Problem And Calling For A Small Miracle, Arthur S. Reber
Animal Sentience
With the exception of the commentary by Key, the commentaries on Reber have a common feature: the commenters feel, with varying levels of enthusiasm, that there is at least some virtue in the core assumption of the Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) theory that consciousness (or subjectivity or sentience) accompanies the earliest forms of life. The model has two important entailments: (a) it resolves the (in)famous Hard Problem by redirecting the search for the biochemical foundations of sentience away from human consciousness; and (b) it reduces the need for an emergentist miracle to a far simpler scale than is currently …
No Help On The Hard Problem,
2016
University of St Andrews
No Help On The Hard Problem, Derek Ball
Animal Sentience
The hard problem of consciousness is to explain why certain physical states are conscious: why do they feel the way they do, rather than some other way or no way at all? Arthur Reber (2016) claims to solve the hard problem. But he does not: even if we grant that amoebae are conscious, we can ask why such organisms feel the way they do, and Reber’s theory provides no answer. Still, Reber’s theory may be methodologically useful: we do not yet have a satisfactory theory of consciousness, but perhaps the study of simple minds is a way to go about …
Unconscious Higher-Order Thoughts (Hots) As Pre-Reflective Self-Awareness?,
2016
The University of Southern Indiana
Unconscious Higher-Order Thoughts (Hots) As Pre-Reflective Self-Awareness?, Rocco J. Gennaro
Animal Sentience
Rowlands argues that many nonhuman animals are “persons,” contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy which rests on a mistaken conception of the kind of self-awareness relevant to personhood. He argues that self-awareness bifurcates into two importantly different forms — reflective self-awareness and pre-reflective self-awareness — and that many animals can have the latter, which is sufficient for personhood. I agree that there is good reason to think that many animals can have pre-reflective self-awareness, but I think Rowlands is mistaken about its nature. His account runs the risk of leading to an infinite regress objection, and his notion of pre-reflective self-awareness …
The Psychological Concept Of “Person”,
2016
York University Animal Sentience
The Psychological Concept Of “Person”, Kristin Andrews
Animal Sentience
Reluctance to overextend personhood seems to drive many of the skeptical responses in the first round of commentaries on Rowlands's target article. Despite Rowlands’s straightforward Response that we already accept some nonhumans as persons, there is still hesitation to accept that other nonhuman animals are persons. Rowlands's argument is sound but the skeptics don’t accept the Lockean notion of person. The metaphysical sense of person is a psychological one, however, and psychological properties grant one moral status according to many ethical theories.
Acoustic Evidence Of Bats Using Rock Crevices In Winter: A Call For More Research On Winter Roosts In North America,
2016
Retired
Acoustic Evidence Of Bats Using Rock Crevices In Winter: A Call For More Research On Winter Roosts In North America, Cliff A. Lemen, Patricia W. Freeman, Jeremy A. White
Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies
The Northern Long-eared Myotis (Myotis septentrionalis) is known to hibernate in mines and caves, often using cracks within these hibernacula as roost sites. We hypothesized that M. septentrionalis might use deep cracks in rock outcrops for hibernation as well. To test this hypothesis, we placed acoustical bat detectors near rock outcrops away from any known mines or caves during winter in Nebraska. We documented calls of M. septentrionalis as well as Perimyotis subflavus and Eptesicus fuscus in December near rock outcrops, which suggests that individuals of all three species were hibernating in rock crevices in winter. Of the …
Review: Interspecies Ethics By Cynthia Willett,
2016
The University of Western Ontario
Review: Interspecies Ethics By Cynthia Willett, Thomas E. Randall
Between the Species
This paper provides a review of Cynthia Willett's book Interspecies Ethics. Willett aims to outline the beginnings of biosocial eros ethics – an ethical outline that sketches the potentiality of a cross-species cosmopolitan ideal of compassion (agape), derived through acknowledging and emphasizing the existence of spontaneous, playful interaction between social animals. Though this book is recommended for offering an innovative framework from which to explore the possibility of non-anthropocentric cross-species ethic, readers should be wary of expecting to find a fully-fledged moral program detailing how this would work.
Sex And Seasonal Differences In Diet And Nutrient Intake In Verreaux's Sifakas (Propithecus Verreauxi),
2016
German Primate Center
Sex And Seasonal Differences In Diet And Nutrient Intake In Verreaux's Sifakas (Propithecus Verreauxi), Flávia Koch, Joerg U. Ganzhorn, Jessica M. Rothman, Colin A. Chapman, Claudia Fichtel
Publications and Research
Fluctuations in food availability are a major challenge faced by primates living in seasonal climates. Variation in food availability can be especially challenging for females, because of the high energetic costs of reproduction. Therefore, females must adapt the particular demands of the different reproductive stages to the seasonal availability of resources. Madagascar has a highly seasonal climate, where food availability can be extremely variable. We investigated the seasonal changes in diet composition, nutrient and energy intake of female and male sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) in a dry deciduous forest in western Madagascar. We examined how females adjust their diet to different …
A New Species Of Centruroides (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From Quiché, Northwestern Guatemala,
2016
Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala
A New Species Of Centruroides (Scorpiones: Buthidae) From Quiché, Northwestern Guatemala, Rony E. Trujillo, Luis F. De Armas
Euscorpius
A new species of the genus Centruroides Marx, 1890 is described from Sotzil Village (15.61775°N, -91.09745°W, 1173 m a.s.l.), Chajul Municipality, Quiché Department, Guatemala, on basis of one female and one male. It closely resembles Centruroides caral Armas et Trujillo, 2013 from northeastern Guatemala (240 Km southeast of Chajul), but male differs by having a most globose pedipalp manus, as well as metasoma clearly more attenuate (len-gth/width ratio: segments II–IV = 2.4, 2.7 and 1.4, respectively; 1.7, 2.2 and 2.5 in the holotype of C. caral, the only known specimen of this taxon). Data on its habitat and some …
Using Citizen Science And Remote Sensing Data To Model Hummingbird Migration,
2016
University of Maine
Using Citizen Science And Remote Sensing Data To Model Hummingbird Migration, Sarah R. Supp, Laura J. Graham, Frank A. La Sorte, Tina A. Cormier, Gil Bohrer, Donald Powers, Susan Wethington, Kevin Guay, Patrick Jantz, Scott Goetz, Catherine H. Graham
Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research
No abstract provided.
Scorpions Of The Horn Of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part Ix. Lanzatus, Orthochirus, And Somalicharmus (Buthidae), With Description Of Lanzatus Somalilandus Sp. N. And Orthochirus Afar Sp. N.,
2016
Charles University, Czech Republic
Scorpions Of The Horn Of Africa (Arachnida: Scorpiones). Part Ix. Lanzatus, Orthochirus, And Somalicharmus (Buthidae), With Description Of Lanzatus Somalilandus Sp. N. And Orthochirus Afar Sp. N., František Kovařík, Graeme Lowe, František Šťáhlavský
Euscorpius
The rare Horn of Africa buthid genera Lanzatus Kovařík, 2001, Orthochirus Karsch, 1891, and Somalicharmus Kovařík, 1998 were newly collected. Lanzatus is reported for the first time from Somaliland, and Orthochirus for the first time from Ethiopia. We describe two new species, Lanzatus somalilandus sp. n. from Somaliland, and Orthochirus afar sp. n. from Ethiopia, both discovered during scorpiological expeditions in 2011–2016. Information is provided for all Horn of Africa species belonging to these three genera: their taxonomy, distribution, and ecology, fully complemented with color photos of live and preserved specimens, as well as their habitat. …
Consciousness And The Unity Of Mind,
2016
University of Miami
Consciousness And The Unity Of Mind, Mark Rowlands
Animal Sentience
Several types of objection have been raised against the arguments I presented in my target article, “Are animals persons?” Among the objections are the following: (1) the claim that animals are persons is of little significance, (2) my use of the Lockean conception of the person is questionable, (3) whether a creature qualifies as a person is a matter of social construction rather than objective fact, (4) reflective consciousness is more important than I realize, (5) my reliance on implicit self-awareness in the account of personhood is ill-advised, (6) my account entails that too many creatures qualify as persons, and …
Insects: Still Looking Like Zombies,
2016
Brown University
Insects: Still Looking Like Zombies, Christopher S. Hill
Animal Sentience
In arguing that insect brains are capable of sentience, Klein & Barron rely heavily on Bjorn Merker’s claim that activity in the human mid-brain is sufficient for conscious experience. I criticize Merker’s claim by pointing out that the behaviors supported by midbrain activity are much more primitive than the ones that appear to depend on consciousness. I raise a similar objection to Klein & Barron’s contention that insect behaviors are similar to behaviors that manifest consciousness in human beings. The similarity is weak. I also respond to the related view that integrative activity in mid-brain structures is sufficient to explain …
A Study Of Defensive Mechanisms Employed By Two Species Of Nudibranchs Using Toxicity And Unpalatability Analyses,
2016
SIT Study Abroad
A Study Of Defensive Mechanisms Employed By Two Species Of Nudibranchs Using Toxicity And Unpalatability Analyses, Sean Youn
Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection
Nudibranchs are marine invertebrates that have developed an intriguing defense mechanism, including warning coloration and the use of chemicals accumulated through their sponge diet. The goal of this study was to determine whether the strength of chemical defenses differs between dietary and accumulated secondary metabolites for two species: Glossodoris vespa and Ceratosoma brevicaudatum. First, NMR spectroscopy was used to not only identify specific compounds in the mantle (outer covering) and the viscera (gut) but also to analyze the possibility of nudibranch species transporting more toxic compounds for defensive purposes. Next, toxicity (brine shrimp) and palatability (Palaemon shrimp) assays were used …
