Public Trust in Science: Exploring the Idiosyncrasy-Free Ideal

What makes science trustworthy to the public? This chapter examines one proposed answer: the trustworthiness of science is based at least in part on its independence from the idiosyncratic values, interests, and ideas of individual scientists. That is, science is trustworthy to the extent that following the scientific process would result in the same conclusions, regardless of the particular scientists involved. We analyze this "idiosyncrasy-free ideal" for science by looking at philosophical debates about inductive risk, focusing on two recent proposals which offer different methods of avoiding idiosyncrasy: the high epistemic standards proposal and the democratic values proposal

A Cytotaxonomic Study of New Mexico Thelesperma

This study has been an attempt to collect, to identify, and to classify the four New Mexico species of Thelesperma on the basis of morphology and chromosome number. In addition, an attempt has been made to analyze the morphology of the chromosomes with respect to their evolution

Gardening for Wildlife: Tree canopy and small-scale planting influences on arthropod and bird abundance

Do urban gardens restored with native shrubs contribute towards conservation of birds? Portland, Oregon, is a mid-sized city with many restored yard habitats and nearby regional natural areas, with yards varying in the degree of native plantings and the sizes and groupings of the yards involved. We studied several of the purported ecological benefits attributed to these widespread, but small-scale, urban gardens. We measured the relative success of yard habitats in contributing to diversity and abundance of forest-habitat birds. We studied how the abundance and diversity of shrubs, arthropods, and birds were related. We compared two neighborhoods; one having high, native tree cover, and the second having lower, non-native tree cover. Both neighborhoods had nearby greenspaces. We selected 6 replicate yards in each neighborhood, each with at least a minimum number of native shrubs. We also measured bird species richness using citizen science data. The abundance of arthropods significantly predicted the bird species richness. Both the amount of regional and local tree cover had a stronger statistical signal than shrub cover. The presence of native species of shrubs in these yards was not a good predictor for abundance of arthropods

BIOFRAG – a new database for analyzing BIOdiversity responses to forest FRAGmentation

Habitat fragmentation studies have produced complex results that are challenging to synthesize. Inconsistencies among studies may result from variation in the choice of landscape metrics and response variables, which is often compounded by a lack of key statistical or methodological information. Collating primary datasets on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in a consistent and flexible database permits simple data retrieval for subsequent analyses. We present a relational database that links such field data to taxonomic nomenclature, spatial and temporal plot attributes, and environmental characteristics. Field assessments include measurements of the response(s) (e.g., presence, abundance, ground cover) of one or more species linked to plots in fragments within a partially forested landscape. The database currently holds 9830 unique species recorded in plots of 58 unique landscapes in six of eight realms: mammals 315, birds 1286, herptiles 460, insects 4521, spiders 204, other arthropods 85, gastropods 70, annelids 8, platyhelminthes 4, Onychophora 2, vascular plants 2112, nonvascular plants and lichens 320, and fungi 449. Three landscapes were sampled as long-term time series (\u3e10 years). Seven hundred and eleven species are found in two or more landscapes. Consolidating the substantial amount of primary data available on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in the context of land-use change and natural disturbances is an essential part of understanding the effects of increasing anthropogenic pressures on land. The consistent format of this database facilitates testing of generalizations concerning biologic responses to fragmentation across diverse systems and taxa. It also allows the re-examination of existing datasets with alternative landscape metrics and robust statistical methods, for example, helping to address pseudoreplication problems. The database can thus help researchers in producing broad syntheses of the effects of land use. The database is dynamic and inclusive, and contributions from individual and large-scale data-collection efforts are welcome

Panel. Current Research on Slavery at the University of Mississippi

The March Toward Militancy: Student Aggression and the Slave Community at the University of Mississippi / Chet Bush, University of MississippiThe first thirteen years of the University of Mississippi offer a window through which to observe the activities that characterized the all-male student culture. While community storytellers have imagined a single meeting where students hatched a plan to form a military company in support of the Confederacy, the archives of the university suggest a much longer gestation of violence and militancy. From the founding of the university in 1848 to the start of the war in 1861 students demonstrated an increasingly obsessive preoccupation with asserting authority. Student concern for displaying power grew particularly hostile toward the slave community in the years leading up to the Civil War. This paper charts the march toward militancy that students expressed, chiefly toward enslaved workers, during the first thirteen years of the University of Mississippi.Proslavery and States’ Rights Incubators: Fraternal Debate Societies at the University of Mississippi, 1848-1861 / Andrew Marion, University of MississippiThis presentation will examine how two fraternal debate societies at the University of Mississippi worked as incubators for proslavery and states\u27 rights ideology for the students from 1848 to 1861. Mandatory participation in these societies put students in academic environments that promoted unwavering loyalty to the state of Mississippi and its most sacred institution, slavery. An examination of proslavery rhetoric delivered at the university and debate society meeting minutes and publications will help explain the incredible commitment that the University of Mississippi\u27s students made to defend slavery and the Confederacy.The World the Slaves Made: Slaveholding, Student Wealth, and the Foundations of the University of Mississippi / Anne TwittyWhen fifteen-year-old John Sanders McRaven of Marshall County matriculated at the University of Mississippi in 1849, his father, planter Robert McRaven, was no doubt the animating force. If Robert was the architect of John’s education, however, the sixty-one men, women, and children Robert claimed in the 1850 census were its underwriters. Although scholars have identified many enslaved people who lived on college campuses and examined the centrality of their work at such facilities, little attention has been paid to the enslaved people laboring tens or hundreds of miles from these institutions who nevertheless helped create, facilitate, and maintain them. To address this omission, this paper traces the slaveholdings of the University of Mississippi’s first students through the 1850 census to explore how enslaved black people far removed from the University of Mississippi made possible the scholarly endeavors of free white men at its campus in Oxford

Physical interaction mappings : utilizing cognitive load theory in order to enhance physical product interaction

Learning to physically operate traditional products can be viewed as a learning process akin to any other. As such, many of today's products, such as cars, boats, and planes, which have traditional controls that predate modern user-centered design techniques may be imposing irrelevant or unrelated cognitive loads on their operators. The availability of working memory has long been identified as a critical aspect of an instructional design. Many conventional instructional procedures impose irrelevant or unrelated cognitive loads on the learner due to the fact that they were created without contemplation, or understanding, of cognitive work load. The goal of the research was to investigate the fundamental relationships between physical inputs, resulting actions, and learnability. The results showed that individuals can quickly adapt to input/output reversals across dimensions, however, individuals struggle to cope with the input/output when the dimensions are rotated due to the resulting increase in cognitive load

Questioning conventions : are product conventions trading off the usability of products for short term user satisfaction

Mapping conventions are a key aspect of user centered design as they present users with familiar interactions in unfamiliar products. Conventions evolve over time and are slow to be adopted, requiring a high percentage of acceptance within a society, ensuring that conventions exhibit a sufficient level of usability. However this paper argues that while usability is a necessary condition for good interactions it is not a sufficient one. Therefore user centered design which accents individuals bias towards conventions my in fact be hindering the innovation of product interactions. This paper argues that a cognitive approach should be adopted in order understand and reassess product interactions. An experiment was carried out that demonstrates the influence that simple mappings can have on cognitive load. The results showed that basic mappings of the types that are found throughout product conventions can have a substantial impact on mental load and subsequently product interaction

Total or Partial Knee Arthroplasty Trial - TOPKAT : study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Further reflections on TOPKAT and Partial vs. Total Knee Replacement-response to authors

Response to: Carlson SW, Sierra RJ. Unicompartmental knee arthroplasty over total knee arthroplasty: a more cost-effective strategy for treating medial compartment arthritis. Ann Transl Med 2020;8:510. Argenson JNA, Jacquet C, Ollivier M. Medial femorotibial osteoarthritis of the knee: total or partial knee replacement? Ann Transl Med 2020;8:721.Peer reviewedPublisher PD