Ecological Literacy: Global Planetary Stewardship is Everyone’s Responsibility

No longer can nature simply be defined as ‘essences unchanged by man’ as Ralph Waldo Emerson once claimed. Technology, the result of applied science, has produced accomplishments that have made the quality of human life better in terms of health care and transportation. These advancements, however, have come at a great ecological cost as is evident everywhere in nature today. Humans need to acquire Ecological Literacy, the knowledge to lead a sustainable life. This entails meeting current needs without preventing future generations and species from doing the same. Since the days of the Industrial Revolution, the health of our planet has been in a decline because of man’s urge to dominate. Overuse of fossil fuels and industrial farming to feed the nihilistic human race has proven toxic to Gaia. Global warming is a direct result of this irresponsibility and these effects have become visible at a sobering rate. According to the Population Reference Bureau, the number of human beings now living in an urban setting is equal to those in rural areas; a shocking fact considering that only three percent of the world’s population lived in urban areas in 1800. Planetary health is a moral imperative for Homo sapiens as the seven billion residents of Earth continue to multiply. We are in dire need of change to become what David Orr calls a ‘planet-broken’ race. Effective change can only be made through both community and academic education and the acquisition of Ecological Literacy. This study looks at the literary, scientific, ethical, and educational aspects that are necessary to evolve sustainably into this century. Through the use of survey data, literature, hands-on educational activities, and scholarly sources this study examines the process of changing each human beings’ worldview to include a zero impact lifestyle

Evaluation of a High Protein DDGS Product on Broiler Performance

Dried distiller’s grains with solubles (DDGS) are commonly fed at an inclusion of 10% or less in broiler diets with the added benefit of an improved ability to utilize the available nutrients compared to layers fed the same inclusion. Combined with intentional changes to processing to enhance the nutritional quality of DDGS, there is the potential to increase the utilization of DDGS when fed to broilers. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of feeding up to a 20% inclusion of high protein DDGS (HiP DDGS) on broiler performance in straight-run Cobb 500 broiler chickens. Birds fed diets containing 15 and 20% HiP DDGS gained less weight than control (p \u3c 0.05) but did not have a different feed intake (FI). Birds fed the 20% HiP DDGS diet had a less efficient FCR than the control. Additional research is needed to further illustrate the value of feeding HiP DDGS in broiler chickens

Supplemental lysine sulfate does not negatively affect the performance of broiler chicks fed dietary sulfur from multiple dietary and water sources

Commercial broiler producers and nutritionists have questioned the performance consequences of sulfur (S) from various dietary and water sources combined in current commercial production. The combination of high-S feed ingredients, including dried distillers grains with solubles, and dietary additives that contain S, such as lysine sulfate or copper sulfate, has the potential to create high S exposure, especially when combined with high-S drinking water. The tolerance of growing broiler chicks to S was determined by supplementation of a corn-soybean-5% dried distillers grains with solubles diet with up to 1% lysine sulfate or an equal amount of S from sodium sulfide. An additional diet containing copper and zinc sulfate served as a positive control for the source of S and high-S inclusion. These diets were fed to chicks provided with normal (0.008% or 80 ppm) or high water S (0.113% or 1130 ppm). We hypothesized that the addition of S sources to a commercial diet would not reduce the performance of growing chicks given access to normal or high-S water. Data showed dietary S requirements were met and excess S was easily excreted, hence, under the experimental feeding conditions, supplementation with up to 1% additional lysine sulfate (or a similar product) did not reduce performance in comparison with chicks fed a lower S diet with access to normal or high-S water. The high-S diet from copper and zinc sulfate resulted in reduced water and feed consumption, although there were no effects on chick weight gain

O cinema brasileiro contemporâneo vinte anos após Central do Brasil - outras perspectivas sobre a representação da tragédia social brasileira

O presente trabalho de dissertação, complementando o curso de mestrado em Ciências da Comunicação, com especialização em Cinema e Televisão, aborda as diferentes representações que o cinema brasileiro contemporâneo apresentou ao longo das últimas décadas, tendo como pano de fundo os insolucionáveis e crónicos problemas da sociedade brasileira e que dimensiona a permanente tragédia social do país, bem como um panorama sobre os diferentes desafios e questões com os quais o cinema brasileiro lidou nos últimos anos. Também são analisadas novas perspectivas e os impasses sobre o cinema brasileiro contemporâneo, as novas diretrizes de produção e distribuição e os futuros desafios de uma atividade e uma sociedade em constantes transformações e mudanças.The present dissertation, complementing the master's degree in Communication Sciences, with specialization in Cinema and Television, approaches the different representations that Brazilian contemporary cinema has presented throughout the last decades, having as background the insolvable and chronic problems of Brazilian society and that dimension the permanent social tragedy of the country, as well as a panorama on the different challenges and issues with which Brazilian cinema has dealt in past years. New analyses and perspectives over Brazilian cinema have also been performed, the new production and distribution guidelines and the future challenges of an activity and a society in constant transformations and changes

Jean-Baptiste Paramelle : method, results, and contribution to hydrogeology

This study consists of three parts: a translation of Paramelle’s 1856 The Art of Finding Springs; a synthesis of Paramelle’s method, as set out in the book; and an application of his observational method to two karst areas of Texas. Paramelle’s book is a compilation of the observations and experiences gained during 40 years of exploring for water in 40 of France’s departments. Paramelle’s observational method was a scientific advance over water finding methods used in the early 19th century. The breadth and details of Paramelle’s observations are summarized in the second part. Paramelle found shallow water in karst areas by locating the thalweg, the location of focused groundwater flow, and he maintained that beneath every surface thalweg was an underground thalweg. Shallow water could be found in small valleys where the thalweg was easily visible on the surface. Water is abundant where a thalweg joins a stream. He calculated the amount of groundwater present by the size of the recharge area, an area of permeable rock overlying an impermeable layer. He observed the swallet-resurgence connection, the disappearance of a stream into the streambed and its reappearance downstream. Paramelle noted that aligned sinkholes overlay underground conduits and caverns. In part three, Paramelle’s observations are applied to two karst areas of Texas, New Braunfels and the Stockton Plateau. In the New Braunfels area, wells located within 200 m of subsidence areas (coalesced sinkholes) have higher yields than wells located farther from these features. On the Stockton Plateau, the presence of springs in recesses confirms Paramelle’s observations that shallow water is present in small valleys, at permeability contrasts, and downgradient of recharge areas of sufficient size. Paramelle’s scientific observation of rock units and water occurrence provided water for many towns and farms in the 19th century and greatly promoted the use and popularity of groundwater in France. His success in using the observational method is a reminder of the importance of paying attention to observations, especially when they do not support established theories.Geological Science

Adenine-induced hyperphosphatemia in a murine model of renal insufficiency

Hyperphosphatemia in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients is a risk factor for cardiovascular events, progressive kidney failure, and mortality. Improved therapeutic interventions to control hyperphosphatemia depend greatly on robust animal models that recapitulate the CKD disease process. Murine-based models of CKD as compared to rat models present significant advantages due to available genetic knockout lines that permit mechanistic dissection of CKD etiologies. The rat adenine model of renal failure has been extensively studied, and studies are now emerging describing adenine-induced renal failure in murine models. However, these newly developed murine models have not fully described the responses to calcitriol and phosphate binders, and the reported effects of adenine on serum phosphate is often lacking in murine models. Therefore, the objectives of this study were: 1) To induce hyperphosphatemia in mice using adenine with minimal mortality, and 2) Report the influence of calcitriol and phosphate binders on the disease process through measurement of serum phosphate and histology. In one approach, C57BL/6 male mice gavaged with 4 or 6 mg adenine/day, as compared to 0 mg adenine/day developed hyperphosphatemia, with low mortality. In a second approach, calcitriol exacerbated adenine-induced increases in serum phosphate at day 7 of adenine administration (p\u3c0.05). Notably, adenine treated mice had 4-fold increased stomach weights vs. non-adenine treated mice (p\u3c0.0001). The addition of a phosphate binder (experiment 3, sevelamer hydrochloride) was ineffective at preventing an adenine-induced increase in blood phosphate, a finding that likely resulted from adenine’s inhibition of gastric emptying. We report the successful use of adenine to induce hyperphosphatemia, that the hyperphosphatemic status is exacerbated by calcitriol, and a limitation of the model for studying oral therapies for hyperphosphatemia