Science and the Spirit of the Age: Blake, Wordsworth, and the Romantic Scientific Paradigm

The reaction of the first wave of English Romantic poets to the Enlightenment scientific establishment is by this point well understood. As Blake once noted, All that is Valuable in Knowledge is / Superior to Demonstrative Science such as is Weighed or Measured, a view subsequently echoed by Wordsworth: How insecure, how baseless in itself, / Is the Philosophy whose sway depends / On mere material instruments. Not quite so clear, however, is the relation between these pre-eminent Romantic poets and the Romantic scientific paradigm emerging at the turn of the nineteenth century. Both in its mainstream version, which would become modern scientific praxis, and in its most extreme variant, the Naturphilosophie of Schelling, Oken, et al., Romantic science differed from its Enlightenment predecessor by positing organic metaphors over mechanical ones, a conception of nature as process rather than product, and a historicist rather than ahistorical view of the universe. Given this orientation, a question emerges: Why did the first wave of English Romantic poets, Blake and Wordsworth particularly, fail to embrace the new Romantic science as an alternative to Enlightenment science when so many of its aspects seemed to harmonize with their personal politics and sense of aesthetics-at least, as these beliefs are articulated in their works? Why, in fact, does it appear that they pointedly rejected it? Romantic science resonated with the Spirit of the Age, but within its view of a dynamic, evolving, and boundless universe-and the redefinition of materialism that this view engendered-were philosophical propositions even more dangerous to these poets than those within its Enlightenment counterpart. What is more, there is reason to believe that these poets had a clear sense, arrived at by the differing philosophic approaches that defined them, where this particular scientific revolution might be headed in the century to come-toward the production of a culture wherein science would be irrevocably dominant, spiritual endeavors discredited, and poetry marginalized

Changes in Floodplain Inundation under Non-Stationary Hydrology for an Adjustable, Alluvial River Channel

Predicting the frequency and aerial extent of flooding in river valleys is essential for infrastructure design, environmental management, and risk assessment. Such flooding occurs when the discharge of water within a river channel exceeds its maximum capacity and the extra water submerges the adjoining floodplain surface. The maximum capacity of a channel is controlled by its geometry, gradient, and frictional resistance. Conventional flood prediction methods rely on assumptions of unchanging flood probabilities and channel capacities. However, changes in climate, land cover, and water management have been shown to systematically shift the magnitude and variability of flood flows in many systems. Additionally, alluvial river channels continually adjust their geometries according to characteristics of flow and sediment regimes. For example, channels can expand their geometry during high-energy flows through erosion, then contract their geometry through sediment deposition during low-energy flows. This means that changes in flow magnitudes, frequencies, or durations can cause changes in a channel’s maximum capacity due to adjustments in river channel geometry. Therefore, future changes in river flow regimes and channel geometry may amplify or attenuate the frequency and magnitude of flood inundation in unexpected ways. The focus of this thesis is the development of a novel simulation model to investigate potential changes in the frequency and aerial extent of floodplain inundation due to systematic changes in peak flows and subsequent adjustments in channel geometry and capacity. The model was run using six hypothetical flow scenarios to explore how changes in the mean and variance of an annual peak flow series influences the frequency and magnitude of floodplain inundation. In order to qualitatively simulate the various mechanisms controlling channel adjustment across a continuum of different river environments, each scenario was run multiple times while gradually varying model parameters controlling the amount of permissible adjustment in channel geometry. Results suggest that systematic shifts in peak flows cannot be translated directly to changes in the frequency or magnitude of floodplain inundation due to the non-linear factors controlling the rate and trajectory of channel adjustment. Insights gained from these results demonstrate the need to account for potential changes in both peak flows and channel capacities in the prediction and mitigation of flood hazards

Philanthropy, Faith, and Influence: Documenting Protestant Missionary Activism during the Armenian Genocide

American Protestant missionaries played important political and cultural roles in the late Ottoman Empire in the period before, during, and after the Armenian genocide. They reported on events as they unfolded and were instrumental coordinating and executing relief efforts by Western governments and charities. The Burke Library’s Missionary Research Library, along with several other important collections at Columbia and other nearby research repositories, holds a uniquely rich and comprehensive body of primary and secondary source materials for understanding the genocide through the lens of the missionaries’ attempts to document and respond to the massacres

The density factor in the synthesis of carbon nanotube forest by injection chemical vapor deposition

Beneath the seeming straight-forwardness of growing carbon nanotube(CNT) forests by the injection chemical vapor deposition(CVD) method, control of the forest morphology on various substrates is yet to be achieved. Using ferrocene dissolved in xylene as the precursor, we demonstrate that the concentration of ferrocene and the injection rate of the precursor dictate the CNT density of these forests. However, CNT density will also be affected by the substrates and the growth temperature which determine the diffusion of the catalyst adatoms. The CNT growth rate is controlled by the temperature and chemical composition of the gases in the CVD reactor. We show that the final height of the forest is diffusion limited, at least in the conditions of our experiments. Because of the proximity and entanglement of the CNTs in a forest, the growing CNTs can lift-up the inactive CNTs resulting in reduced density toward the base of the forest unless the nucleation rate of the new catalyst particles is sufficiently high to replenish the inactive catalyst particles. Significant loss of CNT attachment by the lift-up effect reduces the adhesion of the forest to the substrate. Optimizing the ferrocene concentration in the precursor, precursor injection rate, gas mixture, substrate, and temperature is necessary to achieve desired forest morphology for specific applications

Conservatism and “copy-if-better” in chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

This work was funded by the project SOMICS, ERC-Synergy grant # 609819 to Josep Call.Social learning is predicted to evolve in socially living animals provided the learning process is not random but biased by certain socio-ecological factors. One bias of particular interest for the emergence of (cumulative) culture is the tendency to forgo personal behaviour in favour of relatively better variants observed in others, also known as the "copy-if-better" strategy. We investigated whether chimpanzees employ copy-if-better in a simple token-exchange paradigm controlling for individual and random social learning. After being trained on one token-type, subjects were confronted with a conspecific demonstrator who either received the same food reward as the subject (control condition) or a higher value food reward than the subject (test condition) for exchanging another token-type. In general, the chimpanzees persisted in exchanging the token-type they were trained on individually, indicating a form of conservatism consistent with previous studies. However, the chimpanzees were more inclined to copy the demonstrator in the test compared to the control condition, indicating a tendency to employ a copy-if-better strategy. We discuss our findings in light of their relevance to the emergence of cumulative culture.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Modulating the import of medium-chain alkanes in E. coli through tuned expression of FadL

BACKGROUND: In recent years, there have been intensive efforts to develop synthetic microbial platforms for the production, biosensing and bio-remediation of fossil fuel constituents such as alkanes. Building predictable engineered systems for these applications will require the ability to tightly control and modulate the rate of import of alkanes into the host cell. The native components responsible for the import of alkanes within these systems have yet to be elucidated. To shed further insights on this, we used the AlkBGT alkane monooxygenase complex from Pseudomonas putida GPo1 as a reporter system for assessing alkane import in Escherichia coli. Two native E. coli transporters, FadL and OmpW, were evaluated for octane import given their proven functionality in the uptake of fatty acids along with their structural similarity to the P. putida GPo1 alkane importer, AlkL. RESULTS: Octane import was removed with deletion of fadL, but was restored by complementation with a fadL-encoding plasmid. Furthermore, tuned overexpression of FadL increased the rate of alkane import by up to 4.5- fold. A FadL deletion strain displayed a small but significant degree of tolerance toward hexane and octane relative to the wild type, while the responsiveness of the well-known alkane biosensor, AlkS, toward octane and decane was strongly reduced by 2.7- and 2.9-fold, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We unequivocally show for the first time that FadL serves as the major route for medium-chain alkane import in E. coli. The experimental approaches used within this study, which include an enzyme-based reporter system and a fluorescent alkane biosensor for quantification and real-time monitoring of alkane import, could be employed as part of an engineering toolkit for optimizing biological systems that depend on the uptake of alkanes. Thus, the findings will be particularly useful for biological applications such as bioremediation and biomanufacturing

Cownose Ray (Rhinoptera Bonasus) Predation Relative To Bivalve Ontogeny

The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of the cownose ray, Rhinoptera bonasus (Mitchill, 1815), to manipulate oysters and clams, to test for relative prey preference, and to investigate whether susceptibility to cownose ray predation changes with bivalve ontogeny. We investigated patterns of predation for captive adult and young-of-year cownose rays on 4 species of bivalves, including Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791), Crassostrea ariakensis (Fujita, 1913), Mercenaria mercenaria (Linnaeus, 1758), and Mya arenaria Linnaeus, 1758. In oyster (C. virginica) trials, predation probabilities by adult rays were highest at shell heights of 30-70 mm and shell depths of 8-22 mm. The rates of predation by adult rays in trials in which same-size oysters were used were higher than rates in most comingled trials. Adult rays showed no differences in predation between native oysters (C. virginica) and nonnative oysters (C. ariakensis; P \u3e 0.05). Adult rays selected hard- and soft-shell clams (Manly-Chesson index M. mercenaria, alpha = 0.736 +/- 0.002, electivity = 0.473 +/- 0.007; M. arenaria, alpha = 0.742 +/- 0.003, electivity = 0.485 +/- 0.013) over oysters (C. virginica, alpha = 0.263 +/- 0.002, electivity = -0.473 +/- 0.007; alpha = 0.257 +/- 0.003, electivity = -0.485 +/- 0.003). In young-of-year feeding trials, oysters with a shell height of 10-35 mm and a shell depth of 3-12 mm had the highest probability of predation. Native oyster and hard clam peak force or load crush tests resulted in forces of 200-1,500 N and 400-1,400 N across shell depths of 10-35 mm and 21-34 mm, respectively, before valve failure. The results of this study indicate that cownose ray predation on shellfish is limited by shell size and is likely related to ray jaw gape and bite force

Age, Growth, and Reproductive Biology of Cownose Rays in Chesapeake Bay

The Cownose Ray Rhinoptera bonasus is an opportunistic predator of benthic invertebrates and has had a long history of negative interactions with commercial shellfish industries. Most recently, Cownose Rays have been implicated in negatively affecting the recovery of bay scallop Argopecten irradians stocks in North Carolina and oyster restoration and commercial aquaculture efforts in Chesapeake Bay. A mitigation attempt to decrease predation on shellfish has resulted in an unregulated fishery for Cownose Rays. Cownose Ray life history suggests that they are highly susceptible to overexploitation. We determined age, growth, and size at maturity for Cownose Rays collected in Chesapeake Bay. In total, 694 rays were used for the study: 246 males ranging in size from 30.0 to 98.0cm disc width (DW) and 448 females ranging from 30.0 to 110.5cm DW. The oldest individual observed was a female (107cm DW) estimated at age 21. Our data suggested that Cownose Rays grow considerably faster during the first few years than has been previously reported, thus producing higher estimates of the growth coefficient k. The best-fit growth models (three-parameter von Bertalanffy models) estimated k-values of 0.2741 for males and 0.1931 for females. The large sample size and inclusion of many older animals (n = 119 rays over age 10) resulted in theoretical maximum size estimates that matched the observed sizes well. The median size at 50% maturity was 85-86cm DW for males and females (corresponding to ages of approximate to 6-7 for males and approximate to 7-8 for females). Fecundity in Cownose Rays was typically one embryo per mature female, with a gestation period of 11-12 months. Our study confirms that the Cownose Ray is a K-selected species with late maturity, long gestation, and low reproductive potential, indicating that it could be highly susceptible to overexploitation