In the Vernacular: Photography of the Everyday

This is the catalogue of the exhibition "In the Vernacular" at Boston University Art Gallery

Analysis Of Sources Of Variation And Relationships Among Sow Productivity Traits

The swine industry has witnessed major changes in the past three decades in terms of selection tools and implementation of effective selection. As the pork industry continues to consolidate, it is increasingly important to be able to accurately predict and direct future performance toward increased overall profitability. Overall, sow productivity greatly affects a pork producer\u27s ability to be profitable in the industry and have sufficient knowledge of production levels to improve the likelihood of remaining profitable into the future. The relationships among sow productivity traits including total number born, litter birth weight, number weaned, preweaning survival, mean piglet birth weight, and litter weaning weight in purebred and crossbred litters and their relationships with growth performance and composition were evaluated. The initial study found that relationships among many commonly measured sow productivity traits have changed dramatically since the 1980\u27s and selection for certain traits have been more effective than others. The second study found that variation in birth and weaning weights in swine had a large positive effect on the days to market but litter effect on loin muscle area or backfat depth. Sow productivity traits such as litter, birth, and weaning weights have increased drastically in the past whereas threshold traits like survival percentage have not greatly changed in the same time period. Many of the relationships observed in sow productivity were examined by their relationship between number of pigs the sow is allowed to nurse as well as the parity of the dam. These data suggest that genetic superiority for milk production potential may be expressed when the sows are subjected to litter sizes that are larger than average. As number of pigs born alive increases, the percentage of piglets that are light weight increases, competition for food resources increases, and the likelihood of a pig being weaned decreases. Maximum litter weight and number weaned were observed when sows were allowed to nurse 12 to 14 piglets. Above these levels of number of pigs nursed there was no increase in number of piglets weaned or litter weaning weight. Number weaned increased as number after transfer (NAT) increased in a linear fashion up to NAT equal to 10. After 10, there was a curvilinear relationship between number weaned and NAT until number weaned reached a maximum value at NAT equal to 12 to 13. In current studies, increasing litter size did not significantly increase the amount of variation in the piglet birth weights; nor did increasing the number of piglets allowed to nurse increase the variation in piglet weaning weights

The Effect of Capture Method on Microbial Abundance in Plumage of Eastern Yellow Robins (Eopsaltria australis)

Bird plumage is an ecosystem of microfauna that live in symbiosis with the avian host. Since most of these microbes are soil-dwelling Bacilli, it is assumed that birds with more soil contact will have higher microbial loads. While pursuing avian microbiology research in Victoria, Australia, we questioned if capture method influenced microbial loads and therefore skewed our data. We expected microbial abundance on birds captured with mist nets, a device used to catch birds in flight, will have lower abundance than those captured with snap traps, a tool which restrains the bird in the soil. We compared the abundance of Bacillus spp. on Eastern Yellow Robins (Eopsaltria australis) captured in both trap types. After statistical analyses, the data was found to significant overall (p = 0.004), but when comparing data from specific parts of the bird, capture method was only a significant factor on the back (p = 0.039; p = 0.055 and 0.125 on tail and venter, respectively). We assume that our methodologies have created a detection limit in our data, leaving our results inclusive to whether or not method of capture is a factor in microbial abundance

Empathy and Practical Deliberation

This thesis falls in the long discussion in philosophy and psychology on the study of empathy. The aim of the thesis is to advance our understanding of the complicated relationship between empathy and the moral life. Discussion of empathy appears within numerous contexts, such as pop culture and media, political views, clinical psychology, studies on psychopathy, moral development, bioethics and more. In most of those contexts, empathy is commonly linked to the ability to gain an understanding of other people’s minds. In discussions of the moral life, empathy is usually associated with motivation for prosocial moral behavior and the development of moral judgment. The problem is that the term ‘empathy’ is being used to refer to different psychological components or mental states, which makes it difficult to keep track of which components or states are being referred to. Thus, I propose a new concept of empathy, empathy as a skill, which characterizes empathy as a complex process consisting of a specific skill set that allows one to acquire a firsthand grasp of another person’s mental state in a given situation. I explain that the skills required for empathy are self-oriented perspective-shifting and otheroriented affective matching. Although conceptualizing empathy is important, the major goal of this thesis is to propose a novel role for empathy that focuses on the practical application of empathy. Thus, I argue that empathy is a skill set, not an affective response, which allows rational agents to acquire information needed for practical deliberation in certain situations, primarily those involving advice-giving on final ends or ultimate goals