Servant Attitude

This is a message by Reverend Stuart Briscoe, pastor of the Elmbrook Church, Waukesha, Wisconsin, formerly with the torch bearers. The title of this message is The Servant Attitude. Speaker 2

Alienation, Modernization, and Animal Welfare: Human-Animal Relationships at the Farm, State, and Country Levels

Our relationships with animals are important for us as humans, for the environment, and for the animals themselves. In this dissertation I look at the relationships between humans and animals at three scales: farm, U.S. state, and country. Specifically, I address how factors like economic growth, technological innovation, and globalization affect human relationships with animals. Understanding how these factors influence human-animal relationships is important for improving these relationships and deciding which directions will most contribute to sustainable outcomes. I address the social factors that influence human-animal relationships in three studies. In the first study I surveyed and interviewed dairy farmers in Washington. I asked them how farm size and the technologies and practices they used on their farm influenced their relationship with their work and with their cows. I then analyzed how these relationships influenced their overall life satisfaction. Farmers reported that farm size made it difficult to stay connected with their cows but that new technologies helped farmers connect in new ways with their cows while avoiding conventional negative interactions. Both relationships with work and cows were related to life satisfaction, which is important for farmers, who as a population face high levels of stress. In the second study I used data from government sources and the Humane Society of the United States to assess how economic growth influenced farm animal protection in the United States. The results of my analyses suggest that economic growth may have a positive effect on farm animal protection. This is encouraging news for policymakers hoping for win-win scenarios to improve animal welfare – though more research on direct animal welfare is needed. Lastly, in the third study I used data from Voiceless: The Animal Protection Institute and the World Bank to see how economic growth influenced farm animal cruelty on a global scale. The results suggest that economic growth reduces some types of farm animal cruelty but increases others. Trade with high-income countries may have a spillover effect with lower-income countries that reduces farm animal cruelty in those countries

A two-step method for identifying photopigment opsin and rhodopsin gene sequences underlying human color vision phenotypes.

PurposeTo present a detailed, reliable long range-PCR and sequencing (LR-PCR-Seq) procedure to identify human opsin gene sequences for variations in the long wavelength-sensitive (OPN1LW), medium wavelength-sensitive (OPN1MW), short wavelength-sensitive (OPN1SW), and rhodopsin (RHO) genes.MethodsColor vision was assessed for nine subjects using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 hue test, Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates, and the Rabin cone-contrast threshold procedure (ColorDX, Konan Medical). The color vision phenotypes were normal trichromacy (n = 3), potential tetrachromacy (n = 3), dichromacy (n = 2), and unexplained low color vision (n = 1). DNA was isolated from blood or saliva and LR-PCR amplified into individual products: OPN1LW (4,045 bp), OPN1MW (4,045 bp), OPN1SW (3,326 bp), and RHO (6,715 bp). Each product was sequenced using specific internal primer sets. Analysis was performed with Mutation Surveyor software.ResultsThe LR-PCR-Seq technique identified known single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in OPN1LW and OPN1MW gene codons (180, 230, 233, 277, and 285), as well as those for lesser studied codons (174, 178, 236, 274, 279, 298 and 309) in the OPN1LW and OPN1MW genes. Additionally, six SNP variants in the OPN1MW and OPN1LW genes not previously reported in the NCBI dbSNP database were identified. An unreported poly-T region within intron 5(c.36+126) of the rhodopsin gene was also found, and analysis showed it to be highly conserved in mammalian species.ConclusionsThis LR-PCR-Seq procedure (single PCR reaction per gene followed by sequencing) can identify exonic and intronic SNP variants in OPN1LW, OPN1MW, OPN1SW, and rhodopsin genes. There is no need for restriction enzyme digestion or multiple PCR steps that can introduce errors. Future studies will combine the LR-PCR-Seq with perceptual behavior measures, allowing for accurate correlations between opsin genotypes, retinal photopigment phenotypes, and color perception behaviors

Results from the Analysis of Crystal Ball Meson Production Measurements at BNL

The Crystal Ball spectrometer, with its nearly complete angular coverage, is an efficient detector of photon and neutron final states. While installed in the C6 beamline of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), this feature was used in a series of precise measurements of reactions with all-neutral final states. Here we concentrate on the analysis of data from the pion-induced reactions: pi- p --> gamma n, pi- p --> pi0 n, pi- p --> eta n, and pi- p --> pi0 pi0 n.Comment: Conference contribution to MESON 2006 - Krakow, Pola

Proactive and reactive control mechanisms in navigational search

Reactive and proactive cognitive control are fundamental for guiding complex human behaviour. In two experiments, we evaluated the role of both types of cognitive control in navigational search. Participants searched for a single hidden target in a floor array where the salience at the search locations varied (flashing or static lights). An a-priori rule of the probable location of the target (either under a static or a flashing light) was provided at the start of each experiment. Both experiments demonstrated a bias towards rule-adherent locations. Search errors, measured as revisits, were more likely to occur under the flashing rule for searching flashing locations, regardless of the salience of target location in Experiment 1 and at rule-congruent (flashing) locations in Experiment 2. Consistent with dual mechanisms of control, rule-adherent search was explained by engaging proactive control to guide goal-maintained search behaviour and by engaging reactive control to avoid revisits to salient (flashing) locations. Experiment 2 provided direct evidence for dual mechanisms of control using a Dot Pattern Expectancy task to distinguish the dominant control mode for a participant. Participants with a reactive control mode generated more revisits to salient (flashing) locations. These data point to complementary roles for proactive and reactive control in guiding navigational search and propose a novel framework for interpreting navigational search

Using Remote Infrared Sensors to Detect Changes in Moisture Conditions on Natural Watersheds

Foreword: This report summarizes the results of laboratory measurements of the infrared reflectance of selected living plants typical of the natural watersheds in northern Utah. Data indicate that the IR reflectance decreases as the moisture content of the soil decreases and the moisture tension in the soil increases. Additional data will be collected in the field to confirm the results and to further tests the feasibility of using IR reflectance of vegetation as an indicator of soil moisture conditions on the watershed. Mr. Briscoe, Research Physicist, has been responsible for the gathering of laboratory data and has written the manuscript for this report. Introduction: The continuing world-wide population explosion is placing an ever-increasing demand on present usable water supplies, and water shortages are becoming more severe. While scientists and engineers are working to produce additional fresh water by weather control or desalination, much can be done to alleviate water shortages by better management of our watershed areas. In order to make optimum use of our watersheds, we must develop improved methods of determining the water conditions within them. An important contribution toward improved watershed management would be made if some method could be devised which would facilitate data aquisition of watershed parameters. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the feasibility of measuring these parameters by remote reconnaissance methods. The remote sensing technique has been applied, to some extent, in the science of hydrology. Although some of the measurements taken have indicated that various hydrological factors influence the data received, comprehensive results are not available relating to quantitative measurements of water conditions. The procedure followed in this study was to conduct a literature survey of data available at all regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and then to perform laboratory spectral measurements on certain areas which showed promise

Resistance to Digitisation: Curated Memory Cards Artefact

date-added: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000 date-modified: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000date-added: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000 date-modified: 2015-03-24 04:16:59 +0000The act of networking in any context has some element of ceremonial performance attached to it. In an analogue world these performances have historically included the act of exchanging business cards. This ‘ceremony of networking’ has the potential to be altered by the emergence of new media, especially digital technology, displacing the old ceremony of business card exchanges and disrupting what can traditional be seen as networking. The history of business cards have shown that, despite several digital alternatives, they are still resistant to digitisation and so predominantly still physical and tangible. So, we sought to explore the ceremony around giving business cards as the sharing of ‘curated memory’, to better understand how and why we share and co-create curated memories with others. Including the sharing curated memories more generally, and the changing nature of networking, arising from the ever-increasing connectivity and digital embeddedness associated with the information age. Therefore, exploring the ceremony around needing, creating, sharing and using business cards, within different contexts and cultures. Also, identifying the tasks that people are trying to perform and optimise at different stages (before, during, and after) in a range of scenarios. Also, to explore how the ceremonies of networking might be significantly altered as a result of digital media and tools. The approach of using sets of cards around Who, How, Why and Where emerged from the need for a tool that could build narratives around the considerable diversity of the disjointed scenarios of networking we observed. So, the cards provide a reference by which to share general understanding in an entertaining and easily accessible manner. Second, provides a tool to summarise narratives from the scenarios we observed, and that we could then use to create new scenarios to explore insights such as post-meeting curation of ‘shared memories’ when networking. Third, define a number of ‘games’ to help anyone explore how to better understand and utilise aspects of networking in their current approaches, and challenge them to develop new approaches. Therefore, generating debate and self-reflection on the ways players use business cards themselves

Physics Opportunities with Meson Beams

Over the past two decades, meson photo- and electro-production data of unprecedented quality and quantity have been measured at electromagnetic facilities worldwide. By contrast, the meson-beam data for the same hadronic final states are mostly outdated and largely of poor quality, or even nonexistent, and thus provide inadequate input to help interpret, analyze, and exploit the full potential of the new electromagnetic data. To reap the full benefit of the high-precision electromagnetic data, new high-statistics data from measurements with meson beams, with good angle and energy coverage for a wide range of reactions, are critically needed to advance our knowledge in baryon and meson spectroscopy and other related areas of hadron physics. To address this situation, a state of-the-art meson-beam facility needs to be constructed. The present paper summarizes unresolved issues in hadron physics and outlines the vast opportunities and advances that only become possible with such a facility.Comment: 46 pages, 10 figures, 4 table

Ultraviolet and yellow reflectance but not fluorescence is important for visual discrimination of conspecifics by Heliconius erato

Toxic Heliconius butterflies have yellow hindwing bars that – unlike those of their closest relatives – reflect ultraviolet (UV) and long wavelength light, and also fluoresce. The pigment in the yellow scales is 3-hydroxy-DL-kynurenine (3-OHK), which is found in the hair and scales of a variety of animals. In other butterflies like pierids with color schemes characterized by independent sources of variation in UV and human-visible yellow/orange, behavioral experiments have generally implicated the UV component as most relevant to mate choice. This has not been addressed in Heliconius butterflies, where variation exists in analogous color components, but moreover where fluorescence due to 3-OHK could also contribute to yellow wing coloration. In addition, the potential cost due to predator visibility is largely unknown for the analogous well-studied pierid butterfly species. In field studies with butterfly paper models, we show that both UV and 3-OHK yellow act as signals for H. erato when compared with models lacking UV or resembling ancestral Eueides yellow, respectively, but attack rates by birds do not differ significantly between the models. Furthermore, measurement of the quantum yield and reflectance spectra of 3-OHK indicates that fluorescence does not contribute to the visual signal under broad-spectrum illumination. Our results suggest that the use of 3-OHK pigmentation instead of ancestral yellow was driven by sexual selection rather than predation