Welcome to Parks Stewardship Forum: An Introduction to the Journal from the Editors

An overview of Parks Stewardship Forum from the managing editors, published in the inaugural issue of the journal, whose theme is "Climate Change and Protected Places: Adapting to New Realities.

Asynchronous Variational Contact Mechanics

An asynchronous, variational method for simulating elastica in complex contact and impact scenarios is developed. Asynchronous Variational Integrators (AVIs) are extended to handle contact forces by associating different time steps to forces instead of to spatial elements. By discretizing a barrier potential by an infinite sum of nested quadratic potentials, these extended AVIs are used to resolve contact while obeying momentum- and energy-conservation laws. A series of two- and three-dimensional examples illustrate the robustness and good energy behavior of the method

Effects of Bupropion (Wellbutrin) on Suicidal behavior, Risk Taking behavior, and Mood

DAVID HARMON The Effects of Bupropion on Suicidal behavior and Risk-taking behavior on a rodent model of Depression Research Mentor: Logan Fields This study analyzed the effects that the well known antidepressant Wellbutrin (Bupropion) has on risk taking behavior, suicidal behavior, social behavior, and motivation. Despite Bupropion’s ability to improve motivation it has been associated with numerous suicides. There have been reports that state that Bupropion is the worst antidepressant for treating suicidal behaviors and may even play a part in increasing suicidal tendencies among users. This research question will be tested in a sample of 32 Sprague-Dawley rats. 16 of the rats will be male and the other 16 will be female. There will be 4 conditions. The depression group will receive a dose of tetrabenazine which will model depressive symptoms within the rats. The depression + antidepressant group will receive tetrabenazine and Bupropion. The antidepressant group will only be given Bupropion. There will also be a control group. Risk taking behavior will be assessed through a gambling operant chamber test. Suicidality will be measured through the Social Interaction task, and motivation will be measured through the splash test. I expect that the depression + antidepressant group will exhibit increased suicidal behavior, motivation and risk-taking behavior compared to all other conditions. These results would show that bupropion is a dangerous drug to use to treat depression

The Temporal Conatus and the Problem of Motion from Eternity

Spinoza’s theory of persistence is articulated through the conatus (EIp7) and the ratio of motion and rest (EIIp13). Section I explores Spinoza’s usage of “motion,” and illustrates that the conatus is essentially temporal. From this claim and Spinoza’s conception of eternity, the problem arises. I explain this as a contradiction between Natura naturata and Natura naturans. Section II features an evaluation of the potential acosmist solution and reveals how it contradicts other Spinozistic commitments. I construct an alternative solution in Section III. Temporal passage is not an adequate idea for Spinoza. However, Spinoza considers duration to be a feature of reality that can be explicated without temporal passage. Similar reasoning can also be applied to motion. Interpreted in this way, temporal passage is ideal while motion is real. This solves the problem of motion from eternity without entailing the problems present in the acosmist interpretation

Is distinct location evidence of distinct objects? Multilocation and the problem of parsimony

For an object to be multilocated is for it to wholly occupy disjoint spatial regions simultaneously. If multilocation is possible, it is possible that a multilocated particle is wholly located at 1080 distinct locations, such that it constitutes a particle-for-particle duplicate of the actual universe. Such a universe would presumably be perceptually identical to the actual universe. If we take multilocation as possible, we are thus presented with two accounts between which our perceptual evidence cannot adjudicate: one wherein the universe is constituted by many particles and another wherein it is constituted by one radically multilocated particle. Parsimony concerns dictate that the latter is the more rational to accept. Since this is absurd, we should reject that multilocation is possible. Mooney responds to the problem by arguing that distinct location is evidence of non-identity, even if acceptance of the possibility of multilocation entails that this evidence is not decisive. If this is right, then the evidence favors a theory featuring many particles. In this paper, I contend that our commitment to taking distinct location as evidence of nonidentity is motivated by a more fundamental intuition that does not apply in the relevant context.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Experimental Tests of Survey Responses to Expenditure Questions

This paper tests for a number of survey effects in the elicitation of expenditure items. In particular we examine the extent to which individuals use features of the expenditure question to construct their answers. We test whether respondents interpret question wording as researchers intend and examine the extent to which prompts, clarifications and seemingly arbitrary features of survey design influence expenditure reports. We find that over one quarter of respondents have difficulty distinguishing between "you" and “your household” when making expenditure reports; that respondents report higher pro-rata expenditure when asked to give responses on a weekly as opposed to monthly or annual time scale; that respondents give higher estimates when using a scale with a higher mid-point; and that respondents report higher aggregated expenditure when categories are presented in a disaggregated form. In summary, expenditure reports are constructed using convenient rules of thumb and available information, which will depend on the characteristics of the respondent, the expenditure domain and features of the survey question. It is crucial to further account for these features in ongoing surveys.expenditure surveys, survey design, data experiments