Darwinism and Organizational Ecology: A Reply to Reydon and Scholz

In an earlier article published in this journal I challenge Reydon and Scholz's (2009) claim that Organizational Ecology is a non-Darwinian program. In this replay to Reydon and Scholz's subsequent response, I clarify the difference between our two approaches denoted by an emphasis her on the careful application of core Darwinian principles and an insistence by Reydon and Scholz on direct biological analogies. On a substantive issue, they identify as being the principle problem for Organizational Ecology, namely, the inability to identify replicators and interactors "of the right sort" in the business domain; this is also shown to be easily addressed with reference to empirical studies of business populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

SHORT TERM MICROBIAL COLONIZATION OF REPTILE ROADKILL

Little is known about how microbes such as bacteria and fungi in the environment tempo­rally colonize common roadkill reptile carcasses (turtles and snakes). We opportunistically collected and deployed a variety of reptile carcasses often found deceased near roads, including an Eastern Ratsnake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), an Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina), and a Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina). We sampled bacteria communities of these carcasses daily for five con­secutive days. We enumerated the number of colony-forming units (CFUs) and characterized microbial distinct colonies using morphology and identification of dominant colonies using 16S rRNA sequencing across carcasses. Several ecologically relevant bacterial phyla were successfully identified colonizing and dominating carcasses differentially, including members of Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, and Proteo­bacteria. We observed higher bacterial colonization (CFUs) for both terrestrial and aquatic turtles, T. carolina and C. serpentina, compared to P. alleghaniensis. This study provides baseline data on the temporal microbiology of deceased reptiles found on roads in the piedmont of North Carolina

Ultrasonic ranking of toughness of tungsten carbide

The feasibility of using ultrasonic attenuation measurements to rank tungsten carbide alloys according to their fracture toughness was demonstrated. Six samples of cobalt-cemented tungsten carbide (WC-Co) were examined. These varied in cobalt content from approximately 2 to 16 weight percent. The toughness generally increased with increasing cobalt content. Toughness was first determined by the Palmqvist and short rod fracture toughness tests. Subsequently, ultrasonic attenuation measurements were correlated with both these mechanical test methods. It is shown that there is a strong increase in ultrasonic attenuation corresponding to increased toughness of the WC-Co alloys. A correlation between attenuation and toughness exists for a wide range of ultrasonic frequencies. However, the best correlation for the WC-Co alloys occurs when the attenuation coefficient measured in the vicinity of 100 megahertz is compared with toughness as determined by the Palmqvist technique

Three-dimensional Wings of Maximum Lift-to- Drag Ratio in Hypersonic Flow

Optimizing lift-to-drag ratio of slender, flat-top wing of given planform in hypersonic flow by using variational calculus method

Comparison of glistenings formation and their effect on forward light scatter between the Acrysof SN60WF and Eternity Natural Uni NW-60 intraocular lenses

Aims: To compare the characteristics of glistenings and forward light scatter between the Alcon Acrysof SN60WF and Santen Eternity Natural Uni NW-60 intraocular lenses (IOLs). Methods: Five Acrysof SN60WF and five Eternity Natural Uni NW-60 IOLs were studied. All IOLs were single piece blue blockers with the same dioptric power (20D) and optic diameter (6.0 mm). Glistenings were induced by a thermal accelerated ageing process. Glistenings were objectively quantified using bespoke image processing software. The angular distribution of forward light scatter was measured using an optical bench system and the straylight parameter calculated from the light scatter function. Results: The median increase in the number of glistenings was 15 and 525 for the Eternity and Acrysof IOLs, respectively, which was statistically significantly different (p=0.012). Median glistenings diameter was 23.8 μm (Acrysof) and 32.8 μm (Eternity). Four (80%) of the Acrysof lenses had straylight values higher than a 20-year-old CIE standard glare observer and in two cases the straylight exceeded that of the 70-year-old CIE standard glare observer. None of the Eternity lenses had straylight values that exceeded the value for the 20-year-old CIE standard glare observer. Conclusions: The Eternity Natural Uni NW-60 IOLs resisted the induction of glistenings more than the Acrysof SN60WF IOLs. Although the Acrysof IOLs developed smaller glistenings than the Eternity IOLs, there were sufficient numbers to produce a higher straylight parameter

Three-dimensional, lifting wings of minimum drag in hypersonic flow

Three-dimensional lifting wings of minimum drag in hypersonic flo

Multi-user Internet environment for gear design optimization

A Web based multi-user system has been developed to remotely execute a large size software package via the Internet. The software implements genetic algorithm to optimize the design of spur and helical gears. To accomplish this, a combination of HTML, JavaServlets, JavaApplets, JavaScript and HTTP protocol has been employed

Macroscopic Phase Coherence of Defective Vortex Lattices in Two Dimensions

The superfluid density is calculated theoretically for incompressible vortex lattices in two dimensions that have isolated dislocations quenched in by a random arrangement of pinned vortices. The latter are assumed to be sparse and to be fixed to material defects. It is shown that the pinned vortices act to confine a single dislocation of the vortex lattice along its glide plane. Plastic creep of the two-dimensional vortex lattice is thereby impeded, and macroscopic phase coherence results at low temperature in the limit of a dilute concentration of quenched-in dislocations.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, new title, submitted to Physical Review