The Formation of the Washington Intellectual Community, 1870-1898

These pages deal with the post-Civil War emergence in Washington of a self-conscious body of government-scientists and local intellectuals, men whose group identity was established by the network of clubs and societies which they founded and whose self-image was derived from an awareness of shared purposes. This community saw itself as fulfilling two inseparable functions: improving the quality of life at the seat of government by encouraging intellectual pursuits, and using its collective influence to promote national culture, particularly through public science. The interrelationship of these goals rested on the conviction that Washington was destined to become the cultural capitol of the nation. By the end of the nineteenth century, with its skeletal structure the Washington Academy of Sciences, this body stood fully formed. The circumstances of its birth and early growth comprise the story I have tried to tell

Student reactions to traumatic material in literature: Implications for trigger warnings

Introduction While trigger warnings have garnered significant debate, few studies have investigated how students typically respond to potentially triggering material. Method In this study, three hundred and fifty-five undergraduate students from four universities read a passage describing incidences of both physical and sexual assault. Longitudinal mea- sures of subjective distress, PTSD symptoms, and emotional reactivity were taken. Results Greater than 96% of participants read the triggering passage even when given a non-trig- gering alternative to read. Of those who read the triggering passage, those with triggering traumas did not report more distress although those with higher PTSD scores did. Two weeks later, those with trigger traumas and/or PTSD did not report an increase in trauma symptoms as a result of reading the triggering passage. Conclusions Students with relevant traumas do not avoid triggering material and the effects appear to be brief. Students with PTSD do not report an exacerbation of symptoms two weeks later as a function of reading the passage

Surveys of experiences of sexual violence and harassment in higher education: reports and findings

In April 2021, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, asked the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to conduct national surveys to track students\u27 and staff\u27s experiences of sexual violence and harassment. Working with an expert advisory group, the HEA Centre of Excellence for Equality Diversity and Inclusion ran surveys of staff and students in April 2021. 7,901 students and 3,516 staff answered the surveys (11,417 responses in total). The department will use the results of these surveys to make policy and funding decisions to tackle sexual violence and harassment in higher education institutions (HEIs)

Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Antioxidants as Immunomodulators in Exercise: Implications for Heme Oxygenase and Bilirubin

Exercise is commonly prescribed as a lifestyle treatment for chronic metabolic diseases as it functions as an insulin sensitizer, cardio-protectant, and essential lifestyle tool for effective weight maintenance. Exercise boosts the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and subsequent transient oxidative damage, which also upregulates counterbalancing endogenous antioxidants to protect from ROS-induced damage and inflammation. Exercise elevates heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and biliverdin reductase A (BVRA) expression as built-in protective mechanisms, which produce the most potent antioxidant, bilirubin. Together, these mitigate inflammation and adiposity. Moderately raising plasma bilirubin protects in two ways: (1) via its antioxidant capacity to reduce ROS and inflammation, and (2) its newly defined function as a hormone that activates the nuclear receptor transcription factor PPARα. It is now understood that increasing plasma bilirubin can also drive metabolic adaptions, which improve deleterious outcomes of weight gain and obesity, such as inflammation, type II diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The main objective of this review is to describe the function of bilirubin as an antioxidant and metabolic hormone and how the HO-1–BVRA–bilirubin–PPARα axis influences inflammation, metabolic function and interacts with exercise to improve outcomes of weight management

1-Benzyl-3-(2-furo­yl)thio­urea

In the title compound, C13H12N2O2S, the dihedral angle between the two aromatic ring planes is 87.52 (12)°. The mol­ecule shows an intra­molecular N—H⋯O hydrogen bond. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular N—H⋯S and C—H⋯O hydrogen bonding

Music notation: a new method for visualizing social interaction in animals and humans

BACKGROUND: Researchers have developed a variety of techniques for the visual presentation of quantitative data. These techniques can help to reveal trends and regularities that would be difficult to see if the data were left in raw form. Such techniques can be of great help in exploratory data analysis, making apparent the organization of data sets, developing new hypotheses, and in selecting effects to be tested by statistical analysis. Researchers studying social interaction in groups of animals and humans, however, have few tools to present their raw data visually, and it can be especially difficult to perceive patterns in these data. In this paper I introduce a new graphical method for the visual display of interaction records in human and animal groups, and I illustrate this method using data taken on chickens forming dominance hierarchies. RESULTS: This new method presents data in a way that can help researchers immediately to see patterns and connections in long, detailed records of interaction. I show a variety of ways in which this new technique can be used: (1) to explore trends in the formation of both group social structures and individual relationships; (2) to compare interaction records across groups of real animals and between real animals and computer-simulated animal interactions; (3) to search for and discover new types of small-scale interaction sequences; and (4) to examine how interaction patterns in larger groups might emerge from those in component subgroups. In addition, I discuss how this method can be modified and extended for visualizing a variety of different kinds of social interaction in both humans and animals. CONCLUSION: This method can help researchers develop new insights into the structure and organization of social interaction. Such insights can make it easier for researchers to explain behavioural processes, to select aspects of data for statistical analysis, to design further studies, and to formulate appropriate mathematical models and computer simulations

Detecting Instability in Animal Social Networks: Genetic Fragmentation Is Associated with Social Instability in Rhesus Macaques

The persistence of biological systems requires evolved mechanisms which promote stability. Cohesive primate social groups are one example of stable biological systems, which persist in spite of regular conflict. We suggest that genetic relatedness and its associated kinship structure are a potential source of stability in primate social groups as kinship structure is an important organizing principle in many animal societies. We investigated the effect of average genetic relatedness per matrilineal family on the stability of matrilineal grooming and agonistic interactions in 48 matrilines from seven captive groups of rhesus macaques. Matrilines with low average genetic relatedness show increased family-level instability such as: more sub-grouping in their matrilineal groom network, more frequent fighting with kin, and higher rates of wounding. Family-level instability in multiple matrilines within a group is further associated with group-level instability such as increased wounding. Stability appears to arise from the presence of clear matrilineal structure in the rhesus macaque group hierarchy, which is derived from cohesion among kin in their affiliative and agonistic interactions with each other. We conclude that genetic relatedness and kinship structure are an important source of group stability in animal societies, particularly when dominance and/or affilative interactions are typically governed by kinship

A longitudinal analysis of the risk factors for diabetes and coronary heart disease in the Framingham Offspring Study

BACKGROUND: The recent trends in sedentary life-styles and weight gain are likely to contribute to chronic conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The temporal sequence and pathways underlying these conditions can be modeled using the knowledge from the biomedical and social sciences. METHODS: The Framingham Offspring Study in the U.S. collected information on 5124 subjects at baseline, and 8, 12, 16, and 20 years after the baseline. Dynamic random effects models were estimated for the subjects' weight, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and blood pressure using 4 time observations. Logistic and probit models were estimated for the probability of diabetes and coronary heart disease (CHD) events. RESULTS: The subjects' age, physical activity, alcohol consumption, and cigarettes smoked were important predictors of the risk factors. Moreover, weight and height were found to differentially affect the probabilities of diabetes and CHD events; body weight was positively associated with the risk of diabetes while taller individuals had lower risk of CHD events. CONCLUSION: The results showed the importance of joint modeling of body weight, LDL and HDL cholesterol, and blood pressure that are risk factors for diabetes and CHD events. Lower body weight and LDL concentrations and higher HDL levels achieved via physical exercise are likely to reduce diabetes and CHD events

Life-Long Radar Tracking of Bumblebees

This work was supported by European Research Council Advanced Grant no. 339347