“Yes, but…” Yes, and…” - A Sympathetic Challenge (and Reframing) of Matusov’s “The Right for Freedom of Education.”

In this response to Matusov's "Right for Freedom in Education," I will offer two “yes, but…” concerns about crucial complexities of this freedom that I think Matusov leaves unaddressed, and a “yes, and…” alternative pragmatic justification of this freedom that differs from, but I think is more compelling than, Matusov’s

Bioassay Determination of Species Specific Phytoplankton Responses To The Herbicide Atrazine and Its Quantification in B. Everett Jordan Reservoir

Atrazine was quantified bi-weekly in samples from three locations in B. Everett Jordan Lake during March-July 1985 using gas chromatography. The presence in Segment 1 of atrazine and other previously identified Haw River constituents was verified by GC/MS. The highest concentrations were consistently found in Segment 1 (0.5-2.5 ug/L) and residue concentrations were generally higher in Segment 2 than Segment 3. Although atrazine concentrations declined rather rapidly following the field application runoff pulse in May, herbicide residue levels remained higher than those prior to that date. In vitro, natural population bioassays revealed species specific responses to atrazine. The population as a whole was severely inhibited at 50 ug/L atrazine. Results suggest low-dose (1 ug/L) growth stimulation for several members of the Cyanophyta. Several species of the Chlorophyta exhibited temporal growth lags at atrazine concentrations of 50 ug/L. However, maximum biomass was not severely depressed. Other species of green algae, Chlamydomonas in particular, exhibited resistance to the effects of atrazine at all doses. Competitive interactions between species affected individual responses to the toxicant. Species specific responses to atrazine levels commonly found in agricultural watersheds (0.25-10 ug/L) illustrate the potential of this important herbicide to alter the ecological basis of the food web.Master of Science in Public Healt

A Macroscope for Global History. Seshat Global History Databank: a methodological overview

This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Digital Humanities Quarterly following peer review. The final published version is available online at: http://www.digitalhumanities.org/dhq/vol/10/4/000272/000272.html This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 LicenseThis article introduces the ‘Seshat: Global History’ project, the methodology it is based upon and its potential as a tool for historians and other humanists. The article describes in detail how the Seshat methodology and platform can be used to tackle big questions that play out over long time scales whilst allowing users to drill down to the detail and place every single data point both in its historic and historiographical context. Seshat thus offers a platform underpinned by a rigorous methodology to actually do 'longue durée' history and the article argues for the need for humanists and social scientists to engage with data driven ‘longue durée' history. The article argues that Seshat offers a much needed infrastructure in which different skills sets and disciplines can come together to analyze the past using long timescales. In addition to highlighting the theoretical and methodological underpinnings, the potential of Seshat is demonstrated by showcasing three case studies. Each of these case studies is centred around a set of long standing questions and historiographical debates and it is argued that the introduction of a Seshat approach has the potential to radically alter our understanding of these questions.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Seshat: The Global History Databank

The vast amount of knowledge about past human societies has not been systematically organized and, therefore, remains inaccessible for empirically testing theories about cultural evolution and historical dynamics. For example, what evolutionary mechanisms were involved in the transition from the small-scale, uncentralized societies, in which humans lived 10,000 years ago, to the large-scale societies with an extensive division of labor, great differentials in wealth and power, and elaborate governance structures of today? Why do modern states sometimes fail to meet the basic needs of their populations? Why do economies decline, or fail to grow? In this article, we describe the structure and uses of a massive databank of historical and archaeological information, Seshat: The Global History Databank. The data that we are currently entering in Seshat will allow us and others to test theories explaining how modern societies evolved from ancestral ones, and why modern societies vary so much in their capacity to satisfy their members’ basic human needsPeer reviewedFinal Published versio

Sampling related individuals within ponds biases estimates of population structure in a pond‐breeding amphibian

Effective conservation and management of pond‐breeding amphibians depends on the accurate estimation of population structure, demographic parameters, and the influence of landscape features on breeding‐site connectivity. Population‐level studies of pond‐breeding amphibians typically sample larval life stages because they are easily captured and can be sampled nondestructively. These studies often identify high levels of relatedness between individuals from the same pond, which can be exacerbated by sampling the larval stage. Yet, the effect of these related individuals on population genetic studies using genomic data is not yet fully understood. Here, we assess the effect of within‐pond relatedness on population and landscape genetic analyses by focusing on the barred tiger salamanders (Ambystoma mavortium) from the Nebraska Sandhills. Utilizing genome‐wide SNPs generated using a double‐digest RADseq approach, we conducted standard population and landscape genetic analyses using datasets with and without siblings. We found that reduced sample sizes influenced parameter estimates more than the inclusion of siblings, but that withinpond relatedness led to the inference of spurious population structure when analyses depended on allele frequencies. Our landscape genetic analyses also supported different models across datasets depending on the spatial resolution analyzed. We recommend that future studies not only test for relatedness among larval samples but also remove siblings before conducting population or landscape genetic analyses. We also recommend alternative sampling strategies to reduce sampling siblings before sequencing takes place. Biases introduced by unknowingly including siblings can have significant implications for population and landscape genetic analyses, and in turn, for species conservation strategies and outcomes

Endemic invasive amoebiasis in northern Australia

In October 2000, a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy from the Darwin region of the Northern Territory was referred to hospital with a 24-hour history of abdominal pain, initially generalised, but then localising to the right iliac fossa. The pain was accompanied by occasional vomiting, but no fever or diarrhoea was noted. At laparotomy, a gangrenous, unruptured appendix was removed. Postoperatively, the patient made a good recovery. Neither he nor any family members had travelled outside the Northern Territory.Histological sections of the surgical specimen showed changes typical of acute suppurative appendicitis. Closer examination, however, revealed numerous round-to-oval structures resembling trophozoites (see Box). When the possibility of invasive amoebiasis was raised, staining of the section with Entamoeba histolytica-specific sera confirmed the diagnosis. E. histolytica serology was negative