From an axiological standpoint

I maintain that intrinsic value is the fundamental concept of axiology. Many contemporary philosophers disagree; they say the proper object of value theory is final value. I examine three accounts of the nature of final value: the first claims that final value is non‐instrumental value; the second claims that final value is the value a thing has as an end; the third claims that final value is ultimate or non‐derivative value. In each case, I argue that the concept of final value described is either identical with the classical notion of intrinsic value or is not a plausible candidate for the primary concept of axiology

Genome-wide Integrative Analysis of Zika-Virus-Infected Neuronal Stem Cells Reveals Roles for MicroRNAs in Cell Cycle and Stemness.

Zika virus (ZIKV) infection is implicated in severe fetal developmental disorders, including microcephaly. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) post-transcriptionally regulate numerous processes associated with viral infection and neurodegeneration, but their contribution to ZIKV pathogenesis is unclear. We analyzed the mRNA and miRNA transcriptomes of human neuronal stem cells (hNSCs) during infection with ZIKV MR766 and Paraiba strains. Integration of the miRNA and mRNA expression data into regulatory interaction networks showed that ZIKV infection resulted in miRNA-mediated repression of genes regulating the cell cycle, stem cell maintenance, and neurogenesis. Bioinformatics analysis of Argonaute-bound RNAs in ZIKV-infected hNSCs identified a number of miRNAs with predicted involvement in microcephaly, including miR-124-3p, which dysregulates NSC maintenance through repression of the transferrin receptor (TFRC). Consistent with this, ZIKV infection upregulated miR-124-3p and downregulated TFRC mRNA in ZIKV-infected hNSCs and mouse brain tissue. These data provide insights into the roles of miRNAs in ZIKV pathogenesis, particularly the microcephaly phenotype

Road Ditch Flowers of Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota

Goal: Participants will become lifelong learners and critical thinkers about culturally relevant traditional Native plants, both inside and outside of a school setting, while considering their roles as conservationists. Objectives: Participants will be able to identify Native plants or know where to access information to make identifications and find traditional uses through accessing the knowledge of tribal Elders, Internet sites, books, and visits to herbaria collections

A Historical Geography of Lake Kampeska in the City of Watertown, South Dakota

Many alterations in the hydrology of Lake Kampeska began with the arrival of masses of Anglo settlers in the 1870s. Why the lake has been altered is a complex issue linked to various natural physical processes which would have occurred even without the introduction of those settlers into the ecosystem. Those processes include weather, climate, sedimentation rates, lakebank erosion, chemical and mineral transport from soils, and flooding, among others. Besides those natural physical processes, mankind’s cultural processes have been at work. Disturbances in the lake’s hydrology are linked to land use changes associated with cultural values, such as the introduction of agriculture and the expansion of Watertown’s urban setting to include the nearby lake. Perceived water shortages, concerns about water quality, and the need for flood control have caused federal, state, county, and city officials, as well as concerned citizens, to search for answers. They are grappling with the ramifications of a slowly evolving ecosystems approach, collecting data to increase their base of knowledge about the complexities of the system, attempting to provide better management of the lake, and providing educational information to promote a sustainable ecosystem through appropriate change. In creating an historical geography, I analyze Lake Kampeska based on (1) its past land and water use history, including my lifetime of experiences at the lake, information obtained about the lake in oral history studies as Director of the Codington County Historical Society in 1975 and from 1982 through 1997, as well as the photographic record through time; (2) a look at a portion of the scientific knowledge base, relevant to lakes and rivers in general, searching for key concepts which could be used for education of the general public concerning this lake’s future; and (3) summaries of four major scientific reports concerning the lake in 1971, 1994, 2000, and 2002

Heavy Metals in Traditionally Used Fruits Among the Lakota

Heavy metals concentrations in soils and plants on and near Pine Ridge Reservation (PRR), SD, are a cause of concern to Oglala Lakota tribal government, particularly because of current and past uranium mining nearby, as well as familiarity with occasional selenium poisoning in livestock. In this study, concentrations of As, Ba, Pb, Se, and U were determined using ICP-OES for selected traditionally edible berries and small fruits, and the soils in which they grow. Results indicated that the heavy metals are likely of natural origin, and ingestion of these culturally important fruits at levels reported in interviews among the Lakota on nearby Rosebud Reservation generally do not exceed US CDC Minimal Risk Levels (MRLs) for chronic oral ingestion, with the possible exception of As in chokecherries and wild rosehips, and U in wild plum and wild rosehips. No US CDC MRL for Pb has been established, because they deem such a standard as inappropriate at the current state of knowledge, with which I agree. However, fruits were compared to the WHO/FAO Maximum Level (ML) permitted for berries and small fruit, with 8.5 per cent of fruit samples from PRR exceeding that standard. Results showed that fruits were generally lower in heavy metals than the soils in which they grew on PRR, with the exception of Se. Some detected concentrations of Se in fruits and other plant tissues at 9 of 15 sites indicated possible bioaccumulation. Wild rosehips on and near PRR were generally lower in heavy metals concentrations than in comparison samples from Brookings County, SD, where Pb concentrations were comparable or slightly higher, and one Se sample was unusually high. Concentrations of heavy metals in soils on PRR ranked substantially lower in As, Ba and Pb and much higher in Se and U compared to USGS arithmetic means and ranges for the conterminous United States established by Shacklette and Boerngen (1984). This study produced preliminary baseline concentrations for fruits and the soils in which they grow on and near PRR and for estimated oral exposure levels based on interviews from nearby Rosebud Reservation, against which other research may be compared

Higher accuracy protein Multiple Sequence Alignment by Stochastic Algorithm

Multiple Sequence Alignment gives insight into evolutionary, structural and functional relationships among the proteins. Here, a novel Protein Alignment by Stochastic Algorithm (PASA) is developed. Evolutionary operators of a genetic algorithm, namely, mutation and selection are utilized in combining the output of two most important sequence alignment programs and then developing an optimized new algorithm. Efficiency of protein alignments is evaluated in terms of Total Column score which is equal to the number of correctly aligned columns between a test alignment and the reference alignment divided by the total number of columns in the reference alignment. The PASA optimizer achieves, on an average, significant better alignment over the well known individual bioinformatics tools. This PASA is statistically the most accurate protein alignment method today. It can have potential applications in drug discovery processes in the biotechnology industry