Chance in the Modern Synthesis

The modern synthesis in evolutionary biology is taken to be that period in which a consensus developed among biologists about the major causes of evolution, a consensus that informed research in evolutionary biology for at least a half century. As such, it is a particularly fruitful period to consider when reflecting on the meaning and role of chance in evolutionary explanation. Biologists of this period make reference to “chance” and loose cognates of “chance,” such as: “random,” “contingent,” “accidental,” “haphazard,” or “stochastic.” Of course, what an author might mean by “chance” in any specific context varies. In the following, we first offer a historiographical note on the synthesis. Second, we introduce five ways in which synthesis authors spoke about chance. We do not take these to be an exhaustive taxonomy of all possible ways in which chance meaningfully figures in explanations in evolutionary biology. These are simply five common uses of the term by biologists at this period. They will serve to organize our summary of the collected references to chance and the analysis and discussion of the following questions: • What did synthesis authors understand by chance? • How did these authors see chance operating in evolution? • Did their appeals to chance increase or decrease over time during the synthesis? That is, was there a “hardening” of the synthesis, as Gould claimed (1983)

Towards Sustainable Water Supply: Schematic Development of Big Data Collection Using Internet of Things (IoT)

Water supply systems in the United States connect raw water sources to hundreds of millions of water consumers through humongous infrastructure that include approximately one million miles of buried water mains and service connections and thousands of treatment facilities and appurtenances. This enormous set-up is currently operated by more than 170,000 public water systems. Sustainability of the water supply system faces several imminent challenges such as: 1) increasing water main breaks, 2) decreasing fresh water resources, 3) untraceable non-revenue water use, and 4) increasing water demands. However, current water supply management practices are not capable of providing fundamental solutions to the issues identified above. Big Data is a new technical concept to collect massive amounts of relevant data from sensors installed to monitor structural condition, usage, and system performance. This Big Data concept can be realized by deploying Internet of Things (IoT) technology throughout the water supply infrastructure and consumers’ usage. This paper presents a schematic development of IoT application for Big Data collection through a myriad of water clients. The scheme consists of downstream and upstream data collection using Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies connecting to IoT. Downstream data shall provide water usage and performance data to clients and upstream data is similar to traditional SCADA and Automated Meter Reading (AMR) systems. Ultimately, all data will be converged to build a Big Data collection system where data mining identifies 1) local and system performances including pressure and flow, 2) non-revenue and illegitimate water consumption, and 3) locations and quantity of water breaks and water losses. The goal of this development is to enable both utilities and consumers to proactively manage their water usage and achieve higher levels of sustainability in water supply

Forestiera acuminata (Michx.) Poir.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21061/thumbnail.jp

Forestiera acuminata (Michx.) Poir.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21061/thumbnail.jp

Self-monitoring Practices, Attitudes, and Needs of Individuals with Bipolar Disorder: Implications for the Design of Technologies to Manage Mental Health

Objective To understand self-monitoring strategies used independently of clinical treatment by individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), in order to recommend technology design principles to support mental health management. Materials and Methods Participants with BD (N = 552) were recruited through the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the International Bipolar Foundation, and WeSearchTogether.org to complete a survey of closed- and open-ended questions. In this study, we focus on descriptive results and qualitative analyses. Results Individuals reported primarily self-monitoring items related to their bipolar disorder (mood, sleep, finances, exercise, and social interactions), with an increasing trend towards the use of digital tracking methods observed. Most participants reported having positive experiences with technology-based tracking because it enables self-reflection and agency regarding health management and also enhances lines of communication with treatment teams. Reported challenges stem from poor usability or difficulty interpreting self-tracked data. Discussion Two major implications for technology-based self-monitoring emerged from our results. First, technologies can be designed to be more condition-oriented, intuitive, and proactive. Second, more automated forms of digital symptom tracking and intervention are desired, and our results suggest the feasibility of detecting and predicting emotional states from patterns of technology usage. However, we also uncovered tension points, namely that technology designed to support mental health can also be a disruptor. Conclusion This study provides increased understanding of self-monitoring practices, attitudes, and needs of individuals with bipolar disorder. This knowledge bears implications for clinical researchers and practitioners seeking insight into how individuals independently self-manage their condition as well as for researchers designing monitoring technologies to support mental health management

Sustainability evaluation of pipe asset management strategies

The consequences associated with pipe failures can be widespread impacting service, while potentially causing damage, affecting traffic, and contaminating water. Recently the visibility of pipe failures has increased with social media and 24-hour news coverage. In response, many utilities have adapted pipe asset management strategies to reduce failures. Also, many technologies have emerged that allow for a more proactive pipe asset management. As sustainability has become a focus for many organizations including utilities, the question becomes which pipe asset management strategy is most sustainable. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate three pipe asset management strategies for sustainability using Envision®. The strategies include: a reactive run-to-failure and then replace; a preemptive replacement prior to failure based on assumed condition; and a balanced approach of active condition assessment and action based on the known condition. Envision® will be used to evaluate each approach to determine its sustainability rating

Neural systems for auditory perception of lexical tones

Previous neuroimaging research on cognitive processing of speech tone has generated dramatically different patterns of findings. Even at the basic perception level, brain mapping studies of lexical tones have yielded inconsistent results. Apart from the data inconsistency problem, experimental materials in past studies of tone perception carried little or minimal lexical semantics, an important dimension that should not be dispensed with because speech tones serve to distinguish lexical meanings. The present study sought to examine the neural correlates of the perception of speech tone using lexically meaningful experimental stimuli. A simple lexical tone perception task was devised in which native Mandarin speakers were asked to judge whether or not the two syllables of an auditorily presented Chinese bisyllabic word had the same tone. We selected bisyllabic words as experimental stimuli because Chinese monosyllables often convey little or very vague meanings due to rampant homophony. We found that the left inferior frontal gyrus, the right middle temporal gyrus and bilateral superior temporal gyri are responsible for basic perception of linguistic pitches. Our interpretation of the data sees the left superior temporal gyrus as engaged in primary acoustic analysis of the auditory stimuli, while the right middle superior temporal gyrus and the left inferior frontal region are involved in both tonal and semantic processing of the language stimuli.postprin