Landscapes of human evolution : models and methods of tectonic geomorphology and the reconstruction of hominin landscapes

This paper examines the relationship between complex and tectonically active landscapes and patterns of human evolution. We show how active tectonics can produce dynamic landscapes with geomorphological and topographic features that may be critical to long-term patterns of hominin land use but that are not typically addressed in landscape reconstructions based on existing geological and paleoenvironmental principles. We describe methods of representing topography at a range of scales using measures of roughness based on digital elevation data, and combine the resulting maps with satellite imagery and ground observations to reconstruct features of the wider landscape as they existed at the time of hominin occupation and activity. We apply these methods to sites in South Africa, where relatively stable topography facilitates reconstruction, and demonstrate the presence of previously unrecognized tectonic effects and their implications for the interpretation of hominin habitats and land use. In parts of the East African Rift, reconstruction is more difficult because of dramatic changes since the time of hominin occupation, while fossils are often found in places where activity has now almost ceased. However, we show that original, dynamic landscape features can be assessed by analogy with parts of the Rift that are currently active and indicate how this approach can complement other sources of information to add new insights and pose new questions for future investigation of hominin land use and habitats

Vibrant and engaging online social learning: an innovative response to threatened part-time study in Higher Education

Austerity measures and increased tuition fees place heightened pressures on universities to provide sustainable, cost effective, high quality provision. This paper analyses how a team of staff in a School of Education at a UK University are leading collaborative work with partner colleges, to deliver a model that ameliorates the financial pressures, whilst developing high quality student-centred engagement for part-time students. When face-to-face teaching sessions were significantly reduced, an online academic social network for tutors and students was introduced to encourage collaboration, peer support and ‘coffee room’ discussion. Feedback from participants through focus groups and surveys confirmed a social support network as important for engagement and was perceived as supporting achievement, even by those who were reluctant to join the network. Recommendations include: more time face-to-face at the beginning of the course, more online tutor presence and scaffolded activities to build confidence in using an academic social network

Testing of a Human Powered Vehicle

The University of Akron’s Human Powered Vehicle Team designed a high performing, fully functioning vehicle that is safe, efficient, and practical for the 2018-2019 season. These objectives were the main priorities when it came to the initial stages of designing the vehicle. In addition, the vehicle was designed in accordance with the ASME 2019 Human Powered Vehicle Challenge guidelines to satisfy all the rules and requirements. Additional priorities have been created to teach practical engineering skills and techniques to the students participating in the project through different points in the production process including research, vehicle design, manufacturing, and testing. The majority of the work was completed at the University of Akron during the 2018-2019 academic year by undergraduate students from a variety of engineering disciplines. Sub-teams were created to focus on the different regions and systems of the vehicle, including but not limited to, the fairing, steering, suspension, communication, testing, and frame areas. These teams allowed members to take ownership of specific projects and gain in-depth knowledge surrounding their distinct task. Inspired by UA’s Formula Combustion Vehicle, the team is debuting its first monocoque chassis constructed from a carbon fiber/epoxy composite with an aramid honeycomb core. Harambe is a recumbent tadpole trike with all components direct mounted to hardpoints on the chassis. The vehicle will have a fully integrated RPS which will protect against the potential event of an accident or roll-over. Additionally, the vehicle includes a front wheel suspension system, bell crank steering that makes use of a centered steering wheel, contoured seats, and a Bluetooth communication system between the driver and the rest of the team

Landscapes and their relation to hominin habitats : case studies from Australopithecus sites in eastern and southern Africa

We examine the links between geomorphological processes, specific landscape features, surface water drainage, and the creation of suitable habitats for hominins. The existence of mosaic (i.e. heterogeneous) habitats within hominin site landscape reconstructions is typically explained using models of the riverine and gallery forest settings, or the pan or lake setting. We propose a different model: the Tectonic Landscape Model (TLM), where tectonic faulting and volcanism disrupts existing pan or river settings at small scales (~ 10–25 km). Our model encompasses the interpretation of the landscape features, the role of tectonics in creating these landscapes, and the implications for hominins. In particular, the model explains the underlying mechanism for the creation and maintenance of heterogeneous habitats in regions of active tectonics. We illustrate how areas with faulting and disturbed drainage patterns would have been attractive habitats for hominins, such as Australopithecus, and other fauna. Wetland areas are an important characteristic of surface water disturbance by fault activity; therefore we examine the tectonically-controlled Okavango Delta (Botswana) and the Nylsvley wetland (South Africa) as modern examples of how tectonics in a riverine setting significantly enhances the faunal and floral biodiversity. While tectonic landscapes may not have been the only type of attractive habitats to hominins, we propose a suite of landscape, faunal, and floral indicators, which when recovered together suggest that site environments may have been influenced by tectonic and/or volcanic activity while hominins were present. For the fossil sites, we interpret the faulting and landscapes around australopithecine-bearing sites of the Middle Awash (Ethiopia) and Makapansgat, Taung, and Sterkfontein (South Africa) to illustrate these relationships between landscape features and surface water bodies. Exploitation of tectonically active landscapes may explain why the paleoenvironmental signals, anatomy, diets, as well as the fauna associated with Australopithecus appear largely heterogeneous through time and space. This hypothesis is discussed in light of potential preservation and time-averaging effects which may affect patterns visible in the fossil record. The model, however, offers insight into the landscape processes of how such habitats are formed. The landscape features and range of habitat conditions, specifically the wetter, down-dropped plains and drier, uplifted flanks persist in close proximity for as long as the fault motion continues. The Tectonic Landscape Model provides an alternative explanation of why mixed habitats may be represented at certain sites over longer timescales

Access to Justice for All: Towards an \u27Expansive Vision\u27 of Justice and Technology

The Canadian dialogue regarding access to justice has taken an important turn in the last few years, more robustly conceptualizing what is to be accessed (“deliverables”) and who is intended to benefit (“beneficiaries”), as well as recognizing that access to justice initiatives that benefit some citizens or groups of citizens cannot be presumed to benefit all citizens. Recent initiatives shift focus away from particular kinds of deliverables (e.g. access to lawyers and courts) and/or particular groups of beneficiaries (e.g. the middle class) toward a more “expansive vision” of access to justice. The expansive vision not only integrates and prioritizes a variety of deliverables, but also explicitly recognizes that socioeconomic and other structural differences among citizens affect their respective abilities to benefit both from the justice system itself and from initiatives designed to improve access to justice. These developments hold important promise not just for responding to what has been called an access to justice “crisis” in Canada, but also for tailoring responses in ways that are mindful of the differing needs and situations of all citizens. In this paper, and in keeping with this expansive vision, we argue that this more robust approach to access to justice must also be brought to bear on the specific dialogue around access to justice and technology

Group S- ARLISS Project

Our project was the ARLISS competition project, more specifically the second part of the project where the vehicle must survive a drop and drive to a known location over rough desert terrain. We interviewed our professor, Dr. Potter, who had previous experience with the project to understand what was required in our design. The project started with creating concept ideas and deciding on one, which initially was an airplane to avoid designing a landing mechanism and having to drive over rough terrain. However, this design proved to have too many flaws and was scrapped. The new design was a small rover with a single motor and a oneway bearing with a parachute attached. Most of the parts in this design were 3D printed, save for the axle, parachute, battery, steel rod supports, and the oneway bearing. This design choice greatly reduced the overall weight of the design, giving us room to add extra components if necessary. Our initial prototype used PLA filament for the wheels and had the parachute in the center of the axle. This caused the parachute to not open up entirely when the rover was dropped. The battery also shifted during the drop, changing the center of gravity and making the rover fall on its wheel at an angle, causing the axle to be damaged. After these results, we redesigned the rover by focusing on the wheels, axle, the parachute, and brackets holding the battery. We designed the brackets to hold the battery at the rover’s center of gravity. Since we had extra weight to spare, we changed the axle from aluminum to steel to improve the strength of the rover. A second parachute attachment was added and the parachute attachments were moved to the ends of the axle to allow the parachute to open up more. The wheels were changed from PLA material to TPE to make the wheels more flexible and able to absorb more of the impact when the rover lands on the ground. When re-testing our final prototype, the rover was able to transverse over more rough terrain. The rover was also able to survive multiple drops without any significant damage and was able to operate after being dropped

The equilibrium between lead, lead iodide and iodine

The fact of the instability of lead iodide at moderately high temperatures is well known. This work was undertaken in order to discover, if possible, the degree of dissociation, its change with the temperature, and to collect any other important facts connected with the equilibrium

Structure and functional motifs of GCR1, the only plant protein with a GPCR fold?

Whether GPCRs exist in plants is a fundamental biological question. Interest in deorphanizing new G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), arises because of their importance in signaling. Within plants, this is controversial as genome analysis has identified 56 putative GPCRs, including GCR1 which is reportedly a remote homologue to class A, B and E GPCRs. Of these, GCR2, is not a GPCR; more recently it has been proposed that none are, not even GCR1. We have addressed this disparity between genome analysis and biological evidence through a structural bioinformatics study, involving fold recognition methods, from which only GCR1 emerges as a strong candidate. To further probe GCR1, we have developed a novel helix alignment method, which has been benchmarked against the the class A – class B - class F GPCR alignments. In addition, we have presented a mutually consistent set of alignments of GCR1 homologues to class A, class B and class F GPCRs, and shown that GCR1 is closer to class A and /or class B GPCRs than class A, class B or class F GPCRs are to each other. To further probe GCR1, we have aligned transmembrane helix 3 of GCR1 to each of the 6 GPCR classes. Variability comparisons provide additional evidence that GCR1 homologues have the GPCR fold. From the alignments and a GCR1 comparative model we have identified motifs that are common to GCR1, class A, B and E GPCRs. We discuss the possibilities that emerge from this controversial evidence that GCR1 has a GPCR fol

An Investigation into the Formation of Vaccine Opinions and Attitudes in College Students

This study sought to understand the commonality of vaccine misconceptions among college students and where individuals feel they are obtaining their vaccine information. An IRB approved survey was used to collect 126 responses from Oregon State University students. Individuals, on average, correctly answered only 54.10% of the statements based on various vaccine misconceptions, suggesting their commonality. It was also found that 65.87% ranked their support of vaccines and their parents perceived vaccine opinion as the exact same value on a one to six scale. This suggests the role perceived parental opinion may play in shaping an individuals’ opinion of vaccines. This data was used to suggest methods to help correct these misconceptions such as adding a vaccine literacy section to the HHS 231 required course for undergraduate Oregon State students. The goal of this research was to provide evidence of the commonality of vaccine misconceptions, demonstrate where individuals were gathering this information, and suggest methods to address vaccine hesitancy and the spread of misinformation