A PLACE AMONG THE STARS? THE INFLUENCE OF RELIGION AND CREATIONISM ON ATTITUDES TOWARDS SPACE EXPLORATION AND BELIEFS IN EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE

Space exploration continues to expand humanity’s understanding of the universe. And, while Americans have widely favorable attitudes towards efforts to explore outer space, certain religious beliefs appear to be associated with more negative attitudes towards space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. The current study explored the role of religion and creationism on attitudes towards space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life. Priming techniques were used to test whether increasing the accessibility of religious and creationist concepts led to more negative attitudes towards space exploration and beliefs about extraterrestrial life. Participants (N = 230) encountered an explicit prime of religion, creationism, or a control prior to completing a word fragment task and measures of attitudes towards space exploration and beliefs about extraterrestrial life. The results of Bayesian estimation and hypothesis testing did not support the prediction. However, exploratory analyses indicated very strong evidence of atheists having more positive attitudes towards space exploration and beliefs about extraterrestrial life than theists. These findings suggest that while priming religion and creationism did not appear to influence reported attitudes, attitudes towards space exploration and the search for extraterrestrial life may differ based on belief in god

Myrica pubescens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21501/thumbnail.jp

Myrica pubescens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/21501/thumbnail.jp

Lantana L.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/18912/thumbnail.jp

Aegiphila saltensis Legname

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/18924/thumbnail.jp

Aloysia Juss.

https://thekeep.eiu.edu/herbarium_specimens_byname/18935/thumbnail.jp

From Geophysics to Microgeophysics for Engineering and Cultural Heritage

The methodologies of microgeophysics have been derived from the geophysical ones, for the sake of solving specific diagnostic and/or monitoring problems regarding civil engineering and cultural heritage studies. Generally, the investigations are carried out using different 2D and 3D tomographic approaches as well as different energy sources: sonic and ultrasonic waves, electromagnetic (inductive and impulsive) sources, electric potential fields, and infrared emission. Many efforts have been made to modify instruments and procedures in order to improve the resolution of the surveys as well as to significantly reduce the time of the measurements without any loss of information. This last point has been achieved by using multichannel systems. Finally, some applications are presented, and the results seem to be very promising and promote this new branch of geophysics. Therefore, these methodologies can be used even more to diagnose, monitor, and safeguard not only engineering buildings and/or large structures, but also ancient monuments and cultural artifacts, such as pottery, statues, and so forth

Effects of an intravaginal GnRH analogue administration on rabbit reproductive parameters and welfare

Abstract On commercial farms, rabbit does are subjected to a reproductive rhythm that does not account for their welfare or physiology, leading to reduced longevity and consequently high annual replacement. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recommends limited and infrequent use of hormone treatments, and suggests replacement with alternative methods that do not threaten animal welfare when possible. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether the GnRH analogue lecirelin acetate could be administered by inclusion in the seminal dose during insemination. Twenty 9-month-old does (Grigio del Monferrato, autochthonous Italian breed),each having two previous deliveries, were individually housed and divided into two groups at artificial insemination. The control group received 0.2 mL of intramuscular lecirelin (Dalmarelin, Fatro®, Italy) prior to insemination. The intravaginal group was inseminated with a seminal dose that included 0.3 mL Dalmarelin. The experiment was performed for six consecutive reproductive cycles at 42-day intervals, and included a total of 120 inseminations. Prior to each insemination, the heterospermic pooled semen samples were assessed for sperm motility and morphology. Each ejaculate was divided into two samples, with and without lecirelin addition. Compared to the control group, the does with intravaginal Dalmarelin administration showed equal or greater sexual receptivity, which resulted in a higher fertility rate over increasing cycles. The seminal dose volume was very low, possibly explaining the better results in the intravaginal group, which received a similar amount of hormone (0.3 mL/doe) as the control group (0.2 mL/doe). The negative performance of the control group may have also been due to anti-GnRH formation, and the more stressful method of ovulation induction. The number of live-born kits did not significantly differ between groups. Progressive motility was significantly positively correlated with motility characteristics, including VAP, VSL, ALH, BCF, STR, and LIN. Overall, our present findings supported that the incorporation of GnRH in a seminal dose could be used for ovulation induction in rabbit does. Further studies should identify the optimal dose of GnRH for intravaginal administration, taking into account that the intravaginal absorption capacity is about 10 times smaller than the intramuscular absorption capacity

Evaluation of carcass and meat traits of Muscovy duck fed with black soldier fly partially defatted meal

The aim of this study was to evaluate the carcass characteristics and breast meat quality in Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata domestica) fed different inclusion levels of a partially defatted black soldier fly larva (BSF) meal. A total of 256 Muscovy ducklings (average live weight, LW: 71.32\ub12.70 g) were reared from day 3 to day 48 and randomly allotted in 32 pens (8 replicates/treatment). Four different diets were formulated with increasing substitution level of corn gluten meal with BSF larva meal (0, 3, 6 and 9%; BSF0, BSF3, BSF6 and BSF9, respectively) and divided in 3 feeding phases: starter (1-14 days), grower (14-35 days) and finisher (35-48 days). At day 48, 2 animals/replicate were slaughtered and dissected to determine their carcass yields. The weights of spleen, bursa of Fabricius, liver, heart and abdominal fat were recorded. Breast and thigh muscles were then excised from 16 ducks/treatment and weighted. Ultimate pH (pHu) and L*, a*, b* colour values were then measured on breast muscle. The collected data were tested by means of oneway ANOVA evaluating the effect of dietary BSF inclusion level by polynomial contrasts. Significance was declared at P<0.05. The inclusion of BSF did not affect final LW (2,515.68\ub192.42 g on average). Hot and cold carcass weights showed a quadratic response (P<0.05) to increasing BSF larva meal, with a minimum corresponding to BSF6; however, refrigeration losses were not affected by treatments. Weight of spleen, bursa of Fabricius, liver and heart did not differ among treatments. The weight of abdominal fat showed a quadratic response to increasing BSF meal with a minimum corresponding to BSF6 group (P<0.05). Breast and thigh yields, pHu and L*, a*, b* colour values did not differ among groups. With the exception of BSF6, the inclusion of BSF meal did not affect meat traits and carcass characteristics, confirming the potential use of BSF meal in Muscovy duck diets