Preliminary Report on Conodonts of the Meramecian Stage (Upper Mississippian) from the Subsurface of Western Kansas

Conodonts are microscopic toothlike and platelike structures belonging to an extinct, unknown group of marine animals which probably were bilaterally symmetrical, soft bodied, and free swimming. These fossil structures range from a fraction of a millimeter to about three millimeters in length. They are composed chiefly of calcium phosphate, are either amber or grayish black in color, and are translucent to opaque. Conodonts, known to range from the Lower Ordovician into the Upper Triassic, have a world-wide distribution and have been found to be a useful tool to the stratigraphic paleontologist, despite the fact that there has been little unanimity on the zoological affinity of the animal that bore the conodonts, or on the function that was performed by these structures (Hass, 1962). Conodonts are good index fossils because they are durable, abundant, distinctive, and widespread in their geographic distribution yet restricted in their stratigraphic ranges. Because they are minute, conodonts are well suited for subsurface investigation. They provide a relatively dependable means of correlating different lithologies of biostratigraphic equivalents

Preliminary Report on Conodonts of the Meramecian Stage (Upper Mississippian) from the Subsurface of Western Kansas

Conodonts are microscopic toothlike and platelike structures belonging to an extinct, unknown group of marine animals which probably were bilaterally symmetrical, soft bodied, and free swimming. These fossil structures range from a fraction of a millimeter to about three millimeters in length. They are composed chiefly of calcium phosphate, are either amber or grayish black in color, and are translucent to opaque. Conodonts, known to range from the Lower Ordovician into the Upper Triassic, have a world-wide distribution and have been found to be a useful tool to the stratigraphic paleontologist, despite the fact that there has been little unanimity on the zoological affinity of the animal that bore the conodonts, or on the function that was performed by these structures (Hass, 1962). Conodonts are good index fossils because they are durable, abundant, distinctive, and widespread in their geographic distribution yet restricted in their stratigraphic ranges. Because they are minute, conodonts are well suited for subsurface investigation. They provide a relatively dependable means of correlating different lithologies of biostratigraphic equivalents

Integration of ethics into a forestry curriculum

Following a comprehensive review of their forestry curriculum in 1995, the Oklahoma State University Forestry Faculty elected to modify the way professional ethics are formally addressed. The modifications involve three courses. An introduction of ethics and their role in natural resource management is presented to freshman in an introductory course. This provides a framework for learning and applying the science and practices of the Forestry Profession in the context of an ethical philosophy. Students address ethics a second time between their sophomore and junior years. This happens during the initial summer camp course where students are exposed to philosophical and policy differences between natural resource management agencies. Ethics are formally reintroduced in two senior courses that are usually taken concurrently. One of these courses is a capstone experience where students address real natural resource management problems. The second is a course in forest administration and natural resource policy. In these two courses the instructors cooperate to require the students to consider professional ethics in a philosophical framework for decision making as well as an applied standard for real decisions in the execution of professional work. This is accomplished through discussions of the Ethical Canons of the Society of American Foresters in the forest administration and policy course. These discussions are followed by group presentations to the class of ethical considerations associated with projects from the student’s capstone experience

Direct observation of a hypersonic band gap in two-dimensional single crystalline phononic structures

Brillouin light scattering is employed to record the phonon dispersion relation of two-dimensional (2D) hypersonic phononic crystals with square lattice plane group p4mm symmetry. The samples are single crystalline arrays of cylindrical holes with a lattice constant of 750 nm and 35% porosity patterned in epoxy using interference lithography. The dispersion relation reveals the presence of a phononic band gap between 1.21 and 1.57 GHz at the edge of the first Brillouin zone for elastic waves propagating along the [10] direction and conclusively demonstrates a band gap in a single crystalline 2D polymer based phononic structure at hypersonic frequencies.open312

Kawasaki disease in Kenya and review of the African literature

Background: Kawasaki disease has been described across the globe, although publications from Africa are limited. To our knowledge, there are no publications on Kawasaki disease from Kenya, which triggered this report. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was undertaken to identify in-patients with a discharge diagnosis of Kawasaki disease, over 2 different 5-year periods, at two pediatric hospitals in Nairobi, Kenya. We reviewed the medical records of all patients and report their clinical findings, diagnostic workup and treatment. In addition, we undertook a detailed review of the literature. Results: Twenty-three patients with Kawasaki disease were identified, of those 12 (52.2%) had incomplete disease. The mean age was 2.3 years (SD+/-2.2) (range 0.3–10.3) with a male to female ratio of 1:1. The mean duration of fever at diagnosis was 8.3 days (SD+/-4.7) (range 2–20). Oral changes were the most common clinical feature and conjunctivitis the least common. Thrombocytosis at diagnosis was seen in 52% (12/23). Twenty-one patients (91.3%) were treated with intravenous immunoglobulin and all except 1 received aspirin. Baseline echocardiograms were performed in 95.7% (22/23) and found to be abnormal in 3 (13.6%). Follow-up data was limited. Our literature review identified 79 publications with documented cases of Kawasaki disease in children from 22 countries across the African continent with a total of 1115 patients including those from this report. Only 153 reported cases, or 13.7%, are from sub-Saharan Africa. Conclusions: This is the first publication on Kawasaki disease from Kenya and one of the largest reports from sub-Saharan Africa. It is the first to have a complete review of the number of published cases from the African continent. Challenges in the diagnosis and management of Kawasaki disease in many African countries include disease awareness, infectious confounders, access and cost of intravenous immunoglobulin, access to pediatric echocardiography and follow-up. Increasing awareness and health care resources are important for improving outcomes of Kawasaki disease in Africa