EFRC Bulletin 77

EFRC's regular newletter covering policy, agricutlural research, policy and advisory wor

On the Relationship of Alcibiades’ Speech to the Rest of the Speeches in Plato’s Symposium[1]

To get to the point immediately concerning how I think about the relationship between the first five speeches and Socrates’ speech: it seems to me the claim that Plato has only brought together inadequate perspectives on Eros in order to present Socrates’ speech over and against them as the only correct one is completely in error. Socrates himself does not deny these speeches their accolades, he comes back to many things in them as he assigns each single perspective its own due place. Much more, I believe that from the first speech to the last a decisive progress takes place, insofar as each successive perspective increases and broadens the previous perspective in some essential aspect; the individual speakers see the concept of Eros emerge with growing clarity: until, in the end, Socrates takes the cumulatively developed building and only rounds it off with a dome; he does not destroy it. Naturally, this is valid only with respect to the fundamental perspective of each speaker: whatever was added as ornament to their developments is rejected by Socrates in many ways as unjustified..

Neonatal lesions of orbital frontal areas 11/13 in monkeys alter goal-directed behavior but spare fear conditioning and safety signal learning

Recent studies in monkeys have demonstrated that damage to the lateral subfields of orbital frontal cortex (OFC areas 11/13) yields profound changes in flexible modulation of goal-directed behaviors and deficits in fear regulation. Yet, little consideration has been placed on its role in emotional and social development throughout life. The current study investigated the effects of neonatal lesions of the OFC on the flexible modulation of goal-directed behaviors and fear responses in monkeys. Infant monkeys received neonatal lesions of OFC areas 11/13 or sham-lesions during the first post-natal week. Modulation of goal-directed behaviors was measured with a devaluation task at 3–4 and 6–7 years. Modulation of fear reactivity by safety signals was assessed with the AX+/BX− fear-potentiated-startle paradigm at 6–7 years. Similar to adult-onset OFC lesions, selective neonatal lesions of OFC areas 11/13 yielded a failure to modulate behavioral responses guided by changes in reward value, but spared the ability to modulate fear responses in the presence of safety signals. These results suggest that these areas play a critical role in the development of behavioral adaptation during goal-directed behaviors, but not or less so, in the development of the ability to process emotionally salient stimuli and to modulate emotional reactivity using environmental contexts, which could be supported by other OFC subfields, such as the most ventromedial subfields (i.e., areas 14/25). Given similar impaired decision-making abilities and spared modulation of fear after both neonatal lesions of either OFC areas 11 and 13 or amygdala (Kazama et al., 2012; Kazama and Bachevalier, 2013), the present results suggest that interactions between these two neural structures play a critical role in the development of behavioral adaptation; an ability essential for the self-regulation of emotion and behavior that assures the maintenance of successful social relationships

Jet of Blood

A virtual production of Antonin Artaud’s 1925 play, Jet of Blood

Replacement Heifer Development for Spring and Summer Calving Herds

A three-year study on heifer development of spring-born (n=240) and summer-born heifers (n=146) was conducted using sandhills ranch management. Spring-born heifers developed during the winter to reach 53% of mature weight at breeding had similar reproduction and calf production as heifers that reached 57% of mature weight. Feed costs were $22/heifer less for the lighter weight heifers. Summer-born heifers that were developed to reach 60% of mature weight at breeding in early fall had normal yearling pregnancy rates, but rebreeding rates of the 2-year-old cows were low, which caused high culling rates. Two-year-old cows calving in May produced greater calf growth rates to weaning than cows calving in June

Thirty-eight Ouachita students named to Who\u27s Who

Thirty-eight students from Ouachita Baptist University will be included in the latest edition of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges. The students were chosen by OBU’s faculty, staff and the 2018 senior class based on their academic performance, leadership in extracurricular activities, community service and potential for success

Street Fights: Corporate Social Responsibility and a Dragway\u27s Attempt to Reduce Illegal Street Racing

This study sought to explore a professional sport venue’s use of Corporate social responsibility (CSR) to promote positive social change, by addressing illegal street racing, through events designed for community participation. This study specifically looked at public dragracing events, titled “Street Fights,” held at a professional dragway. The purpose of this study was to 1) examine drivers’ awareness of the event’s social responsibility initiatives with Street Fight events and 2) determine if these initiatives are promoting behavioral changes in drivers. Drivers at Street Fight events were surveyed (n=77, 60% response rate) on their levels of awareness of the venue’s social responsibility initiatives, as well as, the event and venue’s overall influence on positive social change within the community. Results showed that Street Fight racers seem to be aware that the events were created to offer a safe, legal, and affordable place to dragrace. Street Fight racers also indicated they were less likely to engage in excessive speeding on open roadways due to their participation in Street Fight events

Fish recolonization in temperate Australian rockpools: a quantitative experimental approach

Understanding recolonization processes of intertidal fish assemblages is integral for predicting the consequences of significant natural or anthropogenic impacts on the intertidal zone. Recolonization of experimentally defaunated intertidal rockpools by fishes at Bass Point, New South Wales (NSW), Australia, was assessed quantitatively by using one long-term and two short-term studies. Rockpools of similar size and position at four sites within the intertidal zone were repeatedly defaunated of their fish fauna after one week, one month, and three months during two shortterm studies in spring and autumn (5 months each), and every six months for the long-term study (12 months). Fish assemblages were highly resilient to experimental perturbations—recolonizing to initial fish assemblage structure within 1−3 months. This recolonization was primarily due to subadults (30−40 mm TL) and adults (>40 mm TL) moving in from adjacent rockpools and presumably to abundant species competing for access to vacant habitat. The main recolonizers were those species found in highest numbers in initial samples, such as Bathygobius cocosensis, Enneapterygius rufopileus, and Girella elevata. Defaunation did not affect the size composition of fishes, except during autumn and winter when juveniles (<30 mm TL) recruited to rockpools. It appears that Bass Point rockpool fish assemblages are largely controlled by postrecruitment density-dependent mechanisms that indicate that recolonization may be driven by deterministic mechanisms