ELIMINATING ROADBLOCKS TO GREATER PRODUCTIVITY: CONSUMERS

Emphasizes the importance of understanding the consumer's role in helping to improve productivity.Consumer/Household Economics, Productivity Analysis,

An Analysis of Sediment Collected by Pogonomyrmex salinus from the Jurassic Sundance Formation, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

Pogonomyrmex salinus is a species of harvester ant found in the Bighorn Basin area of Wyoming. Harvester ants are aptly named as they “harvest” seeds for food, but this harvesting behavior is also seen in their collection of sediment particles to build their mounds. For decades, paleontologists have looked to harvester ants for microfossils because the small size of the fossils makes them difficult for human eyes to find. But there are unresolved questions about the data that can be gleaned from the fossils collected by the ants. The mounds collected for this study include material from the Stockade Beaver Shale Member of the Sundance Formation, which dates to the Middle Jurassic Epoch. In this study, harvester ant mounds were collected and examined under microscope and the mounds sorted into their different components. The mounds were sorted into fossil materials, organic materials, and matrix. The fossil material was further sorted into taxa while the organic materials and matrix were loosely grouped according to likeness. For example, seed pods of any kind were grouped together and scat was grouped together. Through this process of sorting, questions of the ants’ collection preferences are explored. Questions include whether the ants exhibit a preference for fossils or non-fossiliferous materials. Further, of the fossils found , is there a specific fossil that they collect more than others, and is that reflective of the abundance of those taxa found from traditional collection methods? This study is novel because previous studies have not included the non-fossil material in the collection analysis. By including non-fossil material, the ants’ gathering biases can be more accurately identified, which will help to more accurately analyze data and glean a more full understanding of the paleo-community make up

Alien Registration- Daly, Josephine H. (Bangor, Penobscot County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/14088/thumbnail.jp

Letter from Josephine H. Logan to John Muir, 1910 Aug 4.

[letterhead]August 4, 1910My dear Mr. Muir,-Stopping over night on the beautiful city I am reminded that Scotland owned you, so I am sending you this little spray of white heather from your home place. We are simply enchanted with its attractions. With the most cordial regards I amSincerely yoursJosephine H. Logan0484

Is there a causal association between genotoxicity and the imposex effect?

There is a growing body of evidence that indicates common environmental pollutants are capable of disrupting reproductive and developmental processes by interfering with the actions of endogenous hormones. Many reports of endocrine disruption describe changes in the normal development of organs and tissues that are consistent with genetic damage, and recent studies confirm that many chemicals classified to have hormone-modulating effects also possess carcinogenic and mutagenic potential. To date, however, there have been no conclusive examples linking genetic damage with perturbation of endocrine function and adverse effects in vivo. Here, we provide the first evidence of DNA damage associated with the development of imposex (the masculinization of female gastropods considered to be the result of alterations to endocrine-mediated pathways) in the dog-whelk Nucella lapillus. Animals (n = 257) that displayed various stages of tributyltin (TBT)-induced imposex were collected from sites in southwest England, and their imposex status was determined by physical examination. Linear regression analysis revealed a very strong relationship (correlation coefficient of 0.935, p < 0.0001) between the degree of imposex and the extent of DNA damage (micronucleus formation) in hemocytes. Moreover, histological examination of a larger number of dog-whelks collected from sites throughout Europe confirmed the presence of hyperplastic growths, primarily on the vas deferens and penis in both TBT-exposed male snails and in females that exhibited imposex. A strong association was found between TBT body burden and the prevalence of abnormal growths, thereby providing compelling evidence to support the hypothesis that environmental chemicals that affect reproductive processes do so partly through DNA damage pathways

Inbreeding depression in red deer calves

BACKGROUND Understanding the fitness consequences of inbreeding is of major importance for evolutionary and conservation biology. However, there are few studies using pedigree-based estimates of inbreeding or investigating the influence of environment and age variation on inbreeding depression in natural populations. Here we investigated the consequences of variation in inbreeding coefficient for three juvenile traits, birth date, birth weight and first year survival, in a wild population of red deer, considering both calf and mother's inbreeding coefficient. We also tested whether inbreeding depression varied with environmental conditions and maternal age. RESULTS We detected non-zero inbreeding coefficients for 22% of individuals with both parents and at least one grandparent known (increasing to 42% if the dataset was restricted to those with four known grandparents). Inbreeding depression was evident for birth weight and first year survival but not for birth date: the first year survival of offspring with an inbreeding coefficient of 0.25 was reduced by 77% compared to offspring with an inbreeding coefficient of zero. However, it was independent of measures of environmental variation and maternal age. The effect of inbreeding on birth weight appeared to be driven by highly inbred individuals (F = 0.25). On the other hand first year survival showed strong inbreeding depression that was not solely driven by individuals with the highest inbreeding coefficients, corresponding to an estimate of 4.35 lethal equivalents. CONCLUSIONS These results represent a rare demonstration of inbreeding depression using pedigree-based estimates in a wild mammal population and highlight the potential strength of effects on key components of fitness.This research was supported by a NERC grant to LEBK, JMP and THCB, NERC and BBSRC fellowships to DHN and a Royal Society fellowship to LEBK

The Federal Income Tax and Reform of College Athletics: A Response to Professor Colombo and an Independent Critique

Large athletics programs bring a lot of attention to themselves and the universities of which they are a part. Once, that attention came only from success on the field or court. Now it also comes from how much money these programs spend, and on what, and its source. Calls to use the federal tax code to rein in athletics spending are, we believe, ill-advised. The IRS has limited resources and a lot to do. Its staff members know tax law, not the ins and outs of college athletics. Because universities are adept at “zeroing out” revenues and expenses, it is unlikely that new tax rules and added IRS oversight would do much to curtail spending. They could, however, impose significant compliance costs on universities. The result could be the worst of all worlds: considerable expense on universities to comply; little or no spending reform achieved; and an IRS diverted from core responsibilities