Where do meanings come from?

What is the relation between the bearer of meaning and the source of meaning, and what is it for something to bear meaning? This essay explores two sets of metaphors: on the first, the bearer of meaning is the source of the meaning, and meaning is something revealed, disclosed, or brought out from within the bearer; on the second, the bearer of meaning is distinct from the source of meaning, and meaning is something imposed, added, or placed onto the bearer from outside. Through readings of André Bazin, Denis Donoghue, Adam Phillips, Walter Pater, Stanley Cavell, Henry David Thoreau, William James, Charles Tomlinson, William Carlos Williams, and Marianne Moore, the conflict between the two sets of metaphors is seen to open up onto the question: What are the limits of sense, and are they to be acknowledged or overcome? The author invites us to think of the limits of sense as facts we need to acknowledge if we are to make sense. The essay ends with a discussion of how we might acknowledge limits of sense as limits of sense and of how we might acknowledge fact as fact.Philosoph

Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational

Nathan Saragoza, Ally Bushman, Cassidy Robinson, Hanna Bingham, Sam Weymouth, and Luca Mallon discuss student engagement at Linfield College with regard to their participation in the Intercollegiate Wine Business Invitational.https://digitalcommons.linfield.edu/inauguration2019_students/1015/thumbnail.jp

Skistodiaptomus pallidus (Copepoda: Diaptomidae) establishment in New Zealand natural lakes, and its effects on zooplankton community composition

The North American calanoid copepod Skistodiaptomus pallidus is an emerging invader globally, with non-indigenous populations recorded from constructed waters in New Zealand, Germany and Mexico since 2000. We examined the effects of S. pallidus establishment on the zooplankton community of a natural lake, Lake Kereta, where it was first recorded in late-2008, coincident with releases of domestically cultured grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). Although not present in any of our samples prior to August 2008, S. pallidus was found in all samples collected in the subsequent five years. ANOSIM indicated zooplankton community composition significantly differed between samples collected before and after S. pallidus invasion, whether the invader was included in the analysis or not. Zooplankton species affected most greatly were the copepods Calamoecia lucasi and Mesocyclops sp., which decreased in their relative importance, and the cladocerans Bosmina meridionalis and Daphnia galeata, which increased. Rotifer species were relatively unaffected. As the length of grass carp released were >6.5 cm, direct predatory effects by this species on the zooplankton community are unlikely. Associated reductions in macrophyte biomass could explain increases in the relative abundances of planktonic cladocerans (B. meridionalis and D. galeata). However, the effect of macrophyte reduction by grass carp on zooplankton communities is considered to be limited elsewhere, while the reduced macrophyte biomass cannot explain the decrease in relative abundance of the native planktonic calanoid copepod C. lucasi. Competition between C. lucasi and S. pallidus is the most compelling explanation for the reduction in importance of the native calanoid copepod species. Skistodiaptomus pallidus appears to have undergone a “boom-and-bust” cycle in Lake Kereta, increasing in relative abundance in the first three years following establishment, before declining in importance

Using agricultural metadata : a novel investigation of trends in sowing date in on-farm research trials using the online farm trials database

Background: A growing ability to collect data, together with the development and adoption of the FAIR guiding principles, has increased the amount of data available in many disciplines. This has given rise to an urgent need for robust metadata. Within the Australian grains industry, data from thousands of on-farm research trials (Trial Projects) have been made available via the Online Farm Trials (OFT) website. OFT Trial Project metadata were developed as filters to refine front-end database searches, but could also be used as a dataset to investigate trends in metadata elements. Australian grains crops are being sown earlier, but whether on-farm research trials reflect this change is currently unknown. Methods: We investigated whether OFT Trial Project metadata could be used to detect trends in sowing dates of on-farm crop research trials across Australia, testing the hypothesis that research trials are being sown earlier in line with local farming practices. The investigation included 15 autumn-sown, winter crop species listed in the database, with trial records from 1993 to 2019. Results: Our analyses showed that (i) OFT Trial Project metadata can be used as a dataset to detect trends in sowing date; and (ii) cropping research trials are being sown earlier in Victoria and Western Australia, but no trend exists within the other states. Discussion/Conclusion: Our findings show that OFT Trial Project metadata can be used to detect trends in crop sowing date, suggesting that metadata could also be used to detect trends in other elements such as harvest date. Because OFT is a national database of research trials, further assessment of metadata may uncover important agronomic, cultural or economic trends within or across the Australian cropping regions. New information could then be used to lead practice change and increase productivity within the Australian grains industry. © 2021 Walters J et al

Student Lifestyle Choices and Perceptions of Stress Based on Majors

College students are often experience many stressors. This study was designed to look at perceived-stress and health habits with relation to academic department of undergraduate students at Cedarville University. The results of this study have implications for the Physical Activity and the Christian Life (PACL) class, offered on the Cedarville campus, in assessing its current curriculum and making potential future adjustments to the course. The objective of this study was to answer the question: “Do perceived stress levels within different academic departments affect health habits in Cedarville University undergraduate students?” The study was conducted with a campus-wide, 27 question survey using Qualtrics software via email. The survey was primarily comprised of close-ended questions using Likert scales and Cohen’s Perceived Stress scale to quantify perceived stress level, exercise habits, and eating habits. Included in the survey was an agreement to Informed Consent which ensured response anonymity. Inclusion criteria specified that the student had to be 18 years or older to participate. 535 students responded to the survey; 206 male participants (38.5%) and 329 female participants (61.5%). Students were asked to identify their academic department, year and gender. The Engineering and Computer Science department had the highest perceived stress at 15.4% of all the participants, the Nursing at 14.1% and Science and mathematics at (11.8%). It was found that juniors had the highest collective stress among most majors on the perceived stress scale. 71% of participants ranked Academic/school work as the main stressor that they dealt with on a daily basis. 10.9% of participants ranked Relationships second. Junior-year females in science-based departments experienced more perceived stress than males within the same departments. It was hypothesized that higher stress levels would increase poor food choices among Cedarville students, however, the results do not confirm that hypothesis. Results of the survey showed that most of the campus consumed a normal amount of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables on a daily basis. Data relating the amount of exercise in relation to academic department shows that the most stressful majors have the highest incidence of exercise. The Nursing Department had the most participants who exercised 3 to 4 times a week. Engineering and Computer Science Department was second and the Science and Mathematics Department in third. Questions relating to the PACL class were asked regarding the course and how well stress management techniques were integrated into the curriculum. These questions were included in order to evaluate the effects that the PACL course had upon students and their stress management capabilities. Recommendations for further research would be to add a personality questionnaire; questions related to drug and alcohol consumption could also be added to the original survey

Improving the FAIRness of Australia’s grains research sector data

Across Australia’s arable landscapes, thousands of crop trials have been conducted to improve the profitability and sustainability of Australian grain production. Although there have been significant steps to make knowledge gained from trials available to users, there is the potential to further support the development of next generation data models and knowledge products by integrating trials from disparatei sources by adhering to FAIR principles of data management. That is, making data: findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. This research explores whether Online Farm Trials increase the FAIRness of agricultural grains trial datasets through a comparison of the trial data capture and handling practices of organisations whose datasets are not discoverable through Online Farm Trials (OFT) (N = 50) with the FAIRness of the datasets discoverable through OFT. The findings demonstrate that OFT is helping to make the results of Australia’s grains trials more FAIR to the users of trial data, and suggests a number of improvements to the FAIRness of trial datasets, foremost through the use of machine-readable metadata

Tracking Rodent Social Interactions Using Machine Learning

We have developed a video-annotation pipeline that can be used to automatically track the movement of particularly social rodents (Degus) during interactive behavior. Using open source software (DeepLabCut), our approach requires methodical training of DeepLabCut neural networks, along with custom post-processing scripts to ensure continuity of the annotation of individual Degus. This tracking work is the first phase in a larger effort to automatically classify and label behaviors observed in video recordings of Degu interactions. Such behavioral annotation will influence our understanding of social behavior in general, with possible long-term impacts on diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder and other mental health conditions