Ectoparasites of Isle Royale, Michigan

Isle Royale National Park is a rocky archipelago of approximately 200 islands and islets in northwestern Lake Superior. Politically it belongs to the State of Michigan situated 50 miles to the southeast. The main island lies parallel to the Canadian shore, which is from 12 to 15 miles to the northwest. It is 45 miles long, and 9 miles wide at its broadest point. A review of the climatological, vegetational, and geological features of the island is given by Mech (1966). Most of the material included in this paper was collected incidently by Johnson during a three-year study (1966-68) of the food habits of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes (Linnaeus)), and population dynamics of three of its principal prey species--the snowshoe rabbit (Lepus americanus), red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (see Johnson, 1969). The remaining material (196061) was collected by L. D. Mech during his studies of gray wolf (Canis lupus Linnaeus)-moose (Alces alces) relationships (see Mech, 1966)

Object-based Epistemology at a Creationist Museum

In a regional young-earth creationist museum, objects are presented as if they speak for themselves, purportedly embodying proof that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, that humans have lived on earth throughout its history, and that dinosaurs and humans lived simultaneously. In public lectures, tours, and displays, museum associates emphasize direct observation over inference or theory. These emphases resonate closely with the object-based epistemology of the late nineteenth century described in Steven Conn\u27s Museums and American Intellectual Life, 1876-1926. In Conn\u27s description, museum objects, artfully arranged and displayed, were intended to speak for themselves, and observation and categorization were valued over experiment and theory. The regional young-earth creationist museum is observed to partly succeed and partly fail in implementing an object-based epistemology. Although object-based epistemology represents a nineteenth-century approach to knowledge and museum display, it is compatible with an inductive approach to biblical interpretation and it confers various rhetorical advantages to creationist arguments. It is concluded that a focus on the theory-laden nature of data would likely strengthen nature-of-science education efforts to increase public acceptance of evolution

Bibliographic Essay: The History of Human-Animal Relations

Animals are everywhere. Whether as pets, pests, sources of food, fuel, or materials for manufacture, means of traction or source of motive power, or objects of veneration and fear and wonder, animals have been our counterparts throughout human history. In recent years, a historical literature has developed about animals and our relationships with them, part of a larger “animal turn” in the humanities. Scholars and students alike are often surprised, enchanted, and intrigued by historical perspectives on what heretofore has struck us as natural and timeless circumstances. This essay describes a small selection of a challenging, accessible, and provocative scholarship with implications for the study of race, class, gender, and sexuality, the environment and humanity\u27s relationships with life on Earth, and the nature of the human experience. While some works originate in disciplines such as philosophy, cognitive studies, and ethology, most arise from a recognizable historical tradition. Specifically, the essay addresses human-animal relations of the early modern and modern eras in Western Europe and North America and provides a brief orientation to the scholarship of last three decades. With roots in several areas of inquiry, including the historical study of the natural world, moral philosophy and its connection with animal advocacy, and the scientific exploration of animal behavior and cognition, this literature likely will continue to grow well into our shared future. Early studies were concerned with the conception and representation of animality as a mirror and maker of humanity, rationality, and nature throughout the early modern and modern eras. More recently, scholars have explored a variety of subjects including hunting, the keeping of pets, urbanization and its implications for animals, and the very meaning of human in a posthuman” era

Models and Paradigms in Kuhn and Halloun

In Modeling Theory in Science Education, Halloun (2004) adopts the word ‘paradigm’, but his use of the term is radically different from that of Kuhn. In this paper, I explore some of the differences between Kuhn’s paradigms and Halloun’s paradigms. Where Kuhn’s paradigms are public, community-defining exemplars of practice, Halloun’s paradigms are private, individualized ways of thinking. Where Kuhn writes of the paradigm shift as a revolutionary, vision-altering conversion experience, Halloun writes of a gradual evolution from one way of thinking to another and an easy back-and-forth switch between paradigms. Since Kuhn’s paradigms are self-enclosed and incommensurable, there is no objective standard by which one paradigm can be shown to be superior to the other. But Halloun uses ‘viability’ as a standard for paradigm choice. Underlying all of this is the more basic question of whether the history of science is an appropriate metaphor for student progress in the classroom. I conclude with some brief thoughts on this question

Weight change and quality of life in a community-based population

*Objectives:* This study investigates the longitudinal association between 5-year weight change and quality of life (QoL) in Dutch men and women.

*Design:* A prospective cohort study (1998, 2000, 2003) in a population based sample. Subjects: 2,414 men and women from the Maastricht region of the Netherlands.

*Measurements:* QoL outcomes were measured by the RAND-36 (eight subscales and two overall composite scores, physical and mental health (PCS and MCS)). Weight was measured on a scale. Weight change was calculated as change in weight between 1998 and 2003. In addition, 5-year weight change was also categorized in three groups: weight losers, weight maintainers, and weight gainers. All analyses were stratified for gender.

*Results:* A total of 598 men (50%) and 646 women (54%) maintained their weight, 177 men (15%) and 163 women (14%) lost more than 2.5 kg, and 410 men (35%) and 379 women (32%) gained more than 2.5 kg. Associations between 5-year weight change and QoL were found for MCS ([beta] = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.02|0.24) in women, and PCS ([beta] = -0.09, 95% CI: -0.17|-0.00; [beta] = -0.10, 95% CI: -0.19|-0.01) in men and women respectively. Moreover, associations between weight change and QoL were most pronounced for women of normal weight and obese men. Furthermore, in both genders, weight gainers showed a greater reduction on all physical components of QoL compared with weight maintainers. However, after 5-years weight gainers and weight losers did not significantly differ from weight maintainers in the mean change of MCS and PCS.

*Conclusion:* Weight gain was inversely associated with the physical domains of QoL in women and obese men. Conversely, in women, weight gain was positively associated with the mental domains of QoL. No differences between weight losers and weight gainers were found in mean change of QoL compared with weight maintainers

New Perspectives on Congressional Collections: A Study of Survey and Assessment

Archivists have grappled with the processing and management challenges of congressional collections, but have spent less time exploring the use of these collections or their utility for research outside traditional topics and disciplines. This case study examines how two department projects produced new insights into congressional collections at an institution examining the importance of its political materials within its collection development policy. A survey of Native American collection materials led to a new understanding of the vast scholarly potential of congressional collections. Likewise, a general assessment of special collections revealed the popularity of congressional collections and the nature of their users. The article recommends using data-informed analysis and a better understanding of American political life for the future development and promotion of congressional collections within and outside the library

Sylvester's question and the Random Acceleration Process

Let n points be chosen randomly and independently in the unit disk. "Sylvester's question" concerns the probability p_n that they are the vertices of a convex n-sided polygon. Here we establish the link with another problem. We show that for large n this polygon, when suitably parametrized by a function r(phi) of the polar angle phi, satisfies the equation of the random acceleration process (RAP), d^2 r/d phi^2 = f(phi), where f is Gaussian noise. On the basis of this relation we derive the asymptotic expansion log p_n = -2n log n + n log(2 pi^2 e^2) - c_0 n^{1/5} + ..., of which the first two terms agree with a rigorous result due to Barany. The nonanalyticity in n of the third term is a new result. The value 1/5 of the exponent follows from recent work on the RAP due to Gyorgyi et al. [Phys. Rev. E 75, 021123 (2007)]. We show that the n-sided polygon is effectively contained in an annulus of width \sim n^{-4/5} along the edge of the disk. The distance delta_n of closest approach to the edge is exponentially distributed with average 1/(2n).Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures; references added and minor change