The Inheritance of Some Human Traits

Although the proper collection and observation of necessary data with reference to the application of Mendel\u27s laws of heredity to man has been brief, it has disclosed evidence significant enough to make it appear highly probable that many of the characters in man follow these laws as well as do the traits of lower animals. The object of this thesis was to determine whether or not certain human traits were inherited, the mode of their transmission from parent to offspring, and, if possible, the establishment of any proof of linkage in the human line

Optimising the life cycle energy performance of residential buildings

A holistic approach to low-energy building design is essential to ensure that any efficiency improvement strategies provide a net energy benefit over the life of the building. Previous work by the authors has established a model for informing low-energy building design based on a comparison of the life cycle energy demand associated with a broad range of building assemblies. This model ranks assemblies based on their combined initial and recurrent embodied energy and operational energy demand. The current study applies this model to an actual residential building in order to demonstrate the application of the model for optimising a building’s life cycle energy performance. The aim of this study was to demonstrate how the availability of comparable energy performance information at the building design stage can be used to better optimise a building’s energy performance. The life cycle energy demand of the case study building, located in the temperate climate of Melbourne, Australia, was quantified using a comprehensive embodied energy assessment technique and TRNSYS thermal energy simulation software. The building was then modelled with variations to its external assemblies in an attempt to optimise its life cycle energy performance. The alternative assemblies chosen were those shown through the author’s previous modelling to result in the lowest life cycle energy demand for each building element. The best performing assemblies for each of the main external building elements were then combined into a best-case scenario to quantify the potential life cycle energy savings possible compared to the original building. The study showed that significant life cycle energy savings are possible through the modelling of individual building elements for the case study building. While these findings relate to a very specific case, this study demonstrates the application of a model for optimising building life cycle energy performance that may be applied more broadly during early-stage building design to optimise life cycle energy performance

Validation of the use of Australian input-output data for building embodied energy simulation

Traditional!y, the simulation of buildings has focused 011 operational energy consumption in an attempt to determine the potential for energy savings. Whilst operational energy of Australian buildings accounts for around 20% of total energy consumption nationally, embodied energy represents 20 to 50 times the annual operational energy of 1110st Australian buildings. Lower values have been shown through a number of studies that have analysed the embodied energy of buildings and their products, however these have now shown to be incomplete in system boundary. Many of these studies have used traditional embodied energy analysis methods, such as process analysis and input-output analysis, Hybrid embodied energy analysis methods have been developed, but these need to be compared and validated. This paper reports on preliminary work on this topic. The findings so far suggest that current best-practice methods are sufficiently accurate for most typical applications, but this is heavily dependant upon data quality and availability.<br /

Demographic structure of a transplanted Tlaxcalan population in the Valley of Mexico

This is the published version, also available here: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41462806.This research explores the evolutionary consequences of the transplantation and subsequent demographic adaptation of Cuanalan, a migrant population in the Valley of Mexico. Through comparisons with historical and contemporary populations from the area of origination—the state of Tlaxcala—an attempt is made to reconstruct the demographic and evolutionary changes which have occurred in the splinter population over the past four centuries. Both demographic and preliminary genetic data indicate that Cuanalan is a hybridized population. About two-thirds of marriages of Cuanalan-born individuals are endogamous. Average number of liveborn children for prolific women over 40 is 6.5. Since 1866, mean age at death in the community is 20.8 years, and the infant death rate is 30%. Major causes of death are respiratory diseases, gastrointestinal disorders, and childhood infections. The high variance in completed fertility and high pre-reproductive mortality indicate a continuation of conditions making for the rapid action of natural selection which have historically characterized Tlaxcalan populations. Genetic drift was probably an important factor in the early differentiation of the migrant population. The data suggest that the evolutionary divergence of Cuanalan from the Tlaxcalan gene pool has been rapid and extensive

A comprehensive framework for assessing the life-cycle energy of building construction assemblies

Building environmental design typically focuses on improvements to operational efficiencies such as building thermal performance and system efficiency. Often the impacts occurring across the other stages of a building\u27s life are not considered or are seen as insignificant in comparison. However, previous research shows that embodied impacts can be just as important. There is limited consistent and comprehensive information available for building designers to make informed decisions in this area. Often the information that is available is from disparate sources, which makes comparison of alternative solutions unreliable. It is also important to ensure that strategies to reduce environmental impacts from one life cycle stage do not come at the expense of an increase in overall life-cycle impacts. A consistent and comprehensive framework for assessing and specifying building assemblies for enhanced environmental outcomes does not currently exist. This article presents the initial findings of a project that aims to establish a database of life cycle energy requirements for a broad range of construction assemblies, based on a comprehensive assessment framework. Life cycle energy requirements have been calculated for eight residential construction assemblies integrating an innovative embodied energy assessment technique with thermal performance modelling and ranked according to their performance. &copy; #2010 Earthscan ISSN: 0003-8628

Using input-output data in life cycle inventory analysis

The impacts on the environment from human activities are of increasing concern. The need to consider the reduction in energy consumption is of particular interest, especially in the construction and operation of buildings, which accounts for between 30 and 40% of Australia\u27s national energy consumption. Much past and more recent emphasis has been placed on methods for reducing the energy consumed in the operation of buildings. With the energy embodied in these buildings having been shown to account for an equally large proportion of a building\u27s life cycle energy consumption, there is a need to look at ways of reducing the embodied energy of buildings and related products. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is considered to be the most appropriate tool for assessing the life cycle energy consumption of buildings and their products. The life cycle inventory analysis (LCIA) step of a LCA, where an inventory of material and energy inputs is gathered, may currently suffer from several limitations, mainly concerned with the use of incomplete and unreliable data sources and LCIA methods. These traditional methods of LCIA include process-based and input-output-based LCIA. Process-based LCIA uses process specific data, whilst input-output-based LCIA uses data produced from an analysis of the flow of goods and services between sectors of the Australian economy, also known as input-output data. With the incompleteness and unreliability of these two respective methods in mind, hybrid LCIA methods have been developed to minimise the errors associated with traditional LCIA methods, combining both process and input-output data. Hybrid LCIA methods based on process data have shown to be incomplete. Hybrid LCIA methods based on input-output data involve substituting available process data into the input-output model minimising the errors associated with process-based hybrid LCIA methods. However, until now, this LCIA method had not been tested for its level of completeness and reliability. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and completeness of hybrid life cycle inventory analysis, as applied to the Australian construction industry. A range of case studies were selected in order to apply the input-output-based hybrid LCIA method and evaluate the subsequent results as obtained from each case study. These case studies included buildings: two commercial office buildings, two residential buildings, a recreational building; and building related products: a solar hot water system, a building integrated photovoltaic system and a washing machine. The range of building types and products selected assisted in testing the input-output-based hybrid LCIA method for its applicability across a wide range of product types. The input-output-based hybrid LCIA method was applied to each of the selected case studies in order to obtain their respective embodied energy results. These results were then evaluated with the use of a number of evaluation methods. These evaluation methods included an analysis of the difference between the process-based and input-output-based hybrid LCIA results as an evaluation of the completeness of the process-based LCIA method. The second method of evaluation used was a comparison between equivalent process and input-output values used in the input-output-based hybrid LCIA method as a measure of reliability. It was found that the results from a typical process-based LCIA and process-based hybrid LCIA have a large gap when compared to input-output-based hybrid LCIA results (up to 80%). This gap has shown that the currently available quantity of process data in Australia is insufficient. The comparison between equivalent process-based and input-output-based LCIA values showed that the input-output data does not provide a reliable representation of the equivalent process values, for material energy intensities, material inputs and whole products. Therefore, the use of input-output data to account for inadequate or missing process data is not reliable. However, as there is currently no other method for filling the gaps in traditional process-based LCIA, and as input-output data is considered to be more complete than process data, and the errors may be somewhat lower, using input-output data to fill the gaps in traditional process-based LCIA appears to be better than not using any data at all. The input-output-based hybrid LCIA method evaluated in this study has shown to be the most sophisticated and complete currently available LCIA method for assessing the environmental impacts associated with buildings and building related products. This finding is significant as the construction and operation of buildings accounts for a large proportion of national energy consumption. The use of the input-output-based hybrid LCIA method for products other than those related to the Australian construction industry may be appropriate, especially if the material inputs of the product being assessed are similar to those typically used in the construction industry. The input-output-based hybrid LCIA method has been used to correct some of the errors and limitations associated with previous LCIA methods, without the introduction of any new errors. Improvements in current input-output models are also needed, particularly to account for the inclusion of capital equipment inputs (i.e. the energy required to manufacture the machinery and other equipment used in the production of building materials, products etc.). Although further improvements in the quantity of currently available process data are also needed, this study has shown that with the current available embodied energy data for LCIA, the input-output-based hybrid LCIA appears to provide the most reliable and complete method for use in assessing the environmental impacts of the Australian construction industry

Heterogeneous Chemistry Involving Methanol in Tropospheric Clouds

In this report we analyze airborne measurements to suggest that methanol in biomass burning smoke is lost heterogeneously in clouds. When a smoke plume intersected a cumulus cloud during the SAFARI 2000 field project, the observed methanol gas phase concentration rapidly declined. Current understanding of gas and aqueous phase chemistry cannot explain the loss of methanol documented by these measurements. Two plausible heterogeneous reactions are proposed to explain the observed simultaneous loss and production of methanol and formaldehyde, respectively. If the rapid heterogeneous processing of methanol, seen in a cloud impacted by smoke, occurs in more pristine clouds, it could affect the oxidizing capacity of the troposphere on a global scale

A Transgenic Rat for Investigating the Anatomy and Function of Corticotrophin Releasing Factor Circuits.

Corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF) is a 41 amino acid neuropeptide that coordinates adaptive responses to stress. CRF projections from neurons in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) to the brainstem are of particular interest for their role in motivated behavior. To directly examine the anatomy and function of CRF neurons, we generated a BAC transgenic Crh-Cre rat in which bacterial Cre recombinase is expressed from the Crh promoter. Using Cre-dependent reporters, we found that Cre expressing neurons in these rats are immunoreactive for CRF and are clustered in the lateral CeA (CeL) and the oval nucleus of the BNST. We detected major projections from CeA CRF neurons to parabrachial nuclei and the locus coeruleus, dorsal and ventral BNST, and more minor projections to lateral portions of the substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, and lateral hypothalamus. Optogenetic stimulation of CeA CRF neurons evoked GABA-ergic responses in 11% of non-CRF neurons in the medial CeA (CeM) and 44% of non-CRF neurons in the CeL. Chemogenetic stimulation of CeA CRF neurons induced Fos in a similar proportion of non-CRF CeM neurons but a smaller proportion of non-CRF CeL neurons. The CRF1 receptor antagonist R121919 reduced this Fos induction by two-thirds in these regions. These results indicate that CeL CRF neurons provide both local inhibitory GABA and excitatory CRF signals to other CeA neurons, and demonstrate the value of the Crh-Cre rat as a tool for studying circuit function and physiology of CRF neurons

Diversity of animal communities on southwestern rangelands: Species patterns, habitat relationships, and land management

The rangelands of the southwestern United States comprise a mosaic of biome types, including deserts, grasslands, chaparral, woodlands, forests, subalpine meadows, and alpine tundra. Taken together, these ecosystems support exceptionally high numbers of vertebrate and invertebrate animal species. Biogeographic patterns of mammal, bird, and reptile species across North America show trends of increasing species numbers for these vertebrate groups, and some invertebrate groups, occur in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California, especially in the border region with Mexico. Underlying causes of the region\u27s high biodiversity are related to (1) the elevational variability inherent in the basin-and-range topography, with its concomitant range of climate conditions, (2) the diverse biogeographic history of the region, particularly with respect to the merging of major faunal groups during glacier retreats, and (3) the architectural variations in vegetation structure across the region\u27s component ecosystems. Climate dynamics and disturbance also play major roles in maintaining a habitat mosaic, promoting greater regional faunal diversity. Disturbances affect animal diversity at many scales, from individuals\u27 home ranges to continental species\u27 distributions. Human activities have generated new suites of disturbances (livestock grazing, timber harvesting, mining, agriculture, prescribed fires, construction of roads and buildings), many of which contribute to the habitat patchiness of the landscape. Studies have shown that these disturbances prove beneficial to some species and detrimental to others. Hence, local increases in biodiversity can be orchestrated by creating or maintaining habitat diversity and disturbance regimes. Such management strategies can be scaled up to regional landscapes, in which areas of intensive human land use and disturbance are interspersed with regions of little or no human interference. Historically, this has been accomplished at local or state levels on an ad hoc bases (i.e., crisis management), with little evidence of long-term, large-scale, regional planning or coordination. If faunal biodiversity is to be preserved and enhanced on southwestern rangelands, human activities must be managed in a fashion that integrates faunal biology, resource requirements, and movement patterns with landscape scale attributes. Therefore, the task of the modern land manager will be to balance carefully the various scales and intensities of human activities, for the purpose of promoting sustainable use of natural resources and assuring the maintenance or enhancement of biodiversity. Future regional planning for biodiversity attributes will clearly require extensive communication and close cooperation among concerned citizens, private landowners, scientists, and government land managers