Showing papers by "Albion College published in 1999"

Mirrors and Windows: Sociocultural Studies of Human-Animal Relationships

Abstract: ▪ Abstract Humans' relationships with animals, increasingly the subject of controversy, have long been of interest to those whose primary aim has been the better understanding of humans' relationships with other humans. Since this topic was last reviewed here, human-animal relationships have undergone considerable reexamination, reflecting key trends in the history of social analysis, including concerns with connections between anthropology and colonialism and with the construction of race, class, and gender identities. There have been many attempts to integrate structuralist or symbolic approaches with those focused on environmental, political, and economic dimensions. Human-animal relationships are now much more likely to be considered in dynamic terms, and consequently, there has been much interdisciplinary exchange between anthropologists and historians. Some research directly engages moral and political concerns about animals, but it is likely that sociocultural research on human-animal relationships...

Late Quaternary volcanic activity in Marie Byrd Land: Potential 40Ar/39Ar-dated time horizons in West Antarctic ice and marine cores

Abstract: Late Quaternary volcanic activity at three major alkaline composite volcanoes in Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica, is dominated by explosive eruptions, many capable of depositing ash layers as regional time-stratigraphic horizons in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and in Southern Ocean marine sediments. A total of 20 eruptions at Mount Berlin, Mount Takahe, and Mount Siple are recorded in lava and welded and nonwelded pyroclastic fall deposits, mostly peralkaline trachyte in composition. The eruptions, dated by the 40Ar/39Ar laser-fusion and furnace step-heating methods, range in age from 571 to 8.2 ka. Tephra from these 40Ar/39Ar-dated Marie Byrd Land eruptions are identified by geochemical fingerprinting in the 1968 Byrd Station ice core. The 74 ka ice-core record contained abundant coarse ash layers, with model ice-flow ages ranging from 7.5 to 40 ka, all of which were previously geochemically correlated to the Mount Takahe volcano. We identify a one-to-one geochemical and age correlation of the youngest (ca. 7.5 ka) tephra layer in the Byrd ice core to an 8.2 ± 5.4 ka (2sigma uncertainty) pyroclastic deposit at Mount Takahe. We infer that the 20–30 ka tephra layers in the Byrd ice core actually were erupted from Mount Berlin, on the basis of age and geochemical similarities. If products of these youngest, as well as the older 40Ar/39Ar-dated eruptions are identified by geochemical fingerprinting in future ice and marine cores, they will provide the cores with independently dated time horizons. More than 12 40Ar/39Ar-dated tephra layers, exposed in bare ice on the summit ice cap of Mount Moulton, 30 km from their inferred source at Mount Berlin, range in age from 492 to 15 ka. These englacial tephra layers provide a minimum age of 492 ka for the oldest isotopically dated ice in West Antarctica. This well-dated section of locally derived glacial ice contains a potential “horizontal ice core” record of paleoclimate that extends back through several glacial-interglacial cycles. The coarse grain size and density of the englacial tephra (mean diameters 17–18 mm, densities 540–780 kg/m3), combined with their distance from source, indicate derivation from highly explosive Plinian eruptions of Mount Berlin.

The clinical diagnosis of early malignant melanoma: expansion of the ABCD criteria to improve diagnostic sensitivity.

Abstract: With the steady increase in incidence of malignant melanomas (MM) in the United States, early diagnosis and complete removal are critical for the containment of the malignancy. [1] The "ABCD" method of identification, originally described by Friedman et al., has been a useful tool in facilitating the diagnosis of MM. [2,3,4] This method analyzes four clinical characteristics to identify a malignant melanoma: Asymmetry, Border irregularity, Color variegation, and a Diameter of 6 mm or more.[4] Clinicians recognize that some melanomas lack all or most of the features defined in the "ABCD" rules. [5] This may be especially true of some early invasive and in situ melanomas. [6,7] In these instances, clinical history documenting morphologic change over time can be an important additional consideration. The following case reports underscore the need to expand the ABCD mnemonic to include an "E" for "Evolutionary change." An additional modification is also needed to emphasize the need for a low threshold for biopsy of unusual lesions which do not show typical benign features, even if they do not meet the ABCDE criteria. To this end we propose an "F" for "Funny looking lesions".

Electroantennogram Responses of Both Sexes of Grape Root Borer (Lepidoptera: Sesiidae) to Synthetic Female Sex Pheromone

Abstract: The effect of mating status and sex on antennal response to sex pheromone components was tested in the grape root borer, Vitacea polistiformis (Harris). The grape root borer pheromone is a 99:1 blend of (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol acetate (EZ) and (Z,Z)-3,13- octadecadien-1-ol acetate (ZZ). Antennae of both virgin male and female moths exhibited similar dose—response patterns, with a threshold dosage of 1 mg of the EZ:ZZ blend on filter paper. Four treatments were tested at a dose of 5 mg on filter paper: EZ, ZZ, a blend of 99:1 EZ:ZZ, and the alcohol (E,Z)-2,13-octadecadien-1-ol (EZ-OH). Male antennae responded significantly to all compounds, regardless of mating status. Virgin female antennae responded significantly to all compounds, although their responses were significantly lower than the responses of male antennae. However, female antennae were relatively more responsive to EZ-OH than male antennae. Mated female antennae responded significantly to EZ and 99:1 EZ:ZZ. Pheromone detection by females has considerable implications to mating disruption strategies.

Integration specificity of the hobo element of Drosophila melanogaster is dependent on sequences flanking the integration site.

Abstract: We analyzed the integration specificity of the hobo transposable element of Drosophila melanogaster. Our results indicate that hobo is similar to other transposable elements in that it can integrate into a large number of sites, but that some sites are preferred over others, with a few sites acting as integration hot spots. A comparison of DNA sequences from 112 hobo integration sites identified a consensus sequence of NTNNNNAC, but this consensus was insufficient to account for the observed integration specificity. To begin to define the parameters affecting hobo integration preferences, we analyzed sequences flanking a donor hobo element, as well as sequences flanking a hobo integration hot spot for their relative influence on hobo integration specificity. We demonstrate experimentally that sequences flanking a hobo donor element do not influence subsequent integration site preference, whereas, sequences contained within 31 base pairs flanking an integration hot spot have a significant effect on the frequency of integration into that site. However, sequence analysis of the DNA flanking several hot spots failed to identify any common sequence motif shared by these sites. This lack of primary sequence information suggests that higher order DNA structural characteristics of the DNA and/or chromatin may influence integration site selection by the hobo element.

Measurements of the J=2-1 Lines of CS and C18O toward the Star-forming Region W49A North

Abstract: Observations of the W49A North star-forming region in the J = 2-1 line of CS have been made with the BIMA array with an angular resolution of 46 × 38; complementary observations in the J = 2-1 line of C18O and J = 3-2 line of C34S were made with the IRAM 30 m telescope, with angular resolutions of 12'' and 17'' respectively. The molecular complex is elongated along a diagonal from northeast to southwest. The position-velocity diagrams for CS convolved to 12'' resemble those of C18O and the J = 5-4 line of C34S (from Serabyn et al.). There is a change in velocity along the major axis of the molecular complex. Most spectra toward W49A North show two main velocity components, the relative intensities of which vary with position along the major axis of the molecular complex. At the higher resolution of ~4'', absorption of the continuum emission at 3 mm by CS is clearly observed. The apparent velocity gradient is seen to be part of a C-shaped distribution in the CS position-velocity image. Furthermore, as is found in the J = 1-0 HCO+ data by Welch et al., the optically thick CS J = 2-1 line exhibits an inverse P Cygni profile toward H II region G. These two characteristics of the CS data lend support to the global collapse model (Welch et al.). The high-resolution CS profiles in the central region all show varying degrees of absorption. At lower resolution the surrounding CS emission fills in much of the absorption and the inverse P Cygni shape disappears.

Highly accurate determination of γ-ray emission probabilities for 27Mg

Abstract: The emission probabilities of the 171, 844 and 1014 keV γ-rays for 27 Mg were determined to be 0.0086(2), 0.7180(8) and 0.2820(8) by two methods, to measure the disintegration rate and γ-rays intensities and to determine the relative intensity for two higher-energy γ-rays using highly accurate detection efficiency curve.

Modeling Cone-Beam Tomographic Reconstruction Using LogSMP: An Extenced LogP Model for Clusters of SMPs

Abstract: The tomographic reconstruction for cone-beam geometries is a computationally intensive task requiring large memory and computational power to investigate interesting objects. The analysis of its parallel implementation on widely available clusters of SMPs requires an extension of the original LogP model to account for the various communication channels, called LogSMP. The LogSMP model is used in analyzing this algorithm, which predicts speedup on a cluster of 4 SMPs using 10 Mbps, 100Mbps, and ATM networks. We detail the measurement of the LogSMP parameters and assess the applicability of LogSMP modeling to the cone-beam tomography problem. This methodology can be applied to similar problems involving clusters of SMPs.

People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia

Abstract: People of the Rainbow:. Nomadic Utopia. MICHAEL I. NIMAN. Knoxville- University of Tennessee Press, 1997. xiv. 274 pp., appendixes, notes, glossary, index, illustrations.