Hampshire College

About: Hampshire College is a education organization based out in Amherst Center, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Genetic programming & Population. The organization has 461 authors who have published 998 publications receiving 40827 citations.

Relational, Indirect, Adaptive, or Just Mean: Recent Studies on Aggression in Adolescent Girls—Part II

Abstract: Recent research on gender differences in aggressive behaviors is reviewed in this second of a two-part article on the aggression of girls. The objective here is to use findings from studies done by social scientists to confirm and extend vivid reports in recent popular texts (Hadley, 2003). Findings are first summarized and then detailed with methodological issues and some theoretical implications discussed by way of conclusion. This recent research supports observations of differences in the aggression of boys and of girls. It points to the need for further research and discussion on the topic of gender and aggression.

CO(2) uptake and fixation by a thermoacidophilic microbial community attached to precipitated sulfur in a geothermal spring.

Abstract: Carbon fixation at temperatures above 73°C, the upper limit for photosynthesis, is carried out by chemosynthetic thermophiles. Yellowstone National Park (YNP), Wyoming possesses many thermal features that, while too hot for photosynthesis, presumably support chemosynthetic-based carbon fixation. To our knowledge, in situ rates of chemosynthetic reactions at these high temperatures in YNP or other high-temperature terrestrial geothermal springs have not yet been reported. A microbial community attached to precipitated elemental sulfur (So floc) at the source of Dragon Spring (73°C, pH 3.1) in Norris Geyser Basin, YNP, exhibited a maximum rate of CO2 uptake of 21.3 ± 11.9 μg of C 107 cells−1 h−1. When extrapolated over the estimated total quantity of So floc at the spring's source, the So floc-associated microbial community accounted for the uptake of 121 mg of C h−1 at this site. On a per-cell basis, the rate was higher than that calculated for a photosynthetic mat microbial community dominated by Synechococcus spp. in alkaline springs at comparable temperatures. A portion of the carbon taken up as CO2 by the So floc-associated biomass was recovered in the cellular nucleic acid pool, demonstrating that uptake was coupled to fixation. The most abundant sequences in a 16S rRNA clone library of the So floc-associated community were related to chemolithoautotrophic Hydrogenobaculum strains previously isolated from springs in the Norris Geyser Basin. These microorganisms likely contributed to the uptake and fixation of CO2 in this geothermal habitat.

Converging on Disaster: Climate Security and the Malthusian Anticipatory Regime for Africa

Abstract: Malthus’s privileging of population growth as the main cause of poverty, scarcity and war still resonates widely in both the public policy arena and popular culture. It shapes dominant discourses about the relationship between climate change, conflict and security in Africa. This article examines what I call the Malthusian Anticipatory Regime for Africa (MARA). MARA represents the convergence of current international strategies for reducing high fertility in sub-Saharan Africa through long-acting female contraception with climate conflict narratives that blame environmental degradation on population pressure and portray young African men as a security threat. Together these serve as a powerful gendered rationale for Western humanitarian and military interventions. MARA also plays a role in justifying the new land enclosures on the continent. How can critical scholarship more effectively challenge MARA and intervene in the politics of anticipating the future?

Understanding diagrams in technical documents

Abstract: The development of a knowledge base of biological research papers that supports the Scientist's Assistant, an intelligent system that will provide a scientist with interactive access to the research results, methods, and reasoning in a collection of scientific papers, is discussed. The document understanding system uses graphics constraint grammars for describing and analyzing diagrams, spatial indexing in diagram analysis and understanding, and extension of natural-language processing techniques to complex scientific text. The graphics constraint grammars of the diagram-understanding system are described in detail. Example diagrams and grammars are presented. >