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Oh Deer... Optimal Foraging Theory!
Get PDFThe objective of this study was to observe optimal foraging theory in Ohio wildlife in an agricultural environment. Optimal foraging theory predicts how individuals weigh handling time and safety with the energy gained from food. This was tested by presenting food with varying safety and accessibility to monitor preferences. Feeding stations were monitored by trail cameras to measure time spent at each location. The animals were offered the choice of feeding in an open field or edge forest habitat, as well as the choice between easily accessible food left in the open, and harder to access food stuffed in a PVC pipe. We found that the animals of the community followed optimal foraging patterns based on food accessibility. Deer, the most prevalent species throughout this study, were studied independently and did not show adherence to predicted accessibility foraging patterns. Contrary to our hypothesis, neither group showed a preference for the edge forest, instead preferring to forage in the field
Increasing hepatitis C screening and referral within an FQHC look-alike, primary care setting: A quality improvement project
Get PDFHepatitis C virus (HCV) is a liver disease brought on by a viral infection that presents few or no symptoms during an acute infection (CDC, 2024). Chronic HCV infection can result in irreversible liver damage, such as cirrhosis or hepatic carcinoma (Moyer et al., 2013). Although there is no current preventative vaccine, there are treatment options that can cure the host of the virus (CDC, 2024). Research has shown that screening for hepatitis C in the primary care setting, based on risk factors, has been an effective method for early detection (Layman, et. al., 2020; Perkins, et. al., 2021; and Zuure, et al., 2010). To date, there has been a lack of screening for HCV due to the absence of a screening protocol or procedure in place at a small community health center in Springfield, Ohio. Current recommendations available by several health organizations, including the CDC, WHO, and USPSTF, propose a gold standard of care, which is to screen all adults, 18 years and older, and more often if considered a patient at high risk of infection (Layman, et. al., 2020 and Moyer, 2013). The purpose of this project is to improve screening and referral rates for HCV infection at a small community health facility by implementing an HCV risk assessment tool into the Electronic Health Record system (EHR). The objective of this quality improvement project is to increase hepatitis C screening from 0% to 60% within a 4-week implementation period. WHO estimated that 242,000 people died in 2022 from severe liver disease related to HCV infection. WHO has a goal to end HCV by 2030. Clark County Combined Health District reports from 2024 indicate rising numbers of HCV infection, with sixty-seven reported cases year to date, fifty-nine reported cases in 2023 (Clark, 2024). Improving HCV screening through risk-based assessment will not only improve patient outcomes but assist in reaching the WHO goal of HCV eradication by 2030
In Its Time
Get PDFIn a world which emphasizes external beauty, it is easy to place excessive value on our appearance. The truth is, our bodies will become frail and withered over time. In creating the charcoal art piece In Its Time, I hope to highlight the Bible\u27s differing view on beauty: He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end, (Ecclesiastes 3:11). We may find peace in knowing that the Lord finds each of us beautiful throughout all stages of life, from youth to old age.
Credits to the photo of the old woman which I drew from go to Josh Wentz. You can find the original photograph and more of his work here: https://www.flickr.com/people/joshandjuls/. The portrait of the younger woman was drawn using this photograph (author unknown): https://www.pinterest.com/pin/457608012133259126/
Reconciling Sphagnum Bogs of Exceptional Depth With a Young Earth Model
Get PDFSphagnum bogs such as Raheenmore and Clara bogs in Ireland have a maximum peat depth of 7-12 meters even above 15 meters in some locations. Given measured and extrapolated growth rates it ought to take 5.4 - 3.2 thousand years for this amount of peat accumulation. This is incompatible with a YEC model, because I am interpreting these bogs as post-Flood as they sit on top of glacial deposits. Not only is growth limited to after the Flood, but core logs display evidence of glaciation which often precedes bog development. Regardless of the timing of glaciation after the Flood, the necessity of these events to precede the bog further constrains the permissible time for their growth and development. When developing a new model for the existence of post Flood bogs of exceptional depth one must first establish that all the peat produced was in-situ and mostly sphagnum. Following this, the factors controlling the current and maximum possible growth rate must be established. Lastly it is vital to not only establish the conditions required to grow and preserve that much sphagnum but also to establish the feasibility of those conditions existing and being maintained long enough to allow that growth.
Multiple reports present data supporting that at least 90% of the sphagnum peat is in-situ organic matter. This was accomplished by core logs and associated palynology as well as comparisons with modern analogous environments and the 200 years of recorded observations at these sites. These reports also argue that the growth rate used to be much faster than it is in the present day. A plethora of studies exist illustrating how factors such as temperature, pH, nutrient levels, oxygen concentrations, and light availability impact growth rate, biomass density, and preservation of sphagnum. Water chemistry specifically has the largest recorded impact with 50-fold biomass yield in ideal conditions. If it had just ideal water chemistry the rate could potentially be increased to allow the bog to form in approximately 108 years so long as that chemistry was maintained the whole time. However, any of the other factors could still decrease the growth time to about 415 years. Furthermore, if these conditions were combined and sustained in their ideal the sphagnum could theoretically grow at even faster rates.
The likelihood of any one condition being ideal for the entire growth time is unlikely, though evidence suggests that there are multiple times over the history of the bogs where they had at least one or more of these conditions met, especially at the beginning of their growth. Therefore, it is reasonable for these exceptionally deep sphagnum bogs to have formed post flood and post glaciation as their measured historical growth rates were faster than present day rates and records of environmental factors suggests it grew even faster than historical rates.
Beggars B., 1997. Sedimentology of Late Glacial Clays in Lacustrine Basins Central Ireland. Quaternary Science Reviews 16:779-791
Weider, K.R., Novak, M., Schell, W.R., Rhodes, T. 1994 Rates of Peat Accumulation Over the Past 200 Years in Five Sphagnum Dominated Peatlands in the United States. Journal of Paleolimnology 12, (March): 35-4
Making Coal in the Laboratory by Simulating Natural Conditions
Get PDFMaking Coal in the Laboratory by Simulating Natural Conditions
This project tests conditions for bituminous and anthracite coal formation. An apparatus was designed and fabricated that could simulate natural conditions within the earth including, 1) Water depths up to 701m (6.9 MPa, to prevent water from boiling), 2) Overburden of inorganic sediments, up to 20.7 MPa compression, and 3) Geothermal temperatures up to 260°C. Douglas fir, red oak, white pine wood, and black peat moss were tested at 224°C, 5.5 MPa water pressure, and compressed at zero, 10.3 MPa and 20.7 MPa for 1 to 3 weeks.
The following observations were made, 1) Coal made from black peat moss contains many particles and agglomerations of sand and miscellaneous minerals where bituminous and anthracite do not, 2) At zero compression the result looked like charcoal and since it was formed within liquid water is also known as hydrochar. Density 0.24-0.32 gm/cc, very soft, 3) At 10.3 MPa compression the coal was much denser but still had the appearance of charred wood, 4) At 20.7 MPa compression the samples actually look like natural coal. The fractures were black and shiny, similar to obsidian glass. All subsequent tests were then performed at 20.7 MPa, 5) Average solid density was approximately 1.3gm/cc which is very similar to bituminous but not as high as anthracite which is about 1.5gm/cc, 6) Vickers hardness was similar to natural coal but difficult to measure due to the tendency of natural coal to fracture even at low indenter loads, 7) Laboratory ultimate analysis of one week samples indicated that carbon content was 68 to 73% and that hydrogen to carbon ratio of all samples were very close to bituminous, 0.06 to 0.07, 8) Lab analysis also indicated that oxygen content was high, 21 to 26%. Oxygen to carbon ratio was higher at 0.3 to 0.4 for the samples where bituminous is approximately 0.2 or less, 9) Ultimate analysis of the three-week sample indicated oxygen had come down to 20%. 10)Some of the extracted liquids were soluble in water, others were soluble in acetone, and still others were not soluble in water or acetone, 11) Original wood to coal compression ratio is about 5:1. Natural vegetation to coal compression ratios are estimated at 10:1 up to 30:1.
In conclusion, 1) The test equipment and test methods appear to produce synthetic coal that has the same physical properties and appearance as natural coal as well as similar chemical properties. 2) Based on the estimated compression ratios of coal, a 30 m thick coal seam found in North America would have started out as a 300m to 900m thick bed of vegetation. 3) To achieve the appearance and density of natural bituminous coal, the samples had to be compressed to 20.7 MPa. This would suggest that natural coal was also compressed in a similar fashion by inorganic sedimentary overburden that was 900m to 2700m thick depending on density and buoyancy of the sediment if waterborne. 4) Assuming the black peat moss was formed in an ancient low-lying bog or swamp, observations using a microscope or even the naked eye would suggest that bituminous or anthracite coal could never have come from this or similar source. 5) If liquid water was present at 224°C, a water depth of approximately 250m of head pressure would be required to keep the water from boiling away
Investigating Baraminology in an Iconic Group of Desert Plants, Family Cactaceae
Get PDFCacti (family Cactaceae) are an intriguing group of plants which thrive in arid environments such as Arizona’s Sonoran Desert. Most of the 1750 species in family Cactaceae are native to the Western Hemisphere, including 122 species reported in Arizona (USA) (Christenhusz 2016). This diverse family is home to giants such as the iconic saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) as well as the unassuming, shrub-like Barbados gooseberry (Pereskia aculeata). Whether the plants within family Cactaceae represent one, more than one, or less than one created kind has never been thoroughly investigated.
Baraminology, the study of created kinds, has historically relied upon hybridization and morphological data to identify discontinuities between groups of organisms (Wood 2003). More recently, the use of molecular baraminology has sought to clarify these discontinuities between groups of organisms by comparing protein and DNA sequences (Cserhati 2023). With the growing availability of complete chloroplast genomes (cpDNA), molecular baraminology is a potentially powerful tool for resolving plant baramins. By leveraging morphological, hybridization, and molecular data we aim to use a three-pronged approach to reconstruct the baraminological history of family Cactaceae.
Fifty-four species of cacti from three separate subfamilies (Cactoideae, Opuntioideae, and Pereskoideae) for which complete cpDNA sequences are available were used for this analysis. Complete cpDNA sequences (~110-160 kbp) were aligned using MAFFT, pairwise distances were calculated between species, and these distances were used to group species based on sequence similarities following previously published protocols (Cserhati 2023).
Based on gross morphological analysis and hybridization data we hypothesize that the 54 cacti species represent 3 separate holobaramins. Multiple alignment of cpDNA from these 54 species clustered them into two different putative holobaramins which do not correlate with the holobaramins proposed by the morphological analysis. The conflict between the morphological and molecular analyses is due to the sequence similarities being disproportionately impacted by inversions, duplications, and deletions in cpDNA. These large-scale genetic rearrangements strongly affect the similarity scores between pairwise alignments, thereby generating spurious groupings that do not necessarily reflect baraminic relationships. This study identifies potential pitfalls in using global cpDNA analysis for baraminological comparisons and highlights important considerations to make before drawing baraminology conclusions from molecular data.
References:
Christenhusz, Maarten J. M., and James W. Byng. “The Number of Known Plants Species in the World and Its Annual Increase.” Phytotaxa 261, no. 3 (May 20, 2016): 201–17.
Wood, Todd Charles, Kurt P. Wise, Roger Sanders, and Neal Doran. “A Refined Baramin Concept.” Baraminology Study Group (2003): 1-14.
Cserhati, Matthew. Chloroplast Genome-Based Baraminology Study of Liliales. Creation Research Society Qtr 60, no. 2 (2023): 84-96
Radium Girls
No full textStep back in time to 1926, where radium was a miracle cure, Madame Curie a global icon, and luminous watches the height of fashion—until the girls painting them fell mysteriously ill. Based on a true story, Radium Girls follows Grace Fryer, a dial painter, as she takes on her former employer in a courtroom battle.https://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/theatre_productions/1060/thumbnail.jp
After Death He Did Not Die: An Examination of Palestrina\u27s Continuing Legacy
Get PDFGiovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s reputation has been maintained throughout music history. During Palestrina’s life, the Council of Trent made reforms to the requirements for church music. The most pertinent requirement for Palestrina’s lasting reputation was the need for intelligible text in a polyphonic setting, which he successfully accomplished in his Missa Papae Marcelli. After his death, the legend that Palestrina had single handedly saved church music spread, causing his fame to grow. Also contributing to his continued reputation was Johann Fux’s widely used treatise on counterpoint, Gradus ad Parnassum, which was heavily influenced by Palestrina’s compositional style. Through the treatise, Palestrina continued to have an influence on composition long after his death. Because of the credit he received for saving church music and the influence of his compositions upon Fux’s treatise Gradus ad Parnassum, Palestrina’s name has remained a part of music history from his death until now
