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Health for All: Using Utilitarianism to Require Childhood Vaccinations
Get PDFIn the last few decades, many parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children against serious infectious diseases. In seeking exemptions, they often cite conflicting religious beliefs and fear of risks. Using the principle of utilitarianism, this paper argues that despite parents\u27 cited religious beliefs and concerns about risks, state laws should require all children to get vaccinated unless doing so would cause direct harm to the child’s health. Adopting this mandate would ensure that the maximum number of people would benefit from immunity to serious and deadly diseases
Tracking Residual-Yolk Energy in Dormant Hatchling Turtles
Get PDFHatchling painted turtles (Chrysemys picta) spend their first winter inside natal nests without food and must rely on maternally derived energy in the form of residual yolk for up to nine months. In this study, we take a closer look at the use and movement of residual-yolk energy during the first 33 weeks (~8 mo.) after hatching by measuring changes in mass, lipid content, & protein content of yolk, liver, small intestine, and carcass. Our data showed a significant decrease in yolk mass by 64% and significant increases in carcass & liver masses of 9% & 16%, respectively, during the first 2 weeks after hatching. Yolk mass was further depleted to 17% at week 4, and did not significantly decrease further for the remaining 29 weeks. These results suggest that energy is transferred from residual yolk to somatic storage soon after hatching, and well before hibernation begins. We suggest that a low-temperature-induced down regulation of gut function that renders residual-yolk energy inaccessible during hibernation necessitates digestion and storage of residual-yolk energy soon after hatching when temperatures inside the nest are still high. That strategy may be used despite the net energy cost of digesting, storing, and later mobilizing that residual-yolk-derived energy. We are currently measuring triglyceride & protein contents of the aforementioned body parts to better track the use and movement of energy in the hatchlings
Motivation and Confidence: More than Cheerleading
Get PDFWhat empowers self-confidence in athletic performance? Most of us know the psychology and language of motivation in positive reinforcement: way to go ; good work ; I believe in you are some examples. It\u27s a sort of cheerleading. But confidence goes much deeper into the realm of how the athlete understands the existential self in the world. Is he more than a point getter? Is she more than all-conference or a record holder ?
Literature (novels, poetry, essays) often demonstrates that the depth of confidence is found in demonstrative love. If one feels worthy of love, and the love is demonstrated, fear of failure is diminished, and the I can do this dominates.
Hear concrete examples of how this can work even in difficult challenges
Snake Fungal Disease in Lake Eerie Water Snakes and its Affect on Attitude and Behavior During Treatment
Get PDFSnake fungal disease (SFD) is caused by the fungus Ophidiomyces ophiodiicola. Infection occurs when the outer skin is breached, and the organism enters the epidermis. The epidermis becomes necrotic and produces a yellow/brown crust. When the crust breaks off, ulcerations/lesions are formed along the snake’s body, head and tail. It has been found that SFD can be treated with a terbinafine nebulization treatment. Ellen Haynes, a PhD student, created a study in which 26 Lake Eerie water snakes are separated into treatment and control groups to determine the effectiveness of the nebulization treatment. Through daily observations, this research aimed to compare the snakes in the treatment and control groups by categorizing them by attitude and behavior. The 12 snakes in the treatment group were bright-alert-responsive (BAR) 5% less than the 10 snakes in the control group. The treatment snakes were only BAR 9 of 47 days compared to the control snakes that were BAR 12 of 47 days. This shows that the snakes that are lethargic in nature are more likely to survive
Identifying Dietary and Migratory Patterns of Illinois Woolly Mammoth Populations Using Isotope Analysis of Carbon, Oxygen, and Strontium
Get PDFThe extinct woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) ranged from Alaska to the Northeastern Seaboard throughout the Late Pleistocene (100-10 Ka). Although it is recognized that woolly mammoths coincided with and lived in a region heavily influenced by glacial ice sheets, little is known about their dietary or migratory behavior. This study classifies and provides insight into the diet and mobility of Midwestern mammoths by analyzing stable isotopes of carbon, oxygen, and strontium preserved in the tooth enamel of these extinct elephantids. A woolly mammoth tooth from Moline, IL, was bulk-sampled and micromilled to extract the aforementioned isotopes from the base of the enamel. Dated to 16,410 ±110 BP (20,085-19,530 calBP), measured 13C (-12.6‰ to -11.1‰, PDB) values indicate that the terminal LGM landscape of western Illinois was dominated by C3 vegetation, which is typical of a cooler climate. This cooler climate during the LGM is also reflected by the resulting high 18O values (-10.8‰ to -8.1‰, PDB). The ratios of 87Sr/86Sr isotopes retained in the tooth enamel were mapped using GIS onto a regional isoscape to determine the mobility of one mammoth across its lifetime. The mobility patterns were compared to seasonal and annual dietary shifts to better understand the underlying cause for migrations. Preliminary analyses of the 87Sr/86Sr values (0.7907 – 0.7156) suggest that there were regional population movements around the northern Mississippi River Valley. The data reveals the climate and landscape during the terminal Pleistocene in western Illinois and how woolly mammoths responded to it
John Fredrik Seedoff: Augustana Alum of 1886
Get PDFJohn Seedoff was a graduate from Augustana in 1886. We will discuss his career as a pastor, his family history, and his genealogy. We will include when he arrived at Augustana, and what he did as a student here
Potter\u27s Wheel
No full texthttps://digitalcommons.augustana.edu/studyabroadphotos/1025/thumbnail.jp
Standardization of Methods for Characterizing the Physiological Profiles of Aquatic Microbial Communities using EcoPlates
Get PDFMicrobial physiology is often studied by observing pure cultures of isolated organisms grown in a lab setting. This approach is not realistic when trying to understand how a community of bacteria, which includes a variety of bacterial species, is functioning while coexisting in a specific ecosystem.
By using BioLOG EcoPlates, the metabolic functioning of a microbial community in response to 31 different carbon sources may be assessed in just one plate. Each well in an EcoPlate contains a single common carbon source and a tetrazolium dye that will turn purple in color if any microbe in the sample is able to metabolize that carbon source. The intensity of the purple color in a well will increase over time in proportion to how much metabolic activity occurred. If water samples taken from the same ecosystem sites at different times are used to inoculate EcoPlates, we can determine if microbial community function has changed over time and use these findings, along with other variables like water chemistry, nitrogen uptake, coliform counts, and temperature and weather patterns, to more completely understand how a freshwater ecosystem is functioning.
This pilot study was performed to standardize our sampling, data collection, and data analysis methods by using samples from a local aquatic ecosystem (e.g., the Augustana Slough). Baseline data were also collected for two watersheds in Davenport, IA which will continue to be evaluated this summer for signs of urban stream syndrome in conjunction with an ongoing project through the Augustana Upper Mississippi Center
