Central CO2/pH Chemosensitivity Influence on Respiration in both Early and Late Staged Tadpoles

We test the hypothesis that central respiratory CO2/pH chemosensitivity, recorded from isolated brainstems, remains consistent throughout tadpole development. Results indicate that tadpoles at all developmental stages respond to CO2/pH, and that the sensitivity of these responses does not change with development.Funded by the NSF Grant IOS-102244

A design analysis of an undergraduate rocket test facility

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Individual differences in helping behavior

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 14-16).This study examined the relations among the personality dimension of agreeableness, empathy and pro-social behavior. College students (N=210) were randomly assigned to either a high or low empathy condition in which they listened to the story of a fellow student in need. After listening to the situation described in a supposed radio broadcast, participants were given an opportunity to help. Outcomes suggest individual differences in empathy and emotionality. Results were discussed in terms of agreeableness as a predictor of emotion variables

Abandon Statistical Significance

We discuss problems the null hypothesis significance testing (NHST) paradigm poses for replication and more broadly in the biomedical and social sciences as well as how these problems remain unresolved by proposals involving modified p-value thresholds, confidence intervals, and Bayes factors. We then discuss our own proposal, which is to abandon statistical significance. We recommend dropping the NHST paradigm--and the p-value thresholds intrinsic to it--as the default statistical paradigm for research, publication, and discovery in the biomedical and social sciences. Specifically, we propose that the p-value be demoted from its threshold screening role and instead, treated continuously, be considered along with currently subordinate factors (e.g., related prior evidence, plausibility of mechanism, study design and data quality, real world costs and benefits, novelty of finding, and other factors that vary by research domain) as just one among many pieces of evidence. We have no desire to "ban" p-values or other purely statistical measures. Rather, we believe that such measures should not be thresholded and that, thresholded or not, they should not take priority over the currently subordinate factors. We also argue that it seldom makes sense to calibrate evidence as a function of p-values or other purely statistical measures. We offer recommendations for how our proposal can be implemented in the scientific publication process as well as in statistical decision making more broadly

Positive and negative magnetocapacitance in magnetic nanoparticle systems

The dielectric properties of MnFe$_2$O$_4$ and $\gamma$-Fe$_2$O$_3$ magnetic nanoparticles embedded in insulating matrices were investigated. The samples showed frequency dependent dielectric anomalies coincident with the magnetic blocking temperature and significant magnetocapacitance above this blocking temperature, as large as 0.4% at H = 10kOe. For both samples the magnetic field induced change in dielectric constant was proportional to the square of the sample magnetization. These measurements suggest that the dielectric properties of magnetic nanoparticles are closely related to the disposition of magnetic moments in the system. As neither bulk gamma-Fe2O3 nor MnFe2O3 are magnetoelectric materials, this magnetodielectric coupling is believed to arise from extrinsic effects which are discussed in light of recent work relating magnetoresistive and magnetocapacitive behavior.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure

Dynamics of refractory carbon in seagrass meadows

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Science.The protection and rehabilitation of natural landscapes in order to enhance their role in carbon sequestration is currently a hot topic for scientists and policymakers looking for solutions to reduce atmospheric CO₂ levels. Blue carbon ecosystems (seagrass, mangrove, saltmarsh) have recently been found to match or even exceed the capability of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon. In seagrass habitats, seagrass carbon alone can account for half of the carbon in the top 10 cm of sediment. Litter quality, often measured as refractory carbon content, is one of the main factors that can influence the sequestration and storage of refractory carbon. Yet to-date, there has been little attempt to understand what factors help or hinder refractory carbon preservation in seagrass sediments. The aim of this thesis was to unravel the processes and factors that influence, and even optimise, the preservation of refractory carbon in seagrass meadows beginning with the refractory carbon content in seagrass tissues, its persistence (or remineralisation) during decomposition and finally, its preservation in sediments and the mechanisms that provoke further remineralisation after burial. To accomplish these aims, a multi-variable approach was taken, which involved assessing the main and interaction effects of biological, chemical and environmental/physical variables on refractory carbon remineralisation and storage. The results from this thesis revealed that the processes that affect refractory carbon dynamics in seagrass meadows are complex. It was shown that, while inherent refractory carbon content in the tissues can promote sequestration, decomposition was a strong influence on the persistence of refractory carbon. Anoxic conditions and structural complexity of the tissues promoted refractory carbon preservation and were dependent on the microbial communities present. Sheath and stem tissues were considered to be important carbon contributors due to their high refractory carbon content and chance of in situ burial. Temperature and the availability of labile organic matter and inorganic nutrients enhanced decay in the short-term under oxic conditions, while physical disturbance and habitat loss caused losses of sediment refractory carbon over the course of months to years depending on the type of disturbance. In light of these results, a new conceptual model was developed for seagrass decomposition and have highlighted several important avenues of future blue carbon research, including the functional roles of microbes (bacteria, fungi and protists) in carbon remineralisation via bioinformatics and enzymes kinetics, as well as the conversion, or ‘up-cycling’, of labile carbon to refractory carbon within microbial biomass

Evidence of Low-Temperature Superparamagnetism in Mn3O_{3}O_{4}$ Nanoparticle Ensembles

Please refer to the abstract within the main body of the paper