Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1914. / "A Private Edition Distributed by the University of Chicago Libraries." Bibliography: p. [vii]-viii. Also available on the Internet.

In the curriculum from 2011 for Religion in Swedish Upper Secondary School, a new content has been added regarding the relationship between religion and science. The pupils are supposed to acquire a view of how the understanding of religion and science can express questions concerning creationism and evolution. The purpose of this study is to identify how this relation between religion and science is represented in textbooks for the subjects of Religion and Biology and how pupils are encouraged to reflect on and discuss this relationship. The method of this essay consists of a qualitative content analysis of textbooks from both Religion and Biology. The result of this study showed an overall multifaceted picture of the relation between religion and science.

published_or_final_version / Biological Sciences / Master / Master of Philosophy

Darwin's theory (1859) proposes that evolution progresses by the survival of those individuals in the population that have greater fitness. Modern understanding of Darwinian evolution is that variation in phenotype, or functional behavior, is caused by variation in genotype, or the DNA sequence. However, a quantitative understanding of what functional behaviors may emerge through Darwinian mechanisms, within reasonable computational and information-theoretic resources, has not been established. Valiant (2006) proposed a computational model to address the question of the complexity of functions that may be evolved through Darwinian mechanisms. In Valiant's model, the goal is to evolve a representation that computes a function that is close to some ideal function under the target distribution. While this evolution model can be simulated in the statistical query learning framework of Kearns (1993), Feldman has shown that under some constraints the reverse also holds, in the sense that learning algorithms in this framework may be cast as evolutionary mechanisms in Valiant's model. In this thesis, we present three results in Valiant's computational model of evolution. The first shows that evolutionary mechanisms in this model can be made robust to gradual drift in the ideal function, and that such drift resistance is universal, in the sense that, if some concept class is evolvable when the ideal function is stationary, it is also evolvable in the setting when the ideal function drifts at some low rate. The second result shows that under certain de nitions of recombination and for certain selection mechanisms, evolution with recombination may be substantially faster. We show that in many cases polylogarithmic, rather than polynomial, generations are sufficient to evolve a concept class, whenever a suitable parallel learning algorithm exists. The third result shows that computation, and not just information, is a limiting resource for evolution. We show that when computational resources in Valiant's model are allowed to be unbounded, while requiring that the information-theoretic resources be polynomially bounded, more concept classes are evolvable. This result is based on widely believed conjectures from complexity theory. / Engineering and Applied Sciences

<p> Sedentary organisms that inhabit the marine intertidal zone must be adapted to withstand forms of environmental stress that are uncommon in other marine environments. Adaptations to these stressors are apparent in the morphologies, behaviors, life histories, and regulation and products of genes of sedentary intertidal organisms (Lent 1969; Garrity 1984; Schmidt et al 2008). However, for those species that have a planktonic larval stage, evolutionary specialization at the molecular level could be constrained by opposing requirements for larvae and adults that are adapted to very different environments. This constraint would have been removed in lineages that lost the ancestral larval stage, and reinstated in lineages that secondarily reacquired a larval stage. A comparative approach using a group in which the planktonic larval stage has been lost and reacquired could be used to test the hypothesis that adaptive evolution of stress-related genes accompanies these life-history transitions. </p><p> Genes with known roles in physiological stress tolerance include those that encode the family of 70 kilodalton heat shock proteins (<i>hsp70s </i>) (Feder and Hofmann 1999). Statistical tests for departures from selective neutrality were applied to sequence variation in <i>hsp70 </i> genes of calyptraeid gastropods. The Calpytraeidae include both intertidal and subtidal species, as well as species that have lost or secondarily reacquired the ancestral planktonic larval stage (Collin 2003a; Collin et al. 2007). I focused on two species: <i>Crepidula fornicata</i> and <i>C. atrasolea</i>. Both species are found in low intertidal and subtidal habitats in the western tlantic region. However, whereas the eggs of <i>C. fornicata</i> hatch into planktonic veligers, the eggs of <i>C. atrasolea</i> develop directly into crawling juveniles. I tested for selection with statistics that characterize the distribution of sequence variation within and between species, comparing values for each <i> hsp70</i> gene fragment with expectations for selectively neutral loci. </p>

The surtace and subsurtace Holocene deposits ot the macrotidal barrier coast ot north Norfolk. between Hunstanton and Wevbourne. have been investisated bv a coordinated studv ot sedimentarv and foraminiteral parameters. 14 distinct sedimentarv and vesetational areas (environmental units) are recognisable from aerial photographs, trom which a map of their spatial distributions has been produced. Barriers are both prograding (Holkham Gap) and eroding (Brancaster to Thornham) due to variations in sediment supply and land reclamation. Present models of sediment movement underestimate the offshore supply to the coast. In particular the input of sediment to the Holkham Gap area from a easterly offshore movement. Removal of fine sand to the offshore zone occurs at channel inlets although westerly spit development of Blakeney Point has created an embayment at Stiffkey where finer sands accumulate. Barrier formation observed at Holkham Gap indicates the emplacement and stabilisation of beach bars to be a major formational process. Sedimentarv parameter ranges delineate silt based units but show considerable overlap between sand-based units. Foraminiferal species assemblages delineate 4 significant cluster groupings also separating silt based units but amalgamating sand based units into one cluster group. The environmental unit determination of subsurface samples was supplemented bv stratigraphic relationship interpretations for sand based units. 9 subsur~ace environmental units have been separated. (i) back barrier sand and dune. (ii) peat. (iii) inter-tidal gravel, (iv) inter-tidal sand, (v) channel sand, (vi) inter-tidal silty sand, (vii) inter-tidal mud and marsh creek, (viii) lower marsh and (ix) upper marsh.

With numerous opportunities for professional development, teachers are inundated with a variety of workshop styles to choose from. In the development of the Life Through Time workshop, we have made every attempt to consider recent research that outlines the most effective methodologies in professional development implementation including consideration of existing conceptions, teacher motivation, and highly reflective engagement. The intention of this long-term professional development is to motivate teachers to implement changes in the delivery of content related to evolution in the science classroom. After reviewing the strategies implemented in this professional development opportunity, practices that were used can be extended to future teacher training programs. / text

published_or_final_version / Computer Science and Information Systems / Master / Master of Philosophy

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No description available.