This dissertation addresses the heartbeat and the systems of natural philosophy that were used to explain it in the 17th century. Thus, I work in two domains of explanation. The first domain is physiology, in which William Harvey correctly ordered the heart’s systolic and diastolic motions, while René Descartes incorrectly reversed them. By looking at Harvey and Descartes’ more complete physiological models I reconsider the controversy that spun out of their divergent accounts. The second domain is the junction of physics and metaphysics, representing the frameworks of natural philosophy behind physiology. I argue that Harvey’s physiology was correct while his supporting principles were “wrong,” and Descartes’ physiology was incorrect while his supporting principles were “right.” Thus, my thesis is that Harvey was “right” but perhaps for the wrong reasons, while Descartes was “wrong” but perhaps for the right reasons. Of course, this judgement is made from a contemporary perspective. By using a contextualist approach to history, I aim to show how the controversy between Harvey and Descartes resolved in Nicolas Steno, when he discovered that the heart is a muscle.

A filosofia de Arthur Schopenhauer se caracteriza por um esforço contínuo de reflexão para decifrar um antigo enigma, qual seja, a analogia entre o homem e o universo ou entre o micro e o macrocosmo. Schopenhauer postulou o primado da vontade cega sobre o intelecto como o seu dogma fundamental, isto é, como a chave interpretativa que permite solucionar o problema em questão. O filósofo desenvolveu uma monumental metafísica, qualificada por ele de imanente, em cujas bases estão a sua complexa concepção de vontade e uma articulada compreensão da analogia como método de reflexão filosófica. Apesar de tal esforço, o próprio Schopenhauer explicitamente reconheceu que uma solução absoluta e exaustiva do problema seria uma doutrina da onisciência, algo realmente impossível para a razão humana, já que não há entendimento pleno e absoluto da essência e origem do mundo. Assim, o horizonte da experiência humana permanecerá sempre na mais profunda e completa obscuridade. A filosofia de Schopenhauer apresenta, portanto, uma tensão originária, a saber, a consciência de que conhecer o ser absoluto é tão impossível quanto é incansável a busca pela compreensão metafísica do mundo. O texto que se segue consiste, portanto, no esforço para resgatar algumas fontes históricas, observar o sentido e as referências originárias dos conceitos, para interpretar, no interior da dinâmica teórica da obra de Schopenhauer, o significado propriamente filosófico da analogia da vontade. A hipótese de orientação consistiu em supor que a obra do autor se caracteriza por uma peculiar articulação da reflexão metafísica com os conhecimentos produzidos pelas ciências biológicas, sobretudo, a partir do estudo da fisiologia dos impulsos orgânicos vitais e inconscientes, para, desse modo, elaborar uma imagem conceitual do mundo compreendido como um macroantropo, cuja significação moral mais profunda se traduz no sentimento universal do sofrimento e na negação da vontade de viver. Neste sentido, a vontade, segundo o próprio autor, constitui o último marco-limite do conhecimento possível e o mundo nada mais é do que o multifacetado reflexo físico de um mal metafísico que em si é imanente, uno e indivisível em cada ser. Foi necessária uma reconstrução introdutória do problema da analogia entre o micro e o macrocosmo, bem como a busca pelo significado originário do conceito de vontade que acompanha o seu desenvolvimento histórico para compreender a filosofia de Schopenhauer como a solução peculiar de um problema que lhe é próprio. O texto apresenta os valores que a analogia assume em cada etapa do pensamento schopenhaueriano, destacando uma tensão constitutiva entre as diferentes funções que ela desempenha. A interpretação que aqui se expõe, consistiu no esforço para compreender a pertinência genuinamente filosófica da analogia da vontade em alguns aspectos de sua complexidade intrínseca, incluindo as suas limitações e fragilidades sem, no entanto, ignorar o seu poder de alcance, a coerência própria e a sua singular capacidade explicativa. / The philosophy of Arthur Schopenhauer is characterized by the constant effort of reflection to decipher an old enigma, which is the analogy between the man and the universe or the micro and macrocosm. Schopenhauer postulated that the primacy of will blinds the intellect as its fundamental dogma, that is, as an interpretative key that enables to solve the problem focused. The philosopher developed a monumental metaphysics, qualified as immanent by him, whose bases are his complex concept of will and an articulated comprehension of analogy as a philosophical reflection method. Despite such effort, Schopenhauer himself has explicitly recognized that an absolute and exhaustive solution of the problem would be an omniscience doctrine, something really impossible to human reason, as there is no full and absolute understanding of the world\'s essence and origin. This way, the horizon of human experience will always remain in the most deep and complete obscurity. The philosophy of Schopenhauer presents, though, a primary tension, namely: the consciousness of knowing the absolute individual is as impossible as the tireless search for the world\'s metaphysics comprehension. Therefore, the following text consists of the effort to rescue some historical sources, observe the sense and the original references of concepts, to interpret, from the inside of the theoretical dynamics of Schopenhauer\'s work, the proper philosophical meaning of the analogy of will. The guidance hypothesis constitutes of supposing that the author\'s work is characterized by a particular articulation of metaphysical reflection with the concepts produced by the biological sciences, mainly from the physiology study of vital and organic impulses, in order to create a conceptual image of the world seen as a macranthropos, whose most profound moral significance is translated to the universal suffering and the denial of the Will to life. In this sense, the will, according to the author, constitutes the last boundary of possible knowledge and the world is nothing more than a multifaceted physical reflection of a metaphysical evil which is immanent in itself, unified and inseparable to each individual. It was necessary an introductory reconstitution of the analogy problem between micro and macrocosm, as well as the search for the original meaning of the concept of will that follows its historical development to understand Schopenhauer\' philosophy as a peculiar solution to its own problem. The text presents the values assumed by the analogy in each step of schopenhauerian thought, highlighting the constitutive tension between the functions that it develops. This present interpretation constitutes of the effort to comprehend the genuinely philosophical pertinence of the analogy of will in some aspects of its intrinsic complexity, including its limitations and fragilities without ignoring its reach power, own coherence and singular explanatory capacity.

Nitrogen cycling was studied in the hypersaline northern arm of the Great Salt Lake (332,480 mg/l total dissolved solids) using a sediment-water microcosm simulation of that system. The study demonstrated that nitrate, ammonia, and urea were not stimulating to the halophilic bacteria in the microcosm. The bacteria were simulated only indirectly simulated bacterial growth. In addition, no nitrification could be demonstrated during the study. Weekly analyses of water samples from the north arm of the lake itself showed that nitrate and nitrite were absent, leaving ammonia as the only significant form of inorganic nitrogen in the northern lake basin. Other work on lake samples has indicated that no nitrogen fixation occurs in this system. Thus, the absence of nitrogen fixation, nitrification, and denitrification (because of the absence of nitrate) make it apparent that the production and the utilization of ammonia are the only two significant nitrogen cycling pathways operating in this system. The equilibrium established between the conversion of ammonia into organic nitrogen and the production of ammonia from mineralization of this organic matter is then responsible for the conditions which are found in the northern arm of the Great Salt Lake.

1,2-dichloroethane (1,2-DCA) is a popular industrial chlorinated organic chemical. Because 1,2-DCA is a dense non-aqueous phase liquid and easily accumulated in deep soil and water, it is difficult to be removed from the contaminated sites. In this study, aerobic and anaerobic microcosm batch experiments were performed to evaluate the feasibility of biodegradation of 1,2-DCA by adding different growth substrates. The aerobic microcosm results show that approximately 90% of 1,2-DCA removal was observed in the natural degradation group (A1) and the aerobic sludge addition group (A3) after 7 days of incubation. Up to 95% of 1,2-DCA removal could be observed in the substrate supplement group in after 14 days of incubation. In the anaerobic microcosm studies, 50% of 1,2-DCA removal could be obtained in all groups after 10 days except for the natural degradation group (B1). Moreover, the degradation efficiency for the anaerobic sludge group (B3) reached 80% of 1,2-DCA removal in 5 days. The DGGE profiles show that the microbial diversity varied with time and the sugar supplement groups (A2, B2) exhibited the most microbial diversity. Bacterial clones results revealed that the 1,2-DCA biodegradable microbial strains were presented in the microcosms, such as Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Rhodoferax and Xanthobactor. The real-time PCR results indicated that the Dehalococcoides spp. was the major bacterium that was responsible for the degradation of 1,2-DCA in the anaerobic substrate supplement group (B2). Desulfitobacterium spp. could be the dominant 1,2-DCA degrading bacterium for the aerobic substrate supplement group (A2) and all of the anaerobic groups (B1, B2, B3, B4).

Iron reduction is an important redox reaction in anaerobic environments for both biological and chemical cycling of elements such as carbon. However, the controls on the rate and extent of iron reduction are poorly understood and unlike other major terminal electron accepting processes, iron reduction has the added complexity that its oxidized form (ferric iron) exists primarily as one of several solid phases in environments with pH greater than 3. Thus, the distribution and form of ferric iron minerals are important controls on iron reduction in natural systems. For the first phase of this research a series of sequential chemical extractions was performed on a core taken from a landfill-leachate-contaminated wetland-aquifer system at the Norman Landfill, Norman, OK. The phases targeted by the sequential extractions consist of easily water soluble salts and ions present in the soil solution; weakly acid soluble iron (such as siderite and ankerite); easily reducible iron (such as ferrihydrite and lepidocrocite); moderately reducible iron (such as goethite, akageneite, and hematite); organically bound iron; magnetite; and pyrite. The second phase of this research involved creating in situ microcosm experiments that exposed native microbial communities to a test solution amended with 2-line ferrihydrite (Fe5HO8∙4H2O), electron donor (lactate and acetate), and a conservative tracer for a period of eleven days. The kinetics of iron reduction were then evaluated over time and the resulting changes in microbial community structure documented through DNA and RNA analysis. Results document the spatial distribution of iron phases at the contaminated wetland-aquifer interface. Results of the sequential extractions indicate that ferrihydrite was present throughout the core. Accordingly, ferrihydrite was used in subsequent experiments on in situ microcosms to evaluate the kinetic controls on the microbial reduction of ferrihydrite. The results of these experiments show that microbial communities actively responded to the introduction of the amended ferrihydrite solution by increasing their community size and reducing ferrihydrite to an iron (II) phase in increasing amounts over an eleven day period.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF Katherine E. Strain, for the Master's degree in Zoology, presented on October 21, 2014, at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: FATE AND TRANSPORT OF CRY1AB FROM TRANSGENIC BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS CORN IN AN AGRICULTURAL FIELD AND AQUATIC MICROCOSMS MAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Michael Lydy, Ph.D. Genetically-modified crops expressing insecticidal crystalline proteins derived from a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), were commercialized almost two decades ago as a means to combat agricultural pests. The Bt proteins are highly specific and only lethal upon ingestion, limiting the scope of toxicity to target insects. However, evidence for risk to non-target organisms and negative public perceptions on the use of Bt crops has caused controversy surrounding their use. The objective of this research was to monitor the fate and transport of a Bt protein, Cry1Ab, in a large-scale agricultural field and in aquatic microcosms. Quantitative methods were validated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and then used to evaluate field and laboratory samples. The highest environmental concentrations of the Cry1Ab protein were found in runoff water and sediment, up to 130 ng/L and 143 ng/g dry weight, respectively, with the Cry1Ab protein detected in both Bt and non-Bt fields. As surface runoff and residual crop debris can transport Bt proteins to waterways adjacent to agricultural fields, a series of laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the potential risk to non-target aquatic organisms. The results showed that sediment type and temperature can influence the degradation of the Cry1Ab protein in an aquatic system and that the Cry1Ab protein can persist for two months. While Cry1Ab protein concentrations measured in the field soil indicate little risk to terrestrial organisms, the consistent input of Bt-contaminated runoff and crop debris into agricultural waterways impart chronic risk to non-target aquatic species.

No description available.

In this study, the biodegradation potential of MTBE in uncontaminated and previously contaminated aquifer sediments under aerobic conditions was investigated. Laboratory microcosms were constructed using aquifer samples collected from three different areas of a shallow gasoline-contaminated aquifer in eastern Fairfax Co., Va in the Atlantic Coastal Plain province. Uncontaminated aquifer samples were collected upgradient of the plume, and contaminated aquifer samples were collected in the source area and in an area downgradient of the source. Biodegradation of MTBE was observed in microcosms that contained previously contaminated aquifer sediments. More complete degradation was observed in aquifer sediments containing a low level of petroleum contamination than in heavily contaminated aquifer sediments. Biodegradation of MTBE appeared to be limited by a lack of oxygen in heavily contaminated soils. When degradation was discernible it appeared to follow a first order pattern with a rate constant (l) of between 0.037 and 0.066 d-1, following a lag period of 20 to 40 days. In microcosms containing lightly contaminated aquifer material, MTBE was respiked during active metabolism, and degradation occurred with no lag or acclimation period. Results indicated that little or no degradation occurred in the microcosms containing uncontaminated soil. The results of this research suggest that the availability and level of petroleum hydrocarbon compounds influence indigenous microorganisms capable of degrading MTBE. / Master of Science

Traditionally, single species toxicity tests have been the primary tool for assessment of hazard of toxic substances in aquatic ecosystems. These tests are inadequate for accurately reflecting the impact of toxicants on the community structure inherent in ecosystems. Multispecies microcosm experiments are gaining widespread acceptance as an important vehicle in understanding the nature and magnitude of effects for more complex systems. Microcosm experiments are complex and costly to conduct. Consequently, sample sizes are typically small (8-20 replicates). In addition, these experiments are difficult to analyze due to their multivariate and repeated measures nature. Working under the constraint of small sample sizes, we develop inferential as well as diagnostic methods that detect and measure community changes as a result of an intervention (i.e. toxicant), and assess the importance of individual species. A multi-factorial simulation analysis is used to compare several methods. The Multi-Response Permutation Procedure (MRPP) and a regression method incorporating a correlation structure are found to be the most powerful procedures for detecting treatment differences. The MRPP is particularly suited to experiments with replication and when the response variable may not be normally distributed. The regression model for dissimilarity data has the advantage of enabling direct estimation of many parameters not possible with the MRPP as well as the magnitude of treatment effects. A stepwise dependent variable selection algorithm with a selection criterion based on a conditional p-value argument is proposed and applied to a real data set. It is seen to have advantages over other methods for assessing species importance. / Ph. D.

Bela Bartok's art is a perfect microcosm of the art of the twentieth century. It is interwoven with the musical conceptions and techniques of the great Western European masters, without in any way obscuring the individuality, the national consciousness, and the personal style and originality of the composer's own musical language -- a language rooted in the glorious tradition of his people. In the six volumes of the Mikrokosmos, or "little world," Bartok has presented a series of progressively difficult pieces designed -- if not intentionally, at least effectively -- to introduce to the piano student a technical approach to piano playing in the modern idiom. Admittedly, the etude does not cover every pianistic technical problem. It clearly shows that Bartok fully appreciates the worth of the great wealth of piano literature, and does not prescribe his method as a "cure-all" for the technical problems of piano playing.