The View from the Top: A Century of PS Presidents' Perspectives on the Paleontological Society and Paleontology

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Patricia H. Kelley
Keyword(s):  
Continental Drift ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
Mccarthy Era ◽  
The Past ◽  
Paleontological Society ◽  
Sister Organization ◽  
The 1960S

The Paleontological Society was founded in 1908, as a section of the Geological Society of America, for the purpose of promoting the science of paleontology. Although disciplinarily inclusive, our founders were an elitist, demographically limited group. Constitutional revisions over the past century trace the evolution of the PS, including increased democratization (with a setback during the McCarthy Era, but accelerating following the turmoil of society as a whole during the 1960s), internationalization, independence from the GSA and our sister organization SEPM, and broadening of our activities and concerns. Comments by Paleontological Society presidents, in their presidential addresses and/or a survey I conducted, reinforce these conclusions. In addition, the presidential addresses demonstrate the shifting concerns and interests of paleontologists over the past century: emphasis on stratigraphic paleontology during the early years of the Society; avoidance of the topic of evolution during the antievolution movement of the 1920s – 1950s; lack of participation in the debates over continental drift; development of paleobiology. Many presidents focused on the identity of paleontology, either praising our potential for contributions to science and society or bemoaning our status and recommending remedies for our situation. Despite some predictions of impending extinction of paleontology and the PS, both our Society and our field remain vigorous as we begin our second century.

Religious Non-Affiliation

2021 ◽  
pp. 172-193
Author(s):  
William V. Trollinger
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
Christian Right ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Conservative Politics ◽  
The Past ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Political Success

For the past century, the bulk of white evangelicalism has been tightly linked to very conservative politics. But in response to social and cultural changes in the 1960s and 1970s, conservative white evangelicalism organized itself into the Christian Right, in the process attaching itself to and making itself indispensable to the Republican Party. While the Christian Right has enjoyed significant political success, its fusion of evangelicalism/Christianity with right-wing politics—which includes white nationalism, hostility to immigrants, unfettered capitalism, and intense homophobia—has driven many Americans (particularly, young Americans) to disaffiliate from religion altogether. In fact, the quantitative and qualitative evidence make it clear that the Christian Right has been a (perhaps the) primary reason for the remarkable rise of the religious “nones” in the past three decades. More than this, the Christian Right is, in itself, a sign of secularization.

Historical trends in tree-ring growth and chemistry across an air-quality gradient in Wisconsin

1989 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. E. Frelich ◽  
J. G. Bockheim ◽  
J. E. Leide
Keyword(s):  
Chemical Composition ◽  
Sugar Maple ◽  
Basal Area ◽  
Growth Efficiency ◽  
Basal Area Increment ◽  
Past Century ◽  
White Pine ◽  
The Past ◽  
Age Related ◽  
The 1960S

Basal-area increment and chemical composition of xylem wood were measured in three old-growth (ca. 75–100 years) white pine (Pinusstrobus L.) and three sugar maple (Acersaccharum) Marsh.) stands across a pH and SO4 gradient in precipitation in Wisconsin. In 1986 the volume-weighted mean pH and SO4 content of precipitation ranged from 4.5 to 5.0 and from 21 to 11 kg • ha−1, respectively, from southeastern to northwestern Wisconsin. With one exception (a white pine site at Point Beach in eastern Wisconsin), basal-area increment increased from the 1890s until the 1950s (sugar maple) or 1970s (white pine), then levelled off. Growth efficiency, estimated as the ratio of basal area to exposed crown area or crown volume for the 1980–1985 period, was similar for sugar maple across the gradient; however, growth efficiency of white pine was lower at Point Beach than at the two northern Wisconsin sites. Lead concentrations in xylem wood of both species have increased with time, except at Crotte Creek in northwestern Wisconsin, and Pb concentrations in xylem wood of both species were significantly greater in southeastern than in northwestern Wisconsin. Sulfur concentrations in xylem wood of white pine have increased since the 1960s at Point Beach and at one site in north central Wisconsin; S concentrations are significantly greater for both species in southeastern than in northern Wisconsin. Concentrations of Ca, Mg, and K in xylem wood of sugar maple have decreased over the past century. Whereas xylem wood concentrations of Mn and Zn generally show no age-related trends, Fe and P concentrations have increased markedly at all sites, particularly during the past decade. Although additional research is needed to determine the potential of dendrochemistry in evaluating the consequences of environmental pollution, the age- and site-related trends in chemical composition of xylem wood of white pine and sugar maple appear to be related to vehicular emissions (Pb), air pollution (S), migration along ray paths during conversion of sapwood into heartwood (P, Fe, Ca, K, Mg), and possibly reallocation of nutrients from the labile soil pool to perennial tree tissues during stand development (Ca, K, Mg).

From Gilles de la Tourette's Disease to Tourette Syndrome: A History

CNS Spectrums ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 24-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Howard I. Kushner
Keyword(s):  
Basal Ganglia ◽  
Tourette Syndrome ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Organic Substrates ◽  
The Past ◽  
Symptom Complex ◽  
Initial Description ◽  
Pharmacologic Treatments ◽  
The 1960S

AbstractOver the past century researchers have attributed the symptoms that today are labeled as Tourette syndrome to various etiologies. Although most investigators have accepted Gilles de la Tourette's initial description of a symptom complex of tics and involuntary vocalizations, most have rejected his claim that “tic disease” resulted from hereditary degeneration. Subsequent investigators have offered an array of contradictory etiological explanations including viewing these symptoms as a subset of choreas, a result of insufficient inhibition, a failure to control infantile habits, a sequel to encephalitis and other infections, or the result of unconscious psychosexual childhood conflict. With the advent of effective pharmacologic treatments in the 1960s, psychiatrists, often urged on by the parents of afflicted children, began to insist that the disorder resulted from organic factors, most likely connected to transmission of the neurotransmitter dopamine and signaling in the basal ganglia. Since the 1970s, research has focused on a variety of possible organic substrates, but disputes over which symptoms to include in the syndrome's phenotype continue to constrain efforts to locate its etiology.

New Light on Sterne: An Old Man's Recollections of the Young Vicar

PMLA ◽  
1965 ◽  
Vol 80 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-553 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Kuist
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Laurence Sterne ◽  
Present Knowledge ◽  
Private Life ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Public Records ◽  
The Past ◽  
Insight Into

In a volume of miscellaneous manuscripts at the British Museum, placed at random and inconspicuously among larger folio leaves, is a set of notes headed “Sterne.” The notes were written by Joseph Hunter, the nineteenth-century antiquary and literary historian, and they came to the British Museum with Hunter's other papers shortly after his death in 1861. In view of the abundant information about Sterne's private life which the notes contain, it is surprising that this item has remained unindexed and that it is not mentioned in the catalogue description of the volume. In the absence of such references, very likely only an occasional reader who has happened upon them has seen these notes, and, since the major biographies of Laurence Sterne make no use of distinct details which Hunter provides, it is quite possible that none of Sterne's biographers have encountered Hunter's information during the past century. At present, our familiarity with the early years of Sterne's marriage and his residence at Sutton-on-the-Forest is rather limited, based as it is upon isolated public records, some letters, fugitive anecdotes, and the unflattering and sometimes vicious account written by John Croft. No impartial memoirs with any claim to authenticity or wealth of details have until now seemed available. Thus, the intimate account of Sterne which Hunter has given presents to modern scholars an unexpected and promising opportunity to gain new insight into the life and, perhaps, into the work of one of England's most unusual writers. A transcript of Hunter's notes appears below, followed by a brief evaluation of them according to our present knowledge of Laurence Sterne.

ANTECEDENTES EN ESPAÑA DE LA CRIMINOLOGÍA POSITIVA MODERNA Y DE LA CRIMINOLOGÍA CLINICA

2020 ◽  
pp. 331
Author(s):  
Alfonso Serrano Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Past Century ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The Past ◽  
The 1960S

La Criminología en España ha sido tutelada por los penalistas. Algunos hicieron aportaciones teóricas. A finales de la década de los sesenta del siglo pasado se inicia una nueva etapa con la aparición de los primeros trabajos empíricos y de Criminología clínica. En los últimos años se ha creado el Grado en Criminología en más de treinta universidades, aunque en el campo de la investigación disponemos de pocos expertos en la disciplina. El futuro científico de la Criminología en nuestro país a corto plazo, e incluso a medio, parece poco prometedor.Criminology in Spain has been protected by criminalists. Some made theoretical contributions. At the end of the decade of the 1960s of the past century, a new stage was initiated with then appearance of the first empirical papers and those on clinical criminology. In recent years the Degree in Criminology has been created in more than thirty universities, although in the field of investigation we have few experts in the discipline. The scientific future of criminology in our country in the short term, even in the medium term, seems quite bleak.

Global Christian Forum: A New initiative for the Second Century of Ecumenism

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-35
Author(s):  
John A. Radano
Keyword(s):  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Vatican Ii ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Critical Issues ◽  
The Holy Spirit

This article looks at the Global Christian Forum (GCF) as a new initiative in the historical context of the modern ecumenical movement and from a Catholic point of view. It puts the GCF in three perspectives: as a new stage in ecumenical development, as part of a turning point in ecumenical history and as a new impulse of the Holy Spirit. By bringing in the Evangelicals and Pentecostals, the GCF has widened the range of church families in conversation with one another. The GCF may begin to make a substantial contribution in the situation since Vatican II in which some critical issues between divided Christians have been solved. The beginning convergence of the two movements that have marked the past century — ecumenical and Pentecostal/evangelical — may be the work of the Holy Spirit.

scholarly journals Winter Stoneflies of Illinois (Insecta: Plecoptera)

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (1-5) ◽  
pp. 195-274
Author(s):  
Donald W. Webb
Keyword(s):  
Species Diversity ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Generalist Species ◽  
The Past ◽  
Illinois Natural History Survey ◽  
Habitat Specialists ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
History Survey ◽  
Made In

Winter stoneflies (Insecta: Plecoptera) are an aquatic group of insects whose adults emerge in IIlinois from late November to early April. Twenty-one species have been reported from Illinois. Extensive collections of winter stoneflies were made in Illinois during the 1920s and 1930s by Frison, the 1960s by Ross and “the winter stonefly club’, and the 1990s by Webb. These specimens are housed in the Insect Collection of the Illinois Natural History Survey and allowed for an evaluation of the current status of these species following a century of environmental change.Over the past century (1900-2000), the species diversity of winter stoneflies averaged 2.5 species per county with species reported from every county but 3 (Carroll, DuPage, Ford) and with 10 counties recording 5 or more species. Pope County (13 species) reported the greatest species diversity. During the recent resurvey (1976-2000), species diversity average 1.9 species per county withspecimens not collected in 11 counties, and only 3 counties (Hardin, Pope, and Saline) exhibited 5 or more species.Four species are considered extirpated from Illinois: Allocapnia illinoensis, Nemocapnia carolina, Paracapnia angulata, and Taeniopteryx parvula. Seven species were found to be common (known from more than 15 localities): Allocapnia forbesi, A. granulata, A. mystica, A. rickeri, A. vivipara, Taeniopteryx burksi, and T: nivalis. Four species are considered uncommon (known from 4—15localities): Allocapnia recta, Strophopteryx fasciata, Taeniopteryx metequi and Zealeuctra claasseni. Six species are considered rare (known from 1-3 localities): Allocapnia nivicola, A. smithi, Prostoia completa, Taeniopteryx lita, Zealeuctra fraxina, and Z. narfi. Significantly reduced patterns of distribution were noted in three species: A. granulata, A. mystica, and Strophopteryx fasciata. OnlyTaeniopteryx nivalis, previously rare, is now spreading its distribution across northern Illinois.There has been a modest decline during the past century in the diversity of stonefly species within various counties. Also, a trend was observed toward an increase in pollution-tolerant, “generalist” species with a decrease in pollution-sensitive, habitat “specialists.”

scholarly journals Studies on the cell biology of interendothelial cell gaps

2012 ◽  
Vol 302 (3) ◽  
pp. L275-L286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristhiaan D. Ochoa ◽  
Troy Stevens
Keyword(s):  
Endothelial Cell ◽  
Cell Biology ◽  
Therapeutic Strategies ◽  
First Century ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Gap Formation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Tissue Edema ◽  
The 1960S

Pain, redness, heat, and swelling are hallmarks of inflammation that were recognized as early as the first century AD. Despite these early observations, the mechanisms responsible for swelling, in particular, remained an enigma for nearly two millennia. Only in the past century have scientists and physicians gained an appreciation for the role that vascular endothelium plays in controlling the exudation that is responsible for swelling. One of these mechanisms is the formation of transient gaps between adjacent endothelial cell borders. Inflammatory mediators act on endothelium to reorganize the cytoskeleton, decrease the strength of proteins that connect cells together, and induce transient gaps between endothelial cells. These gaps form a paracellular route responsible for exudation. The discovery that interendothelial cell gaps are causally linked to exudation began in the 1960s and was accompanied by significant controversy. Today, the role of gap formation in tissue edema is accepted by many, and significant scientific effort is dedicated toward developing therapeutic strategies that will prevent or reverse the endothelial cell gaps that are present during the course of inflammatory illness. Given the importance of this field in endothelial cell biology and inflammatory disease, this focused review catalogs key historical advances that contributed to our modern-day understanding of the cell biology of interendothelial gap formation.

scholarly journals Scientific elite revisited: patterns of productivity, collaboration, authorship and impact

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (165) ◽  
pp. 20200135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jichao Li ◽  
Yian Yin ◽  
Santo Fortunato ◽  
Dashun Wang
Keyword(s):  
Nobel Prize ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Science And Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
Nobel Laureates ◽  
Entire Career ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Number Of Individuals ◽  
Level Analysis

Throughout history, a relatively small number of individuals have made a profound and lasting impact on science and society. Despite long-standing, multi-disciplinary interests in understanding careers of elite scientists, there have been limited attempts for a quantitative, career-level analysis. Here, we leverage a comprehensive dataset we assembled, allowing us to trace the entire career histories of nearly all Nobel laureates in physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine over the past century. We find that, although Nobel laureates were energetic producers from the outset, producing works that garner unusually high impact, their careers before winning the prize follow relatively similar patterns to those of ordinary scientists, being characterized by hot streaks and increasing reliance on collaborations. We also uncovered notable variations along their careers, often associated with the Nobel Prize, including shifting coauthorship structure in the prize-winning work, and a significant but temporary dip in the impact of work they produce after winning the Nobel Prize. Together, these results document quantitative patterns governing the careers of scientific elites, offering an empirical basis for a deeper understanding of the hallmarks of exceptional careers in science.

Climatic change: a review of causes

1987 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1313-1339 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Harrington
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Change ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Continental Drift ◽  
Atmospheric Composition ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Aquatic Life ◽  
Radiant Intensity ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

The earth's climate is constantly changing. Climatic change is effected by many factors: the influence of continental drift, variations in solar intensity, volcanism, the impact of meteors and comets, changes in the earth's orbital parameters, ice accumulation and depletion, variations in oceanic circulations and chemistry, changes in terrestrial and aquatic life, and changes in atmospheric composition and circulation. Despite these influences, many of them large, and despite changes in the sun's radiant intensity over the past 4.5 billion years, the average temperature of the earth's surface has remained remarkably constant, hovering near 15 °C. This implies the presence of strong negative feedbacks reacting to any major environmental change. During the past century, man's influence on his environment has been increasing at an unprecedented rate. Under this influence, and particularly because of the effect of the so-called "greenhouse gases," the global mean temperature is expected to rise approximately 2.5 °C by the middle of the 21st century. There remains a degree of uncertainty in this prediction because of unresolved problems in estimating various positive and negative feedback mechanisms in air, earth, ocean, ice, and vegetation interaction and in the unknown magnitude of volcanic activity. The finest numerical models and the fastest computers are, at present, inadequate to resolve all of the problems. However, the best scientific evidence points to a return by the middle of the 21st century to a climate similar to that of the climatic optimum 5000–6000 years ago. The degree of confidence in the direction, speed, and magnitude of the impending climatic change is sufficient that affected agencies should be actively mapping strategies to respond most advantageously to the expected changes. This is particularly true of forestry in Canada where climatic changes are expected to be large and the lifetime of current plantings will extend well into the period of anticipated change.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document