Dear Colleagues
Does anyone know where we would buy old Aquarium pumps (model RENA 301 [or a
comparable one]). We cannot get them from suppliers in Sweden, but someone
would perhaps know an alternative. We need these to create positive pressure
for odour sampling. We found them cheap and
Perhaps then David has managed to escape some of the pressures put on
scientists to write badly. On several occasions I have been accused of
writing scientific papers in a journalistic style and told that this is not
acceptable. Although my reply is usually along the lines of, Aren't
There is a reason for using long words when writing in a foreign language,
although I do not know whether it is relevant to native Chinese-speakers.
Long words are often easier to learn in a foreign language because they fit
in a pattern of cognates. This is especially true for words based on
I agree with David's comment about the dubiousness of using standardized test
scores as a measure of the success of learning. Speaking as an American student
whom has been subjected to standardized tests for most of his academic life,
there are primarily two things that taking these tests teach
My very wise adviser many years ago told me that whenever I was speaking
formally, at a meeting or in a seminar, there would be someone I could
see who looked as if he or she wondered, What in the world am I doing
here? I have no idea what these people are saying. My job was to make
sure
Bill, thank you. Not to hammer a dead horse, but I wrote my
dissertation in the seventies. I was encouraged to use active voice and
first person. The most recent edition of the CBE Style Manual that I
actually own is the third edition (copyright 1972), though I have
generally had access to
On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Val Smith vsm...@ku.edu wrote:
I lay much of this decline at the feet of their parents, who seem to care
progressively less and less about knowledge. I recall a particularly
notable incident from over a decade ago, when my youngest daughter's grade
school
Hmmm, native to North America seems to have turned into originated north
of Mexico. Aside from the fact that at least when I went to high school
Mexico was considered part of North America, there were certainly foods like
peanuts, corn and squash that were native to North America even though
Bill's mother is certainly correct: Central and South America have yielded many
foods now widely cultivated and enjoyed.
I still maintain that few contemporary foods appear to have originated north of
Mexico: specifically, Jerusalem artichokes, blueberries, and cranberries. Are
there others?
The Research Experiences for Undergraduates program in the Division of
Biology at Kansas State University is accepting applications for this
summer's 10-week program. We're pleased to again offer opportunities for
research in ecology, evolutionary biology, and genomics at K-State
(Manhattan, KS)
Hello all - This is to announce a special session at this year's NABS ASLO
meeting (june 6-10 Santa Fe NM) on using stable isotope tracer additions to
quantify food web flows in stream ecosystems (full description appended at
the end of this email). Despite the word stream in the title, we are
Sr. and Jr. Climatologists sought to provide assistance in developing
ecological assessments of western federal lands on a landscape scale to
evaluate impacts of wildland fire, invasive species, development, and
climate change on native species and habitats. The applicants should have
Jane Shevtsov wrote:
Yes, it would be interesting to see some scans of the book, although
somebody who has actually taken a college-level health class would be
better positioned than I am to compare the book to modern ones.
...
And here are Orwell's prescriptions:
(i) Never use a metaphor,
Honorable Forum:
An eloquent if ungrammatical expression of the persistent legacy of
authoritarian control having education in its terrible grip.
The mere fact that testing has persisted in academia is its strongest
indictment. It is a near-ultimate irony that academia continues to place the
The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) is now accepting student
applications for our Educational Programs: REU/Advanced Independent
Research and Independent Research with a Course: Methods in Field Ecology,
Research Training in Wildlife Biology, or Research Training in Field Botany.
We
I've always thought the main reason for avoiding I in scientific
papers was to prevent self-aggrandizement. It's not about you -- it's
about the research. We may be ok, but the passive voice serves a
moral/social purpose in single-authored works.
Jane
On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 11:10 AM, David L.
Again quoting from the third edition (but the admonishment has
persisted) of the CBE Style Manual (page 6):
Avoid the 'passive of modesty,' a favorite device of writers who shun
the first person singular. The authors devote a whole paragraph to
explaining why. Further down in the paragraph
Several different types of squash are also native to various regions
of the Southeast and East Coast. Tree nuts were also managed
intensively for food purposes as well as many native tubers that most
are not familiar with. Wild rice is also native to the Great Lakes
Region and is still
Geoffrey, certainly pecans and hickories and their variants originated in
the US. I assume that all of those western berries like salmon berries,
logan berries, etc. did too, just as we have wild blackberries all over the
south. The small native persimmon also is good to eat. Blueberries as
They aren't opposed to using the passive voice. They are opposed to
using it when it is not the best choice. Why would I startle the
reader, when it communicates the intended information better than an
ambiguous anonymity would?
On the same page where the CBE writers advise using first
I'm well aware of the pressures to write badly -- bad writers who don't
realize how bad they are tend to make bad editors who want everyone else
to sink to their level. A lot of the conflict is the pressure to
maintain the elite priesthood versus one of the alleged purposes of
science, i.e.,
I watched my evaluation scores decline when I switched to active
learning. I got tired of lecturing from powerpoints that the students
could memorize, regurgitate on tests, and quickly forget.
Somehow, it was unreasonable for me to expect the students to show up
for the lectures prepared and
I wonder why the writers of the CBE Style Manual are opposed to using
the passive voice. Is it the usual Strunk White stuff? It's
interesting that they say 'I' may embarrass the writer, but not,
'I' may startle the reader.
There's an excellent article on The Passive in Technical and
Scientific
CHILLING! And I thought this phenomenon was limited to California . . . I'm
afraid I must lay the responsibility, in large part, to the helping
professions, most notably the excuse-makers, aka social workers and their
kin--some of the kindest, nicest, most sensitive and intelligent people on
Well, I guess we need to have a common understanding of the term
native in order to converse clearly on this subject. Peanuts
originated in South America, and diffused to the north prior to European
colonization. Corn and squash certainly originated in Mexico, and their
wild progenitors grow
pecans, black walnuts, rainbow trout, salmon, channel catfish, oysters,
mussels, buffalo fish, sunfish (all produced in agriculture today and
sold in commerce). I'm sure others would come to mind if I thought the
exercise worth spending more time on.
On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 7:08 AM,
I should have chosen my words more carefully and made a distinction between
intelligent and educated. I didn't mean that children are becoming more
stupid, as in their IQ or mental capacity. I meant that are children are
becoming less and less educated. Fewer children are being given adequate
Depending upon your definitions: Blackberries, raspberries, plums, many
species of grapes, black walnuts, hazel nuts, paw paws, pine nuts, etc.
**
Don Cipollini, PhD
Professor, Plant Physiology/Chemical Ecology
Director, Environmental Sciences PhD Program
pecans, black walnuts, rainbow trout, salmon, channel catfish, oysters,
mussels, buffalo fish, sunfish (all produced in agriculture today and
sold in commerce). I'm sure others would come to mind if I thought the
exercise worth spending more time on.
to the above list add chilies, which grow
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