Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts

1. The final exam consists of 21 questions, each worth 5 points.
• The first 14 questions (70%) comprise the comprehensive section of the exam. They cover all 6 units.
• The next 6 questions (30%) comprise the new material covered in Unit 06.
• The last question is an extra-credit question.
2. A significant portion of the final is devoted to applying what you have learned to the analysis of a novel situation.
3. There will be several quantitative questions (require manipulation of numbers). Feel free to bring a calculator but, as per the syllabus, not one attached to a wireless-capable device.
4. An abbreviated review for the comprehensive section is linked at the bottom of the course documents page. Trust me, it is deceptively short. There is no way to condense a 14-week semester into a mere two pages.
5. Each section has a specific time allocated for its final exam. Consult the syllabus or the Office of the Registrar for details.
• Show up at the appointed time and place. If you do otherwise, there will be no final exam ready for you.
• If you are unable to attend your sections’ scheduled final, contact me ASAP to arrange to take the final with one of my other sections. If you do not contact me, in advance, there will be no final exam ready for you.
• If you arrive late and a student has already turned in his/her final, you will not be permitted to take the final at that time.

credit : Cheryl Slew Asian tiger shrimp 2006 Dominican Republic

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released an update last Thursday on the status of the invasive Asian tiger shrimp.

This invader is not good news for the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.

According to the Office of the Registrar, our final is on Thursday 10 May at 0900 hrs – 1100 hrs.
Alas, that is not what appears on the syllabus so use the (correct) information from the Office of the Registrar!

“Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain!”

[That quote, by the way, was nominated for the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Quotes list. Do you know what film it originally appeared in? The film was voted #6 on the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list.]

This assignment will count as both your participation grade for the day (if you were in attendance) as well as part of the written part of your grade.

A hard copy is due to me before week’s end, in class. Note that a digital copy, in the form of an .rtf file, must be submitted to turnitin.com.

1. Go to turnitin.com and register.
2. Use the courseID and password in the syllabus to access turnitin.com for this course
3. submit your .rtf file to the “invasive species” slot
4. obtain a similarity score less than or equal to 10%
5. please be certain that the .rtf filename is something close to ensp2324sp2012_assign03_lastname_firstname.rtf

Choose an endangered or threatened species – not one discussed at length in the text – and explain

1. the reasons for its situation
2. what we know about its value
3. what is likely to result from its loss

The hard copy

1. double-spaced, two pages (minimum) not counting the literature cited section.
2. must contain cited references in-text for all facts, figures, and claims.
3. cite full bibliographic information (authors(s), date, title, etc.) in the literature cited section

This assignment will count as both your participation grade for the day (if you were in attendance) as well as part of the written part of your grade.

A hard copy is due to me Tuesday, in class. Note that a digital copy, in the form of an .rtf file, must be submitted to turnitin.com.

1. Go to turnitin.com and register.
2. Use the courseID and password in the syllabus to access turnitin.com for this course
3. submit your .rtf file to the “invasive species” slot
4. obtain a similarity score less than or equal to 10%
5. please be certain that the .rtf filename is something close to ensp2324sp2012_assign02_lastname_firstname.rtf

Choose an invasive species – not one discussed at length in the text – and explain

1. qualitatively, the problem(s) it causes
2. quantitatively, the cost of the problem(s) it causes
3. why / how this organism was introduced
4. why this organism has become a pest species
5. do all introduced species become pest / invasive species?

The hard copy

1. double-spaced, two pages (minimum) not  counting the literature cited section.
2. must contain cited references in-text for all facts, figures, and claims.
3. cite full bibliographic information (authors(s), date, title, etc.) in the literature cited section

A Lenni Lenape once told me, “Scars on the land are the gateways to Hell.”

Barringer Meteorite Crater (Winslow, AZ) is a 50,000 year old scar resulting from a collision with an extraterrestrial rock.

He might have been correct, judging by the depth and dimension of some these. All but the first of these are the result of recent human (mining) activity.

Barringer Crater (Winslow, AZ)

image     info

Kimberley (Australia) Big Hole, a diamond mine. This is possibly the largest hand-dug hole on Earth and where de Beer’s got their start!

image     info

Bingham Canyon Mine (Herriman, UT), a copper mine.

image     info

Mirny diamond mine (Siberia).

image     info

Chuquicamata (Chile), a copper mine. This is claimed to be the largest open pit copper mine on Earth.

image     info

Diavik (Canada), a diamond mine

image     info

Udachnaya pipe (Russia), a diamond mine

image     info

1. The due date first written assignment has been been extended until Tuesday 2012-04-17.
2. The assignment is to determine the amount of mercury emissions that will result over the next five years due to replacing incandescent lamps (which do not contain mercury) with compact fluorescent lamps (which do contain mercury).
• Assume that all lamps are now CFL.
• Assume that a typical CFL has a life of 10,000 hours and is powered for 6 hours daily … that is roughly a five year life.
• Assume that the source of electric power to light these CFLs is either from coal or from ‘not coal.’
• Electric power from combustion of coal results in mercury emission.
• Electric power from ‘not coal’ results in no mercury emission.
• Assume that there are only two strategies to deal a CFL at the end of its life.
• recycle (which results in no mercury pollution) or
• discard in a landfill (which releases 100% of the mercury content as pollution)
• So, by this plan of attack, there are four distinct strategies :
1. power CFLs with electric power from coal, use-and-discard CFLs
2. power CFLs with electric power from coal, recycle CFLs
3. power CFLs with electric power from ‘not coal’, use-and-discard CFLs
4. power CFLs with electric power from ‘not coal’, recycle CFLs
• The following questions can be addressed :
1. How many lamps are in use in the USA? How about the world? Estimate the average wattage per CFL.
2. How much mercury emission from coal combustion is required to power the CFLs?
3. How much mercury pollution results from not recycling CFLs?
4. How much total mercury pollution results from each ofthe four strategies listed above?
• Fully explain your methods of estimation and cite sources of information.
3. Write the assignment from the perspective of scientist-citizen who has been asked to testify before the state legislature on the issue of mercury pollution
• Hard-copy submission to me on or before 2012-04-17
• Submit your entire written assignment on 8.5″ x 11″ paper in a standard manila folder. Staple or paperclip the sheets together. Do not fold-over (dog-ear) the corners.
• Print out and append copies of short articles that you cite as part of your work. do not attach these to the assignment.
• Tips for a better grade
• Remain neutral. Present fair and even coverage of both the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen alternative.
• Be critical! Don’t just accept what you see on the printed page (or monitor screen).
• Be concise and analytic in your writing. This is not Shakespeare so no flowery prose is desired.
• Avoid hyperbole … exaggeration.
• Avoid the use of run-on sentences. Avoid creating pages that consist of a single long paragraph.
• Craft an opening paragraph that sets-up the whole assignment.
• Be certain that all citations in the Work Cited or Literature Cited section contain full bibliographic information.

1. The due date first written assignment has been been extended until Wednesday 2012-04-04. If your proposal has not yet been returned, look for it outside of my office door (PREX 207 or Premont 207).
2. The assignment, you should recall, is to choose an alternative energy resource and to explore the feasibility, advantages, and disadvantages of using it.
• Note, alternative energy means alternative to fossil and nuclear fuels.
• The length of the body of the assignment is five (5) pages of double-spaced, concise analysis (12-point font). It is all right to exceed this length if necessary. Submissions which are under this length or which are padded and full of fluff and filler will be docked accordingly. Title page, figures, bibliographic citations, etc. are not considered the body of the assignment.
• No quoting  of material is permitted with the possible exception of a pertinent brief quote as a section heading. All material presented is to be paraphrased (express in your own words).
• I expect a minimum of 10 references and prefer peer-reviewed references over magazine or news sources. Sources should be cited in the text and a full bibliographic citation included in a Work Cited or Literature Cited section. Two useful links in this regard are Melvin Page’s Citation Guide for Internet Sources and some examples of good citing technique.
• Digital submission to turnitin.com on or before 2012-04-04
• You must register at turnitin.com before submitting your assignment for review! We will NOT use the submission-to-turnitin.com feature in Blackboard.
• The courseID and password for your section is in the course syllabus.
• Your assignment will not be graded until a .rtf (rich-text format) file of the the complete assignment is submitted to turnitin.com; be certain to submit your .rtf file to the appropriate section
• You must obtain a similarity score of 10% or less from turnitin.com. Note : turnitin.com is configured to ignore your bibliographic material. You may resubmit as many times as you wish – up until the due date – in order to achieve the 10% or less Similarity score.
• Be certain that the name of the file that you submit is something very close to this : ensp2324sp2012_assign01_yourlastname_yourlastinitial.rtf
• Hard-copy submission to me on or before 2012-04-04
• Submit your entire written assignment on 8.5″ x 11″ paper in a standard manila folder. Staple or paperclip the sheets together. Do not fold-over (dog-ear) the corners.
• Prepend a copy of the Similarity score generated by turnitin.com
• Include a copy of your returned proposal (appended to the back).
• Print out and append copies of short articles that you cite as part of your work. do not attach these to the assignment.
3. Tips for a better grade
• Remain neutral. Present fair and even coverage of both the advantages and disadvantages of your chosen alternative.
• Be critical! Don’t just accept what you see on the printed page (or monitor screen).
• Be concise and analytic in your writing. This is not Shakespeare so no flowery prose is desired.
• Avoid hyperbole … exaggeration.
• Avoid the use of run-on sentences. Avoid creating pages that consist of a single long paragraph.
• Craft an opening paragraph that sets-up the whole assignment.
• Be certain that all citations in the Work Cited or Literature Cited section contain full bibliographic information :
• for journal articles : author(s), date, article title, journal title, volume & issue number, page range.
• for books : author(s), date, book title (& edition where noted), publisher, number of pages.
• for article in edited volume : author(s), date, article title, editor(s), title of edited volume, publisher
• for resources available online only, provide a complete URL that could be accessed by anyone … not just members of the St. Edward’s community … as well as author, date, title.
4. Do not e-mail me any attachments. I will either have a hard copy in my possession by the due date or your assignment is late and points will be deducted according to the syllabus.
5. Did I leave anything out? Did I leave any questions unanswered? If so, e-mail, text, or call me.

The Unit 3 quiz will be delayed until 22 March (TTh sections) and 23 March (MWF section). Revision of review material is underway. Look for some updates tonight and tomorrow.

Feedback on the proposal on 1st written assignment will be sent around tomorrow (TTh sections) and Wednesday (MWF section). The new due date for the written assignment is 29 March (TTh sections) and 30 March (MWF section).

The Unit 4 quiz might be delayed from its schedule date of 03 April (TTh sections) and 04 April (MWF section). I will have a better feel for that after we return from Spring Break.

Readings for Unit 4 will be updated later tonight.

Due Tuesday 2012-03-06

Reminder : These short write-ups contribute to your class participation grade. If you miss the class that these are assigned then you should not turn them in.

Don’t sweat it if you miss one. There will be plenty of these through the semester and I’ll drop the lowest one.

1) In two pages – maximum – of double-spaced 12-point type, compare / contrast the population reduction programs in China and India.

Which do you think was more successful? Fully justify your answer.

What, if any, are the obvious unforeseen consequences of each of these national programs?

I’d suggest four references sources – aside from the textbook. Show evidence of personal initiative and pride in your work. As always, no more than one should be a wikipedia entry. Cite your references in the text (so that I know which source(s) provide information to which paragraph(s)). Provide full bibliographic citations on a separate sheet of paper.