Animalists, those who hold that human persons are identical to human animals, seem committed to holding that, in becoming incarnate, the Son of God became a human animal. Unsurprisingly, a number of philosophers have argued that this is impossible. In this article, I consider several objections to an animalist account of the incarnation based on kind membership, viz. objections drawing on kind essentialism, constitution essentialism, and the persistence conditions of animals. After developing each objection in detail, I respond by drawing on my preferred formulation of animalism. My goal in addressing these objections is to take the first steps toward demonstrating the compatibility of animalism and the incarnation.

Titanium (Ti) is the material of choice for orthopaedic applications because it is biocompatible and encourages osteoblast ingrowth. It was shown that the biocompatibility of Ti metal is due to the presence of a thin native sub-stoichiometric titanium oxide layer which enhances the adsorption of mediating proteins on the surface [1]. The present studies were devised to evaluate the adhesion, survival, and growth of cells on the surface of new engineered nano-crystal films of titanium and titanium oxides and compare them with orthopaedic-grade titanium with microcrystals. The engineered nano-crystal films with hydrophilic properties are produced by employing an ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) technique. IBAD combines physical vapor deposition with concurrent ion beam bombardment in a high vacuum environment to produce films (with 3 to 70 nm grain size) with superior properties. These films are “stitched” to the artificial orthopaedic implant materials with characteristics that affect the wettability and mechanical properties of the coatings.

To characterize the biocompatibility of these nano-engineered surfaces, we have studied osteoblast function including cell adhesion, growth, and differentiation on different nanostructured samples. Cell responses to surfaces were examined using SAOS-2 osteoblast-like cells. We also studied a correlation between the surface nanostructures and the cell growth by characterizing the SAOS-2 cells with immunofluorescence and measuring the amount alizarin red concentration produced after 7 and 14 days. The number of adherent cells was determined by means of nuclei quantification on the nanocrystalline Ti, TiO2, and microcrystalline Ti and analysis was performed with Image J. Our experimental results indicated that nanocrystalline TiO2 is superior to both nano and microcrystalline Ti in supporting growth, adhesion, and proliferation. Improving the quality of surface oxide, i.e. fabricating stoichiometric oxides as well as nanoengineering the surface topology, is crucial for increasing the biocompatibility of Ti implant materials.

This paper addresses the application of engineered nanocrystalline ultrahydrophilic titanium oxide films to artificial orthopaedic implants. Titanium (Ti) is the material of choice for orthopaedic applications and has been used for over fifty years because of its known bio-compatibility. Recently it was shown that biocompatibility of Ti metal is due to the presence of a thin native sub-stoichiometric titanium oxide layer [1] which enhances the adsorption of mediating proteins on the surface thus enhancing cell adhesion and growth [2,3,4]. Improving the quality of surface oxide, i.e. fabricating stoichiometric oxides as well as nanoengineering the surface topology that matches the dimensions of adhesive proteins, is crucial for the increase of protein adsorption [2] and, as a result, the biocompatibility of Ti implant materials. We have fabricated ultrahydrophilic nano-crystalline transparent films of anatase phase of titania (TiO2) by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) processes in an ultrahigh vacuum system. Source material was 99.9% pure rutile TiO2. Various ion beam conditions were used to produce these coatings with different grain sizes (4 to 70 nm) that affect the wettability, roughness, and the mechanical and optical properties of the coating [5]. Our biological experiments have shown that biocompatibility of these ultrahydrophilic nanoengineered TiO2 coatings are superior to commonly used orthopaedic titanium and even hydroxyapatite.

We designed and produced pure cubic zirconia (ZrO2) ceramic1coatings by an ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) with nanostructurescomparable to the size of proteins. Our ceramic coatings exhibit highhardness and a zero contact angle with serum. In contrast to hydroxyapatite(HA), nano-engineered zirconia films possess excellent adhesion to allorthopaedic materials. Cell adhesion and proliferation experiments wereperformed with a bona fide mesenchymal stromal cell line (OMA-AD). Ourexperimental results indicate that the nano-engineered cubic zirconia issuperior in supporting growth, adhesion, and proliferation. Since cellattachment is mediated by adhesive proteins such as fibronectin (FN), toelucidate why cells attach more effectively to our nanostructures, weperformed a comparative analysis of adsorption energies of FN fragment usingquantum mechanical calculations and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation both onsmooth and nanostructured surfaces. We have found that a FN fragment adsorbssignificantly stronger on the nanostructured surface than on the smooth surface2.

Amongst the numerous images found on the walls of Palaeolithic caves, fluted lines, made by fingers dragged through a skin of wet clay remain some of the most intriguing. In their study of images at Rouffignac, the authors undertook experiments with a range of modern subjects who replicated the flutings with their hands. Comparing the dimensions of the experimental flutings with the originals, they conclude that the patterns on the roof of Chamber A1 at Rouffignac were made by the fingers of children aged between 2 and 5 years old. Given the current height of the chamber, such children would have needed to be hoisted aloft by adults. Who knows what lessons in art or ritual were thereby imparted to the young persons…

Archaeologists have usually glossed over parietal finger flutings, especially non-figurative and non-symbolic lines. This article develops a nomenclature and defines four forms to provide a descriptive structure from which to build analyses. It then develops methods for such investigations, using experiments and studies of physiology to derive information about the fluters from the flutings. The methods are applied to each of the four forms of fluting, showing which approaches may be most useful for each form. Broader questions and applications are touched on, including approaches to meaning, figures, and other families of parietal markings such as hand stencils. This approach to flutings augments other approaches to prehistoric ‘art’ by seeking to know about the artists themselves, their gender, age, size, handedness, and the number of individuals involved in creating a panel.

There is a great need to develop methods to regulate cellular growth in order to enhance or prevent cell proliferation as needed, to either improve health or prevent disease. In this work we evaluated the adhesion, survival and growth of bone marrow stromal cells on the surface of several new ion beam engineered nano-crystals of ceramic hard coatings such as zirconium, titanium, tantalum and cerium oxides. Cell adhesion and growth on the ceramic coatings were compared to adhesion and growth on a nano-crystalline silver coating which is known to possess antibacterial properties. The initial results of a study to determine the effect of nanocrystalline titanium and silver coating on staphylococcus aureus biofilm growth is also discussed.

The fur seal is a mammal with an unusual ability to turn its milk production on and off without significantly altering the gross morphology of the mammary gland. This atypical lactation cycle is due to the fact that maternal foraging and infant nursing are spatially and temporally separate (Bonner, 1984). Maternal care involves the suckling of offspring over a period of at least 4 months, but lactation can extend to more than 12 months. Following a perinatal fast of approximately 1 week, females depart the breeding colony to forage at sea and, for the remainder of lactation, alternate between short periods ashore suckling their young with longer periods of up to 4 weeks foraging at sea. Whilst foraging at sea, milk production in the fur seal mammary gland either ceases or is reduced (Arnould & Boyd, 1995b).