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The final assignment for students in Dynamics of Complex Systems is a formal presentation before the class on recent research relevant to the topics discussed earlier in class.  Each student is assigned either one paper or two closely related papers to read and study.  Students should prepare to be "experts" on the paper(s) assigned for their talks; each presentation should last approximately one hour with time alloted for questions.

Student final presentations were based on the following papers.

Canfield, D. E. "The Evolution of the Earth Surface Sulfur Reservoir." American Journal of Science 304 (2004): 839-861.

Mattick, J. S. "RNA Regulation: A New Genetics?" Nature Reviews Genetics 5 (2004): 316-323.

Bartel, D. P. "MicroRNAs: Genomics, Biogenesis, Mechanisim, and Function." Cell 116 (2004): 281-297.

Valentine, J. W., and E. M. Moores. "Plate-tectonic Regulation of Faunal Diversity and Sea Level: A Model." Nature 228 (1970): 657-659.

Des Marais, D. J., et al. "Carbon Isotope Evidence for the Stepwise Oxidation of the Proterozoic Environment." Nature 359 (1992): 605-609.

Brasier and Lindsday. "Did Supercontinental Amalgamation Trigger the 'Cambrian Explosion'?" In The Ecology of the Cambrian Radiation. Edited by A. Zhuravlev and R. Riding. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2000, pp. 69-89. ISBN: 9780231106139.

Cook and Shergold. "Phosphorus, Phosphorites, and Skeletal Evolution at the Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary." Nature 308 (1984): 231-236.

Shen, Y., M. Schidlowski, and X. C. She. "Biogeochemical Approach to Understanding Phosphogenic Events of the Terminal Proterozoic to Cambrian." Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 158 (2000): 99-108.

Knoll, A. H., J. P. Grotzinger, A. J. Kaufman, and P. Kolosov. "Integrated Approaches to Terminal Proterozoic Stratigraphy: An Example from the Olenek Uplift, Northeastern Siberia." Precambrian Research 73 (1995): 251-270.

Iyer, S. S., M. Babinski, H. R. Krouse, and F. Chemale Jr. "Highly 13C-enriched Carbonate and Organic Matter in the Neoproterozoic Sediments of the Bambui Group, Brazil." Precambrian Research 73 (1995): 271-282.

Vidal, G., and M. Moczydlowska-Vidal. "Biodiversity, Speciation, and Extinction Trends of Proterozoic and Cambrian Phytoplankton." Paleobiology 23 (1997): 230-246.

Grey, K., M. R. Walter, and C. R. Calver. "Neoproterozoic Biotic Diversification: Snowball Earth or Aftermath of the Acraman Impact?" Geology 31 (2003): 459-462.

Szostak, J. W., D. P. Bartel, and P. L. Luisi. "Synthesizing Life." Nature 409 (2001): 387-390.

Hanczyc, M. M., S. M. Fujikawa, and J. W. Szostak. "Experimental Models of Primitive Cellular Compartments: Encapsulation, Growth, and Division." Science 302 (2003): 618-622.

Baldauf, S. L. "The Deep Roots of Eukaryotes." Science 300 (2003): 1703-1706.

King, N. "The Unicellular Ancestry of Animal Development." Developmental Cell 7 (2004): 313-325.

Stanley, S. "An Ecological Theory for the Sudden Origin of Multicellular Life in the Late Precambrian." Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 70 (1973): 1486-1489.

Thingstad, T. F. "On the Strategy of 'Eating Your Competitor': A Mathematical Analysis of Algal Mixotrophy." Ecology 77 (1996): 2108-2118.

Canfield, D. E. "Factors Influencing Organic Carbon Preservation in Marine Sediments." Chemical Geology 114 (1994): 315-329.

Nealson, K. H. "Sediment Bacteria: Who's There, What Are They Doing, and What's New?" Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 25 (1997): 403-434.