Development of Novel Calibrations for FT-NIR Analysis of Protein, Oil, Carbohydrates and Isoflavones in Foods

The development of calibration methodology for novel FT-NIRS analysis of soybean-based foods is presented together with high-precision NIRS spectra and composition measurements in terms of proteins, oil and carbohydrates in soybean-based foods/soy foods.
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The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury. X. Quantifying the Star Cluster Formation Efficiency of Nearby Dwarf Galaxies

We study the relationship between the field star formation and cluster formation properties in a large sample of nearby dwarf galaxies. We use optical data from the Hubble Space Telescope and from ground-based telescopes to derive the ages and masses of the young (t_age < 100Myr) cluster sample. Our data provides the first constraints on two proposed relationships between the star formation rate of galaxies and the properties of their cluster systems in the low star formation rate regime. The data show broad agreement with these relationships, but significant galaxy-to-galaxy scatter exists. In part, this scatter can be accounted for by simulating the small number of clusters detected from stochastically sampling the cluster mass function. However, this stochasticity does not fully account for the observed scatter in our data suggesting there may be true variations in the fraction of stars formed in clusters in dwarf galaxies. Comparison of the cluster formation and the brightest cluster in our sample galaxies also provide constraints on cluster destruction models.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, Accepted to Ap

Bayesian chronological modeling of SunWatch, a fort ancient village in Dayton, Ohio

Radiocarbon results from houses, pits, and burials at the SunWatch site, Dayton, Ohio, are presented within an interpretative Bayesian statistical framework. The primary model incorporates dates from archaeological features in an unordered phase and uses charcoal outlier modeling (Bronk Ramsey 2009b) to account for issues of wood charcoal 14C dates predating their context. The results of the primary model estimate occupation lasted for 1–245 yr (95% probability), starting in cal AD 1175–1385 (95% probability) and ending in cal AD 1330–1470 (95% probability). An alternative model was created by placing the 14C dates into two unordered phases corresponding with horizontal stratigraphic relationships or distinct groups of artifacts thought to be temporally diagnostic. The results of the alternative model further suggest that there is some temporal separation between Group 1 and Group 2, which seems more likely in the event of a multicomponent occupation. Overall, the modeling results provide chronology estimates for SunWatch that are more accurate and precise than that provided in earlier studies. While it is difficult to determine with certainty if SunWatch had a single-component or multicomponent occupation, it is clear that SunWatch’s occupation lasted until the second half of the AD 1300s

Exploring site formation and building local contexts through wiggle-match radiocarbon dating: re-dating of the Firth of Clyde Crannogs, Scotland

There are at least four wooden intertidal platforms, also known as marine crannogs, in the Firth of Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The interpretation of these sites partly depends on their dating and, if coeval, they could point to the presence of a native maritime hub. Furthermore, the spatial coincidence with the terminus of the Antonine Wall has led to speculation about the role they may have played in Roman-native interaction during the occupation of southern Scotland in the early first millennium cal ad. Hence, a better absolute chronology is essential to evaluate whether the marine crannogs were contemporary with one another and whether they related to any known historic events. This article presents results of a wiggle-match dating project aimed at resolving these uncertainties at two of the sites in question, Dumbuck and Erskine Bridge crannogs. The results show that the construction of these sites pre-date direct Roman influence in Scotland. Furthermore, the results indicate that the two sites were built at least 300 years apart, forcing us to consider the possibility that they may have functioned in very different historical contexts. Other findings include technical observations on the fine shape of the radiocarbon calibration curve near the turn of the first millennia bc/ad and potential evidence for persistent contamination in decayed and exposed sections of waterlogged alder

Treatment of input uncertainty in hydrologic modeling: Doing hydrology backward with Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation

There is increasing consensus in the hydrologic literature that an appropriate framework for streamflow forecasting and simulation should include explicit recognition of forcing and parameter and model structural error. This paper presents a novel Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampler, entitled differential evolution adaptive Metropolis (DREAM), that is especially designed to efficiently estimate the posterior probability density function of hydrologic model parameters in complex, high-dimensional sampling problems. This MCMC scheme adaptively updates the scale and orientation of the proposal distribution during sampling and maintains detailed balance and ergodicity. It is then demonstrated how DREAM can be used to analyze forcing data error during watershed model calibration using a five-parameter rainfall-runoff model with streamflow data from two different catchments. Explicit treatment of precipitation error during hydrologic model calibration not only results in prediction uncertainty bounds that are more appropriate but also significantly alters the posterior distribution of the watershed model parameters. This has significant implications for regionalization studies. The approach also provides important new ways to estimate areal average watershed precipitation, information that is of utmost importance for testing hydrologic theory, diagnosing structural errors in models, and appropriately benchmarking rainfall measurement devices