An Archaeological Investigation into the Cluskey Embankment Stores

Between November 2012 and June 2013 Georgia Southern University conducted an archaeological investigation into the Cluskey Embankment Stores (9CH1352) on behalf of the City of Savannah, Georgia. The project was first initiated by the Earl T. Shinhoster Youth Leadership Institute over a concern of how the vaults were being used. Members of the Shinhoster organization went before City Council and proposed an archaeological investigation of the Vaults. The City Council supported to the proposal and the City’s Research Library & Municipal Archives contacted Dr. Sue Moore of Georgia Southern University to conduct an archaeological investigation of the site. The Cluskey Embankment Stores are located on Factor’s Walk just east of City Hall in Savannah, Georgia. There are a total of five vaults with four open and a fifth vault bricked up and sealed. The research goal was to determine what the vaults were used for and if they were, in fact, utilized as slave holding facilities. The scope of work conducted on the vaults included extensive archival research, LiDAR scanning, GPR scanning, and excavation units in all four open vaults with a reconnaissance into the fifth vault. All of these tasks were led by Dr. Sue Moore and Blake Ayala

Breakdown of the static picture of defect energetics in halide perovskites: the case of the Br vacancy in CsPbBr3

We consider the Br vacancy in CsPbBr3 as a prototype for the impact of structural dynamics on defect energetics in halide perovskites (HaPs). Using first-principles molecular dynamics based on density functional theory, we find that the static picture of defect energetics breaks down; the energy of the Br vacancy level is found to be intrinsically dynamic, oscillating by as much as 1 eV on the ps time scale at room temperature. These significant energy fluctuations are correlated with the distance between the neighboring Pb atoms across the vacancy and with the electrostatic potential at these Pb atomic sites. We expect this unusually strong coupling of structural dynamics and defect energetics to bear important implications for both experimental and theoretical analysis of defect characteristics in HaPs. It may also hold significant ramifications for carrier transport and defect tolerance in this class of photovoltaic materials.Comment: 5 figures, 1 tabl

Seismic Interferometry from Correlated Noise Sources

It is a well-established principle that cross-correlating seismic observations at different receiver locations can yield estimates of band-limited inter-receiver Green's functions. This principle, known as seismic interferometry, is a powerful technique that can transform noise into signals which allow us to remotely image and interrogate subsurface Earth structures. In practice it is often necessary and even desirable to rely on noise already present in the environment. Theory that underpins many applications of ambient noise interferometry makes an assumption that the noise sources are uncorrelated in space and time. However, many real-world noise sources such as trains, highway traffic and ocean waves are inherently correlated both in space and time, in direct contradiction to the current theoretical foundations. Applying standard interferometric techniques to recordings from correlated energy sources makes the Green's function liable to estimation errors that so far have not been fully accounted for theoretically nor in practice. We show that these errors are significant for common noise sources, always perturbing and sometimes obscuring the phase one wishes to retrieve. Our analysis explains why stacking may reduce the phase errors, but also shows that in commonly-encountered circumstances stacking will not remediate the problem. This analytical insight allowed us to develop a novel workflow that significantly mitigates effects arising from the use of correlated noise sources. Our methodology can be used in conjunction with already existing approaches, and improves results from both correlated and uncorrelated ambient noise. Hence, we expect it to be widely applicable in real life ambient noise studies

A Catalog of Cool Dwarf Targets for the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite

We present a catalog of cool dwarf targets ($V-J>2.7$, $T_{\rm eff} \lesssim 4000 K$) and their stellar properties for the upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), for the purpose of determining which cool dwarfs should be observed using two-minute observations. TESS has the opportunity to search tens of thousands of nearby, cool, late K and M-type dwarfs for transiting exoplanets, an order of magnitude more than current or previous transiting exoplanet surveys, such as {\it Kepler}, K2 and ground-based programs. This necessitates a new approach to choosing cool dwarf targets. Cool dwarfs were chosen by collating parallax and proper motion catalogs from the literature and subjecting them to a variety of selection criteria. We calculate stellar parameters and TESS magnitudes using the best possible relations from the literature while maintaining uniformity of methods for the sake of reproducibility. We estimate the expected planet yield from TESS observations using statistical results from the Kepler Mission, and use these results to choose the best targets for two-minute observations, optimizing for small planets for which masses can conceivably be measured using follow up Doppler spectroscopy by current and future Doppler spectrometers. The catalog is incorporated into the TESS Input Catalog and TESS Candidate Target List until a more complete and accurate cool dwarf catalog identified by ESA's Gaia Mission can be incorporated.Comment: Accepted to The Astronomical Journal. For the full catalog, please contact the corresponding autho

Predictors of Parenting and Infant Outcomes for Impoverished Adolescent Parents

Adolescent mothers and their children are at risk for a myriad of negative outcomes. This study examined risk and protective factors and their impact on a sample (N = 172) of impoverished adolescent mothers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that depressed adolescent mothers report higher levels of parenting stress and that their children are more at risk for maltreatment and are developmentally behind other babies. In addition, adolescent mothers with restricted social support have babies who are at higher risk for maltreatment. Finally, mothers who were older during pregnancy were more likely to stay in school. Implications for program development are discussed

Estudio comparativo de las competencias investigativas académicas en los estudiantes de las universidades privadas de Piura en 2022

La presente investigación tuvo como objetivo determinar el nivel comparativo de las competencias investigativas académicas en estudiantes de las universidades privadas de Piura en 2022. El estudio tuvo un diseño no experimental descriptivo comparativo. La población estuvo compuesta por 88 estudiantes de dos universidades privadas de Piura. Mediante la estadística descriptiva e inferencial, a nivel general se encontró que los estudiantes presentan un bajo nivel de competencias investigativas académicas (38.6%). El análisis comparativo demostró que la Universidad 1 presentaba niveles más óptimos respecto a dichas competencias, encontrándose un total de 45.5% de estudiantes en los niveles bueno y destacable, mientras que la Universidad 2 el registro fue de 0%. La prueba de hipótesis demostró que dichas diferencias eran significativas estadísticamente. Como conclusión, se afirma que, aunque a nivel general, las competencias investigativas académicas se presentan en un nivel bajo, se pueden apreciar diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre universidades

Evidencia del análisis psicométrico de la escala multidimensional de asertividad EMA en estudiantes de secundaria del distrito Piura

La presente investigación tuvo como propósito determinar la evidencia del análisis psicométrico de la escala multidimensional de asertividad EMA en estudiantes de secundaria del distrito Piura. Tipo cuantitativa, transversal y aplicada, diseño instrumental no experimental. Se trabajó con una muestra de 365 estudiantes pertenecientes a las distintas instituciones estatales mixtas del distrito Piura. Se empleó un muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia debido a factores que condicionaron el desarrollo del estudio. Se determinó la validez de contenido a través del método juicio de expertos, obteniendo un porcentaje de acuerdos del 100%, un valor p. de 0,001** y un coeficiente Aiken de 1,00. Se determinó la validez de constructo a través del método convergente, obteniendo puntajes de 0,555**, 0,619** y 0,670** para la dimensión A, NA y AI respectivamente. Se aplicó el análisis factorial confirmatorio, obteniendo un índice KMO de 0,853, una varianza de 25,789%, dos factores con 15 reactivos y uno con 14. El ítem 42 fue eliminado del instrumento y se comprobó similitud con la prueba original. Se obtuvo un índice de confiabilidad compuesta a través del método omega de 0,935; 0,883; 0,852 y 0,692 para la escala total y las dimensiones AI, A y NA respectivamente

Current trends and practices in the use of imprisonment

This article charts the rapid rise in the use of imprisonment in recent decades before considering some of the most pressing issues of concern in the use of imprisonment today. First among these is prison overcrowding, which continues to blight the record of many countries in their treatment of prisoners. To illustrate the potentially dire consequences of overcrowding – a problem common to many other countries and regions – an account is given of a recent visit to a prison in El Salvador. The article then provides an overview of the relevant regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, referring also to the role of judicial bodies in ensuring implementation

Smart and Sustainable Cities? Pipedreams, Practicalities and Possibilities

Smart and Sustainable Cities? Pipedreams, Practicalities and Possibilities provides one of the first examinations of how smart cities relate to environmental and social issues. It addresses the gap between the ambitious visions of smart cities and the actual practices on the ground by focusing on the social and environmental dimensions of real smart city initiatives as well as the possibilities they hold for creating more equitable and progressive cities. Through detailed analyses of case studies in the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, India and China, the contributors describe the various ways that social and environmental issues are interpreted and integrated into smart city initiatives and actions. The findings point towards the need for more intentional engagement and collaboration with all urban stakeholders in the design, development and maintenance of smart cities to ensure that everyone benefits from the increasingly digitalised urban environments of the twenty-first century

A comparison of social vulnerability indices specific to flooding in Ecuador: principal component analysis (PCA) and expert knowledge

Social vulnerability is a key component of the risk equation alongside the context of the hazard and exposure. Increasingly, social vulnerability indices are used to better understand and predict the consequences of disasters, and support the development of improved disaster management policies. Humanitarian organisations particularly strive to capture social vulnerability in their decision processes relative to prioritisation of actions before disasters occur. This research sup- ports the Ecuadorian Red Cross in generating a flood-specific social vulnerability index to inform flash flood early action at the Parroquia level in Ecuador. This paper compares the results from the two most common approaches used to create composite indices, one using the weighting of variables from disaster experts’ judgments (referred to as Expert method) and the other using PCA analysis, with one or more components. While all outcomes reveal similar trends in areas where most indicators suggest the lowest (urban areas) or highest (the Amazon and northwest coastal regions) social vulnerability, the research shows that the choice of the method matters for assessing the social vulnerability in the rest of the country where there are less pronounced vulnerability signals. In those areas, PCA-driven indices suggest higher relative vulnerability levels than Expert outcomes. Further, in the Andes particularly, the PCA outcomes result in wider distribution than the Expert outcomes, and therefore more heterogeneity in the vulnerability assessment. While divergence in outcomes suggests particular attention with the use of composite indexes for decision making, our results provide support to understand the sensitivity in flood- specific social vulnerability outcomes spatially. To go further we emphasise the importance of using historical flood impact data to evaluate the contribution of each variable in the final social vulnerability scores.Campus Lima Centr