Fingering a Murderer: A Successful Anthropological and Radiological Collaboration

We illustrate an interdisciplinary approach to identify a victim in a case with complex taphonomic and procedural issues. Burning, fragmentation, species commingling, and examination by multiple experts required anthropological preparation and analysis combined with radio- graphic adaptations to image and match trabecular patterns in unusually small, burned specimens. A missing person was last seen in the company of a reclusive female on a remote rural property. A warranted search found several burn sites containing human and animal bones. Fragment prepara- tion, analysis, and development of a biological profile by anthropologists enabled examination by the odontologist, molecular biologist, and radiolo- gist, and justified use of antemortem radiographs from one potential victim. Visual and radiological comparison resulted in a positive (later confirmed) identification of the victim by radiological matches of three carpal phalanges. Although some dimensional changes are expected with burning, morphological details were preserved, aided by selection of relatively intact, small bones for comparison

Effect of Protein Level, Lysine and Oats in Diets for Growing-Finishing Pigs

Previous research has shown that the protein content of swine diets can be reduced approximately two percent if the diet is supplemented with lysine and if the diet is not deficient in other amino acids. Corn-soybean meal diets that are reduced more than two percent in protein may become deficient in the amino acid tryptophan. Oats contains more lysine and tryptophan but less energy than corn. However, dietary levels of 20 to 30% oats have generally not affected pig performance. The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the protein and lysine needs of growing-finishing pigs and to determine the value of oats as an amino acid source in low protein diets containing 20% oats as a replacement for corn

The Use of Financial Literacy for Growing Personal Finance

Financial literacy played an important role for everyone in managing personal finances.This research aimed to determine how the level of financial literacy in students S1 Facultyof Economics and Business, Universitas Pasundan and investigate what factors are influencingit. The observed respondents were students from the Faculty of Economics andBusiness, Universitas Pasundan. The research data was collected through questionnaires,descriptive analysis, and test multinomial logit. Based on the results of the researchshowed that the level of financial literacy from undergraduate students UniversitasPasundan was in the low category. Financial literacy was determined by gender, GreaterAcademic Achievement (GPA), parental education level, and parental income level;,whereas for age, year of study and residence do not contribute to the research model. Theresults of this study were expected to support personal financial planning of students inimproving the skills of reading, analyzing, and managing their own finances, thus avoidingthe daily financial problems

Explorations, Vol. 1, No. 2

The cover print is a multi-plate colored etching entitled Skull and Sun Dial, by Susan Groce, Associate Professor of Art at the University of Maine at Orono, where she teaches Printmaking and Drawing. Articles include: The Quaternary Ice Age Plants and Animals: Secrets of the Colorado Plateau, by Jim I. Mead and Emilee M. Mead Finding the Facts: Pieces of the Puzzle On Location: In Search of the First Americans A Temporal Vegetational Continuum: From Tundra to Forest, by Carole J. Bombard for Ronald B. Davis Anatomy of an Excavation, by Robson Bonnichsen What the Bones Tell Us, by Marcella H. Sorg People of the Americas Publication Program, by Emilee M. Mea

Automated claustrum segmentation in human brain MRI using deep learning

In the last two decades, neuroscience has produced intriguing evidence for a central role of the claustrum in mammalian forebrain structure and function. However, relatively few in vivo studies of the claustrum exist in humans. A reason for this may be the delicate and sheet-like structure of the claustrum lying between the insular cortex and the putamen, which makes it not amenable to conventional segmentation methods. Recently, Deep Learning (DL) based approaches have been successfully introduced for automated segmentation of complex, subcortical brain structures. In the following, we present a multi-view DL-based approach to segment the claustrum in T1-weighted MRI scans. We trained and evaluated the proposed method in 181 individuals, using bilateral manual claustrum annotations by an expert neuroradiologist as reference standard. Cross-validation experiments yielded median volumetric similarity, robust Hausdorff distance, and Dice score of 93.3%, 1.41 mm, and 71.8%, respectively, representing equal or superior segmentation performance compared to human intra-rater reliability. The leave-one-scanner-out evaluation showed good transferability of the algorithm to images from unseen scanners at slightly inferior performance. Furthermore, we found that DL-based claustrum segmentation benefits from multi-view information and requires a sample size of around 75 MRI scans in the training set. We conclude that the developed algorithm allows for robust automated claustrum segmentation and thus yields considerable potential for facilitating MRI-based research of the human claustrum. The software and models of our method are made publicly available

Energy-sensitive imaging detector applied to the dissociative recombination of D2H+

We report on an energy-sensitive imaging detector for studying the fragmentation of polyatomic molecules in the dissociative recombination of fast molecular ions with electrons. The system is based on a large area (10 cm x 10 cm) position-sensitive, double-sided Si-strip detector with 128 horizontal and 128 vertical strips, whose pulse height information is read out individually. The setup allows to uniquely identify fragment masses and is thus capable of measuring branching ratios between different fragmentation channels, kinetic energy releases, as well as breakup geometries, as a function of the relative ion-electron energy. The properties of the detection system, which has been installed at the TSR storage ring facility of the Max-Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, is illustrated by an investigation of the dissociative recombination of the deuterated triatomic hydrogen cation D2H+. A huge isotope effect is observed when comparing the relative branching ratio between the D2+H and the HD+D channel; the ratio 2B(D2+H)/B(HD+D), which is measured to be 1.27 +/- 0.05 at relative electron-ion energies around 0 eV, is found to increase to 3.7 +/- 0.5 at ~5 eV.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Tobacco retail policy landscape: a longitudinal survey of US states

There are ∼380 000 tobacco retailers in the USA, where the largest tobacco companies spend almost $9 billion a year to promote their products. No systematic survey has been conducted of state-level activities to regulate the retail environment, thus little is known about what policies are being planned, proposed or implemented

Stressor- and Corticotropin releasing Factor-induced Reinstatement and Active Stress-related Behavioral Responses are Augmented Following Long-access Cocaine Self-administration by Rats

Rationale Stressful events during periods of drug abstinence likely contribute to relapse in cocaine-dependent individuals. Excessive cocaine use may increase susceptibility to stressor-induced relapse through alterations in brain corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) responsiveness. Objectives This study examined stressor- and CRF-induced cocaine seeking and other stress-related behaviors in rats with different histories of cocaine self-administration (SA). Materials and methods Rats self-administered cocaine under short-access (ShA; 2 h daily) or long-access (LgA; 6 h daily) conditions for 14 days or were provided access to saline and were tested for reinstatement by a stressor (electric footshock), cocaine or an icv injection of CRF and for behavioral responsiveness on the elevated plus maze, in a novel environment and in the light–dark box after a 14- to 17-day extinction/withdrawal period. Results LgA rats showed escalating patterns of cocaine SA and were more susceptible to reinstatement by cocaine, EFS, or icv CRF than ShA rats. Overall, cocaine SA increased activity in the center field of a novel environment, on the open arms of the elevated plus maze, and in the light compartment of a light–dark box. In most cases, the effects of cocaine SA were dependent on the pattern/amount of cocaine intake with statistically significant differences from saline self-administering controls only observed in LgA rats. Conclusions When examined after several weeks of extinction/ withdrawal, cocaine SA promotes a more active pattern of behavior during times of stress that is associated with a heightened susceptibility to stressor-induced cocaine-seeking behavior and may be the consequence of augmented CRF regulation of addiction-related neurocircuitry