Development of experimental concepts for investigating the strength behavior of fine-grained cohesive soil in the Spacelab/space shuttle zero-g environment

Three different sets of tests are proposed for the NASA Spacelab experimental program. The first of tests, designed to measure the true cohesion of several different soils, would be carried out in space through use of a specially prepared direct shear apparatus. As part of this first series of tests, it is recommended that a set of drained unconfined compression tests be performed terrestrially on the same soils as tested in space. A form of the direct tension test is planned to measure the true tensile strength of the same types of soils used in the first series of tests. The direct tension tests could be performed terrestrially. The combined results of the direct shear tests, direct tension tests, and unconfined compression tests can be used to construct approximate failure envelopes for the soils tested in the region of the stress origin. Relationships between true cohesion and true tensile strength can also be investigated. In addition, the role of physio-chemical variables should be studied. The third set of tests involves using a multiaxial cubical or true triaxial test apparatus to investigate the influence of gravity induced fabric anisotropy and stress nonhomogeneities on the stress strain behavior of cohesive soils at low effective stress levels. These tests would involve both in space and terrestrial laboratory testing

The World of Saint Dominic and the World of Today

An address delivered on the Seven Hundredth Anniversary of the Approval of the Order of Friars Preachers by the Apostolic See, Sunday, November 19th, 1916, at Washington, D.C.https://digitalcommons.providence.edu/catholic_documents/1011/thumbnail.jp

The postcranial skeleton of monolophosaurus jiangi (dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Middle Jurassic of Xinjiang, China, and a review of Middle Jurassic Chinese theropods

The Middle Jurassic was a critical time in the evolution of theropod dinosaurs, highlighted by the origination and radiation of the large-bodied and morphologically diverse Tetanurae. Middle Jurassic tetanurans are rare but have been described from Europe, South America and China. In particular, China has yielded a number of potential basal tetanurans, but these have received little detailed treatment in the literature. Here we redescribe the postcranial skeleton of one of the most complete Chinese Middle Jurassic theropods, Monolophosaurus. Several features confirmthe tetanuran affinities of Monolophosaurus, but the possession of ‘primitive’ traits such as a double-faceted pubic peduncle of the ilium and a hood-like supracetabular crest suggest a basal position within Tetanurae. This conflicts with most published cladistic analyses that place Monolophosaurus in a more derived position within Allosauroidea.We review the Middle Jurassic record of Chinese theropods and compare Monolophosaurus to other Middle Jurassic theropods globally. These comparisons suggest that Monolophosaurus and Chuandongocoelurus formed an endemic theropod clade limited to the Middle Jurassic of Asia. Other Middle Jurassic Chinese theropods deserve further study

Barremian and Aptian (Cretaceous) sharks and rays from Speeton, Yorkshire, north-east England

Bulk sampling of a number of horizons within the upper part of the Speeton Clay Type section has produced teeth and other remains of sharks and rays from several poorly studied horizons. At least 10 shark and two ray species were recorded, with two sharks, Pteroscyllium speetonensis and Palaeobrachaelurus mitchelli, being described as new. The oldest occurrences of the family Anacoracadae and the genus Pteroscyllium, as well as the youngest occurrence of the genus Palaeobrachaelurus, were recorded. The palaeoenvironmental significance of the faunas is briefly discussed

Application of Model-driven engineering to multi-agent systems: a language to model behaviors of reactive agents

Many users of multi-agent systems (MAS) are very commonly disinclined to model and simulate using current MAS platforms. More specifically, modeling the dynamics of a system (in particular the agents' behaviors) is very often a challenge to MAS users. This issue is more often observed in the domain of socio-ecological systems (SES), because SES domain experts are rarely programmers. Indeed, the majority of MAS platforms were not conceived taking into consideration domain-experts who are non-programmers. Most current MAS tools are not dedicated to SES, or nor do they possess an easily understandable formalism to represent the behaviors of agents. Moreover, because it is platform-dependent, a model realized in a given MAS platform cannot be properly used on another platform due to incompatibility between MAS platforms. To overcome these limitations, we propose a domain-specific language (DSL) to describe the behaviors of reactive agents, regardless of the MAS platform used for simulation. To achieve this result, we used model-driven engineering (MDE), an approach that provides tools to develop DSLs from a meta-model (abstract syntax), textual editors with syntax highlighting (for the concrete syntax) and code generation capabilities (for source-code generation of a model). As a result, we implemented a language and a textual editor that allow SES domain experts to describe behaviors in three different ways that are close to their natural expression: as equations when they are familiar with these, as a sequence of activities close to natural language or as an activity diagram to represent decisions and a sequence of behaviors using a graphic formalism. To demonstrate interoperability, we also developed code generators targeting two different MAS platforms (Cormas and Netlogo). We tested the code generators by implementing two SES models with the developed DSL. The generated code was targeted to both MAS platforms (Cormas and Netlogo), and successfully simulated in one of them. We conclude that the MDE approach provides adequate tools to develop DSL and code generators to facilitate MAS modeling and simulation by non-programmers. Concerning the DSL developed, although the behavioral aspect of MAS simulation is part of the complexity of modeling in MAS, there are still other essential aspects of model and simulation of MAS that are yet to be explored, such as model initialization and points of view on the model simulated worl

Defining County-Level Terrestrial Rabies Freedom Using the US National Rabies Surveillance System: Surveillance Data Analysis

Background: Rabies is a deadly zoonotic disease with nearly 100% fatality rate. In the United States, rabies virus persists in wildlife reservoirs, with occasional spillover into humans and domestic animals. The distribution of reservoir hosts in US counties plays an important role in public health decision-making, including the recommendation of lifesaving postexposure prophylaxis upon suspected rabies exposures. Furthermore, in surveillance data, it is difficult to discern whether counties have no cases reported because rabies was not present or because counties have an unreported rabies presence. These epizootics are monitored by the National Rabies Surveillance System (NRSS), to which approximately 130 state public health, agriculture, and academic laboratories report animal rabies testing statistics. Historically, the NRSS classifies US counties as free from terrestrial rabies if, over the previous 5 years, they and any adjacent counties did not report any rabies cases and they tested ≥15 reservoir animals or 30 domestic animals. Objective: This study aimed to describe and evaluate the historical NRSS rabies-free county definition, review possibilities for improving this definition, and develop a model to achieve more precise estimates of the probability of terrestrial rabies freedom and the number of reported county-level terrestrial rabies cases. Methods: Data submitted to the NRSS by state and territorial public health departments and the US Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services were analyzed to evaluate the historical rabies-free definition. A zero-inflated negative binomial model created county-level predictions of the probability of rabies freedom and the expected number of rabies cases reported. Data analyzed were from all animals submitted for laboratory diagnosis of rabies in the United States from 1995 to 2020 in skunk and raccoon reservoir territories, excluding bats and bat variants. Results: We analyzed data from 14,642 and 30,120 county-years in the raccoon and skunk reservoir territories, respectively. Only 0.85% (9/1065) raccoon county-years and 0.79% (27/3411) skunk county-years that met the historical rabies-free criteria reported a case in the following year (99.2% negative predictive value for each), of which 2 were attributed to unreported bat variants. County-level model predictions displayed excellent discrimination for detecting zero cases and good estimates of reported cases in the following year. Counties classified as rabies free rarely (36/4476, 0.8%) detected cases in the following year. Conclusions: This study concludes that the historical rabies freedom definition is a reasonable approach for identifying counties that are truly free from terrestrial raccoon and skunk rabies virus transmission. Gradations of risk can be measured using the rabies prediction model presented in this study. However, even counties with a high probability of rabies freedom should maintain rabies testing capacity, as there are numerous examples of translocations of rabies-infected animals that can cause major changes in the epidemiology of rabies

A New Basal Sauropodomorph (Dinosauria: Saurischia) from Quebrada del Barro Formation (Marayes-El Carrizal Basin), Northwestern Argentina

BACKGROUND: Argentinean basal sauropodomorphs are known by several specimens from different basins; Ischigualasto, El Tranquilo, and Mogna. The Argentinean record is diverse and includes some of the most primitive known sauropodomorphs such as Panphagia and Chromogisaurus, as well as more derived forms, including several massospondylids. Until now, the Massospondylidae were the group of basal sauropodomorphs most widely spread around Pangea with a record in almost all continents, mostly from the southern hemisphere, including the only record from Antarctica. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDING: We describe here a new basal sauropodomorph, Leyesaurus marayensis gen. et sp. nov., from the Quebrada del Barro Formation, an Upper Triassic-Lower Jurassic unit that crops out in northwestern Argentina. The new taxon is represented by a partial articulated skeleton that includes the skull, vertebral column, scapular and pelvic girdles, and hindlimb. Leyesaurus is diagnosed by a set of unique features, such as a sharply acute angle (50 degrees) formed by the ascending process of the maxilla and the alveolar margin, a straight ascending process of the maxilla with a longitudinal ridge on its lateral surface, noticeably bulging labial side of the maxillary teeth, greatly elongated cervical vertebrae, and proximal articular surface of metatarsal III that is shelf-like and medially deflected. Phylogenetic analysis recovers Leyesaurus as a basal sauropodomorph, sister taxon of Adeopapposaurus within the Massospondylidae. Moreover, the results suggest that massospondylids achieved a higher diversity than previously thought. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our phylogenetic results differ with respect to previous analyses by rejecting the massospondylid affinities of some taxa from the northern hemisphere (e.g., Seitaad, Sarahsaurus). As a result, the new taxon Leyesaurus, coupled with other recent discoveries, suggests that the diversity of massospondylids in the southern hemisphere was higher than in other regions of Pangea. Finally, the close affinities of Leyesaurus with the Lower Jurassic Massospondylus suggest a younger age for the Quebrada del Barro Formation than previously postulated

A new prozostrodontian cynodont (Therapsida) from the Late Triassic Riograndia Assemblage Zone (Santa Maria Supersequence) of Southern Brazil

We report here on a new prozostrodontian cynodont, Botucaraitherium belarminoi gen. et sp. nov., from the Late Triassic Riograndia Assemblage Zone (AZ) of the Candelária Sequence (Santa Maria Supersequence), collected in the Botucaraí Hill Site, Candelária Municipality, state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The new taxon is based on a single specimen (holotype MMACR-PV-003-T) which includes the left lower jaw, without postdentary bones, bearing the root of the last incisor, canine and four postcanines plus one partial crown inside the dentary, not erupted, and two maxillary fragments, one with a broken canine and another with one postcanine. The features of the lower jaw and lower/upper postcanines resemble those of the prozostrodontians Prozostrodon brasiliensis from the older Hyperodapedon AZ and Brasilodon quadrangularis and Brasilitherium riograndensis from the same Riograndia AZ. The inclusion of Botucaraitherium within a broad phylogenetic analysis, positioned it as a more derived taxon than tritylodontids, being the sister-taxon of Brasilodon, Brasilitherium plus Mammaliaformes. Although the new taxon is based on few cranial elements, it represents a additional faunal component of the Triassic Riograndia AZ of southern Brazil, in which small-sized derived non-mammaliaform cynodonts, closely related to the origin of mammaliaforms, were ecologically well succeed and taxonomically diverseNós reportamos aqui um novo cinodonte prozostrodonte, Botucaraitherium belarminoi gen. et sp. nov., do Triássico Tardio da Zona de Assembleia (ZA) de Riograndia da Sequência Candelária (Supersequência Santa Maria), coletado no afl oramento Sítio Botucaraí, no município de Candelária, Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. O novo táxon está baseado em um único espécime (holótipo MMACR-PV- 003-T) o qual inclui a mandíbula esquerda, sem os ossos pós-dentários, com a raiz do último incisivo preservada, o canino e quatro dentes pós-caninos, além de uma coroa parcial, não erupcionada, do quinto pós-canino, e dois fragmentos maxilares, um com um canino quebrado, e outro portando apenas um dente pós-canino. As feições mandibulares e dentárias assemelham-se àquelas dos cinodontes prozostrodontes Prozostrodon brasiliensis da ZA de Hyperodapedon, mais antiga, e de Brasilodon quadrangularis e Brasilitherium riograndensis da mesma ZA de Riograndia. A inclusão de Botucaraitherium em uma ampla análise filogenética posicionou-o como um táxon mais derivado do que os tritilodontídeos, sendo o táxon-irmão de Brasilodon, Brasilitherium e mais Mammaliaformes. Apesar de o novo táxon ser baseado em poucos elementos cranianos, ele representa um componente faunístico adicional na ZA de Riograndia do Triássico sul-brasileiro, na qual os cinodontes não-mamaliaformes de pequeno tamanho, intimamente relacionados à origem dos mamíferos, foram ecologicamente bem sucedidos e taxonomicamente diverso