Initial Findings from the Archeological Investigations of the Hardin A Site (41GG69), Gregg County, Texas

The Hardin A site (41GG69) is a prehistoric Caddo Indian settlement located on a high terrace overlooking the Sabine River flood-plain in Gregg County, Texas. The modem channel of the river is about 650 m to the south, and there is a small, intermittent tributary ca. 180 m to the west. The senior author discovered the Hardin A site in 1997, after he was told about it by informants who were looting a midden and cemetery area, and he formally recorded it in February 2000. In an effort to better understand the temporal and archeological context of the prehistoric Caddo occupation at the Hardin A site, limited hand excavations (Unit 1, a l x 2 m unit) were completed in the midden area by the senior author, with the assistance of Mark Walters, Texas Archeological Steward, in the spring of 2000. That work exposed deep (+90 cm) archeological deposits in a sandy loam soil with some preserved midden, as well as part of a pit feature in the northern and eastern part of the unit. The pit feature extended to approximately 160 cm below surface (bs), and contained dark brown to very dark grayish-brown fill with large amounts of ceramics (including about 50 decorated sherds), animal bone, and charred plant remains (especially hickory nutshells). Analyses are ongoing on these remains. In this paper, we discuss the results of our radiocarbon and oxidizable carbon ratio (OCR) studies in the Hardin A midden

Tracking Reasonableness: An Evaluation of North Carolina\u27s Lifetime Satelite-Based Monotoring Statutes in the Wake of Grady v. North Carolina

On the evening of October 4, 1957, one event would change the world forever. With the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik, the whole of civilization was ushered into a new period of technology and discovery. No one who witnessed the birth of the satellite age almost 60 years ago could have envisioned the indispensable impact satellite technology would have in the modern era. One of the most significant benefits of satellite technology has been the use of multiple satellites to determine precise location information from anywhere on the planet. This use, commonly known as GPS (global positioning system), has become so commonplace in our world that a considerable portion of the world population uses it daily. In addition, states capitalized on the use of GPS technology in the mandatory monitoring of sex offenders through the creation of satellite-based monitoring (SBM) programs aimed at the protection of the public by curbing recidivism of known sex offenders. Many legal challenges followed. Then, in the 2012 United States Supreme Court case of United States v. Jones, satellites would again change the world. The Supreme Court, through its Jones decision, would usher in a new paradigm of search law when it held that the warrantless installation and GPS monitoring of a suspect\u27s vehicle constituted a search. The question remained open, however, regarding the effect the Jones decision would have on the GPS monitoring of sex offenders. In the 2015 Supreme Court term, the Court answered this question. In Grady v. North Carolina, the Court ruled that SBM programs constituted a Fourth Amendment search. Despite its ruling, the Court left open the ultimate question of whether SBM programs are reasonable warrantless searches. This Article will utilize the framework left by the Grady decision and attempt to answer the ultimate question for North Carolina: is the lifetime SBM program reasonable under the Fourth Amendment? The Article will conclude that a court will likely hold that North Carolina\u27s SBM program is a reasonable search. When considering this result, four crucial observations appear: (1) In assessing reasonableness under the Fourth Amendment, the Supreme Court has struggled to consistently maintain a clear direction. Over time, the Court has grappled with whether to require a warrant or to inquire into reasonableness alone. As a result of this dilemma, a number of cases have sprung up to create classifications of warrantless searches that defy a common and consistent theme. (2) The Grady decision\u27s cited cases Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton and Samson v. California provide at least two distinct reasonableness scaffolds to build upon: (1) a special needs exception, requiring some need beyond traditional law enforcement; and (2) a general reasonableness exception based upon a particular context, such as a diminished expectation of privacy. (3) While it is likely that the North Carolina courts will conclude that the SBM program is reasonable, such a decision will constitute a Pyrrhic victory, won at the considerable cost to individual privacy. Veritably, if the court upholds lifetime GPS monitoring of individuals as reasonable, such a ruling pushes the outside of the envelope for suspicionless and warrantless searches. (4) Should the High Court eventually consider the ultimate question left open in its Grady decision, the resolution is in doubt. In fact, the whole aggregate of its pronouncements on reasonableness, both past and future, has been shrouded in ambiguity. Currently, the Court is ensnared in darkness over the future of its ideological understanding of the Fourth Amendment. Justice Scalia\u27s recent death casts a long shadow over the evenly divided Court. Only time will tell if the Court will attempt to view reasonableness through a preference for warrants or if it chooses to continue to track reasonableness alone in the universe of uncertainty and unpredictability that is the Fourth Amendment. For now, all we can do is look to the heavens and wonder

A Probable Early 19th Century Coushatta Village Site on Big Cypress Bayou in Northeastern Texas

In February 2002, avocational archaeologists from northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana conducted archaeological investigations in an area along Big Cypress Bayou in Marion County, Texas, to search for and identify a pre-1841 Coushatta Indian village depicted on a 1943 General Land Office map. That map showed a Coushatti village with at least seven to eight structures (a common way at the time to indicate an Indian village, but not necessarily an accurate characterization of the number of structures once present at the site) near the confluence of Black Cypress Bayou and Big Cypress Bayou. This article describes the results of these archaeological investigations.. Other Alabama (Alibamu) and Coushatta (Koasati) villages have been documented in recent years through archaeological and historical investigations in the Caddo Lake and Red River areas of northeastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana. These villages were first established around 1803 or 1804 by these members of the Creek Indian confederacy who had moved or resettled as a group from the Alabama River area of east-central Alabama. The Alabama and Coushatta chose to resettle in traditional Caddo lands rather than associate with the British and American traders and settlers who moved into Creek Territory after the French and Indian War, which ended in 1763, and the American Revolution

Efficient generation of >2 W of green light by single pass frequency doubling in PPMgLN

We report 32% efficient frequency doubling of single frequency 1029 nm light to green light at 514.5 nm using a single pass configuration. A congruent composition, periodically poled magnesium doped lithium niobate (PPMgLN) crystal of 50 mm length was used to generate a second harmonic power of 2.3 W. To our knowledge, this is the highest reported frequency doubling efficiency of any wavelength light in a PPMgLN crystal and also the highest reported SHG output power in the green for PPMgLN.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Optics Express, awaiting respons

Local Randomization in Neighbor Selection Improves PRM Roadmap Quality

Probabilistic Roadmap Methods (PRMs) are one of the most used classes of motion planning methods. These sampling-based methods generate robot configurations (nodes) and then connect them to form a graph (roadmap) containing representative feasible pathways. A key step in PRM roadmap construction involves identifying a set of candidate neighbors for each node. Traditionally, these candidates are chosen to be the k-closest nodes based on a given distance metric. This work proposes a new neighbor selection policy called LocalRand(k, k'), that first computes the k' closest nodes to a specified node and then selects k of those nodes at random. Intuitively, LocalRand attempts to benefit from random sampling while maintaining the higher levels of local planner success inherent to selecting more local neighbors. A methodology for selecting the parameters k and k' is provided, and an experimental comparison for both rigid and articulated robots show that LocalRand results in roadmaps that are better connected than the traditional k-closest or a purely random neighbor selection policy. The cost required to achieve these results is shown to be comparable to the cost of k-closest

Building Research-Informed Teacher Education Communities: A UCET Framework

©UCET December 201

Differential interaction of glimepiride and glibenclamide with the β-cell sulfonylurea receptor I. Binding characteristics

Glimepiride is a novel sulfonylurea drug for treatment of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus with higher blood sugar lowering efficacy in diabetic patients than glibenclamide raising the question whether this characteristics is in line with different binding of glimepiride and glibenclamide to the β-cell sulfonylurea receptor. Scatchard plot analysis of [3H]sulfonylurea binding to membranes isolated from rat β-cell tumors and (RINm5F) insulinoma cells and to RINm5F cells demonstrated that glimepiride has a 2.5–3-fold lower affinity than glibenclamide. This corresponded well to the 8–9-fold higher koff and 2.5–3-fold higher kon rates of glimepiride compared to glibenclamide as revealed by the dissociation and association kinetics of [3H]sulfonylurea binding and the Kd values calculated thereof. In agreement, the concentrations required for half-maximal displacement of [3H]sulfonylurea bound to β-cell membranes were significantly higher for glimepiride compared to glibenclamide. However, the binding affinity of glimepiride measured by both equilibrium binding and kinetic binding studies upon solubilization of β-cell tumor membranes and RINm5F cell membranes increased up to the value for glibenclamide. This was primarily based on a drastic decrease of the dissociation rate constant of glimepiride whereas the kinetics of glibenclamide binding remained largely unaffected upon solubilization. These data suggest that the Kd value alone is not sufficient for characterization of a sulfonylurea drug, since the kinetic binding parameters may also determine its acute blood sugar lowering efficacy