The provenance, date and significance of a Cook-voyage Polynesian sculpture

A unique wooden sculpture collected by James Cook during his first voyage to the Pacific is widely considered to be a masterpiece of Oceanic art, but its exact provenance has been unclear. New analysis of shavings from the object now indicate that a) the tree from which it was carved was felled between 1690 and 1728, and that the carving was therefore up to 80 years old when obtained, and b) it originated in Tahiti, despite its stylistic affinities with art from the Austral Islands. Motifs and forms clearly travelled within regions, and populations interacted in ways that blur presumed tribal boundaries. It is perhaps time to reconsider the association between region and style upon which the cataloguing and identification of objects routinely depends.The research reported upon here has taken place in the context of two projects, 'Artefacts of Encounter', funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council over 2010-13, and 'Pacific Presences', funded by the European Research Council over 2013-18. We are grateful to both agencies for their support. We also thank: Julie Adams (British Museum); Peter Brunt (Victoria University); Caroline Cartwright (British Museum); Steven Hooper (University of East Anglia); JeanYves Meyer (Ministère des Ressources Marines, des Mines et de la Recherche, Polynésie Française); Mark Nesbitt (Economic Botany Collection, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew); Tamsin O’Connell (Dorothy Garrod Laboratory for Isotopic Analysis, McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research); Jessica Royles (Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge); Matthew Spriggs (Australian National University); and the University of Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit

Psychophysiological measures of driver distraction and workload while intoxicated

The crash risk associated with cell phone use while driving is a contentious issue. Many states are introducing Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) that may be accessed with cell phones while driving (e.g., 511 Traveler Information Services). In these contexts, there is a need for relevant research to determine the risk of cell phone use. This study compared driver performance while conversing on a hands-free cell phone to conditions of operating common in-vehicle controls (e.g., radio, fan, air conditioning) and alcohol intoxication (BAC 0.08). In addition, the study examined the combined effects of being distracted and being intoxicated given that there may be a higher risk of a crash if the driver engages in a combination of risk factors. During simulated traffic scenarios, resource allocation was assessed through an eventrelated potential (ERP) novelty oddball paradigm. Intoxicated drivers were less attentive to all stimuli and drivers engaged in secondary tasks had weaker responses to unexpected novel sounds in brain regions associated with evaluative processing. Drivers conversing on the cell phone and in-vehicle tasks while sober had lower accuracy during the target tone task than intoxicated drivers not completing any secondary task

Severe consequences of habitat fragmentation on genetic diversity of an endangered Australian freshwater fish: A call for assisted gene flow

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Genetic diversity underpins the ability of populations to persist and adapt to environmental changes. Substantial empirical data show that genetic diversity rapidly deteriorates in small and isolated populations due to genetic drift, leading to reduction in adaptive potential and fitness and increase in inbreeding. Assisted gene flow (e.g. via translocations) can reverse these trends, but lack of data on fitness loss and fear of impairing population “uniqueness” often prevents managers from acting. Here, we use population genetic and riverscape genetic analyses and simulations to explore the consequences of extensive habitat loss and fragmentation on population genetic diversity and future population trajectories of an endangered Australian freshwater fish, Macquarie perch Macquaria australasica. Using guidelines to assess the risk of outbreeding depression under admixture, we develop recommendations for population management, identify populations requiring genetic rescue and/or genetic restoration and potential donor sources. We found that most remaining populations of Macquarie perch have low genetic diversity, and effective population sizes below the threshold required to retain adaptive potential. Our simulations showed that under management inaction, smaller populations of Macquarie perch will face inbreeding depression within a few decades, but regular small-scale translocations will rapidly rescue populations from inbreeding depression and increase adaptive potential through genetic restoration. Despite the lack of data on fitness loss, based on our genetic data for Macquarie perch populations, simulations and empirical results from other systems, we recommend regular and frequent translocations among remnant populations within catchments. These translocations will emulate the effect of historical gene flow and improve population persistence through decrease in demographic and genetic stochasticity. Increasing population genetic connectivity within each catchment will help to maintain large effective population sizes and maximize species adaptive potential. The approach proposed here could be readily applicable to genetic management of other threatened species to improve their adaptive potential

Re-evaluating the resource potential of lomas fog oasis environments for Preceramic hunter-gatherers under past ENSO modes on the south coast of Peru

Lomas – ephemeral seasonal oases sustained by ocean fogs – were critical to ancient human ecology on the desert Pacific coast of Peru: one of humanity’s few independent hearths of agriculture and “pristine” civilisation. The role of climate change since the Late Pleistocene in determining productivity and extent of past lomas ecosystems has been much debated. Here we reassess the resource potential of the poorly studied lomas of the south coast of Peru during the long Middle Pre-ceramic period (c. 8,000 – 4,500 BP): a period critical in the transition to agriculture, the onset of modern El Niño Southern Oscillation (‘ENSO’) conditions, and eustatic sea-level rise and stabilisation and beach progradation. Our method combines vegetation survey and herbarium collection with archaeological survey and excavation to make inferences about both Preceramic hunter-gatherer ecology and the changed palaeoenvironments in which it took place. Our analysis of newly discovered archaeological sites – and their resource context – show how lomas formations defined human ecology until the end of the Middle Preceramic Period, thereby corroborating recent reconstructions of ENSO history based on other data. Together, these suggest that a five millennia period of significantly colder seas on the south coast induced conditions of abundance and seasonal predictability in lomas and maritime ecosystems, that enabled Middle Preceramic hunter-gatherers to reduce mobility by settling in strategic locations at the confluence of multiple eco-zones at the river estuaries. Here the foundations of agriculture lay in a Broad Spectrum Revolution that unfolded, not through population pressure in deteriorating environments, but rather as an outcome of resource abundance.We thank the Ministerio de Cultural del Perú for granting permission for archaeological fieldwork (Resolución Directoral Nº 933-2012-DGPC-VMPCIC/MC, 19 December 2012 and Nº 386-2014-DGPA-VMPCIC/MC, 22 August 2014) and the export of samples for dating; Don Alberto Benavides Ganoza and the people of Samaca for facilitating fieldwork; the Leverhulme Trust (grant number RPG-117) and the late Don Alberto Benavides de la Quintana (grant number RG69428) and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research for funding Cambridge University’s One River Archaeological Project, and the NERC Radiocarbon facility (grant number NF/2013/2/2) for funding radiocarbon dating. We also thank the Servicio Nacional Forestal y de Fauna Silvestre (SERFOR) and the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado (SERNANP), Peru for permits for the Proyecto Kew Perú to carry out botanical and ecological survey, and Delsy Trujillo, Eric Ramírez, Consuelo Borda and other participants of the Proyecto Kew Perú: Conservación, Restauración de Hábitats y Medios de Vida Útiles, Ica, Peru.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.10.02

Frequency and type of adverse analytical findings in athletics: Differences among disciplines.

Athletics is a highly diverse sport that contains a set of disciplines grouped into jumps, throws, races of varying distances, and combined events. From a physiological standpoint, the physical capabilities linked to success are quite different among disciplines, with varying involvements of muscle strength, muscle power, and endurance. Thus, the use of banned substances in athletics might be dictated by physical dimensions of each discipline. Thus, the aim of this investigation was to analyse the number and distribution of adverse analytical findings per drug class in athletic disciplines. The data included in this investigation were gathered from the Anti-Doping Testing Figure Report made available by the World Anti-Doping Agency (from 2016 to 2018). Interestingly, there were no differences in the frequency of adverse findings (overall, 0.95%, range from 0.77 to 1.70%) among disciplines despite long distance runners having the highest number of samples analysed per year ( 9812 samples/year). Sprinters and throwers presented abnormally high proportions of adverse analytical findings within the group of anabolic agents (p < 0.01); middle- and long-distance runners presented atypically high proportions of findings related to peptide hormones and growth factors (p < 0.01); racewalkers presented atypically high proportions of banned diuretics and masking agents (p = 0.05). These results suggest that the proportion of athletes that are using banned substances is similar among the different disciplines of athletics. However, there are substantial differences in the class of drugs more commonly used in each discipline. This information can be used to effectively enhance anti-doping testing protocols in athletics.post-print1.911 K

Not-from-concentrate pilot plant ‘Wonderful’ cultivar pomegranate juice changes: Volatiles

Pilot plant ultrafiltration was used to mimic the dominant U.S. commercial pomegranate juice extraction method (hydraulic pressing whole fruit), to deliver a not-from-concentrate (NFC) juice that was high-temperature short-time pasteurized and stored at 4 and 25 °C. Recovered were 46 compounds, of which 38 were routinely isolated and subjected to analysis of variance to assess these NFC juices. Herein, 18 of the 21 consensus pomegranate compounds were recovered. Ultrafiltration resulted in significant decreases for many compounds. Conversely, pasteurization resulted in compound increases. Highly significant decreases in 12 consensus compounds were observed during storage. Principal component analysis demonstrated clearly which compounds were tightly associated, and how storage samples behaved very similarly, independent of temperature. Based on these data and previous work we reported, this solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method delivered a robust ‘Wonderful’ volatile profile in NFC juices that is likely superior qualitatively and perhaps quantitatively to typical commercial offerings

Fuel Cycle Scenario Definition, Evaluation, and Trade-offs

This report aims to clarify many of the issues being discussed within the AFCI program, including Inert Matrix Fuel (IMF) versus Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel, single-pass versus multi-pass recycling, thermal versus fast reactors, potential need for transmutation of technetium and iodine, and the value of separating cesium and strontium. It documents most of the work produced by INL, ANL, and SNL personnel under their Simulation, Evaluation, and Trade Study (SETS) work packages during FY2005 and the first half of FY2006. This report represents the first attempt to calculate a full range of metrics, covering all four AFCI program objectives - waste management, proliferation resistance, energy recovery, and systematic management/economics/safety - using a combination of "static" calculations and a system dynamic model, DYMOND. In many cases, we examine the same issue both dynamically and statically to determine the robustness of the observations. All analyses are for the U.S. reactor fleet. This is a technical report, not aimed at a policy-level audience. A wide range of options are studied to provide the technical basis for identifying the most attractive options and potential improvements. Option improvement could be vital to accomplish before the AFCI program publishes definitive cost estimates. Information from this report will be extracted and summarized in future policy-level reports. Many dynamic simulations of deploying those options are included. There are few "control knobs" for flying or piloting the fuel cycle system into the future, even though it is dark (uncertain) and controls are sluggish with slow time response: what types of reactors are built, what types of fuels are used, and the capacity of separation and fabrication plants. Piloting responsibilities are distributed among utilities, government, and regulators, compounding the challenge of making the entire system work and respond to changing circumstances. We identify four approaches that would increase our ability to pilot the fuel cycle system: (1) have a recycle strategy that could be implemented before the 2030-2050 approximate period when current reactors retire so that replacement reactors fit into the strategy, (2) establish an option such as multi-pass blended-core IMF as a downward plutonium control knob and accumulate waste management benefits early, (3) establish fast reactors with flexible conversion ratio as a future control knob that slowly becomes available if/when fast reactors are added to the fleet, and (4) expand exploration of blended assemblies and cores, which appear to have advantages and agility. Initial results suggest multi-pass full-core MOX appears to be a less effective way than multi-pass blended core IMF to manage the fuel cycle system because it requires higher TRU throughput while more slowly accruing waste management benefits. Single-pass recycle approaches for LWRs (we did not study the VHTR) do not meet AFCI program objectives and could be considered a "dead end". Fast reactors appear to be effective options but a significant number of fast reactors must be deployed before the benefit of such strategies can be observed