Intensive Archeological Survey of Boyce Lane at Harris Branch, Travis County, Texas

On behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted an intensive archeological survey on February 23, 2018, of a potential bridge replacement consisting of approximately 1.5 acres of existing right-of-way (ROW) along Boyce Lane over Harris Branch in Travis County, Texas. Because the project will receive funding from the Federal Highways Administration, it qualifies as an undertaking as defined in Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 800.16(y) and, therefore, the work was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S. Code 306108). Furthermore, the project must also comply with the Antiquities Code of Texas (9 Natural Resources Code 191). Jon Budd served as Principal Investigator under Texas Antiquities Code Permit No. 8298. The total area of potential effects (APE) is defined as the existing 100-foot-wide Boyce Lane ROW extending 175 feet north and 200 feet south of the Harris Branch channel centerline, encompassing approximately 1.5 acres. Depth of impact is estimated to be up to 40 feet below the current ground surface for the bridge supports and up to 10 feet for the remainder of the project. Background research identified that one previous archeological survey covered a portion of the project area, but no archeological sites, cemeteries, or known historic resources were within or immediately adjacent to the review area. The field investigation of the proposed project APE consisted of an intensive pedestrian survey with shovel testing. Mechanical trenching was originally proposed, but existing utilities on both sides of the ROW and large fill sections precluded trenching. The existing ROW is heavily disturbed by existing roadway and associated bridge construction activities; in addition, the APE is almost entirely within existing fill sections. The investigations identified no archeological resources within the APE. SWCA has made a reasonable and good faith effort to locate and identify historic properties as per 36 CFR Part 800.4(b)(1), and cultural resources as per Subchapter A of Chapter 26 of the Texas Administrative Code throughout the proposed project APE. Based on the results of the survey, SWCA recommends a finding of “no historic properties affected,” and no further archeological investigations are recommended within the APE

Intensive Archeological Survey of the Highway US 69 and Farm-to-Market 779 Interchange, Wood County, Texas

On behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation, SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey with mechanical trenching on September 20-22, 2017, of 57.69 acres of new and existing right-of-way (ROW) along United States Highway (US) 69 and the intersection of Farm-to-Market (FM) 779 in Wood County, Texas. Because the project will receive funding from the Federal Highways Administration, it qualifies as an undertaking as defined in Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations Part 800.16(y) and, therefore, survey was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S. Code 306108). Furthermore, the project must also comply with the Antiquities Code of Texas (9 Natural Resources Code 191). Kevin Hanselka served as Principal Investigator under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 8162. The area of potential effects (APE) is defined as a two-mile long stretch of US 69 and a 0.17- mile long stretch along FM 779. The area includes the existing 120-foot-wide ROW and an additional 25.19 acres (from 19 parcels) of new ROW along the southwest side of the existing ROW. The total project area is therefore about 57.69 acres, of which about 32.5 acres is existing ROW and 25.19 acres is new ROW. Typical depths of impact are anticipated to be approximately two feet, with maximum depths of impacts of up to six feet at culvert locations. A background literature review determined that the APE has previously been surveyed for cultural resources by Hicks & Company in 2004, but that no deep testing was conducted to assess the potential for deeply buried deposits during that effort. One other cultural resource survey was conducted within 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) of the survey area; a 2010 survey of Golden Community Cemetery by AR Consultants, Inc. on behalf of the Texas Water Development Board. One archeological site (41WD257) is located approximately 350 meters north of the APE, but minimal information is available on this site. Two historic markers are located in the town of Golden near the APE, for Reuben Leon and Fairess Simmons, and for the Reneau Building (marker numbers 15501 and 17729). Finally one cemetery, Golden Cemetery, is located within 0.6 miles of the project area. The survey identified substantial disturbances within the APE, including prior infrastructure development, such as utilities and road construction, and a variety of other land use practices. SWCA assessed the entire 57.69-acre survey area, but focused on the 25.19 acres of proposed new ROW. SWCA excavated eight backhoe trenches (BHTs) to assess the potential for deeply buried cultural deposits along the prominent drainages and 26 shovel tests in upland areas. The survey identified a negligible potential for intact cultural resources within the existing ROW, and the investigations revealed no cultural material within the new ROW. At the time of the survey access was denied for six parcels, comprising 1.85 acres of new ROW; these parcels are predominantly commercial or residential developments. No further archeological investigations are recommended within the APE and within a 50-foot buffer beyond the horizontal project limits on the southwestern side of the roadway

Evaluating the Way Forward in Online Student Engagement.

Several factors make up the successful instructional experience in online higher education classes. With the advanced offerings in online learning, educational institutions are compelled to innovate all aspects of their online classes (U.S. Department of Education, 2016). The innovation can lead to a higher caliber learning environment. This paper advances a simple model for Instructors to follow, an Instructional Online Model (IOM), with the intent of improving student engagement, knowledge retention, leading to increased business profit. Instructors who model the discussed techniques may find increased student’s satisfaction with their courses, leading to the students pursuing further online education. Technological advancement and student maturity are themes identified during this research. These trends are topics for further research

Intensive Archeological Survey: State Highway 72, McMullen County, Texas

On behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation, SWCA Environmental Consultants (SWCA) conducted an intensive cultural resources survey with mechanical trenching from August 16–18, 2017, on 226 acres of existing right-of-way (ROW) along State Highway (SH) 72 in McMullen County, Texas. Because the project will receive funding from the Federal Highways Administration, it qualifies as an undertaking as defined in Title 36 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 800.16(y) and, therefore, survey was conducted in compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (54 U.S. Code 306108). Furthermore, the project must also comply with the Antiquities Code of Texas (9 Natural Resources Code 191). Eric Oksanen served as Principal Investigator under Texas Antiquities Permit No. 8120. The area of potential effects (APE) is defined as the existing 120-foot-wide ROW for a length of approximately 15.56 miles. The lane improvements within the 226-acre APE will include the addition of passing lanes throughout the project, and the widening of a turn lane near the eastern terminus. A background literature review determined that portions of the APE have been previously surveyed for cultural resources and seven archeological sites are within the APE (Texas Historical Commission 2017a). However, three of the seven sites within the APE (i.e., 41MC623, 41MC590, and 41MC598) have been evaluated and found to be not eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The remaining four previously identified archeological sites (i.e., 41MC369, 41MC370, 41MC371, and 41MC372) have an undetermined eligibility for listing in the NRHP or designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). In addition to the sites within the APE, 28 previously recorded sites are located directly adjacent to the existing ROW. All but two of the 28 adjacent sites are not eligible for the NRHP, whereas the remaining two sites have an undetermined eligibility. The survey identified substantial disturbances within the APE, including prior infrastructure development, such as utilities and roads, and a variety of other land use practices. SWCA assessed the entire 226-acre survey area, but focused on the four sites within the direct APE that have an undetermined eligibility (i.e., 41MC369, 41MC370, 41MC371, and 41MC372). SWCA excavated 11 backhoe trenches (BHTs) and one 75-meter-long scrape (equivalent to 33 BHTs) near 41MC372 to assess the potential for burials within the four sites. The survey identified sparse lithic material, consisting of lithic flakes and tested cobbles, as well as few burned rocks within the back dirt and/or on the ground surface of all four sites within the heavily disturbed existing SH 72 ROW. Additionally, SWCA archeologists observed one sublanceolate point (Angostura-like) on the surface of 41MC371 within the existing ROW, while sparse faunal remains were identified within the upper 10 cm at site 41MC372. Due to the heavy disturbance observed throughout the existing ROW and the lack of intact subsurface deposits and cultural materials, all four evaluated sites (41MC369–41MC372) are recommended to be NOT ELIGIBLE for listing on the NRHP or for designation as SALs, and no further archeological investigations are recommended

Relaxing the independent censoring assumption in the Cox proportional hazards model using multiple imputation.

The Cox proportional hazards model is frequently used in medical statistics. The standard methods for fitting this model rely on the assumption of independent censoring. Although this is sometimes plausible, we often wish to explore how robust our inferences are as this untestable assumption is relaxed. We describe how this can be carried out in a way that makes the assumptions accessible to all those involved in a research project. Estimation proceeds via multiple imputation, where censored failure times are imputed under user-specified departures from independent censoring. A novel aspect of our method is the use of bootstrapping to generate proper imputations from the Cox model. We illustrate our approach using data from an HIV-prevention trial and discuss how it can be readily adapted and applied in other settings

Operational Energy--Essential Knowledge for Military Officers

Energy Academic Group (EAG) New

Tourist species bias estimates of extrapolated species density in dispersive taxa: a case study from a litter beetle assemblage in temperate woodland

Extrapolative nonparametric estimators of species density are commonly used in community ecology. However, they are dependent on either (1) their use on non-dispersive taxa, or (2) the ability to separate tourists from residents in dispersive taxa. We undertook ten years of leaf litter sampling in an ancient woodland in the New Forest, Southern England. We identi- fied all the beetles from those samples and assigned them a residency status (residents, stratum tourists, and habitat tourists). Extrapolations, using the Chao 2, first- and second-order jackknife, and bootstrap approaches, of all sampled beetles all showed large overestimates of species richness when compared with extrapolations based on just residents. We recommend that the estimators should be used with caution as estimates of actual species density for dispersive taxa unless the natural history of most species in a community is well known. This applies especially to tropical ecosystems where many species have not been described. This reinforces the need for more descriptive natural history

V819 Tau: A Rare Weak-Lined T Tauri Star with a Weak Infrared Excess

We use Spitzer data to infer that the small infrared excess of V819 Tau, a weak-lined T Tauri star in Taurus, is real and not attributable to a "companion" 10 arcsec to the south. We do not confirm the mid-infrared excess in HBC 427 and V410 X-ray 3, which are also non-accreting T Tauri stars in the same region; instead, for the former object, the excess arises from a red companion 9 arcsec to the east. A single-temperature blackbody fit to the continuum excess of V819 Tau implies a dust temperature of 143 K; however, a better fit is achieved when the weak 10 and 20 micron silicate emission features are also included. We infer a disk of sub-micron silicate grains between about 1 AU and several 100 AU with a constant surface density distribution. The mid-infrared excess of V819 Tau can be successfully modeled with dust composed mostly of small amorphous olivine grains at a temperature of 85 K, and most of the excess emission is optically thin. The disk could still be primordial, but gas-poor and therefore short-lived, or already at the debris disk stage, which would make it one of the youngest debris disk systems known.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in Ap