Using oxygen isotope analysis and a multi-isotopic approach in determining the region of origin of human remains

Multi-isotopic approaches have been used effectively to help provide estimated geographic origins for unidentified skeletal remains in cold case homicides and archaeological contexts, when DNA testing was not practical. Stable oxygen and strontium isotopes were used in the present study in order to determine their effectiveness of proveniencing human remains from Colombia and New England. Enamel hydroxyapatite was extracted from individual teeth (n=151) from individuals with known birthplaces for different regions of Colombia as well as the region of New England in the United States. All oxygen data is presented as a ratio of δ18O /δ16O (‰PDB). The results show significant geographical differences (p ≤ 0.001), between the Colombian and New England populations. The mean δ18O value for Colombia is -11.06 ± 1.28. The mean 87Sr/86Sr value for Colombia is 0.707391 ± 0.0016. The mean δ18O value of the samples from the United States is -7.42 ± 1.39. The mean 87Sr/86Sr value for the samples from the United States is 0.7099747 ± 0.0011. The oxygen and strontium ratios of the sample set have no significant differences within each geographic region. Additionally, a small subset of the immigrant community in Boston, MA is represented within the sample. There is a significant difference (p ≤ 0.002) in the population’s mean δ18O values. The establishment of this oxygen and strontium isoscape has the potential to provenience unidentified human remains recovered as a result of Colombia’s long-term internal conflict

Advisor Use in CBT: Modality and Placement

Fifty-eight Education graduate students took a forty-minute computer-based instructional module on introductory statistics with a built-in solicited guidance mechanism. Subjects were randomly assigned to programs that used one of four types of advisement: on-screen digitized video of a human advisor, onscreen text-based advisor, pull-down digitized video of a human advisor, or pull-down text-based advisor. Results indicated that The on-screen video-based advisor condition resulted in higher advisor use than both the text-based and video-based pull-down advisor conditions. Advisor use was significantly correlated with performance during instruction, to time spent during instruction, and to television hours watched per week, but not with retention scores. Two nonsignificant, but inviting, findings were that the video-based on-screen advisors were used twice as much as text-based on-screen advisors and active learners used advisement three times as often as passive learners

BAT LOADING STRATEGIES

The effects of adding mass at different locations along the longitudinal axis of a softball bat on the effective hitting area were compared. Successive loads were added to the exterior of a standard, commercially available aluminum bat (length = 86.7 cm, mass = 741 g) in increments of 93.7 g. The loads were placed at the following sites: (1) at the knob end, (2) at the junction of the bat handle and knob end, (3) at a point 12 cm from the knob end, (4) at a point 16.8 cm from the knob end, (5) at the center of mass, (6) at the center of percussion, and (7) at the barrel end. The second and third points were selected to coincide with the swing axis and impact reaction axis, respectively. The effects of each of these loading conditions on each of the following mechanical parameters were determined theoretically, by physical pendulum testing, and empirically by impact testing: (1) moment of inertia about the swing axis, (I1), (2) distance from the impact reaction axis to the center of percussion, and (3) slope of the impact reaction impulse as a function of impact location. The latter two variables were used to determine the effective hitting area of the bat. Results from impact testing were consistent with theoretical expectations and with results from the physical pendulum tests. Knob end loading had the greatest effect on displacement of the effective hitting area toward the barrel end of the bat and on enlarging the effective hitting area. Loading at the impact reaction axis and center of percussion had no effect on the effective hitting area. Loading at the barrel end of the bat substantially moved the effective hitting area toward the barrel end of the bat, but also caused a large increase in I1

Effects of Amphetamine on Striatal Dopamine Release, Open-Field Activity, and Play in Fischer 344 and Sprague–Dawley Rats

Previous work from our laboratories has shown that juvenile Fischer 344 (F344) rats are less playful than other strains and also appear to be compromised in dopamine (DA) functioning. To determine whether the dysfunctional play in this strain is associated with deficits in the handling and delivery of vesicular DA, the following experiments assessed the extent to which F344 rats are differentially sensitive to the effects of amphetamine. When exposed to amphetamine, striatal slices obtained from F344 rats showed a small increase in unstimulated DA release when compared with slices from Sprague–Dawley rats; they also showed a more rapid high K+-mediated release of DA. These data provide tentative support for the hypothesis that F344 rats have a higher concentration of cytoplasmic DA than Sprague–Dawley rats. When rats were tested for activity in an open field, F344 rats presented a pattern of results that was consistent with either an enhanced response to amphetamine (3 mg/kg) or a more rapid release of DA (10 mg/kg). Although there was some indication that amphetamine had a dose-dependent differential effect on play in the two strains, play in F344 rats was not enhanced to any degree by amphetamine. Although these results are not consistent with our working hypothesis that F344 rats are less playful because of a deficit in vesicular release of DA, they still suggest that this strain may be a useful model for better understanding the role of DA in social behavior during the juvenile period

Requirements Engineering Conferences: wither industry tracks? Unabridged version with a track history of the RE Conferences

This report argues that industry tracks have no place in any research conference. Instead, a research conference should always have room for industrial case studies, evaluated according to criteria for empirical research. Such case studies would not be acceptable at a practitioners’ industrial conference, just as papers presented at such conferences would not be acceptable at research conferences. It follows as corollary that if researchers want to become familiar with problems and solutions of RE practice, they should visit industrial conferences. A shorter version of this report has been published at the RE 2013 conference

Criminogenic Features of Apartment Complexes: Preliminary Findings

This study used epidemiological methods to compare high crime apartment complexes to low crime apartment complexes along multiple dimensions, including management practices and the immediate spatial context of the complexes.Funded by Grant No. 2005-IJ-CX-0030 awarded by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of JusticeStudy / Why rental housing is ideal for studies of place management / Disorder calls for service / Independent variables: ORCA / Odds ratios from logistic regression / But shouldn’t place management reduce crime? / A Dynamic Approach to Place Management and Crim

The Probable Detection of SN 1923A: The Oldest Radio Supernova?

Based upon the results of VLA observations, we report the detection of two unresolved radio sources that are coincident with the reported optical position of SN 1923A in M83. For the source closest to the SN position, the flux density was determined to be 0.30 +/- 0.05 mJy at 20 cm and 0.093 +/- 0.028 mJy at 6 cm. The flux density of the second nearby source was determined to be 0.29 +/- 0.05 at 20 cm and 0.13 +/- 0.028 at 6 cm. Both sources are non-thermal with spectral indices of alpha = -1.0 +/- 0.30 and -0.69 +/- 0.24, respectively. SN 1923A has been designated as a Type II-P. No Type II-P (other than SN 1987A) has been detected previously in the radio. The radio emission from both sources appears to be fading with time. At an age of approximately 68 years when we observed it, this would be the oldest radio supernova (of known age) yet detected