ALCOA #1 (41AN87): A Frankston Phase Settlement along Mound Prairie Creek, Anderson County, Texas

The ALCOA #1 (41AN87) site is a Frankston Phase (ca. A.D. 1400-1650) site located on a high alluvial terrace of Mound Prairie Creek, about seven kilometers northeast of Palestine, Texas. Mound Prairie Creek, a perennial stream, flows southeast to east across the county and drains into the Neches River. The site is approximately 10 meters above the Mound Prairie Creek floodplain, and the creek channel is 300 meters to the south. Although the investigations at the site have been rather limited to date, it appears that the ALCOA #1 site is a single component Frankston Phase homestead, or possibly a small hamlet. Other Frankston phase sites are known on Mound Prairie Creek, Hurricane Creek, Walnut Creek, and Brushy Creek, all Neches River tributaries, and the possibility exists that these may be part of a larger related Caddo community and settlement system

Life Among the Muses: Papers in Honor of James S. Findley

Edited volume of papers Preface; Terry L. Yates The Academic Offspring of James S. Findley; Kenneth N. Geluso and Don E. Wilson Annotated Bibliography of James Smith Findley; William L. Gannon and Don E. Wilson Biogeography of Baja California Peninsular Desert Mammals; David J. Hafner and Brett R. Riddle Annotated Checklist of the Recent Land Mammals of Sonora, Mexico; William Caire On the Status of Neotoma varia from Isla Datil, Sonora; Michael A. Bogan Systematics, Distribution, and Ecology of the Mammals of Catamarca Province, Argentina; Michael A. Mares, Ricardo A. Ojeda, Janet K. Braun, and Ruben M. Barquez Similarity Coefficients and Relationships of Wisconsin-Age Faunas New Mexico and Trans-Pecos Texas; Arthur H. Harris Historical Implications and Characteristics of Assemblages of Small Mammals in West-Central Kansas; E.D. Fleharty and Rob Channell Mammal Species of Concern in New Mexico; Clyde Jones and C. Gregory Schmitt Non-Human Mortality, Injuries, and Possible Cannibalism in Utah Black Bears; Hal L. Black Skeletal Architecture of the Forelimbs in Kangaroo Rats (Heteromyidae: Dipodomys): Adaptations for Digging and Food Handling; Kerry S. Kilburn Puncturing Ability of Bat Canine Teeth: The Tip; Patricia W. Freeman and William N. Weins The Effects of Daily and Seasonal Temperature Variation on a Model of Competing Lizard Species; J.S. Scheibe A Comparison of Morphometric Techniques to Distinguish Sympatric Mussel Species (Family Unionidae) with Similar Shell Morphology; Patricia Mehlhop and Richard L. Cifelli Evaluation of Methods for Permanently Marking Kangaroo Rats (Dipodomys: Heteromyidae); Daniel F. Williams, Walter Tordoff Ill, and David J. Germano Influence of Proximity to Rivers on Chipmunk Vocalization Patterns; William L. Gannon Subnivean Foraging by Abert\u27s Squirrels; Richard B. Forbe

Exploring Graphs with Time Constraints by Unreliable Collections of Mobile Robots

A graph environment must be explored by a collection of mobile robots. Some of the robots, a priori unknown, may turn out to be unreliable. The graph is weighted and each node is assigned a deadline. The exploration is successful if each node of the graph is visited before its deadline by a reliable robot. The edge weight corresponds to the time needed by a robot to traverse the edge. Given the number of robots which may crash, is it possible to design an algorithm, which will always guarantee the exploration, independently of the choice of the subset of unreliable robots by the adversary? We find the optimal time, during which the graph may be explored. Our approach permits to find the maximal number of robots, which may turn out to be unreliable, and the graph is still guaranteed to be explored. We concentrate on line graphs and rings, for which we give positive results. We start with the case of the collections involving only reliable robots. We give algorithms finding optimal times needed for exploration when the robots are assigned to fixed initial positions as well as when such starting positions may be determined by the algorithm. We extend our consideration to the case when some number of robots may be unreliable. Our most surprising result is that solving the line exploration problem with robots at given positions, which may involve crash-faulty ones, is NP-hard. The same problem has polynomial solutions for a ring and for the case when the initial robots' positions on the line are arbitrary. The exploration problem is shown to be NP-hard for star graphs, even when the team consists of only two reliable robots

Time-Energy Tradeoffs for Evacuation by Two Robots in the Wireless Model

Two robots stand at the origin of the infinite line and are tasked with searching collaboratively for an exit at an unknown location on the line. They can travel at maximum speed $b$ and can change speed or direction at any time. The two robots can communicate with each other at any distance and at any time. The task is completed when the last robot arrives at the exit and evacuates. We study time-energy tradeoffs for the above evacuation problem. The evacuation time is the time it takes the last robot to reach the exit. The energy it takes for a robot to travel a distance $x$ at speed $s$ is measured as $xs^2$. The total and makespan evacuation energies are respectively the sum and maximum of the energy consumption of the two robots while executing the evacuation algorithm. Assuming that the maximum speed is $b$, and the evacuation time is at most $cd$, where $d$ is the distance of the exit from the origin, we study the problem of minimizing the total energy consumption of the robots. We prove that the problem is solvable only for $bc \geq 3$. For the case $bc=3$, we give an optimal algorithm, and give upper bounds on the energy for the case $bc>3$. We also consider the problem of minimizing the evacuation time when the available energy is bounded by $\Delta$. Surprisingly, when $\Delta$ is a constant, independent of the distance $d$ of the exit from the origin, we prove that evacuation is possible in time $O(d^{3/2}\log d)$, and this is optimal up to a logarithmic factor. When $\Delta$ is linear in $d$, we give upper bounds on the evacuation time.Comment: This is the full version of the paper with the same title which will appear in the proceedings of the 26th International Colloquium on Structural Information and Communication Complexity (SIROCCO'19) L'Aquila, Italy during July 1-4, 201

Development of an Extra-vehicular (EVA) Infrared (IR) Camera Inspection System

Designed to fulfill a critical inspection need for the Space Shuttle Program, the EVA IR Camera System can detect crack and subsurface defects in the Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) sections of the Space Shuttle s Thermal Protection System (TPS). The EVA IR Camera performs this detection by taking advantage of the natural thermal gradients induced in the RCC by solar flux and thermal emission from the Earth. This instrument is a compact, low-mass, low-power solution (1.2cm3, 1.5kg, 5.0W) for TPS inspection that exceeds existing requirements for feature detection. Taking advantage of ground-based IR thermography techniques, the EVA IR Camera System provides the Space Shuttle program with a solution that can be accommodated by the existing inspection system. The EVA IR Camera System augments the visible and laser inspection systems and finds cracks and subsurface damage that is not measurable by the other sensors, and thus fills a critical gap in the Space Shuttle s inspection needs. This paper discusses the on-orbit RCC inspection measurement concept and requirements, and then presents a detailed description of the EVA IR Camera System design

Monovalent maleimide functionalization of gold nanoparticles via copper-free click chemistry

A single maleimide was installed onto the self-assembled monolayer of gold nanoparticles by copper-free click chemistry. Simple covalent biofunctionalisation is demonstrated by coupling fibroblast growth factor 2 and an oligosaccharide in a 1 : 1 stoichiometry by thiol-Michael addition

Infrared On-Orbit RCC Inspection With the EVA IR Camera: Development of Flight Hardware From a COTS System

In November 2004, NASA's Space Shuttle Program approved the development of the Extravehicular (EVA) Infrared (IR) Camera to test the application of infrared thermography to on-orbit reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) damage detection. A multi-center team composed of members from NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC), Langley Research Center (LaRC), and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) was formed to develop the camera system and plan a flight test. The initial development schedule called for the delivery of the system in time to support STS-115 in late 2005. At the request of Shuttle Program managers and the flight crews, the team accelerated its schedule and delivered a certified EVA IR Camera system in time to support STS-114 in July 2005 as a contingency. The development of the camera system, led by LaRC, was based on the Commercial-Off-the-Shelf (COTS) FLIR S65 handheld infrared camera. An assessment of the S65 system in regards to space-flight operation was critical to the project. This paper discusses the space-flight assessment and describes the significant modifications required for EVA use by the astronaut crew. The on-orbit inspection technique will be demonstrated during the third EVA of STS-121 in September 2005 by imaging damaged RCC samples mounted in a box in the Shuttle's cargo bay