Redescription Of A Specimen Of Pentaceratops (Ornithischia: Ceratopsidae) And Phylogenetic Evaluation Of Five Referred Specimens From The Upper Cretaceous Of New Mexico

Pentaceratops sternbergi is a late Campanian ceratopsian predominately known from the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. Previous specimen descriptions and cladistic analyses are based on partial skulls and composite specimens, which places Pentaceratops as an intermediate form between Chasmosaurus and Triceratops. Recent reports have questioned the taxonomic validity of several referred specimens, leading to taxonomic confusion. To address taxonomic issues, Museum of Northern Arizona specimen MNA V1747 (formerly MNA Pl. 1747) is redescribed and included in the first specimen-based phylogenetic analysis. Additional preparation since the initial description has made available additional skull elements and revealed MNA V1747 to be the most complete P. sternbergi skull known. Additionally, this study codes five referred specimens as distinct operational taxonomic units (OTU), then added them to previously published ceratopsian phylogenetic matrices for evaluation. Two consensus trees are produced; a tree comparing the five specimens to the OTU assigned to P. sternbergi in recent phylogenetic studies of Ceratopsia and a tree without the P. sternbergi OTU. Results indicate that not all specimens included in this analysis can be confidently assigned to Pentaceratops, suggesting the possibility of misidentified ceratopsian specimens from the San Juan Basin

Normality, Indifference and Induction: Themes in Epistemology and Logic

Contained in this dissertation are four essays on epistemology and logic. They are self-standing essays and can be read independently from one another. However, I think there are a few common themes that run throughout. Here I will briefly highlight one. In the first chapter I discuss the principle of indifference: if a body of evidence E supports p no more than it supports q, and likewise E supports q no more than it supports p, then one's credence in p ought to be equal to one's credence in q. One feature of this principle is that it can be employed in the absence of any evidence regarding p and q. If one has no evidence bearing on p and q, then one's evidence supports them equally. Call principles like these 'something-from-nothing principles'. Something-from-nothing principles are evidential principles that govern rational credences and beliefs in cases where has a substantial lack of evidence and background information. One theme in this dissertation is the idea that something-from-nothing principles are problematic. In the first chapter, I defend an argument that the principle of indifference is inconsistent, and I show that a similar something-from-nothing principle in the imprecise confidence model is problematic. In the second chapter I motivate and defend a no-rules theory of induction. Hume's `project the past into the future' is a something-from-nothing principle, and, focusing on Roger White's portrayal of this style of induction, I argue that the principle should be rejected. Something-from-nothing principles principles are usually taken to be knowable a priori. If they are applicable in cases where one has no evidence or empirical knowledge relevant to the use of the principle, then one must be in a position to know that the principle is true in such cases. The general picture of evidential relations suggested by the no-rules account of induction defended in chapter 2 undermines the idea that evidential principles are knowable a priori. In chapter 3 and 4 I discuss normality theories of knowledge and justification and I claim that it is natural for normality theorists to find something-from-nothing principles problematic

Estados Unidos. Mapas generales. 1794 (1775). 1:750000

Coordenadas referidas al meridiano de Londres (O 82º40'-O 74º24'/N 40º15'-N 35º45') y al meridiano de Filadelfia. Orientado con lis en rosa de 8 vientosTabla de situación de unas ciudades respecto a otrasDedicado a Georg Dunk Earl of HalifaxTítulo en cartela decorada con escena de un puertoLavado en rojo, rosa, amarillo y verd

Constraints on Galaxy Bias, Matter Density, and Primordial Non--Gausianity from the PSCz Galaxy Redshift Survey

We compute the bispectrum for the \IRAS PSCz catalog and find that the galaxy distribution displays the characteristic signature of gravity. Assuming Gaussian initial conditions, we obtain galaxy biasing parameters $1/b_1=1.20^{+0.18}_{-0.19}$ and $b_2/b_1^2=-0.42\pm0.19$, with no sign of scale-dependent bias for $k\leq 0.3$ h/Mpc. These results impose stringent constraints on non-Gaussian initial conditions. For dimensional scaling models with $\chi^2_N$ statistics, we find N>49, which implies a constraint on primordial skewness $B_3<0.35$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 embedded figures, uses revtex style file, minor changes to reflect published versio

Analysis of Neptune's 2017 Bright Equatorial Storm

We report the discovery of a large ($\sim$8500 km diameter) infrared-bright storm at Neptune's equator in June 2017. We tracked the storm over a period of 7 months with high-cadence infrared snapshot imaging, carried out on 14 nights at the 10 meter Keck II telescope and 17 nights at the Shane 120 inch reflector at Lick Observatory. The cloud feature was larger and more persistent than any equatorial clouds seen before on Neptune, remaining intermittently active from at least 10 June to 31 December 2017. Our Keck and Lick observations were augmented by very high-cadence images from the amateur community, which permitted the determination of accurate drift rates for the cloud feature. Its zonal drift speed was variable from 10 June to at least 25 July, but remained a constant $237.4 \pm 0.2$ m s$^{-1}$ from 30 September until at least 15 November. The pressure of the cloud top was determined from radiative transfer calculations to be 0.3-0.6 bar; this value remained constant over the course of the observations. Multiple cloud break-up events, in which a bright cloud band wrapped around Neptune's equator, were observed over the course of our observations. No "dark spot" vortices were seen near the equator in HST imaging on 6 and 7 October. The size and pressure of the storm are consistent with moist convection or a planetary-scale wave as the energy source of convective upwelling, but more modeling is required to determine the driver of this equatorial disturbance as well as the triggers for and dynamics of the observed cloud break-up events.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, 6 tables; Accepted to Icaru

Association between arsenic, cadmium, manganese, and lead levels in private wells and birth defects prevalence in North Carolina: a semi-ecologic study

Abstract: Background: Toxic metals including arsenic, cadmium, manganese, and lead are known human developmental toxicants that are able to cross the placental barrier from mother to fetus. In this population-based study, we assess the association between metal concentrations in private well water and birth defect prevalence in North Carolina. Methods: A semi-ecologic study was conducted including 20,151 infants born between 2003 and 2008 with selected birth defects (cases) identified by the North Carolina Birth Defects Monitoring Program, and 668,381 non-malformed infants (controls). Maternal residences at delivery and over 10,000 well locations measured for metals by the North Carolina Division of Public Health were geocoded. The average level of each metal was calculated among wells sampled within North Carolina census tracts. Individual exposure was assigned as the average metal level of the census tract that contained the geocoded maternal residence. Prevalence ratios (PR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to estimate the association between the prevalence of birth defects in the highest category (≥90th percentile) of average census tract metal levels and compared to the lowest category (≤50th percentile). Results: Statewide, private well metal levels exceeded the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or secondary MCL for arsenic, cadmium, manganese, and lead in 2.4, 0.1, 20.5, and 3.1 percent of wells tested. Elevated manganese levels were statistically significantly associated with a higher prevalence of conotruncal heart defects (PR: 1.6 95% CI: 1.1-2.5). Conclusions: These findings suggest an ecologic association between higher manganese concentrations in drinking water and the prevalence of conotruncal heart defects

Association between arsenic, cadmium, manganese, and lead levels in private wells and birth defects prevalence in North Carolina: a semi-ecologic study

Abstract: Background: Toxic metals including arsenic, cadmium, manganese, and lead are known human developmental toxicants that are able to cross the placental barrier from mother to fetus. In this population-based study, we assess the association between metal concentrations in private well water and birth defect prevalence in North Carolina. Methods: A semi-ecologic study was conducted including 20,151 infants born between 2003 and 2008 with selected birth defects (cases) identified by the North Carolina Birth Defects Monitoring Program, and 668,381 non-malformed infants (controls). Maternal residences at delivery and over 10,000 well locations measured for metals by the North Carolina Division of Public Health were geocoded. The average level of each metal was calculated among wells sampled within North Carolina census tracts. Individual exposure was assigned as the average metal level of the census tract that contained the geocoded maternal residence. Prevalence ratios (PR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated to estimate the association between the prevalence of birth defects in the highest category (≥90th percentile) of average census tract metal levels and compared to the lowest category (≤50th percentile). Results: Statewide, private well metal levels exceeded the EPA Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) or secondary MCL for arsenic, cadmium, manganese, and lead in 2.4, 0.1, 20.5, and 3.1 percent of wells tested. Elevated manganese levels were statistically significantly associated with a higher prevalence of conotruncal heart defects (PR: 1.6 95% CI: 1.1-2.5). Conclusions: These findings suggest an ecologic association between higher manganese concentrations in drinking water and the prevalence of conotruncal heart defects

Re-annotation of the Theileria parva genome refines 53% of the proteome and uncovers essential components of N-glycosylation, a conserved pathway in many organisms

The apicomplexan parasite Theileria parva causes a livestock disease called East coast fever (ECF), with millions of animals at risk in sub-Saharan East and Southern Africa, the geographic distribution of T. parva. Over a million bovines die each year of ECF, with a tremendous economic burden to pastoralists in endemic countries. Comprehensive, accurate parasite genome annotation can facilitate the discovery of novel chemotherapeutic targets for disease treatment, as well as elucidate the biology of the parasite. However, genome annotation remains a significant challenge because of limitations in the quality and quantity of the data being used to inform the location and function of protein-coding genes and, when RNA data are used, the underlying biological complexity of the processes involved in gene expression. Here, we apply our recently published RNAseq dataset derived from the schizont life-cycle stage of T. parva to update structural and functional gene annotations across the entire nuclear genome.; The re-annotation effort lead to evidence-supported updates in over half of all protein-coding sequence (CDS) predictions, including exon changes, gene merges and gene splitting, an increase in average CDS length of approximately 50 base pairs, and the identification of 128 new genes. Among the new genes identified were those involved in N-glycosylation, a process previously thought not to exist in this organism and a potentially new chemotherapeutic target pathway for treating ECF. Alternatively-spliced genes were identified, and antisense and multi-gene family transcription were extensively characterized.; The process of re-annotation led to novel insights into the organization and expression profiles of protein-coding sequences in this parasite, and uncovered a minimal N-glycosylation pathway that changes our current understanding of the evolution of this post-translational modification in apicomplexan parasites