A Reevaluation of a Lithic Procurement Site (41BX63) in Converse, Bexar County, Texas

An archaeological survey of 35 acres in Converse, Texas, in northeastern Bexar County, relocated lithic site 4IBX63. Extensive shovel testing demonstrated that virtually no subsurface material was present. The surface site was collected and the chipped stone and raw material analyzed. The analysis suggests local chert cobbles were being selected for early and middle stages of tool manufacture at the site. A single diagnostic artifact, a Scallorn point, indicates that site use included the Late Prehistoric period

Archaeological Testing of the New Plaza at Mission San Francisco de la Espada (41BX4), San Antonio, Texas

In October 1996, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio completed archaeological investigations of the eastern portion of the interior compound of Mission San Francisco de la Espada. The archaeological testing was undertaken in advance of the construction of a movie set in the New Plaza of the mission. The staging involved setting up approximately 100 tents, using eight-inch stakes driven about six inches into the ground. Twenty-six shovel tests were excavated across the plaza to locate any culturally sensitive areas which might be affected by the movie set. Pre-1780 material from the investigated portion of the New Plaza may be earlier trash deposits placed outside of what was then the interior of the compound. A concentration of post-Colonial ceramics in the southern portion of the mission may reflect habitation sites along the south wall throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The results of the shovel testing suggest that the northern portion of the New Plaza may contain intact Spanish colonial deposits. However, 6 to 12 inches of fIll are currently being added to this portion of the plaza as part of a separate drainage improvement project at the mission. We recommend, therefore, that the northern area be avoided, either entirely or until land modification has been completed. The proposed disturbances will have no effect on Colonial deposits elsewhere in the plaza, and work should be allowed to continue in those areas

Archaeological Testing and Monitoring for a Proposed Drainage Channel at Mission San Juan Capistrano, San Antonio, Texas

In October 1996 the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) of The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) completed preliminary archaeological investigations south of Mission San Juan Capistrano in areas specified for a proposed 800-ft drainage channel. Shovel tests, excavated at five-meter intervals along this route, revealed this area contains a very limited amount of Colonial period and modern artifacts in a mixed context

Phenomenological Model for Infrared Emissions from High-Explosive Detonation Fireballs

Time-resolved infrared spectra were recently collected via a Fourier-transform spectrometer (FTS) from the detonation fireballs of two types of conventional military munitions (CMM) as well as uncased TNT and four types of enhanced novel explosives (ENEs). The CMM spectra are dominated by continuum emission, and a single-temperature Planckian distribution, modified for atmospheric attenuation, captures most of the variation in the data. Some evidence of selective emission is identified by systematic patterns in the fit residuals. The behavior of these systematic residuals affords a distinction between the two types of CMMs studied. The uncased TNT and ENE spectra appear strongly influenced by both continuum and selective emission. A physics-based spectral model is developed consisting of seven parameters: size, temperature, particulate absorption coefficient, and gas concentrations for H2O, CO2, CO, and HCl. Fitting affords a high-fidelity representation with features that correlate with HE characteristics. The hydrogen-to-carbon ratio (R) separates the TNT and ENE events and is consistent with stoichiometric expectations. Average values of R are compared with stoichiometry (in parenthesis): TNT 1.13 (0.79); ENE0B 9.2 (21.3); ENE1 4.9 (6.7); ENE2A 4.6 (5.8); ENE2B 6.5 (6.7). Bayesian discrimination boundary between TNT and ENE is R = 1.67 and the mean probability of error is less than 0.3% for this two-class problem. The Fisher ratio is 17.4 and ENE can be distinguished from TNT with 99% detection rate with corresponding false-alarm rate of less than 10-4%

Adolescent sexual competence and sexual risk-taking : an ecological model of risk and protection

Using Bronfenbrenner\u27s ecological paradigm of human development as a framework, this study investigated the risk and protective factors associated with adolescent sexual behaviors and introduced the concept of sexual competence. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, longitudinal and cross-sectional models were tested. Key findings include: (a) individual-level variables as well as family, peer, and school variables contribute to the total variance explained and have a direct effect on adolescents\u27 sexual competence; (b) the early influence of peers on sexual competence is later replaced by parental influences; (c) parent\u27s membership in a parent-teacher organization is associated with increased sexual competence; (d) the associations between the predictor variables and sexual competence are fairly consistent across gender and ethnicity; (e) overall, risk factors seem to be stronger predictors of adolescent sexual competence than protective factors; and (f) engaging in other health-risk behaviors and perceiving that there are obstacles to contraceptive use are strong indicators of sexual competence. These findings support the proposition that within an adolescent\u27s sphere of influence there are specific factors that promote the development of sexual competence as well as factors that inhibit the development of sexual competence. In addition, these findings indicate that the affect of these factors is consistent across gender and ethnicity

The Lethal Effects of Herbicides and Herbicide Residues on the Agriculturally Important Wolf Spider Pardosa milvina

Herbicides are applied to commercial crops with increasing frequency and diversity yet are rarely tested for acute or chronic toxicity effects on beneficial non target species such as spiders We measured the lethal effects of chronic exposure to field relevant doses of herbicide treated soil on an agriculturally abundant wolf spider, Pardosa milvina. We tested six herbicides including atrazine, S-metolachlor, mesotrione, glyphosate, 2,4-D, and dicamba. We also tested a mixture of all six herbicides and a distilled water control. Spiders were housed individually in containers with topsoil previously sprayed with a recommended herbicide dosage or water control group To test for herbicide residue effects, we reared spiders under herbicides exposed to three aging treatments freshly applied herbicides, herbicides aged for 69 days under room temperature laboratory conditions (indoor aged) or aged for 69 days in a greenhouse with variable temperature, humidity, light exposure, and evaporative cycling (outdoor aged) (N=960; n= 40 spiders across 24 treatments) Spiders were maintained on these treated substrates for 48 days and fed crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus). We recorded daily mortality across all spider treatments during the testing period Mesotrione and combined herbicide treated spiders showed very high mortality within two weeks of exposure among both freshly applied and indoor aged soil treatments while mortality was modest across outdoor aged herbicide treatments. Our results indicate that some herbicides are arachnicides but require chronic and prolonged exposure to produce lethal effects. Further, soil bacterial communities alone were insufficient to break down herbicides or reduce their toxicity while photodegradation, bacterial action, temperature variation and evaporation cycles were sufficient to dramatically reduce toxicity during chronic exposure

Reducing the health risks of severe winter weather among older people in the United Kingdom: an evidence-based intervention

Excess winter morbidity and mortality among older people remain significant public health issues in those European countries which experience relatively mild winter temperatures, particularly the United Kingdom (UK), Ireland, Portugal and Spain. In the UK, episodes of severe winter weather, when ambient temperatures fall below 5x C, are associated with peaks in general practitioner consultations,hospital admissions, and cardiovascular deaths among those aged over 65. While research indicates that such health risks could be substantially reduced by the adoption of appropriate behavioural strategies, accessible and credible advice on how older people can reduce risk during ‘cold snaps’ is lacking. This paper describes a programme of research that aimed: (a) to translate the relevant scientific literature into practical advice for older people in order to reduce health risk during episodes of severe winter weather ; and (b) to integrate this advice with a severe winter weather ‘Early Warning System’ developed by the UK Met Office. An advice booklet was generated through a sequential process of systematic review, consensus development, and focus group discussions with older people. In a subsequent field trial, a combination of the Met Office ‘Early Warning System’ and the advice booklet produced behavioural change among older people consistent with risk reduction. The results also show that long-held convictions about ‘healthy environments ’ and anxieties about fuel costs are barriers to risk reduction

Why ex post peer review encourages high-risk research while ex ante review discourages it

Peer review is an integral component of contemporary science. While peer review focuses attention on promising and interesting science, it also encourages scientists to pursue some questions at the expense of others. Here, we use ideas from forecasting assessment to examine how two modes of peer review -- ex ante review of proposals for future work and ex post review of completed science -- motivate scientists to favor some questions instead of others. Our main result is that ex ante and ex post peer review push investigators toward distinct sets of scientific questions. This tension arises because ex post review allows an investigator to leverage her own scientific beliefs to generate results that others will find surprising, whereas ex ante review does not. Moreover, ex ante review will favor different research questions depending on whether reviewers rank proposals in anticipation of changes to their own personal beliefs, or to the beliefs of their peers. The tension between ex ante and ex post review puts investigators in a bind, because most researchers need to find projects that will survive both. By unpacking the tension between these two modes of review, we can understand how they shape the landscape of science and how changes to peer review might shift scientific activity in unforeseen directions.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 appendix. Version 2 includes revamped notation and some text edits to the discussio

An Archaeological Survey for Asylum Creek and No Name Creek Channel Rectification Project, Bexar County, Texas

During August of 1992, staff archaeologists from the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted surface survey, mapping, and subsurface testing adjacent to Asylum and No-Name Creeks under contract with the San Antonio River Authority in conjunction with a channel rectification project. Particular attention was given to locating cultural materials associated with the nearby San Juan Acequia. No significant cultural resources were located at either location