On the Stone Wedges of Java, and Similar Ancient Objects of Stone, Discovered in Borneo Translated, With Some Omissions, From a Memoir in the Journal of the Royal Institute of Holland, By Dr. Conrad Leemans, Curator of the Museum of Antiquities at Leyden

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Community Service and Political Identity Development in Adolescence

This article addresses the interconnection of political socialization and identity development. We begin with Erikson \u27s work, which identified the development of political commitment in adolescence as a key aspect of identity formation. We then seek to shed light on the social processes through which youth become engaged in political activities and issues. We discuss the influences of family and peers as well as participation in community service and other civic activities. The development of social responsibility and agency, and an understanding of the complexity of social issues are considered as important facets of political commitment. Data from a case study of Black urban adolescents who participated in a year-long service learning program are used to illustrate our perspective. We conclude that social-historical context, instantiated in social relationships and actions, plays a pivotal role in the process and shape of political socialization and identity formation

Archeological Investigations at the Hudnall-Pirtle Site (41RK4) An Early Caddo Mound Center in Northeast Texas

The Hudnall-Pirtle site (41RK4) is situated on a large T-1 alluvial terrace of the Sabine River in northern Rusk County in Texas. This area of the state, commonly called Northeast Texas, is part of the Southern Gulf Coastal Plain, a relatively level, sloping plain formed by the pre-Pleistocene embayment of the Gulf of Mexico. From a biogeographical perspective, the site is located in the Oak-Hickory-Pine forest of eastern Texas, otherwise known as the Pineywoods. This area represents the western extension of the southern coniferous forests and is dominated by shortleaf and loblolly pine trees. Hardwood trees, including various oaks, hickory, elm, and gum, are the dominant vegetation in the floodplains of rivers and major creeks in Northeast Texas

Evolution of the human oral microbiome and resource development for ancient metagenomics

The microbes that live in and on our bodies play major roles in health and disease due to their symbiotic relationship with the host. Understanding how these communities adapt to changes in their environment - either by natural or anthropological forces - is currently a critical area of research for improving holistic healthcare. The aim of this thesis was to demonstrate the potential of large-scale shotgun-sequenced ancient dental calculus to study the wider diversity of the oral microbiome. In Manuscript A, I have shown that ancient dental calculus can be used to improve the understanding of past human oral microbiome diversity, after analysing the largest and oldest ancient dental calculus dataset to date. In this manuscript I also present new tools to help improve authentication of ancient microbiomes. Manuscript B describes the repository AncientMetagenomeDir, a community-level resource that lists all public ancient metagenomic sequencing datasets. The resource will allow researchers to efficiently re-use public data to ensure the robusticity and improve the statistical power of future studies. Manuscript C presents an entirely rewritten user-friendly palaeogenomics pipeline following latest software development and bioinformatics best practices. The pipeline nf-core/eager, has been developed in a way that allows for easy integration with large scale computing infrastructure required for such analyses. Importantly, I have extended this genomics pipeline to have in-parallel metagenomic profiling and screening of ancient DNA characteristics. These manuscripts have contributed new insights into the biology and evolution of oral biofilms, but also introduced new open-source and sustainable tools and resources that will allow further investigation of ancient microbiomes

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

The New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans: A Unique Approach

It has been estimated that veterans comprise one third of the homeless population. To combat this national disgrace, many small veterans\u27 groups have been formed nationwide to serve their homeless brothers in such settings as shelters, group homes, and outreach centers. A Boston group, the Vietnam Veterans Workshop, based its New England Shelter for Homeless Veterans on the simple but powerful concept of veteran helping veteran. The shelter created a program to accomplish three important functions: providing the basic necessities of a bed, a meal, clothing, and a hot shower; rehabilitating the veterans by offering various activities to comfort and motivate each one to take positive steps in life; and finally, healing the veterans who still feel the effects of their war experiences by designing a program to address the needs of those suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder

Risk factors at medical school for subsequent professional misconduct: multicentre retrospective case-control study

Objective To determine whether there are risk factors in a doctor’s time at medical school that are associated with subsequent professional misconduct

Black box and mechanistic modelling of electronic nose systems

Electronic nose systems have been in existence for around 20 years or more. The ability to mimic the function of the mammalian olfactory system is a very tempting goal. Such devices would offer the possibility of rapid chemical screening of samples. To gain a detailed insight into the operation of such systems it is proposed to carry out a systems modelling analysis. This thesis reports such an analysis using black box and mechanistic models. The nature and construction of electronic nose systems are discussed. The challenges presented by these systems in order to produce a truly electronic nose are analysed as a prelude to systems modelling. These may be summarised as time and environmental dependent behaviour, information extraction and computer data handling. Model building in general is investigated. It is recognised that robust parameter estimation is necessary to build good models of electronic nose systems. A number of optimisation algorithms for parameter estimation are proposed and investigated, these being gradient search, genetic algorithms and the support vector method. It is concluded that the support vector method is most robust, although the genetic algorithm approach shows promise for initial parameter value estimation. A series of investigations are reported that involve the analysis of biomedical samples. These samples are of blood, urine and bacterial cultures. The findings demonstrate that the nature of such samples, such as bacterial content and type, may be accurately identified using an electronic nose system by careful modelling of the system. These findings also highlight the advantages of data set reduction and feature extraction. A mechanistic model embodying the operating principles of carbon black-polymer sensors is developed. This is validated experimentally and is used to investigate the environmental dependencies of electronic nose systems. These findings demonstrate a clear influence of environmental conditions on the behaviour of carbon black-polymer sensors and these should be considered when designing future electronic nose systems. The findings in this thesis demonstrate that careful systems modelling and analysis of electronic nose systems allows a greater understanding of such systems

Can the 12-item general health questionnaire be used to identify medical students who might ‘struggle’ on the medical course? A prospective study on two cohorts

BACKGROUND: Students who fail to thrive on the Nottingham undergraduate medical course frequently suffer from anxiety, depression or other mental health problems. These difficulties may be the cause, or the result of, academic struggling. Early detection of vulnerable students might direct pastoral care and remedial support to where it is needed. We investigated the use of the short-form General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) as a possible screening tool. METHODS: Two consecutive cohorts (2006 and 2007) were invited to complete the GHQ-12. The questionnaire was administered online, during the second semester (after semester 1 exams) for the 2006 cohort and during the first semester for the 2007 cohort. All data were held securely and confidentially. At the end of the course, GHQ scores were examined in relation to course progress. RESULTS: 251 students entered the course in 2006 and 254 in 2007; 164 (65%) and 160 (63%), respectively, completed the GHQ-12. In both cohorts, the study and non-study groups were very similar in terms of pre-admission socio-demographic characteristics and overall course marks. In the 2006 study group, the GHQ Likert score obtained part-way through the first year was negatively correlated with exam marks during Years 1 and 2, but the average exam mark in semester 1 was the sole independent predictor of marks in semester 2 and Year 2. No correlations were found for the 2007 study group but the GHQ score was a weak positive predictor of marks in semester 2, with semester 1 average exam mark again being the strongest predictor. A post-hoc moderated-mediation analysis suggested that significant negative associations of GHQ scores with semester 1 and 2 exams applied only to those who completed the GHQ after their semester 1 exams. Students who were identified as GHQ ‘cases’ in the 2006 group were statistically less likely to complete the course on time (OR = 4.74, p 0.002). There was a non-significant trend in the same direction in the 2007 group. CONCLUSIONS: Results from two cohorts provide insufficient evidence to recommend the routine use of the GHQ-12 as a screening tool. The timing of administration could have a critical influence on the results, and the theoretical and practical implications of this finding are discussed. Low marks in semester 1 examinations seem be the best single indicator of students at risk for subsequent poor performance