The Distribution of Paleoindian Debitage from the Pliestocene Terrace at the Topper Site: An Evaluation of a Possible Pre-Clovis Occupation (38AL23)

The lithic debitage excavated from units where pre-Clovis material was found were analyzed using mass analysis as well as individual flake analysis. Statistical analyses were performed to test whether or not the assemblages associated with known occupation were similar to those associated with pre-Clovis levels. No significant difference was observed between the physical attributes of the lithic debitage found within strata associated with known prehistoric populations and the lithics found within pre-Clovis aged deposits. Two alternate explanations for these patterns exist: one which argues for the presence of a legitimate pre-Clovis occupation at the Topper Site and the other citing downward movement and/or fluvial processes to account for the presence of debitage below Clovis strata. Future research will be needed to resolve which of these best explains the cultural materials found in pre-Clovis aged deposits at the site

Migration, Communities, and Culture [3rd Grade]

This unit focuses on human migration and is designed for use in a third grade classroom. It will take 5-6 weeks to complete. In the unit, students will explore historical and current examples of why people migrate to new communities, as well as the cultural implications in their own lives and in their new communities. Students will also have a chance to share their own cultural traditions and compare those with traditions around the world. Research and interview opportunities are also available to help students make deeper connections to the material

Awe-Inspiring Advertisements: Becoming More Informed Consumers [3rd Grade]

This unit is designed for use in a 3rd grade classroom and combines concepts from reading, science, and social studies. It should take 10-12 days to complete. In this unit, students will learn about basic financial decision-making and then zoom in to why we spend our money in certain ways. Students will learn about advertising techniques in audio and visual ads, and the unit culminates in a project in which students must create their own advertising plan to save a struggling company. Supplemental materials and performance task are included

SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF DEVELOPMENT IN NATURAL OUTDOOR ENVIRONMENTS: CHILDREN’S MOTOR ACTIVITIES, PERSONAL CHALLENGES AND PEER INTERACTIONS AT THE RIVER AND THE CREEK

This study examined the influence of spending time outdoors on young children’s physical and socioemotional development. We observed preschoolers’ activities in two naturally provisioned outdoor environments over the course of one year. Eleven preschoolers were videotaped continuously for 16 days at a local river and 9 days at a creek adjacent to the school. In addition to the quantitative analyses of children’s behaviors, a case study of three children’s experiences over the course of the year was conducted. Both the river and the creek settings encouraged a multitude of physical and play behaviors with similar types of affordances, including flat surfaces for running, rocks for climbing and jumping off, and water for exploration and play, but the wilder environment (river) afforded more risk and personal challenges. Observations of children’s motor activities, play and responses to challenging environmental features supported the importance of accumulated experience and social context for the development of confidence in the face of risk, individual exploration and positive social support and engagement with peers

Elasticity of spheres with buckled surfaces

The buckling instabilities of core-shell systems, comprising an interior elastic sphere, attached to an exterior shell, have been proposed to underlie myriad biological morphologies. To fully discuss such systems, however, it is important to properly understand the elasticity of the spherical core. Here, by exploiting well-known properties of the solid harmonics, we present a simple, direct method for solving the linear elastic problem of spheres and spherical voids with surface deformations, described by a real spherical harmonic. We calculate the corresponding bulk elastic energies, providing closed-form expressions for any values of the spherical harmonic degree (l), Poisson ratio, and shear modulus. We find that the elastic energies are independent of the spherical harmonic index (m). Using these results, we revisit the buckling instability experienced by a core-shell system comprising an elastic sphere, attached within a membrane of fixed area, that occurs when the area of the membrane sufficiently exceeds the area of the unstrained sphere [C. Fogle, A. C. Rowat, A. J. Levine and J. Rudnick, Phys. Rev. E 88, 052404 (2013)]. We determine the phase diagram of the core-shell sphere's shape, specifying what value of l is realized as a function of the area mismatch and the core-shell elasticity. We also determine the shape phase diagram for a spherical void bounded by a fixed-area membrane.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Physical Review

The Pandemic Penalty: The Gendered Effects of COVID-19 on Scientific Productivity

Academia serves as a valuable case for studying the effects of social forces on workplace productivity, using a concrete measure of output: scholarly papers. Many academics, especially women, have experienced unprecedented challenges to scholarly productivity during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The authors analyze the gender composition of more than 450,000 authorships in the arXiv and bioRxiv scholarly preprint repositories from before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. This analysis reveals that the underrepresentation of women scientists in the last authorship position necessary for retention and promotion in the sciences is growing more inequitable. The authors find differences between the arXiv and bioRxiv repositories in how gender affects first, middle, and sole authorship submission rates before and during the pandemic. A review of existing research and theory outlines potential mechanisms underlying this widening gender gap in productivity during COVID-19. The authors aggregate recommendations for institutional change that could ameliorate challenges to women’s productivity during the pandemic and beyond

The Undergraduate RA: Benefits and Challenges for Sociology Faculty and Research Assistants

Reprinted with permission

Using Mie Scattering to Determine the Wavelength-Dependent Refractive Index of Polystyrene Beads with Changing Temperature

Polystyrene beads are used as test aerosol. A contact-less technique is reported for determining the size and refractive index of a solid aerosol particle as a function of wavelength and temperature (20-234°C). Polystyrene beads of 2μm diameter were optically trapped in air, in the central orifice of a ceramic heating element and Mie spectroscopy (0.480-0.650μm) was then used to determine the radius and refractive index (to precisions of 0.8nm and 0.0014) of 8 beads as a function of heating and cooling. Refractive index, n, as a function of wavelength, λ, in microns, and temperature, T, in centigrade, was found to be n = 1.5753 - (1.7336 × 1014) T + (9.733 × 10-3) λ-2 in the temperature range 20 < T < 100 °C and n = 1.5877 - (2.9739 × 10-4) T + (9.733 × 10-3) λ-2 in the temperature range 100< T <234 °C, significantly extending the temperature and wavelength range for refractive index of polystyrene. The work represents a step change in measuring the refractive index of materials in an absolute manner with high precision as a function of temperature and wavelength simultaneously. The work also demonstrates a new development in measurement of refractive index as a function of wavelength and temperature for measuring phase changes.All raw data and results obtained for each spectra are uploaded

The Effects of International Monetary Fund Loans on Health Outcomes

Megan Murray and Gary King discuss a new study that finds that IMF economic reform programs are associated with worsened tuberculosis outcomes in post-communist Eastern European countries